The True Life Stories of the Declaration of Independence Signers. Charles Augustus Goodrich
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crisis in the affairs of the colonies, an event transpired which relieved them in a measure from the perplexities in which they were involved, and from the oppressions under which they groaned. The bigotted James II., by his acts of despotism, had become justly odious to all the subjects of his realm. So great was the excitement of public indignation, that the king was compelled to flee, in disgrace, from the kingdom; and his son-in-law, William, Prince of Orange, was invited to assume the crown.
The news of this event (1689) spread unusual joy throughout the colonies. In the height of their animation, the inhabitants of Boston seized Sir Edmund Andros, with fifty of his associates, and put them in close confinement, until he was ordered back to Great Britain. Connecticut and Rhode Island immediately resumed their charters, and re-established their former government. Massachusetts soon after obtained a new charter, which, however, failed to secure to the colony many rights, which they had enjoyed under the provisions of the former one; but which was finally accepted by a majority of the general court. Each of the colonies continued to exercise its government till the year 1775. In Rhode Island, the ancient charter is the only constitution at the present time; and in Connecticut, the charter was continued until the year 1818, when a new constitution was adopted by the people.
The grateful relief experienced by the colonies on the accession of William, was, however, of temporary continuance. Through other channels, trouble and distress were to be conveyed to them. From the above year (1689) to the peace of Paris 1763, the colonies, from New-Hampshire to Georgia, were engaged in almost unremitting hostilities with the aborigines on their borders. Their whole western frontier was a scene of havoc and desolation. During this long series of years, they were obliged to bear the "unworthy aspersion," as Dummer justly entitles it, of exciting these Indian wars; and of acquiring the dominion of the Indian territory by fraud, as well as by force.
To these trials were added others, which proceeded from the parent country. Disputes were frequently arising, as heretofore, between the crown and the colonies, respecting the powers conferred by the charters. Claims were set up, by the king and council, to the right of receiving and hearing appeals from the colonial courts, in private suits; and, at length, a serious and protracted controversy arose in those colonies, whose governors were appointed by royal authority, from a requisition of the king that a fixed and permanent salary should be provided for the representatives of the crown. This was a favourite project of the king, as it carried the show of authority on the part of the royal government, and of dependence on the part of the colonies; and it was an object of no less importance to the governors themselves, the most of whom were sent to America to repair fortunes which had been ruined by extravagance at home.
The disputes on this subject, in the province of Massachusetts, lasted thirty years. The assembly of that colony were ready to make grants for the support of their governors, from year to year, as they had been accustomed to do, under their charter government; but no menaces could induce them to establish a permanent salary. At length, satisfied that the house would never yield, the crown allowed their governors to ratify temporary grants.
Another grievance which the colonies suffered during this period, and of which they had reason loudly to complain, was the conduct of the parent country, in transporting to America those persons, who for their crimes had forfeited their liberty and lives in Great Britain, various acts of parliament authorized this measure; and hence the country was becoming the asylum of the worst of felons. The conduct of the parent country, in thus sending the pestilential inmates of her prisons to the colonies, met with their strong and universal abhorrence ; nor was this abhorrence lessened by the reasons assigned, beyond the waters, for the practice, viz. "that in many of his majesty's colonies and plantations, there was a great want of servants, who, by their labour and industry, might be the means of improving, and making the said colonies more useful to his majesty .'"
"Very surprising," remarks an independent, and even eloquent writer of those times, "very surprising that thieves, burglars, pick-pockets, and cut-purses, and a horde of the most flagitious banditti upon earth, should be sent as agreeable companions to us! That the supreme legislature did intend a transportation to America as a punishment, I verily believe; but so great is the mistake, that confident I am. they are thereby on the contrary highly rewarded. For what can be more agreeable to a penurious wretch, driven through necessity to seek a livelihood by the breaking of houses and robbing upon the king's highway, than to be saved from the halter, redeemed from the stench of a gaol, and transported, without expense to himself, into a country, where, being unknown, no man can reproach him for his crimes; where labour is high, a little of which will maintain him ; and where all his expenses will be moderate and low. There is scarce a thier in England that would not rather be transported than hanged."
"But the acts," continues the same writer, " are intended for the better peopling of the colonies. And will thieves and murderers conduce to that end? what advantage can we reap from a colony of unrestrainable renegadoes? will they exalt the glory of the crown? or rather will not the dignity of the most illustrious monarch in the world be sullied by a province of subjects so lawless, detestable, and ignorant? can agriculture be promoted, when the wild boar of the forest breaks down our hedges, and pulls up our vines? will trade flourish, or manufactures be encouraged, where property is made the spoil of such, who are too idle to work, and wicked enough to murder and steal ? — How injurious does it seem to free one part of the dominions from the plagues of mankind, and cast them upon another! We want people, 'tis true ; but not villains, ready at any time, encouraged by impunity, and habituated, upon the slightest occasion, to cut a man's throat for a small part of his property."
To this catalogue of grievances, not imaginary, but real; not transient, but long continued; not local, but mostly universal ; — many others might be added, did our limits permit.
But under all these oppressions, amidst obstinate and vanous efforts of the crown, to extend the royal prerogative, and to keep the colonies in humble dependence, they retained, in general, a warm affection for the parent country. They regarded the sovereign as a father, and themselves as children. They acknowledged their obligations of obedience to him, in all things which were lawful, and consistent with their natural and unalienable rights; and they appealed to him in various disputes, which arose about colonial rights, limits, and jurisdiction.
It was a characteristic trait in the colonists to provide for their own defence. They had been taught to do this by the neglect of the parent country, from the very days of their infancy — even before the problem was solved, whether the country should longer continue the domain of pagan darkness, or the empire of cultivated mind. They might, indeed justly have claimed the assistance and protection of the land of their birth, but seldom did they urge their rights. On the contrary, their treasuries were often emptied, and the blood of their yeomanry shed, in furnishing assistance to the parent country. In her contests, and her wars, they engaged with all the enthusiasm of her native sons; and persevered with all the bravery of soldiers trained to the art of war.
The testimony to be adduced in support of these statements, is more ample than we have space to devote to it. "Whenever," said a conspicuous member of parliament, some years after the peace of 1763, "whenever Great Britain has declared war, the colonies have taken their part: They were engaged in King William's wars, and Queen Anne's wars, even in their infancy. They conquered Arcadia, in the last century, for us; and we then gave it up. Again, in Queen Anne's war, they conquered Nova Scotia, which from that time has belonged to Great Britain. They have been engaged in more than one expedition to Canada, ever foremost to partake of honour and danger with the mother country.
"Well, sir, what have we done for them? Have we conquered the country for them, from the Indians? Have we cleared it? Have we drained it? Have we made it habitable? What have we done for them? I believe precisely nothing at all, but just keeping watch and ward over their trade, that they should receive nothing but from ourselves, at our own price.
"I will not positively say, that we have spent nothing; though I don't recollect any such article upon our journals; I mean any national expense in setting them out as colonists. The royal military government of Nova Scotia cost, indeed, not a little sum; above 500,000l. for its plantations and its first years. Had your other colonies cost any thing similar, either in their outset or support, there would be something to say on that side; but instead of that, they