rejoiced in the enjoyment of their privileges, and in the Book I. divine care and beneficence.

1707.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The country is alarmed. Means of defence. The assembly decline the affording of any assistance in the expedition against Port Royal. Grant assistance to the frontier towns. New townships granted and settled. The Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall chosen governor. Act empowering the freemen to choose the governor from among themselves at large. Acts relative to the settlement of the boundary line with Massachusetts. Garrisons erected in the towns on the frontiers. Expedition against Canada. First emission of paper money. Address to her majesty. Loss of the colony at Wood Creek. Expedition against Port Royal. Expedition against Canada under the command of admiral Walker and general Nicholson. Fleet cast away and the enterprise defeated. The colony petition her majesty, and send the only pilot from Connecticut, to England, to represent to her majesty the loss of the fleet truly as it was. Acts respecting the superior court. Settlement of the boundary line between Massachusetts and Connecticut. Reasons why the colony consented to such a settlement. Return of peace. The colony happy in the the preservation of their frontiers. Towns settled under Massachusetts. State of the colony. Observations.

Canada a

SUCH reports of the preparations of the French and In- Reports of dians, to make a descent upon some part of New- an expediEngland, were spread abroad, about the beginning of the tion from year 1707, as gave a general alarm to the country. On larm the the 6th of February, 1707, a council of war, consisting of country. the governor, most of the council, and a considerable number of the chief military officers in the colony, convened at Hartford. A letter was received from deputy governor Treat, and another from major Schuyler at Albany, giving intelligence, that the French, and Indians in their interest, were about to make a descent upon NewEngland. Information was also communicated, that suspicions were entertained, that the Pohtatuck and Owiantuck Indians designed to join the French and Indians from Canada.

BOOK I. The committee resolved, that the western frontier towns, Simsbury, Waterbury, Woodbury, and Danbury, should 1707. be fortified with all possible dispatch. As Waterbury had Measures sustained great losses, by inundations, it was resolved, for their encouragement to fortify their houses well, that the governor and council would use their influence with the assembly, that their country rates should be abated. It was resolved, that each of these four towns should keep a scout of two faithful men, to be sent out every day, to discover the designs of the enemy, and give intelligence should they make their appearance near the frontier towns.

adopted for the common

safety.

Special assembly, April 2d.

The assembly will not join in the expedi

tion to

If

To prevent damages from the Pohtatuck and Owiantuck Indians, captain John Minor and Mr. John Sherman were appointed to remove them to Stratford and Fairfield. by reason of sickness or any other cause they could not be removed, it was ordered, that a number of their chief men should be carried down to those towns, and kept as hostages to secure the fidelity of the rest.

On the second of April, a special assembly was convened in consequence of letters from governor Dudley. He had proposed to send an army of a thousand men against L'Acadia, and requested Connecticut to join with Massachusetts in the expedition.

After the affair had been maturely considered, the assembly determined not to comply with the proposal. The reasons given were, that they had not been consulted, nor had opportunity to consent to the expedition: That they did not understand that the neighbouring colonies, who L'Acadia. were equally interested in the expedition, with themselves, were called upon, or had consented to do any thing; and, that the vast expense of defending the county of Hampshire and their own frontiers, incapacitated them to join in the enterprise.

Court of election, May 8, 1707.

Hebron

made a

town.

At the general election this year, the governor and council were all re-elected.

Upon the petition of John Pratt, Robert Chapman, John Clark, and Stephen Post, appointed a committee in behalf of the legatees of Joshua Uncas,* the assembly granted a township which they named Hebron. The settlement of the town began in June, 1704. The first people who made settlements in the town were William Shipman, Timothy Phelps, Samuel Filer, Caleb Jones, Stephen

*By the last will of said Uncas, all the lands in Hebron were bequeathed to Thomas Buckingham, Esq. William Shipman and others, called the Saybrook legatees, except about 2,600 acres at the northeast corner, and about 4,000 acres at the south end of the town. There were also about 700 within the parish of Marlborough. These lands were claimed by Mason.

Post, Jacob Root, Samuel Curtis, Edward Sawyer, Jo- Book I. seph Youngs, and Benoni Trumbull. They were from Windsor, Saybrook, Long-Island, and Northampton. The 1707. settlement, at first, went on but slowly; partly, by reason of opposition made by Mason and the Moheagans, and partly, by reason of the extensive tracts claimed by proprietors, who made no settlements. Several acts of the assembly were made, and committees appointed to encourage and assist the planters. By these means they so increased in numbers and wealth that in about six or seven years they were enabled to erect a meeting-house and settle a minister among them.

At the session in October, the assembly granted a town- Oct. 9th ship to Nathan Gould, Peter Burr, captain John Wakeman, Jonathan Sturges, and other inhabitants of the town. of Fairfield, bounded southerly on Danbury, easterly on New-Milford, and westerly upon the colony line. It extended fourteen miles northward from Danbury. It was afterwards named New-Fairfield. The war, for several years, prevented all attempts for the settlement of this

tract.

As the frontier towns had exhibited much zeal in fortifying themselves agreeably to the directions of the governor and council, the assembly made them a liberal compensation.

About this time the colony sustained a great loss in the Special asdeath of the honorable Fitz John Winthrop, Esq.† and a sembly, Dec. 17th, special assembly was convoked on the 17th of December, 1707. by deputy governor Treat, at New-Haven, for the purpose of electing another governor. The assembly ordered, that the votes of both houses should be mixed before they were sorted and counted, and that the majority of, votes should determine the choice. Upon counting the tonstall votes, the Reverend Gurdon Saltonstall was declared to chosen be chosen governor.

Four of the magistrates, the speaker of the house, with three of the other deputies, were appointed a committee to acquaint him with the choice, and solicit his acceptance of

He was the son of the honorable John Winthrop, Esq. the first governor of Connecticut, under the charter. His birth was at Ipswich, in Massachusetts, 1638. Upon the assumption of the charter, May, 1689, he was chosen into the magistracy. In 1690, he was appointed major general of the land army designed against Canada. On the dispute relative to the command of the militia, he was sent agent, for the colony, to the British court, 1694. After his return, May, 1698, he was chosen governor, and was annually re-chosen during his life. He died November 27th, 1707, in the 69th year of his age.

He appears to have been a popular gentleman, and to have sustained a character without blemish.

Mr. Sal

governor.

Book I. the important trust to which he had been chosen. A letter was addressed to him by the assembly, desiring him to ac1707. cept of the choice which they had made, and, with the committee appointed to wait on him, to answer the letters of their agent, and transact whatever the exigencies of the government might require. A letter was also addressed to his church and congregation at New-London, acquainting them with the call, which the assembly imagined Mr. Saltonstall had to leave the ministry, and to dispose them to submit to such a dispensation.

January 1st, 1708.

Election,

The magistrates, upon Mr. Saltonstall's acceptance of the trust to which he had been chosen, were directed to administer to him the oath of the governor, and the oath respecting trade and navigation.

On the first of January, 1708, governor Saltonstall accepted of his office, and took the oaths appointed by law.

This assembly repealed the law which required, that the governor should always be chosen from among the magistrates in nomination, and gave liberty for the freemen to elect him from among themselves at large.

At the election, May 13th, 1708, governor Saltonstall May 13th, was chosen governor by the freemen. Nathan Gould,

1708.

Act for

quieting

Windsor

Esq. was elected deputy-governor.* The former magistrates were re-chosen, and Mr. John Haynes, for the first time, was elected one of the council. The former treasurer and secretary were re-chosen.

A township was granted, in the course of this session, at Pohtatuck, afterwards named Newtown.

Connecticut, for a long course of years, had been at the inhab- great trouble and expense, in attempting the settlement of itants of the boundary line betweeen this colony and Massachusetts. The inhabitants of Windsor and Simsbury had been often exceedingly injured, in their persons and property, fixing the by the people of Suffield and Enfield, especially by the former. They had not only encroached upon their lands and cut down their timber, but often seized upon their tar

and Suffield, and

line be

tween Massachu

The honorable Robert Treat, Esq. being, at this period, eighty-six years of age, retired from the scene of public action. He had been three years a magistrate, and thirty-two years governor, or deputy-governor of the colony. He was elected magistrate, May, 1673, deputy-governor, 1676, and governor, in 1683. To this office he was annually elected, fifteen years, until 1698: he was then chosen deputy-governor until the year 1708. He died about two years after, July 12th, 1710, in the 85th year of his age. Few men have sustained a fairer character, or rendered the public more important services. He was an excellent military officer; a man of singular courage and resolution, tempered with caution and prudence. His administration of government was with wisdom, firmness and integrity. He was esteemed courageous, wise, and pious. He was exceedingly beloved and venerated by the people in general, and especially by his neighbours, at Milford, where he resided.

Connecti

and turpentine, and even upon their persons, and forcibly Book I. carried them off to Sutfield. In consequence of these outrages, great animosities had arisen between the inhabit- 1708. ants of those towns, and many lawsuits had been commenc- setts and ed. The assembly, as far as possible, to prevent and terminate these evils, enacted, that commissioners should be 13th, 1708, cut, May appointed, with full powers to run the line, with such commissioners as Massachusetts should appoint for that purpose. They were directed to take care that the line should be run by skilful artists, with good instruments; and to take their station three miles south of every part of Charles river, whence Mr. James Taylor and the commissioners of this colony ran the line in 1702. They were instructed to run a due west line from that station, and to make and set up fair marks and monuments in the line be tween the colonies. And to prevent all further contention, it was enacted, that the inhabitants of Windsor, Simsbury, Suffield, and Enfield, should not make any improvement on the contested lands, until the line should be run and settled. It was also enacted, that all suits should continue and rest, until the county court at Hartford, in October, and then to cease. It was provided, nevertheless, that the court of Massachusetts should give the same orders to the people of that province, who claimed upon the line, and should immediately unite with Connecticut in settling the boundary between the colonies. Otherwise, it was determined, that all causes, bonds, and the like should be, and remain as though this act never had been passed.

Further, it was enacted, that, upon running the line, all the most ancient grants, made to the proprietors, by either government, should give title and property to the settlers on either side of the line. It was determined, that unless the court of Massachusetts would agree to the running of the line in this manner, a petition should be addressed to her majesty, praying her to give orders, that the divisional line might be run.

The assembly, at this session, ordered that a township Killingly should be laid out east of Woodstock, eight miles in length, made a The inhabitants were vested with town. and six in breadth. the privileges of a distinct town, by the name of Killingly.* The affairs of the war were conducted this year in the same manner as they had been the preceding. Colonel William Whiting commanded a body of horse and infantry

*At this session, the assembly ordered, "that the ministers of the gospel preach a sermon to the freemen, on the day appointed by law to choose their civil rulers, in the towns where they meet, proper for their direction in the work before them." This seems to have been the origin of preaching freemen's meeting sermons in Connecticut.