Читать книгу The Life & Legacy of George Washington - John Marshall - Страница 12

Table of Contents

New charter of Massachusetts. … Affairs of New York. … War with France. … Schenectady destroyed. … Expedition against Port Royal. … Against Quebec. … Acadié recovered by France. … Pemaquid taken. … Attempt on St. Johns. … Peace. … Affairs of New York. … Of Virginia. … Disputes between England and France respecting boundary in America. … Recommencement of hostilities. … Quotas of the respective colonies. … Treaty of neutrality between France and the five nations. … Expedition against Port Royal. … Incursion into Massachusetts. … Plan for the invasion of Canada. … Port Royal taken. … Expedition against Quebec. … Treaty of Utrecht. … Affairs of New York. … Of Carolina. … Expedition against St. Augustine. … Attempt to establish the Episcopal church. … Invasion of the colony. … Bills of credit issued. … Legislature continues itself. … Massacre in North Carolina by the Indians. … Tuscaroras defeated. … Scheme of a Bank.

1689

The revolution which placed the Prince and Princess of Orange on the throne, revived in Massachusetts, the hope of recovering the ancient charter. Elections were held by authority of the temporary government, and the representatives requested the council to exercise, until orders should be received from England, the powers and authorities vested in that body by the charter. The council acceded to this proposition; and the ancient system was re-established. It was soon perceived by the agents of Massachusetts that the old charter would not be restored, and that the King was determined to retain the appointment of the governor in his own hands. The colony, however, was authorised to exercise the powers of government according to the ancient system, until a new arrangement should be made. The vessel by which these directions were transmitted, carried also orders that sir Edmond Andros, and those imprisoned with him should be sent to England.

The general court deputed additional agents, with instructions to solicit the confirmation of their beloved charter; but these solicitations were ineffectual. 1691New Charter.The King was inflexible; and, at length, a new charter was framed, introducing some changes which affected radically the independence that had been long practically possessed by the colony. The governor was to be appointed by the crown, was enabled to call, adjourn, prorogue, and dissolve the assembly at pleasure; he had the appointment solely, of all military officers; and, with the consent of his council, of all officers belonging to the courts of justice.

1692

Sir William Phipps, the first governor, arrived in May, and immediately issued writs for a general assembly, which met in June, and accepted the charter; though a considerable party had been formed to oppose it. This instrument annexed Plymouth and Nova Scotia to Massachusetts; but, contrary to the wishes of both colonies, omitted New Hampshire, which became permanently a separate government.[115]

Affairs of New York.

In New York, Leisler, who had obtained the entire control of the lower country, associated with himself in the government, a few trusty partisans, denominated a committee of safety, over whom he presided. Some of the principal inhabitants of the city, dissatisfied at seeing a man of low birth, without education, in possession of supreme power, retired to Albany, where a convention of the people was assembled, who determined to hold the fort and country for the King and Queen, but not to submit to the authority of Leisler. On receiving intelligence of these transactions, Jacob Milbourne was detached with a small force to reduce the place; but, finding that the people adhered to the convention, and that his harangues against James and popery made no impression on them, he returned to New York. The next spring he appeared again before the fort; and, being favoured by an irruption of the Indians, obtained possession of it. The principal members of the convention absconded, upon which their effects were seized and confiscated. This harsh measure produced resentments which were transmitted from father to son.

Leisler retained the supreme power, without farther opposition, until the arrival of sir Henry Slaughter, who had been appointed governor of the province. Though informed of the commission which Slaughter bore, this infatuated man refused to yield the government to him; and showed a disposition, without the ability, to resist. This ill judged obstinacy threw the governor, who soon obtained possession of the fort, into the arms of the opposite party. Leisler and Milbourne were arrested, tried for high treason, condemned, and executed. Their estates were confiscated, but were afterwards restored to their families.[116]

While these things were passing in the interior, the colonies of New England and New York were engaged in a bloody and desolating war with the French of Canada, and with the Indians. The English people had long viewed with apprehension, the advances of France towards universal dominion; and with infinite disgust, the influence of Louis XIV. in their cabinet. On the elevation of the Prince of Orange to the throne, they entered with alacrity into all his views for opposing barriers to the power, and restraints on the ambition, of that haughty monarch. War with France.The war which was proclaimed between the two nations, extended itself to their possessions in America. De Calliers, who sailed from Canada to France in 1688, had formed a plan for the conquest of New York, which was adopted by his government. Caffiniere commanded the ships which sailed from Rochefort on this expedition, subject however to the count de Frontignac, who was general of the land forces destined to march from Canada by the route of the river Sorel and of lake Champlain. The fleet and troops arrived at Chebucta, whence the count proceeded to Quebec leaving orders with Caffiniere to sail to New York.

On reaching Quebec, the count found all Canada in the utmost distress. In the preceding summer, twelve hundred warriors of the Five nations had suddenly landed on the island of Montreal, and put to death about one thousand of the inhabitants whom they found in perfect security. The place was again attacked in October, and the lower part of the island entirely destroyed. In consequence of these calamitous events, fort Frontignac, on lake Ontario, was evacuated, and two vessels which had been constructed there were burnt.

Count Frontignac, who, in his sixty-eighth year, possessed the activity of youth, after remaining a few days on shore, re-embarked in a canoe for Montreal. In the hope of conciliating the Five nations, he held a great council with them at Onondago, where the Indians showed some disposition towards a peace without concluding one. To influence their deliberations, and raise the depressed spirits of the Canadians, he sent out several parties against the English colonies. That against New York, consisting of about two hundred French, and some Indians; after marching twenty-two days with their provisions on their backs, through a wilderness covered deep with snow, arrived, on 8th of February 1690, about eleven at night, at Schenectady, a village a few miles north-west of Albany. Schenectady destroyed.Finding the gates open and unguarded, they immediately entered the town, the inhabitants of which were asleep; and, dividing themselves into small parties, invested every house at the same time. No alarm was given until the doors were broken open; and then was commenced the perpetration of those barbarities which add so much to the ordinary horrors of war. The whole village was instantly in flames; pregnant women were ripped open and their infants cast into the flames, or dashed against the posts of the doors. Sixty persons were massacred, twenty-seven carried into captivity, and those who escaped fled naked, through a deep snow and storm to Albany. In the flight, twenty-five lost their limbs from the intensity of the cold. The town was pillaged until about noon the next day, when the enemy marched off with their plunder. Being pursued by a party of young men from Albany, about twenty-five of them were killed and captured.[117]

In the spring and summer of 1689, several settlements and forts in New Hampshire and Maine, were successfully attacked by the Indians; who, wherever they were victorious, perpetrated their usual cruelties. Expedition against Port Royal.Knowing that these depredations originated in Canada and Acadié, the general court of Massachusetts planned an expedition against both Port Royal and Quebec. Early in the spring, eight small vessels, carrying seven or eight hundred men, sailed under the command of sir William Phipps; and, almost without opposition, took possession of Port Royal, and of the whole coast between that place and New England. The fleet returned in May, having taken nearly plunder enough to discharge the expense of the equipment. But two detachments made about the same time by count Frontignac, attacked the Salmon falls, and fort Casco, where they killed and took about one hundred and eighty persons.

Penn Seeking Freedom for Imprisoned Friends

© by Violet Oakley; From a Copley print copyright by Curtis and Cameron, Boston

The reference made in the panel inscription at the top of this picture is to William Penn's imprisonment in the Tower of London for publishing "The Sandy Foundation Shaken," in which he attacked the doctrines of the Trinity. While in prison he wrote his most famous and popular book, "No Cross, No Crown" and "Innocency With Her Open Face", in vindication of his Quaker faith. In 1681 Penn obtained from the British Crown, in lieu of a debt of £16,000 due him as heir to his father, Admiral Penn, a grant of territory now comprising the State of Pennsylvania. There he founded Philadelphia, as a Quaker colony, in the following year.

A vessel had been dispatched to England in April with letters urging the importance of conquering Canada, and soliciting the aid of the King to that enterprise. He was however too much occupied in Europe to attend to America; and it was determined to prosecute the expedition without his assistance. Against Quebec.New York and Connecticut, engaged to furnish a body of men, to march, by the way of lake Champlain, against Montreal, while the troops of Massachusetts should proceed by sea to Quebec. The fleet, consisting of between thirty and forty vessels, the largest of which carried forty-four guns, sailed from Nantucket the ninth of August, having on board two thousand men. This expedition also was commanded by sir William Phipps, a brave man, but not qualified for so difficult an enterprise. He did not arrive before Quebec until October, when it was too late for a regular siege. Instead of availing himself of the first impression, sir William is charged with having wasted two or three days in sight of the place, after which he summoned it to surrender. Having performed this ceremony, he landed between twelve and thirteen hundred men, and marched until night, under a scattering fire from an enemy concealed in the woods. At night, a deserter gave such an account of the French force as entirely discouraged him.

Connecticut and New York were disappointed in receiving the assistance expected from the Five nations; who furnished neither the warriors they had promised, nor canoes to transport their troops over the lakes. The commissary too had neglected to lay up the necessary supplies of provisions. These disappointments obliged the party destined against Montreal to retreat without making an attempt on that place; which enabled the French general to oppose the whole force of Canada to Phipps.

The evening after the troops were landed, the ships were drawn up before the place, but received more damage from the batteries than they could do to the town. After wasting a few days in unavailing parade, the army re-embarked with precipitation, and returned to Boston.

The general court, so far from suspecting that the expedition might possibly miscarry, seem to have counted, not only on success, but on acquiring sufficient treasure from the enemy to pay their soldiers. The army, finding the government totally unprepared to satisfy its claims, was on the point of mutinying. In this state of difficulty, bills of credit were issued, and were received in lieu of money. A tax was imposed at the same time, payable in the paper notes of the colony at five per centum above par. Notwithstanding the exertions to keep up its credit, the paper depreciated to fourteen shillings in the pound, which depreciation was, almost entirely, sustained by the army. As the time for collecting the tax approached, the paper rose above par, but this appreciation was gained by the holders.[118]

Colonel Phipps, soon after his return from Canada, embarked for England, to renew the solicitations of the colony for aid in another attempt on Quebec. Though unsuccessful in this application, the government of the province was bestowed on him; and, in this character, he returned to Boston. A desultory war continued to be carried on, which, without furnishing any events that would now be interesting, produced heavy expense, and much individual misery.

1693

Canada being considered as the source of all these evils, its conquest continued to be the favourite object of Massachusetts. At length, King William yielded to the solicitations of that colony and determined to employ a force for the reduction of Quebec. Unfortunately the first part of the plan was to be executed in the West Indies, where the capture of Martinique was contemplated. While on that service a contagious fever attacked both the land and sea forces; and, before they reached Boston, thirteen hundred sailors, and eighteen hundred soldiers, were buried. The survivors not being in a condition to prosecute the enterprise, it was abandoned.[119]

On the conquest of Acadié by sir William Phipps, the government of Massachusetts had been extended over that province; but, as the prejudices and affections of the inhabitants were entirely on the side of France, it was soon perceived that a military force alone could preserve the acquisition; and Massachusetts was unable, at her own expense, to support a sufficient body of troops for the defence of the country. 1696Port Royal was recovered by Villebonne, after which all Acadié shook off the government of Massachusetts, and resumed its allegiance to France. About the same time a fort at Pemaquid was attacked and carried by Iberville.

Peace.

In December, the treaty of peace which had been concluded at Riswick was proclaimed at Boston; and hostilities with the French in Canada immediately ceased. The depredations of the Indians continued only a short time after this event; and, in the course of the following year, general tranquillity was restored.

1697

The frontiers of New Hampshire had been not less exposed during the war, than those of Massachusetts. Perpetual and distressing incursions had been made into the country, which were marked by the burning of undefended habitations, and the massacre of men, women, and children.[120]

Affairs of New York.

The frontiers of New York were covered by the Five nations. Hostilities were carried on between them and the French, but they were not attended by any material circumstance.

During the war the English government meditated a union of the colonies for the purpose of forming an army to defend New York; and the governors were instructed to propose to the several provinces to raise the quota of troops assigned to each[121] by the crown. Though this plan never took effect, the fact is of some interest.

The influence of the French not yet extending far enough south to involve the colonies beyond New York in the calamities of Indian warfare, few occurrences took place among them which deserve attention. Of Virginia.In Virginia, the college of William and Mary, to which a charter had been granted in 1692, was liberally endowed, and was established at Williamsburg by an act of assembly which passed in the year 1693. In 1698, the state-house at Jamestown, with many valuable papers, was consumed by fire; and, in the following year, the legislature passed an act for removing the seat of government to Williamsburg, then called the middle plantation, and for building a capitol at that place.

By the treaty of Riswick, it was agreed that France and England should mutually restore to each other all conquests made during the war; and it was farther stipulated that commissioners should be appointed to examine and determine the rights and pretensions of each monarch to the places situated in Hudson's bay.

The consequences of not ascertaining boundaries were soon perceived. The English claimed as far west as the St. Croix, while France asserted her right to the whole country east of the Kennebeck.

War renewed.

These claims remained unsettled; and were mingled with other differences of more importance, which soon occasioned the re-commencement of hostilities.

1702

The whole weight of the war in America fell on New England. Previous to its commencement, the earl of Bellamont, who was at that time governor of New York as well as of Massachusetts and of New Hampshire, had required that the quotas of men, assigned by the crown to the different colonies for the defence of New York, should be furnished. This requisition however was not complied with; and, before hostilities began, a treaty of neutrality was negotiated between the Five nations and the governor of Canada, which was assented to by lord Cornbury, then governor of New York. This treaty preserved the peace of that province, but left Massachusetts and New Hampshire to struggle with the combined force of the French and their Indian allies;—a struggle which seems to have been viewed by New York with the utmost composure.

Hostilities between Great Britain and France were immediately followed by incursions of French and Indians into the exposed parts of New England. A predatory and desolating war, attended with no striking circumstance, but with considerable expense and great individual distress, was carried on for some years. During its continuance, propositions were made for a cessation of hostilities; and the negotiations on this subject were protracted to a considerable length; but Dudley, who had succeeded the earl of Bellamont as governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, declined engaging for the neutrality of those provinces, in the hope that Nova Scotia and Canada might be subdued in the course of the war.

1707

The battle of Almanza, in Spain, having induced the British cabinet to direct an armament intended for New England to European objects, Dudley determined to make an attempt on Acadié, though no aid should arrive from England. With this view, he applied, early in the spring, to the assemblies of both his provinces, and to the colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island; requesting them to raise one thousand men for the expedition. Connecticut declined furnishing her quota; but the other three colonies raised the whole number, who were disposed into two regiments, one commanded by colonel Wainright, and the other by colonel Hilton. On the 13th of May, they embarked at Nantucket on board a fleet of transports furnished with whale boats, under convoy of a man of war and a galley. The chief command was given to colonel March, who had behaved gallantly in several encounters with the Indians, but had never been engaged in such service as this. They arrived before Port Royal in a few days, and landed without opposition. After making some ineffectual attempts to bombard the fort, a disagreement among the officers, and a misapprehension of the state of the fort and garrison, induced the troops to re-embark in a disorderly manner.[122] Dudley, who was unwilling to relinquish the enterprise, directed the army to remain in its position till farther orders. March was beloved by the soldiers, and was known to be brave, but his capacity was doubted. It was therefore thought unsafe either to recall him, to place an officer over him, or to continue him in the chief command. The expedient devised in this perplexity was, to send a commission to the army, composed of three members of the council, invested with all the powers which the governor himself, if present, would possess. These commissioners arrived at Casco about the middle of July, where they found the army insubordinate, and indisposed to the service. The troops, however, were again embarked, and arrived at Passamaquodi, on the seventh of August. The spirits of the general were broken, and his health was impaired. While dispositions for landing the army were making, he declared his inability to act, and the command devolved on colonel Wainright. The landing was effected on the 10th of August; but the troops could not be inspired with that union and firmness which are essential to success. After devoting ten days to inefficient, unmeaning operations, they re-embarked, and returned, sickly, fatigued and dispirited.

1708

During this unfortunate expedition, the frontiers were kept in perpetual alarm by small parties of Indians; and, in the succeeding year, a formidable armament was destined by Vaudreuil, the governor of Canada, against New England. This enterprise was not fully prosecuted, in consequence of the failure of several Indian tribes to furnish the number of warriors expected from them. Incursion into Massachusetts.A considerable force, however, penetrated into Massachusetts, and burnt a part of the town of Haverhill; where about one hundred persons were killed and many others carried off as prisoners. These invaders were pursued and overtaken by a body of troops collected in the neighbourhood, who killed a few of them, and recovered several of their own countrymen.

The New England colonies, still attributing all these calamities to the French were earnest in their solicitations to the crown, for aids which might enable them to conquer Canada. Their application was supported by the representations of Francis Nicholson, who had been lieutenant governor, first of New York, and afterward of Virginia; of Samuel Vietch, a trader to Nova Scotia, and of colonel Schuyler, a gentleman of great influence in New York, who undertook a voyage to England for the purpose of communicating his sentiments more fully to administration, and carried with him resolutions of the assembly, expressing the high opinion that body entertained of his merit. Influenced by these representations, the British cabinet determined to undertake an expedition against the French settlements on the continent of North America, and on New Foundland, to consist of a squadron, having on board five regiments of regular troops, 1709which were to be at Boston by the middle of May, 1709, where they were to be joined by twelve hundred men to be raised in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Fifteen hundred men also were to be raised in the governments south of Rhode Island, who should proceed, by the way of lake Champlain, against Montreal. All the colonies, except Pennsylvania, executed with punctuality the part assigned to them. Nicholson, who was appointed to command the troops destined against Montreal, marched to Wood creek, where he was ordered to continue, until the arrival of the forces from Europe; that the two armies might co-operate with each other. The New England troops, who had been assembled at Boston remained at that place till September, expecting the arrival of the fleet and army from England. About that time, Nicholson returned from Wood creek, and it was obviously too late to proceed against Quebec. A meeting of the commanding officers, and governors of provinces was requested, in order to deliberate on future operations. A few days before this meeting was to take place, a ship arrived from England, with the intelligence that the armament intended for America had been ordered to Portugal, and with directions to hold a council of war, in order to determine on the propriety of employing the troops raised in America, against Port Royal; in which event the ships of war then at Boston were to aid the expedition. The commanders of the ships, except captain, afterwards admiral, Matthews, refused to engage in this service; and, it being unsafe to proceed without convoy, the men were disbanded.[123]

A congress, composed of governors, and of delegates from several of the assemblies, met at Rhode Island, and recommended the appointment of agents to assist colonel Nicholson in representing the state of the country to the Queen, and soliciting troops for an expedition against Canada, the next spring. Government seems at first to have thought favourably of this proposal, but finally determined to proceed only against Port Royal. 1710Five frigates and a bomb ketch, which were assigned for this service, arrived with Nicholson, in July. Although the troops were then to be raised, the whole armament, consisting of one regiment of marines, and four regiments of infantry, sailed from Boston the 18th of September; and on the 24th arrived before Port Royal. The place was immediately invested, and, after the exchange of a few shot and shells, was surrendered. Vietch was appointed governor, and its name, in compliment to the Queen, was changed to Annapolis.

After the reduction of Port Royal, Nicholson returned to England to renew the often repeated solicitations for an expedition against Canada. The ministry was now changed; and the colonists despaired of obtaining from those in power, any aids against the French. Contrary to the general expectation, his application succeeded; 1711and he arrived at Boston, in June, with orders to the governors as far south as Pennsylvania, to get their quotas of men and provisions in readiness to act with the fleet and army expected from Europe. Within sixteen days, while the several governors were yet deliberating on the subject of these orders, the fleet arrived. The service according perfectly with the wishes of the people as well as of the governors, every practicable exertion was made; and difficulties were overcome which, on other occasions, might have been deemed insurmountable. To supply the money which the English treasury could not then advance, the general court of Massachusetts issued bills of credit to the amount of forty thousand pounds; and the example was followed by Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Provisions were obtained by impressment.

The army consisted of seven veteran regiments, who had served under the duke of Marlborough; one regiment of marines; and two regiments of provincials; amounting, in the whole, to six thousand five hundred men; a force equal to that which afterwards reduced Quebec, when in a much better state of defence. This armament sailed from Boston on the 30th of July. Their sanguine hopes were all blasted in one fatal night. On the 23d of August, in the river St. Lawrence, the weather being thick and dark, eight transports were wrecked on Egg Island, near the north shore, and one thousand persons perished. The next day the fleet put back, and was eight days beating down the river against an easterly wind, which, in two, would have carried it to Quebec. After holding a fruitless consultation respecting an attempt on Placentia, the expedition was abandoned; and the squadron sailed for England. Loud complaints were made, and heavy charges reciprocated, on this occasion. The ignorance of the pilots, the obstinacy of the admiral, the detention of the fleet at Boston, its late arrival there, the want of seasonable orders, and the secret intentions of the ministry, were all subjects of bitter altercation; but no regular inquiry was ever made into the causes of the miscarriage.

The plan of this campaign embraced also an attack on Montreal. Four thousand men raised in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, and commanded by colonel Nicholson, marched against that place by the way of Albany and lake Champlain. The failure of the expedition against Quebec enabling the governor of Canada to turn his whole force towards the lakes, Nicholson was under the necessity of making a precipitate retreat.