Outlines of Universal History Part 36

THE PURITANS.--Uniformity in the forms of religious wors.h.i.+p was ordained by law in England, and the queen was bent on enforcing it. A _Court of High Commission_ was established to punish heresy and nonconformity. This policy early brought on a conflict, not only with the Roman Catholics, but also with the large and growing cla.s.s of Protestants who were called "Puritans." These wished to carry the Reformation farther than it had been carried by the Tudors in England, and to make the English Church more like the Calvinistic churches in Scotland and on the Continent. They disliked surplices and other vestments worn by the clergy, which they p.r.o.nounced "badges of popery," the sign of the cross used in baptism, and like customs retained in the Church as established by law. Many of them became opposed to the whole prelatical organization. They did not admit the supremacy of the sovereign, as _Elizabeth_ claimed it, in things having to do with the Church and religion. Many of the Puritans conformed to the existing system of Church government and wors.h.i.+p, but under a protest and with the hope of seeing it changed. Others were _nonconformists_; that is, they did not formally break off from the English Church, but avoided taking part in the forms of wors.h.i.+p of which they disapproved. This cla.s.s was numerous. A third and smaller cla.s.s, the "Independents," separated from the Established Church, and disbelieved in national churches, or a national organization of religion, altogether. They formed religious societies of their own. Thus English Protestants were divided among themselves. Upon both Puritans and Roman Catholics--upon the latter, partly on political grounds--severe penalties were inflicted. Churchman and Puritan, while they agreed substantially in theology, stood at variance in regard to Church government and modes of wors.h.i.+p.

CHAPTER IX. THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION AND THE COMMONWEALTH (1603-1658).

JAMES I.--_James VI_. of Scotland, and _I_. of England, was the son of _Mary Stuart_ and _Darnley_. Scotland and England were now united under one king. He was not wanting in acquirements, and plumed himself on his knowledge of theology. A conceited pedant, he was impatient of dissent from his opinions. In Scotland, among insubordinate n.o.bles and the ministers of the Kirk,--who on one occasion went so far as to pull his sleeve when they addressed to him their rebukes,--he had hardly tasted the sweets of regal power. The deference with which the English clergy treated him deepened his attachment to their Church. He had high notions of the divine right of kings. "No bishop, no king," was his favorite maxim. Early, in the _Hampton Court Conference_ between the bishops and the Puritans, over which James presided, he showed his antipathy to the Puritans. It may be here stated, that a suggestion there made led to the making of the Authorized Version of the Bible, for which previous translations, especially the translation of _Tyndale_, furnished the basis. The king's severity to the Catholics was the occasion of the "Gunpowder Plot," a project that failed, for blowing up the Parliament House by means of powder placed under it, to which one _Guy Fawkes_ was to apply the match (1605).

IRELAND.--The _Earl of Tyrone_, an Irish chief, fell into a dispute with the English authorities, and, with another Irish earl, fled to Spain. The best of their lands in _Ulster_ were given to English and Scotch colonists. Only what was left of the land was granted to the Irish, many of whom were dispossessed of their homes. The Ulster colonies were industrious and prosperous; but among the natives, seeds of lasting enmity were sown by this injustice.

JAMES'S FOREIGN POLICY.--The nation became imbittered against the king. One grievance was the sale not only of patents of n.o.bility, but also of monopolies to companies or individuals. This was a continuance of an old abuse. The trial and conviction of _Lord Bacon_, the Lord Chancelor, who was impeached on the charge of receiving presents which were intended to influence his decisions as a judge, was one evidence of the corruption of the times, and of the displeasure occasioned by it. Instead of aiding his son-in-law, _Frederick V_., the Elector Palatine, whose dominions had been seized by a Spanish army sent to aid his enemies, _James_ busied himself with schemes for marrying his son _Charles_ to the _Infanta_, or Princess, _Maria_ of Spain, the sister of _Philip IV_. As a part of his truckling to Spain, he caused _Sir Walter Raleigh_ to be executed. _Raleigh_, who had no love for Spain, had long been kept in the Tower on the charge of treason; but the king, who wanted gold, had permitted him to go on a voyage to South America to seek for it. There, without his fault, some of his men had a collision with the Spaniards, up the _Orinoco_. Not having procured any treasure, he was disposed to attack Spanish s.h.i.+ps; but the captains with him would not consent. On his return to England, he was again thrown into prison, and brought to the block. At length the marriage treaty with Spain, to the joy of the nation, was broken off. _Charles_, it was agreed, should marry _Henrietta Maria_, the sister of _Louis XIII._, the king of France. The king came to a better understanding with Parliament, which had constantly opposed his policy and withstood his arrogant a.s.sumption of absolute authority.

CHARLES I. (1625-1649).--_Charles I._ in dignity of person far excelled his father. He had more skill and more courage; but he had the same theory of arbitrary government, and acted as if insincerity and the breaking of promises were excusable in defense of it. His strife with Parliament began at once. They would not grant supplies of money without a redress of grievances and the removal of _Buckingham_, the king's favorite. War had begun with Spain before the close of the last reign. An expedition was now sent to Cadiz, but it accomplished nothing. Buckingham was impeached; but before the trial ended, the king dissolved Parliament. A year later he went to war with France. He was then obliged (1628) to grant to his third Parliament their _Pet.i.tion of Right_, which condemned his recent illegal doings,--arbitrary taxes and imprisonment, the billeting of soldiers on householders, proceedings of martial law. A few months later Buckingham was a.s.sa.s.sinated by one _John Felton_ at Portsmouth. Certain taxes called _tonnage_ and _poundage_, _Charles_ continued to levy by his own authority. A patriotic leader and a prominent speaker in the House of Commons was _Sir John Eliot_. The king dissolved Parliament (1629), and sent _Eliot_ and two other members of the House to prison. No other Parliament was summoned for eleven years. The king aimed to establish an absolute system of rule such as _Richelieu_ had built up in France. Two ministers were employed by him in furthering this policy. One was a layman, _Wentworth, Earl of Strafford_, who exercised almost unlimited power in the northern counties. The other was _William Laud_, Bishop of London and then Archbishop of Canterbury (1633), who undertook to force the Puritans to conform to all the observances of the Church. Two courts--the _High Commission_, before which the clergy were brought; and the _Star Chamber_, which was made up from the king's council--were the instruments for carrying out this tyranny. Grievous and shameful punishments were inflicted on the victims of it.

JOHN HAMPDEN.--There was need of a fleet. Charles, without asking any grant from Parliament, undertook to levy a tax called "s.h.i.+p-money" in every s.h.i.+re. _John Hampden_, a country gentleman, refused to pay it. The judges gave a verdict against him, but he won great applause from patriotic Englishmen.

BEGINNING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.--In 1637 Charles embarked in the foolish enterprise of endeavoring to force the English liturgy upon Scotland. This called out the _Solemn League and Covenant_ of the Scots for the defense of Presbyterianism. For eleven years the king had governed without a Parliament, but he needed money. The "Short Parliament" was a.s.sembled; but, as it refused to obey the king, it was quickly dissolved. The invasion of the Scots in 1640 made it necessary for Charles to a.s.semble that body known as the _Long Parliament_, one of the most memorable of all legislative a.s.semblies. _Strafford_ and _Laud_ were impeached. _Strafford_, by a bill of attainder pa.s.sed by both Houses, was condemned and executed (1641). It was enacted that the present Parliament should not be dissolved or prorogued without its own consent,--an act which Charles reluctantly sanctioned. The Star Chamber and High Commission Courts were abolished. A great Irish insurrection broke out in _Ulster_. It has already been related how _Henry VIII._ established in Ireland his ecclesiastical system; how, during _Elizabeth's_ reign, there was fierce and incessant war with the _Desmonds_, and other Anglo-Irish families, who resisted Protestantism; and how _James I._, robbing many Irish of their lands, planted in _Ulster_ numerous English and Scotch Protestant settlers. These were now ma.s.sacred in great numbers by the Irish, who almost succeeded in seizing _Dublin_. Parliament would not trust _Charles_ with an army to use in Ireland, fearing that the troops would be used by him to defend his arbitrary government at home. The king came to the House of Commons with a body of armed men, and made an abortive attempt to seize five members on the charge of resisting his authority, among whom were _John Hampden_, and _John Pym_, who was one of the most influential orators on the popular side. A bill was pa.s.sed excluding the bishops from the House of Lords, where a majority were for the king. To this Charles consented, but he refused to allow Parliament to control the militia.

The CIVIL WAR: SUCCESS OF CROMWELL.--In July, 1642, Parliament appointed a Committee of Public Safety, and called out the militia. Soon _Charles_ raised the royal standard at _Nottingham_. In the civil war, on one side were the Royalists, who were familiarly styled _cavaliers_ (that is, _hors.e.m.e.n_, or gentlemen), and on the other were the Parliamentarians, who were nicknamed _Roundheads_, for the reason that the Puritans did not follow the fas.h.i.+on of allowing their hair to fall in tresses on the shoulders.

_The Earl of Ess.e.x_, the Parliamentary general, fought an indecisive battle with the king at _Edgehill_. _Charles_ then made _Oxford_ his headquarters. Early in the war, two men of spotless character fell,--_Hampden_, on the popular side (1643), and _Lord Falkland_ (1643), who, not without hesitation, had joined the Royalists. The cavalry of Charles, under a gallant but rash leader, Prince _Rupert_, son of the _Electress Palatine_, and grandson of _James I_., was specially effective. _Charles_ made peace with the Irish insurgents in order to get their help in fighting Parliament. Parliament united with the Scots in the _Solemn League and Covenant_, by which there was to be uniformity in religion in England, Ireland, and Scotland.

PRESBYTERIANS AND INDEPENDENTS.--_Presbyterianism_ was now made the legal system; and about two thousand beneficed clergymen in England, who refused to subscribe to the Covenant, were deprived of their livings. The _Westminster a.s.sembly_ met in 1643, and organized a church system without bishops and without the liturgy. But Parliament did not give up its own supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs. There was no "General a.s.sembly" to rule the Church, as in Scotland. Another party, the _Independents_, were gaining strength, and by degrees getting control in the army. Of their number was _Oliver Cromwell_, a gentleman of Huntingdons.h.i.+re, who had been a member of the House of Commons, where he spoke for the first time in 1629.

CROMWELL: NASEBY.--By many of his adversaries, and by numerous writers since that day, _Cromwell_ has been considered a hypocrite in religion, actuated by personal ambition. The Puritan poet, _John Milton_, who became his secretary after he acquired supreme power, gives to him the warmest praise for integrity and piety, as well as for genius and valor. Of his religious earnestness after the Puritan type, and of his sincere patriotism, there is at present much less doubt. As to the transcendent ability and sagacity that lay beneath a rugged exterior, there has never been any question. He raised and trained a regiment of Puritan troops, called the "_Ironsides_,"

who were well-nigh invincible in battle, but whose camp was a "conventicle" for prayer and praise. With their help, the Royalists were defeated at _Marston Moor_ (1644). The army was now modeled anew by the Independents. The _Self-denying Ordinance_ excluded members of Parliament from military command. _Cromwell_ was made an exception. He came to the front, with no other general except _Fairfax_, who had replaced _Ess.e.x_, above him. _Laud_ was condemned for high treason by an ordinance of Parliament, and beheaded (1645). The Royalist army experienced a crus.h.i.+ng defeat at _Naseby_ in June of the same year.

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF CHARLES.--Charles surrendered to the army of the Scots before _Newark_ (1646); and by them he was delivered for a ransom, in the form of an indemnity for war expenses, to their English allies. The king hoped much from the growing discord between the _Presbyterians_, who favored an accommodation with him if they could preserve their ecclesiastical system; and the _Independents_, who controlled the army, and were in favor of toleration, and of obtaining more guaranties of liberty against regal usurpation. In June, 1647, the army took the king out of the hands of Parliament, into their own custody. He negotiated with all parties, and was trusted by none. In 1648 he agreed, in a secret treaty with the Scots, to restore Presbyterianism. There were Royalist risings in different parts of England, which _Cromwell_ suppressed. He defeated at _Preston Pans_ a Scotch army, led into England by the _Duke of Hamilton_ to help Charles. _Cromwell's_ army were now determined to baffle the plans of the Parliamentary majority. _Col. Pride_, with a regiment of foot, excluded from the House of Commons about a hundred members. This measure, dictated by a council of officers, was called _Pride's Purge_. The Commons closed the House of Lords, and const.i.tuted a _High Court of Justice_ for the trial of the king. He refused to acknowledge the tribunal, and behaved with calmness and dignity to the end. He was condemned, and beheaded on a scaffold before his own palace at _Whitehall_, Jan. 30, 1649. By one party he was execrated as a tyrant, whose life was a constant danger to freedom. By the other party he was revered as a martyr. His two eldest sons were _Charles_, born in 1630, and _James_, born in 1633.

THE COMMONWEALTH.--The monarchy was now abolished; and England was a free commonwealth, governed by the House of Commons. A council of state, under the presidency of _Bradshaw_, who had presided at the trial of the king, was appointed to carry on the government. In Ireland, a rebellion in behalf of young Charles, son of the late king, was organized by _Butler, Marquis of Ormond_ (1649). In nine months _Cromwell_ subdued it, treating the insurgents with unsparing severity. There was a savage ma.s.sacre of the garrisons at _Drogheda_ and _Wexford_. The ma.s.sacre at _Drogheda_ was by his orders. Soldiers of Parliament were settled in _Munster_, _Leinster_, and _Ulster_. The country was reduced to complete subjection. In 1650 _Charles_ landed in Scotland, subscribed to the Covenant, and was proclaimed king. Cromwell fought the Scots at _Dunbar_, and totally routed them. Returning to England, he overtook _Charles_ and his army at _Worcester_, and defeated them (1651). Cromwell called this victory "a crowning mercy." _Charles_ escaped in disguise, and, after strange perils and adventures, landed in Normandy.

WAR WITH HOLLAND.--England, under its new government, engaged in a contest for dominion on the sea. The new order of things, contrary to the expectation of _Cromwell_, was regarded with hostility in _Holland_, where the _Orange_ family were in power. In 1651 the English _Navigation Act_, requiring all goods from abroad to be brought in, either in English s.h.i.+ps, or in s.h.i.+ps of the countries on the Continent in which the imported wares were produced, struck a heavy blow at Dutch commerce. War followed, in which the great Dutch admirals, _Van Tromp_, _De Ruyter_, _De Witt_, found more than a match in the English commander, _Blake_. The terms of peace were dictated by _Cromwell_, and Holland had to attach itself to his policy (1654).

THE LORD PROTECTOR.--There was a growing discord between the unworthy remnant of the Parliament--now called the "Rump Parliament"--and the army. In 1653 _Cromwell_ used his military force to dissolve the a.s.sembly. By the "Little Parliament" which he called together, he was const.i.tuted _Lord Protector_, with a _Council of State_ composed of twenty-five members. Later he declined the t.i.tle of king, out of respect to the feelings and prejudices of his party. But he reigned in state, and exercised regal functions. His attempts to restore the old forms of parliamentary government, in an orderly form, with two houses, were baffled by difficulties beyond control. He insisted on a large degree of toleration, so long as "religion was not made a pretense for arms and blood."

CROMWELL'S GOVERNMENT.--Under the Protector, England once more took the proud and commanding place in Europe which she had not held since the death of _Elizabeth_. _Cromwell_ made his power to be everywhere respected. _Blake_ chastised the pirates of the Barbary States, and punished the Duke of Tuscany for attacks on English commerce. In 1655 _Jamaica_ was wrested from _Spain_; and, two years after, _Blake_ burned the Spanish treasure-s.h.i.+ps in the harbor of _Santa Cruz_, in Teneriffe. _Cromwell_ efficiently protected the adherents of the Protestant faith in _Piedmont_, and wherever they were subjected to persecution. In the last year of his life, in conjunction with the French, he took _Dunkirk_ from the Spaniards.

POWER OF CROMWELL.--Cromwell's power was not diminished in his closing years. _Macaulay_, who p.r.o.nounces him the greatest prince that ever ruled England, says of him, "It is certain that he was to the last honored by his soldiers, obeyed by the whole population of the British Isles, and dreaded by all foreign powers; that he was laid among the ancient sovereigns of England with funeral pomp such as England had never before seen; and that he was succeeded by his son, Richard as quietly as any king had ever been succeeded by any Prince of Wales." (1658).

The talents of Cromwell, and the vigor of his administration, deeply impressed those who heartily disliked him. A strong ill.u.s.tration of this fact is presented in the character of the Protector as depicted by _Lord Clarendon_, in the _History of the Great Rebellion_; and by the poet _Cowley_ in his essay or _Discourse_.

CHAPTER X. COLONIZATION IN AMERICA: ASIATIC NATIONS; CULTURE AND LITERATURE (1517-1648).

COLONIZATION IN AMERICA.

The European nations kept up their religious and political rivals.h.i.+p in exploring and colonizing the New World.

FRENCH EXPLORERS.--The French and English sent their fishermen to the coasts of _Newfoundland_ and _Nova Scotia_. French fishermen from _Breton_ gave its name to _Cape Breton_. _Francis I._ sent out _Verrazano_, an Italian sailor, who is thought to have cruised along the coast of North America from Cape Fear northward (1524). Later, _Jacques Cartier_ explored the _St. Lawrence_ as far as the site of _Montreal_ (1535); other expeditions followed, and thus was founded the claim of the French to that region.

SPANISH EXPLORERS.--The Spaniards brought negroes from the coast of Africa to the West Indies, to take the place of the Indians; and thus the _slave-trade_ and _negro slavery_ were established. They gave the name of _Florida_ to a vast region stretching from the Atlantic to Mexico, and from the Gulf of Mexico to an undefined limit in the North. From _Tampa Bay_, in what we now call _Florida_, they sent into this unexplored region an expedition under _Narvaez_ (1528); and afterwards, on the same track, another party led by _Hernando de Soto_ (1539), which made its way to the _Mississippi_ near the present site of _Vicksburg_. Tempted by tales of rich cities, _Coronado_ led an army to the conquest of the pueblos of the south-west. He penetrated as far as the boundary of the present Nebraska.

CONTEST IN FLORIDA.--The great Huguenot leader, _Coligny_, made three attempts to found Huguenot settlements in America. He wanted to provide for them an asylum, and to extend the power of France. One company went to _Brazil_, and failed; a second perished at _Port Royal_ in _Florida_; a third (1564) built _Fort Caroline_ on the sh.o.r.es of the _St. John_. This last company was mercilessly slaughtered by _Menendez_, the leader of a Spanish expedition which founded _St. Augustine_ (1565), the oldest town in the United States. The act was avenged by the ma.s.sacre of the Spanish settlers at _Fort Caroline_, by _Dominique de Gourgues_ and the French company that came over with him.

ENGLISH VOYAGES.--The English, full of zeal for maritime discovery, tried to find a north-west pa.s.sage to Asia. This was attempted by _Martin Frobisher_, a sea-captain, from whom _Frobisher's Strait_ takes its name. After him followed _John Davis_, who gave his name also to a strait. As the English grew stronger and bolder on the water, they ceased to avoid a contest with Spain. In 1577 _Sir Francis Drake_ set out from the harbor of _Plymouth_ on his voyage around the globe. The defeat of the Spanish Armada occurred in 1588; and after that the English felt themselves to be stronger than their old adversary.

GILBERT AND RALEIGH.--_Sir Humphrey Gilbert_, in 1583, took possession of _Newfoundland_ in the name of the queen of England.

_Walter Raleigh_, his half-brother, on his voyage in 1584, visited _Roanoke Island_, and named the whole country between the French and the Spanish possessions, _Virginia_, in honor of "the Virgin Queen," _Elizabeth_. A colony which he sent out to _Roanoke_ (1585) failed, and a second settlement had no better result. _Bartholomew Gosnold_ landed on _Cape Cod_, and cruised along the neighboring coast (1602).

THE FRENCH IN CANADA.--In 1603 _Champlain_, a French gentleman, sailed to _Canada_, whither the fur-trade enticed explorers. A few years later he founded _Quebec_ (1608), and explored the country as far as _Lake Huron_. The Jesuit missionaries commenced their efforts to convert the Indian tribes, in which they evinced an almost unparalleled fort.i.tude and perseverance. The _Huron_ and _Algonquin_ Indians helped _Champlain_ gain a victory over the hostile and warlike _Iroquois_, who afterwards hated the French. The French occupants of the country of the _St. Lawrence_ devoted themselves too exclusively to trading, and too little to the tilling of the ground and to the forming of a community.

THE DUTCH SETTLEMENTS.--The Dutch were as eager as the other maritime powers to find a pa.s.sage to India. In 1609 an English captain in their service, _Henry Hudson_, balked in this endeavor, sailed up the river now called by his name. The next year, being in the service of an English company, he discovered _Hudson's Bay_. _Amsterdam_ traders established themselves on the island of _Manhattan_ (an Indian name); which led to the formation of the New Netherlands Company, by whom a fort (_Orange_) was built at the place afterwards called _Albany_ (1615). The West India Company followed (1621), with authority over _New Netherlands_, as the country was called. The powerful land-owners were styled _patroons_. Their territory reached to Delaware Bay; and they had a trading-post on the Connecticut, on the site of the present city of Hartford.

In 1637 the Swedes made a settlement at the mouth of the Delaware River, but in 1655 they were subdued by the Dutch.

SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA.--The _Virginia Company_, divided into two branches,--the _London Company_, having control in the South, and the _Plymouth Company_, having control in the North,--received its patent of privileges from _James I_. (1606). A settlement by the _Plymouth Company_ on the _Kennebec River_ (1607)--the _Popham Colony_--was given up. In 1607 _Jamestown_ in Virginia, as the name _Virginia_ is now applied, was settled. A majority of the first colonists were gentlemen not wonted to labor. The military leader was Capt. _John Smith_, whose life, according to his own account, was spared by _Powhatan_, an Indian chief. Powhatan's daughter _Pocahontas_ married _Rolfe_, an Englishman. The Jamestown colony seemed likely to become extinct, when, in 1610, _Lord Delaware_ arrived with fresh supplies and colonists. He was the first of a series of governors who ruled with almost unlimited authority. But the colony grew to be more independent, and in sympathy with the popular party in England. In 1619 the _House of Burgesses_ first met, which brought in government by the people.

At this time _negroes_ began to be imported from Africa, and sold as slaves.

THE PILGRIM SETTLEMENT.--The first permanent settlement in _New England_ was made at _Plymouth_ in 1620, by a company of English Christians, who landed from the "Mayflower." They were Puritans of that cla.s.s called "Independents," who had separated from the English Church, and did not believe in any national church organization. The emigrants left _Leyden_, in Holland, where they had lived for some time in exile, and where the remainder of their congregation remained under the guidance of a learned and able pastor, _John Robinson_. In the harbor of _Provincetown_, they agreed to a compact of government. Their civil polity was republican; their church polity was _Congregational_. They endured with heroic and pious fort.i.tude the severities of the first winter, when half of their number died. Their military leader was Capt. _Miles Standish_. In their dealings with the Indians, they were equally just and brave.

SETTLEMENT OF Ma.s.sACHUSETTS.--Somewhat different in its origin and character from the "Pilgrim" settlement at _Plymouth_, was the other Puritan settlement of _Ma.s.sachusetts_. The emigrants to Ma.s.sachusetts were not separatists from the Church of England, but more conservative Puritans who desired, however, many ecclesiastical changes which they could not obtain at home. Both cla.s.ses of settlers, transferred to _New England_, found no difficulty in agreeing in religious matters; for when left free, they desired about the same things. But at _Plymouth_ there was more toleration for religious dissent than in the later colony. In 1629 certain London merchants formed a corporation called "the Governor and Company of the Ma.s.sachusetts Bay in New England," and received a charter directly from _Charles I_. They sent out _John Endicott_ to be governor of a settlement already formed at _Salem_. _Charles_ had dissolved Parliament, and was beginning the experiment of absolutism. The new company was strengthened by the accession of a large number of Puritan gentlemen who were anxious to emigrate. They resolved to transfer the company and its government to the sh.o.r.es of America. _John Winthrop_ was chosen governor, and in 1630 landed at _Charlestown_ with a large body of settlers. _Winthrop_ and his a.s.sociates soon removed to the peninsula of _Boston_. The new colony was well provided with artisans. Soon s.h.i.+ps began to be built. In 1636 a college, named in 1639, in honor of a benefactor, _Harvard_, was founded at _Cambridge_. At first all the voters met together to choose their rulers and frame their laws. As the towns increased in number, a _General Court_, or legislative a.s.sembly, was established by the colony, in which each town was represented. Each town had its church, and only church-members voted. The _General Court_ superintended the affairs of both town and church. The political troubles in England stimulated emigration. Within ten years, about twenty thousand Englishmen, mainly Puritans, crossed the Atlantic, and took up their abode in New England. In the ecclesiastical system each church was self-governing, except as the _General Court_ was over all. There were no bishops, and the liturgy was dispensed with in wors.h.i.+p.

SETTLEMENT OF CONNECTICUT.--After the Dutch had built a trading-post on the site of _Hartford_, people from _Plymouth_ formed a settlement at _Windsor_, on the Connecticut, six miles above. From _Boston_ and its neighborhood, there was a migration which settled _Hartford_. In 1637 the three towns of _Windsor_, _Wethersfield_, and _Hartford_ became the distinct colony of _Connecticut_. A colony led by the younger _John Winthrop_, under a patent given to _Lord Say and Sele_ and _Lord Brook_, drove away the Dutch from the mouth of the Connecticut, and settled _Saybrook_ (1635). This colony was afterwards united with the Connecticut colony. A third colony was established at _New Haven_ (1638), which had an independent existence until 1662.

SETTLEMENT OF RHODE ISLAND, OF NEW HAMPs.h.i.+RE, AND OF MAINE.--_Roger Williams_, a minister who was not allowed to live in _Ma.s.sachusetts_, on account of his differences with the magistrates, was the founder of _Rhode Island_ (1636). He held that the State should leave matters of religious opinion and wors.h.i.+p to the conscience of the individual, and confine government to secular concerns. This was not the view of the Puritans generally; and the incoming of dissenters from their religious and political system made them afraid that the colony would be broken up, or fall into disorder. _Williams_, in most of his qualities a n.o.ble man, obtained a patent for his government, which was framed in accordance with his liberal ideas. On lands granted by the Plymouth Company to _Sir Ferdinando Gorges_, settlements were made in _New Hamps.h.i.+re_ and in _Maine_ (1623). A line between the two was drawn in 1631; _Gorges_ taking the territory on the east of the _Piscataqua River_, and Capt. _John Mason_ taking the remainder.

VIRGINIA.--After 1624 the king appointed the governor in Virginia, which, however, had its own a.s.sembly. The colony grew rapidly, its chief export being tobacco. The people lived on their estates or plantations, employing indented servants and negro slaves.

MARYLAND.--Maryland was founded by George Calvert, _Lord Baltimore_, a Roman Catholic, to whom _Charles I._ granted a charter (1632). The first settlement was made by Calvert's sons, after his death. They planted a colony near the mouth of the Potomac. The _Calverts_ sent out both Puritans and Roman Catholics, and secured the safety of the adherents of their own faith by the grant of toleration to the Protestants. Under _Cromwell_, a Puritan governor was appointed by _Lord Baltimore_ (1649). There were boundary disputes with Virginia; and _Clayborne_, a Puritan and a Virginian, at one time got control of the government, which the _Calverts_ regained under _Charles II._ (1660).

NEW ENGLAND: NEW YORK.--During the war between king and Parliament in England, the Puritan colonies were in sympathy with the popular party, but were cautious in their avowals. They took great pains to prevent the king, and later the Parliament under the Commonwealth, from taking away their self-government. The English navigation acts, which forbade them to use foreign s.h.i.+ps for their trade and forced them to send nearly all their products to English ports, were a grievance to them. The rivalries of _the English_ and _the Dutch_ gave the colonists a chance to expel _the Dutch_ from _Connecticut_. _Charles II._ at length conquered _New Netherland_, and ceded this territory to his brother, the Duke of York, afterwards James II. _New Amsterdam_ became _New York_, and _Fort Orange_ became _Albany_. In 1674 the country was formally ceded to England by Holland.

THE INDIANS.--When America was discovered, _Mexico_, _Central America_, and _Peru_ were empires, to a considerable degree civilized. Relics taken from the mounds of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys indicate, also, that races somewhat advanced in culture had once dwelt in those regions. The most of both continents was inhabited by very numerous tribes of _Indians_, who were savages, with the ordinary virtues and vices of savage life. They were brave and patient, but indolent, treacherous, and implacable. There was an immense variety of dialects among them, yet there are traces of a common original unity of language. The tribes had no fixed boundaries, but roamed over extensive hunting-grounds. The _Iroquois_, or the Six Nations, occupied central New York from the Hudson to the Genesee. The _Algonquins_ were spread over nearly all the rest of the country on the east of the _Mississippi River_, and north of _North Carolina_. The _Creeks_, _Choctaws_, and _Chickasaws_ were in the South.

THE WHITES AND THE RED MEN.--It was fortunate for the settlers of New England, that, before their arrival, the Indians had been much reduced in numbers by pestilence. Sometimes they were treated wisely and humanely, and efforts were made by n.o.ble men like _John Eliot_ (1604-1690), who has been called "the Apostle to the Indians," to teach and civilize them. But this spirit was not always shown by the whites, and wrongs done by an individual are avenged by savages upon his race. The first important conflict between the English and the Indians was the _Pequot War_ (1636), when the English, helped by the _Narragansetts_, who were under the influence of _Roger Williams_, crushed the _Pequots_, who were a dangerous tribe. A league between the New-England colonies, for mutual counsel and aid, followed (1643). Into this league, _Ma.s.sachusetts_ would not allow _Rhode Island_, whose const.i.tution was disliked, to be admitted. There were to be two commissioners to represent each colony in common meetings.

SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE.

ASTRONOMY.--In this period wonderful progress was made in astronomy.

_Copernicus_, a German or Polish priest (1473-1543), detected the error of the Ptolemaic system, which made not the sun, but the earth, the center of the solar system. Thus a revolution was made in that science. _Tycho Brahe_, a Danish astronomer (1546-1601), was a most accurate and indefatigable observer, although he did not adopt the Copernican theory. His pupil _Kepler_ (1571-1630) discovered those great principles respecting the orbits and motions of the planets, which are called the "Laws of Kepler." _Galileo_ (1564-1642), the Italian scientist, in addition to important discoveries in mechanics, with the telescopes, which his ingenuity had constructed, discerned the moons of Jupiter, and made other striking discoveries in the heavens. In promulgating the Copernican doctrine, he incurred the displeasure of ecclesiastics, and was driven by the Inquisition to renounce his opinion. It was reserved for _Sir Isaac Newton_ (1643-1727) to discover the law of gravitation.

JURISPRUDENCE.--In jurisprudence, the Roman law was more and more studied in universities. In political science, _Bodin_, a learned Frenchman (1530-1596), wrote a work on the State, advocating a strong monarchy. In the Netherlands, _Hugo Grotius_ (1583-1645), a great jurist and scholar, was one of the princ.i.p.al founders of the science of _International Law_. An eminent expounder of natural and international law in Germany was _Pufendorf_ (1632-1694).

HISTORICAL WRITINGS.--In history, _Sleidan_, a German (1506-1556), and later a learned statesman, _Seckendorf_ (1626-1692), wrote histories of the Reformation. _De Thou_, a Frenchman (1553-1617), wrote a valuable history of his own times. _Grotius_ described the war for independence in the Netherlands. Church history, on the Protestant side, was written by a company of authors called the _Magdeburg Centuriators_; and on the Catholic side, in the Annals of _Baronius_ (who died in 1607). In the Tower of London, _Sir Walter Raleigh_ employed himself in writing a History of the World, remarkable, if not for its researches, for pa.s.sages of n.o.ble eloquence. In Italy, historians followed in the path opened by _Machiavelli_, through his _Discourses on Livy_ and his _Florentine History_. _Davila_ (1576-1631) composed a narrative of the Civil Wars in France, and the Cardinal _Bentivoglio_ wrote the history of the Civil War in the Netherlands. _Sarpi_, a keen Venetian, of much independence of thought, related the history of the Council of Trent, which was followed by a history of the same Council by the more orthodox _Pallavicini_. In Spain, there was at least one historian of superior value, _Mariana_, who composed a history of his own country.