rized, by his commission, to take command of the militia of Connecticut. This power having been given, by the charter, to the governor of the colony, he determined not to relinquish it, and in this determination was supported by the people.

26. The next year, when the general court were in session, colonel Fletcher repaired to Hartford, and required that the militia of the colony should be placed under his command. This was resolutely refused. He then ordered the trainbands of the city to be assembled. This being done, he appeared before them, and directed his aid to read to them his commission and instructions from the king.

27. Captain Wadsworth, the senior officer of the militia present instantly ordered the drums to beat, and such was the noise, that nothing else could be heard. Colonel Fletcher commanded silence; and again his aid began to read. "Drum, drum, I say," exclaimed Wadsworth, and a command so acceptable to the players, was obeyed with spirit. Once more the colonel commanded silence, and a pause ensued. “Drum, drum, I say," cried the captain, and turning to governor Fletcher, addressed him, with energy in his voice and meaning in his looks, “If I am interrupted again, I will make the sun shine through you in a moment."

28. Deeming it unwise to contend with such a spirit, colonel Fletcher desisted, left Hartford the next night, and returned to New-York. A representation of the opposing claims being made to the king, he decided that the governor of Connecticut should have the command of the militia; but in time of war, a certain number should be placed under the orders of Fletcher.

29. In 1700, Yale college was founded. It owes its existence to the beneficence and public spirit of the clergy. It was first established at Saybrook; and, in 1702, the first degrees were there conferred. Elihu Yale made several donations to the institution, and from him it derives the name it bears. A succession of able instructors has raised it to the second rank among the literary institutions of the country.

30. In 1708, an act was passed by the legislature, requiring the ministers and delegates of churches to meet and form an ecclesiastical constitution for the colony. A meeting was in consequence held at Saybrook, the result of which was the celebrated Saybrook platform. At the subsequent session of the legisla ture, it was enacted that all the churches, united according to this platform, should be owned as established by law, allowing, however, to other churches, the right of exercising worship and discipline in their own way, according to their consciences.

31. In the several abortive attempts to reduce the French

F

settlements in Canada, and in the expedition against Louisburg, Connecticut furnished her full quota of troops, and bore her proportion of the expenses. Of these, a history is elsewhere given. After the death of Philip, most of the Indians abandoned her territory, and seldom returned to molest the inhabitants; who, living in the enjoyment of all the privileges they desired, felt no inducement, and were afforded no opportunity, to perform such actions as enliven the pages of history.

CHAPTER V.

RHODE ISLAND.

ROGER WILLIAMS, who was banished from Massacnusetts, for avowing the doctrine, that the civil magistrate is bound to grant equal protection to every denomination of christians, a doctrine too liberal for the age in which he lived, repaired to Seeconk, where he procured a grant of land from the Indians. Being informed, by the governor of Plymouth, that the land was within the limits of that colony, he proceeded to Mooshausic, where, in 1636, with those friends who followed him, he began a plantation.

2. He purchased the land of the Indians, and, in grateful acknowledgment of the kindness of heaven, he called the place Providence. Acting in conformity with the wise and liberal principle, for avowing and maintaining which, he had suffered banishment, he allowed entire freedom of conscience to all who came within his borders. And to him must be given the glory of having first set a practical example of the equal toleration of all religious sects in the same political community.

3. His benevolence was not confined to his civilized brethren. He labored to enlighten, improve, and conciliate the savages. He learned their language, travelled among them, and gained the entire confidence of their chiefs. He had often the happiness, by his influence over them, of saving from injury the colony that had proclaimed him an outlaw, and driven him into the wilderness.

4. In 1638, William Coddington, and seventeen others, being persecuted for their religious tenets in Massachusetts, followed

Williams to Providence. By his advice, they purchased of the Indians the island of Aquetnec, now called Rhode Island, and removed thither. Coddington was chosen their judge, or chief magistrate. The fertility of the soil, and the toleration of all christian sects, attracted numerous emigrants from the adjacent settlements.

5. When the New-England colonies, in 1643, formed their memorable confederacy, Rhode Island applied to be admitted a member. Plymouth objected; asserting that the settlements were within her boundaries. The commissioners decided that Rhode Island might enjoy all the advantages of the confederacy, if she would submit to the jurisdiction of Plymouth. She declined, proudly preferring independence to all the benefits of dependent union.

6. In 1644, Williams, having been sent to England as agent for both settlements, obtained of the Plymouth company, a patent for the territory, and permission for the inhabitants to institute a government for themselves. In 1647, delegates chosen by the freemen, held a general assembly at Portsmouth, organized a government, and established a code of laws. The executive power was confided to a president and four assistants.

7. Upon the application of the inhabitants, the king, in 1663, granted a charter to Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The supreme, or legislative power, was to be exercised by an assembly, which was to consist of the governor, of ten assistants, and of representatives from the several towns, all to be chosen by the freemen. This assembly granted to all christian sects, except Roman Catholics, the right of voting. In 1665, they authorized, by law, the seizure of the estates of Quakers, who refused to assist in defending the colony; but this law, being generally condemned by the people, was never executed.

8. When Andross was made governor over New-England, he dissolved the charter government of Rhode Island, and ruled the colony, with the assistance of a council appointed by himself. After he was imprisoned, at Boston, the freemen met at Newport, and voted to resume their charter. All the officers who, three years before, had been displaced, were restored.

9. The benevolence, justice, and pacific policy of Williams, secured to the colony an almost total exemption from Indian hostility. In 1730, the number of inhabitants was 18,000; in 1761, it was 40,000. Brown university was founded, at Warren, in 1764, and was removed, a few years after, to Providence. Its founder was Nicholas Brown, who gave to the institution five thousand dollars

CHAPTER VI.

NEW-YORK.

IN 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman, b in the service of the Dutch East India Company, discovered Long Island, the harbor of New-York, and the river to which his name has been given. In 1613, several Dutch merchants, to whom the republic of Holland had granted the exclusive right of trading to this part of America, erected a fort near Albany, which they named fort Orange, and a few trading houses on the island of New-York, then called, by the Indians, Manhattan.

2. In the same year, captain Argal, who had been sent by Virginia to drive the French from their settlements on the bay of Fundy, visited, on his return, the Dutch on Hudson's river. Claiming the country for his nation, by right of prior discovery, he demanded the acknowledgment of its authority. Being few in number, they prudently submitted, without attempting to resist.

3. But, receiving a reinforcement, the next year, they again asserted the right of Holland to the country, and erected fort Amsterdam, on the south end of the island. The English, for many years, forebore to interfere in their pursuits or claims. In 1621, the republic, desirous of founding a colony in America, granted to the Dutch West India company, an extensive territory on both sides of the Hudson. The country was called New Netherlands. The boundaries were not accurately defined, but were considered, by the company, as including Connecticut river at the north, and Delaware river at the south.

4. In 1623, they erected a fort on the Delaware, which they called Nassau; and, ten years afterwards, an other on the Connecticut, which they called Good Hope. Near the former, the Swedes had a settlement. From the interfering claims of the two nations, quarrels arose between the settlers, which, after continuing several years, terminated in the subjugation of the Swedes. Towards the fort on the Connecticut, the settlements of the English rapidly approached, and soon occasioned disputes, which had a longer duration and a different result.

5. The Dutch did not escape the calamity of war with the savages. Hostilities commenced in 1643, continued several years, and were very destructive to both parties. William Kieft, the governor of the New Netherlands, invited captain Underhill,

who has been a soldier in Europe, and had made himself conspicuous in New-Hampshire, by his eccentricities in religion and conduct, to take command of his troops. Collecting a flying party of one hundred and fifty men, he was enabled to preserve the Dutch settlements from total destruction. The number of

Indians, whom he killed in the course of the war, was supposed to exceed four hundred. In 1646, a severe battle was fought on that part of Horse-neck called Strickland's Plain. The Dutch were victorious; on both sides great numbers were slain; and for a century afterwards the graves of the dead were distinctly visible. 6. In 1650, Peter Stuyvesant, then the able governor of the New Netherlands, met the commissioners of the New-England colonies at Hartford, where, after much altercation, a line of partition between their respective territories was fixed by mutual agreement. Long Island was divided between them; the Dutch retained the lands which they occupied in Connecticut, surrendering their claim to the residue.

7. But Charles the second, denying their right to any portion of the country, determined to expel them from it. In 1664, he granted to his brother, the Duke of York and Albany, all the territory between Nova-Scotia and Delaware Bay; and though England and Holland were then at peace, immediately sent three ships and three hundred troops to put him in possession of his grant. Colonel Robert Nichols conducted the expedition. The squadron, having visited Boston, reached the place of its destination in August.

8. The commander summoned governor Stuyvesant to surrender the town, promising to secure to the inhabitants their lives, liberty, and property. At first, he refused; but the magistrates and people, allured by the proffered terms, constrained him to Fort Orange surrendered, soon after, to Sir George Carteret. In compliment to the Duke, the name, Manhattan, was changed to New-York, and Orange to Albany.

consent.

9. Nichols assumed the government of the country he had conquered, and continued, for three years, to rule over it, with absolute power, but with great lenity and justice. During his administration, New-York was made a city. Upon his return to England, he was succeeded by Colonel Lovelace, who administered the government with equal moderation.

10. In 1673, England and Holland being then at war, a few Dutch ships were despatched to reconquer the country. On their arrival at Staten Island, a short distance from the city, John Manning, who had command of the fort, sent down a messenger and treacherously made terms with the enemy, The Dutch