They introduced into Maryland all of the odious test-oaths and disabilities which were enforced in England against the consciences of men.

For almost forty years after the Restoration the colony enjoyed remarkable tranquillity. Only the natural disputes that arose between a lord proprietor and a people of strong republican tendencies in thought and action, and the flutter of excitement caused by the furnishing of men to aid the northern colonies in their struggles with the common foe on the frontiers, disturbed the general repose.

Charles Lord Baltimore died in 1751, after ruling the province in person and by deputies about thirty-six years. During that period the growth of the province in wealth and population was remarkable. The inhabitants then numbered more than one hundred and thirty-five thousand souls, of whom about forty thousand were black men and women, who were mostly slaves. The several provinces were then agitated by the encroachments of the French upon the territory of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, toward which English adventurers were casting longing eyes. In the French and Indian war that broke out in 1755, Maryland became involved, at first, simply in the maintenance of an attitude of self-defence and a generous assistant of its sister colonies. Its legislature for awhile persistently stood aloof from aggressive warfare in spite of the commands of the king and the entreaties of Virginia. They consented to send delegates to the colonial convention which assembled at Albany in 1754, but the delegates offended their constituents by agreeing to a plan of union submitted by Dr. Franklin, by which the several colonies might act with national power in the prosecution of measures of defence against the common enemy. The Marylanders, ever jealous of their colonial rights and proud of their separate independence as a colony, and their inherent sovereignty, had always opposed every attempt to effect a fusion of the colonies into one government. When the plan agreed upon at Albany was submitted to the General Assembly of Maryland, it was unanimously disapproved as “tending to the destruction of the rights and liberties of his majesty's subjects in the province."

The time soon arrived when the Marylanders could no longer stand in the attitude of separatist and avoid taking an active aggressive part in the war, for its surges were beating upon the borders of their province. The Indians were plundering their frontier. The General Assembly, aroused by immediate danger, voted men and money for a vigorous prosecution of the war; and the command of all the forces engaged against the French on the Ohio was given, by a royal commission, to Governor Sharpe, of Maryland. The people of that province were forced by circumstances to consent to a union which was finally cemented by the blood of the Revolution.

CHAPTER XII.

THE CONNECTICUT COLONIES-AN ABSURD RUMOR ABOUT THE DUTCH-CHARTER FOR CONNECTICUT OBTAINED-TYRANNY OF GOVERNOR ANDROS-HIS ATTEMPT TO SEIZE THE CHARTER -THE CHARTER OAK FREEDOM ENJOYED IN RHODE ISLAND SOCIETY THERE NEW CHARTER FOR RHODE ISLAND OBTAINED-ITS DURATION-ANDROS IN RHODE ISLAND-NEW JERSEY CONSIDERED-ITS SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITION-THE PROVINCE DIVIDED—THE QUAKERS SETTLE THERE-ANDROS IN NEW JERSEY-IT BECOMES A ROYAL PROVINCE.

T

HE Connecticut colonists worked in harmony as brethren of the same nation and creed until their fusion into one commonwealth in 1665. They managed their private and public affairs prudently and were prosperous. Troubles with the Dutch, concerning territorial boundaries, were amicably settled with Stuyvesant when he visited Hartford in 1650; but the mutterings of dissatisfaction which fell from the lips of the neighboring Indian tribes gave them some disquietude, and made them heartily approve and join the New England Confederacy formed in 1643. The following year the little independent colony at Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut River, which had been formed in 1639, was annexed to that of Connecticut at Hartford, and was the precursor of the final union of the three colonies about twenty years afterwards.

The repose of the colonists was broken in 1653, by a war between England and Holland. An alarming rumor had spread over New England that Ninigret, an "old, crafty and wily sachem" of the allied Niantics and Narragansets, who had spent part of a winter at New Amsterdam, had made a league with Stuyvesant for the destruction of the New England colonies. The majority of the commissioners of the New England Confederacy believed the absurd story, and decided to make war on the Dutch. The Connecticut people were specially eager for war, for they were more immediately exposed to the effects of such a plot than the other colonists. But Massachusetts refused to furnish men and arms for an aggressive war, before an investigation of the matter. Messengers were sent to Ninigret and his associate sachems for the latter purpose. These were questioned separately, and all concurred in the solemn assurance that they had no knowledge of such a plot. Ninigret, who went to New Amsterdam for medical treatment, said with emphasis, in his denial, "I found no such enter

tainment from the Dutch governor, when I was there, as to give me any encouragement to stir me up to such a league against the English, my friends. It was winter time, and I stood a great part of a winter day knocking at the governor's door, and he would neither open it, nor suffer others to open it, to let me in. I was not wont to find such carriage from the English, my friends."

The story of the Dutch-Indian plot appears to have been a pure inven

tion of Uncas, the crafty sachem of the Mohegans, who was a foe of Ninigret, and was extremely jealous of the supposed friendship between 'that sachem and the English. It caused the frightened Connecticut colonists, when Massachusetts refused to join them in war upon the Dutch, to ask Cromwell for aid. The Protector sent four ships-of-war, but before their arrival a treaty of peace had ended the war between England and Holland, and blood and treasure were saved in America.

On the restoration of monarchy in England, in 1660, the Connecticut colonists had fears regarding their future. Their sturdy republicanism and independent action in the past might be mortally offensive to the new monarch. The General Assembly of Connecticut, therefore, resolved to make a formal acknowledgment of their allegiance to the crown and ask the king for a charter. A petition was accordingly framed and signed in May, 1651, and Governor John Winthrop bore it to England. He was a son of Winthrop of Massachusetts, and was a man of rare attainments and courtly manners, and then about forty-five years of age. He obtained an interview with the king, and was received with coolness. His name and the people over. whom he was the chosen ruler were associated with radical republicanism, and the king received the

CHAP. XII.

CHARTER FOR CONNECTICUT GRANTED.

447

prayer of the petitioners with disfavor. Winthrop left the royal presence, disappointed but not disheartened, and sought and obtained another interview.

The "merrie monarch' was now in more genial mood. He chatted freely with Winthrop about America-its soil, productions, the Indians and the settlers; yet he hesitated to promise a charter. Winthrop, it is said, finally drew from his pocket a gold ring of great value, which the king's father had given to the governor's grandfather, and presented it to his majesty with a request that he would accept it as a memorial of the unfortunate monarch, and a token of Winthrop's esteem for, and loyalty to King Charles, before whom he stood as a faithful and loving subject. The king's heart was touched. Turning to Lord Clarendon, who was present, the monarch said: "Do you advise me to grant a charter to this good gentleman and his people?" "I do, Sire," responded Clarendon. "It shall be done," said Charles, and he dismissed Winthrop with a hearty shake of his hand and a royal blessing.

The governor left Whitehall with a light heart. A charter was issued on the first of May, 1652. It confirmed the popular constitution of the colony, and contained more liberal provisions than any yet issued by royal hands. It defined the boundaries so as to include the New Haven colony and a part of Rhode Island on the East, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. The New Haven colony reluctantly gave its consent to the union, in 1665, and the boundary between Connecticut and Rhode Island remained a subject of dispute for more than sixty years. That old charter, engrossed on parchment, is among the archives in the Connecticut State Department. It bears the miniature portrait of Charles the Second, drawn in India ink by Samuel Cooper, it is supposed, who was an eminent London miniature painter of the time.

During King Philip's war, the colonists of Connecticut did not suffer much from hostile Indians, excepting some remote settlers high up the Connecticut River. They furnished their full measure of men and supplies, and their soldiers bore a conspicuous part in that contest between the races for supremacy. But while they were freed from dangers and distress of war with the Indians, they were disturbed by the petty tyranny of Governor Andros, whose advent in New England and New York has been noticed.

Seated at New York, Andros claimed jurisdiction as far east as the Connecticut River. To the mouth of that stream he went, with a small naval force, in the summer of 1675, to assert his authority. Captain Bull, the commander of a small fort at Saybrook, permitted him to land; but when the governor began to read his commission, Bull ordered him to be silent.

Andros was compelled to yield to the commander's bold spirit and his superior military power, and in a towering passion he returned to New York, flinging curses and threats behind him at the people of Connecticut in general, and Captain Bull in particular.

For more than a dozen years after this flare-up of ambition and passion, nothing materially disturbed the public repose of Connecticut. Then a most exciting scene occurred at Hartford, in the result of which the liberties of the colony were involved. Andros again appeared as a usurper

of authority-the willing instrument of his master King James the Second, who had determined to hold absolute rule over all New England.

On his arrival in New York, as we have seen, Andros demanded a surrender of all the colonial charters into his hands. The authorities of all the colonies complied, excepting those of Connecticut. The latter steadily refused to yield their charter voluntarily, for it was the guardian of their political rights. To subdue their stubbornness, the viceroy proceeded to Hartford with sixty armed men, to demand the surrender of the charter in person. On his arrival there on the 31st of October (O. S.), 1687, he found the General Assembly in session in the meeting-house. The members received him with the courtesy due to his rank. Before that body, with armed men at his back, he demanded a formal surrender of the precious document into his own hands.

CHARLES THE SECOND.

It was now near sunset. A subject of some importance was under debate, and the discussion was purposely continued until some time after the candles were lighted. Then the charter, contained in a long mahogany box, was brought in and laid upon the table. A preconcerted plan to save it from the grasp of the usurper was now instantly executed. As Andros put forth his hand to take the charter, the candles were all snuffed out and the document was snatched by Captain Wadsworth, whose train-bands were