attained a competent knowledge of religion, was appointed pastor, while John Tockinosh and Joshua Mummeechegs were named as his elders.* It was made an object, not only to instruct them in their religious duties, and wean them from their roving and turbulent mode of life, but generally to banish the rude and unseemly habits in which they were wont to indulge; and they were persuaded to impose fines upon delinquencies of this nature. It was contracted under heavy penalties, that they should not kill lice between their teeth, that they should not besmear their bodies with grease, nor set up the dreadful howlings to which they were accustomed. Women who appeared with their hair hanging loose, or their bosom uncovered, had a fine levied on them. The Indian who beat his wife had his hands tied behind his back, and was carried in this state to the tribunal, where he was punished at the pleasure of the judge. The Indian females made considerable efforts to obtain an opinion from the ministers, that if a man beat his wife, all his prayers would be vain; but however bent on putting down the practice, they do not seem to have been prepared to commit themselves altogether to this extent. In a few years, matters were so far advanced, that there were formed in Massachusets alone, thirty congregations of " praying Indians," whose numbers amounted to about three thousand. From that time the progress seems to have been rather retrograde. After the first novelty, the old habits of the Indians, and particularly their sloth and love of strong liquors, began again to strive for the mastery. There is stated, indeed, to have been a most strict observance of that clause in the Fourth Commandment, which says, “ In it thou shalt not do any work;" but as no regard was paid to the preceding clause, “Six days shalt thou labour," much doubt was felt as to the purity of the motives by which they were swayed. The attempt to organize an Indian priesthood failed altogether, the converts possessing neither the steadiness nor sobriety requisite for the holy office. The duty, therefore, devolved upon European teachers, who, in many cases, scarcely obtained the wages of a day-labourer, and that very precariously. The formation, however, of a society in England for the propagation of the Gospel in this settlement, and pretty liberal contributions raised in the principal towns, in some degree remedied this evil.

VOL. I.

X

CHAPTER VI.

SETTLEMENT OF THE OTHER COLONIES.

Secondary States of New England. --Connecticut-Rhode Island -New Hampshire.-New York; settled by the Dutch; Transference to England.-Maryland.-Carolina; its Constitutions ; various Vicissitudes.-Georgia.-Pennsylvania; Account of Penn; Treaty with the Indians; its rapid Increase.

THE settlement of Virginia and that of New England, or, more strictly speaking, Massachusetts, have exhibited on the greatest scale, and under the most striking features, that series of early and daring adventure, by which the vast Indian desert was converted into the seat of great and flourishing nations. The other states were peopled in a great measure out of these two; they found a path already marked out for them, and trod nearly in the same footsteps. To enter, therefore, into a similar detail of their fortunes and progress would be inconsistent with our limits, and would involve a wearisome monotony. Each, however, had some characters peculiar to itself, which will be found deserving of a brief survey.

The secondary states of New England were mostly peopled out of the original and central colony of

Massachusetts; and, as may have been observed, the emigration was, in several instances, connected with circumstances not very highly meritorious on its part. Connecticut, however, did not owe its existence to any such equivocal cause. It arose merely out of the overflowing of the surplus population of Massachusetts proceeding in search of new and unoccupied lands. In this pursuit, Mr Chalmers remarks, that they made no inquiry, either of the Plymouth Company, in whom the whole of this coast had been originally vested, or of the Marquis of Hamilton, to whom it had been afterwards conveyed, or of the Dutch, who, from their strong settlement on the Hudson, had spread themselves in this direction. Finding the territory one vast unoccupied forest, they very coolly divided it among themselves, nor was any one present able to start any objection. The company, somewhat surprised to hear that its territories were occupied without even the trouble of giving them notice, sent out a code of instructions for the regulation of the settlers. But that body declined paying any attention to them, and undertook the entire management of its own concerns. Its only formidable annoyance arose from the Indians, of whose attacks, from its advanced position, it was obliged to stand the first brunt ; and till the Pequods and Philip were finally humbled, Connecticut enjoyed only short intervals of tranquillity. It prospered, however, being recruited by several Puritans of distinction, who came direct from England; nor did it, even after the accession of Charles II., meet the fate which its daring courses might seem likely to have prepared for it. That

prince, amid the joy of the Restoration, granted to Connecticut a charter on the most liberal terms. The colonists were erected into a corporate body, having a right to all the lands extending across to the Pacific Ocean. Connecticut, therefore, conducted itself entirely as an independent state; and even the regicides lived there in security. As Charles and his parliament, however, began, in the leisure of peace, to turn their attention to the regulation of these rising colonies, they were not a little mortified to find that they had divested themselves of all power to regulate or control them. At length Charles began to take a more daring course, and to break down all the barriers which obstructed his progress to absolute power. Massachusetts was the first point beyond the Atlantic upon which this system was brought to bear; and it has been seen, that, after an honourable struggle, that state was obliged to yield to superior power, and to see its rights wrested from it. While this contest was pending, Connecticut was allowed to stand by, each party foreseeing that its lot would be ruled by that of its greater neighbour. Massachusetts fell, and Connecticut behoved to follow. The people, on seeing that this issue could not be escaped, resigned themselves to their fate with somewhat of an abject submission. They wrote, professing their loyalty, desiring to continue in their present station; but, were it the royal purpose to dispose otherwise of them, submitting to the royal commands. They even professed their willingness to be united to any other government, with only a humble preference of that over which Andros had been placed. This pliancy had