XVII. CHAP lar, while Randolph took pains to have his character as little respected at court, by representing him as having 1686. "his fortune to make," and willing to "cringe and bow to any thing." James had resolved to take away the charters of all the colonies and make them royal provinces. Ere long came Sir Edmund Andros, as governor of all New England. A fit instrument of a despot, he was authorized to impose taxes, to appoint his own council, to have the control of the militia, to prohibit printing, to introduce Episcopacy, and to enforce the laws restricting the trade of the colonies. That he might have the means to fulfil his instructions, he brought two companies of soldiers-the first ever stationed in New England. As a reward for his desertion of the people's rights, Dudley was appointed Chief Justice, and the busy Randolph Colonial Secretary, and William Stoughton, through the influence of Dudley, was named one of the council. Now followed a series of measures exceedingly annoying to the people. Their schools were left to languish. To assemble for deliberation on any public matter was forbidden; but it was graciously permitted them to vote for their town officers. The customs of the country were not respected. The usual form of administering an oath was that of an appeal to heaven by the uplifted hand; the form now prescribed was that of laying the hand on the Bible, which the Puritans thought idolatrous,-a relic of popery. Exorbitant fees were extorted; those who held lands were told their titles were not valid, because they were obtained under a charter which was now declared to be forfeited; and when an Indian deed was presented, it was decided to be "worth no more than the scratch of a bear's paw." No person could leave the colony without a pass from the governor. No magistrate nor minister-who was deemed merely a layman-could unite persons in marriage. The Episcopal clergyman at Boston was the only person in all New Eng ANDROS AT HARTFORD. person, poor or rich; 179 XVII. land authorized to perform that ceremony. Episcopacy CHAP. was now fully introduced, and the people required to furnish funds to build a church for its service. A tax of the 1686. same amount was levied upon each this some of the towns refused to pay. ister of Ipswich, was bold to say the tax was unjust, and ought not to be paid. For this he was arrested. When he spoke of his privileges as an Englishman, he was told the only privilege he could claim was not to be sold as a slave; with others, he was fined heavily. When it was said that such proceedings would affect the prosperity of the country, it was openly avowed that "it was not for his majesty's interest that the country should thrive." "No man could say that any thing was his own." Andros now demanded of Rhode Island her charter, but as she did not send it, he went to Providence, and breaking the seal of the colony declared its government dissolved. He then went with an armed guard to Hartford, and demanded the charter of the colony of Connecticut. The Assembly was in session. The members received him with outward respect. The discussion of the subject was protracted till evening, and when candles were lighted, the charter was brought in and laid on the table. As the eager Andros reached forth his hand to seize the precious document, the lights were suddenly put out; when they were relighted, the charter was gone. Captain William Wadsworth had slipped it away and hid it in a hollow tree, Andros, foiled and in a rage, resolved, charter or no charter, the present government should cease, and taking the book of records of the Assembly, he wrote at the end of the last record the word FINIS. 1687. The tree in which the charter was hid stood for more than a century and a half, and was visited as an object of his- 1856 torical interest. It was known as the Charter Oak. A few years since it was blown down in a violent storm. Some time before, à lady of Hartford gathered from it an XVII. CHAP. acorn, which she planted. The good citizens of that place obtained from her the young oak, and with appropriate 1687. ceremonies planted it on the spot where stood the parent tree. 1688. 5. Happily the tyranny of Andros was soon to end. James, in his zeal to promote the introduction of the Catholic religion, had aroused against him the entire English people. They invited William, Prince of Orange, the husband of Mary, the eldest daughter of James, to take possession of the throne. After finding that his despotic measures and insincerity had lost him his kingdom, James fled, and the Prince of Orange, under the title of WILLIAM III., ascended his vacant throne. When the news of that great revolution, which estabNov. lished the constitutional rights of the English people, reached Boston, it excited the greatest joy; now they could rid themselves of the tyrant. Andros imprisoned the messenger for spreading false news. The trained bands soon assembled in arms. The craven and guilty governor, bewildered with fear, fled, with his servile council, to a fort in the town. The aged Simon Bradstreet, now more than fourscore, who was one of the original emigrants, and had been a magistrate, was urged to assume the office of governor. A declaration, said to have been written by Cotton Mather, was published, maintaining the rights of the people, in which they commit the enterprise to "Him who hears the cry of the oppressed." Andros, in the mean time, made an effort to escape; but he and Dudley, with the troublesome Randolph, were speedily lodged in jail. Many were clamorous for their punishment, but generous forbearance prevailed, and they were sent to England for trial. Connecticut, paying little respect to the "Finis" of Andros, now brought forth her charter from its hidden place, and resumed her former government. Plymouth THE MEN OF INFLUENCE. 181 XVII. resumed the constitution framed on board the May- CHAP. Flower, and Rhode Island her charter. The people of Massachusetts voted almost unanimously to resume theirs, 1688. but a moderate party, consisting of the former magistrates, and some of the principal inhabitants, chose rather to defer it for the present; as they hoped to obtain one from William, more in accordance with their own views. The patriarchs who laid the foundation of the New England colonies had nearly all passed away; their places were filled by those who had not experienced the trials of their fathers, but had learned of them by tradition. The Puritans lived in serious times-times that made rugged Christians as well as rugged soldiers. They may have lacked the gentler graces that adorn those living almost two centuries later, and enjoying greater privileges, when the combined influence of Christianity, science, and refinement have produced a more perfect effect. They conscientiously filled their sphere of duty in the age in which they lived, and we honor their memories. The influence of their ministers was the influence of mind upon mind, enhanced by that implicit trust reposed in moral worth. They were peculiarly the educated class; the people looked up to them as their spiritual instructors. They were the friends of education, and wished to elevate the children of their flocks by cultivating their minds, and training them for usefulness in the world ;—what higher position for his children could the Puritan desire? In process of time, New England became more inviting to men of education belonging to the professions of law and medicine. In some respects, the great influence of the ministers gradually diminished, not because of dere liction of duty on their part, but because, in temporal affairs, especially, the management passed, by degrees, into the hands of other men of influence, CHAPTER XVIII. COMMOTION IN NEW YORK.-WITCHCRAFT IN MASSACHUSETTS.. Leisler acting Governor of New York.-The Old Council refuses to yield.-Captain Ingoldsby.-Sloughter Governor.-Bitterness of Parties.-Trial and Execution of Leisler and Milbourne.-Death of Sloughter.-Fletcher Governor; he goes to Connecticut.-Yale College.-The Triumph of a Free Press. Witchcraft; belief in.-Cotton Mather.-The Goodwin Children. Various Persons accused at Salem.-Special Court.-Parris as Accuser, and Stoughton as Judge.-Minister Burroughs.-Calef's Pamphlet.-Revulsion in Public Sentiment.-Mather's stand in favor of Inoculation. CHAP. DIFFICULTIES with royal governors were by no means conXVIII. fined to New England. The people of New York were 1690. also in commotion, though not so much united, as the Dutch had not yet cordially associated in feeling with the English. June 1. James had appointed a Catholic receiver of customs; this annoyed the Protestants, and Nicholson the governor 1689. was exceedingly.unpopular. The military companies went in a body to Jacob Leisler, a respectable and generoushearted merchant, and their senior captain, and urged him to take possession of the fort and to assume the management of affairs. He consented. Leisler, a Presbyterian and a Dutchman, was an enthusiastic admirer of the Prince of Orange. The fort and public money were taken, and the companies pledged themselves to hold the fort "for the present Protestant power that rules in England.” Leisler was to act as commander-in-chief until orders came from King William, to whom a letter was sent giv |