402 XIV. 1666. DISCUSSION ON THE SAME. CHAP. terests of ourselves and God's things, as his Majesty's prerogative: for our liberties are of concernment, and to be regarded as to the preservation. If the King may send for me now, and another to-morrow, we are a miserable people." 'Yet," insinuated Dudley, "prerogative is as necessary as law, and is for the good of the whole. And where there is a right of power, it will be abused, so long as it is in the hands of weak men; and the less pious, the more apt to miscarry; but right may not be denied because it may be abused." "That is the point in dispute," was the rejoinder of Hathorne: "This age hath brought forth many treatises about prerogative, and do affirm, that prerogative is not above law, but limited by it; and the law states in what cases prerogative is to take place." Thus the debate continued; and, after much argument, obedience was refused. "We have already"-such was the reply of the Court-"furnished our views in writing, so that the ablest persons among us could not declare our course more fully. "1 Yet the loyalty of the colonists did not expend itself in empty professions. As the conquest of Canada was then a favorite project of Charles, privateers were fitted out to aid in its reduction. 2 Provisions were likewise sent to the fleet in the West Indies. Money was contributed for the benefit of the sufferers by the great fire in London. 4 And a ship-load of masts was forwarded for his Majesty's navy : "a blessing mighty unexpected," says Pepys, "and but for which we must have failed the next year." Thus ended 'Danforth Papers, in 2 M. H. Danforth Papers, in 2 M. H. Hutchinson, 1. 236. 4 Chalmers, Ann., 412; Hubbard, Danforth Papers, in 2 M. H. inson, 1. 235; Bancroft, 2. 89. See also Maritime Papers, vol. 1. fol's. 52, 53. These masts were sent in 1668. In 1671, John Gillam asked permission to get masts for his Majesty's use as usual. Ibid., fol. 57. Some orders were passed on this subject as early as 1665. Ibid., fol. 51. ? SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 403 XIV. 1666 for a season the contest with the Crown. The defiance of CHAP. Massachusetts was followed by no immediate danger. The calamities which England had suffered at home, by the to prevalence of the plague, and a devouring fire, had humbled 1670. her pride; Clarendon, the chief minister, had been displaced, and was in exile, and the profligate Buckingham had been advanced to his post; and, while the leisure of the Monarch was principally spent in dallying with women, and the whole court was converted into a gigantic brothel, and the nation itself was disturbed with the apprehension of deep-laid designs to subvert its own constitution, the Puritans of Massachusetts managed their affairs without molestation. The ministry had no courage to interfere in their concerns. The morality of the colonists was a perpetual rebuke upon their own debauchery: they were no fawning parasites, pampering the passions of a profligate prince; and before the stern spirit of liberty, which throbbed high every heart, both the Monarch and his courtiers timidly quailed.1 in 1 Hutchinson, 1. 230, 235, 246. CIAP. 1620 to 1675. Ar the settlement of Massachusetts, the Narragansets, next to the Pequots, were the most powerful and warlike Indian tribe in New England. Before the desolations of the plague, they could muster, probably, five thousand warriors, and numbered, in all, about eighteen thousand souls. Under the government of Canonicus and Miantonomo, and Ninigret, the sachem of Niantick, a member of the same tribe, some difficulties had arisen with them, and they had strenuously resisted all efforts for their conversion from the religion of their fathers; but now, under Pessacus and Ninigret, they were but the wreck of their former greatness, and the different tribes within their jurisdiction numbered about two thousand warriors, and seven thousand souls.1 The Wampanoags had also resisted all attempts to convert them to Christianity, though under Massasoit and Alexander they continued in friendship with the English, and the league of 1621, was kept inviolable. They were now governed by Philip, whose residence was at Mount Hope, and who was able to muster about seven hundred warriors. 2 The dealings of the colonists with the Indians has long been a subject of vague reproach. Their treatment of the red race has been censured as cruel and barbarous; and the conduct of Penn has been alluded to in contrast. We see no reason to think, however, that the governors of 1 Hubbard, 139; Gookin, in 1 M. 2 Hubbard's Narr., 8. H. Coll., vol. 1. DEALINGS WITH THE INDIANS. 405 XV. 1620 to 1675. the colonies were Neros and Caligulas, - men above all CHAP. others eminently wicked. Nor were the magistrates or the people a signally barbarous and blood-thirsty race. Their situation was at once both critical and perplexing. They had no disposition to injure the natives, or to treat them with harshness. They purchased of them the lands they occupied, and never, save in one instance - during the Pequot War-forcibly possessed themselves of a single foot of ground.1 Yet, when barbarism and civilization are brought into contact, one or the other must eventually yield. And especially, when the war-like spirit of the savages of New England is considered in connection with the sternness of the Puritan temper, it is evident that two races so essentially different could not long co-exist without frequent collisions. It is not, however, our purpose to apologize for our fathers. They need no apology. We admit that they erred, judged by our standard, and by the light of the present age; but compared with their contemporaries, in the Old World or the New, their conduct was as consistent, and their characters were as pure. From the moment of the landing of the English on these shores, the doom of the Indian seems to have been sealed. Unaccustomed to the habits of civilized life, everything he saw was strange and surprising. He felt that the new comers were vastly his superiors; and, as the population increased, and new towns were settled, and his hunting grounds were occupied for purposes of cultivation, although he had alienated these tracts under his own hand and seal, he felt painfully the contrast with the time when all was his own, and he roamed unchecked over the fairest regions, and pursued unmolested the chase of the deer. Hemmed in by rivals whose power he dreaded, his proud spirit chafed under so galling a bondage, and he sighed for 1 Hubbard, Narr., 13; Higginson, in Inter. Charter Papers, 1. 145. 406 DIFFICULTIES WITH PHILIP. XV. 1620 to CHAP. the freedom of his earlier years. The rude bow and arrow, once his principal weapons, had been exchanged for the musket of the white man; and in the use of this weapon 1675. he had acquired such skill as to be a formidable antagonist, and flattered himself that he was able, with the assistance of his neighbors, to drive before him as the winds the leaves of the autumnal forests, those who had become to him objects of hatred and deadly revenge. The leading warriors of the different tribes were wise enough to see that there was danger of their own extermination, unless the pale-face was expelled from the country; and Philip of L Mount Hope was the first to awaken to a sense of this danger, and the first to propose an alliance to prevent it. It was in 1670-1, that suspicions of the intentions of Philip began to be excited; and, by the frequent gathering of his tribe, repairing their arms, grinding their hatchets, and insulting the English, he was conceived to be med1662. itating a general war. Eight years previous, he had promised, at Plymouth, to continue in friendship with the English, and to remain faithful to the King and the colony.1 These professions were believed; but now it was rumored that he was about to violate them. Restless under restraints which had long been imposed upon him, it needed but little to goad him to action; and, as he was careless in his own carriage, his conduct was imitated by others of inferior rank, and several murders were wantonly committed.2 1670-1. The people of Plymouth were aroused by these abuses; and, sending to Philip to demand redress, they invoked aid from Massachusetts to reduce him to submission. The magistrates of the latter colony, anxious to prevent hostilities, despatched messengers to mediate between the contending parties; and a meeting for that purpose was held at Taunton. The interview took place in the church of the vil 1 Morton's Mem., 160-1; Hub- 2 Hubbard's Narr., 7; N. E. Gen. bard's Narr., 10; Hutchinson, 1. 253. Reg., 8. 328. |