England had had good and prosperous success, without any public charge to the State." is quoted by an historian of those times as an honourable testimony of the high merit of the colonists. During the civil wars, the New England colonists could not but embrace with ardour the cause of civil liberty; and the Parlia ment rewarded their attachment, by exempting them from all taxes. In Cromwell, when advanced to the Protectorate, they found a sincere and zealous patron. After the conquest of Ireland, he invited them to return and settle in that country; and subsequently, having conquered Jamaica, he endeavoured to persuade them to remove to that fine and fertile island. But his arguments were unavailing. Enjoying in their present abode complete religious freedom, they were unwilling to hazard that privilege in the pursuit of inferior advantages. At the end of fifty years from the arrival of the first emigrants at Plymouth, the New England settlements were supposed to contain 120 towns, and as many thousand inhabitants.*

In the circumstances of its origin, in the character and motives of the first settlers, the colony of New England differs from any other that has ever been planted in any part of the globe. Had not a cruel necessity impelled them to leave their native land for the western wilderness, the idea of such a polity as they erected, would still have been regarded as Utopian. That it was in all respects consonant with either political wisdom or correct views of the genius of Christianity, cannot be maintained; but it may fairly be stated, that their errors and defects were those of the age in which they lived, while their virtues, which rose almost to the heroic height, would have shed lustre upon any age. Yet, even in America, while their

Hale, pp. 44-47, 53.

characters have sometimes been held up as models of almost supernatural excellence, they have more generally been depicted in far different colours.* A contemporary American writer has vindicated "the pilgrim fathers" of New England from the flippant censures of his degenerate countrymen, with equal discrimination and force. "The first colonists of Massachusetts were," he remarks, "unquestionably, on the whole, a highly respectable community. They were among the best specimens of what was then, and is now, the best class of society in Great Britain,-its well educated commoners ;-men superior, perhaps, to any of their successors in deep and extensive learning, and second to none for fervent piety, for stern integrity, and disinterested patriotism. But that all the early settlers of New England were of this description, is a supposition which, though it sometimes seems to have been taken for granted, is manifestly absurd. There were several of the same stamp with those who find a place in every new country, needy and desperate adventurers, who hoped to find in a remote settlement, the subsistence which they were unwilling to procure by honest exertions in their native land. Crimes, even of the most shocking description, sometimes occurred; and there was, even in the more respectable classes of society, a deficiency in refinement and deli

* "There are many among us, who seemed to be ignorant of almost every event which occurred in Massachusetts during the seventeenth century, except the destruction of the Aborigines, the persecution of the Quakers, and the execution of the witches."N. Amer. Rev. No. liv. p. 24.

Even Dr. Dwight, the zealous apologist of the New England colonists, represents the first settlers in Connecticut, as "not a little perplexed by loose ministers and magistrates; such as always withdraw from regular, well principled society, to indulge their mischievous dispositions, and establish their influence in more imperfect communities."-Dwight, vol. i. p. 113.

cacy of manners, which proves, more than any thing else, the progress of society since the seventeenth century. If, however, we can claim any superiority as an enlightened and refined community, over our forefathers, let us never forget, how much of this pre-eminence we owe to their wisdom and liberality. The erection of the venerable universities of Harvard and Yale; the adoption, to a great degree, of those statutes of descent and distribution, beautifully denominated by Judge Story, the only true and just Agrarian laws,' which have utterly obliterated the few vestiges of aristocracy which had found a place in our land; the provisions for the support of religion, which combine so happily the interest of the public with the liberty of the individual; and, above all, the introduction of free schools; these great sources of our freedom, or equality, our intellectual and moral power, were all established by the founders of New England, during the first century of its existence. Our fathers were no devotees of ancient prejudices, anxious to exclude every ray of intellectual light which might disclose the effects of their own political and religious systems; no crafty tyrants, labouring to establish the power of the few by perpetuating the ignorance of the many; no wild fanatics, who thought that divine truth could be only contaminated by the admixture of human learning. They were enthusiasts, indeed, but it was a dignified and generous enthusiasm ;-an enthusiasm which sought noble ends by noble means. It was their great object, to render their posterity a religious, by rendering them an enlightened people. We may smile at the whimsical peculiarities of the pilgrims, or lament their graver faults; but we shall shew little of the boasted liberality of the present day, if we can read their annals with no other emotions than these; if we fail to render

due homage to their unwavering singleness of purpose, their unconquerable perseverance, their unquenchable zeal for the dissemination of pure truth, and for the prosperity of their adopted country."*

It has already been mentioned, that the territory now denominated New York, was first colonized by the Dutch. "In 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman, but sailing in the service of the Dutch East India Com. pany, discovered Long Island, the harbour of New York, and the river to which his name has been given. In 1613, several Dutch merchants, to whom the Republic of Holland had granted the exclusive right of trading in this part of America, erected a fort near Albany, which they named Fort Orange, and a few trading houses on the island of New York, then called by the Indians, Manhattan.

"In the same year Captain Argal, who had been sent by the settlers of Virginia to drive the French from their settlements on the Bay of Fundy, visited, on his return, the Dutch on Hudson's River. Claiming the country for his nation, by right of prior discovery, he demanded their acknowledgement of its authority. Being few in number, they prudently submitted, without attempting to resist. But, receiving a reinforcement the next year, they again asserted the right of Holland to the country, and erected Fort Amsterdam, on the south end of the island.

"The English, for many years, forbore to interfere with their pursuits or claims. In 1621, the Republic, desirous of founding a colony in America, granted to the Dutch West India Company, an extensive territory on both sides of the Hudson. The country was

• N. Amer. Rev. No. liv. pp. 35, 36. See also Dwight, vol. i. pp. 132-143,

called New Netherlands. The boundaries were not accurately defined, but were considered by the Company as including Connecticut River to the North, and Delaware River to the South. In 1623, they erected a fort on the Delaware, which they called Nas.. sau; and ten years afterwards, another, on the Connecticut, which they called Good Hope. Near the former, the Swedes had a settlement. From the interfering claims of the two nations, quarrels arose between the settlers, which, after continuing several years, terminated in the subjugation of the Swedes. Towards the fort on the Connecticut, the settlements of the English rapidly approached, and soon occasioned disputes which had a longer duration and a different result.

"The Dutch did not escape the calamity of war with the savages. Hostilities commenced in 1643, continued several years, and were very destructive to both parties. William Kieft, the Governor of the New Netherlands, invited Captain Underhill, who had been a soldier in Europe, and had made himself conspicuous in New Hampshire, for his eccentricities in religion and conduct, to take command of his troops. Collecting a flying party of 150 men, he was enabled to preserve the Dutch settlements from total destruction. The number of Indians whom he killed in the course of the war, was supposed to exceed 400. In 1646, a severe battle was fought on that part of Horse-neck called Strickland's Plain. The Dutch were victorious; on both sides, great numbers were slain; and for a century afterwards, the graves of the dead were distinctly visible.

"In 1650, Peter Stuyvesant, then the able governor of the New Netherlands, met the commissioners of the New England colonies at Hartford, where, after