blamed for his energy, for he only discharged with vigor the duty that devolved upon him. Out of the struggle between a royal despotism and a Puritan oligarchy came, in due season, the government of the people.

Acts of Andros in regard to

Andros was as firm and unyielding elsewhere as he was in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Thomas Hinckley, the Governor of New Plymouth complained with good reason that other colo- his people were compelled to pay taxes more burdensome than they had ever known before. Rhode Island willingly accepted a change which promised to end her struggle with her Puri

nies.

tan neighbors. In New Hampshire the new Governor established his authority with little difficulty: in Maine, he had, or thought he had more to fear from the interference of the French than any un willingness on the part of the English to submit to his rule. At the mouth of the Penobscot, the Baron Vincent de Saint Castin had established himself as the lieutenant of the French governor of Acadia; had encroached upon the territory of the Duke of York; had won the favor of the Indians by adopting their habits, and taking several of their women as his wives, and had gained so much influence over them as to be made one of their chiefs. When the condition of affairs in Massachusetts permitted, Andros made a visit to New Hampshire and Maine, and an important part of his errand was to bring Castin to submission. The baron did not wait for an inter

1687.]

THE CONNECTICUT CHARTER.

391

view, but fled with all his retainers. Andros entered his house, or fort, took possession of the arms, ammunition, and some other property; but left the little popish chapel and its furniture untouched. The plunder, he sent word to Castin, should be restored on his submission to the English King. The only result was the exasperation of Castin's friends, the Indians, which in due time had its results.

Connecticut, like Massachusetts, was deprived by a quo warranto of its Charter, in spite of its protests and its prayers. In October, 1687, Andros appeared in Hartford at the head of a troop of soldiers, while the General Court was in session. He demanded the surrender

of the charter, declaring that the government under it had come to an end. He seems, nevertheless, to have permitted the subject to be debated, Governor Treat defending their right to the charter, recounting the hardships the early settlers had suffered in making a home in the wilderness, and asserting that they had had no sufficient hearing in England. The arguments were not new, and not likely to influence Andros, however courteously he may have listened to them. The charter, meanwhile, lay with its box upon the table.

The debate continued till evening, and candles were lighted. An excited crowd had collected in and about the building. Discussion

Conceal

Connecticut

came to an end, and Andros ordered the charter to be returned to its box and delivered to him. Suddenly the lights were put out. Naturally there must have been some confusion and some delay ment of the in relighting the candles. When this was at length done, the charter was not to be found. It had disappeared in the darkness. The instrument, at least, was safe, and the royal Governor so far baffled. Other resistance, however, was useless, even if any was thought of, for Andros had at his back sixty obedient soldiers. The General Court submitted, for they could do no otherwise. Entering upon their records a minute of the meeting, they wrote at the end

Charter.

the significant word "FINIS." The crowd dispersed, sorrowfully no doubt, but quietly. The beloved parchment was safe in a hollow oak on the grounds of Samuel Wallys, one of the magistrates, where it had been put by a Captain Wardsworth of Hartford, and where it long remained.

Connecticut was now only a part of the royal province of New England. A few months later Andros received a commission as governor, also, of New York and New Jersey.

News of the
English

When the rumor came creeping up in April, 1689, from Virginia, of the landing of the Prince of Orange in England the previous November, the inhabitants of Boston could hardly Revolution. fail to look upon it as a providential interposition. The young man who brought the news-John Winslow - was impris