THE COLONIZATION OF AMERICA AND THE EAST INDIES.
[Sidenote: Commercial Enterprise.]
During the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, the English colonies
in America, and the East India Company's settlements began to attract
the attention of ministers, and became of considerable political
importance. It is, therefore, time to consider the history of
colonization, both in the East and West, and not only by the English,
but by the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the French.
The first settlements in the new world by Europeans, and their
conquests in the unknown regions of the old, were made chiefly in view
of commercial advantages. The love of money, that root of all evil,
was overruled by Providence in the discovery of new worlds, and the
diffusion of European civilization in countries inhabited by savages,
or worn-out Oriental races. But the mere ignoble love of gain was not
the only motive which incited the Europeans to navigate unknown oceans
and colonize new continents. There was also another, and this was the
spirit of enterprise, which magically aroused the European mind in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Marco Polo, when he visited the
East; the Portuguese, when they doubled the Cape of Good Hope;
Columbus, when he discovered America; and Magellan, when he entered
the South Sea, were moved by curiosity and love of science, more than
by love of gold. But the vast wealth, which the newly-discovered
countries revealed, stimulated, in the breasts of the excited
Europeans, the powerful passions of ambition and avarice; and the
needy and grasping governments of Spain, Portugal, Holland, France,
and England patronized adventurers to the new El Dorado, and furnished
them with ships and stores, in the hope of receiving a share of the
profits of their expedition. And they were not disappointed. Although
many disasters happened to the early navigators, still country after
country was added to the possessions of European kings, and vast sums
of gold and silver were melted into European coin. No conquests were
ever more sudden, and brilliant than those of Cortez and Pizarro, nor
did wealth ever before so suddenly enrich the civilized world. But
sudden and unlawful gains produced their natural fruit. All the worst
evils which flow from extravagance, extortion, and pride prevailed in
the old world and the new; and those advantages and possessions, which
had been gained by enterprise, were turned into a curse, for no wealth
can balance the vices of avarice, injustice, and cruelty.
[Sidenote: Spanish Conquests and Settlements.]
The most important of all the early settlements of America were made
by the Spaniards. Their conquests were the most brilliant, and proved
the most worthless. The spirit which led to their conquests and
colonization was essentially that of avarice and ambition. It must,
however, be admitted that religious zeal, in some instances, was the
animating principle of the adventurers and of those that patronized
them.
The first colony was established in Hispaniola, or, as it was
afterwards called, St. Domingo, a short time after the discovery of
America by Columbus. The mines of the island were, at that period,
very productive, and the aggressive Spaniards soon compelled the
unhappy natives to labor in them, under their governor, Juan Ponce de
Leon. But Hispaniola was not sufficiently large or productive to
satisfy the cupidity of the governor, and Porto Rico was conquered and
enslaved. Cuba also, in a few years, was added to the dominions of
Spain.
At length, the Spaniards, who had explored the coasts of the Main
land, prepared to invade and conquer the populous territories of
Montezuma, Emperor of Mexico. The people whom he governed had attained
a considerable degree of civilization, having a regular government, a
system of laws, and an established priesthood. They were not ignorant
of the means of recording great events, and possessed considerable
skill in many useful and ornamental arts. They were rich in gold and
silver, and their cities were ornamented with palaces and gardens. But
their riches were irresistible objects of desire to the European
adventurers, and, therefore, proved their misfortune. The story of
their conquest by Fernando Cortez need not here be told; familiarized
as are all readers and students with the exquisite and artistic
narrative of the great American historian, whose work and whose fame
can only perish with the language itself.
About ten years after the conquest of Mexico, Pizarro landed in Peru,
which country was soon added to the dominions of Philip II. And the
government of that country was even more oppressive and unjust than
that of Mexico. All Indians between the ages of fifteen and fifty were
compelled to work in the mines; and so dreadful was the forced labor,
that four out of five of those who worked in them were supposed to
perish annually. There was no limit to Spanish rapacity and cruelty,
and it was exercised over all the other countries which were
subdued--Chili, Florida, and the West India Islands.
Enormous and unparalleled quantities of the precious metals were sent
to Spain from the countries of the new world. But, from the first
discovery of Peru and Mexico, the mother country declined in wealth
and political importance. With the increase of gold, the price of
labor and of provision, and of all articles of manufacturing industry,
also increased, and nearly in the same ratio. The Spaniards were
insensible to this truth, and, instead of cultivating the soil or
engaging in manufactures, were contented with the gold which came from
the colonies. This, for a while, enriched them; but it was soon
scattered over all Christendom, and was exchanged for the necessities
of life. Industry and art declined, and those countries alone were the
gainers which produced those articles which Spain was obliged to
purchase.
[Sidenote: Portuguese Discoveries.]
Portugal soon rivalled Spain in the extent and richness of colonial
possessions. Brazil was discovered in 1501, and, in about half a
century after, was colonized. The native Brazilians, inferior in
civilization to the Mexicans and Peruvians, were still less able than
they to resist the arms of the Europeans. They were gradually subdued,
and their beautiful and fertile country came into possession of the
victors. But the Portuguese also extended their empire in the East, as
well as in the West. After the discovery of a passage round the Cape
of Good Hope by Vasco de Gama, the early navigators sought simply to
be enriched by commerce with the Indies. They found powerful rivals in
the Arabs, who had heretofore monopolized the trade. In order to
secure their commerce, and also to protect themselves against their
rivals and enemies, the Portuguese, under the guidance of Albuquerque,
procured a grant of land in India, from one of the native princes.
Soon after, Goa was reduced, and became the seat of government; and
territorial acquisition commenced, which, having been continued nearly
three centuries by the various European powers, is still progressive.
In about sixty years, the Portuguese had established a great empire in
the East, which included the coasts and islands of the Persian Gulf,
the whole Malabar and Coromandel coasts, the city of Malacca, and
numerous islands of the Indian Ocean. They had effected a settlement
in China, obtained a free trade with the empire of Japan, and received
tribute from the rich Islands of Ceylon, Java, and Sumatra.
[Sidenote: Portuguese Settlements.]
The same moral effects happened to Portugal, from the possession of
the Indies, that the conquests of Cortez and Pizarro produced on
Spain. Goa was the most depraved spot in the world: and the vices
which wealth engendered, wherever the Europeans formed a settlement,
can now scarcely be believed. When Portugal fell under the dominion of
Philip II., the ruin of her settlements commenced. They were
supplanted by the Dutch, who were more moral, more united and
enterprising, though they provoked, by their arrogance and injustice,
the hostility of the Eastern princes.
The conquests and settlements of the Dutch rapidly succeeded those of
the Portuguese. In 1595, Cornelius Houtman sailed, with a
well-provided fleet, for the land of gems and spices. A company was
soon incorporated, in Holland, for managing the Indian trade.
Settlements were first made in the Moluccas Islands, which soon
extended to the possession of the Island of Java, and to the complete
monopoly of the spice trade. The Dutch then gained possession of the
Island of Ceylon, which they retained until it was wrested from them
by the English. But their empire was only maintained at a vast expense
of blood and treasure; nor were they any exception to the other
European colonists and adventurers, in the indulgence of all those
vices which degrade our nature.
Neither the French nor the English made any important conquests in the
East, when compared with those of the Portuguese and Dutch. Nor did
their acquisitions in America equal those of the Spaniards. But they
were more important in their ultimate results.
[Sidenote: Early English Enterprise.]
English enterprise was manifested shortly after the first voyage of
Columbus. Henry VII. was sufficiently enlightened, envious, and
avaricious, to listen to the proposals of a Venetian, resident in
Bristol, by the name of Cabot; and, in 1495, he commissioned him to
sail under the banner of England, to take possession of any new
countries he might discover. Accordingly, in about two years after,
Cabot, with his second son, Sebastian, embarked at Bristol, in one of
the king's ships, attended by four smaller vessels, equipped by the
merchants of that enterprising city.
Impressed with the idea of Columbus, and other early navigators, that
the West India Islands were not far from the Indian continent, he
concluded that, if he steered in a more northerly direction, he should
reach India by a shorter course than that pursued by the great
discoverer. Accordingly, sailing in that course, he discovered
Newfoundland and Prince Edwards', and, soon after, the coast of North
America, along which he sailed, from Labrador to Virginia. But,
disappointed in not finding a westerly passage to India, he returned
to England, without attempting, either by settlement or conquest, to
gain a footing on the great continent which the English were the
second to visit, of all the European nations.
England was prevented, by various circumstances, from deriving
immediate advantage from the discovery. The unsettled state of the
country; the distractions arising from the civil wars, and afterwards
from the Reformation; the poverty of the people, and the sordid nature
of the king,--were unfavorable to settlements which promised no
immediate advantage; and it was not until the reign of Elizabeth that
any deliberate plans were made for the colonization of North America.
The voyages of Frobisher and Drake had aroused a spirit of adventure,
if they had not gratified the thirst for gold.
Among those who felt an intense interest in the new world, was Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, a man of enlarged views and intrepid boldness. He
secured from Elizabeth (1578) a liberal patent, and sailed, with a
considerable body of adventurers, for the new world. But he took a too
northerly direction, and his largest vessel was shipwrecked on the
coast of Cape Breton. The enterprise from various causes, completely
failed, and the intrepid navigator lost his life.
[Sidenote: Sir Walter Raleigh.]
The spirit of the times raised up, however, a greater genius, and a
more accomplished adventurer, and no less a personage than Sir Walter
Raleigh,--the favorite of the queen; one of the greatest scholars and
the most elegant courtier of the age; a soldier, a philosopher, and a
statesman. He obtained a patent, substantially the same as that which
had been bestowed on Gilbert. In 1584, Raleigh despatched two small
exploring vessels, under the command of Amidas and Barlow, which
seasonably arrived off the coast of North Carolina. From the favorable
report of the country and the people, a larger fleet, of seven ships,
was despatched to America, commanded by Sir Richard Grenville. But he
was diverted from his course by the prevailing passion for predatory
enterprise, and hence only landed one hundred and eight men at
Roanoke, (1585.) The government of this feeble band was intrusted to
Captain Lane. But the passion for gold led to a misunderstanding with
the natives. The colony became enfeebled and reduced, and the
adventurers returned to England, (1586,) bringing with them some
knowledge of the country, and also that singular weed, which rapidly
enslaved the courtiers of Queen Elizabeth, and which soon became one
of the great staple commodities in the trade of the civilized world.
Modern science has proved it to be a poison, and modern philanthropy
has lifted up its warning voice against the use of it. But when have
men, in their degeneracy, been governed by their reason? What logic
can break the power of habit, or counteract the seductive influences
of those excitements which fill the mind with visionary hopes, and
lull a tumultuous spirit into the repose of pleasant dreams and
oblivious joys? Sir Walter Raleigh, to his shame or his misfortune,
was among the first to patronize a custom which has proved more
injurious to civilized nations than even the use of opium itself,
because it is more universal and more insidious.
But smoking was simply an amusement with him. He soon turned his
thoughts to the reëstablishment of his colony. Even before the return
of the company under Lane, Sir Richard Grenville had visited the
Roanoke, with the necessary stores. But he arrived too late; the
colony was abandoned.
But nothing could abate the zeal of the most enterprising genius of
the age. In 1587, he despatched three more ships, under the command of
Captain White, who founded the city of Raleigh. But no better success
attended the new band of colonists. White sailed for England, to
secure new supplies; and, when he returned, he found no traces of the
colony he had planted; and no subsequent ingenuity or labor has been
able to discover the slightest vestige.
The patience of Raleigh was not wasted; but new objects occupied his
mind, and he parted with his patent, which made him the proprietary of
a great part of the Southern States. Nor were there any new attempts
at colonization until 1606, in the reign of James.
[Sidenote: London Company Incorporated.]
Through the influence of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, a man of great wealth;
Sir John Popham, lord chief justice of England; Richard Hakluyt, the
historian; Bartholomew Gosnold, the navigator, and John Smith, the
enthusiastic adventurer,--King James I. granted a royal charter to two
rival companies, for the colonization of America. The first was
composed of noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants, in and about London,
who had an exclusive right to occupy regions from thirty-four to
thirty-eight degrees of north latitude. The other company, composed of
gentlemen and merchants in the west of England, had assigned to them
the territory between forty-one and forty-five degrees. But only the
first company succeeded.
The territory, appropriated to the London or southern colony,
preserved the name which had been bestowed upon it during the reign of
Elizabeth,--Virginia. The colonists were authorized to transport, free
of the custom-house, for the term of seven years, what arms and
provisions they required; and their children were permitted to enjoy
the same privileges and liberties, in the American settlements, that
Englishmen had at home. They had the right to search for mines, to
coin money, and, for twenty-one years, to impose duties, on vessels
trading to their harbors, for the benefit of the colony. But, after
this period, the duty was to be taken for the king, who also preserved
a control over both the councils established for the government of the
colony,--the one in England itself, and the other in Virginia; a
control inconsistent with those liberties which the colonists
subsequently asserted and secured.
[Sidenote: Hardships of the Virginia Colony.]
The London Company promptly applied themselves to the settlement of
their territories; and, on the 19th of December, 1606, a squadron of
three small vessels set sail for the new world; and, on May 13, 1607,
a company of one hundred and five men, without families, disembarked
at Jamestown. This was the first permanent settlement in America by
the English. But great misfortunes afflicted them. Before September,
one half of the colonists had perished, and the other half were
suffering from famine, dissension, and fear. The president, Wingfield,
attempted to embezzle the public stores, and escape to the West
Indies. He was supplanted in his command by Ratcliffe, a man without
capacity. But a deliverer was raised up in the person of Captain John
Smith, who extricated the suffering and discontented band from the
evils which impended. He had been a traveller and a warrior; had
visited France, Italy, and Egypt; fought in Holland and Hungary; was
taken a prisoner of war in Wallachia, and sent as a slave to
Constantinople. Removed to a fortress in the Crimea, and subjected to
the hardest tasks, he yet contrived to escape, and, after many perils,
reached his native country. But greater hardships and dangers awaited
him in the new world, to which he was impelled by his adventurous
curiosity. He was surprised and taken by a party of hostile Indians,
when on a tour of exploration, and would have been murdered, had it
not been for his remarkable presence of mind and singular sagacity,
united with the intercession of the famous Pocahontas, daughter of a
great Indian chief, from whom some of the best families in Virginia
are descended. It would be pleasant to detail the romantic incidents
of this brief captivity; but our limits forbid. Smith, when he
returned to Jamestown, found his company reduced to forty men, and
they were discouraged and disheartened. Moreover, they were a
different class of men from those who colonized New England. They were
gentlemen adventurers connected with aristocratic families, were
greedy for gold, and had neither the fortitude nor the habits
requisite for success. They were not accustomed to labor, at least
with the axe and plough. Smith earnestly wrote to the council of the
company in England, to send carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners,
fishermen, and blacksmiths, instead of "vagabond gentlemen and
goldsmiths." But he had to organize a colony with such materials as
avarice or adventurous curiosity had sent to America. And, in spite of
dissensions and natural indolence, he succeeded in placing it on a
firm foundation; surveyed the Chesapeake Bay to the Susquehannah, and
explored the inlets of the majestic Potomac. But he was not permitted
to complete the work which he had so beneficently begun. His
administration was unacceptable to the company in England, who cared
very little for the welfare of the infant colony, and only sought a
profitable investment of their capital. They were disappointed that
mines of gold and silver had not been discovered, and that they
themselves had not become enriched. Even the substantial welfare of
the colony displeased them; for this diverted attention from the
pursuit of mineral wealth.
[Sidenote: New Charter of the London Company.]
The original patentees, therefore, sought to strengthen themselves by
new associates and a new charter. And a new charter was accordingly
granted to twenty-one peers, ninety-eight knights, and a great number
of doctors, esquires, gentlemen, and merchants. The bounds of the
colony were enlarged, the council and offices in Virginia abolished,
and the company in England empowered to nominate all officers in the
colony. Lord Delaware was appointed governor and captain-general of
the company, and a squadron of nine ships, with five hundred emigrants
were sent to Virginia. But these emigrants consisted, for the most
part, of profligate young men, whom their aristocratic friends sent
away to screen themselves from shame; broken down gentlemen, too lazy
to work; and infamous dependants on powerful families. They threw the
whole colony into confusion, and provoked, by their aggression and
folly, the animosities of the Indians, whom Smith had appeased. The
settlement at Jamestown was abandoned to famine and confusion, and
would have been deserted had it not been for the timely arrival of
Lord Delaware, with ample supplies and new recruits. His
administration was wise and efficient, and he succeeded in restoring
order, if he did not secure the wealth which was anticipated.
In 1612, the company obtained a third patent, by which all the islands
within three hundred leagues of the Virginia shore were granted to the
patentees, and by which a portion of the power heretofore vested in
the council was transferred to the whole company. The political rights
of the colonists remained the same but they acquired gradually peace
and tranquillity. Tobacco was extensively cultivated, and proved a
more fruitful source of wealth than mines of silver or gold.
The jealousy of arbitrary power, and impatience of liberty among the
new settlers, induced the Governor of Virginia, in 1619, to reinstate
them in the full possession of the rights of Englishmen; and he
accordingly convoked a Provincial Assembly, the first ever held in
America, which consisted of the governor, the council, and a number of
burgesses, elected by the eleven existing boroughs of the colony. The
deliberation and laws of this infant legislature were transmitted to
England for approval; and so wise and judicious were these, that the
company, soon after, approved and ratified the platform of what
gradually ripened into the American representative system.
[Sidenote: Rapid Colonization.]
The guarantee of political rights led to a rapid colonization. "Men
were now willing to regard Virginia as their home. They fell to
building houses and planting corn." Women were induced to leave the
parent country to become the wives of adventurous planters; and,
during the space of three years, thirty-five hundred persons, of both
sexes, found their way to Virginia. In the year 1620, a Dutch ship,
from the coast of Guinea, arrived in James River, and landed twenty
negroes for sale; and, as they were found more capable of enduring
fatigue, in a southern climate, than the Europeans, they were
continually imported, until a large proportion of the inhabitants of
Virginia was composed of slaves. Thus was introduced, at this early
period, that lasting system of injustice and cruelty which has proved
already an immeasurable misfortune to the country, as well as a
disgrace to the institutions of republican liberty, but which is
lamented, in many instances, by no class with more sincerity than by
those who live by the produce of slave labor itself.
The succeeding year, which witnessed the importation of negroes,
beheld the cultivation of tobacco, which before the introduction of
cotton, was the great staple of southern produce.
[Sidenote: Indian Warfare.]
In 1622, the long-suppressed enmity of the Indians broke out in a
savage attempt to murder the whole colony. A plot had been formed by
which all the English settlements were to be attacked on the same day,
and at the same hour. The conspiracy was betrayed by a friendly
Indian, but not in time to prevent a fearful massacre of three hundred
and forty-seven persons, among whom were some of the wealthiest and
most respectable inhabitants. Then followed all the evils of an Indian
war, and the settlements were reduced from eighty to eight
plantations; and it was not until after a protracted struggle that the
colonists regained their prosperity.
Scarcely had hostilities with the Indians commenced, before
dissensions among the company in England led to a quarrel with the
king, and a final abrogation of their charter. The company was too
large and too democratic. The members were dissatisfied that so little
gain had been derived from the colony; and moreover they made their
courts or convocations, when they assembled to discuss colonial
matters, the scene of angry political debate. There was a court party
and a country party, each inflamed with violent political animosities.
The country party was the stronger, and soon excited the jealousy of
the arbitrary monarch, who looked upon their meetings "as but a
seminary to a seditious parliament." A royal board of commissioners
were appointed to examine the affairs of the company, who reported
unfavorably; and the king therefore ordered the company to surrender
its charter. The company refused to obey an arbitrary mandate; but
upon its refusal, the king ordered a writ of _quo warranto_ to be
issued, and the Court of the King's Bench decided, of course, in favor
of the crown. The company was accordingly dissolved. But the
dissolution, though arbitrary, operated beneficially on the colony. Of
all cramping institutions, a sovereign company of merchants is the
most so, since they seek simply commercial gain, without any reference
to the political, moral, or social improvement of the people whom they
seek to control.
[Sidenote: Governor Harvey.]
Before King James had completed his scheme for the government of the
colony, he died; and Charles I. pursued the same arbitrary policy
which his father contemplated. He instituted a government which
combined the unlimited prerogative of an absolute prince with the
narrow and selfish maxims of a mercantile corporation. He monopolized
the profits of its trade, and empowered the new governor, whom he
appointed, to exercise his authority with the most undisguised
usurpation of those rights which the colonists had heretofore enjoyed.
Harvey's disposition was congenial with the rapacious and cruel system
which he pursued, and he acted more like the satrap of an Eastern
prince than the representative of a constitutional monarch. The
colonists remonstrated and complained; but their appeals to the mercy
and justice of the king were disregarded, and Harvey continued his
course of insolence and tyranny until that famous parliament was
assembled which rebelled against the folly and government of Charles.
In 1641, a new and upright governor, Sir William Berkeley, was sent to
Virginia, and the old provincial liberties were restored. In the
contest between the king and parliament Virginia espoused the royal
cause. When the parliament had triumphed over the king, Virginia was
made to feel the force of republican displeasure, and oppressive
restrictions were placed upon the trade of the colony, which were the
more provoking in view of the indulgence which the New England
colonies received from the protector. A revolt ensued, and Sir William
Berkeley was forced from his retirement, and made to assume the
government of the rebellious province. Cromwell, fortunately for
Virginia, but unfortunately for the world, died before the rebellion,
could be suppressed; and when Charles II. was restored, Virginia
joyfully returned to her allegiance. The supremacy of the Church of
England was established by law, stipends were allowed to her
ministers, and no clergymen were permitted to exercise their functions
but such as held to the supremacy of the Church of England.
[Sidenote: Arbitrary Policy of Charles II.]
But Charles II. was as incapable as his father of pursuing a generous
and just policy to the colonies; and parliament itself looked upon the
colonies as a source of profit to the nation, rather than as a part of
the nation. No sooner was Charles seated on the throne, than
parliament imposed a duty of five per cent. on all merchandise
exported from, or imported into, any of the dominions belonging to the
crown; and the famous Navigation Act was passed, which ordained that
no commodities should be imported into any of the British settlements
but in vessels built in England or in her colonies; and that no sugar,
tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo and some other articles produced in the
colonies, should be shipped from them to any other country but
England. As a compensation, the colonies were permitted the exclusive
cultivation of tobacco. The parliament, soon after, in 1663, passed
additional restrictions; and, advancing, step by step, gradually
subjected the colonies to a most oppressive dependence on the mother
country, and even went so far as to regulate the trade of the several
colonies with each other. This system of monopoly and exclusion, of
course, produced indignation and disgust, and sowed the seeds of
ultimate rebellion. Indian hostilities were added to provincial
discontent, and even the horrors of civil war disturbed the prosperity
of the colony. An ambitious and unprincipled adventurer, by the name
of Bacon, succeeded in fomenting dissension, and in successfully
resisting the power of the governor. Providence arrested the career of
the rebel in the moment of his triumph; and his sickness and death
fortunately dissipated the tempest which threatened to be fatal to the
peace and welfare of Virginia. Berkeley, on the suppression of the
rebellion, punished the offenders with a severity which ill accorded
with his lenient and pacific character. His course did not please the
government in England, and he was superseded by Colonel Jeffries. But
he died before his successor arrived. A succession of governors
administered the colony as their disposition prompted, some of whom
were wise and able, and others tyrannical and rapacious.
The English revolution of 1688 produced also a change in the
administration of the colony. Its dependence on the personal character
of the sovereign was abolished, and its chartered liberties were
protected. The king continued to appoint the royal governor, and the
parliament continued to oppress the trade of the colonists; but they,
on the whole, enjoyed the rights of freemen, and rapidly advanced in
wealth and prosperity. On the accession of William and Mary, the
colony contained fifty thousand inhabitants and forty-eight parishes;
and, in 1676, the customs on tobacco alone were collected in England
to the amount of one hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds. The
people generally belonged to the Episcopal Church, and the clergy each
received, in every parish, a house and glebe, together with sixteen
thousand pounds of tobacco. The people were characterized for
hospitality and urbanity, but were reproached for the indolence which
a residence in scattered villages, a hot climate, and negro slavery
must almost inevitably lead to. Literature, that solace of the refined
and luxurious in the European world, was but imperfectly cultivated;
nor was religion, in its stern and lofty developments, the animating
principle of life, as in the New England settlements. But the people
of Virginia were richer, more cultivated, and more aristocratic than
the Puritans, more refined in manners, and more pleasing as
companions.
[Sidenote: Settlement of New England.]
The settlements in New England were made by a very different class of
men from those who colonized Virginia. They were not adventurers in
quest of gain; they were not broken-down gentlemen of aristocratic
connections; they were not the profligate and dissolute members of
powerful families. They were Puritans, they belonged to the middle
ranks of society; they were men of stern and lofty virtue, of
invincible energy, and hard and iron wills; they detested both the
civil and religious despotism of their times, and desired, above all
worldly consideration, the liberty of worshipping God according to the
dictates of their consciences. They were chiefly Independents and
Calvinists, among whom religion was a life, and not a dogma. They
sought savage wilds, not for gain, not for ease, not for
aggrandizement, but for liberty of conscience; and, for the sake of
that inestimable privilege, they were ready to forego all the comforts
and elegances of civilized life, and cheerfully meet all the dangers
and make all the sacrifices which a residence among savage Indians,
and in a cold and inhospitable climate, necessarily incurred.
The efforts at colonization attempted by the company in the west of
England, to which allusion has been made, signally failed. God did not
design that New England should be settled by a band of commercial
adventurers. A colony was permanently planted at Plymouth, within the
limits of the corporation, of forty persons, to whom James had granted
enormous powers, and a belt of country from the fortieth to the
forty-eighth degree of north latitude in width, and from the Atlantic
to the Pacific in length.
[Sidenote: Arrival of the Mayflower.]
On the 5th of August, 1620, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, freighted
with the first Puritan colony, set sail from Southampton. It composed
a band of religious and devoted men, with their wives and children,
who had previously sought shelter in Holland for the enjoyment of
their religious opinions. The smaller vessel, after a trial on the
Atlantic, was found incompetent to the voyage, and was abandoned. The
more timid were allowed to disembark at old Plymouth. One hundred and
one resolute souls again set sail in the Mayflower, for the unknown
wilderness, with all its countless dangers and miseries. No common
worldly interest could have sustained their souls. The first
adventurers embarked for Virginia, without women or children; but the
Puritans made preparation for a permanent residence. Providence,
against their design, guided their little vessel to the desolate
shores of the most barren part of Massachusetts. On the 9th of
November, it was safely moored in the harbor of Cape Cod. On the 11th,
the colonists solemnly bound themselves into a body politic, and chose
John Carver for their governor. On the 11th of December, (O. S.,)
after protracted perils and sufferings, this little company landed on
Plymouth Rock. Before the opening spring, more than half the colony
had perished from privation, fatigue, and suffering, among whom was
the governor himself. In the autumn, their numbers were recruited; but
all the miseries of famine remained. They lived together as a
community; but, for three or four months together, they had no corn
whatever. In the spring of 1623, each family planted for itself, and
land was assigned to each person in perpetual fee. The needy and
defenceless colonists were fortunately preserved from the hostility of
the natives, since a famine had swept away the more dangerous of their
savage neighbors; nor did hostilities commence for several years. God
protected the Pilgrims, in their weakness, from the murderous
tomahawk, and from the perils of the wilderness. They suffered, but
they existed. Their numbers slowly increased, but they were all
Puritans,--were just the men to colonize the land, and lay the
foundation of a great empire. From the beginning, a strict democracy
existed, and all enjoyed ample exemption from the trammels of
arbitrary power. No king took cognizance of their existence, or
imposed upon them a despotic governor. They appointed their own
rulers, and those rulers governed in the fear of God. Township
independence existed from the first; and this is the nursery and the
genius of American institutions. The Plymouth colony was a
self-constituted democracy; but it was composed of Englishmen, who
loved their native land, and, while they sought unrestrained freedom,
did not disdain dependence on the mother country, and a proper
connection with the English government. They could not obtain a royal
charter from the king; but the Grand Council of Plymouth--a new
company, to which James had given the privileges of the old
one--granted all the privileges which the colonists desired. They were
too insignificant to attract much attention from the government, or
excite the jealousy of a great corporation.
Unobtrusive and unfettered, the colony slowly spread. But wherever it
spread, it took root. It was a tree which Providence planted for all
generations. It was established upon a rock. It was a branch of the
true church, which was destined to defy storms and changes, because
its strength was in the Lord.
[Sidenote: Settlement of New Hampshire.]
But all parts of New England were not, at first, settled by Puritan
Pilgrims, or from motives of religion merely. The council of Plymouth
issued grants of domains to various adventurers, who were animated by
the spirit of gain. John Mason received a patent for what is now the
state of New Hampshire. Portsmouth and Dover had an existence as early
as 1623. Gorges obtained a grant of the whole district between the
Piscataqua and the Kennebec. Saco, in 1636, contained one hundred and
fifty people. But the settlements in New Hampshire and Maine, having
disappointed the expectations of the patentees in regard to emolument
and profit, were not very flourishing.
In the mean time, a new company of Puritans was formed for the
settlement of the country around Boston. The company obtained a royal
charter, (1629,) which constituted them a body politic, by the name of
the _Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay_. It conferred on
the colonists the rights of English subjects, although it did not
technically concede freedom of religious worship, or the privilege of
self-government. The main body of the colonists settled in Salem. They
were a band of devout and lofty characters; Calvinists in their
religious creed, and republicans in their political opinions. Strict
independency was the basis and the genius of their church. It was
self-constituted, and all its officers were elected by the members.
[Sidenote: Constitution of the Colony.]
The charter of the company had been granted to a corporation
consisting chiefly of merchants resident in London, and was more
liberal than could have been expected from so bigoted and zealous a
king as Charles I. If it did not directly concede the rights of
conscience, it seemed to be silent respecting them; and the colonists
were left to the unrestricted enjoyment of their religious and civil
liberties. The intolerance and rigor of Archbishop Laud caused this
new colony to be rapidly settled; and, as many distinguished men
desired to emigrate, they sought and secured, from the company in
England, a transfer of all the powers of government to the actual
settlers in America. By this singular transaction, the municipal
rights and privileges of the colonists were established on a firm
foundation.
In 1630, not far from fifteen hundred persons, with Winthrop as their
leader and governor, emigrated to the new world, and settled first in
Charlestown, and afterwards in Boston. In accordance with the charter
which gave them such unexpected privileges, a General Court was
assembled, to settle the government. But the privilege of the elective
franchise was given only to the members of the church, and each church
was formed after the model of the one in Salem. It cannot be said that
a strict democracy was established, since church membership was the
condition of the full enjoyment of political rights. But if the
constitution was somewhat aristocratic and exclusive, aristocracy was
not based on wealth or intellect. The Calvinists of Massachusetts
recognized a government of the elect,--a sort of theocracy, in which
only the religious, or those who professed to be so, and were admitted
to be so, had a right to rule. This was the notion of Cromwell
himself, the great idol and representative of the Independents, who
fancied that the government of England should be intrusted only to
those who were capable of saving England, and were worthy to rule
England. As his party constituted, in his eyes, this elect body, and
was, in reality, the best party,--composed of men who feared God, and
were willing to be ruled by his laws,--therefore his party, as he
supposed, had a right to overturn thrones, and establish a new
theocracy on earth.
[Sidenote: Doctrines of the Puritans.]
This notion was a delusion in England, and proved fatal to all those
who were blinded by it. Not so in America. Amid the unbroken forests
of New England, a colony of men was planted who generally recognized
the principles of Cromwell; and one of the best governments the world
has seen controlled the turbulent, rewarded the upright, and protected
the rights and property of all classes with almost paternal fidelity
and justice. The colony, however,--such is the weakness of man, such
the degeneracy of his nature,--was doomed to dissension. Bigotry, from
which no communities or individuals are fully free, drove some of the
best men from the limits of the colony. Roger Williams, a minister in
Salem, and one of the most worthy and enlightened men of his age,
sought shelter from the persecution of his brethren amid the wilds on
Narragansett Bay. In June, 1636, the lawgiver of Rhode Island, with
five companions, embarked in an Indian canoe, and, sailing down the
river, landed near a spring, on a sheltered spot, which he called
_Providence_. He was gradually joined by others, who sympathized with
his tolerant spirit and enlightened views, and the colony of Rhode
Island became an asylum for the persecuted for many years. And there
were many such. The Puritans were too earnest to live in harmony with
those who differed from them on great religious questions; and a
difference of views must have been expected among men so intellectual,
so acute, and so fearless in speculation. How could dissenters from
prevailing opinions fail to arise?--mystics, fanatics, and heretics?
The idea of special divine illumination--ever the prevailing source of
fanaticism, in all ages and countries--led astray some; and the desire
for greater spiritual liberty animated others. Anne Hutchinson adopted
substantially the doctrine of George Fox, that the spirit of God
illuminates believers, independently of his written word; and she
communicated her views to many others, who became, like her, arrogant
and conceited, in spite of their many excellent qualities. Harry Vane,
the governor, was among the number. But there was no reasoning with
fanatics, who fancied themselves especially inspired; and, as they
disturbed the peace of the colony, the leaders were expelled. Vane
himself returned to England, to mingle in scenes more congenial with
his excellent but excitable temper. In England, this illustrious
friend of Milton greatly distinguished himself for his efforts in the
cause of liberty, and ever remained its consistent advocate; opposing
equally the tyranny of the king, and the encroachments of those who
overturned his throne.
[Sidenote: Pequod War.]
Connecticut, though assigned to a company in England, was early
colonized by a detachment of Pilgrims from Massachusetts. In 1635,
settlements were made at Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield. The
following year, the excellent and illustrious Hooker led a company of
one hundred persons through the forests to the delightful banks of the
Connecticut, whose rich alluvial soil promised an easier support than
the hard and stony land in the vicinity of Boston. They were scarcely
settled before the Pequod war commenced, which involved all the
colonies in a desperate and bloody contest with the Indians. But the
Pequods were no match for Europeans, especially without firearms; and,
in 1637, the tribe was nearly annihilated. The energy and severity
exercised by the colonists, fighting for their homes, struck awe in
the minds of the savages; and it was long before they had the courage
to rally a second time. The Puritans had the spirit of Cromwell, and
never hesitated to act with intrepid boldness and courage, when the
necessity was laid upon them. They were no advocates of half measures.
Their subsequent security and growth are, in no slight degree, to be
traced to these rigorous measures,--measures which, in these times,
are sometimes denounced as too severe, but the wisdom of which can
scarcely be questioned when the results are considered. All the great
masters of war, and of war with barbarians, have pursued a policy of
unmitigated severity; and when a temporizing or timid course has been
adopted with men incapable of being governed by reason, and animated
by savage passions, that course has failed.
[Sidenote: Union of the New England Colonies.]
After the various colonies were well established in New England, and
more than twenty thousand had emigrated from the mother country, they
were no longer regarded with benevolent interest by the king or his
ministers. The Grand Council of Plymouth surrendered its charter to
the king, and a writ of _quo warranto_ was issued against the
Massachusetts colony. But the Puritans refused to surrender their
charter, and prepared for resistance against the malignant scheme of
Strafford and Laud. Before they could be carried into execution, the
struggle between the king and the Long Parliament had commenced. The
less resistance was forgotten in the greater. The colonies escaped the
vengeance of a bigoted government. When the parliament triumphed, they
were especially favored, and gradually acquired wealth and power. The
different colonies formed a confederation to protect themselves
against the Dutch and French on the one side, and the Indians on the
other. And this happily continued for half a century, and was
productive of very important results. But the several colonies
continued to make laws for their own people, to repress anarchy, and
favor the cause of religion and unity. They did not always exhibit a
liberal and enlightened policy. They destroyed witches; persecuted the
Baptists and Quakers, and excluded them from their settlements. But,
with the exception of religious persecution, their legislation was
wise, and their general conduct was virtuous. They encouraged schools,
and founded the University of Cambridge. They preserved the various
peculiarities of Puritanism in regard to amusements, to the observance
of the Sabbath, and to antipathy to any thing which reminded them of
Rome, or even of the Church of England. But Puritanism was not an
odious crust, a form, a dogma. It was a life, a reality; and was not
unfavorable to the development of the most beautiful virtues of
charity and benevolence, in a certain sphere. It was not a mere
traditional Puritanism, which clings with disgusting tenacity to a
form, when the spirit of love has departed; but it was a harmonious
development of living virtues, which sympathized with education, with
freedom, and with progress; which united men together by the bond of
Christian love, and incited them to deeds of active benevolence and
intrepid moral heroism. Nor did the Puritan Pilgrims persecute those
who did not harmonize with them in order to punish them, but simply to
protect themselves, and to preserve in their midst, and in their
original purity, those institutions and those rights, for the
possession of which they left their beloved native land for a savage
wilderness, with its countless perils and miseries. But their
hardships and afflictions were not of long continuance. With energy,
industry, frugality, and love, they soon obtained security, comfort,
and health. And it is no vain and idle imagination which assigns to
those years, which succeeded the successful planting of the colony,
the period of the greatest happiness and virtue which New England has
ever enjoyed.
Equally fortunate with the Puritans were those interesting people who
settled Pennsylvania. If the Quakers were persecuted in the mother
country and in New England, they found a shelter on the banks of the
Delaware. There they obtained and enjoyed that freedom of religious
worship which had been denied to the great founder of the sect, and
which had even been withheld from them by men who had struggled with
them for the attainment of this exalted privilege.
[Sidenote: William Penn.]
In 1677, the Quakers obtained a charter which recognized the principle
of democratic equality in the settlements in West Jersey; and in 1680,
William Penn received from the king, who was indebted to his father, a
grant of an extensive territory, which was called _Pennsylvania_, of
which he was constituted absolute proprietary. He also received a
liberal charter, and gave his people privileges and a code of laws
which exceeded in liberality any that had as yet been bestowed on any
community. In 1682 he landed at Newcastle, and, soon after, at his new
city on the banks of the Delaware, under the shelter of a large,
spreading elm, made his immortal treaty with the Indians. He
proclaimed to the Indian, heretofore deemed a foe never to be
appeased, the principles of love which animated Fox, and which "Mary
Fisher had borne to the Grand Turk." "We meet," said the lawgiver, "on
the broad pathway of good faith and good will. No advantage shall be
taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love. I will not
call you children, for parents sometimes chide their children too
severely; nor brothers only, for brothers differ. The friendship
between me and you I will not compare to a chain, for that the rains
might rust, or the felling tree might break. We are the same as if one
man's body were to be divided into two parts; we are all one flesh and
blood."
Such were the sublime doctrines which the illustrious founder of
Pennsylvania declared to the Indians, and which he made the basis of
his government, and the rule of his intercourse with his own people
and with savage tribes. These doctrines were already instilled into
the minds of the settlers, and they also found a response in the souls
of the Indians. The sons of the wilderness long cherished the
recollection of the covenant, and never forgot its principles. While
all the other settlements of the Europeans were suffering from the
hostility of the red man, Pennsylvania alone enjoyed repose. "Not a
drop of Quaker blood was ever shed by an Indian."
William Penn, although the absolute proprietor of a tract of country
which was nearly equal in extent to England, sought no revenue and no
arbitrary power. He gave to the settlers the right to choose their own
magistrates, from the highest to the lowest, and only reserved to
himself the power to veto the bills of the council--the privilege
which our democracies still allow to their governors.
Such a colony as he instituted could not but prosper. Its rising
glories were proclaimed in every country of Europe, and the needy and
distressed of all countries sought this realized Utopia. In two years
after Philadelphia was settled, it contained six hundred houses. Peace
was uninterrupted, and the settlement spread more rapidly than in any
other part of North America.
New Jersey, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, were all
colonized by the English, shortly after the settlement of Virginia and
New England, either by emigration from England, or from the other
colonies. But there was nothing in their early history sufficiently
marked to warrant a more extended sketch. In general, the Southern
States were colonized by men who had not the religious elevation of
the Puritans, nor the living charity of the Quakers. But their
characters improved by encountering the evils to which they were
subjected, and they became gradually imbued with those principles
which in after times secured independence and union.
[Sidenote: Settlement of New York.]
The settlement of New York, however, merits a passing notice, since it
was colonized by emigrants from Holland, which was by far the most
flourishing commercial state of Europe in the seventeenth century. The
Hudson River had been discovered (1609) by an Englishman, whose name
it bears, but who was in the service of the Dutch East India Company.
The right of possession of the country around it was therefore claimed
by the United Provinces, and an association of Dutch merchants fitted
out a ship to trade with the Indians. In 1614, a rude fort was erected
on Manhattan Island, and, the next year, the settlement at Albany
commenced, chiefly with a view of trading with the Indians. In 1623,
New Amsterdam, now New York, was built for the purpose of
colonization, and extensive territories were appropriated by the Dutch
for the rising colony. This appropriation involved them in constant
contention with the English, as well as with the Indians; nor was
there the enjoyment of political privileges by the people, as in the
New England colonies. The settlements resembled lordships in the
Netherlands, and every one who planted a colony of fifty souls,
possessed the absolute property of the lands he colonized, and became
_Patroon_, or Lord of the Manor. Very little attention was given to
education, and the colonists were not permitted to make cotton,
woollen, or linen cloth, for fear of injury to the monopolists of the
Dutch manufactures. The province had no popular freedom, and no public
spirit. The poor were numerous, and the people were disinclined to
make proper provision for their own protection.
[Sidenote: Conquest of New Netherlands.]
But the colony of the New Netherlands was not destined to remain under
the government of the Dutch West India Company. It was conquered by
the English in 1664, and the conquerors promised security to the
customs, the religion, the institutions, and the possessions of the
Dutch; and this promise was observed. In 1673, the colony was
reconquered, but finally, in 1674, was ceded to the English, and the
brother of Charles II. resumed his possession and government of New
York, and delegated his power to Colonel Nichols, who ruled with
wisdom and humanity. But the old Dutch Governor Stuyvesant remained in
the city over which he had so honorably presided, and prolonged the
empire of Dutch manners, if not of Dutch arms. The banks of the Hudson
continued also to be peopled by the countrymen of the original
colonists, who long preserved the language, customs, and religion of
Holland. New York, nevertheless, was a royal province, and the
administration was frequently intrusted to rapacious, unprincipled,
and arbitrary governors.
Thus were the various states which border on the Atlantic Ocean
colonized, in which English laws, institutions, and language were
destined to be perpetuated. In 1688, the various colonies, of which
there were twelve, contained about two hundred thousand inhabitants;
and all of these were Protestants; all cherished the principles of
civil and religious liberty, and sought, by industry, frugality and
patience, to secure independence and prosperity. From that period to
this, no nation has grown more rapidly; no one has ever developed more
surprising energies; no one has ever enjoyed greater social,
political, and religious privileges.
But the shores of North America were not colonized merely by the
English. On the banks of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi another body
of colonists arrived, and introduced customs and institutions equally
foreign to those of the English and Spaniards. The French settlements
in Canada and Louisiana are now to be considered.
[Sidenote: Discovery of the St. Lawrence.]
Within seven years from the discovery of the continent, the fisheries
of Newfoundland were known to French adventurers. The St. Lawrence was
explored in 1506, and plans of colonization were formed in 1518. In
1534, James Cartier, a native of St. Malo, sailed up the River St.
Lawrence; but the severity of the climate in winter prevented an
immediate settlement. It was not until 1603 that any permanent
colonization was commenced. Quebec was then selected by Samuel
Champlain, the father of the French settlements in Canada, as the site
for a fort. In 1604, a charter was given, by Henry IV., to an eminent
Calvinist, De Monts, which gave him the sovereignty of Acadia, a tract
embraced between the fortieth and forty-sixth degrees of north
latitude. The Huguenot emigrants were to enjoy their religion, the
monopoly of the fur trade, and the exclusive control of the soil. They
arrived at Nova Scotia the same year, and settled in Port Royal.
In 1608, Quebec was settled by Champlain, who aimed at the glory of
founding a state; and in 1627 he succeeded in establishing the
authority of the French on the banks of the St. Lawrence. But
Champlain was also a zealous Catholic, and esteemed the salvation of a
soul more than the conquest of a kingdom. He therefore selected
Franciscan monks to effect the conversion of the Indians. But they
were soon supplanted by the Jesuits, who, patronized by the government
in France, soon made the new world the scene of their strange
activity.
[Sidenote: Jesuit Missionaries.]
At no period and in no country were Jesuit missionaries more untiring
laborers than amid the forests of North America. With the crucifix in
their hands, they wandered about with savage tribes, and by
unparalleled labors of charity and benevolence, sought to convert them
to the Christianity of Rome. As early as 1635, a college and a
hospital were founded, by munificent patrons in France, for the
benefit of all the tribes of red men from the waters of Lake Superior
to the shores of the Kennebec. In 1641 Montreal, intended as a general
rendezvous for converted Indians was occupied, and soon became the
most important station in Canada, next to the fortress of Quebec.
Before Eliot had preached to the Indians around Boston, the intrepid
missionaries of the Jesuits had explored the shores of Lake Superior,
had penetrated to the Falls of St. Mary's, and had visited the
Chippeways, the Hurons, the Iroquois, and the Mohawks. Soon after,
they approached the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, explored the
sources of the Mississippi, examined its various tributary streams,
and floated down its mighty waters to its mouth. The missionaries
claimed the territories on the Gulf of Mexico for the king of France,
and in 1684, Louisiana was colonized by Frenchmen. The indefatigable
La Salle, after having explored the Mississippi, from the Falls of St.
Anthony to the sea, was assassinated by one of his envious followers,
but not until he had earned the immortal fame of being the father of
western colonization.
Thus were the North American settlements effected. In 1688, England
possessed those colonies which border on the Atlantic Ocean, from
Maine to Georgia. The French possessed Nova Scotia, Canada, Louisiana,
and claimed the countries bordering on the Mississippi and its
branches, from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior, and also the
territories around the great lakes.
A mutual jealousy, as was to be expected, sprung up between France and
England respecting their colonial possessions. Both kingdoms aimed at
the sovereignty of North America. The French were entitled, perhaps,
by right of discovery, to the greater extent of territory; but their
colonies were very unequal to those of the English in respect to
numbers, and still more so in moral elevation and intellectual
culture.
But Louis XIV., then in the height of his power, meditated the
complete subjection of the English settlements. The French allied
themselves with the Indians, and savage wars were the result. The
Mohawks and other tribes, encouraged by the French, committed fearful
massacres at Deerfield and Haverhill, and the English settlers were
kept in a state of constant alarm and fear. By the treaty of Utrecht,
in 1713, the colonists obtained peace and considerable accession of
territory. In 1720, John Law proposed his celebrated financial scheme
to the prince regent of France, and the Mississippi Company was
chartered, and Louisiana colonized. Much profit was expected to be
derived from this company. It will be seen, in another chapter, how
miserably it failed. It was based on wrong foundations, and the
project of deriving wealth from the colonies came to nought; nor did
it result in a rapid colonization.
[Sidenote: Prosperity of the English Colonies.]
Meanwhile the English colonies advanced in wealth, numbers, and
political importance, and attracted the notice of the English
government. Sir Robert Walpole, in 1711, was solicited to tax the
colonies; but he nobly rejected the proposal. He encouraged trade to
the utmost latitude, and tribute was only levied by means of
consumption of British manufactures. But restrictions were
subsequently imposed on colonial enterprise, which led to collisions
between the colonies and the mother country. The Southern colonies
were more favored than the Northern, but all of them were regarded
with the view of promoting the peculiar interests of Great Britain.
Other subjects of dispute also arose; but, nevertheless, the colonies,
especially those of New England, made rapid strides. There was a
general diffusion of knowledge, the laws were well observed, and the
ministers of religion were an honor to their sacred calling. The earth
was subdued, and replenished with a hardy and religious set of men.
Sentiments of patriotism and independence were ardently cherished. The
people were trained to protect themselves; and, in their town
meetings, learned to discuss political questions, and to understand
political rights. Some ecclesiastical controversies disturbed the
peace of parishes and communities, but did not retard the general
prosperity. Some great lights also appeared. David Brainerd performed
labors of disinterestedness and enlightened piety, which have never
been surpassed, and never equalled, even in zeal and activity, except
by those of the earlier Jesuits. Jonathan Edwards stamped his genius
on the whole character of New England theology, and won the highest
honor as a metaphysician, even from European admirers. His treatise on
the Freedom of the Will has secured the praises of philosophers and
divines of all sects and parties from Hume to Chalmers, and can "never
be attentively perused without a sentiment of admiration at the
strength and stretch of the human understanding." Benjamin Franklin
also had arisen: he had not, at this early epoch, distinguished
himself for philosophical discoveries; but he had attracted attention
as the editor of a newspaper, in which he fearlessly defended freedom
of speech and the great rights of the people. But greater than
Franklin, greater than any hero which modern history has commemorated,
was that young Virginia planter, who was then watching, with great
solicitude, the interests and glory of his country, and preparing
himself for the great conflicts which have given him immortality.
The growth of the colonies, and their great importance in the eyes of
the Europeans, had now provoked the jealousy of the two leading powers
of Europe, and the colonial struggle between England and France began.
[Sidenote: French Encroachments.]
The French claimed the right of erecting a chain of fortresses along
the Ohio and the Mississippi, with a view to connect Canada with
Louisiana, and thus obtain a monopoly of the fur trade with the
Indians, and secure the possession of the finest part of the American
continent. But these designs were displeasing to the English
colonists, who had already extended their settlements far into the
interior. The English ministry was also indignant in view of these
movements, by which the colonies were completely surrounded by
military posts. England protested; but the French artfully protracted
negotiations until the fortifications were completed.
It was to protest against the erection of these fortresses that George
Washington, then twenty-three years of age, was sent by the colony of
Virginia to the banks of the Ohio. That journey through the trackless
wilderness, attended but by one person, in no slight degree marked him
out, and prepared him for his subsequently great career.
While the disputes about the forts were carried on between the
cabinets of France and England, the French prosecuted their
encroachments in America with great boldness, which doubtless hastened
the rupture between the two countries. Orders were sent to the
colonies to drive the French from their usurpations in Nova Scotia,
and from their fortified posts upon the Ohio. Then commenced that
great war, which resulted in the loss of the French possessions in
America. But this war was also allied with the contests which grew out
of the Austrian Succession, and therefore will be presented in a
separate chapter on the Pelham administration, during which the Seven
Years' War, in the latter years of the reign of George II., commenced.
[Sidenote: European Settlements in the East.]
But the colonial jealousy between England and France existed not
merely in view of the North American colonies, but also those in the
East Indies; and these must be alluded to in order to form a general
idea of European colonization, and of the causes which led to the
mercantile importance of Great Britain, as well as to the great wars
which desolated the various European nations.
From the difficulties in the American colonies, we turn to those,
therefore, which existed in the opposite quarter of the globe. Even to
those old countries had European armies penetrated; even there
European cupidity and enterprise were exercised.
As late as 1742, the territories of the English in India scarcely
extended beyond the precincts of the towns in which were located the
East India Company's servants. The first English settlement of
importance was on the Island of Java; but, in 1658, a grant of land
was obtained on the Coromandel coast, near Madras, where was erected
the strong fortress of St. George. In 1668, the Island of Bombay was
ceded by the crown of Portugal to Charles II., and appointed the
capital of the British settlements in India. In 1698, the English had
a settlement on the Hooghly, which afterwards became the metropolis of
British power.
[Sidenote: French Settlements in India.]
But the Dutch, and Portuguese, and French had also colonies in India
for purposes of trade. Louis XIV. established a company, in imitation
of the English, which sought a settlement on the Hooghly. The French
company also had built a fort on the coast of the Carnatic, about
eighty miles south of Madras, called Pondicherry, and had colonized
two fertile islands in the Indian Ocean, which they called the Isle of
France and the Isle of Bourbon. The possessions of the French were
controlled by two presidencies, one on the Isle of France, and the
other at Pondicherry.
[Sidenote: La Bourdonnais and Dupleix.]
When the war broke out between England and France, in 1744, these two
French presidencies were ruled by two men of superior genius,--La
Bourdonnais and Dupleix,--both of them men of great experience in
Indian affairs, and both devoted to the interests of the company, so
far as their own personal ambition would permit. When Commodore
Burnet, with an English squadron, was sent into the Indian seas, La
Bourdonnais succeeded in fitting out an expedition to oppose it, and
even contemplated the capture of Madras. No decisive action was fought
at sea; but the French governor succeeded in taking Madras. This
success displeased the Nabob of the Carnatic, and he sent a letter to
Dupleix, and complained of the aggression of his countrymen in
attacking a place under his protection. Dupleix, envious of the fame
of La Bourdonnais, and not pleased with the terms of capitulation, as
being too favorable to the English, claimed the right of annulling the
conquest, since Madras, when taken, would fall under his own
presidency.
The contentions between these two Frenchmen prevented La Bourdonnais
from following up the advantage of his victory, and he failed in his
attempts to engage the English fleet, and, in consequence, returned to
France, and died from the effects of an unjust imprisonment in the
Bastile.
Dupleix, after the departure of La Bourdonnais, brought the principal
inhabitants of Madras to Pondicherry. But some of them contrived to
escape. Among them was the celebrated Clive, then a clerk in a
mercantile house. He entered as an ensign into the company's service,
and soon found occasion to distinguish himself.
But Dupleix, master of Madras, now formed the scheme of founding an
Indian empire, and of expelling the English from the Carnatic. And
India was in a state to favor his enterprises. The empire of the Great
Mogul, whose capital was Delhi, was tottering from decay. It had been,
in the sixteenth century, the most powerful empire in the world. The
magnificence of his palaces astonished even Europeans accustomed to
the splendor of Paris and Versailles. His viceroys ruled over
provinces larger and richer than either France or England. And even
the lieutenants of these viceroys frequently aspired to independence.
The Nabob of Arcot was one of these latter princes. He hated the
French, and befriended the English. On the death of the Viceroy of the
Deccan, to whom he was subject, in 1748, Dupleix conceived his
gigantic scheme of conquest. To the throne of this viceroy there were
several claimants, two of whom applied to the French for assistance.
This was what the Frenchman desired, and he allied himself with the
pretenders. With the assistance of the French, Mirzappa Juy obtained
the viceroyalty. Dupleix was splendidly rewarded, and was intrusted
with the command of seven thousand Indian cavalry, and received a
present of two hundred thousand pounds.
The only place on the Carnatic which remained in possession of the
rightful viceroy was Trichinopoly, and this was soon invested by the
French and Indian forces.
To raise this siege, and turn the tide of French conquest, became the
object of Clive, then twenty-five years of age. He represented to his
superior the importance of this post, and also of striking a decisive
blow. He suggested the plan of an attack on Arcot itself, the
residence of the nabob. His project was approved, and he was placed at
the head of a force of three hundred sepoys and two hundred
Englishmen. The city was taken by surprise, and its capture induced
the nabob to relinquish the siege of Trichinopoly in order to retake
his capital. But Clive so intrenched his followers, that they
successfully defended the place after exhibiting prodigies of valor.
The fortune of war turned to the side of the gallant Englishman, and
Dupleix, who was no general, retreated before the victors. Clive
obtained the command of Fort St. David, an important fortress near
Madras, and soon controlled the Carnatic.
About this time, the settlements on the Hooghly were plundered by
Suraj-w Dowlah, Viceroy of Bengal. Bengal was the most fertile and
populous province of the empire of the Great Mogul. It was watered by
the Ganges, the sacred river of India, and its cities were
surprisingly rich. Its capital was Moorshedabad, a city nearly as
large as London; and here the young viceroy lived in luxury and
effeminacy, and indulged in every species of cruelty and folly. He
hated the English of Calcutta, and longed to plunder them. He
accordingly seized the infant city, and shut up one hundred and forty
of the colonists in a dungeon of the fort, a room twenty feet by
fourteen, with only two small windows; and in a few hours, one hundred
and seventeen of the English died. The horrors of that night have been
splendidly painted by Macaulay in his essay on Clive, and the place of
torment, called the _Black Hole of Calcutta_, is synonymous with
suffering and misery. Clive resolved to avenge this insult to his
countrymen. An expedition was fitted out at Madras to punish the
inhuman nabob, consisting of nine hundred Europeans and fifteen
hundred sepoys. It was a small force, but proved sufficient. Calcutta
was recovered and the army of the nabob was routed. Clive intrigued
with the enemies of the despot in his own city; and, by means of
unparalleled treachery, dissimulation, art, and violence, Suraj-w
Dowlah was deposed, and Meer Jaffier, one of the conspirators, was
made nabob in his place. In return for the services of Clive, the new
viceroy splendidly rewarded him. A hundred boats conveyed the
treasures of Bengal down the river to Calcutta. Clive himself, who had
walked between heaps of gold and silver, crowned with diamonds and
rubies, condescended to receive a present of three hundred thousand
pounds. His moderation has been commended by his biographers in not
asking for a million.
The elevation of Meer Jaffier was, of course, displeasing to the
imbecile Emperor of India, and a large army was sent to dethrone him.
The nabob appealed, in his necessity, to his allies, the English, and,
with the powerful assistance of the Europeans, the forces of the
successor of the great Aurungzebe were signally routed. But the great
sums he was obliged to bestow on his allies, and the encroaching
spirit which they manifested, changed his friendship into enmity. He
plotted with the Dutch and the French to overturn the power of the
English. Clive divined his object, and Meer Jaffier was deposed in his
turn. The Viceroy of Bengal was but the tool of his English
protectors, and British power was firmly planted in the centre of
India. Calcutta became the capital of a great empire, and the East
India Company, a mere assemblage of merchants and stockjobbers, by
their system of perfidy, craft and violence, became the rulers and
disposers of provinces which Alexander had coveted in vain. The
servants of this company made their fortunes, and untold wealth was
transported to England. Clive obtained a fortune of forty thousand
pounds a year, an Irish peerage, and a seat in the House of Commons.
He became an object of popular idolatry, courted by ministers, and
extolled by Pitt. He was several times appointed governor-general of
the country he had conquered, and to him England is indebted for the
foundation of her power in India. But his fame and fortune finally
excited the jealousy of his countrymen, and he was made to bear the
sins of the company which he had enriched. The malignity with which he
was pursued, and the disease which he acquired in India, operated
unfortunately on a temper naturally irritable; his reason became
overpowered, and he died, in 1774, by his own hand.
[Sidenote: Conquest of India.]
The subsequent career of Hastings, and final conquest of India, form
part of the political history of England itself, during those
administrations which yet remain to be described. The colonization of
America and the East Indies now became involved with the politics of
rival statesmen; and its history can only be appreciated by
considering those acts and principles which marked the career of the
Newcastles and the Pitts. The administration of the Pelhams,
therefore, next claims attention.
* * * * *
REFERENCES.--The best histories pertaining to the conquests
of the Spaniards are undoubtedly those of Mr. Prescott.
Irving's Columbus should also be consulted. For the early
history of the North American colonies, the attention of
students is directed to Grahame's and Bancroft's Histories
of the United States. In regard to India, see Elphinstone's,
Gleig's, Ormes's, and Mills's Histories of India; Malcolm's
Life of Clive; and Macaulay's Essay on Clive. For the
contemporaneous history of Great Britain, the best works are
those of Tyndal, Smollett, Lord Mahon, and Belsham;
Russell's Modern Europe; the Pictorial History of England;
and the continuation of Mackintosh, in Lardner's Cabinet
Cyclopedia.