Life of William Phips, Biography · Section 12 – Section 13
SECT. 12.
FROM The time that General Pen made his Attempt upon Hiſpaniola, with an Army that, like the New Engliſh Forces, againſt Canada, miſcarried after an Expectation of having Little to Do, but to Poſſeſs and Plunder; Even to this Day, the General Diſaſter which hath attended, almoſt every Attempt of the European Colones in America, to make any Conſiderable Encroachments upon their Neighbours, is a matter of ſome cloſe Reflection. But of the Diſaſter, which now befell poor New-England, in particular, every one will eaſily Conclude, none of the leaſt Conſequences to have been, the Extreme Debts, which that Country was now plunged into; there being Forty Thouſand pounds, more or leſs, now to be paid, and not a Penny in the Treaſury to pay it withal. In this Extremity, they preſently found out an Expedient, which may ſerve as an Example, for any People, in other parts of the World, whoſe Diſtreſſes may call for a ſudden ſupply of Money to carry them through any Important Expedition. The General Aſſembly firſt paſs'd an Act, for the Levying of ſuch a ſum of Money as was wanted, within ſuch a Term of Time, as was judged convenient; and this Act was a Fund, on which the Credit of ſuch a Sum, ſhould be rendered paſſable among the people. Hereupon, there was appointed an Able and Faithful Committee of Gentlemen, who printed from Copper-Plates, a juſt Number of Bills, and Floriſhed, Indented, and Contrived them, in ſuch a manner, as to make it Impoſſible to Counterfeit any of them, without a Speedy Diſcovery of the Counterfeit: beſides which, they were all Signed by the Hands of Three, belonging to that Committee. Theſe Bills being of ſeveral Sums, from Two-ſhillings, to Ten pounds, did confeſs the Maſſachuſet-Colony, to be Endebted unto the Perſon, in whoſe Hands they were, the Sums therein expreſſed; and Proviſion was made, that if any particular Bills, were Irrecoverably Loſt or Torn, or Worn by the Owners, they might be Recruited without any Damage to the whole in General. The publick Debts to the Sailors and Souldiers, now upon the point of Mutiny, (for, Arma Tenenti, Omnia dat, qui Juſta negat!) were in theſe Bills paid immediatly: but that further Credit might be given thereunto, it was Ordered that they ſhould be Accepted by the Treaſurer, and all Officers that were Subordinate unto him, in all publick Payments, at Five per cent. more than the Value expreſſed in them. The People knowing that the Tax-Act, would, in the Space of Two years at Leaſt, fetch into the Treaſury, as much as all the Bills of Credit, thence emitted would amount unto, were willing to be furniſhed with Bills, wherein, 'twas their Advantage to pay their Taxes, rather than in any other Specie, and ſo the Sailors and Souldiers put off their Bills, inſtead of Money, to thoſe, with whom they had any Dealings, and they circulated through all the Hands in the Colony, pretty Comfortably. Had the Government been ſo Settled, that there had not bin any Doubt of any Obſtruction, or Diverſion to be given to the Proſecution of the Tax-Act, by a Total Change of their affairs, then Depending at White-Hall, 'Tis very certain, that the Bills of Credit had been better than ſo much ready Silver; yea, the Invention had been of more Uſe to the New-Englanders, than if all their Copper Mines had been opened, or the Mountains of Peru had been Removed into theſe parts of America. The Maſſachuſet Bills of Credit, had been like the Bank-Bills of Venice, where though there were not, perhaps, a Ducat of Money in the Bank, yet the Bills were eſteemed more then Twenty per cent. better than Money, among the Body of the People, in all their Dealings. But many People being afraid, that the Government would in Half a year, be ſo Overturned, as to Convert their Bills, of Credit altogether into Waſt-paper, the Credit of them was thereby very much impaired; and they, who firſt received them, could make them yield little more than fourteen or ſixteen ſhillings in the Pound; from whence there aroſe thoſe Idle Suſpicions in the Heads of many more Ignorant and Unthinking Folks concerning the Uſe thereof, which to the Incredible Detriment of the Province, are not wholly laid aſide unto this Day. However, this Method of paying the Publick Debts, did no leſs than ſave the Publick, from a perfect Ruine: and e're many Months were expired, the Governour and Council had the pleaſure of ſeeing the Treaſurer burn before their Eyes, many a Thouſand Pounds Worth of the Bills, which had paſſed about until they were again Returned unto the Treaſury, but before their being returned, had happily and honeſtly, without a farthing of ſilver Coin, diſcharged the Debts, for which they were intended. But that which helped theſe Bills unto much of their Credit, was the generous offer of many worthy men in Boſton, to run the Riſque of ſelling their Goods reaſonably for them: and of theſe, I think, I may ſay, that General Phips was in ſome ſort the Leader; who at the very Beginning, meerly to Recommend the Credit of the Bills unto other Perſons, cheerfully laid down a Conſiderable Quantity of ready Money for an equivalent parcel of them. And thus in a little time, the Country waded through the Terrible Debts which it was fallen into: In this, though unhappy enough, yet not ſo unhappy, as in the Loſs of men, by which the Country was at the ſome Time conſumed. 'Tis True, there was very Little Blood ſpilt in the Attacque made upon Quebeck; and there was a Great Hand of Heaven ſeen in it. The Churches, upon the Call of the Government, not only obſerved a General Faſt through the Colony, for the Welfare of the Army ſent unto Quebeck, but alſo kept the Wheel of Prayer in a Continual motion, by Repeated and Succeſſive Agreements, for Days of Prayer with Faſting, in their ſeveral Vicinities. On theſe Days the Ferventeſt Prayers were ſent up to the God of Armies, for the ſafety and ſucceſs of the New-Engliſh Army gone to Canada; and though I never underſtood that any of the Faithful did in their Prayers ariſe to any aſſurance, that the Expedition ſhould proſper in all reſpects, yet they ſometimes in their Devotions on theſe Occaſions, uttered their Perſwaſion, that Almighty God had heard them in this thing, that the Engliſh Army ſhould not fall by the hands of the French Enemy. Now they were marvellouſly delivered from doing ſo; though the Enemy had ſuch unexpected Advantages over them, yea, and though the horrid Winter was come on ſo far, that it is a Wonder the Engliſh Fleet, then Riding in the River of Canada, fared any better than the Army which a while ſince, beſieged Poland, wherein, of ſeventy thouſand Invaders, no leſs than forty thouſand ſuddenly periſhed by the ſeverity of the cold, albeit it were but the Month of November with them. Nevertheleſs, a kind of Camp-Fever, as well as the Small-Pox, got into the Fleet, whereby ſome Hundreds came ſhort of Home. And beſides this Calamity, it was alſo to be lamented, That although the moſt of the Fleet arrived ſafe at New-England, whereof ſome Veſſels indeed were driven off by Croſs-Winds as far as the West-Indies, before ſuch Arrival; yet there were three or four Veſſels which totally miſcarried: One was never heard of, a ſecond was Wreck'd, but moſt of the Men were ſaved by another in company; a third was Wreck'd ſo, that all the Men were either ſtarved or drown'd, or ſlain by the Indians, except one, which a long while after, was, by means of the French, reſtored: And a fourth, met with Accidents, which it may be, my Reader will, by and by pronounce, not unworthy to have been Related.
A Brigantine, whereof Captain John Rainsford was Commander, having about Threeſcore Men aboard, was in a very ſtormy Night, Octob. 28, 1690, ſtranded upon the deſolate and hideous Iſland of Antecoſta, an Iſland in the mouth of the Mighty River of Canada; but through the ſingular Mercy of God unto them, the Veſſel did not, immediately, ſtave to pieces, which if it had happened, they muſt have, one way or another quickly periſhed. There they lay for divers days, under abundance of bitter Weather, trying and hoping to get off their Veſſel; and they ſolemnly ſet apart, one Day for Prayer with Faſting, to obtain the ſmiles of Heaven upon them, in the midſt of their Diſtreſſes; and this eſpecially, That if they muſt go aſhoar, they might not by any ſtreſs of Storm, loſe the Proviſions which they were to carry with them. They were, at laſt convinced, that they muſt continue no longer on Board, and therefore, by the ſeventh of November, they applied themſelves, all Hands, to get their Proviſions aſhoar upon the diſmal Iſland, where they had nothing but a ſad and cold Winter before them; which being accompliſhed, their Veſſel overſett ſo, as to take away from them all expectation of getting off the Iſland in it. Here they now built themſelves Nine ſmall Chimney-leſs things that they called Houſes; to this purpoſe employing ſuch Boards and Planks as they could get from their ſhattered Veſſel, with the help of Trees, whereof that ſqualid Wilderneſs had enough to ſerve them; and they built a particular Store-houſe, wherein they carefully Lodg'd and Lock'd the poor quantity of Proviſions, which though ſcarce enough to ſerve a very abſtemious Company for one Month, muſt now be ſo ſtinted, as to hold out ſix or ſeven, and the Allowance agreed among them could be no better than for One Man, Two Biskets, half a pound of Pork, half a pound of Flower, one Pint and a quarter of Peaſe, and two Salt Fiſhes per Week. This little Handful of Men, were now a ſort of Common-Wealth, extraordinarily, and miſerably ſeparated from all the reſt of Mankind; (but I believe, they thought little enough of an Ʋtopia:) Wherefore, they conſulted and concluded ſuch Laws among themſelves, as they judged neceſſary to their ſubſiſtence, in the doleful Condition, whereinto the Providence of God had caſt them; now —penitùs toto diviſos Orbe.
They ſet up Good Orders, as well as they could among themſelves and, beſides their daily Devotions, they Obſerved the Lord's Days, with more ſolemn Exerciſes of Religion.
But it was not long before they began to feel the more mortal effects of the Straits, whereinto they had bin Reduced: Their ſhort Commons, Their Drink of Snow-Water, Their Hard and Wet, and Smoaky Lodgings, and their Grievous Deſpair of Mind, overwhelmed ſome of them, at ſuch a Rate, and ſo ham-ſtring'd them, that ſooner than be at the paines to go abroad, and cut their one Fuel, they would ly after a Sottiſh manner in the Cold; theſe things quickly brought Sickneſſes among them. The firſt of their Number who Died, was their Doctor, on the 20th of December; and then they dropt away, one after another, till between thirty and forty of the ſixty, were buried by their diſconſolate Friends, whereof every one look'd ſtill to be the next that ſhould lay his Bones in that Forſaken Region. Theſe poor Men did therefore, on Monday the Twenty Seventh of January, keep a Sacred Fast (as they did, in ſome ſort, a civil one, every day, all this while) to beſeech of Almighty God, that his Anger might be turned from them, That he would not go on to cut them off in his Anger, That the Extremity of the Seaſon might be mitigated, and, That they might be proſpered in ſome Eſſay to get Relief as the Spring ſhould Advance upon them; and they took Notice, That God gave them a Gracious Anſwer to every one of theſe Petitions.
But while the Hand of God was killing ſo many of this little Nation (and yet uncapable to become a Nation, for it was, Res unius A…tatis, populus virorum!) they apprehended, that they muſt have been under a moſt uncomſortable Neceſſity to kill One of their Company.
Whatever Penalties they Enacted for other Crimes, there was One, for which, like that of Parricide among the Ancients, they would have promiſed themſelves, that there ſhould not have been Occaſion for any Puniſhments; and that was, the Crime of Stealing from the Common-Stock of their Proviſions. Nevertheleſs, they found their Store-Houſe divers times broken open, and their proviſions therefrom stolen, by divers unnatural Children of the Leviathan, while it was not poſſible for them to preſerve their feeble Store-Houſe from the Stone-Wall-breaking Madneſs of theſe unreaſonable Creatures. This Trade of ſtealirg, if it had not been ſtop'd, by ſome exemplary Severity, they muſt in a little while, by Lot or Force have come to have Canibally devoured One Another; for there was nothing to be done, either at Fiſhing or Fowling or Hunting upon that Rueful Iſland, in the Depth of a Frozen Winter; and though they ſent, as far as they could upon Diſcovery, they could not find, on the Iſland, any Living thing in the World, beſides themſelves. Wherefore, though by an Act, they made ſtealing to be ſo Criminal, that Several did Run the Gantlet for it, yet, they were not far from being driven after all, to make One Degree and Inſtance of it, Capital. There was a wicked Iriſhman among them, who had ſuch a Voracious Devil in him, that after divers Burglaries upon the Store-houſe, committed by him, at laſt, he ſtole, and Eat with ſuch a Pamphagous Fury, as to Cram himſelf with no leſs than Eighteen Biskets, at one ſtolen meal, and he was fain to have his Belly ſtrok'd and Bath'd before the Fire, leſt he ſhould otherwiſe have burſt. This Amazing and indeed murderous Villany of the Iriſhman, brought them all to their Wit's Ends, how to defend themſelves from the Ruine therein threatned unto them; and whatever methods were propoſed, it was feared, that there could be no ſtop given to his Furacious Exorbitancies, any Way but One; He could not be paſt Stealing, unleſs he were paſt Eating too. Some think therefore, they might have Sentenced the Wretch to Dye, and after they had been at pains, upon Chriſtian and Spiritual Accounts, to prepare him for it, have executed the Sentence, by ſhooting him to Death: concluding matters come to that paſs, that if they had not ſhot him, he muſt have Starved them unavoidably. Such an Action if it were done, will doubtleſs meet with no harder a Cenſure, than that of the ſeven Engliſh men, who being in a Boat carried off to Sea, from St. Chriſtopher's, with but one Days Proviſion aboard for Seventeen, Singled out ſome of their Number by Lot and ſlew them, and Eat them; for which, when they were afterwards accuſed of Murder, the Court, in conſideration of the inevitable Neceſſity, acquitted them. Truly, the inevitable neceſſity of Starving, without ſuch an Action, ſufficiently grievous to them all, will very much plead for what was done (whatever it were!) by theſe poor Antecostians. And starved indeed, they muſt have been, for all this, if they had not Contrived and Performed a very deſperate Adventure, which now remains to be Related. There was a very diminutive kind of Boat belonging to their Brigantine, which they recovered out of the Wreck, and cutting this Boat in Two, they made a ſhift with certain odd Materials preſerved among them, to lengthen it ſo far, that they could therein form a little Cuddy, where Two or Three Men might be ſtowed, and they ſet up a little Maſt, whereto they faſtned a little Sail, and accommodated it with ſome other little circumstances, according to their preſent poor Capacity.
On the Twenty Fifth of March, Five of the Company Shipped themſelves upon this Doughty Fly-Boat, intending, if it were poſſible, to carry unto Boſton, the Tidings of their woful Plight upon Antecosta, and by help from their Friends there, to return with ſeaſonable ſuccours for the reſt. They had not Sail'd long, before they were Hemm'd in by prodigious Cakes of Ice, whereby their Boat ſometimes was horribly wounded, and it was a Miracle, that it was not Cruſh'd into a Thouſand pieces, if indeed a thouſand pieces could have been Splintred out of ſo minute a Cock-Boat. They kept labouring, and fearfully Weather-beaten, among enormous Rands of Ice, which would ever now and then rub formidably upon them, and were enough to have broken the Ribs of the ſtrongeſt Frigat that ever …ut the Seas; and yet the ſignal Hand of Heaven ſo preſerved this petty Boat, that by the Eleventh of April, they had got a quarter of their way, and came to an Anchor under Cape St. Lawrence, having ſeen Land but once before, and that about ſeven Leagues off, ever ſince their firſt ſetting out; and yet, having ſeen the open and Ocean Sea, not ſo much as once, in all this while, for the Ice that ſtill encompaſſed them. For their ſupport in this Time, the little Proviſions they brought with them, would not have kept them alive; only they killed Seale upon the Ice, and they melted the upper pare of the Ice for Drink; but fierce, wild, ugly Sea-Horſes, would often ſo approach them upon the Ice, that the fear of being devoured by them, was not the leaſt of their Exerciſes. The Day following, they weighed Anchor, betimes in the Morning; but the Norweſt Winds perſecuted them, with the raiſed and raging Waves of the Sea, which almoſt continually poured into them; and monſtrous Iſlands of Ice, that ſeemed almoſt as big as Antecosta it ſelf, would ever now and then come athwart them. In ſuch a Sea they lived by the ſpecial aſſiſtance of God, until by the thirteenth of April, they got into an Iſland of Land, where they made a Fire, and killed ſome Fowl, and ſome Seal, and found ſome Gooſe-Eggs, and ſupplied themſelves with what Billets of Wood were neceſſary and carriageable for them; and there they ſtayed until the ſeventeenth. Here, their Boat lying near a Rock, a great Sea hove it upon the Rock, ſo that it was upon the very point of overſetting, which if it had, ſhe had bin utterly diſabled for any further ſervice, and they muſt have called that Harbour by the Name, which, I think, one a little more Northward bears, The Cape without Hope. There they muſt have ended their weary days! But here, the good Hand of God again interpoſed for them; they got her off, and though they loſt their Compaſs in this Hurry, they ſufficiently Repaired another defective one, that they had aboard. Sailing from thence, by the Twenty Fourth of April, they made Cape Brittoon; when a thick Fog threw them into a new Perplexity, until they were ſafely gotten into the Bay of Iſlands, where they again Wooded and Watred, and killed a few Fowl, and catched ſome Fiſh, and began to reckon themſelves as good as half way home. They reached Cape Sables by the Third of May, but by the fifth, all their Proviſion was again ſpent, and they were out of ſight of Land; nor had they any proſpect of catching any thing that lives in the Atlantick: which, while they were lamenting one unto another, a ſtout Halibut comes up to the top of the Water, by their ſide; whereupon they threw out the Fiſhing-Line, and the Fiſh took the Hook, but he proved ſo heavy, that it required the help of ſeveral Hands, to hale him in, and a thankful Supper they made on't. By the ſeventh of May, ſeeing no Land, but having once more ſpent all their Proviſion, they were grown almoſt wholly hopeleſs of Deliverance, but then a Fiſhing Shallop of Cape Ann, came up with them, fifteen Leagues to the Eaſtward of that Cape. And yet, before they got in, they had ſo Tempeſtuous a Night, that they much feared periſhing upon the Rocks, after all: But God carried them into Boston Harbour the Ninth of May, unto the great ſurpriſe of their Friends, that were in Mourning for them: And there furniſhing themſelves with a Veſſel fit for their Undertaking, they took a Courſe in a few Weeks more to fetch home their Brethren, that they left behind them at Antecoſta.
But it is now time for us to return unto Sir William!
SECT. 13.
ALL this while CANAD A was as much written upon Sir William's Heart, as CALLICE, they ſaid once, was upon Queen Maries. He needed not one to have been his daily Monitor about Canada: It lay down with him, it roſe up with him, it engroſſed almoſt all his Thoughts; he thought the ſubduing of Canada, to be the greateſt ſervice that could be done for New-England, or for the Crown of England in America. In parſuance whereof, after he had been but a few Weeks at Home, he took another Voyage for England, in the very depth of Winter, when Satling was now dangerous; conflicting with all the Difficulties of a tedious and a terrible Paſſage, in a very little Veſſel, which indeed, was like enough to have periſhed, if it had not been for the help of his Generous Hand aboard, and His Fortunes in the bottom.
Arriving— per tot Diſcrimina, at Bristol, he haſtned up to London; and made his Applications to Their Majeſties, and the Principal Miniſters of State, for aſſiſtance to Renew an Expedition againſt Canada, concluding his Repreſentation to the King, with ſuch Words as theſe:
If Your Majeſty ſhall graciouſly pleaſe to Commiſſion and Aſſiſt me, I am ready to venture my Life again in your Service. And I doubt not, but by the Bleſſing of God, Canada may be added unto the reſt of your Dominions, which will (all circumſtances conſidered) be of more advantage to the Crown of England, than all the Territories in the West-Indies are.
The Reaſons here ſubjoined, are humbly Offered unto Your Majeſties Conſideration.
Firſt, The Succeſs of this Deſign, will greatly add to the Glory and Intereſt of the Engliſh Crown and Nation; by the Addition of the Bever-Trade, and ſecuring the Hudſon's Bay Company, ſome of whoſe Factories have lately fallen into the Hands of the French; and increaſe of Engliſh Shipping and Seamen, by gaining the Fiſhery of Newfoundland, and by conſequence diminiſh the number of French Scamen, and cut off a great Revenue from the French Crown.
Secondly, The Cauſe of the Engliſh in New-England, their failing in the late Attempt upon Canada, was their waiting for a Supply of Ammunition from England until Auguſt; their long Paſſage up that River; the cold Seaſon coming on; and the Small-Pox and Fevers being in the Army and Fleet; ſo that they could not ſtay fourteen days longer; in which time probably they might have taken Quebeck; yet, if a few Frigats be ſpeedily ſent, they doubt not of an happy Succeſs; the ſtrength of the French being ſmall, and the Planters deſirous to be under the Engliſh Government.
Thirdly, The Jeſuites endeavour to ſeduce the Maqua's, and other Indians (as is by them affirmed) ſuggeſting the Greatneſs of King Lewis, and the inability of King William, to do any thing againſt the French in thoſe Parts, thereby to Engage them in their Intereſts: In which, if they ſhould ſucceed, not only New-England, but all our American Plantations, would be endangered by the Great Increaſe of Shipping, for the French (built in New-England at eaſie Rates) to the Infinite Diſhonour and Prejudice of the Engliſh Nation.
But now, for the Succeſs of theſe Applications, I muſt entreat the Patience of my Reader, to wait until we have gone through a little more of our Hiſtory.