Life of William Phips, Biography · Section 8
SECT. 8.
IT Would require a long Summers-Day to Relate the miſeries which were come, and coming in upon poor New-England, by reaſon of the Arbitrary Government then Impoſed on them; A Government wherein, as Old Wendover ſays of the Time, when Strangers were domineering over Subjects in England, Judicia committebantur Injuſtis, Leges Exlegibus, Pax Diſcordantibus, Juſtitia Injurioſis; and Foxes were made the Adminiſtrators of Juſtice to the Poultrey; yet ſome Abridgement of them is neceſſary for the better underſtanding of the Matters yet before us. Now, to make this Abridgment Impartial, I ſhall only have Recourſe unto a Little Book, Printed at London, under the Title of The Revolution of New-England Juſtiſied; wherein we have a Narrative of the Grievances under the Male Adminiſtrations of that Government, written and ſigned by the chief Gentlemen of the Governour's Council; together with the Sworn Teſtimonies of many Good men, to prove the Several Articles of the Declaration, which the New-Englanders publiſhed againſt their Oppreſſors. It is in that Book demonſtrated.
That, the Governour neglecting the Greater Number of his Council, did Adhere principally to the Advice of a few Strangers, who were perſons without any Intereſt, in the Country, but of Declared Prejudice againſt it, and had plainly laid their Deſigns to make an Unreaſonable Profit of the poor people: and four or five perſons had the Abſolute Rule over a Territory, the moſt Conſiderable of any belorging to the Crown.
That when Laws were propoſed in the Council, tho the major part at any time Diſſented from them, yet, if the Governour were poſitive, there was no fair Counting the Number of Councellors Conſenting, or Diſſenting, but the Laws were immediatly Engroſſed, publiſhed and Executed.
That, This Junto made a Law, which prohibited the Inhabitants of any Town, to meet about their Town-Affairs, above once in a year; for fear, you muſt Note, of their having any opportunity to Complain of Grievances.
That they made another Law, requiring all Maſters of Veſſels, even Shallops, and Wood-boats to give Security, that no Man ſhould be Tranſported in them, except his name had been ſo many Days poſted up: whereby the Pockets of a few Leeches had been filled with Fees, but the whole Trade of the Country deſtroyed; and all Attempts to obtain a Redreſs of theſe Things obſtructed; And when this Act had been ſtrenuouſly oppoſed in Council at Boſton, they carried it as far as New-York, where a Crew of them enacted it.
That, without any Aſſembly, they Levied on the People, a penny in the pound of all their Eſtates, and Twenty-pence per Head, as Poll-money, with a penny in the Pound for Goods Imported, beſides a Vaſt Exeiſe on Wine, Rum and other Liquors.
That, when among the Inhabitants of Ipſwich, ſome of the Principal Perſons modeſtly gave Reaſons, why they could not chooſe a Commiſſioner to Tax the Town, until the King ſhould firſt be Petitioned for the Liberty of an Aſſembly, they were committed unto Gaol for it, as an High Miſdemeanour, and were denied an Habeas Corpus, and were drag'd many Miles out of their own County to anſwer it at a Court in Boſton; where Jurors were pickt for the Turn, that were not Freeholders, nay, that were meer ſojourners; and when the Priſoners pleaded the Priviledges of Engliſh-men, That they ſhould not be Taxed without their own conſent, they were told, That thoſe things would not follow them to the ends of the earth: As it had been before told them in open Council, no one in the Council contradicting it, You have no more Priviledges left you, but this, that you are not bought and ſold for Slaves: And in fine, they were all fined ſeverely, and laid under great Bonds for their Good Behaviour; beſides all which, the hurgry Officers extorted Fees from them that amounted unto an Hundred and Threeſcore Pounds, whereas in England, upon the like Proſecution, the Fees would not have been Ten Pounds in all. After which faſhion the Townſmen of many other Places were alſo ſerved.
That Theſe Men giving out, That the Charters being loſt, all the Title that the People had unto their Lands, was loſt with them; they began to compel the People every where, to take Patents for their Lands: And accordingly Writs of Intruſion were iſſued out againſt the chief Gentlemen in the Territory, by the Terror whereof, many were actually driven to Petition for Patents, that they might quietly enjoy the Lands that had been fifty or ſixty Years in their poſſeſſion, But for theſe Patents, there were ſuch exorbitant Prices demanded, that Fifty Pounds could not purchaſe for its Owner, an Eſtate not worth Two Hundred, nor could all the Money and Moveables in the Territory have defrayed the Charges of Patenting the Lands, at the Hands of theſe Crocodiles: beſides the conſiderable Quit-Rents for the King. Yea, the Governour cauſed the Lands of particular perſons to be meaſured out, and given to his Creatures: And ſome of his Council Petitioned for the Commons belonging to ſeveral Towns; and the Agents of the Towns, going to get a voluntary Subſcription of the Inhabitants to maintain their Title at Law, they have been dragg'd Forty or Fifty Miles, to anſwer as Criminals at the next Aſſizes; the Officers, in the mean time, extorting three Pounds per Man, for fetching them.
That, if theſe Harpies, at any Time, were a little out of Money, they found ways to Impriſon the beſt men in the Countrey; and there appeared not the leaſt Information of any Crime exhibited againſt them, yet they were put unto Intollerable Expences by theſe Greedy Oppreſſors, and the Benefit of an Habeas Corpus not allowed unto them.
That pack't and pick't Juries were Commonly made uſe of, when under a Pretended Form of Law, the Trouble of ſome Honeſt and Worthy Men, was aimed at; and theſe alſo were hurried out of their own Counties to be tried, when Juries for the Turn, were not like to be found there. The Greateſt Rigour being uſed ſtill towards the ſobereſt ſort of people whilſt in the mean time the moſt horrid Enormities, in the World committed by Others, were overlook'd.
That, The publick Miniſtry of the Goſpel, and All Schools of Learning, were diſcountenanced unto the Utmoſt.
And ſeveral more ſuch abominable things, too notorious to be denied, even by a Randolphian impudence it ſelf, are in that Book proved againſt that unhappy Government. Nor did that moſt Ancient Sett of the Phoenician Shepherds, who ſcrued the Government of Egypt into their Hands, as Old Manethon tells us, by their Villanies, during the Reigns of thoſe Tyrants, make a Shepherd more of an Abomination to the Egyptians in all after-Ages, than theſe Wolves under the Name of Shepherds have made the Remembrance of their French Government, an Abomination to all Poſterity among the New-Englanders: A Government, for which, now, Reader, as faſt as thou wilt, get ready this Epitaph: Nulla quaeſita Scelere Potentia diuturna.
It was under the Reſentments of theſe Things, that Sir Williom Phips, returned into England, in the year 1688. In which Twice-Wonderful-Year, ſuch a Revolution was wonderfully accompliſhed upon the whole Government of the Engliſh Nation, that New-England, which had been a Specimen of what the whole Nation was to look for, might juſtly hope for a ſhare in the General Deliverance. Upon this Occaſion Sir William offered his beſt Aſſiſtances unto that Eminent Perſon, who a little before this Revolution, betook himſelf unto White-Hall, that he might there lay hold on all Opportunities to procure ſome Relief unto the Oppreſſions of that afflicted Country. But ſeeing the New-Engliſh Affairs in ſo able an Hand, he thought the beſt Stage of Action for him would now be New-England it ſelf; and ſo with certain Inſtructions from none of the leaſt conſiderable Perſons at White-Hall, what Service to do for his Country, in the Spring of the Year 1689 he haſtened back unto it. Before he left London, a Meſſenger from the Abdicated King tender'd him the Government of New-England, if he would accept it: But as that excellent Attorney General Sir William Jones, when it was propoſed that the Plantations might be Governed without Aſſemblies, told the King, That he could no more Grant a Commiſſion to levy Money on his Subjects there, without their conſent by an Aſſembly, than they could Diſcharge themſelves from their Allegiance to the Engliſh Crown. So Sir William Phips thought it his Duty to refuſe a Government without an Aſſembly, as a thing that was Treaſon in the very Eſſence of it, and inſtead of Petitioning the ſucceeding Princes, that his Patent for High Sheriff might be rendred Effectual, he joined in Petitions, that New-England might have its own Old Patent ſo Reſtored, as to render Ineffectual that, and all other Grants that might cut ſhort any of it's Ancient Priviledges. But when Sir William arrived at New-England, he found a New Face of Things; For about an Hundred Indians in the Eaſtern parts of the Country, had unaccountably begun a War upon the Engliſh, in July, 1688. and though the Governour then in the Weſtern Parts, had immediate Advice of it, yet he not only delayed and neglected all that was neceſſary for the Publick Defence, but alſo when he at Laſt returned, he manifeſted a moſt Furious Diſpleaſure againſt thoſe of the Council, and all others that had forwarded any one thing for the ſecurity of the Inhabitants; while at the ſame time, he diſpatched ſome of his Creatures upon ſecret Errands unto Canada, and ſet at Liberty ſome of the moſt Murderous Indians which the Engliſh had ſeized upon.
This Conduct of the Governour, which is in a Printed Remonſtrance of ſome of the Beſt Gentlemen in the Council, complained of, did extreamly diſſatisfy the Suſpicious People: Who were doubtleſs more extream in ſome of their Suſpicions, than there was any real Occaſion for: But the Governour at length raiſed an Army of a Thouſand Ergliſh to Conquer this Hundred Indians; and this Army, whereof ſome of the chief Commanders were Papiſts, underwent the Fatigues of a Long, and a cold Winter, in the moſt Caucaſaean Regions of the Territory, till, without the Killing of One Indian, there were more of the poor People Killed, than they had Enemies there Alive! This added, not a Little to the Diſſatisfaction of the People, and it would much more have done ſo if they had ſeen what the World had not yet ſeen of the Suggeſtions made by the Iriſh Catholicks unto the Late King, publiſhed in the Year 1691, In the Account of the State of the Proteſtants in Ireland, Licenſed by the Earl of Nottingham, whereof one Article runs in theſe Expreſs Terms, That if any of the Iriſh cannot have their Lands in Specie, but money in Lieu, ſome of them may Tranſport themſelves into America, poſſibly near New-England, to check the Growing Independants of that Country: Or if they had ſeen what was afterwards ſeen, in a Letter from K. James to His Holineſs, (as they ſtile His Fooliſhneſs) the Pope of Rome; That it was his Full purpoſe to have Set up Roman-Catholick Religion, in the Engliſh Plantations of America: Tho after all, there is cauſe to think, that there was more made of the Suſpicions then flying like Wild-fire about the Country, than a ſtrong Charity would have Countenanced. When the People were under theſe Frights, they had got by the Edges a Little Intimation of the then Prince of Orange's glorious Undertaking to deliver England, from the Feared Evils, which were already felt by New-England; but when the Perſon, who brought over a Copy of the Princes Declaration, was Impriſoned for bringing into the Country a Treaſonable Paper, and the Governour, by his Proclamation, Required all Perſons, to uſe their utmoſt-Endeavours to hinder the Landing of any whom the Prince might ſend thither, This put them almoſt out of Patience. And One thing, that plunged the more Conſiderate Perſons in the Territory, into uneaſy Thoughts, was the Faulty Action of ſome Souldiers, who upon the Common Suſpicions, deſerted their Stations in the Army, and cauſed their Friends to gather together here and there in Little Bodies, to protect from the Demands of the Governour, their poor Children and Bretheren, whom they thought bound for a Bloody Sacrifice: and there were alſo belonging to the Roſe-Frigat ſome that Buzz'd ſurprizing ſtories about Boſton, of many miſchiefs to be thence expected. Wherefore, ſome of the Principal Gentlemen in Boſton conſulting what was to be done in this Extraordinary Juncture, They all agreed that they would, if it were poſſible, extinguiſh all Eſſays, in the People towards an Inſurrection; in daily Hopes of Orders from England for their Safety: but that if the Country People, by any violent motions puſh'd the matter on ſo far, as to make a Revolution unavoidable, Then, to prevent the ſhedding of Blood by an ungoverned Mobile, ſome of the Gentlemen preſent, ſhould appear at the Head of the Action, with a Declaration accordingly prepared. By the eighteenth of April 1689. Things were puſhed on ſo far by the People, that certain Perſons firſt Seized the Captain of the Frigate, and the Rumor thereof running like Lightning through Boston, the whole Town was immediately in Arms, with the moſt Ʋnanimous Reſolution perhaps, that ever was known to have Inſpir'd any People. They then ſeized thoſe Wretched Men, who by their innumerable Extortions and Abuſes, had made themſelves the Objects of Ʋniverſal Hatred; not giving over till the Governour himſelf was become their Priſoner: The whole Action being managed without the leaſt Bloudſhed or Plunder, and with as much Order as ever attended any Tumult, it may be, in the World. Thus did the New-Englanders aſſert their Title to the Common Rights of Engliſhmen; and except the Plantations are willing to Degenerate from the Temper of True Engliſhmen, or except the Revolution of the whole Engliſh Nation be condemned, their Action muſt ſo far be juſtified. On their late Oppreſſors, now under juſt Confinement, they took no other ſatisfaction, but ſent them over unto White-Hall, for the Juſtice of the King and Parliament. And when the Day for the Anniverſary Election, by their vacated Charter drew near, they had many Debates into what Form they ſhould caſt the Government, which was till then, Adminiſtred by a Committee for the Conſervation of the Peace, compoſed of Gentlemen, whoſe Hap it was to appear in the Head of the late Action; But their Debates Iſſued in this Concluſion, That the Governour and Magiſtrates, which were in Power, before the late Ʋſurpation, ſhould Reſume their Places, and apply themſelves unto the Conſervation of the Peace, and put forth what Acts of Government the Emergencies might make needful for them, and thus to wait for further Directions from the Authority of England. So was there Accompliſhed a Revolution, which delivered New-England from grievous Oppreſſions, and which was moſt Graciouſly Accepted by the King and Queen, when it was Reported unto Their Majeſties. But there were New Matters for Sir William Phips, in a little while, now to think upon.