1655. Code of laws com Governor Eaton had, by desire, compiled a code' of laws for the colony of New Haven. These laws, piled for having been examined and-approved by the minisN. Haven, ters of the jurisdiction, were presented to the general court, which ordered that five hundred copies should be printed.' colony, and printed. required in Massachu setts. Spinning The general court of Massachusetts, in consideration of the straits of the colony in the article of clothing, passed an act of assessment on spinning.* This year Mrs. Ann Hibbins of Boston was tried for witch- and condemned for witchcraft; and the next year was executed. 3 Execution craft. Epidemic disease. Virginia An epidemical distemper, similar to that of 1647, prevailed through New England.* The Virginian legislature changed the Spanish eurrency. piece of eight from six shillings, and established it at five shillings sterling, as the standard of its currency.s Swedes ex tirpated from ware. The Swedes at the Delaware were extirpated by om Dela- the Dutch, who became possessed of the west side of Delaware bay. The fortress of Casimir was now denominated Niewer Amstel by the Dutch; by the English, Newcastle; and a village naturally arose under its walls." of greater importance than Cromwell then imagined. He gave orders however to support it; and Jamaica was the chief acquisition, which the English owe to his enterprising spirit. Allen Hist. Eng. 259. 1 Trumbull, i. 235. They were printed in England. 2 Massachusetts Laws. The law required," that all hands, not necessarily employed on other occasions, as women, boys, and girls," should "spin according to their skill and ability;" and authorized the selectmen in every town, to "consider the condition and capacity of every family, and assess them" accordingly, " at one or more spinners." 3 Hutchinson, i. 188. The second instance in N. England. See p. 345. 4 Hubbard MS. N. Eng. chap. Ixi. Hutchinson, i. 190. Of this disease died Nathaniel Rogers, a very respectable minister of Ipswich, a descendant of the celebrated John Rogers, who suffered martyrdom in queen Mary's reign. Ibid. Mather Magnal. book iii. 104-109. 5 Jefferson Virg. Query xxi. See p. 336 of this volume. 6 Now called the Three Lower Counties. Smith N. York, 6. 7 Smith N. York, ibid. Chalmers, i. 633. The Dutch. W. India company, feeling the blow, struck by the Swedes, had applied for aid to the city of Amsterdam; and, with this alliance, sent an armament from Manhattan, under the command of Stuyvesant, the governor. Ibid. Stuy, missiona The Onondagas sent deputies to Quebec, accom- French panied by a large number of their nation, to solicit ries to the missionaries of the French. Missionaries were ac- Onondaga cordingly sent to that tribe of natives; and several of the heads of it became their proselytes.' Death of E. Edward Winslow, distinguished in the annals of May 8. Plymouth colony, died on board the English fleet Winslow. in the West Indies, in the sixty first year of his age. 1656. tion of the The Quakers, at their first appearance in New Persecu England, were considered equally hostile to civil or- quakers der and to Christian truth. The legislature of Massachusetts therefore passed sentence of banishment on twelve of that sect, the whole number then in the colony.3 vesant arrived at the Delaware 9 September, and soon after anchored be fore Fort Casimir, and landed his troops. This fort, commanded by Suen Scutz, surrendered 16 September, on articles of capitulation. The whole strength of the place consisted of 4 cannon (14 pounders), 5 swivels, and some small arms; all of which were delivered to the conquered. Fort Christiana, commanded by Risingh, surrendered to Stuyvesant 25 September. About 30 Swedes took the oath of fidelity to the States General; the rest, with a few exceptions, went to Sweden. Smith N. York, 6. 1 Univ. Hist. xxxix. 457, 458. Charlevoix Nouv. France, i. 320. 2 Morton, 153. Hutchinson, i. 187. Cromwell appointed three commissioners to superintend and direct the operations of Penn and Venables in their expedition to the W. Indies, of whom Winslow, then in England, was chief. His reputation was so great, and he found so much employment, that he had never returned home after his departure as agent in 1646. The commanders disagreed in their tempers and views; and the commissioners could not controul them. Winslow participated the chagrin of the defeat; but not the pleasure of the subsequent victory. In the passage between Hispaniola and Jamaica, the heat of the climate threw him into a fever, which, aggravated by his dejection, terminated his life. Belknap Biog. ii. 281-309. His actions form his best eulogium. In New England, his name will never be forgotten. His portrait, an excellent piece of painting, is in possession of Dr. Josiah Winslow, who inherits the old family estate, called Careswell farm, at Marshfield. The eye is black and expressive, and the whole countenance very interesting. The portrait is saken with whiskers. Josiah Winslow, son of Edward (also governor of Plymouth colony), is drawn without them. "Beards were left off early in New England, and about the same time they were in Old. Leveret is the first governor, who is painted without a beard. He laid it aside in Cromwell's court." Hutchinson, i. 153. 3 Hutchinson, i. 197. Neal N. Eng. i. 311. Hazard i. 630-632, where the act is entire. An act was passed, laying a penalty of £100 on the maszer of any vessel, who should bring a known quaker into any part of the 1656. Oliver Cromwell, protector, made proposals to Proposal to the colony of Massachusetts for the removal of some settle Ja- of its inhabitants to Jamaica; but the general court very respectfully declined compliance." maica. Billerica. Groton. Ruler of Indians chosen. Acadie St. Etienne A township was granted at Shashin, which was called Billerica ; and another, above Concord, called Groton." General Daniel Gookin of Cambridge was the first English magistrate, chosen to be ruler of the praying Indians in Massachusetts.3 Cromwell granted, under the great seal of Enggranted to land, to Charles Saint Etienne, William Crown, and and others. Thomas Temple forever, the territory denominated Acadie, and part of the country commonly called Nova Scotia, extending along the coast to Pentagoet and to the river St. George. It was erected into a province, independent of New England and of his other dominions, and the three grantees were appointed its hereditary governors.* colony; and requiring him to give security to carry him back again, the The Letter of the general court to Cromwell is in Hutchinson, i. 192, and Hazard Coll. i. 638. Hubbard MS. N. Eng. chap. Iviii. 3 Coll. Hist. Soc. i. 177. 4 Chalmers, i. 187. Hazard Coll. i. 616-619, from Memoires de l' Amerique. Thus, for the first tiine, was introduced that confusion with regard to Acadie and Nova Scotia, which so perplexed statesmen in aftertimes, by considering those as two different countries, that were in truth the same; the former containing the latter and more, and Acadie advance ing westward till it met with the settlements of New England. For it ought always to be remembered, that the southern boundary of Acadie, as established by the grant of Henry IV, in 1603, was the 40th degree of north latitude; that the southwestern limits of Nova Scotia, as appointed New Amsterdam, afterward called New York, New York was laid out in several small streets.' laid out. An insurrection was raised in Maryland by Josias InsurrecFendal, a man of restless intrigue, which greatly tion in Madistressed the province, and added to the burden of its impositions.* ryland. Miles Standish, the hero of New England, died Death of at Duxborough, at an advanced age. 3 1657. Standish. The governor and council of Plymouth, about Indian plot. this time, hearing that Alexander, son and successor of Masassoit, was conspiring with the Narragansets against the English, sent for him to the court. Major Winslow, with eight or ten men, surprising him, and requiring his attendance, he was persuaded by one of his own chief counsellors to go to the governor's house; but his indignation at the surprisal threw him into a fever. On his promise to come back to Plymouth, if he should recover, and, in the mean time, to send his son as a hostage, he had Death of leave to return; but he died before he reached home. * The Indians at Ponkipog having sold all their Lands givland, the town of Dorchester, at the request of the en to the reverend John Eliot of Roxbury, empowered four persons to lay out a plantation at Ponkipog, not ex by the patent of James I in 1621, was the river St. Croix. And thus was the stream of St. George now affixed as the outmost extent of both towards the south-west." Ibid. 188. 3 Morton, 155. Hubbard MS. N. Eng. chap. Ixii. Belknap Biog. ii. 335. Coll. Hist. Soc. ii. 4. Hubbard (ut supra) says, he was allied to the noble house of Standish in Lancashire, and inherited some of the virtues of that honourable family, as well as the name. In the military annals of Plymouth he stands preeminently distinguished. Dr. Belknap [Biog. ii. 335-] says, after the encounter at Mount Wollaston in 1628, we have no particular account of him. We find however, that, so late as 1653, he was placed at the head of the troops, provisionally raised by Plymouth colony; and that he was chosen one of the assistants of that colony, as long as he lived. His sword is preserved in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Alexander. Indians. 1656. Oliver Cromwell, protector, made proposals to Proposal to the colony of Massachusetts for the removal of some settle Ja- of its inhabitants to Jamaica; but the general court very respectfully declined compliance." maica. Billerica. Groton. Ruler of Indians chosen. Acadie St. Etienne A township was granted at Shashin, which was called Billerica ; and another, above Concord, called Groton.* General Daniel Gookin of Cambridge was the first English magistrate, chosen to be ruler of the praying Indians in Massachusetts. 3 Cromwell granted, under the great seal of Enggranted to land, to Charles Saint Etienne, William Crown, and and others. Thomas Temple forever, the territory denominated Acadie, and part of the country commonly called Nova Scotia, extending along the coast to Pentagoet and to the river St. George. It was erected into a province, independent of New England and of his other dominions, and the three grantees were ap pointed its hereditary governors.* colony; and requiring him to give security to carry him back again, the quaker to be immediately sent to the house of correction, receive twenty stripes, and be kept to hard labour until transportation. A penalty was enacted of £5 for importing, and the same for dispersing or concealing quakers' books; and for defending the doctrines of their books 40 shillings for the first offence; £4 for the second; and for the next, commitment to the house of correction, "till there be convenient passage for them to be sent out of the land." Another severe law was passed the next year (165-) against bringing quakers into the jurisdiction, or harbouring thent in it. See Hutchinson,i. 198. This law is entire in Hazard Coll. ii. 554. See A. D. 1646, p. 340 of this volume,where the quakers are noticed; but that artcle seems to have been inserted ten years too soon. If that be an error, it is copied from the printed laws, and from Hazard's Collections, both ef which give that date. Chalmers (i. 190.] says, "the first quakers who ap peared in New England, arrived from Barbadoes in July, 1656." The Letter of the general court to Cromwell is in Hutchinson, i. 197, and Hazard Cell. i. 638. 2 Hubbard MS. N. Eng. chap. Iviii. 3 Coll. Hist. Soc. i. 177. 4 Chalmers, i. 187. Hazard Coll. i. 616-619, from Memoires de l' Amerique. Thus, for the first tiine, was introduced that confusion with regard to Acadie and Nova Scotia, which so perplexed statesmen in aftertimes, by considering those as two different countries, that were in truth the same; the former containing the latter and more, and Acadie advance ing westward till it met with the settlements of New England. For it ought always to be remembered, that the southern boundary of Acadie, as established by the grant of Henry IV, in 1603, was the 40th degree of north latitude; that the southwestern limits of Nova Scotia, as appointed |