twelve or thirteen towns were destroyed, and six hundred dwelling houses were consumed. Every eleventh family was houseless, and every eleventh soldier had sunk to the grave.

"In the year 1684, it was decided in the high Court of Chancery, that Massachusetts had forfeited her charter, and that henceforth her government should be placed in the hands of the king. This event was brought about chiefly by the instrumentality of Edmund Andros. This man had been sent over as a kind of spy on the colonies; he made it his business to collect charges against the colonies, and return to England and excite the jealousy of the British government. In this manner, the way was prepared for annulling the colonial charters. In December 1686, Andros arrived at Boston, being commissioned by King James, as Governor General, and Vice Admiral over New England, New York, and the Jerseys. Like all tyrants, Sir Edmund began his administration with professions of high regard for the public welfare. In a few months, however, the prospect was changed. The press was restrained, liberty of conscience infringed, and exhorbitant taxes were levied. The charters being vacated, it was pretended all titles to land were destroyed; farmers, therefore, who had cultivated their soil for half a century, were obliged to take new patents, giving large fees, or writs of intrusion were brought, and their lands sold to others. To prevent petitions or consultations, town meetings were prohibited, excepting once in a year for the choice of town officers. Lest cries of oppression should reach the throne, he forbade any to leave the country without permission from the government.

In 1689, King James having abdicated the throne, William, Prince of Orange, and Mary, daughter of James, were proclaimed in February. A report of the landing of William in England, reached Boston; but before the news of the entire revolution in the English government arrived, a most daring one was effected in New England.

The colonists had borne the impositions of Andros's government about three years. Their patience was now exhausted. On the morning of April 18th, the public fury burst forth like a volcano. The inhabitants of Boston were in arms, and the people from the country poured in to their assistance. Andros and his associates fled to a fort; resistance was in vain, he was made a prisoner, and sent to England."

The year 1692 is memorable in New England for the convulsion produced in Salem and its vicinity by the supposed prevalence of witchcraft. Many were supposed to be bewitched, and would complain of being bitten, pinched, pricked with pins, &c.; some declared that they beheld a spectral representation of the person whom they said was the cause of their affliction.

Some were struck dumb, others had their limbs distorted in a shocking manner, sometimes running on their hands and feet, creeping through holes, and under chairs, tables, &c.; barking like a dog, with other actions equally strange and unaccountable. Upon the accusation and testimony of persons thus afflicted, many were imprisoned, and nineteen were executed for practicing witchcraft, most of whom died professing their innocence.* The evil became awfully alarming; the most respectable persons in the country were accused; but the magistrates finally acquitted those who were accused, and the menacing storm blew over to the great joy of the inhabitants.

At this period, many learned and eminent men, both in England and America, fully believed in the existence of witchcraft. Sir Matthew Hale, one of the brightest ornaments of the English bench, repeatedly tried and condemned persons as criminals, who were brought before him charged with this crime. It must be confessed, that notwithstanding all the obloquy and contempt which is now cast upon our forefathers, for believing in the existence of witchcraft, many things took place at that time, (if we can credit the accounts given by many respectable witnesses), which would be extremely difficult to account for, on natural principles.

"About this period, the French in Canada and Nova Scotia, instigated the northern and eastern Indians to commence hostilities against the English settlements. Dover and Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, Casco, in Maine, and Schenectady, in New York, were attacked by different parties of French and Indians, and shocking barbarities committed. Regarding Canada as the principal source of their troubles, New England and New York formed the bold project of reducing it by force of arms. For this purpose, they raised an army under general Winthrop, which was sent against Montreal, and equipped a fleet, which, commanded by Sir William Phipps, was destined to attack Quebec. The season was so far advanced when the fleet arrived at Quebec, October 5th, 1690, the French so superior in number, the weather

* A cotemporary writer observes: "As to the method which the Salem Justices do take in their examinations, it is truly this: A warrant being issued out to apprehend the persons that are charged and complained of by the afflicted children, as they are called; said persons are brought before the justices, the afflicted being present. The justices ask the apprehended why they afflict those poor children; to which the apprehended answer, they do not afflict them. The justices order the apprehended to look upon the said children, which accordingly they do; and at the time of that look (I dare not say by that look as the Salem gentlemen do,) the afflicted are cast into a fit. The apprehended are then blinded, and ordered to touch the afflicted; and at that touch, though not by the touch, (as above,) the afflicted do ordinarily come out of their fits. The afflicted persons, then declare and affirm, that the apprehended have afflicted them, upon which the apprehended persons, though of never so good repute, are forthwith committed to prison on suspicion of witchcraft."

so tempestuous, and the sickness so great among the soldiers, that the expedition was abandoned. Success had been so confidently expected, that no adequate provision was made for the payment of the troops. There was danger of a mutiny. In this extremity, the government of Massachusetts issued bills of credit, as a substitute for money; and these were the first ever issued in the American colonies.

The war with the French and Indians, which began in 1690, was not yet terminated. For seven years the frontier settlements were harrassed by the savages, till peace took place between France and England. But in a few years war again broke out in Europe, which was the signal for hostilities in America. In February, 1704, Deerfield, on Connecticut river, was surprised in the night, about forty persons killed, and more than one hundred made prisoners, among whom were Mr. Williams, the minister, and his family. In 1707, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, despatched an armament against Port Royal, in Nova Scotia; but the expedition was unsuccessful. In 1710, New England, assisted by the mother country, with a fleet, succeeded in reducing the place; and its name, in honor of Queen Anne, was changed to Annapolis. This success encouraged the commander, General Nicholson, to visit England and propose an expedition against Canada. His proposition was adopted, and in June, 1711, Admiral Walker, with a fleet of fifteen ships of war, and forty transports, with an army of veteran troops, arrived at Boston, from whence he sailed for Quebec about the last of July. At the same time, General Nicholson repaired to Albany, to take the command of the forces that were to proceed by land. When the fleet had advanced ten leagues up the St. Lawrence, the weather became tempestuous and foggy. Nine of the transports were dashed in pieces on the rocks, and upwards of a thousand men perished. Weakened by this disaster, the admiral returned to England, and the New England troops returned to their homes. Nicholson, having learned the fate of the fleet, returned with his troops to Albany. In 1713, peace was made between France and Great Britain at Utrecht.

In 1716, Samuel Shute, a colonel in the army of the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, was appointed governor of Massachusetts. For a long period afterwards, many controversies and difficulties took place between the royal governors sent from England and the representatives of the people, who were jealous of their rights as British subjects. These disturbances continued, with some intervals, till the period of the American Revolution.

In 1744, war again broke out between England and France, and the colonies were again involved in its calamaties. Their commerce and fisheries suffered great injury from privateers fitted

out at Louisburg, a strong fortress on the Island of Cape Breton. This place was considered one of the strongest in America; the fortifications had been twenty-five years in building, and had cost the French five and a half millions of dollars. The legislature of Massachusetts, convinced of the importance of reducing this place, planned a daring, but successful enterprise for its reduction. Accordingly, about four thousand men, from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, under the command of Gen. Pepperell, sailed from Boston for the conquest of this place. Having the assistance of four ships of war, under Commodore Warren, from the West Indies, the troops arrived at Louisburg, about the 1st of May, 1745, and commenced the siege. For fourteen nights successively, the New England troops, sinking to their knees in mud, drew their cannons and mortars through a swamp two miles in length. By this means, the siege was pushed with so much vigor, that, on the 16th of June, the garrison surrendered. France, fired with resentment against the colonies, the next summer sent a powerful fleet to ravage the coast of New England and recover Louisburg. The news of their approach spread terror throughout New England. But an uncommon succession of disasters, which the pious at that time ascribed to the special interposition of Providence, blasted the hopes of the enemy. The French fleet was delayed and damaged by storms: some of the ships were lost, and a pestilential fever prevailed among the troops, and the two admirals killed themselves through chagrin on the failure of the expedition. The war at this period was ended by the peace of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, by which all prisoners on each side were to be restored without ransom, and all conquests made during the war were to be mutually restored.

Scarcely had the colonies begun to reap the benefits of peace, before they were again thrown into anxiety and distress by another war against France. The war actually commenced in 1754, though not formally declared till May, 1756. Early in the spring of 1755, preparations were made by the colonies for vigorous exertions against the enemy. Four expeditions were planned :-one against the French in Nova Scotia; a second against the French on the Ohio; a third against Crown Point; and a fourth against Niagara. The expedition against Nova Scotia, consisting of three thousand men, chiefly from Massachusetts, was led by General Monckton and General Winslow. With these troops, they sailed from Boston on the 1st of June, arrived at Chignecto, in the bay of Fundy. After being joined by three hundred regular British troops, they proceeded against fort Beau Sejour, which surrendered, after a siege of four days. Other forts were taken, and Nova Scotia was entirely subdued. In order that the French in Canada should derive no assistance from this territory, the country

was laid waste, and the inhabitants were taken from the country, and dispersed among the English colonies. One thousand of these proscribed Acadians were transported to Massachusetts, where many of them embarked for France. The expedition against Niagara, was committed to Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, whose force amounted to two thousand five hundred men. The season, however, was too far advanced before he had completed his preparations, to effect any thing of importance, and the expedition was abandoned.

The war continued, with varied success, till the conquest of Quebec by the army under Gen. Wolfe, in September, 1759, and the final reduction of Canada in 1760. This event caused great and universal joy in the colonies, and public thanksgivings were generally appointed. A definitive treaty, the preliminaries of which, had been settled the year before, was signed at Paris in 1763, by which all Nova Scotia, Canada, the isle of Cape Breton, and all other islands in the gulf and river St. Lawrence, were ceded to the British crown."

"The first attempt to raise a revenue in America appeared in the memorable stamp act, passed March 22, 1765; by which it was enacted that certain instruments of writing, as bills, bonds, &c. should not be valid in law, unless drawn on stamped paper, on which a duty was laid. No sooner was this act published in America, than it raised a general alarm. The people were filled with apprehensions at an act which they supposed an attack on their constitutional rights. The colonies petitioned the king and parliament for a redress of the grievance, and formed associations for the purpose of preventing the importation and use of British manufactures, until the act should be repealed. This spirited and unanimous opposition of the Americans produced the desired effect, and on the 18th of March, 1766, the stamp act was repealed. The news of the repeal was received in the colonies with universal joy, and the trade between them and Great Britain was renewed on the most liberal footing.

The parliament, by repealing this act, so obnoxious to their American brethren, did not intend to lay aside the scheme of raising a revenue in the colonies, but merely to change the mode. Accordingly the next year, they passed an act, laying a certain duty on glass, tea, paper and painter's colors; articles which were much wanted, and not manufactured, in America. This act kindled the resentment of the Americans, and excited a general opposition to the measure; so that parliament thought proper in 1770, to take off these duties, except three pence a pound on tea. Yet this duty, however trifling, kept alive the jealousy of the colonists, and their opposition to parliamentary taxation continued and increased.