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as galley-slaves. Do what you can to take a large CHAP. number of them prisoners of war, and ship them for France." By open hostilities, no captives could be 1687. made; and Lamberville, the missionary among the Onondagas, was unconsciously employed to decoy the Iroquois chiefs into the fort on Ontario. Invited to negotiate a treaty, they assemble without distrust, are surprised, put in irons, hurried to Quebec, and thence to Europe, and the warrior hunters of the Five Nations, who used to roam from Hudson's Bay to Carolina, were chained to the oar in the galleys of Marseilles. But the counsels of injustice are always fearfully avenged; and the sins of the fathers are jealously visited on the children unto the third and fourth generation. We shall hereafter have occasion to pursue the maritime destinies of a monarchy of which the fleets employed slaves for mariners.

Meantime the old men of the Onondagas summoned Lamberville to their presence. "We have much reason," said an aged chief, "to treat thee as an enemy, but we know thee too well. Thou hast betrayed us; but treason was not in thy heart. Fly, therefore, for when our young braves shall have sung their war-song, they will listen to no voice but the swelling voice of their anger." And trusty guides conducted the missionary through by-paths into a place of security. The noble forbearance was due to the counsel of Garonkonthié. Generous barbarian! your honor shall endure, if words of mine can preserve the memory of your deeds.

An incursion into the country of the Senecas followed. The savages retired into remoter forests; of the country which was overrun without resistance, possession was taken by the French, and a fort erected

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Charle voix, 511.

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CHAP. at Niagara. France seemed to have gained firm possession of Western New York. But as the French army withdrew, the wilderness remained to its old inhabitants. The Senecas in their turn made a descent upon their still feebler enemy; and the Onondagas threatened war. "Onondio has stolen our sachems; he has broken," said they, "the covenant of peace;" and Dongan, at the solicitation of the French, offered himself as mediator, but only on condition that the kidnapped chiefs should be ransomed, the fort in the Iroquois country razed, and the spoils of the Senecas

1688.

voix,

restored.

The negotiations fail; and Haaskouaun advances with five hundred warriors to dictate the terms of peace. "I have always loved the French," said the proud chieftain to the foes whom he scorned. "Our warriors proposed to come and burn your forts, your houses, your granges, and your corn; to weaken you by famine, and then to overwhelm you. I am come to tell Onondio he can escape this misery, if within four days he will yield to the terms which Corlaer has proposed."

Twelve hundred Iroquois were already on Lake St. Francis; in two days they could reach Montreal. The haughty condescension of the Seneca chief was Charle accepted, the ransom of the Iroquois chiefs conceded, and the whole country south of the chain of lakes rescued from the dominion of Canada. In the chain of events, New York owes its present northern boundary to the valor of the Five Nations. But for them Canada would have embraced the basin of the St. Lawrence.

5.29.

1686.

During these events, James II. had, in a treaty with Louis XIV., made it a condition of amity between the colonies of the two states, that neither should assist the

XVII.

indian tribes with whom the other might be at war. CHAP. Thus did the king of England ignorantly abandon his allies. Yet, with all his faults, James II. had a strong sentiment of English nationality; and, in consolidating the northern colonies, he hoped to engage the energies of New England in defence of the whole English frontier.

The alarm of Massachusetts at the loss of its charter 1685. had been increased by the news that Kirke, afterwards infamous for military massacres in the West of England, was destined for its governor. It was a relief to find that Joseph Dudley, a degenerate son of the colony, was intrusted for a season with the highest powers of magistracy over the country from Narragansett to Nova Scotia. The general court, in session at his arrival, and unprepared for open resist- May ance, dissolved their assembly, and returned in sadness to their homes. The charter government was publicly May displaced by the arbitrary commission, popular representation abolished, and the press subjected to the censorship of Randolph.

1686.

15:

25.

Nov.

29.

20.

At last, Sir Edmund Andros, glittering in scarlet and Dec. lace, landed at Boston, as governor of all New England. How unlike Penn at Newcastle! He was authorized to remove and appoint members of his council, and, with their consent, to make laws, lay taxes, and control the militia of the country. He was instructed to tolerate no printing-press, to encourage Episcopacy, and to sustain authority by force. From New York came West as secretary; and in the council, four subservient members, of whom but one was a New England man, alone commanded his attention. The other members of the council formed a fruitless

but united opposition. "His excellency," said Randolph, "has to do with a perverse people."

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Cotton Mather.

CHAP. A series of measures followed, the most vexatious and tyrannical to which men of English descent were ever exposed. "The wicked walked on every side; and the vilest men were exalted." As agents of James II., they established an arbitrary government; as men in office, they coveted large emoluments.

Lambeth
MSS.

841.

The schools of learning, formerly so well taken care of, were allowed to go to decay. The religious institutions were impaired by abolishing the methods of their support. "It is pleasant," said the foreign agents Las of tyranny, "to behold poor coblers and pitiful mechanics, who have neither home nor land, strutting and making noe mean figure at their elections, and some of the richest merchants and wealthiest of the people stand by as insignificant cyphers;" and therefore a 1688. town-meeting was allowed only for the choice of town Mar. officers. The vote by ballot was rejected. To a com

16.

1687.

mittee from Lynn, Andros said plainly, "There is no such thing as a town in the whole country." To assemble in town-meeting for deliberation was an act of sedition or a riot.

Personal liberty and the customs of the country were disregarded. None might leave the country without a special permit. Probate fees were increased almost twenty fold. "West," says Randolph,―for dishonest men betray one another," extorts what fees he pleases, to the great oppression of the people, and renders the present government grievous." To the scrupulous Puritans, the idolatrous custom of laying the hand on the Bible, in taking an oath, operated as a widely-disfranchising test.

The Episcopal service had never yet been performed within Massachusetts Bay, except by the chaplain of the hated commission of 1665. Its day of liberty was Dec. come. Andros demanded one of the meeting-houses

1686.

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1687.

25.

for the church. The wrongs of a century crowded CHAP. on the memories of the Puritans as they answered, "We cannot with a good conscience consent." Goodman Needham declared he would not ring the bell; but at the appointed hour the bell rung; and the Mar. love of liberty did not expire, even though, in a Boston meeting-house, the common prayer was read in a surplice. By and by, the people were desired to con- 1688. tribute towards erecting a church. "The bishops," 23. answered Sewall, and wisely, "would have thought strange to have been asked to contribute towards setting up New England churches."

June

March

23.

At the instance and with the special concurrence of James II., a tax of a penny in the pound, and a poll-tax 1687. of twenty pence, with a subsequent increase of duties, 3. were laid by Andros and his council. The towns generally refused payment. Wilbore, of Taunton, was imprisoned for writing a protest. To the people of Ipswich, in town-meeting, John Wise, the minister who Aug used to assert, "Democracy is Christ's government in church and state," advised resistance." We have,” said he, "a good God and a good king; we shall do well to stand to our privileges."—" You have no privilege," answered one of the council, after the arraignment of Wise and the selectmen, "you have no privilege left you but not to be sold as slaves."-" Do you believe," demanded Andros, "Joe and Tom may tell the Felt, king what money he may have?" The writ of habeas corpus was withheld. The prisoners pleaded Magna Charta. "Do not think," replied one of the judges, "the laws of England follow you to the ends of the earth.” And in his charge to the packed jury, Dudley spoke plainly," Worthy gentlemen, we expect a good verdict from you." The verdict followed; and after imprisonment came heavy fines and partial disfranchisements.

123, 124,

125.

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