lay their grievances at the foot of the throne, but agents were unsuccessful. At length their oppression became insupportable, and the discontent of the people broke out into open insurrection.

§ At the head of this insurrection was placed one Nathaniel Bacon, an Englishman, who, soon after his arrival, had been appointed a member of the council. He was a young man of commanding person, and great energy and enterprise.

The colony at this time was engaged in war with the Susquehannah Indians. Bacon dispatched a messenger to governour Berkley, requesting a commission to go against the Indians. This commission the governour refused, and, at the same time, ordered Bacon to dismiss his men, and on penalty of being declared a rebel, to appear before himself and the council. Exasperated by such treatment, Bacon, without disbanding the rest of his men, proceeded in a sloop with forty of them, to Jamestown. Here a quarrel ensued, and Berkley illegally suspended him from the council. Bacon departed in a rage, with his sloop and men, but the governour pursued him, and adopted such measures that he was taken, and brought to Jamestown.

Finding that he had dismissed Bacon from the council illegally, he now admitted him again, and treated him kindly. Soon after Bacon renewed his importunity for a commission against the Indians.

Being unable to effect his purpose, he left Jamestown, privately, but soon appeared again with six hundred volunteers, and demanded of the assembly, then sitting, the required commission.

Being overawed, the assembly advised the governour to grant it. But soon after Bacon had departed, the governour, by the same advice, issued a proclamation, denouncing him as a rebel.

Hearing what the governour had done, Bacon, instead of marching against the Indians, returned to Jamestown, wreaking his vengeance upon all who opposed him. Governour Berkley fled across the bay to Accomack, but the spirit of rebellion had gone before him. He therefore found himself unable to resist Bacon, who now ranged the country at plea

sure.

At length the governour, with a small force, under command of major Robert Beverly, crossed the bay to oppose the malecontents. Civil war had now commenced. James

town was burnt by Bacon's followers; various parts of the colony were pillaged, and the wives of those that adhered to the governour's party were carried to the camp of the insurgents.

In the midst of these commotions, it pleased the Supreme Ruler to withdraw Bacon by a natural death. The malecontents, thus left to recover their reason, now began to disperse. Two of Bacon's generals surrendered, and were pardoned, and the people quietly returned to their homes.

Upon this, Berkley resumed the government, and peace was restored. This rebellion forms an era of some note in the history of Virginia, and its unhappy effects were felt for thirty years. During its continuance, husbandry was almost entirely neglected, and such havock was made among all kinds of cattle, that the people were threatened with distressing famine.

Sir William Berkley, after having been forty years governour of Virginia, returned to England, where he soon after died.

Three years after, 1679, Lord Culpepper was sent over as governour, with certain laws prepared in conformity to the wishes of the ministry of England, and designed to be enacted by the assembly in Virginia.

One of those laws provided for raising a revenue for the support of government. It made the duties perpetual, and placed them under the direction of his majesty. Out of the duties, Culpepper dishonestly took as his salary two thousand pounds, and one hundred and sixty more for house

rent.

On presenting these laws to the assembly, Culpepper informed them that in case they were passed, he had instructions to offer pardon to all who had been concerned in Bacon's rebellion; but if not he had commissions to try and hang them as rebels, and a regiment of soldiers on the spot to support him. The assembly, thus threatened, passed the laws.

Sec. 31. In the year 1676, the province of New-Jersey was divided into East and West Jersey, and continued thus divided until 1702, when the proprietors surrendered the government to the crown under Queen Anne, upon which the two provinces were united into one.

§ The two proprietors of New-Jersey were lord Berkley, and sir George Cartaret. In 1674, lord Berkley made a

conveyance of his half to John Fenwick, in trust for Edward Billinge, and his assigns. Billinge, being in debt, presented his interest in the province to his creditors, William Jones and others, being appointed trustees to dispose of the lands. In the division which thus took place, Cartaret, took East Jersey, the government of which he retained, and the trustees of Billinge, West Jersey. The duke of York, though he had conveyed away his powers of government, when he sold the province to Berkley and Cartaret, in 1664, unjustly claimed West Jersey, as a dependency of New-York.

Until 1680, this dependency was maintained, when the duke of York, after much solicitation, relinquished his claim, and restored to the proprietors, the right granted by his patent of 1664. In 1682, Cartaret, disgusted with the people, sold his right to East Jersey, to William Penn, and others, who immediately sold one half of it to the Earl of Perth, and his associates. Robert Barclay, the celebrated author of " the Apology for the Quakers," was the next year made governour of East Jersey.

In 1686, both the Jerseys and New-York, were annexed to New England, and continued annexed till the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England, in 1689. "A government under the proprietors of both the Jerseys, had become extremely disagreeable to the inhabitants: who from various causes, became so uneasy, that the proprietors surrendered the government of East and West Jersey to the crown in 1702, which Queen Anne very readily accepted."

"The two provinces were now united into one, and lord Cornbury was appointed governour over the united colony, and received his commission and instructions from the queen.

"The freemen chose the house of representatives, consisting of twenty four members, but the governour and council, consisting of twelve members, were appointed by the crown. New-York and New-Jersey had, till the year 1738, a common governour; but at this time a separate governour was appointed over the latter province."

Sec. 32. In 1677, a controversy which had subsisted for sometime, between the colony of Massachusetts and the heirs of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, relative to the province of Maine, was settled in England, and the colony adjudged to Gorges' heirs. Upon this, Massachusetts purchased the title for one thousand two hun

dred pounds sterling, and the territory from that time till 1820, was a part of Massachusetts.

§ Both the colony of Massachusetts, and the heirs of Gorges, claimed the province of Maine: the former, by virtue of her patent of 1628, which was construed as including that territory; the claim of the latter was founded upon a charter granted to Gorges, in 1639.

Sec. 33. Two years after this adjustment; viz. in 1679, a commission was made out, by order of Charles II. for the separation of New-Hampshire, from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and its erection into a royal province. The form of government, sent over by the king, ordained a president and council to govern the province, with an assembly, &c. The assembly to be chosen by the people; the president and council to be appointed by the crown.

§ In 1629, the Plymouth company granted to John Mason the territory called New-Hampshire. About the year 1640, the settlements now being considerable, the patent holders agreed to assign their right of jurisdiction to Massachusetts. The colony of New-Hampshire, therefore, remained under the government of Massachusetts, until it was separated by the king's commission, in 1679.

The first legislative assembly, under the above commission, was convened March 16, 1680, when the colony of New-Hampshire was declared to be independent of Massachusetts. This separation, however, was disagreeable to most of the people; for near forty years they had enjoyed under Massachusetts the privilege of choosing their own rulers, and had derived great peace and harmony from an impartial government. Nor did this province long enjoy tranquillity. Mason, grandson of the Mason to whom NewHampshire had been originally granted, came over the next year, and demanded, by virtue of his claims to the soil, a seat in the council. This being granted, he soon after returned to England, and surrendered a part of his claims to the king, and mortgaged the remainder to Edward Cranfield, who was appointed lieutenant-governour, and shortly after repaired to New-Hampshire.

It is necessary to add, that the Rev. Mr. Wheelwright and others, in 1629, the same year that the grant was made to Mason by the Plymouth company, bought of the Indians a

large tract of land in New-Hampshire. The same land was, therefore, claimed under both these grants, and the foundation thus laid of serious disputes in the colony.

Cranfield, finding it for his interest to favour the claim of Mason to the province, soon called upon the inhabitants to take their leases under him. Suits were instituted against all the landholders who neglected this call, and the jurors being selected by Cranfield, and interested in the result, uniformly gave judgment against them.

Under these oppressions, the people despatched an agent, with complaints to his majesty, against the governour. After a hearing by the lords of trade, the iniquitous conduct of Cranfield was represented to the king, who recalled him.

It may be proper to add, that the above controversy about the claims of Mason continued long to disturb the peace of the province, and was not finally terminated until the death of Samuel Allen, in 1715, to whom the heirs of Mason had sold their claim for seven hundred and fifty pounds; upon his demise, no one appeared to renew the claims, and the question dropped.

Sec. 34. In 1681, King Charles II. granted to William Penn, son of Admiral Penn, in consideration of debts due the latter, for services done to the crown, the territory of PENNSYLVANIA, SO called after Penn himself.

§ This patent encroached on the territory of lord Baltimore in Maryland, one whole degree, or sixty-nine miles and a half; and on the north, nearly three hundred miles, across the whole territory conveyed to Connecticut in 1631,* and confirmed by the royal charter of 1662. Hence arose contentions between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Connecticut, about boundaries, that were not settled till a century after. Within a short time from the date of the grant by king Charles to Penn, two other conveyances were made to him by the duke of York. One was a bill of sale of New Castle, and a territory of twelve miles around it. The other was a bill granting a tract south of the former, as far as Cape Henlopen. These two deeds embraced the whole state of DelaAt this time, Delaware was divided into three coun ties, which, in 1662, were annexed to Pennsylvania, although

ware.

*See page 34, where the boundaries of the territory granted to Connecticut are given.