the ensign displayed before the governor's gate. This frivolous matter interested and divided the colony. Some of the militia were now unwilling to follow a standard in which there was a cross, lest they should do honour to an idol; others refused to serve under a mutilated banner, lest they should be suspected of having renounced their allegiance to the crown of England. The contest was at length ended by a compromise. The cross was retained in the ensigns of forts and vessels, but erased from the colours of the militia.

The restless disposition of Williams had caused his banishment from Salem; a circumstance to which is owing, in 1636, the foundation of another state; for, so great was the attachment of his hearers, that many accompanied him in his exile. They directed their march towards the south; and purchased from the natives a considerable tract of land, to which their leader gave the name of Providence: and, afterwards, Mr. Coddington bought a fertile island, in Naraganset Bay, that acquired the name of Rhode Island; under which title, the former settlement is now included. This gentleman had arrived at Boston about eight years before; whence, with seventy-six others, he was exiled, for holding no less than eighty erroneous opinions on religion. Their new settlement being fruitful, its climate agreeable, and protection afforded to the oppressed, it became, in a few years, so populous, as to send out colonists to the adjacent shores. After his removal, Mr. Coddington embraced the sentiments of the Quakers, or Friends, and became the head of that society in the island. The first establishment was made at the north end, and named Portsmouth; the next, on a fine harbour, at the south-east, which was called Newport; a town that in a few years became the capital of the colony. These received a charter from the British parliament, shortly after the commencement of the civil wars in the reign of Charles the first, and a confirmation and enlargement of their constitutional powers from his successor. By this, it was ordered, that "none were ever to be molested for any difference of opinion in religious matters:" yet, the very first assembly convened under this authority, excluded Roman Catholics from voting at elections, and from every office in the government.

To similar causes, the state of Connecticut is indebted for its origin. About one-hundred persons, with their famities, accompanied by Mr. Hooker, a favourite minister of

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Massachusetts, after a fatiguing march through woods and swamps, settled on the western side of the great river Connecticut, and laid the foundation of Hartford, Springfield, and Weatherfield; the first of which is now the capital. This settlement was attended by great irregularities. Part of the lands lay beyond the limits of the territory granted to the colony of Massachusetts Bay; the authority from which the emigrants derived the power of jurisdiction. Two distinct claims were now made to the tract which they had occupied; one, by the Dutch, the other, by lord Say-andSeal and lord Brook. The former, then established at Manhados, (called by them New Amsterdam, and, subsequently, by the British, New York,) had discovered the Connecticut; and the latter, the heads of two illustrious families in England, who were disgusted by the arbitrary measures of Charles the first, had taken possession by building a fort, which, from their united names, they called Say Brook. By degrees, however, the Massachusetts' adventurers were freed from both these competitors. The Dutch were themselves soon expelled from the adjoining district; the others assigned to the colony whatever title was derived from a first possession; and, at a subsequent period, it was incorporated by royal charter.

One of the most remarkable laws in the infancy of Con necticut, was aimed against the use of tobacco. A similar denunciation was fulminated in Massachusetts. It enacted, that no person under the age of twenty, nor any other not already habituated to it, should use it until he had brought a certificate from a physician, stating that it was necessary for his health, and had, in consequence, received a license from the court. Those who had already addicted themselves to this obnoxious weed, were prohibited from using it in any company, at their labour, or on their travels, unless they were at least ten miles from any house; and, then, only once a day, under a penalty of six-pence for each offence: of which, the constables were directed to give information to the district court. The Connecticut settlers treated the quakers with little less severity than their Mas sachusetts brethren. For the fourth breach of the law framed against them, the offender was to be imprisoned, kept to hard labour, and his tongue bored through with a red hot iron.

The next province which demands attention is New Hampshire. Under the authority of a grant from the

council of New Plymouth, sir Ferdinando Gorges and captain John Mason, in conjunction with several merchants of London, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Shrewsbury, and Dover, attempted the establishment of a colony and fishery at the river Piscataqua. For this purpose, in the spring of the year 1623, they sent over David Thompson, a Scot, Edward and William Hilton, fishmongers of London, and a number of people, furnished with the requisite supplies. They were in two parties. One landed at a place which they called Little Harbour; where they built a house, afterwards named Mason Hall. The other went further, and settled at a place since called Dover. But the funds of this company were not adequate to the undertaking. Nor did the people, to whom they entrusted the establishment, possess that enthusiasm which animated their neighbours of Massachusetts with vigour to struggle through the hardships attending an infant colony. It is probable, therefore, that they must have abandoned their design, had not the same motives which caused the migrations into Rhode Island and Connecticut, assisted in the advancement of New Hampshire. Mr. Wheelright, a clergyman of some note, having, by his opposition to the church government, been banished from Massachusetts, took a route opposite to that of the other exiles, and founded the town of Exeter, on a small river that flows into Piscataqua bay. For a long time, the parent colony claimed jurisdiction over New Hampshire; and the first reduction of its constitution into a regular form was subsequent to the English revolution.

In the beginning of the eighteenth century, this province received considerable increase, by an emigration of above one-hundred families from the north of Ireland; chiefly Presbyterians of Derry, accompanied by their ministers. These industrious people introduced the manufacture of linen, and excited much curiosity by their spinning-wheels; as the species which they brought over, being set in motion by the foot, was a novelty amongst the colonists. They also taught the cultivation of the potato; a vegetable well known to have been carried to Ireland from Mexico, about the middle of the sixteenth century.

The first attempt to colonize the District of Maine, was made in 1607, on the west side of Kennebec, near the sea: but no permanent settlement was then effected. In 1685, Gorges obtained a grant of this territory, and in four years afterwards, a royal charter; under the authority of which,

he appointed a governor and council. Upon his death, the people unanimously combined, and formed a constitution on a more liberal and extended basis: by which they were governed until 1652, when they submitted to Massachusetts, who claimed the soil and jurisdiction of the province, as far as the middle of Casco bay, and Maine took the name of Yorkshire; having, liberty to send deputies to the general court of Boston.

By extending their settlements, the English became exposed to serious danger. The Indians around Massachusetts, Bay, being feeble and unwarlike, and having received from the early settlers what they deemed an equivalent for their lands, gave no indications of hostility: but Providence and Connecticut had soon to contend with millions more numerous and powerful. Among these, the most considerable were the Naragansets and the Pequods. The latter could bring into the field a thousand warriors; not inferior, in discipline and courage, to any Indians in America. Foreseeing that the extermination of their entire race must be the consequence of their permitting Europeans to spread over the continent, they applied to the Naragansets; requesting them to forget their mutual animosities for a season, and co-operate in expelling a common enemy. But the latter, with a refinement in policy, similar to that which deluges with blood the numerous countries of the Christian world, perceived, in this, a favourable opportunity of weakening, if not of totally destroying, an ancient rival: instead, therefore, of acceding to this prudent offer, they discovered the hostile intention of their neighbours to the governor of Massachusetts, and entered into an alliance with the Eng. lish against them.

More exasperated than discouraged by this treach1637 ery, the Pequods took the field, plundered and burned remote settlements, and attacked fort Say Brook; from which, when driven off, they retired to places deemed inaccessible to an invading enemy. The troops of Connecticut were soon assembled, and ready for the field: but the march of those from Massachusetts was retarded by the most singular cause that ever influenced the operations of a modern army; reminding us of the superstitious Spartans, who, when solicited to join the Athenians in opposing the arms of Persia on the plains of Marathon, made answer, that it was an established law with them not to begin a march before the full moon. When mustered, it being

found that some of the officers and many of the private soldiers were "under a covenant of works," it was declared, that a blessing could neither be implored nor expected to accompany the arms of such unhallowed men. The alarm became general; and many arrangements were necessary to cast out the unclean, and render this little band sufficiently pure to fight the battles of a people who entertained so high ideas of their own sanctity and importance.

Not waiting for their puerile allies, the Connecticut troops, with the Naragansets, commanded by captain Mason, advanced against the enemy; who had posted themselves in the middle of a swamp, near the head of the river Mistic, and surrounded their camp with palisades. But they displayed more prudence in choosing their situation, than in guarding it from surprise. Their assailants reached the paling unperceived, and if a dog had not given the alarm, the Indians must have been massacred whilst asleep. In a moment, the warriors were in arms, and, raising the war-cry, prepared to repel, this formidable at tack. Notwithstanding, however, that, like the defenders of the Roman capitol, they had been summoned by a faithful guardian, they were not equally successful in overthrow. ing their invaders. A dreadful carnage ensued. Entering hastily by two winding passages, which had been left open, the English directed their guns towards the floors of the little huts, that were covered with their inhabitants asleep. Roused from their dreams by the unremitting discharges of musketry, if they came forth, they rushed against the surFounding swords; if they reached the palisades, and attempted to climb over, they met by a shower of balls. Their crowded dwellings were soon in flames: many, afraid to venture out, remained in the devouring fire; others, who had recoiled from the deadly weapons, rushed amidst the blaze, and shared their fate. In a few minutes, "five or sixhundred lay gasping in their blood, or were silent in the. arms of death." "The darkness of the forest," observes a New England author, "the blaze of the dwellings, the ghastly looks of the dead, the groans of the dying, the shricks of the women and children, the yells of the friendly savages, presented a scene of sublimity and terror, indescrib ably dreadful." The spirit of extermination was not satiated here. The Massachusetts' troops under captain Stoughton, at length arrived, and in a few months the Pequads ceased to be a nation. Their very name was heard no more.