1661.] THE NAVIGATION ACT. 227 tion Act. that the first Parliament of the restored king had made the Navigation Act more than ever obnoxious to the interests of the The Naviga colonies, and that it was to be rigidly enforced. This was a grievance about which Royalist and Puritan were of one mind. Sir. William Berkeley went to England in May, 1661, to represent how seriously the prosperity of the colony was hindered by the enforcement of such a law against its trade. He remained in England more than a year, Francis Morrison acting as governor in his absence; but his mission, so far as the Navigation Act was concerned, was fruitless, though he was more fortunate in the advancement of his own interests, for he obtained a grant for himself and others of that part of Virginia territory afterward known as North Carolina. Trade in and of tobacco. The interests of the colony, nevertheless, were stronger than acts of Parliament, for its prosperity depended largely upon free trade in the one great staple, tobacco. Even without inter- cultivation ference from Parliament, there was enough to contend with, for the supply of that staple usually exceeded the demand. To regulate its production-to force by penalties the raising of more corn and less tobacco was from the beginning of these settlements the constant aim of legislation in Virginia and Maryland; but the attempt to set aside the natural law of political economy by statute was as futile here as the attempt to prevent the trade to foreign ports when the tobacco was ready for shipment. Equally futile was it to expect to create by legislative act towns into which the people should gather. The people were planters, and, with their servants and slaves, were scattered on the great plantations along the banks of the James and other rivers. The planters with these large grants of land were comparatively few; the slaves and servants many. To live in towns and to be supported by diversified industry was impossible to such a people, for slaves can be devoted only to unskilled labor. To raise tobacco, therefore, to be shipped directly from the river-bank — usually the water-front of the plantation-was the chief employment and support of the colonial planters, and it was equally difficult to limit production by local laws or to confine the foreign trade to an English channel. Northern and Southern interests. The last especially, it was found impossible to do, so long as the Dutch Colony of New Netherland offered every facility for a contraband commerce which English law could not reach, and in which both English and Dutch vessels could so easily engage. The grant to the Duke of York of the territory of the Dutch was not merely a royal gift to the brother of the King. It was meant to add to the revenues of the King himself, by making it possible to enforce the Navigation Act, and to control the tobacco trade of Virginia. That the Dutch province on the Hudson should belong to the English was sure in the end, whatever might be the ulterior purposes of Charles, to be a benefit to New England. To the people of Virginia, it was of no territorial advantage, but a direct interference with their freedom of trade and an immediate injury to their prosperity. It was the inevitable antagonism of free and slave labor. The severity of the laws in the early years of the restored royal government, and perhaps, the evident intent of the colonial Assembly to grasp at irresponsible power, caused much disCromwellian content among the people. In 1663, after the return of soldiers. Berkeley from England, a plot was discovered to overthrow the government. But as it seems to have been confined to some of Cromwell's soldiers who had been sent out and sold as servants — a disposition of prisoners to which both parties resorted-it had its origin, probably, in a general political and religious discontent, rather than in any special complaint of particular laws. It was suppressed, however, without much difficulty, though it was thought to be serious enough to warrant the execution by hanging of four of the ring-leaders, and for setting apart the 13th of September, the day fixed for the insurrection, as a day of annual thanksgiving. A plot discovered among CHAPTER X. THE LATTER YEARS OF NEW NETHERLAND. MASSACRE - CONTRAST NEW AMSTERDAM INVADED BY INDIANS. DESTRUCTION OF PAVONIA. A MORE prudent ruler than Stuyvesant would have hesitated to take between six or seven hundred men from New Amsterdam, even for so important a purpose as the reduction of New Sweden. However confident he might feel that the New Englanders would be faithful to the terms of the recent treaty of peace, he would have known how little. reliance could be placed upon any promise of friendship from the Indians. It needed only the smallest pretext at any time to arouse the savages, eager for plunder and thirsty for blood, to carry desolation and death into the villages and farms of the whites; and the more certain they were that their victims would be defenceless, the shriller would be their war-cry and the louder their boasts of their own prowess and bravery. When Stuyvesant sailed for the South River with so large a proportion of the fighting men of New Netherland, it does not seem to have occurred to him how imminent a danger he left behind. New Am prised by Indians. While he was busy before Fort Christina, New Amsterdam was aroused one September morning to find its streets swarming sterdam sur with nearly two thousand naked warriors, gathered of several tribes from far up the North River, from the extremity of Long Island, and from the mainland of Connecticut. All day they roamed through the town, breaking into houses on the pretence of seeking for northern Indians, and hinting at redress for the death of a squaw whom Van Dyck, the late Attorney-general, had shot at his farm on Staten Island, for stealing fruit from his garden. Persuasion was wiser than resistance against so large a body, many of whom were well armed, and the frightened burghers with their wives and children submitted for hours to insolence and outrage they did not dare, or thought it more prudent not to resist. The invaders agreed at last to leave the town at sunset, to paddle over to Nutten (Governor's) Island, and there await the result of a conference to be held between their chiefs and the magistrates. But a conflict could only be delayed, not avoided, even if the savages meant anything more by their promise than to gain time for the advantage of confusion in a night attack. Either the Indians grew bolder or the Dutch less prudent, for a fight was begun by one side or the other, and there was an end then of all talk of peaceful negotiation. Van Dyck was brought down with an arrow in the breast; Captain Van der Grist was cloven to the ground with an axe. Shouts of alarm and cries of murder rung through the streets, and the timid and the feeble ran to put themselves under the protection of the stronger and bolder, or to hide themselves in some place of safety. The military, who had been prudently ordered to the fort to be ready for an emergency, marched to the rescue of the citizens. An organized attack was too much for the savages; they were driven to their canoes, but their defence was so desperate that they left three dead warriors upon the beach. In the assault, two of the Dutch were killed and three others wounded. Mobs are dispersed now with results quite as serious; it was a respectable Indian fight in the seventeenth century that counted even less than half a dozen dead. The fleet of canoes pulled out into the stream. They did not go to Nutten Island, and were lost to sight in the darkness, though over the water came out of the night their yells of vengeance and defiance. The people of New Amsterdam, relieved from the terrible fear of an immediate massacre, watched anxiously along the shore, straining their eyes and ears to catch any sign of the purpose of the enemy. They had not long to wait. 1655.] MASSACRE AND DEVASTATION. 231 Pavonia de Over Pavonia and Hoboken sprung a sudden light. Along the beach of Manhattan Island the pitying people gathered, dreading what next the night might bring forth, watching stroyed. the forked flames as they shot into the reddening sky, listening helplessly for the mingled shrieks of agony and despair, the whoop of savage hate and fury, the crackling of the fire as it leaped from house to house, the moans and cries of terror from maddened beasts. Pavonia in a little while was a heap of burning coals and ashes; not a house was spared; save in a single family not a man was left alive; the cattle were all dead, the crops destroyed; with a rare mercy only the women and children were spared and carried off as prisoners. Staten Isl elsewhere. It would be easy to see from the shores of Staten Island, over whose beautiful hills were scattered many pleasant boweries, the burning village of Pavonia. But the cause of the fire may not Raids upon have been known. When its work was done, the savages, and, and drunk with success and blood, sprung to their canoes and paddled across the Bay straight for the Island. In the farm-houses on the peaceful hill-sides slept ninety people, men, women, and children. The paddles of between sixty and seventy canoes broke the silence of the night; the alarm was given in time for many to escape; others were too late or lost their lives in a vain attempt at defence. Twentythree were killed, and the morning sun rose upon the new silence of death and desolation, upon ruined homes, on desolate hearth |