The province of New Hampshire was among the first to resist the
unjust exactions of the British government, and, on the authority of
one of the Royal Councillors, her sons were the very first to commit
an overt act against it. From the time of its early settlement,
under the proprietorship of Capt. John Mason, her sturdy colonists
were bound to appropriate to their own use the first fruits of their
labors, and, regardless of act of parliament or magisterial edict,
they were able to accomplish their purpose. Owing to the civil
dissensions in England between 1640 and 1700, the little band of
adventurers who had established themselves at “Old Strawberry Bank,”
as well as their descendants who came after them, were practically,
so far as the home government was concerned, left to their own
resources, and obliged to defend themselves as best they could
against the French and Indians, who were ever on the alert to harass
and annoy them. The establishment of William of Orange on the
English throne, and the complete subjugation of those who supported
the unfortunate James, changed matters, however, and gave the new
ruler an opportunity to bestow a little of his paternal care on the
colonists who had so long prospered greatly without it.
One of his very first acts was to appoint, as governor of New York,
the Earl of Bellmont, who was a native of Ireland, and a son of Sir
Charles Coote, who earned an Irish estate fighting for Cromwell.
Under his administration the heirs of Captain Mason, fortified by a
proclamation from the king and parliament, endeavored to establish
their ownership to the property left them in New Hampshire, and,
although not authorized by the act mentioned to collect arrearages
of rent from the descendants of the original settlers, little
progress was made in the collection of any. The men, and the
children of the men who had for half a century contested every inch
of New Hampshire soil with the elements, the wild beasts, the
Indians, and their white allies from Quebec, did not propose to pay
tribute to the grandchildren of the man whose name was but a
tradition. The result was the creation of a period in the records of
New Hampshire, whose history reads strangely like a page from
Ireland’s annals describing landlord rule.
For in all parts of the province, and among all classes of people,
the most determined efforts were made to prevent the impositions of
the new proprietors. The sheriff and his officers, while engaged in
the performance of their duties, were often confronted with the axe
and the musket, and when opportunity offered, the women took a hand
and tested the efficacy of hot water. The sacred person of the
governor even was not exempt from insult and assault, for on at
least one occasion, while endeavoring to shield Captain Mason, the
grandson of the original proprietor, from one of his irate tenants,
he was thrown into the fireplace on the burning coals, sat upon,
three of his ribs broken, two teeth knocked out, and his body
severely burned.
William Vaughan, one of the Royal Councillors, and among the most
influential men in the colony, for an assault upon one of the
officers of the king, was arrested, and for several years kept in
confinement.
The records of the province during this period, as printed in the
state papers, make very interesting reading. The little rock-ribbed
province was the northern picket line of New England, and in
consequence her sons were equally expert with the musket, the axe,
and the spade.
That these traits had been transmitted to their descendants is very
clear, for the construction of the grapevine bridge across the
Chickahominy in 1862, by the boys of the 5th New Hampshire, as well
as the record made by the same regiment during the Civil War, is the
evidence; the axe, the spade, and the rifle figuring in both, as
they had in the hands of their ancestors at Bunker Hill and
Bennington nearly a century before. But the demands of Captain Mason
were not the only grievances. The government was bound to suppress
any industry in the colonies which would in any way interfere with
those already in operation at home. An elaborate project had been
already planned by the Earl of Bellmont, for the production of tar
and pitch in New Hampshire.
The home government was paying Denmark one hundred thousand pounds
annually for these two articles. Both could, with a little
perseverance and care, be produced on this side of the water, and be
paid for, not in cash, but in the products of the English mills and
shops, and in this manner saving the money and finding a new market
for goods.
To this end, pine trees were selected and stripped, but before the
scheme had matured, and the first step taken, the wicked New
Hampshire men set fire to the trees, and this, with the Indian
troubles, which were endless, put an end to the tar and pitch
arrangement. This was not all they did, however. The governor
claimed that not only did these lawless men of “Old Strawberry Bank”
cut down the king’s timber which had been reserved for the Royal
Navy, but that they had sawn it up into deals, and actually sold it
to the enemies of the government, in the French and Spanish West
Indies; and that no less a person than the Lieutenant-Governor of
New Hampshire was engaged in the business, and not only engaged in
it, but had boasted of his profits, and thus incited others to go
and do likewise. He next tried to introduce the cultivation of flax,
but this was a failure, labor costing three times here what it would
in Ireland. This paternal care of the government continued under
William’s successors. In 1749 an act of parliament, while
encouraging the production of pig and bar iron, absolutely forbade
its manufacture, and to carry its terms into effect, proclamation
was made by the provincial sheriffs, and an inquiry as to the number
of mills and forges in the province was instituted by the governor,
to the end that steps might be taken to have them discontinued. With
such an experience as this extending over three-quarters of a
century, the people of New Hampshire were not only in sympathy with
their fellow-countrymen in the other colonies, but stood ready as
well to coöperate in any movement having for its object the welfare
of the people as against the government.
[Illustration:
THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH
NEWARK, N. J.
]
[Illustration:
ROBERT ELLIS THOMPSON
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
]
[Illustration:
FRANCIS C. TRAVERS
NEW YORK CITY
]
[Illustration:
T. RUSSELL SULLIVAN
BOSTON, MASS.
]