432 THE HALCYON DAYS OF CONNECTICUT INTERRUPTED. XVII. CHAP. payable in wool or other produce, is evident from the records. It was pretended that the people of Rhode Island were satisfied, and did not so much as petition for their charter again. 1687. Oct. In the autumn of the same year, Andros, attended 26. by some of his council, and by an armed guard, set MSS. forth for Connecticut, to assume the government of Sewall's 31. bull. that place. How unlike the march of Hooker and his peaceful flock! Dongan had in vain solicited the people of Connecticut to submit to his jurisdiction; yet they desired, least of all, to hazard the continuance of liberty on the decision of the dependent English courts. On the third writ of quo warranto, the colony, in a petition to the king, asserted its chartered rights, yet desired, in any event, rather to share the fortunes of Massachusetts than to be annexed to New York. Oct. Andros found the assembly in session, and demanded the surrender of its charter. The brave Governor Trum Treat pleaded earnestly for the cherished patent, which had been purchased by sacrifices and martyrdoms, and was endeared by halcyon days. The shades of evening descended during the prolonged discussion; an anxious crowd of farmers had gathered to witness the debate. The charter lay on the table. Of a sudden, the lights are extinguished; and, as they are rekindled, the charter had disappeared. William Wadsworth, of Hartford, stealing noiselessly through the opening crowd, concealed the precious parchment in the hollow of an oak, which was older than the colony, and is yet standing to confirm the tale. Meantime Andros assumed the government, selected counsellors, and, demanding the records of Connecticut, to the annals of its freedom set. the word FINIS. Should Connecticut resist, and alone declare independence? The colonists submitted; yet Hin man, 172. CONSOLIDATION OF THE NORTHERN COLONIES. 433 their consciences were afterwards "troubled at their CHAP. hasty surrender." XVII If Connecticut lost its liberties, the eastern frontier Mss. was depopulated. An expedition against the French establishments, which have left a name to Castine, roused the passions of the neighboring Indians; and Andros, after a short deference to the example of Penn, made a vain pursuit of a retreating enemy, who 1688. had for their powerful allies the savage forests and the inclement winter. Not long after the first excursion to the east, the July. whole seaboard from Maryland to the St. Croix was united in one extensive despotism. The entire dominion, of which Boston, the largest English town in the New World, was the capital, was abandoned to Andros, its governor-general, and to Randolph, its secretary, with his needy associates. But the impoverished country disappointed avarice. The eastern part of Maine had already been pillaged by agents, who had been-it is Randolph's own statement-" as arbitrary as the Grand Turk ;" and in New York also, there was, as Randolph expressed it, "little good to be done," for its people "had been squeezed dry by Dongan." But, on the arrival of the new commission, Andros hastened to the south to supersede his hated rival, and assume the government of New York and New Jersey. Hutch. Coll. 564. July 30. Sewall, MSS. 1688. The spirit which led forth the colonies of New 1687, England, kept their liberties alive; in the general gloom, the ministers preached sedition, and planned resistance. Once at least, to the great anger of the governor, they put by thanksgiving; and at private Sewall, fasts they besought the Lord to repent himself for his servants, whose power was gone. The enlightened MSS. 434 INSURGENT SPIRIT OF THE MINISTERS. CHAP. Moody refused to despair, confident that God would XVII. yet" be exalted among the heathen." 1688. Apr. 7. 1660 to On the Lord's day, which was to have been the day of thanksgiving for the queen's pregnancy, the church was much grieved at the weakness of Allen, who, from the literal version of the improved Bay Psalm Book, gave out, "Jehovah, in thy strength And joy in thy salvation, Thou granted hast to him The king shall joyful be, And thou hast not withholden back That which his lips required." But Willard, while, before prayer, he read, among many other notices, the occasion of the governor's gratitude, and, after Puritan usage, interceded largely for the king, "otherwise altered not his course one jot," and, as the crisis drew near, goaded the people with the text, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, warring against sin.” Yet desperate measures were postponed, that one of the ministers might make an appeal to the king; and Increase Mather, escaping the vigilance of Randolph, was already embarked on the dangerous mission for redress. But relief came from a revolution of which the influence was to pervade the European world. On the restoration of Charles II., the Puritan or re1688. publican element lost all hope of gaining dominion; and the history of England, during its next period, is but the history of the struggle for a compromise between the republican and the monarchical principle. The contest for freedom was continued, yet within limits so narrow as never to endanger the existence, or even question the right, of monarchy itself. The people had attempted a democratic revolution, and had failed; it was now willing to wait and watch the MINISTRY OF CLARENDON. 435 XVII. movements of the property of the country, and, no CHAP. longer struggling to control events, ranged itself generally, yet without enthusiasm, on the side of the more liberal and tolerant party of the aristocracy. to 1667. The ministry of Clarendon, the first after the resto- 1660 ration, acknowledged the indefeasible sovereignty of the king, and sought in the prelates and high nobility the natural allies to the royal prerogative. Its policy, not destitute of honest nationality, nor wholly regardless of English liberties, yet renewed intolerance, and, while it respected a balance of powers, claimed the preponderance for the monarch. But twenty years of freedom had rendered the dominion of the Church of England impossible. England was dissatisfied; ceasing to desire a republic, she still demanded greater security for freedom. But as no general election for parliament was held, a change of ministry could be effected only by a faction within the palace. The royal council sustained Clarendon; the rakes about court, railing at his moroseness, echoed the popular clamor against him. His overthrow "was certainly designed in Lady Castlemaine's chamber;" and, as he retired at noonday from the audience of dismission, she ran undressed from her bed into her aviary, to enjoy the spectacle of the fallen minister, and “ bless herself, at the old man's going away." The Pepys. gallants of Whitehall crowded to "talk to her in her bird-cage."-"You," said they to her, as they glanced at the retiring chancellor, "you are the bird of passage." to The administration of the king's cabal followed. 1668 England had demanded a liberal ministry; it obtained a 1671. dissolute one it had demanded a ministry not enslaved to prelacy; it obtained one indifferent to all religion, and careless of every thing but pleasure. Buckingham, the noble buffoon at its head, debauched other men's 436 MINISTRY OF BUCKINGHAM AND THE KING'S CABAL. CHAP. Wives, fought duels, and kept about him a train of voXVII. luptuaries; but he was not, like Clarendon, a tory by 1668 system; far from building up the exclusive Church of 1671. England, he ridiculed bishops as well as sermons; and to when the Quakers went to him with their hats on, to discourse on the equal rights of every conscience, he Penn. told them, that he was at heart in favor of their principle. English honor was wrecked; English finances became bankrupt; but the progress of the nation towards internal freedom was no longer opposed with steadfast consistency; and England was better satisfied than it had been with the wise and virtuous Clarendon. to North. As the tendency of the cabal became apparent, a new division necessarily followed: the king was surrounded by men who still desired to uphold the prerogative, and stay the movement of the age; while 1671 Shaftesbury, always consistent in his purpose, “unwill1673. ing to hurt the king, yet desiring to keep him tame in a cage; " averse to the bishops, because the bishops would place prerogative above liberty; averse to democracy, because democracy would substitute freedom for privilege,-in organizing a party, afterwards known as the whig party, suited himself to the spirit of the times. It was an age of progress towards liberty of conscience; Shaftesbury favored toleration it was an age when the vast increase of commercial activity claimed for the moneyed interest an influence in the government; Shaftesbury always lent a willing ear to the merchants. Commerce and Protestant toleration were the elements of his power over the public mind. He did not so much divide dominion with the merchants and the Presbyterians, as act as their patron; having Locke. himself for his main object to keep "the bucket" of 1672. the aristocracy from sinking. The declaration of in |