CHAPTER VIII.

Comprehending Events from the death of Governor Morris to the death of Governor Belcher-from 1746 to 1757.-I. War with France-Proposal of Governor Shirley to attack the French Settlements, at Cape Breton-New Jersey votes two thousand Pounds for the Service-Favourable result of the Expedition.-II. Proposed attack on Canada-New Jersey Regiment raised and placed under the command of Colonel Philip Schuyler-March for Albany-Threatened Mutiny.—III. Plan of the proposed Campaign.-IV. Treaty of Peace.-V. Death of President Hamilton-Devolvement of the Government on President Reading-Arrival of Governor Belcher-His Character.-VI. Vexations arising from the Elizabethtown Claims under Indian Grants-the Assembly disposed to palliate the Conduct of the Rioters-Representation of the Council of Proprietors-their grievous Charge against the Members of Assembly, in a Petition to the King-the House transmits a counter Petition-Disingenuous conduct of the House.-VII. Disputes relative to the "Quota Bill."-VIII. Hostile proceedings of the French in America.-IX. Difference between the French and English, in their mode of cultivating Indian favour.-X. Efforts of the French to occupy the English Lands.-XI. Expedition of George Washington to Fort Venango.-XII. Measures of the English Government to resist French encroachments.-XIII. Convention of the Colonies-Plan of Union proposed by Dr. Franklin-Condemned by New JerseyMilitary Expedition of Lieutenant Colonel Washington-is captured by the French under De Villiers.-XIV. Extensive military Preparations of Great Britain.-XV. Measures of New Jersey.-XVI. Arrival of Major General Braddock.-XVII. Convention of Governors to determine the Plan of the Campaign. XVIII. Acquisitions in Nova Scotia-Cruel treatment of the Neutrals.-XIX. New Jersey raises a Regiment for the Northern Expedition-Mr. Philip Schuyler named Colonel.-XX. March of General Braddock on the Western ExpeditionFastidiousness and Presumption of the General-is attacked and defeated.-XXI. Universal Consternation on this Defeat-Governor Belcher summons the Legislature-Inroads and Cruelties of the Indians-the Inhabitants of New Jersey give aid to those of Pennsylvania.-XXII. Success of the Northern Expedition.— XXIII. Provision against the Attack of the French and Indians.-XXIV. Plans proposed for the Campaign of 1756-Exertions of the Colonies.--XXV. War formally declared between Great Britain and France.-XXVI. General Shirley removed from the supreme command-General Abercrombie, and, subsequently, Lord Loudon appointed.-XXVII. Suspension of Indian Hostilities.-XXVIII. Sluggish military Efforts of the English-Success of the French in the NorthCapture of part of the Jersey Regiment, with Colonel Schuyler, at OswegoDisastrous termination of the Campaign.-XXIX. Renewal of Indian Barbarities.-XXX. Military Requisitions of Lord Loudon-New Jersey refuses to raise more than five hundred Men.-XXXI. Unsuccessful attempt of Lord Loudon on Louisburg-XXXII. Success of Montcalm-New Jersey prepares to raise four thousand Men-the remainder of the Jersey Regiment captured by the Enemy. XXXIII. Death of Governor Belcher-Biographical Notice of.-XXXIV. John Reading, President.

I. A masked war had been, for some time, carried on between France and Great Britain; and hostilities were openly declared by the former, on the 20th, and by the latter, on the 24th of March, 1744. In the spring of 1745, Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, having conceived the design of attacking the French settlements at Cape Breton, and the conquest of Louisburg, the capital, endeavoured to enlist the other colonies in the enterprise. The capture of this place was greatly desirable, inasmuch as it was the largest and most commodious position of the French in America; affording safe harbourage for their largest vessels, and a rendezvous for their numerous privateers, now infesting the western shores of the Atlantic. As the

design originated with the people of New England, and had not been sanctioned by the crown, Commodore Warren, the English commandant on the American station, declined to join Shirley in the attack. The Legislature of New Jersey, to whom the plan was not communicated before the expedition had sailed, also, declined to aid it; because there was not a single vessel in the service of the province, nor a ship belonging to private owners, that was fit for sea; and because the expedition not having received the approbation of the King, might disconcert the measures of the ministry. But when the House was, soon afterwards, informed, that the siege of Louisburg was earnestly prosecuted with his Majesty's consent, they unanimously voted two thousand pounds of the interest money, then in the treasury, for his Majesty's service, to be transmitted, in provisions, to General Shirley.

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The plan, when communicated to the British government, had been warmly approved. Warren was commanded to repair to Boston, and to render all possible aid to the views of Shirley. He did not arrive, however, until after the provincial fleet had sailed, with six thousand men, under the command of Mr. Pepperel, a trader of Piscataqua. The result of the enter prise was highly honourable to its projectors and executors. The town surrendered after two months' siege, during which, the provincial forces displayed courage, activity, and fortitude, that would have distinguished veteran troops. The English historians have, shamefully, endeavoured to strip the colonies of this early trophy of their spirit and capacity. Smollet makes an equivocal statement of the facts, by which Warren is brought on the scene, before the departure of the provincial troops from Boston; when, in truth, they sailed without any expectation of his assistance, having a knowledge of his refusal to join them. The English ministry, though sufficiently forward to sustain the exclusive pretensions of their officers, was compelled by the merits of the provincials, to distinguish their leader, Pepperel, and to reward him with a baronetcy of Great Britain.

II. The ministry, having resolved to attempt the conquest of Canada, by a combined European and colonial force, communicated their instructions to the provincial governors, at the close of the month of May, 1746. President Hamilton laid them before the Assembly of New Jersey, on the 12th of June. The House resolved to raise and equip five hundred men for this service; for facilitating which, they offered to the recruit, six pounds bounty. So popular was the enterprise, that, in less than two months, six hundred and sixty men offered themselves for enlistment. From these, five companies were formed, and put at the charge of this province, and a sixth was transferred to the quota of New York. These troops, under the command of Colonel Philip Schuyler, reached the appointed rendezvous at Albany, on the 3d of September; where, the proposed invasion of the French provinces having been abandoned, in consequence of the failure of the supply of forces from England, they remained until the autumn of the next year, serving to overawe the Indians, and to protect the frontier. The pay promised by the crown, was tardily remitted, and the troops, at the rendezvous, became impatient of the delay. In April, 1747, the Jersey companies mutinied, and resolved to go off, with their arms and baggage, unless their arrears were paid up. To avert this evil, Colonel Schuyler despatched an express to President Hamilton, with an account of the disposition of the troops. The president recommended, to the Assembly, to provide for the pay, but the House having expended more than twenty thousand pounds in equipping, transporting, and victualling the detachment, declined to make further appropriations; and it was detained in service chiefly by the generous aid of the colonel, who supplied the wants of the soldiers; advancing many thousand pounds from his private funds.

III. The proposed attack on the French possessions, originated with Governor Shirley, whose solicitations, enforced by the brilliant success at Louisburg, prevailed on the ministry to undertake it. A squadron of ships of war, having on board a body of land forces, commanded by Sir John St. Clair, was, as early as the season would admit, to join the troops of New England, at Louisburg; whence they were to proceed by the St. Lawrence, to Quebec. The troops from New York, and from the more southern provinces, were to be collected at Albany, and to march thence against Crown Point and Montreal. This plan, so far as it depended upon the colonies, was executed with promptness and alacrity. The men were raised, and waited, impatiently, for employment; but neither general, troops, nor orders arrived from England; and the provincial forces continued in a state of inactivity, until the ensuing autumn, when they were disbanded. This affair was one of the thousand instances of incapacity and misrule, which the parent state inflicted upon her dependant American progeny.

IV. No further material transactions took place in America during the war. Preliminary articles of peace were signed on the 30th of April; but hostilities continued in Europe and on the ocean, until October, 1748; when the definitive treaty was executed, at Aix-la-Chapelle; in which the great object of the war was wholly disregarded, the right of the British to navigate the American seas, free from search, being unnoticed. The Island of Cape Breton, with Louisburg, its capital, so dearly purchased by provincial blood and treasure, was given up under the stipulation, that all conquests should be restored; and the Americans had great cause to condemn the indifference or ignorance, which exposed them to future vexation and renewed hostilities, by neglecting to ascertain the boundaries of the French and English territories on the American continent.

V. President Hamilton, whose health was in a very precarious state, when the government devolved upon him, died about midsummer, 1747; and was succeeded by John Reading, Esq., the next eldest counsellor, who was soon afterwards displaced by Jonathan Belcher, Esq., appointed governor, by the crown. He met the Assembly for the first time, on the 20th August, 1747. Between this gentleman and the Legislature, for the space of ten years, considerable harmony prevailed. He seems to have adopted as a rule for his administration, the most entire submission to the wishes of the Assembly, where they did not interfere with the instructions from the king. In the latter case, he threw himself behind the royal will, as an impregnable rampart. He was sparing of words, and generally preferred, when required to communicate any matter to the House, to use those of the ministry, petitioner, or agent, as the case might be; rarely adding comments of his own, or embarking his feelings deeply in the subject. He was never obnoxious to the reproach of failing in his duty, and seldom displayed that indiscreet zeal which creates resistance, by the well known law, ruling alike in physics, as in morals; by which the reaction is always equal to the action. His temper was imperturbable, and though sometimes severely tried by the Assembly, by suspension of his salary, a point in which most colonial governors were extremely sensitive, he was unmoved.

VI. Two questions arising out of proprietary interests, vexed the whole term of his administration; and though he earnestly and successfully endeavoured to avoid becoming a party to them, he was made a sufferer in the contests between the council and Assembly. For more than thirty years, there had been no important controversy between the grantees of Carteret, and the Elizabethtown claimants, under the Indian title. But this peace was altogether consequent on the abstinence of the first, from enforcing their title

and attempting the recovery of their rents. A large quantity of East Jersey lands, under the Carteret title, had gotten into the hands of Robert Hunter Morris, and James Alexander, Esquires, who held important offices in the province; the one being chief justice, the other secretary; and both, at times, were in the council. These gentlemen, with other extensive proprietors, during the life of Governor Morris, and towards the close of his administration, commenced actions of ejectment, and suits for the recovery of quit-rent, against many of the settlers. These immediately resorted to their Indian title for defence; and formed an association, consisting of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the eastern part of Middlesex, the whole of Essex, part of Somerset, and part of Morris counties; who were enabled, by their union and violence, to bid defiance to the law, to hold possession of the lands which were fairly within the Indian grant, and to add to their party a great many persons who could not, even under that grant, claim exemption from proprietary demands. The prisons were no longer competent to keep those whom the laws condemned to confinement. In the month of September, 1745, the associators broke open the gaol of the county of Essex, and liberated a prisoner, committed at the suit of the proprietaries; and during several consecutive years, all persons confined for like cause, or on charge of high treason and rebellion for resisting the laws, were released at the will of the insurgents; so that the arm of government, was in this regard, wholly paralyzed. Persons who had long holden under the proprietaries, were forcibly ejected; others compelled to take leases from landlords, whom they were not disposed to acknowledge; whilst those who had courage to stand out, were threatened with, and in many instances, received, personal violence. The council and the governor were inclined to view these unlawful proceedings in the darkest colours; to treat the disturbers of the peace, as insurgents, rebels, and traitors, and to inflict upon them the direst severity of the laws. They prepared, and sent to the Assembly, a riot act, modelled after that of Great Britain, making it felony without benefit of clergy, for twelve or more, tumultuously assembled together, to refuse to disperse upon the requisition of the civil authority, by proclamation, in form set forth in the act. The Assembly not only rejected this bill, but sought to give a more favourable colour to the offences of the associators. The council of the proprietors, in a petition to the king, signed December 23d, 1748, by Andrew Johnson, president, represented, "that great numbers of men, taking advantage of a dispute subsisting between the branches of the Legislature of the province, and of a most unnatural rebellion at that time reigning in Great Britain, entered into a combination to subvert the laws and constitution of this province, and to obstruct the course of legal proceedings; to which end they endeavoured to infuse into the minds of the people, that neither your Majesty nor your noble progenitors, Kings and Queens of England, had any right whatever to the soil or government of America, and that their grants were void and fraudulent; and having by.those means associated to themselves, great numbers of the poor and ignorant part of the people, they, in the month of September, 1745, began to carry into execution, their wicked schemes; when in a riotous manner, they broke open the jail of the county of Essex, and took from thence a prisoner, there confined by due process of law; and have, since that time, gone on like a torrent, bearing all down before them, dispossessing some people of their estates, and giving them to accomplices; plundering the estates of others, who do not join with them, and dividing the spoil among them; breaking open the prisons as often as any of them are committed, rescuing their accomplices, keeping daily in armed numbers, and travelling often in armed multitudes, to different parts of the province, for those purposes; so that your Majesty's government and laws have, for above three

years last past, ceased to be that protection to the lives and properties of the people here, which your Majesty intended they should be."

"These bold and daring people, not in the least regarding their allegiance, Have presumed, to establish courts of justice, to appoint captains and officers over your Majesty's subjects, to lay and collect taxes, and to do many other things in contempt of your Majesty's authority, to which they refuse any kind of obedience: That all the endeavours of the government to put the laws in execution, have been hitherto vain; for, notwithstanding many of these common disturbers stand indicted for high treason, in levying war against your Majesty, yet such is the weakness of the government, that it has not been able to bring one of them to trial and punishment: That the petitioners have long waited in expectation of a vigorous interposition of the Legislature, in order to give force to the laws, and enable your Majesty's officers to carry them into execution: But the House of Assembly, after neglecting the thing for a long time, have, at last, refused to afford the government any assistance; for want of which, your petitioners' estates are left a prey to a rebellious mob, and your Majesty's government exposed to the repeated insults of a set of traitors."

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This grievous charge was unknown to the Assembly, until a copy of the petition of the proprietaries, was transmitted by the provincial agent. In October, 1749, the House sent a counter petition to the King, with the design. of vindicating its conduct, in which it declared, "that the proprietaries of East New Jersey had, from the first settlement, surveyed, patented, and divided their lands, by Concessions, among themselves, in such manner as from thence many irregularities had ensued, which had occasioned multitudes of controversies and law suits, about titles and boundaries of land: That, these controversies had subsisted between a number of poor people on the one part, and some of the rich, understanding, and powerful on the other part; among whom were James Alexander, Esq. a great proprietor, and an eminent lawyer, one of your Majesty's council, and surveyor-general for this colony, although a dweller in New York; and Robert Hunter Morris, Esq. chief justice, and one of your Majesty's council in the said colony: That the said Alexander and Morris, not yielding to determine the matter in contest, by a few trials at law, as the nature of the thing would admit, but on the contrary, discovering a disposition to harass those people, by a multiplicity of suits, the last mentioned became uneasy (as we conceive) through fear, that those suits might be determined against them, when considered, that the said Chief Justice Morris, was son of the then late Governor Morris, by whose commission the other judges of the Supreme Court acted; and by whom the then sheriffs, throughout the colony, had been appointed; and should a multiplicity of suits have been determined against the people, instead of a few only, which would have answered the purpose, the extraordinary and unnecessary charges occasioned thereby, would have so far weakened their hands, as to have rendered them unable to appeal to your Majesty in council; from whom they might expect impartial justice: That these are, in the opinion of the House, the motives that prevailed on these unthinking people, to obstruct the course of legal proceedings, and not any disaffection to your Majesty's person or government.”*

If the council of proprietors, supported by the Legislative council, was disposed to aggravate the offences of the insurgents into high treason, it is apparent, that the Assembly were not less resolved to consider them of a very venial character; and their conduct, upon this occasion, was highly disingenuous. The House could not refuse, from time to time, to condemn,

* Votes of Assembly.