rity whatever on a matter deemed by them so supremely important. To us it appears evident that, under all the circumstances, this silence implied a full assurance of their not being disturbed. In fact, they took with them a silenced minister, and on their arrival immediately began to exercise uncontrolled liberty, without drawing upon themselves any penal proceedings. We have seen, on every occasion, the vast sacrifices which princes were willing to make, in order to people their distant possessions; and the backwardness hitherto visible as to New England rendered the necessity of encouragement more urgent. It was probably also imagined, that a few of the most discontented spirits being thus removed, the nation in general might become more peaceable.

On the 1st May, 1629, six vessels, having on board about two hundred passengers, including four clergymen, sailed from the Isle of Wight. Smith would evidently have been glad to co-operate; but difference of religious views seems again to have prevented negotiation. He describes them " an absolute crew, only of the elect, holding all but such as themselves as reprobate ;" and before sailing, all those persons were dismissed whose character was thought to make them unsuitable companions. The seamen were surprised and edified by the new scene which their ships presented-prayer and exposition of the Word two or three times a day; the sabbath entirely spent in preaching and catechising; repeated and solemn fasts for the success of the voyage. They arrived on the 24th June, and found only eight or ten hovels, which, with others scattered along the coast, contained about one hundred settlers. A site, already marked out, had its name changed from Nahumkeik to Salem; while a large party removed to Mishaum, which they called Charlestown.

The colonists suffered severely during the winter under the usual evils of a new settlement, especially in so rigorous a climate. No fewer than eighty died ; yet the spirits of the rest continued unbroken, and they transmitted by no means unfavorable reports to England. Mr. Higgeson, the principal clergyman, was one of the victims; yet he had previously prepared a narrative, which painted the country under the most flattering colors, as "a wonderment, outstripping the increase of Egypt-yielding from thirty to sixty fold; the ears of corn nowhere so great and plentiful." He adds, "Shall such a man as I lie? It becometh not a preacher of the truth to be a writer of falsehood in any degree." Yet the picture was much too highly colored, though we hope not intentionally. At home it was extensively read, and produced a strong impression. An extraordinary movement had in fact taken place among those to whom their religious welfare was an object of paramount interest; and their promptitude to remove was greatly increased by an arrangement, according to which the meetings of the company might be held in New England. The colonists thus carried the charter along with them, and were entirely released from all dependance upon Great Britain. A body of emigrants was formed, much superior to their predecessors in numbers, wealth, education, and intelligence. The principal lay members were Winthrop, Dudley, and Johnston; the two first of whom were successively governors, while the other was accompanied by his wife, Lady Arabella, a daughter of the house of Lincoln.

The party thus assembled from various quarters was ready to sail early in the spring of 1630. The expedition consisted of seventeen vessels, and nearly fifteen hundred settlers, who were respectable as well for their intelligence as for their rank in society. They published an account of their motives for removal, taking an affectionate leave of their friends in England, in which they said, "Our eyes shall be fountains of tears for your everlasting welfare, while we are in our poor cottages in the wilderness." They went, however, with little experience in the mysteries of settlement, and without any suspicion of their own ignorance. Smith intimates that he saw clearly the errors which they were

committing, but no regard was paid to his warning voice. They had received a false impression, for which Mr. Higgeson must be partly blamed, that they were going to a land already in the enjoyment of plenty; whereas the existing settlers were looking anxiously to them for supplies. Want of food and shelter, and a change in the habits of life, which with many of them had been those of ease and comfort, produced the usual distressing consequences; and in the first month from eighty to one hundred died, among whom Lady Arabella and her husband were particularly lamented. The hopes of religion, the firmness of the leaders, and the high motives by which they were inspired, carried them through this period of heavy trial. They spread themselves over the coast-a large proportion going to Charleston. Part of these were attracted by a situation at the very head of the bay, named by the Indians Shawmut, where they founded a town called first Trimountain, and afterward Boston, under which name it has become a populous and flourishing city.

The relations of the colonists with the Indian tribes were not so satisfactory as the character of the settlers might have led us to hope. Almost from the first establishment of Connecticut, mutual wrongs had created an animosity between the settlers and the Pequods, the most powerful of all the tribes, who sought, by an alliance with their enemies, the Narragansets, to form a general league against them. This scheme had nearly succeeded, when it was frustrated by the generous exertions of Williams. The English at first were taken by surprise, had several small detachments cut off, and were so closely hemmed in, that they could not go to their work or even to church without a strong escort. Captains Mason and Underhill, however, having come up with seventy men, determined to attack their main fort, surrounded by a palisade of strong trees, but so loosely put together that musketry could penetrate it. The assailants having forced an entrance, set fire to the camp, which was soon reduced to ashes, and above three hundred Indians, men, women, and children, perished in the ruins. The English, whose loss was trifling, pursued the remnant of the tribe from place to place, till the whole were either killed or taken prisoners. Forty who

had sought refuge among the Mohawks, were given up by these savages, and the few others who remained alive surrendered in despair.

After the terror inspired by this dreadful overthrow, tranquillity continued nearly forty years. The Massachusetts government maintained friendly relations with the Indians, allowing them even when unconverted to settle within its jurisdiction. The conditions required, as stated by Winthrop, with their answers, are somewhat curious :-They were not to blaspheme, but to revere the true God.—Ans. They would always desire to speak reverentially of the Englishmen's God, who did so much better for them than other gods did for their worshippers. They should not work on the sabbath.-Ans. They worked so little any day, that they need not object to this article. They should not swear falsely.-Ans. They never swore at all. They should not permit murder, lying, or other crimes.-Ans. All these they condemned already. A number of them, as will be afterward observed, were even converted to Christianity. A disposition arose to imitate the English, and even to assume their names; those of King Philip, Stonewall John, and Sagamore Sam, were borne by powerful chiefs.

As the colonists multiplied, and the circle of settlement extended, the natives could not but feel for how paltry a price they had sold their once spacious birthright. The enlarged frontier afforded new occasions of dispute; and the Indians, when wronged, instead of appealing to the general court, took vengeance with their own hands. When charged with offences, they were tried according to the rigor of English law-a treatment altogether foreign to their ideas. There was no general confederacy, nor even any deliberate purpose of commencing hostilities. A member of one of the tribes, having given information against certain of his countrymen, fell a victim to their resentment; but the murderers were condemned to death by a jury, of whom half were Indians. In revenge, a small party of English were surprised and slain; and immediately war broke out along the whole border.

The Indians were now much more formidable than in the first contest. During the long interval they had eagerly sought to procure the superior arms wielded by Europeans; and commercial avidity had supplied them. They had attained no discipline, and could not contend in the open field; but the English soon learned to dread an enemy whose habitations, says Mather," were the dark places of the earth;" who, at moments the most unexpected, rushing from the depth of forests, surrounded and overwhelmed them. The war began with the burning of frontier villages, and the slaughter of detached parties. Beers, one of the bravest captains, was surprised and killed with twenty of his followers. Then came a more "black and fatal day." Lothrop commanded with reputation a body of fine young men, the flower of the county of Essex, who, having piled their arms on wagons, were securely reposing and plucking grapes when the alarm was given. After a desperate resistance they were cut off, only a mere handful escaping. This was followed by the "Springfield misery." That village, the most important on the boundary, was broken into, and every building reduced to ashes, except a large one, which, being slightly fortified supplied a refuge to the inhabitants. Others soon shared the same fate, in circumstances still more tragical. A boast was at first made that no place with a church had been sacked, but this was soon belied; and the Indians, according to ideas prevalent among savages, considered themselves at war at once with the English and with their gods. In a captured village, their first step was to reduce the meeting-house to ashes; and in torturing their captives, they derided the objects of their worship, for the want of power to save them. After killing the men, they carried away the women and children; and, though the honor of the former was not threatened, they were treated with dreadful cruelty. For example they were compelled to follow rapid marches, which at this time were.

frequent, and when found unequal to the effort, were killed at once by blows on the head.

The colonists were doubly perplexed and dismayed by these disasters. Imbued with a belief, beyond what the usual course of Providence justifies, that every calamity was a judgment for some great iniquity, they anxiously sought why "the Lord no longer went forth with their armies." Mather quotes a letter from a leading man in the camp, imputing it to the luxury which wealth had produced among the citizens of Boston-" their intolerable pride in clothes and hair,” and the multiplication of taverns. The neglect of religion and of its ministers was of course blamed; unfortunately, too, the increase of schism and even the slender toleration which had begun to be granted. Days of fasting were appointed; but they were astounded when one of the most solemn was followed by the catastrophe of Lothrop, from which they drew the salutary inference that "praying without reforming would not do." These views did not prevent them from using regular means of warfare, of which the attack of the fortified villages was found the most effective. In the midst of winter, one thousand men marched against the mainhold of the Narragansets. They rushed to the onset; and after a dreadful conflict it was carried, and reduced to ashes-the Indians perishing in vast numbers. But the colonists, appalled by their own loss of three hundred killed and wounded, including their six bravest leaders, retreated in great confusion: the enemy, however, were overwhelmed by their disaster, which they never fully recovered. In spring, indeed, they resumed their wonted warfare, but with diminished means and spirit; and in May, another of their principal settlements was destroyed. Driven from their cultivated spots, and finding shelter only in woods and marshes, they suffered increasing hardships and privations. Discontent and disunion were the consequence; several of the tribes began to make their submission, when pardon was granted. Two hundred laid down their arms at Plymouth; and Sagamore John came in with one hundred and eighty, bringing also Matoonas, accused as the author of this dreadful war. In the course of it had been formed skilful officers, particularly Captain Church, who displayed singular talents in this desultory contest. In August he came up with Philip himself, who was completely routed, and fled almost alone. Hunted from place to place, he was traced to the centre of a morass, where he was betrayed and shot by one of his own people. The spirit of the Indians then entirely sunk; and all who survived either emigrated to a distance, or submitted without reserve to the English power.

XI. Notwithstanding the paramount importance to which New York has attained, its early settlement was not accompanied by such striking circumstances as marked those of some other colonies.

About the year 1600, the attention of the English and Dutch had been directed to the discovery of a northern passage to India, which they hoped might at once be shorter, and enable them to escape the still formidable hostility of Spain. After this object had been vainly pursued by Frobisher, Davis, Barentz, and other navigators, it was resumed by Henry Hudson. Though a native of Holland, he was first employed by a company of English merchants, when he made the daring effort to cross the pole itself, and penetrated farther in that direction than any of his predecessors; but the icy barriers compelled him to return. He next attempted an eastern passage, between Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen, but again failed. His patrons in London then lost courage; but he, animated by the same ardor, solicited and obtained from the Dutch East India Company a small vessel named the Crescent, to renew his researches. After another abortive endeavor at an eastern passage, he appears to have finally renounced that object; and steering toward the west, began to explore the American coast, from Newfoundland southward. It had, indeed, been to a great extent both discovered