CH. I.] EFFECTS OF WILLIAM'S ACCESSION. 149 In Massachusetts there was some difference of opinion as to the wisdom of resuming the Charter. The majority of the people seemed to wish it, but the Council of Safety did not like to commit themselves to the measure. It was thought best therefore to wait a while, and send additional agents to England in behalf of the colony. Ashurt, Cooke, and Oates, were commissioned to act with Increase Mather in England for Massachusetts. 1689. Although the news of William's accession had reached Virginia first of all, the Council were slow to act upon it; and, notwithstanding the wishes of the people, who were a good deal roused by apprehensions of a popish dynasty, the Council delayed till near the end of May before they proclaimed William and Mary "Lord and Lady of Virginia." Orange in England reached Boston by the magistracy, Henry Bull, an enerway of Virginia. Outraged by the high-getic Quaker, was prevailed upon to handed measures of Andros, the news accept the post of governor. caused great excitement. Andros, affecting to disbelieve it, undertook to imprison those who brought the information. But the spirit of the people was fully roused. On the 18th of April, as the commander of the Rose frigate, which the governor had in the harbor, was stepping on shore he was seized by the crowd. The sheriff, endeavoring to disperse the mob, was similarly treated. The whole town was in commotion. The militia gathered together and formed under their old leaders; the ship's barge was intercepted, as it came off to rescue Andros, who had fled for safety to the fort, against which the guns of the battery were turned by the people. Andros, obliged to submit, was forthwith conducted to prison. Simon Bradstreet, now at the advanced age of eighty-seven, who had already honorably distinguished himself in office, happening to appear at this conjuncture, was pronounced governor by general acclamation. This sudden movement, by which the castle and frigate fell into the hands of the insurgents, was fully sustained by the population of the surrounding country, who rapidly flocked into Boston to the assistance of their brethren in the city. The news flew rapidly to Plymouth, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, where similar risings took place. Connecticut brought forth her Charter from its hiding place, and Robert Treat was chosen governor; and in Rhode Island, though some difficulty was experienced in finding the men willing to assume In Maryland, too, there was a rising, directed especially against the Roman Catholic rule. A rumor was put in circulation that those in authority had combined with the Indians-with whom a treaty had been renewed in Marchto massacre all the Protestants.* John "The history of the Protestant revolution in 1689 has never yet been fully written. But there is evidence upon the records of the English government to show it was the result of a panic, produced by one of the most dishonorable falsehoods which has ever disgraced any religious or any political party-by the formed a conspiracy with the Indians, to massacre the Protestants!"-See Mr. George Lynn-Lachlan Davis's "Day-Star of American Freedom," p. 87. We regret that this eloquent and high-toned work, vindicating the claim of the Roman Catholic founder and freemen story, in a few words, that the Roman Catholics had Coode a confederate in Fendal's insurrection, took the lead, and an armed "Association for the Defence of the Protestant Religion" was formed. 1689. The delays on the part of the Council, in proclaiming William and Mary, favored the designs of Coode, and caused general dissatisfaction. Coode and his confederates called a Convention, which met in August, and proceeded to depose Lord Baltimore and proclaim the new king and queen in Maryland. An address was also transmitted to convey their congratulations on the accession of William and Mary; and for some three years the people of Maryland, by the ill advised assent of William to the insurrection, were subjected to the tyrannous exaction of those who had seized upon the reins of government. Truly, it would seem, as Chalmers surmises, that William "did not reflect, because his mind was occupied only with schemes of influence and conquest; that, in order to gain present power, he gave his assent to transactions, which, while they deprived an individual of his rights contrary to law, engendered a spirit of revolt, that, in after times, would shake the throne on which he then sat."* New York was also, at this date, the scene of great political excitement and commotion. The ardent spirit of Protestantism was aroused by the news that William of Orange was now king of of Maryland to the having established toleration, in the noblest sense, in that province, was not published until after we had prepared the former pages of our history, wherein we should have been glad to have enjoyed Mr. Davis's assistance. *"Introduction to the History of the Revolt of the American Colonies," vol. i., p. 205. England, and the people enthusiastically rose to proclaim his authority. Jacob Leisler, a merchant of New York, and senior captain of the five free companies, under Bayard as colonel, was persuaded by the people, who tumultuously rushed to his house, to take the head of affairs, for it was rumored that there was a plot on foot, and a scheme to murder all who favored the new king's accession. A provisional government was fixed upon, and Leisler, charged with all authority till orders should come from the king, proceeded to proclaim their majesties by sound of trumpet. The "loyal and noble Captain Leisler" next addressed a letter to the king, giving an account of his proceedings and the reasons moving him thereto. Bayard, finding his authority gone, and Nicholson the lieutenant-governor being in the same predicament, retired. to Albany, where they held out against Leisler and his party. The calamitous fall and ruin of Schenectady led to the submission of the malcontents to their hated opponent, and they called on him for aid and support. The king did not answer Leisler's letter; but appointed, in 1689, Colonel Henry Sloughter as governor of New York. Sloughter, however, did not arrive till March, 1691, when he was induced by Ingoldsby, captain of the troops which had reached New York before the new governor, to arrest Leisler and put him upon trial before his bitter enemies. By an insolent mockery of justice, Leisler and Milbourne his son-inlaw and principal associate, were condemned to death as rebels and traitors. Sloughter hesitated to order the execu 1691. CH. I.] THE DEATH OF JACOB LEISLER. tion of a man who had distinguished himself by his zeal in the cause of king William and the Protestant succession; but they who were bent upon Leisler's death, sought and obtained the signature of the fatal warrant when Sloughter was in his cups after dinner. Leisler's enemies plied the licentious and needy Sloughter with wine. "The carouse went on; a cold storm of sleet and rain, such as often makes a May day miserable in our climate, raged without. But, though those charged with the fatal missive had slipped away from the revel, and conveyed it, as quietly as possible to the sheriff, yet the soldiers of Ingoldsby, who were drawn up to overawe the populace, gave note to them of the dreadful act that was about to be consummated. They thronged around the place of execution, which, I may mention-for the benefit of New Yorkers-was at the lower end of what has been since called the Park, where the spray of the Fountain has succeeded the blood-stain of the martyr. Leisler and Milbourne stood there upon the scaffold together; and there too, within hearing of their voices, stood more than one of those who had brought them to this pass. The high spirit of Milbourne could hardly brook the insulting presence of men to whom he owed this fate of ignominy; and, turning to one gentleman, whom he deemed personally most hostile to himself; he exclaimed, 'Robert Livingston, I will implead thee at the bar of heaven for this deed!'"* Leisler, deeply 151 affected by the untimely fate of his sonin-law, died protesting his loyalty and integrity. Some years later, the bill of attainder was reversed and the estates restored to the rightful heirs; and it is now generally conceded, that whatever of error, haste, or ignorance Leisler displayed, he himself was judicially murdered. The king of England presuming that the northern colonies were more than a match for their French neighbors, rejected at once a proposition on the part of Louis XIV. for a neutrality between their respective colonies. There was no alternative consequently, and the war broke out with fury on both sides. Immediately upon the declaration of war between England and France becoming known in America, the Baron Castin found it an easy task to urge the eastern Indians to hostilities. At the close of the war with Philip of Pokanoket some thirteen years before, a body of three hundred Indians had been treacherously seized and sold into slavery, after they had agreed to peace. This transaction took place at the house of Major Waldron, at 1689. Dover, and a deep scheme was now laid by the Indians to avenge it. Suspicions of some sinister proceeding on the part of the Indians had been thrown out to Waldron, which however he only derided, merely telling those who sug gested them "to go and plant their Living-gested pumpkins, for he would tell them when the Indians would break out." On the very eve of the attack, being told with uneasiness that the town was full of them, he replied, "that he knew the * See C. F. Hoffman's “Administration of Jacob Leisler,” Sparks's American Biography, vol. iii., p. 227. Indians very well, and there was no danger whatever." According to the common practice, during times of peace, the Indians, who traded with the inhabitants, used to seek for and obtain a night's lodging. On this evening two squaws applied for leave to sleep by the hearth, which was readily granted at Waldron's and all the other houses save one. When the household was sunk in sleep, they arose, opened the doors, and giving an appointed signal, the Indians quietly stole in, set a guard at the door, and rushed into an inner room in which the major slept. The old man, now aged eighty, aroused by the noise, started up, and seizing his sword bravely drove his assailants back through one or two apartments, until stunned by a blow from a hatchet, he was secured and dragged out, and seated in an arm chair upon the hall table. "Judge Indians now!" insultingly exclaimed his captors; and then each man drawing his knife, and scoring deep gashes across his naked breast, exclaimed-"Thus I cross out my account." Cruelly mangled, and spent with loss of blood, he rolled heavily from the table, and one of his tormentors held his own sword under him as he fell which terminated his bitter agony. Twenty others were killed; twenty-nine were carried off prisoners; and the village was burned. This was in the latter part of June, 1689. In August and September, several attacks were made on different points, as Pemaquid and Casco, which latter was repulsed by Church, the famous partisan in King Philip's war. All the settlements further east were broken up. About the middle of October, Count Frontenac arrived in Canada, having been reappointed governor, and bringing with him the Indians who had been carried to France as prisoners, and also abundant supplies of galleys and troops. Though a man now sixty-eight years old, Count Frontenac was full of vigor and energy, and he determined to invade New York by land and sea; and accordingly he fitted out three war parties to visit upon the English the same misery and suffering which Canada had recently experienced at the hands of the Iroquois, those firm allies of the Frenchman's enemies. 1690. Schenectady was the point first devoted to destruction. An expedition, consisting of a hundred and ten men, set out in the bitter month of January, from Cagnawaga, nearly opposite Montreal on the St. Lawrence: they were mostly converted Mohawks, under the command of French officers. For twenty-two days they toiled through the heavy snows, enduring every species of hardship, intent only on blood, until, on the 8th of February, they reached the neighborhood of Schenectady. This was a small Dutch village on the Mohawk, consisting of some forty houses, and though protected by a palisade the gates were unguarded, and at midnight the people slept profoundly. Distance from the French frontier and the severity of the winter had rendered them, as they thought, secure from attack; but they were most fearfully roused to a sense of their fatal neglect. The savage war-whoop thrilled every heart. There was no time to think of CH. I.] HORRORS OF EARLY WARFARE. concerted resistance. The French and Indians had stolen into the town in several bodies, the door of every dwelling was instantly beset and burst open, and amidst the shrieks of women and children every atrocity was perpetrated that the vengeful cruelty of the Indian savage could suggest. Men, women, and children fell under the tomahawk in a promiscuous massacre; sixty were killed on the spot; twenty-seven were taken prisoners; the village was set on fire; and by the flames of their own homes, the remnant, a small body of miserable half-naked fugitives, hurried away, in the midst of a driving snow-storm, towards Albany, spreading terror and confusion among the people by their account of the savage fury which had fallen upon their ruined homes. The second war party sent out by Frontenac consisted of only fifty-two persons. They set out from Three Rivers, a village about half way from Montreal to Quebec, and made their way by the St. Francis, and the valley of the upper Connecticut to Salmon Falls, a village on the main branch of the Piscataqua. Falling suddenly upon it (March 27th) they killed most of the male inhabitants, burned their houses, and carried off fifty-four prisoners, chiefly women and children. they drove before them into the wilderness, intending to sell them as slaves in Canada. The reader will understand something of the horrors of early warfare by the following extract from the narrative of a captive sufferer: These "The Indians, when they had flogged me away along with them, took my VOL. I.-22 153 oldest boy, a lad of about five years of age, along with them, for he was still at the door by my side. My middle little boy, who was about three years of age, had by this time obtained a situation by the fire in the house, and was crying bitterly to me not to go, and making bitter complaints of the depredations of the savages. "But these monsters were not willing to let the child remain behind them; they took him by the hand to drag him along with them, but he was so very unwilling to go, and made such a noise by crying, that they took him up by the feet, and dashed his brains out against the threshold of the door. They then scalped and stabbed him, and left him for dead. When I witnessed this inhuman butchery of my own child, I gave a most indescribable and terrific scream, and felt a dimness. come over my eyes next to blindness, and my senses were nearly gone. The savage then gave me a blow across my head and face, and brought me to my sight and recollection again. During the whole of this agonizing scene, I kept my infant in my arms. "As soon as their murder was effected, they marched me along to the top of the bank. Here I beheld another hard scene, for as soon as we had landed, my little boy, who was still mourning and lamenting about his little brother, and who complained that he was injured by the fall in descending the bank, was murdered. "One of the Indians ordered me along, probably that I should not see the horrid deed about to be perpetrated. The other then took his |