Acadie.

The progress of the French in their neigh- CHAP. IV. bourhood had been viewed with regret and 1654. apprehension by all New England. Sedgwic, the commander in chief of the forces which Expedition of Sedgwic had been destined for Manhattans, animated against with the vigour of his master, and having, perhaps, some general verbal authority, was easily prevailed on to turn his arms against a people, whose religious tenets he detested, and whose country he hated. He soon dislodged the French from Penobscot, and subdued all Acadié. Their ministers, pending the negotia- 1655. tions for the treaty of Westminster, demanded restitution of the forts Pentagoet, St. Johns, and Port Royal; but, each nation having claims on the country, their pretensions were referred to the arbitrators appointed to adjust the damages committed on either side since the year 1640, and the restitution of Acadié was postponed for future discussion.

November.

Cromwell seems not to have intended the restoration of the countries he had conquered. He granted, under the great seal of England, 1656. to St. Etienne, to Crown, and to Temple, for- September. ever, the territory denominated Acadié, and part of the country commonly called Nova Scotia, extending along the coast to Pentagoet, and the river St. George.

Until the restoration, the colonies of New England continued in an unexampled state of prosperity, the favourites of the victorious party

CHAP. IV. in England; those regulations respecting na1656. vigation, a rigid observance of which was

exacted from others, were dispensed with for their benefit; and they not only enjoyed a perfectly free and unrestrained commerce, but even retained the extraordinary privilege of exporting their goods to England free from duties. By the vigour and sagacity with which their affairs were conducted, they maintained external peace with very little interruption: and by industry and attention to their interests, they improved the advantages afforded them by the temper of the times, very much to the melioration of their particular circumstances. These were the days of prosperity for New England; and a degree of strength and consistence was acquired during their continuance, which enabled the colonies to struggle through the difficulties that afterwards assailed them.

These sober industrious people, however mindful of their interests, were by no means inattentive to the instruction of youth. Education was among the first objects of their care. In addition to private institutions, they had brought the college at Cambridge to a state of forwardness which reflects much credit on their character. As early as the year 1636 the general court had bestowed four hundred pounds on a public school at Newtown, the name by which Cambridge was then known, which two years afterwards was very much enlarged by a dona

tion from the reverend mr. John Harvard, in CHAP. IV. consequence of which it received the name of 1656. Harvard college. In 1642, this college was placed under the government of the governor, deputy governor, and magistrates, and ministers of the six next adjacent towns, who, with the president, were incorporated for that purpose, and in 1650 its first charter was granted.

intolerance,

It is to be lamented that the same people Religious possessed a degree of bigotry in religion, and a spirit of intolerance, which their enlightened posterity will review with regret. During this period of external and internal prosperity, the government maintained the severity of its institutions against all those who dissented from the church, and exerted itself assiduously in, what was deemed, the holy work of punishing heretics, and introducing conformity in matters of faith. In this time rose up the sect denominated quakers. They were fined, imprisoned, whipped, and at length put to death; but could not be totally suppressed. As enthusiastic as the people of Massachussetts themselves, they gloried in their sufferings, and deemed themselves the martyrs of truth.

Chalmer....Hutchinson.... Trumbull.

1660.

May.

CHAPTER V.

Transactions immediately succeeding the restoration of Charles II....Contests between Connecticut and New Haven....Discontents in Virginia....Grant to the duke of York....Commissioners appointed by the crown....Conquest of the Dutch settlements....Conduct of Massachussetts to the royal commissioners.... They are recalled....Massachussetts evades a summons to appear before the king and council....Settlement of Carolina.... Form of government....Constitution of mr. Locke.... Discontents and insurrections in the county of Albemarle....Southern colony is invaded by the Spaniards from Florida....Abolition of the constitution of mr. Locke....Bacon's rebellion.... His death.... Assembly deprived of judicial authority....Discontents in Virginia.... Population of the colony.

THE restoration of Charles II. to the throne

of England was soon known in America, and excited, in the different colonies, very different emotions. In Virginia, where that event had been anticipated by the people, and in Maryland, where the royal party was powerful, the intelligence was received with transport, and the king was proclaimed amidst acclamations of the most unfeigned joy. In Massachussetts, which had been fostered by the partial favour of the parliament of Cromwell, the unwelcome information was heard with doubt and in silence. Republicans in religion and in politics, all their

affections were engaged in favour of the revo- CHAP. V. lutionary party in England, and they saw in the 1660. restoration of monarchy, much more to fear, than to hope for themselves. Nor did this sagacious people misjudge of their interests.

the

restoration of

No sooner was Charles seated on the throne of Transactions immediately his ancestors, than the parliament voted a duty succ of five per centum on all merchandises exported Charles II. from, or imported into, any of the dominions belonging to the English crown; and in the course of the same session, was passed the celebrated navigation act, by which it was enacted that no merchandise should be imported into the plantations belonging to his majesty in Asia, Africa and America, or exported from them but in English vessels navigated by Englishmen; a description which was admitted to include all the subjects of the English crown. It was also enacted that no sugar, tobacco, ginger, indigo, cotton, fustic or other dying woods, of the growth of the English territories in America, Asia, or Africa, should be transported thence to any other country, than those belonging to the crown of England. The specified articles were termed "enumerated commodities," and when any new article of export became afterwards important; as the rice of Carolina, the molasses of the West Indies, and the copper ore of the northern colonies, such article was added to the list, and subjected to the same regulations. The colonists remained