Part 9

They were not inferior men, in respect to their _civil standing in the community_. They did not proceed, generally, from the lower orders of society--the poorer artisans and the laborers. They belonged, mostly, to the middle and respectable ranks of English society. A few were classed with the higher orders, but not to the same extent as was the fact with the settlers of Virginia, if we may judge from the list of names and titles of several emigrants of the different colonies. In respect to a worldly, chivalrous bearing and spirit of adventure, New England and Virginia differed--the latter were eminent in this respect, but never were men more truly brave than the fathers of New England; in moral courage, they were unrivalled. Like other adventurers, they manifested their undaunted spirit in relinquishing their comfortable homes, in braving the dangers of the deep, in encountering the horrors of a wilderness, in incurring the risk of famine and pestilence, and in frequently combatting a fierce savage foe. There were as extraordinary traits of martial heroism displayed among the pilgrims of New England, when called forth by the necessity of circumstances, as can be found in the history of any of the American colonists, though this was not a characteristic in which they gloried. The exploits of Miles Standish, of Plymouth, and John Mason, of Connecticut, might be ranked among the most striking exhibitions of courage on record. Of Standish, it is remarked, by an old historian, that "he was allied to the noble house of Standish, in Lancashire, and inherited some of the virtues of that honorable family, as well as the name." But the high bearing and courage of the planters was eminently of a moral kind. Unlike their Virginian neighbors, they suffered no misrule in their settlements. If any threatened for a time, they promptly put it down. Their courage was seen in resisting evil among themselves. They feared not to put their laws into execution. They were characterized by a healthful, vigorous public spirit, consenting to sacrifice their own individual interest for the general good. They thus manifested a noble nature, the product of principle, if not of birth.

The fathers of New England were not _ignorant_ men, and unversed in the concerns of the world. Their clergymen and leading men in civil life, were among the ripe scholars of the age. They had been educated at the English universities, and numbers of them had occupied important stations in church and state. As authors and men of influence, in their native land, they could not have sunk their high character by emigration; and though in a wilderness, and under the pressure of mighty cares, they could not so advantageously pursue their studies as in the shades of academic retirement, they still did not neglect to add to their intellectual stores. In several instances, they brought large and valuable libraries with them. The writings of Colton, Hooker, Davenport, Winthrop, Bradford, Prince, and others, show that they were eminently men of mind and masters of language--that they were well versed in the science and literature which adorned the age; and their universal learning, sanctified by grace, we know, was devoted to the most noble and beneficent purposes. There were among the merchants and men of business, who had figured in the world's affairs before they came to these solitudes--men of large experience and cultivated taste, not wanting in any accomplishment deemed essential in refined and honorable society. The mass of the people, who came over to this country as its settlers, must evidently, from the nature of the case, have been of that thinking, intellectual, practical class, who understood their rights and duties as human beings, as also the principles of government; and could not, therefore, with their good sense and honesty, submit to the exactions and wrongs of tyranny. This, of all others, is the most valuable body of the community.

The estimate which the fathers placed upon education, is seen in the immediate establishment of literary institutions, both of the higher and lower grades. Scarcely had the venerable men felled the trees of the forest, than they erected the common school-house, the academy, and the college. In the midst of their untold personal pressing cares and troubles, they exercised a far-reaching sagacity and benevolent regard towards the common good, and towards posterity, in laying broadly the foundations of order, intelligence, and virtue. They conceived the highest idea of the importance of sound education to their rising republic. They wisely judged that solid learning and true religion were the firmest pillars of the commonwealth and of the church. Within ten years from the settlement of Massachusetts, a college, with good endowments, was founded for the use of the colony.

The planters of New England were not _poor_ men--needy adventurers. Had they been such, whence could the funds have been derived that were necessary to sustain the enterprise? It is evident that large sums of money were expended in the transportation of themselves, their cattle, and their effects to this country, and in their various removals when here, as well as in the continued sustentation of their families in times of scarcity and famine. These we know, from their history, were of frequent occurrence. Governors Winthrop, Haynes, Eaton, and Hopkins, were men of wealth; so also were Mr. Johnson, Mr. Colton, and Mr. Hooker--the last two uncommonly rich for ministers. Mr. Johnson was reputed to be the wealthiest of all the original emigrants. The mass of the early comers must also have possessed no inconsiderable means, to enable them to bear the heavy expenses of their voyage and settlement. With such a basis of property, it is not a matter of surprise that, notwithstanding the drain and exhaustion of the few first years, they should have increased greatly in their worldly substance in the end, inasmuch as they settled on a virgin soil, possessed abundance of land, and carried on a lucrative trade in the products of the country. Their habits of sobriety and industry were essentially favorable to their advancement in wealth.

The New England planters were not _wanting in any moral virtues_, _piety_, _wisdom_, _or magnanimity_. There never lived on earth, if we may credit history, a more disinterested, upright, conscientious, prudent, and holy body of men. Their souls were imbued with the loftiest principles of patriotism and piety. They gave undoubted proofs of the possession of this spirit in their exertions, toils, and sacrifices for the best welfare of their descendants and the cause of Christianity--in their spirituality, prayerfulness, purity, and well-ordered lives. They wished, above all things, to serve God and to do good--to transmit to posterity a pure church and free form of government. They received the Word of God as their sole guide in religious concerns and moral conduct--they regulated their individual life, their families, their local societies, their churches, and their state, by its rules, so far as the latter could be consistently applied. They were sound in the faith, receiving the doctrines of grace as the real system of divine truth--were strict in preserving the order and carrying out the discipline of the churches--and were rigid in the administration of law and justice. Their zeal and liberality in supporting the institutions of the Gospel among themselves, and in efforts to Christianize the Indians, were marked traits in their character. They considered it one of the great objects of their mission to this continent, to become the means of the salvation of its aboriginal inhabitants, and thus to extend Christ's kingdom in the world. In a most commendable degree, they carried their religion into the various every-day concerns of life, and consulted, especially on every occasion of interest and importance, the particular guidance and blessing of God.

Such was the character of New England's fathers: they were not perfect men; they did not claim for themselves the attributes of perfection; neither can others, their warmest panegyrists, claim it for them with any consistency. They had their errors--the errors of the age. All darkness had not passed away from their understandings, nor all obliquity from their hearts. There was an austerity, a preciseness in some points, an unaccommodating temper, which perhaps is not well suited to all times, or every state of society, but which better agreed with their circumstances as the founders of a nation, and as an example for others to follow. In the natural course of imitation from age to age, there will be apt to be a feebler resemblance of the original; so that where the conduct in the beginning was over-strict, in the lapse of years it will be apt to fall quite too far below the true standard of virtue. The founders of a nation, if they fail at all in firmness of temper or rigidness of discipline, will be very apt to bring on the sooner a dissolute state of the body politic. Our fathers, on this account, were not so much at fault as many suppose. They were fitted, by the guidance and grace of God, for the times in which they lived--for the work which they were called to perform. If some few spots or shades could have been effaced from their characters, they would have been still more fitting instruments of good to the Church and to posterity; but as the case is, no other founders of an empire probably ever possessed so large a portion of wisdom and goodness.

In respect to charges made against the fathers of New England, pertaining to superstition, enthusiasm, injustice towards the Indians, treatment of supposed witches, bigotry, persecution, and the incorporation of church and state, they are capable of a satisfactory refutation in all the material points, and have often received that refutation. While something, however, is to be laid to human imperfection in their case, yet, even in these matters, more is due to the grace of God, which preserved them so comparatively free from evils to which their natural dispositions, or their circumstances, might be supposed to lead them.

It was indeed a new order of things which was introduced by the pilgrim fathers, in their removal to America. The Mayflower came to these shores freighted with great moral principles, as well as with a precious cargo of godly men and women. Of those principles, some were the following, viz: The right of private judgment in the examination of divine truth, is to be held sacred--Conscience, enlightened by the Word of God, is a sufficient guide as to truth and duty--a majority governs in church and state--universal education is the basis of free government--the observation of the Sabbath is a moral virtue, and essential to the safety of a people. From these principles, others have been deduced; or to them others, of scarcely less importance, have been added in more recent times.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Holmes' Annals.

[7] New England Memorial, by Nathaniel Morton.

[8] New England Memorial.

[9] New England's Memorial--Appendix.

[10] Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims.

[11] Trumbull's History of Connecticut.

[12] Bacon's Historical Discourses.

[13] T. Robbins.

[14] T. Robbins.

III. MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN SETTLEMENTS.[15]

NEW YORK--New Jersey--Delaware--Maryland--North Carolina--South Carolina--Georgia--Pennsylvania.

The settlement of the state of NEW YORK commenced in 1613, so far as the erection of a fort, near the present city of Albany, and a few trading-houses on the island of Manhattan (New York), may be said to constitute a settlement. The Dutch founded their claim to the soil from the discovery of the Hudson by an Englishman of that name, who was then in the employ of the Dutch; but the British king disputed the claim, from the fact of the previous discovery of the country by the Cabots. The Dutch were forced, for a short time, to yield to the demands of the English; but, the colony having increased in the course of a year, the English were required, in their turn, to yield their authority to the original occupants. For a series of years, the latter continued in peaceful possession, and, by characteristic toil and perseverance, secured the blessings of a growing settlement.

The territory on both sides of the Hudson, occupied by the settlers, was called New Netherlands. In defence of their colony, in 1623, they built several forts, one on the east side of Delaware bay, which they named Nassau, and another, one hundred and fifty miles up the river, which they called Aurania. At the mouth of the river they built a town, to which they gave the name of New Amsterdam, afterwards New York. Near fort Nassau, the Swedes had a settlement, and, from the interfering claims of the two people, quarrels arose, which in a few years ended in the subjugation of the Swedes. In consequence of the Dutch claims so far to the eastward, difficulties frequently arose between them and the Connecticut and New Haven colonies; but these never amounted to another rupture, and the Dutch were occasionally assisted in the Indian warfare by their more courageous neighbors.

At the ascension of Charles II. to the British throne, the province of New Netherlands passed into the hands of the English. As the king, by a charter, had conveyed the whole territory to his brother, the Duke of York and Albany, he undertook to effect his object by force, and accordingly despatched an armament, under the command of Colonel Nichols, who was also appointed governor of the province. The exhibition of force was the means of effecting a treaty of capitulation on the part of Stuyvesant the Dutch governor. From this time, New Amsterdam and the whole conquered province received the name of New York, the original settlers choosing, for the most part, to remain, and being permitted to adopt many of their own forms of government.

NEW JERSEY was settled by the Dutch, not long after they had fixed themselves on the Hudson river. The Danes, also, commenced a settlement at a place to which they gave the name Bergen. This was about the year 1624. In 1626, a company of Swedes and Finns purchased land on both sides of Delaware river, and commenced a settlement on the western bank. The Dutch, however, considering themselves as the original settlers, laid claim to the country. They had built a fort, as early as 1623, on the east bank of the South river, as the Delaware was then called. It was not until the year 1640, that the English made any attempt to colonize the territory in question, and then they were resisted and expelled by the Swedes and Dutch. A few years afterwards, however, the Duke of York granted New Jersey to John, Lord Berkley, and Sir George Carteret, the territory receiving that name in compliment to Sir George, who had been governor of the island of Jersey in the English channel. Carteret soon after arrived at Elizabethtown, which he made the seat of government.

The state of DELAWARE was originally settled by the Dutch and Swedes, the former as early as 1629, having purchased a tract of land near Cape Henlopen. The enterprise of planting a colony, on the Delaware, was entrusted to an experienced navigator, De Vriez; and, in 1630, an association was formed for this purpose, in pursuance of which, a settlement was made, the next spring, on the west side of the river, at a place since called Lewiston. The Swedes, also, made considerable settlements on the same side of the river; but, whether these preceded that of the Dutch, is considered doubtful, the more recent authorities leaning rather to the Dutch claim. The Swedes, however, whatever their pretensions may have been, were conquered by the Dutch, in whose possession the country remained until the surrender of New York, in 1664. It was immediately after taken possession of, for the Duke of York, by Sir Robert Carr. A portion of its subsequent history is included in that of Pennsylvania, as Delaware had not even an assembly, separate from that of Pennsylvania, for several years.

Settlements commenced in MARYLAND as early as 1634. Two or three years previously, Lord Baltimore had visited the colony of Virginia, and, observing that the Virginians had formed no settlement to the northward of the river Potomac, he determined to procure a grant of territory in that region; but he died before the necessary authority by charter, which Charles had promised, could be given him. The patent, however, was filled up for his son, Cornelius Calvert, who had then become Lord Baltimore. The king gave to the new province the name of Maryland, in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria. It was originally included in the patent of the south Virginia company, a circumstance which gave rise, for a time, to disputes and difficulties between these communities. Lord Baltimore pursued a wise course in forming his colony. He established a basis of security to property and of freedom to religion, bestowing, in absolute fee, fifty acres of land on every emigrant, and allowing toleration to the various sects of the Christian faith. George Calvert, the brother of the governor, arrived with the first colony, consisting of about two hundred Roman Catholics, from England. Calvert, by kindness and liberality, obtained possession of an Indian town of importance, to which he gave the name of St. Mary's. Lord Baltimore was constituted the proprietor of the province; and he and his descendants, with some years of interruption, continued to enjoy the rights of jurisdiction and property until the time of the Revolution. Then the people, having adopted a constitution, refused to admit the claims of the representatives of Lord Baltimore.

The charter, embracing what is now NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA, and GEORGIA, was granted by Charles II., in 1662, to Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven, and several others. This country was called Florida, and claimed by the Spaniards. The claim, nevertheless, was supposed to be relinquished by the stipulations of a treaty between Great Britain and Spain, in 1667. The previous efforts to colonize this portion of the American continent had been unsuccessful, and grants that had been given to different individuals were now pronounced by the privy council to be null and void. A government was organized over the few settlers that were scattered in different parts, Mr. Drummond having been appointed governor. The settlers on Albemarle sound were allowed, on certain conditions, to retain their lands. The proprietors of the Carolinas did not make serious effort towards adding to the number of the colonists until 1667. Two ships carried out a number of adventurers, with provisions, arms, and utensils, necessary for building and cultivation. Sayle was appointed governor in 1669. In what place he first landed is uncertain; but not being pleased with his situation, he moved to the southward, and took possession of a neck of land between Ashley and Cooper rivers. Here he laid out a town, which, in honor of the British king, he called Charleston. This was the origin of South Carolina, as distinguished from North Carolina. The distance between Albemarle and the new location, induced the proprietors to establish two separate governments, the settlements on the sound constituting North Carolina. The early existence of the northern colony is said to have been marked, in a sad degree, by confusion and misrule, owing mainly to the exceptionable nature of its fundamental constitutions.

GEORGIA, though the last of the English colonies established in North America, may be mentioned here, since it was included in the original grant with the Carolinas. The charter of Georgia, as a district, was granted in 1732, and embraced the country on the south of the Carolinas, between the rivers Savannah and Altamaha, and extended westward from the heads of these rivers to the South sea. It was given to twenty-one persons, who were wealthy and influential individuals, as trustees, who were incorporated for the purpose of settling and establishing the colony. In pursuance of this design, in 1733, James Oglethorpe embarked for the province, with one hundred and sixteen persons destined for settlement. He selected the present site of Savannah, as the most desirable spot for this object. Here he built a fort, and put the colony in a proper state of defence, not neglecting, in the mean time, to cultivate friendly relations with the Indians. Though the objects of the settlement of Georgia were in a great measure benevolent--as they contemplated, among other things, an asylum for the poor and wretched in England and Ireland--yet the hopes of prosperity, entertained by the trustees, were not a little disappointed. The expenditures necessary for the support of the colony, became, at length, very onerous. The colony, also, was disturbed by the hostility of the Spaniards on the south, and nothing, under Divine Providence, but the wise counsels and determined valor of General Oglethorpe, saved it from destruction in the early part of its existence.

The tract of country west of the Delaware was, in 1681, granted to William Penn, son of the distinguished Admiral Penn, as a reward for the services of his father. The boundaries of the tract are definitely given us in the charter, but are too minute to be here specified. The whole region was afterwards called PENNSYLVANIA, constituting a state of very large and regular dimensions. The origin of the name is beautifully and ingeniously accounted for, in a letter written by William Penn: "This day (January 5, 1681)," says he, "after many waitings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes in the council, my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania; a name the king would give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being a hilly country; and when the secretary, a Welshman, refused to call it New Wales, I proposed Sylvania, and they added Penn to it, though I much opposed it, and went to the king to have it struck out. He said 'twas past, and he would take it upon him; nor could twenty guineas move the under secretary to vary the name; for I feared it would be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the king to my father, as it really was. Thou mayst communicate my grant to friends, and expect shortly my proposals. 'Tis a dear and just thing, and my God, that has given it to me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government, that it be well laid at first." And it was _well laid_. The territory was peaceably, and by fair purchase, procured of the natives, and though difficulties occasionally existed in the government, which gave the proprietor considerable concern, yet the colony enjoyed a career of prosperity for several successive years. The effects of his magnanimity and justice were especially visible in the early history of the colony.