160

DUKE OF YORK'S PATENT.

the Governor and Council of Massachusetts Bay took possession, under colour of a right derived from their former patent, and declaring themselves the lawful assigns of F. Gorges, they proceeded to organize a provincial jurisdiction accordingly.

The government established at this time, consisted of a president, deputy, and assistant, eight justices, and an elective general court. This form of government was retained until 1692, when by a new charter granted to Massachusetts, Maine was constituted a county, with the name of Yorkshire. This arrangement continued unchanged till 1760, when Cumberland and Lincoln counties were incorporated, and York reduced to nearly its present limits. After the revolution, Maine was styled a district, although its connexion with Massachusetts remained the same until 1820, when it was erected into a separate and independent state. About one-third of the present territory of Maine was included in the patent of Gorges. The other portions fell to Massachusetts in virtueof the charter of 1692.

Prior to that date, the ancient settlement of Pemaquid-now Bristol-was the only important post east of the Kennebec. The French province of Acadia, originally so indefinite in its asserted limits, was finally restricted on the west of the Pemaquid river. But the English resisted even this reduced demand of territory on the part of the French; and in 1664, Charles II. included in his patent to James, Duke of York, the country extending from Pemaquid to St. Croix river. Being thus united in its government with New York, it received the name of the county of Cornwall; a fortress was built at Pemaquid to defend the inhabitants; and at the instigation of the governors of New York, a considerable number of emigrants established themselves at different points along the coast. The ravages of the Indians prevented the growth of these settlements, and finally occasioned the dispersion of the inhabitants for a number of years. When James was dethroned as King of England, his title to these lands ceased. The charter granted by William in 1692, vested the territory in

RESOURCES OF MAINE.

161

Massachusetts, as already stated. On the reduction of Canada and the termination of Indian hostilities, numerous settlers again took up these lands: and from that time to the present, notwithstanding the many perplexities produced by conflicting and unsettled claims to the right of the soil, this portion of Maine has steadily advanced in cultivation and improvement. The inexhaustible fisheries and forests of timber which first drew settlers to the shores of Maine and New Hampshire, covering their waters with fleets of small vessels, and enlivening their solitudes with the busy sounds of the saw-mills, have, in all periods of their history, proved great sources of wealth.

HE progress of colonization in New England was now becoming rapid. While the scattered and ill-organized settlements of Maine and New Hampshire were springing into existence, the colony of Massachusetts was planted and raised into a compact, flourishing, and powerful state. The persecution of the puritans in England, which formed a part of the political system of Charles I. and his ecclesiastical adviser, Laud, had the effect

THE NON-CONFORMISTS.

163

of directing the thoughts of many distinguished men of that sect towards the quiet haven which had been secured by their brethren in New Plymouth.

In the last year of James's reign (1624), a few non-conformist families, under the direction of Roger Conant, removed to New England and took possession of a corner of Massachusetts Bay, near Cape Ann; but being disappointed in the hope they had entertained of being joined by a sufficient number of associates to secure the formation of a permanent settlement, they were on the point of returning to England, when they received the agreeable intelligence of the approach of a numerous and powerful reinforcement. John White, a non-conformist minister at Dorchester, in England, had projected a new settlement on the shore of Massachusetts Bay; and by his zeal and activity, had succeeded in forming an association of puritan gentlemen, for the purpose of conducting a colony to that region. In the prospectus of their undertaking, circulated at the time under the title of "General Considerations for the Plantation of New England," they urged the propriety of forming, in the New World, such Protestant institutions as might serve to countervail the influence of the Jesuit establishments already existing there; and they assigned as a further reason for the same measure, the desolate condition of the brethren in England, and the secure asylum, offered them in New England, as it were, by the hand of Divine Providence itself.* "England," they remarked, "grew weary of her inhabitants; insomuch that man, the most precious of all creatures, was there reckoned more vile and base than the earth he trod on; and children and friends (if unwealthy) were accounted a burdensome encumbrance, instead of being cherished as the choicest of earthly blessings. A taste for expensive living, they added, prevailed so strongly among their countrymen, and the means of indulging it had become so exclusively the object of men's desires, that all arts and trades were tainted by sordid maxims and dishonest practices: and the English seminaries of learning abounded with so many

* Grahame.

164

SETTLEMENT OF SALEM.

spectacles and temptations of dissolute irregularity, that vice was there more effectually communicated by example, than knowledge and virtue were imparted by precept. The whole earth, they declared, is the Lord's garden, and he hath given it to the sons of Adam, to be tilled and improved by them. Why, then, should any stand starving here for places of habitation, and, in the mean time, suffer whole countries, as profitable for the use of man, to lie waste, without any improvement?" They concluded by adverting to the situation. of the colony of New Plymouth; and strongly urged the duty of supporting the infant church which had there been so happily planted. Actuated by such views, these magnanimous projectors purchased from the council of Plymouth, all the territory extending in length from three miles north of the river Merrimack to three miles south of Charles river, and in breadth, from the Atlantic to the Southern Ocean. Their measures were as vigorous as their designs were elevated. As the precursors of the main body of emigrants whom it was intended to transport, a small troop of planters and servants were despatched, under John Endicot, one of the leading projectors, who, arriving safely in Massachusetts, were cordially greeted and kindly assisted by the colonists of New Plymouth, and laid the foundations of a town, which they denominated Salem, from a Hebrew word that signifies Peace.

These adventurers were acting under a patent purchased from the Plymouth council in 1628, granting the territory above defined. By means of the influence and activity of White, a number of merchants and gentlemen in London, who professed or favoured the puritan tenets, joined in the enterprise of colonizing this extensive region. Among these were Winthrop, Dudley, Johnson, Saltonstall, and others of considerable note. These auxiliaries brought prudence and ability as well as wealth into the treasury of their little commonwealth; and doubting the stability of a colony founded on the basis of a grant from a company of patentees, who might confer a right of property in the soil, but not municipal powers, they induced their associates to