ROYAL GOVERNORS AND LOYAL CAPTAINS
DO any of my young readers know what is meant by a Charter? "Yes," I
hear some of you say. "No," say others. Well, I must speak to the "No,"
party; the party that doesn't know, and wants to know.
A charter is a something written or printed which grants certain rights
or privileges to the party to whom it is given. It may come from a king
or a congress, or from any person in power, and be given to any other
person who wishes the right to hold a certain property or to do some
special thing.
Do you understand any better now? I am sorry I can not put it in plainer
words. I think the best way will be to tell you about some charters
which belong to American history. You should know that all the people
who crossed the ocean to make new settlements on the Atlantic Coast had
charters from the king of England. This was the case with the Pilgrims
and the Puritans, with Roger Williams, William Penn, Lord Baltimore, and
the others I have spoken about.
These charters were written on parchment, which is the skin of an
animal, made into something like paper. The charters gave these people
the right to settle on and own certain lands, to form certain kinds of
government, and to do a variety of things which in England no one could
do but the king and the parliament.
The colonies in New England were given the right to choose their own
governors and make their own laws, and nobody, not even the king, could
stop them from doing this. The king had given them this right, and no
other king could take it away while they kept their charters.
Would you care to be told what took place afterwards? All kings, you
should know, are not alike. Some are very mild and easy, and some are
very harsh and severe. Some are willing for the people to have liberty,
and some are not. The kings who gave the charters to New England were of
the easy kind. But they were followed by kings of the hard kind, who
thought that these people beyond the sea had too much liberty, and who
wished to take away some of it.
Charles II., who gave some of these charters, was one of the easy kings,
and did not trouble himself about the people in the colonies. James II.,
who came after him, was one of the hard kings. He was somewhat of a
tyrant, and wanted to make the laws himself, and to take the right to do
this from the people. After trying to rob the people of England of
their liberties, he thought he would do the same thing with the people
of America. "Those folks across the seas are having too good a time," he
thought. "They have too many rights and privileges, and I must take some
of them away. I will let them know that I am their master."
But they had their charters, which gave them these rights; so the wicked
king thought the first thing for him to do was to take their charters
away from them. Then their rights would be gone, and he could make for
them a new set of laws, and force them to do everything he wished.
What King James did was to send a nobleman named Sir Edmund Andros to
New England to rule as royal governor. He was the agent of the king, and
was to do all that the king ordered. He began by undertaking to rob the
people of their charters. You see, even a tyrant king did not like to go
against the charters, for a charter was a sacred pledge.
Well, the new governor went about ordering the people to give him their
charters. One of the places to which he went was Hartford, Connecticut,
and there he told the officers of the colony that they must deliver up
their charter; the king had said so, and the king's word must be obeyed.
If any of you had lived in Connecticut in those days I know how you
would have felt. The charter gave the people a great deal of liberty,
and they did not wish to part with it. I know that you and I would have
felt the same way. But what could they do? If they did not give it up
peacefully, Governor Andros might come again with soldiers and take it
from them by force. So the lawmakers and officials were in a great fret
about what they should do.
They asked Governor Andros to come to the State-house and talk over the
matter. Some of them fancied they could get him to leave them their
charter, though they might have known better. There they sat--the
governor in the lofty chair of state, the others seated in a half circle
before him. There was a broad table between them, and on this lay the
great parchment of the charter. Some of those present did a great deal
of talking. They told how good King Charles had given them the charter,
and how happy they had been under it, and how loyal they were to good
King James, and they begged Governor Andros not to take it from them.
But they might as well have talked to the walls. He had his orders from
the king and was one of the men who do just what they are told.
While the talk was going on a strange thing happened. It was night, and
the room was lit up with a few tallow candles. Of course you know that
these were the best lights people had at that time; gas or the electric
light had never been heard of. And it was before the time of matches.
The only way to make a light in those days was by the use of the flint
and steel, which was a very slow method indeed.
Suddenly, while one of the Hartford men was talking and the governor was
looking at him in a tired sort of way, all the lights in the room went
out, and the room was in deep darkness. Everybody jumped up from their
chairs and there was no end of bustle and confusion, and likely enough
some pretty hard words were said. They had to hunt in the dark for the
flint and steel; and then there came snapping of steel on flint, and
falling of sparks on tinder, so that it was some time before the candles
were lit again.
When this was done the governor opened his eyes very wide, for the table
was empty, the charter was gone. I fancy he swore a good deal when he
saw that. In those days even the highest people were given to swearing.
But no matter how much he swore, he could not with hard words bring back
the charter. It was gone, and nobody knew where. Everybody looked for
it, right and left, in and out, in drawers and closets, but it was
nowhere to be found. Very likely the most of them did not want to find
it. At any rate, the governor had to go away without the charter, and
years passed before anybody saw it again.
Do you not wish to know what became of it? We are told that it had been
taken by a bold young soldier named Captain Wadsworth. While all the
people in the room were looking at the one who was making his speech,
the captain quickly took off his cloak and gave it a quick fling over
the candles, so that in a moment they were all put out. Then he snatched
up the charter from the table and slipped quietly out of the room. While
they were busy snapping the flint and steel, he was hurrying down the
street towards a great oak tree which was more than a hundred years old.
This tree was hollow in its heart, and there was a hole in its side
which opened into the hollow. Into this hole Captain Wadsworth pushed
the charter, and it fell into the hollow space. I do not think any of us
would have thought of looking there for it. I know nobody did at that
time, and there it lay for years, until the tyrant King James was driven
from the throne and a new king had taken his place. Then it was joyfully
brought out, and the people were ever so glad to see it again.
The old tree stood for many years in the main street of the town, and
became famous as the Charter Oak. The people loved and were proud of it
as long as it stood. But many years ago the hoary old oak fell, and now
only some of its wood is left. This has been made into chairs and boxes
and other objects which are thought of great value.
Do you not think that Captain Wadsworth was a bold and daring man, and
one who knew just what to do in times of trouble? If you do not, I fancy
you will when I have told you another story about him.
This took place after the charter had been taken from the oak and
brought to the statehouse again. At this time there was a governor in
New York named Fletcher, who claimed that the king had given him the
right to command the militia, or citizen soldiers, of Connecticut. So he
came to Hartford, where Captain Wadsworth was in command, and where the
people did not want any stranger to have power over them. He told the
captain what he had come for, and that he had a commission to read to
the soldiers.
The militia were called out and drawn up in line in the public square of
the town, and Governor Fletcher came before them, full of his
importance. He took out of his pocket the paper which he said gave him
the right to command, and began to read it in a very proud and haughty
manner. But he had not read ten words when Captain Wadsworth told the
drummers to beat their drums, and before you could draw your breath
there was such a rattle and roll of noise that not a word could be
heard.
"Silence!" cried Fletcher. "Stop those drums!" The drums stopped, and he
began to read again.
"Drum!" ordered Wadsworth in a loud tone, and such a noise began that a
giant's voice would have been drowned.
"Silence!" again shouted Fletcher. He was very red in the face by this
time.
"Drum, I say!" roared the captain.
Then he turned to the governor and said, laying his hand on his sword,
"I command these men, Governor Fletcher, and if you interrupt me again I
will make the sun shine through you in a minute." And he looked as if he
meant what he said. All the governor's pomp and consequence were gone,
and his face turned from red to pale. He hastily thrust the paper back
into his pocket, and was not long in leaving Hartford for New York. No
doubt he thought that Connecticut was not a good place for royal
governors.
Suppose I now tell you the story of another royal governor and another
bold captain. This was down in Virginia, but it was long after Captain
Smith was dead and after Virginia had become a large and prosperous
colony.
The king sent there a governor named Berkeley, who acted as if he was
master and all the people were his slaves. They did not like to be
treated this way; but Berkeley had soldiers under his command, and they
were forced to obey. While this was going on the Indians began to murder
the settlers. The governor ought to have stopped them, but he was
afraid to call out the people, and he let the murders go on.
There was a young man named Nathaniel Bacon who asked Governor Berkeley
to let him raise some men to fight the Indians. The governor refused.
But this did not stop brave young Bacon, for he called out a force of
men and drove off the murdering savages.
Governor Berkeley was very angry at this. He said that Bacon was a
traitor and ought to be treated like one, and that the men with him were
rebels. Bacon at once marched with his men against Jamestown, and the
haughty governor ran away as fast as he could.
But while Bacon and his men were fighting the Indians again, Governor
Berkeley came back and talked more than ever about rebels and traitors.
This made Bacon and the people with him very angry. To be treated in
this way while they were saving the people from the Indian knife and
tomahawk was too bad. They marched against Jamestown again. This time
the governor did not run away, but prepared to defend the place with
soldiers and cannon.
But they did not fire their guns. Bacon had captured some of the wives
of the principal men, and he put them in front of his line as he
advanced. The governor did not dare bid his soldiers to fire on these
women, so he left the town again in a hurry, and it was taken by the
Indian fighters.
Bacon made up his mind that Governor Berkeley should not come back to
Jamestown again. He had the town set on fire and burned to the ground.
Some of the men with him set fire to their own houses, so that they
should not give shelter to the governor and his men. That was the end of
Jamestown. It was never rebuilt. Only ashes remained of the first
English town in America. To-day there is only an old church tower to
show where it stood.
We cannot tell what might have happened if brave young Bacon had lived.
As it was, he was taken sick and died. His men now had no leader, and
soon scattered. Then the governor came back full of fury, and began to
hang all those who opposed him. He might have put a great many of them
to death if the king had not stopped him and ordered him back to
England. This was King Charles II., whose father had been put to death
by Cromwell. He was angry at what Governor Berkeley had done, and said:
"That old fool has hung more men in that naked land than I did for the
murder of my father."