YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY NEW ENGLAND 1620 — 1789 BY WILLIAM B. WEEDEN IN TWO VOLUMES Vol. II. *jfr ." '1 .J.. 1 ¦¦ . , Sir ;aWZ&ffiB&mMt* OftWfti Jf'i'/Sy.\-*;V "a g^H|^^a »ii£iWlfllyS iw&MlS^- llfilMlpSllfe WljSMiklsiSS^ M ^amwt$Mg BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY (SJe JRiuerjsiOe Wks?, CamfcriDoe 1891 Copyright, 1890, By WILLIAM B. WEEDEN". All rights reserved. The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. The African Slave-Trade, 1708-1764. PAGB The change in estimating slavery 449 Slavery in New England 450 Business of the Royal African Company . ... . 451 Massachusetts in the trade 452 Rhode Island incorporates it with distilling . . . 453, 454 Early activity in Newport ... .... 454 Boston political economy applied to slavery .... 456 New York, in Governor Hunter's report 457 CONDUCT OF THE IMPORTATION. Character of the vessels, crews, and cargoes .... 458 Preponderating demand for rum 459, 460 Detail of voyage ; insurance 460, 461 The horoscop'e 461 Order and disorder in the trade 462, 463 Privileges for trade given the officers 463 A master in the art of watering rum ..... 464 PETER FANEUIL IN THE TRADE. Faneuil's training and excellent position .... 466 His slaving venture in the Jolly Bachelor .... 467, 468 Adventures of this craft on the Guinea coast .... 468 Sale of the slaves in Newport after Faneuil's death . . 471 Iron bars for currency ........ 471 How the eighteenth century went wrong .... 472 CHAPTER XIII. The Period of Inflation, 1713-1745. The values of silver 473 Silver in Rhode Island 474 iv CONTENTS. Depreciation ; legal tender ...... 475, 476 Three parties in Massachusetts finance ..... 476 Experience of New York 477, 478 Troubles of Massachusetts 478-481 " Banks " issued in Rhode Island 481, 482 Downward course of paper, rise in silver . . . 483, 484 Effect on shipbuilding 484 More currency still needs more 485 Land Bank and its effects 486-488 Old and New Tenor 488 Conflicting currencies and their parties .... 489, 490 Parliament stops the Land Bank 490 The finances are exhausted ...... 491 NEW ENGLAND INDUSTRIES. Their essential creative force 492 Agriculture and prices of land 492, 493 Woven fabrics ; Irish linens in New Hampshire . . 493-495 Hemp and duck 495, 496 Articles of iron 497-499 Casting furnaces ; mining ; exports of iron .... 500 Great importance of the distilling of rum . . . 501, 502 Decline of lumbering ; potash ....... 503 Sundry industries ........ 504, 505 Land, prices, and speculations 506 Wheat ; Indian trade 507 EASIER TRAVEL AND GENERAL COMFORT. Carriages, both private and for public use .... 508 The pillion yielding to chaise and chair .... 509 Improved roads and the first express .... 509, 510 Travel by the shore Hne to New York .... 510, 511 The ways of a pioneer ........ 511 Contrast of our life with that of Canada .... 512 THE COMMUNITY AND ITS ADMINISTRATION. Organisation of new ones ...... 512 513 New towns and proprietary meetings ..... 514 Peculiar ecclesiastical customs in New Hampshire . . 515 516 Rev. Hugh Adams ; the parson in politics . . . 516-518 Close supervision of citizens ......_ 513 Indentured and other immigration .... 520-522 CONTENTS. v Administration of the commons ..... 522 523 Public markets; Faneuil Hall ...... 524 The freeman and municipal control 525, 526 Municipal eccentricities ...... 527 528 SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. The sittings in the meeting-house 528-530 "Colonial" architecture; finer dwellings . . . 531,532 More luxury in living 532 Dress, including wigs 533-536 Ladies' dress and hoops 536, 537 Marriage in a shift 538 Tea and other drinks 539 The market and the table 540,"541 Sordid negotiations in courtship 542 Position of woman ....... 543, 544 Poetry and literature 545, 546 Berkeley's coming and his influence 547 A typical town of the time 548 Punctilious manners stand for morals ..... 549 Our country the parallel of its period 550 CHAPTER XIV. Commerce after the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713-1745. Material interests begin to affect European politics . . 552 Great Britain rules the seas ; effect in the colonies . . 552, 553 English capital comes over 553, 554 Spread-of commerce in larger vessels ..... 555 Navigation Acts and the customary smuggling . \ 556-558 Sir Robert Walpole's indifference ...... 558 outlawed piracy. One consequence of the Peace of Utrecht .... 559 Occasional complicity of colonial officials ..... 560 Ideal of the pirates 561 Aristocracy and democracy in governing the crew . . . 562 Misson, the hero ; Blackbeard, the ruffian . . . 563, 564 Decline of successful piracy ....... 565 THE MERCHANT AMORY. Thomas Amory settles in Boston ...... 565 Schooled by Busby ; first experience in the Azores . . 566, 567 vi CONTENTS. His business at Terceira and in Europe .... 568, 569 Business in Boston Domestic life in Boston 570> °J1 His methods of business 571> 572 CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF VESSELS. Invention of the schooner 5'^ English capital helps shipbuilding 574 Prices, size of vessels 575> 676 Life of seamen Transfer of mast industry to Maine .... 578, 579 Number of vessels in service °79 Great changes from Hull's religious sailing directions . . 580 Agency of captains, or of local correspondents .... 581 GENERAL COMMERCE. Timber next export to fish and vessels ; Irish imports . . 582 Growth of Newport ; working of Molasses Act . . . 583, 584 Complicated courses of West Indian voyages . . 584, 585 Naval stores ; marine insurance ..... 586, 587 Domestic trade in Boston ...... 588, 589 Coasting intercourse and British interference . . . 590-592 Connecticut attempts to regulate exports .... 593 Trade cannot be controlled artificially 594 ECONOMY OF THE FISHERIES. The cod greater than Louis XIV 594, 595 Changes to northerly fishing grounds 596 Mackerel, herring, salmon ....... 596 Shad ; system of eighteenth century could hardly use fresh . fish 597 Cured fish a necessity ; importance of salt . . . 597, 598 PRIVATEERING. Its relation to the general trade of this period .... 598 Greatly practised in Rhode Island 599 Admiral Sir Charles Wager once a lad on a privateer . . 600 Reasons for the success of Rhode Island privateers . . 601 Value of prizes ......... 602 003 These comets of the seas reveal strange stories . . 604 605 Judge Auchmuty aud the very peculiar Mr. Lockhart . . 606 CONTENTS. vii CHAPTER XV. Peter Faneuil and the Last Generation of Dependent Col onists, 1725-1742. A new generation is to come after Louisburg .... 607 Faneuil is of mixed descent; his ancestry 608 commercial methods. Faneuil's accounts and commission business . . . 609 Cargoes and voyages 610 How the law oppresses the ''faire trader" .... 611 Dealings in contraband goods 612 ships, fish, and foreign trade. Contracts for building ships 613 Best fishing is found eastward at Canso .... 614 Canso prevails over Marblehead 615 Verplanck and the New York connection .... 615 Hypothecated vessel and a " bottom bill " . . . . 616 London the centre of all the commerce . . . . 617 Lads from Christ Hospital School needed ; English invest ments 618 Good correspondents at Barcelona ...... 619 A way to avoid paying duties 620 Codfish, pepper, snuff-boxes, forks, cook-books . . 621, 622 His fiery honor ......... 623 social life of the faneuils. Affections of the heart 624 A maiden shipped, who will not go .... 624, 625 Contentment of single blessedness ..... 626 Buying negro servants and shipping brandy. . . . 627 Personal ventures on shipboard 628 Many and various wants 629 The prevalent loyalty illustrated in The Dolphin case . 630, 631 Fine horses and coachman 632 Details of business 633 Summary of Peter's character ...... 634 An illustration of public morals and perfunctory loyalty . . 635 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. Commerce from Louisburg to Quebec, 1745-1759. New commercial era in Europe °°' The episode of New England 637 Her first great external effort made at Louisburg . . • 638 The expedition and the general 639,640 commerce of the period. The great production of rum is at its height . . . 641, 642 Edward Payne a typical man of business .... 642, 643 Whenever England extends trade it helps ours . 643, 644 The French War and Pitt's embargoes ; Irish trade . . 645,646 Light-house fees ; other fees and excise .... 647 Underwriting ; coasting ... .... 648 RUM, FISHERIES, SHIPS. Waste through production of rum causes decline in fisher ies and shipbuilding ........ 649 State of the fisheries ; classification of vessels .... 650 Cooperation of many industries in shipbuilding . . . 651 Character of the shipmasters ....... 652 Furs and the trade with Indians 653 The whale fishery ; manufacture of sperm candles . . 654, 655 privateering and illegal trade. Privateering of the Spanish and French wars . . . 655 Success causes the business to be extended .... 656 Harsh justice on shore, tricky management at sea . . 657 Commerce of Providence ....... 658 Course of the illegal traffic 659, 660 Greed for profits of trade stronger than restraining laws . 660, 661 Rhode Island openly evades Navigation and Sugar Acts 662, 663 The fall of Quebec ; English race overcomes the French . 663, 664 Indications of our own future ...... 665 CHAPTER XVII. The Last Period of Colonial Dependence, 1745-1762. The conflict in America was inevitable ..... 665 - Economic growth and the new opportunities for leaders 667 668 Insular arrogance could not appreciate the colonies . . 668 669 CONTENTS. ix The colonial system required absolutely good government . 670 Agitation commences ; Writs of Assistance .... 671 Action of the towns ; general municipal government . 672, 673 CURRENCY, MANUFACTURES, AGRICULTURE. The currency in Massachusetts 674-676 Rhode Island has a hard experience ...... 677 Rates of silver and gold 677, 678 Manufactures ; the " spinning craze " .... 679,680 Linen ; leather and sboemaking ..... 681, 682 Iron and its manufacture ; Hugh Orr .... 683-685 Lumber ; various enterprises 686 Agriculture ; Jared Eliot's great enterprise and influence . 687-689 Hay, wheat, horses ....... 689-691 social life. Lotteries 692 Roads and the means of travel 693 Manners and dress 694, 695 Indentured servants ; amusements and wit . . . 696, 697 Religion as expressed in customs 698 Seating the congregation ; education 699 JONATHAN EDWARDS, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Their conjunction in our social development .... 700 Genius of Edwards 701, 702 His preaching 702,703 Mystic view of common events ...... 704 His published work ; conception of nature .... 705 An indirect political influence ...... 706 Franklin's greatness in affairs 706, 707 Poor Richard's Almanac, a remarkable literary engine . 708, 709 His work as a citizen 710 Honesty ; essential mastery over himself . . . 711, 712 The last days of colonial prosperity 713 CHAPTER XVIII. The Stamp Act and Rebellion, 1763-1775. The power of liberty 714 Political development of England, unequal to her colonial task 715 Grenville's virtues not of the kind wanted .... 716 x CONTENTS. He determines to stop smuggling ; the Stamp Act . . 717, 718 Economic resistance precedes non-allegiance . . . 718, 719 Repeal ; the Declaratory Act is even worse .... 720 English polity; the two ideals, of Grenville, of Chatham 721, 722 Economic restrictions ; evasion and resistance inevitable 723, 724 rebellion. The exact date is uncertain ....... 724 Agitation and committees of correspondence . r 724, 725 The Boston " Tea-party " 726 Her punishment and splendid silent resistance . . 727, 728 Social conditions of industry and trade preceded political revolution 728, 729 the community, industries, manners. Town government 729, 730 Manufactures in woollen and worsted .... 731-733 Iron and other industries ...... 734, 735 Agriculture 735, 736 The currency 736, 737 Land travel .......... 738 Manners ; courtship ; funerals ..... 739 740 Social gatherings ; reading ...... 741 742 Dress and the fashions ....... 712 711 Women sustain the rebellion 744 CHAPTER XIX. The Last Colonial Commerce, 1760-1775. Illicit trade of the French War 745 Opportunity for the whale fishery after Quebec . . .746 It is extended by New England enterprise . . . 747 748 Codfish and the methods of fishing .... 749-751 Mackerel fishing ...... 750 SUGAR ACTS AND WEST INDIAN TRADE. The Sugar Act threatens whole economy of New England . 753 Bernard's wise counsel concerning taxation . . 753 754 The true source of British gain ... ' j« Course of Rhode Island commerce . . ircro Connecticut intercourse with the West Indies . . 757 758 CONTENTS. xi navigation acts, sugar acts, rebellion. Grenville's restraining measures ..... 758 Their immediate effect upon colonial prosperity . . 759 76O Coasting trade and British interference .... 760 761 Sullen opposition to enforcement of the laws . . . 762 The slave-trade 703 Freedom at last overcomes the unnatural traffic ; Indian trade 764 Shipbuilding ; vessels transported on land .... 765 Monster teams and the masts 765 766 New Hampshire shipyards ; ocean timber rafts . . 766, 767 Political gain ; commercial loss by the approaching contest . 767 CHAPTER XX. Revolutionary Commerce, 1775-1783. the privateers and elias hasket derby. Changes in trade made by the war ..... 769 Privateering becomes the chief interest 770 The various ports engage in it . . . . . 771 772 The commerce of privateering 773-775 The settlement of the ventures ...... 775 Derby's early life ; improves shipbuilding .... 776 His sagacity in affairs ........ 777 Privateersmen and whalemen should not be forgotten . . 778 ORDINARY COMMERCE. Our self-sustaining people live by home industries . . 779 Expedients in commerce for the time ..... 780 Management of West Indian trade 781 Underwriting increases in importance 782 Coasting ; unfriendly state legislation ..... 783 1 The royal masts are debarred from shipment . . . 783, 784 Royalty and the republic 785 ,,- CHAPTER XXI. The Greater Community Forming itself into the United States of America, 1775-1783. Town, community, and nation ....... 786 New allegiance of the colonial citizen .... 787, 788 xii CONTENTS. MANUFACTURES. 789 Linen and woollen fabrics .....•• ' Values of textile and other articles 79° Wool-cards „„„ T , . . 792,793 Iron, firearms ' 794 Substitutes for sugar e r Articles of supply for the troops 79S> 796 CURRENCY AND FINANCE. Bad fiscal arrangements, forced circulation of paper . 797, 798 Depreciation, and regulating acts . . • • • 799 Sufferings of the Loyalists ; banishment and confiscation . 800-802 " Extortion " Acts ; derangement of prices .... 803 SOCIAL EXPERIENCE. Houses and the life in them 804 Characteristics of our people ; their ingenuity . . 805, 806 Hazard, the Quaker blacksmith 807 Meeting with Jemima the miracle-worker .... 808 The blacksmith's daily life 809 His books and reading ........ 810 The Revolution in remote and quiet districts . . . .811 Block Island boats and their cargoes .... 812, 813 Masculine wants and feminine privations .... 813, 814 Great burden of government after the war . . . 814, 815 CHAPTER XXII. The Commerce of the Confederation, 1783-1789. Narrow political management by Eugland . . . 816, 817 The effect on American commerce ..... 818 Over-trading .......... 819 ORIENTAL COMMERCE AND THE GREAT MERCHANTS. Oriental trade begins ........ 820 Large men developed during the war ..... 821 Derby, Perkins, and others ...... 822 823 Difficulties overcome by energy of the shipmasters . . . 824 Elaborate preparation for Oriental voyages .... 825 Commerce begun to northwestern America .... 826 Mauritius and the French ..... 826 827 West Indian trade m g28 CONTENTS. xrn THE WHALE FISHERY : THE SLAVE-TRADE. The whale fishery revived 828, 829 The Pacific fisheries ; the " lay " division of voyages . 830, 831 Cod fishing 832 Larger ships used in commerce ; masts .... 833 Slavery abolished ; the slave-trade 834 Illicit traffic was prosecuted 835, 836 Deranged business and poor commerce 837 Navigation Acts and tariff 838, 839 An established Union establishes commerce .... 839 CHAPTER XXIII. The Confederation seeking Unity in the Republic, 1783-1789. Slow and painful development of the Union . . . 840 Parts contributed by New England to the political whole . 841 ECONOMIC CONFUSION. Convention to regulate commerce at Annapolis . . . 842 Economic derangement ; taxation is resisted . . . 843 Shays' rebellion reveals disease in the body politic . . . 844 The currency 845 Credit in disorder ; bad financial methods . . . 846, 847 MANUFACTURES. Division of labor ; progress jn/New England . . . 848 Cotton spinning ; Samuel Slater, Moses Brown . . . 849 Minor inventions . . ., . ¦ • • • 850 Cotton, duck, and canvas 851 Machine-made cards are introduced 852 Woollen factories and worsted ...... 853, 854 Eighteenth century stimulates manufacture .... 854 Household industries ; iron and nails .... 855, 856 SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. Stages and packets ; difficult travel 857, 858 Distinctions of classes ; dress 858, 859 Great opportunity for the family ..... 860,861 Education ; excellent economy ..... 861, 862 Physicians and their fees 863 Amusements and diversions 864 Gradual restoration of political and social order . . . 865 xiv CONTENTS. American passion for unity in government .... 866 Washington the ideal of the people ...... 867 State unity in the history of New England .... 867 Its beginning and its relation to the community . . . 868 Economic forces at work in forming our institutions . . 869 New commerce ; New England men 870 Growth of the people ; their finance, their industries . . 871 British taxation ; British arrogance ...... 872 Gestating time of the Revolution ..... 873 Representative government is perfected 874 Economic evolution was the basis of freedom . . . 875 Appendix A 877 Appendix B ........ 904 Appendix C g06 Appendix D g07 Appendix E ggg Appendix F g09 Appendix G gjQ Appendix H g-Q Appendix I gj2 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY OK NEW ENGLAND. CHAPTER XII. THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE.* 1708-1764. The deportation of African negroes — commonly called the slave-trade — was a movement of importance in the commerce of the latter part of the seventeenth and of the eighteenth century. Perhaps the most momentous and effective change instituted in the minds of men by this nineteenth century is in the general conception and treatment of human slavery. The seven- aspect of teenth century organised the new Western coun tries, and created an immense opportunity for labor. The eighteenth coolly and deliberately set Europe at the task of depopulating whole districts of western Africa, and of transporting the captives, by a necessarily brutal, vicious, and horrible traffic, to the new civilisations of Amer ica. The awakened conscience of the nineteenth century checked the horrid stream of forced migration, but an enormous social structure had been reared on servitude and enforced labor. North American slavery fell, carrying with it a vast structure of political, social, and philanthropic ideas. 1 This chapter was read at the meeting of the American Antiqua rian Society in October, 1887. 450 THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE. [1708-64. Looking backward one and a half or two and a half cen turies, we are amazed and humiliated when we consider how little people knew what they were doing. When the old and enlightened countries sought eagerly for slaves, and taught their colonial offshoots to depend upon them, they dug a deep, pit for their own children. New England entered upon this long path of twisted social development — this wanton destruction of New Eng-° barbaric life in the hope of new civilised life, this perversion of the force of the individual barbarian into an opportunity for social mischief — with no more and no less consciousness than prevailed else where at that time. The Winthrops and other Puritan colonists asked and received Indian captives for slaves as freely as any partisan went for loot or plunder. Indians were enslaved on all sides as long as the local tribes lasted^1 then Maine, then the Carolinas,2 and other dis tricts, furnished captives for a never-ceasing demand for labor.3 Cotton Mather4 employed his black servant, showing as little regard for the rights of man as the Bos ton merchant or Narragansett planter. Mather's servant, " Spaniard," belonged to a Christian society or church of negroes formed in 1693. Spaniard left a copy of the " Eules " of the society with Judge Sewall in 17{|. The judge indorsed this fact on the paper. Among other obli gations this was conspicuous : " Our coming to the Meet ing shall never be without the Leave of such as have Power over us." 5 Sewall's was about the earliest and al most the only voice raised in behalf of a larger humanity. Fortunately for the moral development of our beloved 1 Freeman, Cape Cod, p. 72. 2 Col. Rec. Conn. 1715, p. 516. 8 Coffin, Newbury, p. 337 ; Essex Inst, vii. 73 ; Col. Rec. Conn. 1711, p. 233. 4 Proc. M. H. S. 1862, p. 352. Or Increase Mather. See Proc. Am. Ant. Soe, vi. 192. 6 For Sewall's copy reprinted, see Proc. Am. Ant. Soe, v. 419. 1708-64.] THE ENGLISH IDEA. 451 colonies, the climate was too harsh, the social system, too simple, to engender a good economic employment of black labor. The simple industrial methods of each New Eng land homestead, described in so many ways through these pages, made a natural barrier against an alien social sys tem including either black or copper-colored dependents. The blacks soon dwindled in numbers, or dropped out from a life too severe for any but the hardiest and firmest- fibred races. The mother country knew no humanity, but only an economic opportunity, in the enslavement of the An economic negro. The Royal African Company,1 in their morement- " Declaration," as early as 1662, indicate the sentiment of England in this business. Other nations were invading the African trade, and there was danger that America " be rendered useless in their growing Plantations through want of that usual supply of Servants, which they have hitherto had from Africa." It was made a constant care for colonial governors 2 to forward the affairs of this slave-dealing corporation, which included the king, Duke of York, and many leading persons. In 1695 the traffic in negroes was considered the best and most profitable branch of British commerce.3 ^t was a melancholy omen of the immense significance of the slave-trade in that com merce that the gold coin, used even more than the sover eign as a unit of common prices, was named for Guinea, whence gold and negroes were taken together^ Slavery was a small factor in New England, because economic laws forbade its growth. It was managed as humanely, perhaps, as such a system could be conducted. It was not absolute constraint, nor a permanent confine ment. A negro man and woman in Rhode Island, in 1735, by " Ind'y & Frugality, scrap'd together £200, or 1 Declaration, Carter-Brown Library, p. 1. 2 Doc. N. York, iii. 246, 261. 8 Cary, British Trade, pp. 74, 76. 452 THE AFRICAN SLA VE-TRADE. [1708-64 £300." They sailed from Newport to their own country, Guinea, where their savings gave them an independent fortune.1 The slave-trade was likewise a small constit- ita place in "ent in itself, but it exercised a great influence commerce. jn ^ who]e commerce Qf tne first half of the eighteenth century. Any active element in trade, any thing much needed at the moment, affects the general movement of commerce much more than its actual amount and mere particular value would indicate. Massachusetts writers have always been especially sore at the point where the trade in African negroes is touched. If they had admitted that in fact none knew at the time the enormity of the offence, and that Massachusetts par took of the common public sentiment which trafficked in Indians or negroes as carelessly as in cattle, their argument would be more consistent. Massachusetts attained enough in her history that is actual and real; it is not neces sary to prove that she was endued with superhuman fore cast, or a pragmatical morality. Instead of this simple avowal, they admit the good foundation of the indict ment, then plead in extenuation of the crime, after the manner of Tristam Shandy's wet-nurse. In the absence of exact statistics we must trace the Massachu- course of the trade in collateral reports and evi dence. Dr. Belknap, in his friendly correspond ence with Judge Tucker in 1795 concerning slavery in Massachusetts, addressed letters to many leading men with various queries. The replies show, among other matters, the general prevalence of the trade in the province. Dr. John Eliot says : " The African trade was carried on (in Massachusetts), and commenced at an early period; to a small extent compared with Rhode Island, but it made a considerable branch of our commerce (to judge from the number of our still-houses, and masters of vessels now liv ing who have been in the trade). It declined very little till the Revolution." 2 1 Bos. Evening Post, 1735. a 5 Mass. H. C, iii. 382. 1708-64.] IN NEWPORT AND BOSTON. 453 Samuel Dexter says : " Vessels from Rhode Island have brought slaves into Boston. Whether any have been imported into that town by its own merchants, I am unable to say. I have more than fifty years ago seen a vessel or two with slaves brought into Boston, but do not recollect where they were owned. At that time it was a very rare thing to hear the trade reprobated. . . . About the time of the Stamp Act, what before were only slight scruples in the minds of conscientious persons be came serious doubts, and, with a considerable number, ripened into a firm persuasion that the slave-trade was malum in se." 1 TThomas Pemberton answers : " We know that a large trade to Guinea was carried on for many years by the citizens of Massachusetts Colony, who were the proprie tors of the vessels and their cargoes out and home. Some of the slaves purchased in Guinea, and I suppose the greatest part of them, were sold in the West Indies. Some were brought to Boston and Charlestown, and sold to town and country purchasers by the head, as we sell sheep and oxen." 2 John Adams says : "Argument might have some weight in the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts, but the real cause was the multiplication of labouring white people, who would no longer suffer the rich to employ these sable rivals so much to their injury. This principle has kept negro slavery out of France, England, and other parts of Europe." 3 From these reminiscences we turn now to the meagre accounts of the trade as it existed. Rhode Isl- Rhode and, or the modern Newport, was undoubtedly lsIand- the main port of the New England slave-trade. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations treated her Indian captives and slaves well.4 From the 1 5 Mass H. C., iii. 384^385. 2 Ibid., p. 392. s Ibid., p. 402. * R. I. C. R., i. 243 ; ii. 535 ; iii. 483 ; anTiv. 193. 454 THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE. [1708-64. necessity of her situation, and from the enlightenment received from Roger Williams, she was more humane than her neighbors in her treatment of the Indian race. In Connecticut, as late as 1711, a family of " Indian ser vants," consisting of Rachel and her seven children, were distributed by will ; they were called " blacks." 1 Rhode Island went into the African slave-trade, it being the ris ing, profitable venture of the time. Newport was a port of the third or fourth class in 1676, far below Boston or Salem. By the turn of the century its enterprise in creased greatly, and for fifty years its commerce rivalled in activity, though not in extent, that of Boston. Massa chusetts had the fisheries by priority and the natural advantage of position. In the new development of the eighteenth century, rum-distilling was a chief factor, as has been shown. Rhode Island's new energy seized upon this industry in company with Massachusetts. A free supply of rum with new vessels carried the Newport men into the rising slave-trade. In these ventures they had much Massachusetts capital engaged with them. In 1708 the British Board of Trade addressed a cir- The British cular letter to all the colonies relative to negro Tiew- slaves.2 To stop the iniquity? Oh, no ! "It being absolutely necessary that a trade so beneficial to the kingdom should be carried on to the greatest advan tage," they desired the most particular statements concern ing the numbers imported by the Royal African Company and by private traders. The trade had been laid open to private competition in the year 1698 by Parliament. Governor Cranston replied December 5, 1708,3 that Newport from 1698 to December 25, 1707, no negroes Qtures' were imported into Rhode Island from Africa; that in 1696 the brigantine Seaflower, Thomas Windsor, * 1 Caulkins, New Lon., p. 330. " R. I. C R iv 53 3 R. I. C. R., iv. 54, 55. 1708-64.] EARLY REPORTS. 455 master, brought from Africa forty -seven negroes, sold fourteen in the colony at £30 to £35 per head ; the rest he carried by land "to Boston, where his owners lived." In 1700 one ship and two sloops sailed directly from New port to the coast of Africa; Edwin Carter commanded the ship, and was part owner in the three vessels. With hitn sailed Thomas Bruster and John Bates, merchants of Barbadoes, and " separate traders from thence to the coast of Africa." All these vessels carried cargoes to Barba does, and disposed of them there. It would seem that West India capital also availed of the advantages of New port for prosecuting this commerce. It will be observed that Governor Cranston is careful to limit his statement to December 25, 1707. In February, 170J3,1 the colony laid an impost of £3 on each negro im ported. In April it enacted that the drawback allowed in the first act, in case the negro was exported again, should be rescinded. There must have been a free movement of negroes, either from Africa direct, or by the way of the West Indies, to have occasioned such watchful legislation. In 1712,2 and again in 1715,3 the act was tinkered. The Assembly gravely remitted the duties on " two sucking slaves " from Barbadoes in 1716.4 The impost amounted to enough by 1729 to justify an appropriation dividing it, one half toward paving the streets of Newport, one half toward " the great bridges on the main." 5 The tax was repealed in 1732.6 We may judge of the state of the public conscience 1 There was an act for the same purpose in 170s. 2 R. I. C. R., iv. 134. 8 Ibid., p. 191. 4 Ibid., p. 209. The trade was well established at this time. The Friends' Yearly Meeting Record, in 1717 (Moses Brovm MS., " Ma terials Hist. Friends," R. I. H. S.), says : " The subject of Slaves considered, and advise given that Letters be Written to the Islands & Elsewhere not to send any more slaves here to be sold by any Friend." 6 R. I. C R., iv. 424. 6 Ibid., p. 471. 456 THE AFRICAN SLA VE-TRADE. [1708-64. touching slavery and the movement of the slave-trade by The Boston the collateral arguments of a writer in the " Bos- idea- * ton News Letter " l in 1718. In the previous year there had been eighty burials of Indians and negroes in Boston. The writer argued that the loss at £30 each amounted to £2,400. If white servants had been em ployed instead, at £15 for the time of each, the " town had saved £1,200." A man could procure £12 to £15 to purchase the time of a white servant that could not pay £30 to £50 for a negro or Indian. " The Whites Strengthens and Peoples the Country, others do not." Such political economy satisfied the artless publicists of that time. The merchants of Boston quoted negroes, like any other merchandise demanded by their correspondents. Mr. Thomas Ainory had frequent calls from North Carolina. In 1720 he buys for Thomas Bell a man at £60, though they often brought £80. " Since the Law about slaves passed they prove better than they did, and no one sells, but endeavours to buy." 2 In 1723 he sends out a female house-servant bought at £50, on " condition to export her, else she would have been worth £70." Again, in 1724, " a good likely fellow that speaks English sells from £70 to £80." Again, " Nobody sells without some fault." " In the fall we expect negroes here 'directly from Guinea, a vessel having sailed from here and one from Rhode Isl and." 3 The " Boston News Letter " advertises in 1726 " Several choice Gold Coast Negros lately arrived." 4 Felt notes a cargo received in Boston in 1727, the highest sale from which was at £80.5 In 1736 the " News Letter "6 has " just imported from Guinea, a parcel of likely young negroes, boys and girls." Advertisements of " imported " negroes, not specifying their locality, are frequent. The 1 March 3, 1718. a MS. Letters. 8 Amory, MS. Letters. * Neios Letter, October 13th. 6 Felt, Salem, ii. 416. 17H; for the current wants of her treasury. In 1715 she began more heroic measures, issuing her firsj; " bank " of £40,000. These banks followed in rapid succession until the ninth was made in 1750. Then the colony was debarred further issue by the action of the British government. A bank was distinguished from an ordinary issue of bills of credit, or treasury notes, in that it was intended principally for a loan of the public credit to individual borrowers. The Rhode Island bills of the first banks were loaned to residents on mortgages at five per cent, interest for pe riods of ten years. The security was in real estate for double the value of the loan. The annual payment of interest was not required in the mortgages, but was pro vided for in separate bonds. These were not regularly collected, and a large part of the interest was lost.5 Def- 1 Curwin MS., Am. Ant. Soe. 2 Suffolk P. R., xviii. 504. 8 Suffolk P. R., xix. 322. 4 R_ j c R> y< 9 6 Potter and Rider, R. I. Tracts, No. 8, pp. 11, 16, 81. 1713-45.] COURSE OF DEPRECIATION. 475 inite amounts were assigned to each town in the colony. Connecticut was more moderate, and kept her paper from ¦ undue depreciation. In 1718 she was able to say that her bills of credit had been used since 1709, " the whole course of trade having been generally managed and regu lated thereby ; " and she made them a legal tender until 1727.1 New Hampshire imitated the larger governments both in issuing and in suspending payment at maturity. She conferred with the other three colonies " about some method to advance the credit of the medium of exchange " in 1720.2 The pending inflation had been a disturbing cause in Massachusetts since 1707, but it did not derange Depreciation the currency immediately. The bills passed and beeina- did the work of a currency as long as there was a good prospect of their final redemption. In 1707 the collec tion of the taxes — which was the virtual redemption of the paper — was postponed for three years ; in 1709 for four years ; in 1710 for five years ; in 1711 for six years. The volume of the bills grew larger with every emission, and their credit grew less as the Province^ repudiated its own debts. The motive for non-payment was not repudi ation. The presence of France on the borders oppressed the New England consciousness, and constant efforts were being made to drive her off. Patriotism, however mis taken in its methods, impelled the New England men, and not a mere desire for the intoxication of inflation. There was no money ; it must be had for another and another expedition. For nearly forty years the inflation contin ued. September 18, 1749,3 the parliamentary remittance of 653,000 oz. silver and ten tons of copper arrived in Massachusetts Bay. England had sent the money on condition that the bills of credit be redeemed. i Col. Rec Conn. 1718, p. 74 ; and see Trumbull, Ct., ii. 47. 2 N. H. Prov. Pap., ii. 733. 8 Felt, Mass. Currency, p. 124. 476 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713^5. To enforce the circulation of the bills, the colonies en- ' Legal aeted repeatedly that they should be a legal tender. tender wherever contracts did not specify to the contrary. These measures were ineffective, and increased the financial confusion always incident to a defective cur rency. Debtors, always reluctant in paying, delayed more, to secure the advantage of buying legal tender bills at lower and still lower prices. In the Bay,1 the commercial centre, there were three Three the- parties, each respectable in wealth and public ories. consideration, but actuated by separate theories in finance : the first, bullionist, believing in no paper money and opposing all kinds ; the second, in favor of private or associated land banks.2 This party made such headway in the commercial community that the projec tors were about to issue bills relying on their associated credit, when they were prohibited by the direct action of the Council of the Province. The third, wishing a large volume of currency, like the second, were enabled to persuade the bullionists that it would be better to keep the issues fron^ private hands and within control of the government, and its policy prevailed in the final action of the Province. Massachusetts issued a " bank "of £50,000, in 1714, of the same kind as that already described in Rhode Island. One fifth of the principal, with interest at five per cent., was made payable each year. But in fact the loans were extended, and in some cases were unpaid for more than thirty years. New Hampshire in one year made " banks " or loans at twenty-three years and at eleven years, at 5 per cent, and at 10 per cent, interest.3 1 See Nar. and Crit. Hist. Amer., v. 170-176. 2 See pamphlets : " Projection for erecting a Bank of Credit in Bos ton, founded on Land Security • A Vindication from the aspersions of Paul Dudley in a Letter to John Burrill, etc. 8 N. H. Prov. Pap., iii. 671, 688. 1713-45.] CURRENCIES ELSEWHERE. 477 Our French neighbors in Canada had resorted to a rudely formed paper currency earlier than our forefathers did. In 1685 the Intendant Meules began to issue by the medium of common playing-cards. These were cut into four pieces and signed by proper officers. It was said to be redeemable, not in coin, but in bills of exchange. In 1714 the amount had risen to two million livres. About this time the circulation broke down, and it was partially redeemed.1 New York, always affected by the commercial move ments of her Eastern neighbors, was forced to issue bills. In 1717 these circulated in Boston at 25 per cent, better rates than prevailed for those of Massachusetts. There were parties there, as elsewhere, favoring and opposing the use of paper money. Governor Hunter claimed that the effect was beneficial to the whole people, increasing the movement of trade by at least one half. "This circulation enables the many to trade, to some small loss to the few who had monopolized it." 2 The struggle over the issues extended to London. In the next year a sum of money was sent there from New York to enable Mr. Baker, a merchant, to oppose the New York " money bills " before the authorities at home.3 In 1719 the Lords of Trade reported on the petition to the Lords Justices adversely. They state their reasons for believ ing that the bills had helped the trade of the Province, and would continue to be beneficial, if not over-issued.4 This whole story is an interesting episode in the history of currency. The unit of issue was an ounce of silver, and not a pound or dollar. This was stated to be equal to 8s. in all the colonies. The act assigned one half the issue, dividing it among specified creditors. This 5 in it- 1 Parkman, Old Reg., p. 300. 2 Doc Col. N. Y., v. pp. 494, 500. 8 Doc. Col. N.Y.,v. 514. i Ibid., p. 524. 6 But the said Merchants complaining that out of the 41,517^ ounces of Plate raised by bills of Credit on this Act, 22,749 Oz" are 478 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. self is one of the curiosities of legislation, yet it did not prejudice the authorities at Whitehall against the issues. New York had at this time the advantage, accruing from a brisk circulating medium, in better credit than neighbor- in°- currencies. In 1718 Governor Hunter claimed that the bills were equal to silver " over the greatest part of the English continent," x and 30 per cent, better than the local bills on " 'change " in Boston. In 1721, according to Governor Burnet,2 the credit of the bills was about as good ; silver was but sixpence per ounce premium, which was but little more than the levelling of the exchange, as was claimed.3 Meanwhile Massachusetts, having taken deeper draughts of a seductive and intoxicating kind, was feeling Massacnu- the pressure of her financial debauch. English crown and province government had failed in all efforts to stop the flow of new bills, or to reduce the divided among the legislators and their friends, it will be necessary to enter into a particular discussiou of this objection. Whereas therefore it appears by their account that the Act directs there shall be paid — Plate. ounces, dwt. To the Governor 2,525 To the Council 2,750 To the Assembly 6,009 16 For Negroes Executed for Rebellion 950 To several for Services done to the Colony 2,662 17 For Paym' of Sev1 debts formerly provided for .... 1,404 17 For Building and Repairs 550 For making lines & for the Agent of y* Colony .... 3,750 To the Commissions who adjusted the Debts & for charges relating to y" Act & Bills of Credit .... 2,147 22,749 10 Doc. Col. N. Y., v. 524. 1 Doc. Col. N. Y., v. 514. 2 On the contrary, Mr. Thos. Amory, of Boston, in his MS. letters, 1720, quotes New York bills at 10s. ; Massachusetts and Rhode Isl and, at 12s. 9d. in silver. 8 Doc N. Y., v. 700. 1713-45.] RETURN TO COUNTRY PAY. 479 old ones by redemption. All expedients failed to check their declining credit. In the issue of 1720 the five per cent, advance — added in every previous issue, and in tended to maintain the par — was dropped, for it had no effect. At the same time the weary financiers returned to the ways of the seventeenth century, and made a par tial currency of produce which lasted until 1723. Through the scarcity of bills it was so difficult to convert produce or property of any kind into bills and thus pay the rates, that produce was made legal tender for rates, at prices to be fixed by the General Assembly. The treasury accepted beef, pork, or mackerel in barrel, butter in firkin, cheese, wheat, peas, barley, rye, Indian corn, oats, flax, hemp, bees'-wax, hides, tanned leather, dry fish, oil, whalebone, bayberry wax, or tallow. The list shows considerable ex tension of products and some omissions. The early lum ber disappears naturally, but we should expect wool to be included. The next year, the governor having opposed issues under pressure from England, the House memo rialised him for more. They said that he had consulted the principal merchants and gentlemen of Boston, seek ing some measure for a better " medium of trade," but nothing came of it, and they would have at least £100,000 more to pay public debts, and to float trade. They ad mitted that further depreciation would be bad. They were sure this would be prevented by the act legislative just passed, forbidding the sale of silver or bul- exPedienta- lion at higher prices than those fixed by Parliament. Had this act been passed in the beginning, " in our judgment," the bills " had to this day " been equal to silver money. Such sublime confidence have legislators in their fiat ! Governor Shute gave way for one half, and consented to the emission of £50,000. It was secured by taxes on polls and estates, real and personal, one tenth x to be re- 1 For a specimen of the bonds given by borrowers see R. 1. Tracts, viii. 19. 480 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. deemed in each year, commencing in 1726. It was distrib uted to the towns on a basis of taxation, each choosing its own trustees for letting it out. Worcester put its share into " ye finishing of ye meeting house." x In 1724, after a great debate, £30,000 was issued.2 In 1725 European goods, not perishable in their nature, brought 250 per cent, advance on the first cost.3 In the next year pro visions had advanced about one third from the old prices in specie. The few contemporary accounts existing are very pa thetic concerning the effect produced by this shifting me dium of exchange on the common business of the people. Bad tiuctua- Trade was afloat without moorings, and steered tions. by a compass which fluctuated with every issue of bills, and even with every vote or debate affecting those issues. Thomas Amory, the founder of a long line of Boston merchants, writes to his correspondent, Wil liam Jones, of Bristol, Eng., May 24, 1727 : " We shall soon see if the Loan Money will be continued. The Lower House is for it. The Shopkeepers have generally no money. I have sent to them twice a week. . . . We are all in hopes trade will be better when the Assembly breaks up. Should your debts come in, I Shall ship you Log wood or whatever else will best turn to account. Mrs. Ann Hutchinson and Mr. Samuel Royal have shut up their shops and desire time for the payment of their debts. As yet their affairs are not settled, but by all reports they have enough to pay everybody. It was said others had a mind to shut up, if the merchants continued to be so hard upon them." 3 In October he informs the same Bristol merchant : " It 1 Worcester Rec, ii. 25. 2 5M.H. C., viii. 345. For details of bills outstanding, see Felt, Mass. Currency, p. 80. 8 Amory MS. Letters, pp. 192 et seq., in possession of Thomas C. Amory. 1713-45.] PRESSURE FOR MORE MONEY. 481 is likely your goods will fall by reason of the great scarcity of money. The like was never known, and the shopkeepers by their bad pay will occasion the factors a bad name. For my own part I shall arrest those who owe me for the next court, if not for this — as I cannot avoid it." In November the merchants are still awaiting the ac tion of " Our Assembly," trusting that they will " make money or contrive some way for the better encouragement of trade." Debtors could not or would not pay, and cred itors hesitated whether to await better payments in the expected increase of currency, or to pursue them in the courts at once. But in January the situation is no clearer. Buyers and sellers, creditors and debtors waited, almost concluding that there would be no more money. "The lower House endeavoured to have £60,000 issued, but the upper House would not concur, which occasions a great deal of uneasiness." Rhode Island was now — in 1728 — in the throes of its "Third Bank," issued for the redemption of The its First Bank of £40,000. The preamble re- "^SjH^ fleets on a large scale the condition of affairs and- shown in Mr. Amory's letters. Massachusetts absorbed a large portion of the Rhode Island bills, as long as their credit was fair. The puzzled legislative economists said : " not only Trade and Commerce, which are the Nerves and Power of Government, begins in a sensible manner to Decline, Stagnate and Decay, but the publick Affairs of the Colony, of the greatest Importance, and those things whereon depend our Peace and Safety, for want of a proper and sufficient medium of exchange."1 They subor dinated the social and economic motives for issuing paper to the political ones. This was to sugar the pill for the appetites of the English supervisors. The home govern ment winked at issues to pay for fortifications and war- » R. I. Tracts, viii. 23. 482 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. like expeditions against enemies of the crown, while it professed to forbid issues of paper money for a " me dium," or for direct inflation. Evidently the credit of the 'SFirst Bank " was partially paralysed, and needed the stimulus of a new issue to re vive the circulation. The theory of the issues was that the bills should be loaned out, the interest met, and the principal repaid by those who received them on loan. Then they should be loaned again to other recipients. But the preamble argues that this would not be just. The government was in honor bound not to keep out " said Bank longer than necessity required, or to the Prej udice of said Currency." But the rights and duties of the debtors were treated very tenderly. They had been " very punctual and exact [this statement is controverted by well known facts] in the payment of the Interest thereof, for the carrying on those wise ends and purposes for which the same was emitted, and sundry of them by paying Interest, have been so exhausted in their Stock, that for the Government to exact the Payment in of said Bank in compleat Sums at one time, as the same was emitted, would inevitably tend to the Ruin and Destruc tion of many Families, good Subjects of the King." l The issue was made, followed by another in 1731, and by one of £100,000 in 1733. The Bay authorities tried in vain to keep the Rhode Island bills out of their mar kets.- The credit of the bills at this time corresponded with that of Massachusetts. . Afterwards it was relatively lower. Silver in Rhode Island was at 18s. per ounce in 1728 ; 22s. in 1731 ; 25s. in 1733.2 The drift of the colonial paper money was in one direc- The mevita, tlon- The issue was easy, and debts to the treas- bie course. UJ,y were easiiy- contracted ; collections were more difficult. New Hampshire called on the town of Kingston 3 1 R. I. Tracts, viii. 22. 2 R. I. C. R., v. 10, 11. 8 N. H. Prov. Pap., iv. 521. 1713-45.] SILVER MOUNTS UPWARD. 483 for £500 loaned there. It divided the whole payment into three parts, and attempted to raise the rate of interest from 3 per cent, to 10 per cent, per annum. According to Governor Burnet, this little province was in great need of currency. A company of " private gentlemen " 1 at tempted to make an issue of bills on their own account. Conservative Connecticut 2 was dragged into the current of inflation. In 1733 she issued £20,000, and fixed the rate of silver at 20s. per ounce.3 The pressure for cur rency was so strong that legislatures must yield. When government would not furnish " a medium," private companies did it. The New London Society for Trade and Commerce circulated notes which were current until prohibited by the authorities.4 When arraigned, they asserted that their notes were not bills of credit but of exchange. This society 5 numbered some eighty members, scattered over the whole colony. It obtained loans from the colonial treasury on mortgages. It built vessels and undertook various adventures ; issued notes having twelve years to run. Its prosperity lasted about two years. We traced the rise of silver, in inventories 6 of personal 1 N. H. Prov. Pap., iv. 685. 2 See N. Haven H. C, i. 50, 52, for account of depreciation. 3 Trumbull, Ct., ii. 48. 4 Col. Rec Conn. 1733, p. 421; 1735, p. 15. 6 Caulkins, New London, p. 243. 6 Suffolk P. R., xxv. 301. 1728. Example of a mixed currency : — Mrs. Elizabeth Berry. & s. d. 302 oz. of silver money and plate at 16 / per oz. . . . 241 12 00 51 shillings of English money 07 13 00 1 Lyon dollar 4 00 3 pistoles in gold, at 50 / 7 10 00 1 English guinea 3 03 00 1 piece of gold called a Carolis 3 00 00 In paper money 202 10 00 In 1737 (Bos. News Let, July 14), William Brown found con cealed 1,093 oz. silver, including about 6,000 virgin shillings of New England. 484 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. estates, to the year 1717, as it went up steadily from 8s., the standard or practical par value. And we Changeain compared the rated values fixed by law.1 In the inventories, prices went up steadily, and in general were slightly lower than those fixed by law for all transactions. As silver went higher, there was more relative fluctuation in values for the same year. I cite from the Suffolk Pro bate Records : In 1719-20, silver was at 10s. to lis. per oz., gold at £8 ; 1721, silver 12s. ; 1722, silver 12s. to 13s., gold £9 ; 1726, silver 15s., gold £11 10s. ; 1727, silver 15s. ; 1728, at 16s. ; 1730, at 18s. ; 1731, at 18s. to 18s. 6c?.; 1733, at 20s.; 1734, at 22s. to 25s.; 1735, at 26s. to 28s. ; 1736, at 27s. to 28s. 6d. ; 1737, at 27s. ; 1738, at 27s. to 29s. ; 1739, at 28s. to 30s. ; 1740, at 28s. to 30s. ; 1744, Adam Winthrop's silver was valued at 32s. In 1745, the price was 33s. to 36s., while gold was at £24. These prices of silver are an index of the disturbing force acting within this volume of irredeemable paper currency. The greatest of our industries, the building of ships for export, was now being checked by the de- shipbuiid- rangement of prices. Natural advantages were not changed ; timber and constructive skill were here still. The laws of exchange had revealed at last the cramping and restrictive elements always inherent in the expansive forces of paper money. Peter Faneuil advised an English correspondent in 1736 : " You will see by these Accst how dear build'g is : it is much cheaper to buy Vessells in the river of Thames than to have them built here for the Present." 2 But the derangement of values, and the embarrassment of trade through fluctuations of its circulating medium, only tell half the story of the time. There was no lack of comprehension of the difficulties, and the unsoundness 1 See above, p. 473. 2 Peter Faneuil to William Limbery, March 22, 1736, Letter Book at N. E. H. and Gen. Soe. 1713-45.] MORE CURRENCY NEEDS MORE. 485 of the situation. But no one could conceive of any suf ficient remedy. Governor Belcher's messages in 1733 and 1734 are as sagacious as if written in the light of our modern experiences. He tells the legislators that the bills say " equal to money," yet " 16s. worth will not purchase 5s. lawful money." The several loans of the Province, " after so many years' indulgence to the bor rowers," must be paid without delay. The bills of the private bank, or merchants' notes, were expected to assist the currency of the Province bills ; instead of that, they had hastened the general depreciation of paper. This increasing flood of currency is the mysterious element, the fever germ, in the body economic and commercial. All collateral testimony indi- creases witu cates a debauched public sentiment. The essays written at Cambridge for the master's degree1 are one index of opinions prevailing from year to year. In 1728 the thesis was, " Does the issue of paper money contribute to the public good?" which was maintained in the affirm ative. In 1738, " Is the abundance of paper money re ceived from the neighboring colony a serious hindrance to our commerce ? " — affirmative likewise. As above said, the depreciation and the entanglement thereby but half reveals the trouble. Each inflation bred a new and a greater one ; the larger the quantity, the lower the quality of paper, the greater and more intense was the demand for an increase of quantity. This demand came not from mere speculators and grasping traders ; it included some of the best citizens. These private banks represented a widely spread need of the public. I have mentioned Connecticut. New Hampshire had one also, but Massa chusetts was the centre of their activity. Several were formed there, — the most important and significant iu 1740. It was called a " Land " or " Land and Manufac tures Bank." 2 1 Proc M. H. S. 1880, pp. 124, 125. 2 Felt, Mass. Currency, pp. 102-105. 486 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. This institution turned first property, then the credit A]and based on property, into a paper promise which bank! should circulate and perform the functions of money. The capital was £150,000 in £100 shares. The whole cash payment was two shillings lawful money on each £100 subscribed. Each subscriber must make over an "Estate in Lands to the Satisfaction of the Direc tors," and then pay in three per cent, per annum " in any of the following Manufactures, being the produce of this Province, viz., Hemp, Flax, Cordage, Bar Iron,' Cast Iron, Linnens, Sheep's Wools, Copper, Tanned Leather, Flax Seed, Bees'-Wax, Bayberry-Wax, Sail Cloth, or Canvas, Nails, Tallow, Lumber or Cord Wood, or Logwood, though from New Spain." These products were to be received at the prices fixed by the directors, or the shareholder could pay his dues in the company's bills. " Artificers and Traders in this town of Boston in good Credit, who have not Real Estate to mortgage, but can give good personal Security to the Satisfaction of the Directors," were admitted to subscribe, each for one share only. The "Bills" issued were promises by the company, first, to receive the said bill as lawful money, then in twenty years to repay the " value thereof, in Manufac tures of this Province." Briefly, the institution was this : a private corporation received land chiefly for its capital stock ; on this capital it received an income of three per cent, in produce or rough manufactures. For the list excludes cereals and the primary agricultural products, as well as fish and general merchandise. It issued bills of twenty shillings, more or less, to be circulated on the credit of this property pledged to the corporation. The issues were loaned on mortgages and ordinary securities, the loans and interest to be repaid in the company's bills or the aforesaid manufactures. A surplus equal to the capital was to be reserved, and the remaining profits di- 1713-45.] APPETITE FOR POOR MONEY. 487 vided among the shareholders. No dividend is recorded, but the affair, as well as others of its kind, played a great part in the circulating currency. All these schemes tried to turn some kind of credit into money, without the modern factor of instant or possible redemption of the circulating medium in specie. Nothing more clearly reveals the debauched condition of the public credit and the redundant issues of provincial paper, than the fact of these schemes tion of and the avidity of the people in seizing upon the money. In 1741 and 1742, parties advertised various merchandise to be sold for " Manufactory bills." J Gov ernor Belcher and his Council not only forbade the organ isation of the company, but used all their power to pre vent the circulation of the bills. Samuel Adams, father of the great reformer, and other justices of high position and character, resigned their offices under pressure from the Executive. " All officers, civil and military, concerned in this combination," were dismissed. Colonels were urged by the governor, under his own hand, to dismiss any offi cers guilty of promoting the circulation of the company's bills. But whole troops, almost whole regiments, in sisted on using the bills at all hazards. Henry Lee, of Worcester, writes, " I am determined to do what I can to encourage it (the Bank), and think the priviledge of an Englishman is my sufficient warrant." Some towns re solved that they would use such money in the payment of rates. Thus confused were the notions of political inde pendence, financial stability, and solvent currency in the eighteenth century. Among the directors was the well-known Robert Hale, of Beverlv, who was snubbed by the Council of •> 7 Robert the Province for daring to present the scheme to Haie'sex- . . f. perience. their notice. We get at his ideas of a currency 1 Boston News Letter, Oct. 29, 1741 ; Boston Evening Post, June 14, 1742 ; Ibid., June 21, 1742. 488 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. through a manuscript diary he made of a trip into Acadia in 1731. In the Bay of " Chiquecto " he met an Indian trader, Pierre Asneau, who came twenty miles across from St. John's with furs and seals for sale or barter. He " would give no more (or scarce so much) for our goods as they cost in Boston, so that all the advance our traders can make is upon their Goods." J Nevertheless, all the Province was obliged by the proclamation of Governor Phillips to take Massachusetts bills, unless contracts specified otherwise. Money was the worst commodity there. Traders would not take it, and Indians would not part with their furs for it. Consequently there was little trade among the inhabitants ; each raised produce for him self. The landlord of the tavern, though one of the richest men, had only bd. in money. Hale saw that the abounding promises of the state had fallen so low in credit that they would hardly perform the offices of money. Perhaps he believed that a bill based on actual property was more sound than a mere provincial promise to pay. The common circulation of these land and manufacture bills shows that the public shared this opinion, though it proved a delusion finally. In describing the private currency or land bank move- oidand ment, we have passed by an important change New Tenor. in the public emissions. This occurred in 1737 at Massachusetts, and in 1740 at Rhode Island ; and it separates the two kinds into " Old and New Tenor." 2 All issues had been made in bills for twenty shillings — more or less — " in value equal to money." Henceforth they were made in value equal to a specified weight of silver or gold. The new bills were promises to pay definite sums of specie. Some of the Rhode Island issues promised the definite sum, or in addition " such a sum in any medium of exchange as shall be passing in the Gov- 1 MS. Diary, R. Hale, Am. Ant. Soe. 2 Felt, Mass. Currency, p. 92 ; R. I. Hist. Tracts, Rider, viii. 53. 1713-45.] ALL SORTS OF CURRENCIES. 489 ernment as will be equal to so much Silver or Gold." 1 The Massachusetts issues of 1737 were at 6s. 8c?. per ounce in silver, or £4 18s. per ounce in gold ; the Rhode Island issues of 1740 were at 6s. 9c?. per ounce in silver, or £5 per ounce in gold. The Massachusetts were receivable for all taxes, except import, tonnage, and light-house dues ; these latter were payable in specie, intended for the redemption of the bills. The Rhode Island were receivable for all dues to the colony. The Massachusetts government attempted to fix the value of the new tenor at one for three of the old, but the current rate became one for four.2 The same proportion prevailed in Rhode Island.3 The latter colony found great difficulty in collecting the loans, as they became due, by which the currency had been issued at various times. In 1741 there were more than five hundred suits at law in Providence County based on the mortagages and bonds of the bor rowers. At this period, 1741, we see in a merchant's letter4 a picture of the mixed and vacillating currencies, conflicting These all mingled in the Boston exchanges, each currencies- struggling with the other. There were first " public bills " — old tenor — of four Provinces at 29s. per ounce of sil ver ; new tenor of Massachusetts at 6s. 8c?., but current at 9s. 8d. ; Connecticut at 8s. ; Rhode Island at 6s. 9c?. Of private bills there was a parcel of £110,000 of "silver money scheme or merchants' notes," issued in 1733 in an endeavor to cut off the circulation of Rhode Island notes in Massachusetts. Being redeemed punctually in specie, these were a favorite tender at 33 per cent, better rates than Province bills. Another parcel of £120,000, issued by wealthy merchants in 1740, based on silver, to cut off 1 R. I. H. T., viii. 54. 2 Felt, Mass. Currency, p. 93. 8 R. I. Hist. Tracts, viii. 56. 4 Cited by Felt, p. 107 ; and see Caulkins, Norwich, p. 293. 490 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. the circulation of Land Bank notes. The latter bills were payable in twenty years, and " then only in goods at an arbitrary price." There was considerable gold and silver coin, but not in circulation. It was eagerly taken by the merchants for remittance to England.1 We see here two parties, one representing capital, Theoppos- and desiring a circulating medium of money, ing parties. or qUickly convertible into money by the best means known at that time. The other party represented property and credit, seeking to convert this credit into a circulating medium which should move independently of money, especially of silver and gold, the best form of money. The " fiat " or credit money party has continued and probably will always continue its expedients for dis pensing with silver and gold. A currency, to be convert ible and elastic, demands in the last resort a basis of money which the whole world will accept. In certain seasons this valuable commodity, silver or gold, becomes scarce ; just as water, abundant in the mountains, be comes a commodity of enormous value in the desert. Possessors of gold or silver will always sell their com modity dear when the supply is little and the demand is great. Probably ingenious speculators will always try to escape the final responsibility to pay gold and silver. The Land Bank2 was a political as well as financial Political development. Parties divided, and legislators agitation. were eleeted or defeated, on this issue. The doggerel of the time shows, — " The Land Bank and the Silver Scheme Was all last winter's noisy theme, Till their debates, at length, were sent For issue to the Parliament." A commission in 1741 reported that the Land Bank had issued £35,582 in notes. Their operations were stopped 1 Proc M. H. S. 1860, p. 124. 2 Hutchinson, Diary, p. 51. 1713-45.] EXHAUSTED FINANCES. 491 in 1742 by positive act of Parliament. The concern dragged for years through all the stages of loss and dis aster ; the estates of surviving directors were finally as sessed for losses incurred through the bank. Massachusetts attempted to regulate her currency in 1742 by an "Equity Bill." Hutchinson had tried in vain to raise a loan of 220,000 oz. silver in England in 1740 for redeeming Province bills. This provided that all coined sterling silver should pass at 6s. 8c7. per ounce troy. All future emissions of paper were to be equal to hard money. All debts contracted within five years were to be paid in this money, unless otherwise specially agreed. This was expected to solve the troubles of mixed currencies. But it only proved that governments can make money, but cannot make a currency. Gresh- am's law worked steadily on. The specie-bearing notes were hoarded and disappeared from circulation, while the citizens were forced to use the poorer paper of the adjoining governments.1 The especial interest of the currency — now in 1745 — merges in the larger interest of the whole peo- The Vieilch pie. The economic and the political motive ene™y- joined with race antipathy in working toward the expul sion of the French from Acadia and Canada. New England put forth all its strength in the memorable ex pedition against Louisburgh. It was a colonial effort ; the rich home government did little, the poor colonists did almost everything, in this bold assault and capture of the French stronghold. Exhausted Massachusetts could not float any more paper money, though a sea of patriot ism buoyed up her vessels and drove her expeditions northward. She resorted to a lottery, the shares payable one fifth in new tenor, remainder in old tenor, four for one, to raise £7,500 in the dire need of the treasury. We 1 For a history of the currency, and for its literature, see Nar. and Crit. America, v. 170-177. 492 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. may leave the consideration of the currency, and turn backward into other avenues of social development. Industry is the keynote of our history. The essential nature of the people put forth this form of out- landindfs- ward activity, as surely as the Latins devoted trycreat themselves to conquest. It has been said, there are only two ways of raising one's self : the first, by one's own industry ; the second, by the imbecility of others. The latter opportunity soon went out from the experience and from the story of New England. Norsemen in Europe preyed on enfeebled peoples. The Norse vein in our blood found little, beyond the land of the aborigines, on which it could be fed. The Scandinavian Teuton, in this later England, created his fortune by his own industry ; an incessant building-in of all the forces and products of a very reluctant Nature into new returns of civilisation. It was this domestic activity, this laboring industry iu house, farmstead, and village, which supplied the fisher men, and pushed out sailors into the ventures of foreign commerce. This industrial fever, productive irritant, man ufacturing stimulant, throbbing through the remotest dis tricts and beating along the shores, impelled the people to constant manipulation and the best rendering of all the goods within their reach. It was not any virtue in paper money which kept afloat these currencies we have been describing. It was the intense productive and ex changing energy of the people — an economic appetite which must feed, on gold if it could be had ; failing that, on the husks of paper. This principle is reflected also in the conduct of the land. Agriculture proper chan°ed its relations Agriculture. ,-..¦.. , but little in consequence of the paper inflation. Prices of land underwent no change corresponding to the great disturbance and inflation of the currency. Prices of tracts distant from houses, or far from the vil lage centres, were much lower than centrally situated 1713-45.] THE FARMING LANDS. 493 lots. In John Eliot's land at Hartford, in 1719,1 the meadow was at £8 per acre ; other lands and " the second meadow " were at £2.10. A tract on the " Cop per Hills " was at 2s. per acre. In William Mitchell's, at Windsor, 1725,1 a " right " in a large tract of remote land was valued at 3s. 4c?. per acre. These values cor respond generally with those in Hadley 2 in 1722, — viz., 2s. 6c?. to 3s. per acre for meadows. In 1728 and 1729 these lands had advanced to 7s. and 8s. ; and lots in a large tract of 5,000 acres were at 4s. to 6s. Choice meadow or village lots were at 18s. per acre. The Had ley prices were all in silver, 6s. to the dollar. A farm of 130 acres in Attleboro', Mass., was offered at £100 in 1742.3 Sixty acres, fenced and improved, yielded 20 loads " English hay." There was an orchard and a small tan- yard. Among agricultural inventions we notice in 1728 one by a farmer at Springfield. It was a plough for cutting hassocks in wet meadows. Drawn by four oxen, it would do as much as " Forty men shall do in the usual method with Hoes." 4 The Province of Massachusetts laid an impost on man ufacture in 1718.5 The Lords of Trade report Woven to the king that Massachusetts has always £abllcs- worked its wool 6 into coarse cloths, druggets and serges. But as this was a lame and impotent conclusion to the English administrative efforts for two generations in checking and suppressing these industries, they add that these goods, as well as their homespun linen, " generally half cotton," serve only " for the use of the meanest sort of people." The descendants of these mean people also wore homespun, but in 1776 the crown found them to be of uncommonly tough fibre. Homespun was not sold in 1 Hartford Prob. Rec. 2 Judd, p. 289. 8 Bos. News. Let, Sept. 30, 1742. * N. E. Weekly Journal, June 3, 1728. 6 Bancroft, ii. 238. 6 Doc. N. York, v. 597. 494 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. the shops.1 The prices 2 of weaving 3 in the Old Colony show the several varieties of fabrics. They are rendered in " Old Tenor " at forty five shillings. In 1714 weaving cotton and linen was 6d. per yard. In 1715 kersey an ell wide paid 8c?., and plain linen the same ; kersey 10c?., and worsted for shirts 9c?. Evidently there were those espe cially skilled in weaving who either went to the farmers' looms, or took in work at their own. In Waterbury, Ct.,4 where the primitive habits lingered, Joseph Lewis, " a re spected and substantial man," was a cloth-weaver as early as 1706. Another, Thomas Clark, learned his trade of his uncle. In 1713 he wove plain cloth at Is. 3c?. per yard, checked shirting at Is. 3c?., drugget at 12c?., striped flan nel, etc. Probably he wove in winter and in bad weather. He dealt also in molasses, salt, tobacco, nails, etc., a barter to forward his vocation probably. He was a responsible citizen, and was a justice of the peace in 1736. Clothiers, who finished the woven woollen fabrics, were well estab lished, as we have seen, in the former century. Clothiers' shears are advertised, with " good iron screws and boxes for clothiers," also "presses." In 1740 "Philadelphia press paper for clothiers " appears in Boston.5 The manufacture of flax into linen goods received a great impulse from the immigration of about Linen. T . ° one hundred Irish families 6 from Londonderry. About 1719 they settled on the left bank of the Merrimac, a few miles below Manchester, N. H. They also intro duced the culture and use of the potato. They established a manufactory according to the Irish methods, and made the standard fabrics for which Ireland was famous. They 1 Doc. N. York, v. ; Lon. Doc, xx. 2 The "looms & utensils " of Joshua Bates, in Boston, 1742, were valued at £10 17s. Suffolk P. R., xxxvi. 318. 8 Macy, Nantucket, p. 77. i Bronson, p. 144. 6 Bos. News. Let, 1722, Feb. 5 ; 1724, Dec. 3 ; 1740, March 29. 6 Belknap, N. H., ii. 117. 1713-45.] IRISH SKILL MAKES LINEN. 495 spun a and wove by hand, but with more skill than had prevailed among our homespun artisans. This new indus try partially replaced in that region the declining manu facture of woollens. As the commons had been fenced in, the number of sheep diminished. The production of domestic woollens increased in other districts, and fulling- mills were added in many towns as the settlements ex tended.2 The governor of Massachusetts reported to the Board of Trade in 173J that the country people then made only one third of their own wear in woollen. Two thirds was of British manufacture imported. Allowing for the official interest in diminishing the home manufac ture, it would appear that the increase of a more generous living, which all evidence shows, was put into imported luxuries. The Scotch Irish manufactures of linen in New Hamp shire had stimulated similar attempts in Boston. The public mind was much excited. Women, rich and poor, appeared on the common with their wheels, spinning in holiday pastime. The craze soon died out, but meanwhile it created a brick building for special instruction in spin ning. In 1737 a tax on carriages was assessed to support this industrial institution. It was abandoned after a few years. New Hampshire received hemp for taxes at one shilling per pound.3 Great efforts were now made to extend the manufac ture of canvas or duck. It had been made in small quan tities.4 Massachusetts granted a monopoly in 1726 5 to a petitioner, and a bounty for each piece 35 yards long, 30 1 For an account of the Boston spinning school see above, p. 198. Jos. Clewly, a millwright at Maiden, has a " twisting mill," to twist worsted, and makes thread. There is a " twine & line " spinner in Boston. Bos. Eve. Post, April 12, Oct. 13, 1735. 2 Hist. Dorchester, p. 602 ; Chase, Haverhill, p. 253 ; Felt, Ipswich, p. 96. 8 Belknap, N. H., ii. 31. 4 See above, p. 396. * Mass. Arch., lix. 251. 496 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. inches wide, " of good even thread, well drove, of good bright color, being wrought wholly of good strong water- rotted hemp." She also paid considerable bounties on the growing of hemp previous to 1720,1 and by, especial act, in 1739, received it at 4c?. per lb., with flax at 6c?. per lb., for taxes.2 Andrew Eliot, cordwainer, advertises silk grass in " Boston News Letter," March 14, 1720. TConnecticut began to make linseed oil.3 In 1723 Rhode Island loaned £3,000 in paper money to one Borden, on condition that he would manufacture 150 bolts of duck per year. In 1731 the 150 bolt condition was released, and in 1736 the loan was extended three years longer.4 She paid bounties to the growers likewise.5 Richard Rogers, of New Lon don, Ct., had eight looms in 1724 weaving duck, having expended £140, and in the following year it amounted to £250. The Court gave him a monopoly of the manufac ture for ten years.6 These liberal encouragements pro duced no corresponding results. Prices inflated by paper currency forbade new manufactures competing with Eu rope. Contingent to the manufacture of flax we may notice Dyeing and tne business of Samuel Hall at Boston in 1722.7 finishing. jje takes ljnen cloth to be made into buckram, or will sell the latter " ready made." He is proficient in " calendering any silk," and in " watering, dying or scour ing." In an advertisement of 1 726,8 of a " silk dyer just come from London," more elaborate work is called for, as brocades, velvets, satins, mohairs, damask, needle - work, silks, worsted hose, with a great variety of other goods. In 1731 James Vincent and Joseph Herbert dye all sorts 1 Bos. News Letter, 1720, March. 14. 2 Mass. Arch., ci. 626. 8 Conn. Col. Rec. 1717, p. 39. * R. 1. C. R., iv. 401, 454, 526. 6 Newport Hist Mag., iv. 84 ; and R. 1. C. R., iv. 474. 6 Caulkins, N. L., p. 409. » Bos. News Let, July 2d. 8 Ibid., April 14, 1726. 1713-45.] PAINTED FANS AND IRON ORES. 497 of women's wearing apparel, with embroidery and needle work ; glaze fine chintz and calicoes ; " press, callender and new pack goods for merchants." 1 We should look for fans amid the elegant belongings of those Boston dames whose refined luxury made such impression on Bennet. The fanmaker in Milk Street, in 1741, continues his fan-mounts, with painting, etc. When he cannot sell fans he is busy with " all sorts of English and Dutch Toys." 2 Iron, the great staple of industry, was produced in fair proportion to the development of other manufac tures. Much the greater part of the metal used was obtained from the bog ores of southeastern Massa chusetts. There was no large increase in the period we are treating. About 1721,3 the report to the home gov ernment mentioned the iron-works as erected " many years past." It ran that small quantities of the metal supplied the common use of the people, but in shipbuilding they preferred the better article from England. In the report, of 173j, six furnaces and nineteen forges are set down for New England. The mining of the more refractory ores yielded small results, though attempts were constantly made as discov eries were announced in new districts. New Hampshire was excited considerably by these movements in 1719.4 The export of iron ore was prohibited, and land was granted in Portsmouth for the projected works. Direct encouragement from royalty was asked for and denied.5 Lieutenant Governor Wentworth and other prominent cit izens engaged in the project. But by 1735 6 it was lan guishing for the lack of skilled workmen, who could not be retained at the work in competition with other industries. A copper mine at Symsbury, Conn., was opened in ) 1 Bos. News Let, June 24, 1731. 2 Bos. Eve. Post, June 1, 1741. * Doc. N. York, v. 598. 4 N. H. Proo. Pap., iii. 759. 6 N. H. Prov. Pap., iii. 754. 6 Belknap, iV. H., ii. 29. 498 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. 1721.1 A company had been formed to work it in 1707. An attempt at mining the same metal in Wallingford yielded but small results. Connecticut first proposed to establish a slitting-mill to draw iron into rods for nails and other purposes. She granted an exclusive right to Ebenezer Fitch and others at Stony Brook in 1716, and again at Suffield iu 1722.2 I do not find any evidence that the attempt was successful. But metal-working was gaining ground. There was a mill " for grinding scythes," operated by Henry Gray, at Andover, Mass., in 1715.8 Nathaniel Ayres had developed good facilities for forging heavy iron-work at Boston by 1720. Sawmills, " crinks for sawmills," iron-work for gristmills, and all kinds of anchors under 600 pounds, indicate a business of import ance for the period.4 We should expect that fishhooks would be included early in the range of the mechanic arts. And we find in the inventory of Adam Bath,5 at Boston, in 1717, a variety, — 6,000 tomcod, 5,000 flounder, and 10,000 " small fish hooks not finished." He had an assortment of wire, both iron and steel ; 2 bbls. of " fine card wire," and 3 lbs. of " card wire." This would indicate that he made cards as well as fishhooks. America has ever kept the pioneer and the mechanic in close unison. While iron and silver smiths wielded Tubal Yankee in- Cain's hammer in Boston, the hardy settlers at genuity. Concord, N. H., in 1729, faced another problem. A gristmill had been started, with a crank shaft tugged over on horseback from Haverhill. Hardly at work, the shaft broke on a flaw. No blacksmith, the iron nurse of early communities, was there, but the settlers knew what they were about. A pile of pitchpine knots made an impromptu forge.6 With beetle-rings and wedges they 1 Col. Rec Conn. 1717, p. 230. 2 Ibid., 1717, p. 312. 3 Bailey, Andover,?. 575. 4 Bos. News Let, July 24, 1720. 6 Suffolk Prob. Rec, xx. 8, 9. 8 JV". H. H. C, i. 159. 1713-45.] BUSINESS OF NAIL MAKING. 499 bound the broken parts together and finally welded the shalt. The wound thus rudely healed never opened again, and the shaft did duty for many years. The rolling and slitting-mill was an important industrial link when the human hand did most of the work Nafl rod8 now done by automatic machinery. The iron audnail8- nail was an indispensable implement in every country ; in colonial life, where buildings for shelter and contrivances for new industry were constantly being made, nails were always needed. The farmer bought rods, and in many hours when debarred from outdoor labor, often at the kitchen fireside, he hammered them into nails, — as im portant in his vocation as the claw tips of his own fingers were to the work of his own hands. The mill took the bar iron, rolled it into a ribbon, and slit it into these rods. The first was established at Mil ton, Mass. Peter Oliver, the celebrated loyalist and chief justice,1 established another at Middleboro', where he had lands and water power. It is said that he offered a re ward to any one who should obtain the secrets of the slit ting process, jealously guarded by the craft. One Hashai Thomas, of Middleboro', disguised himself, assumed sim ple-minded ways, and idled away his time around the mills at Milton. Too lowly in appearance to excite sus picion, he worked his way into the rude mill while the workmen were at dinner. Once in, his quick eye and natural mechanical gifts mastered the principles of the machinery. He constructed similar works at Middleboro', and Oliver's rods soon rivalled those from Milton in the market. Joseph Mallinson had a furnace at Duxbury as early as 1710. He appears at the General Court in 1739, Casting and is granted 200 acres of wild land in consid- lurnaoes- ^ eration of his services to the public in prosecuting his 1 I am informed by Mr. Weston, descended from a subsequent owner, that this mill was built between 1745 and 1747. 500 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. private business. These consisted, according to his peti tion,1 in cutting off importations of £20,000 per annum in hollow ware. He cast kettles, pots, and other ware in "sand moulds." Jeremy Florio, an " ingenious English man," is reputed to have introduced the art of casting in sand instead of clay, which had been the conduit and vehicle of the fiery stream of metal. I remarked on the importance of the introduction of casting by Joseph Jenks in the earliest days of colonial manufactures. A century has passed, and it is interesting to note this change to sand moulds, — an important step in the development of cast-iron. Guns were made in 1740, according to the statement of Richard Clark, of Boston, merchant ; with " great expense and pains," he had brought the business to " some good issue. J Berkshire valley in Massachusetts contains rich beds of ; . soft ores of superior quality, such as appears in | ^°^ect[cat Connecticut. At Salisbury 3 in the latter state, a bed was opened in 1740, and a furnace was established at Ancram. For sixty years an average of 2,000 tons of ore was taken out at Salisbury. About two and a half tons of ore made one ton of pig, and about four tons made one ton of bar iron. The production of the wrought iron depended on a supply of charcoal, as well as of labor. In Rhode Island James Greene began " iron works for refining " on the south branch of the Paw- tuxet in 1741.4 New England exported 5 a little pig iron to England, Exports of beginning with 6 cwt. in 1734-35, rising to 94 tons in 1740, and ending with 2 tons in 1745; of bar iron, 4 cwt., 1 qr., 21 lbs. went over in 1740, a mere accident of trade. At the same time Pennsylvania was 1 Mass. Arch., lix. 314. 2 Felt) Salem> » 170 8 Trumbull, Conn., ii. 109. * R. I C. R., v. 17. 6 Bishop, Hist. Manuf, i. 626. 1713-45.] GREAT DISTILLERIES. 501 sending moderate quantities ; Maryland and Virginia con siderable quantities, or 2,000 to 3,000 tons in a year. The New England figures interest us, revealing what was and what was not. Iron was produced in quantities beyond domestic wants, for it was exported. So little went that it proves the manufacture languished for reasons we have seen. Paper inflation, without doubt, stimulated these manufacturing enterprises at first ; then that force soon expended itself. So long as the local demand equalled the supply, iron could be exchanged for other products, however poor the circulating medium. When the supply rose to an outflow, it was checked by cheaper production in other quarters. The middle states had a better cur rency than our colonies had. The most important change in the manufactures of this period was in the introduction of distilleries for rum. Massachusetts and Connecticut undertook the business, but Rhode Island surpassed both in propor tion. Newport was growing rapidly in wealth, and in the means for commercial enterprise. Massachusetts held the fisheries by preoccupation, and by the advantage of nat ural situation. Newport found an outlet for its increas ing energies in the import of molasses and the manufac ture of spirit. The consumption of beer — the favorite beverage of the seventeenth century — appears to have diminished. Lumbermen and fisher-folk demanded a strong stimulant to ameliorate their heavy diet of pork and Indian corn. And the trade in negroes from Africa absorbed quantities of rum. Rum from the West Indies had always been a large factor in the movement of trade. The eighteenth century brought in the manufacture of New England rum with far-reaching consequences, social as well as economical. It was found that the molasses could be transferred here and converted into alcoholic spirit more cheaply than in the lazy atmosphere of the West Indian seas. 502 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. The beginnings of this great manufacture attracted lit tle attention from the inquisitive royal officials, always watching to report any productive enterprise. There had been distilleries x here and there on a very small scale. In 173^, in their oft-quoted report, the Board of Trade found " several still-houses and sugar 2 bakeries." This hardly represents the progress of the business. Connecticut 3 in May, 1727, prohibited distilling, as it made molasses dear, and the spirits were "usually unwholesome." But the prudent colonists could maintain this statute only six months, as it drove business to other colonies. / It is certain that a large business in distilling rum was | transacted in New England, and that it culminated about j 1735. In 1738, according to Burke, the quantity in Bos- 1 ton was as " surprising as the cheap rate at which they vend it, which is under two shillings a gallon.4 On Price's plan there were eight distilleries.5 Between 1735 and 1742, the quantity of molasses distilled in Boston fell off two thirds. The inflation and derangement of the cur rency deranged this industry, as well as the fisheries and shipbuilding. A still had been at work in Boston as early as 1714.6 They extended into the country towns. One was built at Haverhill in 1738.7 Long Wharf in Newport was alive with molasses com ing in and rum going out. The docks in Boston were busy also. Mr. Thomas Amory 8 built a " still-house " in 1722, bringing pine logs 28 ft. long, 18 in. diameter, from Portsmouth for his pumps. In 1726 he orders a copper still of 500 galls, capacity from Bristol, England. The 1 Suffolk P. R., xiv. 133. 2 At these sugar-houses they made double and treble refined, with " powder " grades. Bos. News Letter, April 2, 1725. 8 Col. Rec. 1727, pp. Ill, 138. * Rum was 3s. 6d. per gallon in 1722. M. A., exix. £74. 6 Mem. Hist Bos., ii. 447. 6 Mem. Hist. Bos., ii. 447. 7 Chase, p. 309. 8 MS. Letters. 1713-45.] LUMBERING YIELDS TO POTASH. 503 head was to be large in proportion, the gooseneck to be of fine pewter and two feet long, with a barrel in proper proportion to the whole still ; the price in Boston to be 270 per cent, advance over Bristol. Unless the making could be done in Bristol for twopence sterling per pound, he would rather have the metals shipped to be made up in Boston. Mr. Amory also distilled turpentine and rosin. He drew pitch from North Carolina, sending back rum and other merchandise in exchange. Connecticut1 granted the exclusive right to make molasses from Indian corn to Edward Hinman, of Strat ford, in 1717. There are indications that the business of making lum ber, sawing boards and shingles, so profitable in Decline 0l the seventeenth century, was now waning. In lumbenn&- 1718 they found it better to export timber from Maine, rather than to saw it into boards.2 They made a second attempt to manufacture tar in the Kennebec country. The best and most accessible trees in all the river valleys \ of our colonies had fallen under the pioneer's axe. A : product less bulky in transport, more valuable in kind' than lumber, must be had from the remote districts now invaded by settling families. Potash, or the " fixed and vegetable salt of ashes," came from this onset of the pioneer's axe, and the „ , 1 ' . Potash. purification of the settler's torch. The circula tion of money, though it was poorer than the wood, and almost as perishable as the cinders themselves, brought ashes out of the farther districts.3 It was claimed in 1717 4 that a laborer working one year could cut, clear, and burn the wood from four acres in any of the American colo nies. This fire upon four acres would yield eight tons of potash. A gang of three men, cutting, burning, " boiling 1 Col. Rec. 1717, p. 25. 2 Bourne, Wells and Kennebunk, p. 302. 8 Prov. Pap. N. H., iv. 836. 4 Force, Tract, i. 20, 21. 504 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713^5. and managing the ashes " on twelve acres, would produce twenty-four tons of potash, "a commodity of universal consumption," worth from £40 to £60 per ton. A new enterprise, small in pounds, shillings, and pence, a paper- Du* large in influence over the mind, — for it milL affected the spread of intelligence, — established the first paper-mill in our colonies. Daniel Henchman and others obtained some aid from the General Court, and began the manufacture of paper at Dorchester, Mass., in 1728.1 According to the Board of Trade report, three years later, they produced £200 in value annually, In the necessary article of leather we were able to fur nish nearly enough for our home consumption.2 Some things were produced which have dropped out of use. Bayberry We smile at the gathering of wax or tallow -from bayberry bushes by the roadside and in the pas tures. But Connecticut3 legislated to prevent the strip ping of the bushes before the tenth of September ; it was alleged that " great quantities " were illegally collected before the authorised date. And I find the wax and candles in a Boston inventory.4 The manufacture of hats attracted much attention and censure from the mother country. The industry is started in the " principal towns " by 1721.5 The company of hatters in London complain to the Board of Trade, 173|, that the supply had much increased, and that " great quantities" were exported from New England to Spain, Portugal, and the West Indies. This led to the act (5 George II., 1732) to restrain the number of apprentices in the colonies, and to prevent the export of hats. Tobacco, which was grown in small quantities and im ported from the Southern colonies, was manufactured in 1 Hist. Dorchester, p. 612 ; and Thomas, Hist Printing, i. 25. 2 Doc. N. York, v. 597. 8 Col. Rec 1724, p. 461. 4 Suffolk P. R., xxiii. 38. 6 Doc. N. York, v. 597. 1713-45.] STABILITY OF LAND VALUES. 505 Boston. Samuel Weekes,1 in 1740, leaves a variety of apparatus, " tin tobacco moulds," " tobacco paper," and twine, an engine, and a press. A wire sieve probably served for separating the cut tobacco. Wigs outlasted the anathemas of Judge Sewall, and the fashion supported at least one " peruke maker " in Boston. Samuel Dix 2 leaves nearly £40 worth of assorted hair in 1736, assorted in " tye," " necklock," " grizzled," and other varieties. Boston had employed silversmiths always ; by 1726 Newport had accumulated wealth sufficiently to gilver. put a good share of the incoming West Indian 8mith8- silver into domestic ware of all kinds. Samuel Vernon 3 and six others are named who for half a century prose cuted the manufacture. It added to the luxury of living, and funded the silver in convenient form when paper was of uncertain value. The great fundamental basis of all the productive activities, whether in manufactures at home or iu fish eries and commerce abroad, the land,4 — reservoir of 1 Suffolk P. R., xxxv. 384. 2 Ibid., xxxii. 525. 8 Newport H. Mag., ii. 187. 4 The following letter shows us the operations of some of the leading men in Massachusetts in land. The mode of interesting English capitalists is given (Sewall Papers, Am. Ant. Soe.) : — Major Sewall to J. Dummer. Salem est N. Eng"- June 3d, 1717. Sir I Congratulate you on y8 Safe Arrival of our good friend, Mr Jona Belcher, who is got Safe to us tho' our coast is much In fested with Pyrates whose arrival is Cause of rejouceing to y" Province in Gen" His Excellency our Govern* his adm" hitherto is wonderfull Acceptable y° Gen" Court now Setting. I hope all things will run Smooth if you remember I gave you y* trouble of Finding out Mr Allen to treat about a tract of Land that if any part Should fall -within his pretensions what he would ask for a Release &c. We have a Deed of Conveyance from y" Native Indian proprietor thereof & pray you to Inform us whether you think it might be obtain'd from ye Crovvne a Confirmation thereof whereby persons that 506 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-40. patience and storehouse of industry, — changed but little as the tides of paper inflation swept over it. Land' Actual values change little ; even nominal prices in paper fluctuate less than we should expect. In 1711 three acres of woodland are quoted at £15, " paper or silver."1 In 1737 an inventory2 in current paper prices gives 4 acres and 3 roods woodland at £25 ; also 61- acres pasture at £32. These are lands well situated near vil lages in Massachusetts. In 1716 laud near the bridge in Pawtucket,3 then in Massachusetts, was valued at £3 per acre ; " further off " it stood at £1. In 1719, 7-1- acres on the " Hartford Meadow " was worth £8 4 per acre, while in 1737 " plow land " near Boston was inventoried at £9.5 Farms at Worcester in 1739 are offered, by Irish settlers wishing to change their residence, at £300, £900, and £1,000. The sizes are not given, but they are called "good."6 Wheat had almost passed out of cultivation in the third are able would freely disburse for y" Settlem* thereof which would be a benefitt to many & hurt or damage to None, & y" more this wide, vast, woodey Country is Subdued and Settled y" more British Manufacture will be used in. Sometime there will be an Incredible consumption of English commodities here in this North- Methods of r . , . « land specu- ern English America pray S* Give me a Line on this head we would willingly part with Some few Guineas rather then fail to help forward therewith & take you in as a proprietor Equal with us if your phancy leads you thereto our Leiu' Gov' your Bro" is chosen one of y° Council. As opportunity presents I pray yo' favour as to my Son Samuel Sewall for Some buisness ; he is married and Setled in Boston if y° Assiento Comp* Should cause any branch of their Commerce to Extend to New Engd & if they would please to make tryal of him I hope they would find him Capable & Just. Yo' obed1 Ser' Stephen Sewall 1 Barry, Massachusetts, ii. 89. 2 Suffolk P. R., xxxiii. 319. 8 Goodrich, p. 32. 4 Hartford P. Rec, Inv'y John Eliott. 6 Suffolk P. R., xxxiii. 319. 6 Boston Gazette, April 2, 1739. 1713-45.] T1MBERW0W NOT AN EVIL. 507 generation of farmers. A little was sown on new up land clearings, as in the Connecticut valley,1 but the supplies came generally from New "York Wheat" and the Southern States. Indian corn was the staple grain of our colonies. The production of cider increased in this period. It is said that one village of forty families made 3,000 bbls. in 1721, while a larger one made 10,000 bbls. This proportion is exceeded relatively by the actual record of Judge Joseph Wilder, of Lancaster, Mass., in 1728. He made 616 bbls. in that year.2 The old pioneer methods of grappling with the wilder ness were dropping out. Waterbury, Conn., like other frontier towns, had been wont to burn the undergrowth in the woods to improve the common pasture. In 1713 it suspended this operation for seven years, that young trees might grow. Growing timber had ceased to be the greatest evil. The Indian trade, in these days of their degeneracy, afforded but little satisfaction. Massachusetts in 1724 3 was obliged to forbid citizens selling strong drink to them, or bartering goods for the Indians' arms and clothing. Connecticut regulated the lending arms or ammunition to friendly Indians, who yet might be soon found fighting for the French.4 New Hampshire had a project for pushing a truck- house as far north as the Pemigewasset River.5 The French excelled in tact and the facility for trading with the Indians ; but the English goods were superior and cheaper. New York6 made stringent laws for pre venting the sale of Indian goods to Frenchmen ; yet the trade went on. A certain amount of furs came through Albany, and New England reaped some advantage from them in her exchanges with that point. i Judd, Hadley, p. 362. 2 Lancaster Records, p. 332. 8 Mass. Arch., xxxi. 111. 4 Col. Rec. Conn. 1723, p. 381. 6 Prov. Pap. N. H., v. 95. 6 Doc. N. Y. Col., v. 577, 643, 687. 508 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. The general improvement in living and the increase of comforts I have indicated manifested itself in the gradual use of carriages. At the turn of the century, they were established as a luxury in Boston ; a few years later they were spreading into the smaller towns. In 1712 Jonathan Wardell set up the first hack ney-coach in Boston.1 In 1713 Margaret Sewall, Ste phen's daughter, at Salem, had a very difficult jouruey in a calash 2 from " beyond Lyn to Mistick," and " near Cambridge." They fed the horse with oats at Lewis's, a noted road tavern near Lynn, and drove by the " Blue Bell," another hostelry. They gathered " bearberries " by the wayside. In 1717 3 Moses Prince, brother of the annalist, saw at Gloucester a carriage of two wheels for two horses ; the drawing of it was said to resemble a modern cab. Cap tain Robinson, of " schooner fame," had built it for his wife. It marks a change in the ways of travel and the habits of general living that in 1728 John Lucas, of Bos ton, offers the use of a coach and three able horses to any part of the country passable for a coach, at the common price of hackney saddle-horses. This was for the ani mals ; then he charged for the " coach & harnish as one horse," and for the driver 25s. per week. Within Boston he charged " 8s. a time." On the Sabbath he carried to " Church or Meeting, for 8s. per Day, which is 2s. a time." 4 By 1732 5 carriages were so common that at the funeral of Lieutenant Governor Tailer a great num ber of the gentry attended in their own coaches, chaises, etc. In 1738 the Province tax on coaches, chairs, etc., was carefully collected.6 In 1724 a sleigh is noticed in Boston. The second quarter of the century established a much 1 Mem. Hist, ii. 452. 2 SewaU MS., Am. Ant. Soe. 8 Felt, Salem, i. 518. 4 New Eng. Weekly Jour., May 27, 1728. 6 Ibid., i. 315. 6 Bos. Eve. Post, July 10, 1738. 1713-45.] INCREASING LUXURY. 509 higher standard of comfortable living than the first gen erations of colonists could afford. The change was marked by improvement in the ways of travel co°mes°iux.e" as well as in other comforts. By 1740, when my' Bennett made his visit to Boston and wrote his account,1 instead of the occasional coach of state, a lofty luxury, carriages of various kinds had become an ordinary com fort. Judge Sewall took a lady on the pillion to a lec ture or other social gathering as " a treat." Now the ladies "take the air" in a chaise or chair, drawn by one horse and driven by a negro servant. The gentlemen ride out " as in England," some in chairs, others on horse back and with negro lackeys attending them. And more significant of their departure from colonial simplicity is the fact that they travelled on business in the same man ner. In pleasure or business their habit was the same, and the sturdy men of affairs were taking on the manners of a gentry. The black laboring-man had become a body servant ; for wherever there was wealth, luxury crept in. Newport followed Boston closely. Boston's largest communication was still along the northeastern shore ; 2 and great improvements Roads and were made in the roads and ferries of New travel- Hampshire.3 But the increasing intercourse southwest- ward, and on to New York, gradually improved the ways in that direction. The grandsons of the men who ex pelled Roger Williams were travelling and trading so much among his descendants that they were willing to establish better communication. In 1713 4 the two col onies built the first bridge at Pawtucket, and three years later a Massachusetts committee laid out a highway con necting with it. Rhode Island, always late in improving 1 Proc. Mass. H. S. 1860, p. 124. 2 For detail of this route in 1713, see Essex Inst, xi. 24. 8 Prov. P. N. H., iii. 803 ; and N. H. H. C, vii. 354. 4 Goodrich, Pawtucket, pp. 32, 141. 510 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. its ways of travel, laid out highways by an act in 1725, which was extended in 1741. By 1736 the great increase of travel required a line of stages between Newport and Boston. One Thorp received exclusive privileges for seven years.2 The precursors of the great modern " express " organ isations began early in the century. Peter Belton, "late post-rider," started that sort of communication in 1721, once a week, from Boston, on Tuesdays, returning from Newport and Bristol on Saturdays. He carried " bundles of goods, merchandize, books, men, women and children, money, etc." He let horses with side saddles, etc., without charge for returning them. He kept a tavern or ordinary "at the sign of Rhode Island and Bristol Courier in New bury St. Boston." The same business is advertised by Edward Brown in 1740, and by Jonathan Foster in 1745.3 Along the interior and remote highways, carts with two to six oxen 4 made their toilsome way. and sound Tradition puts the first passage of " a team " from Connecticut to Providence in 1722.5 This is probably true, for the General Court of Connecticut found it necessary in 1724 to license a tavern at the ferry house on the east side at New London, to be " well pro vided for the entertainment of men and with a good stable for horses." 6 The first bridge over the Pawcatuck between Connecticut and Rhode Island, at Shaw's Ford, now Westerly, was said to have been built by contribu tion in 1712. The second structure dated from 1735.7 These changes indicate increasing travel over the least 1 R. 1. C. R., iv. 364 ; v. 40. 2 Ibid., iv. 527. 8 Bos. News Let, April 17, 1721 ; Bos. Eve. Post, April 28, 1740 ; Bos. News Let, Aug. 8, 1745. 4 Proc. Mass. H. S. 1860, p. 124. 6 R. I. Hist. Mag., vi. 19. '^6 Col. Rec Conn. 1724, p. 480. ' Denison, Westerly, p. 138. 1713-45.] DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORT. 511 frequented part of the route between Boston and New York. Madam Knight had some of her most lively ex periences along the south shore of Rhode Island about twenty years before. On the other end of the route, Ebenezer Hurd1 in 1727 began to ride post from New York to Saybrook once in two weeks. This humble forerunner of the mails, telegraphs, and telephones of the New York and New Haven line rode his circuit for forty- eight years. In 1717 the colony had granted the privi lege of a wagon from Hartford to New Haven for seven years.2 In the North, travel was extending and pushing out the pioneer routes. Privileges for ferries 3 were being granted almost constantly in New Hampshire from 1721 to 1743. Some time between 1730 and 1739 the Fore River was bridged at Stroudwater in Maine.4 The ways were not all smooth, nor did the New Eng- landers all ride in chairs with glossy-faced black Hard ways lackeys in waiting. On the frontier lines, the oftravel- struggle with nature still went on. We get occasional glimpses of lusty pioneers, the same in kind with those who made the seventeenth century New England; men and women, too, they made their mark. Captain East man was on horseback dragging a barrel of molasses over the then rough ways of Haverhill 5 by a car. This vehi cle consisted of a pair of shafts fastened to the horse and resting on the ground ; across these, and near the ends, the cask was lashed. Rising and jolting over a hilltop, the lashings of the barrel gave way; it rolled to the bottom, smashing its hoops and sweetening the poor earth as it went. " Oh dear ! " exclaimed the perplexed pioneer, as he looked back upon the possibilities of cakes and 1 N. Haven Gazette, Jan. 19, 1786. 2 Col. Rec. Conn. 1717, p. 37. 8 Prov. Pap. N. H., iii. 803 ; Town Papers N. H., ix. 89. 4 Willis, Portland, p. 441. 6 Chase, p. 255. Contrastwith. Fr Canada. 512 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. pies, now wasted and lost. " My wife will comb my head — yes, and harrow it too." If any one thinks that I have marked too distinctly the economic features in the history of our or- thFrench ganisation and settlement, let him consult the comparative statement of the Jesuit Charlevoix 1 at this time. He saw that the New France lacked just what the New England had : " there reigns an opulence by which the people seem not to know how to profit; while in New France poverty is hidden under an air of ease which appears entirely natural. The English col onist keeps as much and spends as little as possible ; the French colonist enjoys what he has got, and often makes a display of what he has not got. The one labors for his heirs ; the other leaves them to get on as they can, like himself." No line of development in our institutions reveals this forecasting spirit and policy of our fathers more clearly than the community in our towns. The founding and organisation of a town exhibits a political prescience and sagacity admired by all the world. But it shows more. Into these structures of common life the New England freemen breathed a spirit of order, a regulation of cus tom, which conveyed and moulded all their living, — the outcome of their daily desire, domestic and religious, eco- constant nomic and political. This evolution of the com- of commu. munity was indicated in the beginning.2 The process in no wise changed after a century of growth. The elder towns, having conceived, labored for new communities ; parturition was hard, birth slow and difficult. When accomplished, this outgrowth was not a mere helter-skelter irruption of families into the domain of nature; nor was it a race of individuals for the wealth and opportunity of a new district. A well-ordered com munity, strong in a common purpose, rich in inherited 1 Cited by Parkman, Old Reg., p. 393. 2 See above, p. 47. 1713-45.] FRONTIERS MADE INTO TOWNS. 513 thrift, sprang ready armed from the Olympian creator of bodies politic, and planted the germ of a state upon the rocky soil. The delayed settlement of Brimfield, Mass.,1 already referred to,2 was organised by slow and painful steps in the period now under consideration. All the liberal privileges of the first grant having been exhausted, new concessions were obtained from the General Court. The halting course of this town reveals the difficulties some times encountered, and it marks by contrast the general success of the system. An extension of time was obtained. In the first allot ment only eight lots contained as much as 120 acres ; out of 67 lots the majority ran from 50 to 80 acres. In some instances one son of an original grantee had a lot also. The settlement dragged, and in 1731, after much diffi culty, the committee of the General Court awarded 69 lots of 120 acres each, increasing the original grants gen erally. A remainder was held in common. Then the first town meeting was held, and constables, surveyors of highways, " houg refes," fence-viewers, " Thying men," etc., were appointed. It was remarked in 1717 that the little hamlet had remained nearly seven years without a "teaching priest." Common lands were generally administered for the di rect benefit of the freemen and their descendants. This custom was not invariable, but it was the rule.3 About 1726 there was a marked movement in the older towns, like Boston and Salem, on the part of individuals, to buy wild lands in the new towns, and in the commons of the old. Prices in Hampshire were from one to three New England shillings per acre.4 In settling Penacook,5 N. H., where the Contoocook 1 History, pp. 241, 260, 265, 281. 2 See above, p. 404. 8 Norwalk, Ct., Rec, p. 111. 4 Judd, Hadley, p. 299. « N. H. H. C, i. 154, 155. 514 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. empties into the Merrimac, each settler paid the Province n . . £5 for his right in 1725. If he failed of " fallow- Organising a t> , new town. j^ fencing, or clearing one acre" withm a year, he was to forfeit £5 " to the community of settlers." When 100 were admitted settlers they were empowered to hold proprietary meetings. Three rights remaining were reserved, — one for the first settled minister, one for a parsonage, one for the " use of the school forever." At the first meeting, the proprietors resolved that no lot should be sold to any one without the " consent of the community first obtained, under pain of forfeiture." In 1730 they voted 50 acres of land to the blacksmith.1 This making an institution of the most necessary trades was common. At Keene, N. H., in 1737,2 100 acres of "mid dling good land " and £ 25 was voted to any one who would found a sawmill," prices for sawing for proprietors to be fixed at 20s. per M., " slit work " at 3s. 10c?. per M. In 1738 a set of blacksmith's tools was bought by the town. In 1737 the proprietors had allotted 100 acres of " upland " to each house lot. Ipswich 3 granted land for a house to Samuel Stacey, a clothier, that he might carry on his trade. And Cambridge voted in the negative in 172| on the proposition to grant £50 to Joseph Hanford " to fit him out in the practice of physic."' The growth of the proprietary meeting into the town meeting is interesting everywhere. The smaller Proprietary ° ° J and town communal body enlarged gradually into the more popular and political body, but not without halt ing, and even backward steps. The town of Colchester,4 Conn., voted in 1714 : " Whearas, we formerly granted our lands to perticqler persons by a towne voat," in future the power was vested wholly in " the proprietors of Colchester." In 1740 New Hampshire empowered two congrega- 1 N. H. H. C, i. 161. 2 Ibid., ii. 76, 79. 8 Felt, p. 96. 4 Records, p. 13. 1713-45.] A VIOLENT CLERGYMAN. 515 tions in Chester,1 one " called Congregationalists, and one called Presbyterians," to meet and act separately in rais ing money, and in assessing taxes for support of the min isters respectively, and for building and repairing meeting houses. The ecclesiastical and political machinery of the time ran in close contact. Worcester, in 1724, holds Ecclesiasti. a town meeting to see if in choosing a minister cal customa- the " town will concur with the Church's choice." 2 The good Puritans generally preferred ecclesiastical to civil law. There were few lawyers. Connecticut limited the number to eleven for the whole colony in 1730, but repealed the restriction shortly.3 A volume might be written to display the curious social life these records show in the New Hampshire towns. In 1723 Colonel James Davis and his wife Elizabeth being about to join the church at Durham, N. H., their former pastor presents a formal document 4 to enter his objection " by virtue of ye com munion of churches." He makes four counts against the husband, and three against the wife, all most edi fying : " 2d crime is his Sacrilegious fraud in his being The ringleader of the point peoples first rase of my first years sallary, retaining 16 pounds thereof now almost sixteen years." And again, " 4th his late wresting the Law of this Province in his partial Spite agst his own legal minister for so innocently playing at nine pins at a house no ways license for a Tavern . . . besides his the sd Jas. Davis being so desperately & notoriously wise in his own con ceit, his pretending to have so much religious discourse in his mouth, and yet live so long (40 years) in hatred unto contempt of & stand neuter from our crucified Saviour." Among other faults of the lady he cites, " 3rd crime is 1 N. H. Town Pap., ix. 105. 2 Worcester Rec, ii. 27. • Palfrey, N. E., iv. 582. 4 N. H. Town Pap., ix. 236. 516 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. her being disorderly as a busy body at every one of her husbands Courts to be his advisor or intermedler in his passing judgmt in any case, as if he shd regard her more than his oath, the Law or evidence." The gentle shepherd proposes to prove his allegations, then to turn these children of light into minions of dark ness by due process of ecclesiastical procedure : " As bap tized children of the covenant by their prop1 minister, they are both of ym laid under ye censure of this pasto ral rejection as unbaptized heathen man and woman, as Warranted by the law of Christ in Titus 3:10, I Tim0 1:20, Titus 2:15, Math. 16:19, Mai. 2:7, Saml. 15:23, Math. 3:10, Acts 8:13:21:23, untill publick Confession & amendm* of life." These were rude and frontier districts, where the minis ters' games of bowls made ecclesiastical politics, and where judges' wives interfered in the court docket. In the pas sion of the moment these childlike disputants seized any means of social contention ; ecclesiastical and civil law were caricatured alike. The parish of Durham was fruitful ground for those a „„,;„„,, curious ecclesiastical movements which reveal A curious parson. ^e springs of social life in the eighteenth cen tury community. Fifteen years later Rev. Hugh Adams l brought a suit in court, and inveighs against the appellees, his " enemy," after the manner of the Jews in a more primitive period of civilisation. He had been an advocate of Governor Belcher, and the larger politics of the Prov ince are mingled with these parish doings and personal disputes. The clerical plaintiff is confident in the justice of his cause ; moreover, he has discovered that the " Pa triarch Joseph (under the infallible Inspiration of the Holy Ghost) made it a law unto this day " that Pharaoh should receive the fifth part (Gen. xlvii. 26). The cas uistic method of rehabilitating the modern Pharaoh is 1 Prov. Pap. N. H., v. 36, 37. 1713-45.] A SOPHISTICATE PARSON. 517 most ingenious, and only possible to an eighteenth cen tury shepherd at loggerheads with his lambs. His " con science" has labored in the deep conviction that when any " Kings Representatives in his Court of Equity '"' shall decide any case therein according to " good con science," they shall be " distinctively remunerated." But as he is " justly " convinced that three of the Council will favor his opponents, he rules them out, and promises the whole fifth of the final award to the three others, who will be in his favor. He relied on the casting vote of the gov ernor, probably, for he makes a bond for himself and heirs, duly witnessed, agreeing to pay the fifth part of the expected judgment to the favoring judges, as above stated. The governor was to communicate the matter of the bond to each of the three councillors, but it was to be " con- ceal'd prudently from every other living person." If either should decline the gratuity, and yet should concur " in the full judgment of my honest case," then the whole sum should go to the governor himself. This was in tended in no wise " as a bribe, but a just tribute for Equitable judgment as required by the Supreme Judge (Romans xiii. 4, 6). The best-laid plans will fall out, and the governor did not choose to wrap himself and Rev. Hugh ThegOT. Adams in prudent concealment. Far from it ; Z!™thl he found his political account in " communicat- par60n' ing narratively" the contents of the bond in quarters where it did the wily governor the most good and the art less shepherd the most harm. The selectmen of Durham caught the Scripturally instructed litigant on the hip and threw him out of the parish. In 1739, the year after the bond was executed, Adams x wrote to the governor com plaining bitterly of his betrayal ; and he stated that the bond became " my most scandalous crime for unsettling me." But he protests against its being construed as a i N. H. Prov. Pap., v. 39. 518 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. bribe, which he abhors in giver or receiver. " Besides if mistaken and misimprov'd as a bribe, I've supposed it my Duty, by my said Bond of security upon my Heirs and Ex ecutors, for an Antidote against any real Bribes intended or proffer'd by implacable enemies." What Jesuit casuist could exceed this distinction between a " mistaken anti dote " and a " real bribe " ? If beaten in the Province and the town, that forum where ecclesiastical machinery, political manoeuvre, and social quarrelling united in a hotbed of intrigue, the par son could wrap his gown about him and renew the fight on another ground. The citizen has failed, but the minis ter towers above a poor governor in New England, like an archangel hovering over a worm. He arraigns the earthly magistrate, who " so hurtfully trespassed against and de spised me, and the most High God, as evident from Luke x. 16, xvii. 3, 4 ; II Cor. v. 20, therefore as though God Beseecheth you by me, I pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to the God of Spirits." He begs the governor to repent, in order that the mighty Adams, by his " Mas ter's commandment, may say I forgive you." Our forefathers were strong in affairs, and virtuous in ordinary living; they were well grounded in common . . sense, but the things beyond sense turned their Their view . , , . denoe0"" heads- Iney made the spiritual life — that un seen world so immanent and always impending over them — into a travesty of this petty world. It will be observed that the casuistical Adams, so shifty with his texts, puts " inspiration " with a capital i", after the method of his time. Special providence — the actual and mirac ulous interference of the Deity in our common affairs — was quite as fertile a field for fancy as these egotistic Scriptural interpretations of Adams. Rev. George Cur- wen, a worthy member of a prominent Salem family, re cords gravely among other providences, " When but an Infant of a yr & half old, I fell into ye fire, & God 1713-45.] TOWNS SUPERVISE CLOSELY. bid might have so ordered it yt yr by I might have been sent to have burnt Eternally in hell." Church and state, town and parish, meeting for reli gious exercise and meeting for freemen's privi lege, all worked together in embodying the com- troi of town mon ideas of the people. An essential part of every community was in the control of its own affairs, — a control to be maintained by a homogeneous body of voters. The freemen clung closely to their right of keeping out outsiders. In 1714 x Boston reiterates that no one shall entertain a stranger without notice to the town authori ties, with a description giving the circumstances of such stranger, etc. No person settling could open a shop or exercise his trade without a certificate from the town clerk. In 1723 2 " great numbers have very lately been transported from Ireland to this Province," and Boston, fearing that they might become chargeable, requires that all be registered. Cambridge3 in 1723, having suffered through the entertainment of " sundry persons and fam- iles," provides that no freeholder shall admit a family " for the space of a month," without a grant previously obtained from the town. Sometimes this oversight was exercised by the selectmen and town officers, but often the town itself votes on these questions. Worcester 4 in 1745 votes that John be allowed to build a house and occupy a garden on the public land, " provided that what is now don dont opperate against ye Town, So as to Invalidate the warning him out of Town & his being Caried away, and that he be a Tenant at will." No inhabitant could receive cattle or horses to run on the common unless the animals belonged to a proprietor or freeholder. Warning out of town was common enough. The actual occurrences hardly need particular mention.5 1 Bos. Town Rec, p. 104 2 Ibid., p. 177. 8 Paige, p. 129. 4 Records, ii. 57. « Chase, Haverhill, p. 279 ; Worcester Rec, ii. 38, 123. 520 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. Rhode Island was so liberal in her ecclesiastical polity as to worry and dismay the seventeenth century men of the Bay, making their descendants groan through many generations. Though heaven and hell were loosed, the strings of economic management and town thrift were held stiffly enough to gratify any Puritan. In 1737 the council clerk of Portsmouth gives certificate to the town council of North Kingstown, on account of Matthew Allen, " desirous to settle in your town with his family, if you will admit thereof, and whenever you order the contrary this town will receive them again." x Our more complex system of civilisation has to struggle with masses and to deal with vice and crime in bulk. It has lost some of the excellent details of management which careful oversight of communal affairs developed in the early New England citizen. Salem 2 in 1725 had a loose woman in charge, and the town provided a spinning-wheel, a pair of cards, and some wool, that " she may be em ployed." An interesting study in social history might be made indentured fr°m the scattered facts on record concerning servants. ^.jie winf;e male and female immigrants appren ticed or bound to service. This went on more or less from the beginning. Besides the influx of freemen and freewomen, gentle or yeoman, there was a number of ban ished convicts and a steady stream of laborers, forced to sell their service to pay the expense of this transfer to the better opportunities of the New World. Valuations of unexpired serving-time were common matter in inven tories. Advertisements 3 for the sale for seven years or less were common. Among the first arguments used against negro slavery was the proposition that blacks, coming in to be bought, 1 Narrag. H. Mag., iii. 90. 2 Felt, Annals, ii. 400 ; Boston T. Rec, pp. 171, 176. 8 Bos. News Let, April 15, 1714 ; April -J.5, 1715. 1713-45.] AMERICAN ABSORBING POWER. 521 kept out whites who would come owning themselves. Therefore the true capital of the community was dimin ished by a bound slave, while it might be increased by a free servant coming in. These incoming people were serfs in no sense, though their liberty of person was abridged by the cruel lack of sufficient property to effect their change of abode and destiny. In many, probably most, instances they achieved a new destiny, enlarged and elevated ; the stronger men became proprietors of land, the women married freemen and citizens. These immigrants were not mere waifs and strays. In the few glimpses into their condition we get through the advertisements 1 of runaways, we see evidence of the train ing and skill of artisans, as well as the common attributes of serving-people. A house carpenter, a " tayloi*," and a "cloathier," mentioned especially, show the varied char acter of their occupations. The places of emigration were in great variety, and furnish another proof of the com posite mingling of blood which went on constantly in the growth of the American nationality. Irish, North Brit ish, German, a "Jersey boy" and a "Jersey maid,"2 were all melted in a fierce ethnical crucible, and were blended together by that strange assimilating power work ing constantly in American history. This American absorbing process has not been free from rivalry and competition in any period. other coun. Other climes and other institutions have sought Pete%Co°rTm- eagerly to divert to themselves the persons whom mieratlon- America has attracted without an effort. We have seen Cromwell's fruitless endeavors. In 1744 the governor of " Ratan Island, Honduras " advertised 3 in Boston for set tlers, offering extraordinary privileges. He called espe- i Bos. News Let, Aug. 24, 1713 ; Aug. 11, 1718 ; Bos. Eve. Post, Oct. 17, 1735. 2 Ibid., and also News Let, Sept. 7, 1713 ; April 25, 1715 ; Dec. 23, 1725. 8 Bos. Eve. Post, Aug. 30, 1744. 522 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. cially for " joyners, carpenters, smiths, shoe-makers, peri wig-makers, taylors or others." Each settler could have 50 acres of land for himself, 50 for his wife, 20 for each child, 15 for " every white person in Family," 10 for each slave. All settlers were freed from any debts contracted elsewhere. The island was reported very healthy, and well stocked with game. In the midst of this abundance man alone was poor ; not for lack of Nature's bounty, — the potato and banana, deer, wild hog, and green turtle, almost begged to be eaten. The balmy and mild air required only the slightest effort of the tailor in clothing these happy exiles. Eve's fig- leaves were abundant enough, but Adam had developed higher and even stronger wants. Above his head must tower that grand social superstructure, the wig. There were brains enough for thinking, not heads enough to pro duce the raw material in hair requisite for the adornment of eighteenth century gentlemen, even in Honduras. Per iwig-makers would find land, but the British crown gov ernor demanded gravely that they " bring Hair and other materials with them." Next to persons, the commons — land undivided and used for the good of all combined — occupied the tion of the attention of these district legislators and admin- commons. . m, , . , istrators. Ihe characteristic business of herd ing flocks and managing droves of cattle upon the com mons was carried on very much as it was nearly a century earlier. Even Boston did not give up the " town bull " until 1722.1 The institution was thenceforth to be main tained at the expense of the owners of the cows. And the following year the price was fixed at 5s. 6d. for any person keeping a cow on the Neck, toward providing four bulls in summer and two in winter ; in addition he was to pay 6c?. per head for a certificate from the cow-keeper. It is curious to find a large community like Boston and a 1 Bos. Town Rec, pp. 171, 176. 1713^5.] COMMUNAL MANAGEMENT. 523 sparsely settled province like New Hampshire both work ing over essentially the same problems of communal man agement. New Hampshire l bends itself to a better en forcement of its statute for fettering horses and horse-kind between March and the last of October ; " which giveth a liberty of five months for those horses to trape over fences and tread and spoil our meadows." And in 1741 they equalised the rates for taxes in all the towns, accord ing to a classified list.2 A " township " on the Piscataqua River, having sixty houses and a sawmill actually built in 1738, offered fifty acres of land to any family joining them.3 When any proprietor did not pay a tax assessed by his co-residents in a township, they advertised his " rights " at auction, as in Winchester, Mass., in 1741.4 Colchester,5 Conn., sold a black stone horse, three years old, because his height fell below the legal requirement. In this massing of droves, earmarks and other brands of ownership were very important. They were registered, often with a rude drawing to define the mark ; as in An dover,6 Mass., for James Frie, " a half cross cut out of the under side of the left ear, split or cut out about the middle of the Top of the ear, called by som a figger of seven." In 1733, Windsor,7 Conn., put the sheep of the town into three flocks, to be further divided if necessary. These flocks were assigned different pastures, and the whole matter of hiring a shepherd, folding, etc., was directed by a committee for " ordering the prudentials." As I have mentioned before, the commons were broken up and sold differently in the various towns ; often por tions had been misappropriated by individuals.8 Municipal routine and regulation did not classify and 1 Prov. Pap., iii. 805. 2 See N. Hamp. Prov. Pap., v. 165. 8 Bos. Gazette, 1738. 4 Bos. News Let, May 14, 1741. 6 Records, p. 10. 6 Bailey, Hist, Dec. 25, 1734. 7 Stiles, p. 15. 8 See Butler's Groton, p. 46. 524 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. establish itself without many halting steps. I have al- Eeguiation hided to the disputes about markets and public of markets. gaies m tne previous generation.1 Academical themes always interest, for they illustrate the questions agitating the popular mind in their day. In 1725 the candidates for master's degree at Harvard 2 proposed, " Can the price of articles for sale be regulated by law? " answering in the affirmative ; and " Is it always lawful to give and take the market price ? " answering in the nega tive. In both cases the young economists formulated opin ions exactly opposite to those prevailing in a later time. Weights and measures, the regulators of domestic ex change, were overhauled thoroughly in 1730. New models of the Winchester standard3 were obtained from his Maj esty's exchequer, and the constables of every town, not al ready supplied, were directed to procure sets within three months. The most prominent and significant memorial of eigh- Paneuii teenth century economic history is in the now humble brick building, then " incomparably the greatest benefaction ever yet known to our western shore." I shall treat Peter Faneuil more at length in his relation to the foreign commerce of the period. Now we must consider the founder of Faneuil Hall,4 given to Boston in 1740. The benefactor hardly lived to see the higher uses of his admirable creation, for the first town meeting in the hall was on the occasion of his funeral eulogy in 174|. The hall was for the community of Boston in concourse assembled ; but the main purpose of the building was in a market for the petty intercourse of persons in daily buying and selling. The hall, rebuilt after a fire in 1761, came to be, in the life of the following generation, literally the " cradle of American liberty." Its most significant feature is in the fact that it was the gift of a private nier- 1 See above, p. 406. 2 Proc. M. H. S. 1880, 124, 137. 8 Mass. Arch., cxix. 323. 4 Mem. Hist. Bos., ii. 263, 463. 1713-45.] MARKET-PLACE AND NATION. 525 chant, prompted by the necessities of the economic life of the people. Political machinery in the germinating pe riods of the Revolution was necessarily more or less un der control of the royal officers, and persons under crown influence, especially in crowded centres of population. On the other hand, economic life underlies and precedes po litical government and administration. Always, in polit ical crises, where towns have existed, the burgher and the burgess have rallied to support the noble and statesman. In old " Faneuil," that guild temple of traders and alder men, butchers and clerks, hucksters and civic magistrates, the spirit of the people conceived an embryonic nation. It was not without much difference of opinion and agi tation that this municipal concentration of mar- citizen and keting was achieved, and this convenient means freeman- was provided for developing the Boston freeman into the American citizen. Great results always swallow and as similate many minor causes. Any student of our New England community perceives the constant interplay of two forces. One bound the citizen down with many ties, economic, religious, and political, creating his social re sponsibility ; the other impelled the freeman outward, to the possession of himself in his own liberty ; the fellow must be less than the man. The liberty of marketing — of buying or selling one's goose at pleasure, to profit or no profit, which Uring1 noticed a generation earlier — was disputed ground, and was a matter of freeman's privilege. The market in Boston was opened and closed fitfully sev eral times. The record of petitions and counter-petitions 2 attest the public interest, especially about 1730. Even after Faneuil's gift had been accepted, many wished the market closed. All this regulation of markets is an in teresting phase of local history.3 Parties for and against public markets were almost equally divided, when Fan- 1 See above, p. 406. 2 Mem. Hut. Bos., ii. 463. 8 See Felt, An. Salem, ii. 193. 526 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. euil offered to build one at his cost. A petition of some 343 leading citizens, including Hutchinson, Eliot, Gray, , Chardon, and Scollay, asked for a town meeting to con sider the proposition. But while 367 votes were in favor, 360 were cast against it. The founder did not fal ter, but enlarged his plans; the splendor of his munifi cence outshone and illumined the stolid opposition. Town offices, as well as the hall for 1,000 persons, were placed in the market building. This municipal palladium, to- gethe*-with the Old South, became the meeting-place of Boston freemen. New Hampshire appointed market and fair days in May and October, at Hampton Falls, in 1734. We wonder that parties could divide on the question Municipal OI markets in Boston when paternal government Mnstryand was freery undertaken in other directions. The trade. purchase and sale of grain for supplying the citizens was a regular business of the selectmen for many years. Notes of operations1 maybe found in 1713, 1715, 1716, 1718, 1722, 1724, 1725-1728. At one time in 1716 the stock on hand was 5,000 bu., and in 1718 the fathers bought 10,000 lbs. of bread for public use. The weight of the penny loaf was regulated from time to time.2 They varied the economic parts of municipal business by excur sions into the domain of morals. They entertained com plaints against Rivers Stanhope for keeping a dancing- school, and against Edward Enstone for a music-school.3 Individuals and persons as well as communities and governments had their rights of conscience. The scruples of a Seventh Day believer or a Sabbatarian came in to confound municipal regulation. Nathaniel Wardell. ad vertised February 14, 1743, that he could not weigh hay 1 Bos. Town Rec, pp. 99, 121, 127, 133, 171, 185, 191, 197, 199, 210, 221, 239. 2 Bos. News Let, Aug. 27, 1724. 8 Bos. Town Rec, p. 236. 1713-45.] TOWNS MANAGE SPINNING. 527 on that day, as was his office. His conscience affected his scales also : " both he and his Engine will rest from their Labour on that Day." 1 Some change was made, for a notice given the next week says that weighing on Saturday would be performed as usual. The town ex tended its communal grasp into industry as well as trade. In 1720 2 a committee recommended the procur ing a house and the hiring a weaver, whose wife should instruct children in spinning flax. The children were to be furnished by the overseer of the poor, and the town was to pay their subsistence for three months. After that the master was to allow them their earnings. The town was to provide twenty spinning-wheels, and offered a premium of £5 for the first piece of linen spun and woven in the town, if worth 4s. per yard. The proposi tion was changed the next year into an offer of £300 to be loaned without interest to any one undertaking the school. At first " good security " for the loan was re quired, then " personal security " was declared sufficient. The modifications of the scheme from time to time show the constant interest of the people in it. Indeed, the towns varied their action according to the view of social management prevailing in the community of any district. The old Germanic eccentrici- and English governing customs continued, inter laced with new and sometimes eccentric actions prompted by the immediate democracy. Not often, but sometimes, the staid bodies of freemen escaped the routine of polit ical development and gave themselves to the passion, even to the fancy, of the moment. Worcester 3 " perambulates the bounds " of its territory, and Hardwick 4 elects " 2 tiding men, 2 fence viewers, 2 hog-reaves," in the old style ; while in Cape Cod,5 a widow having been burned 1 Bos. Eve. Post, Feb. 14, 21, 1743. 2 Bos. Town Rec, pp. 148, 153, 162. 8 Records, ii. 16. 4 Paige, p. 38. 6 Freeman, p. 211. 528 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. out, the town votes her the materials of the old meeting house toward rebuilding. They keep the pews for the owners, lest individual and communal rights should clash in this irregular charity. Dedham x and Hanover 2 kill wildcats ; while Bristol 3 fines householders 5s. — one half for the poor, one half for complaint — for any chimney fire blazing from the top. Salem 4 forms a fire club in 1744. In the Rhode Island towns this democratic ten dency shows itself most fully. In East Greenwich it had been the custom to build houses fourteen feet square, with posts nine feet high ; in 1727 the town votes that houses shall be built eighteen feet square, with posts fif teen feet high, with chimneys of stone or brick as be fore.5 In 1745 the town voted to expend £90 in tickets in the Providence lottery for building Weybosset Bridge ; only £29.5 of prizes returned from this losing venture. If we would pass from the characteristics of the com munity to the essential and peculiar features meeting- e of the individual men and women composing it, we shall find no better transition steps than in the curious methods for seating persons in the meeting houses. If we had the whole record of the doings of the congregations in classifying and seating their members, it would picture forth the social condition of New Eng land in our period. Aristophanes' comedies would not be more entertaining or instructive. Each man must be considered, and changing circumstances must be embodied in the social privilege of his seat. Then the women ! Court chamberlains could not have adjusted all their sub tile claims and conflicting rivalries. Committees duly appointed, from' time to time, worked out these difficult problems as they best could. 1 Worthington, Dedham in 1734. 2 Barry, p. 35. 8 Munro, p. 157. 4 Felt, ii. 366. 6 Greene, East Greenwich, pp. 16, 38. 1713-45.] GLORIES OF THE FORESEAT. 529 Judge Sewall, in position, influence, and urbane de meanor, was thoroughly fitted for the task. But he dreads his responsibility for assigning the inUthlE a y seats in 1713, and fears that his non-action will injure his son Joseph, the newly made pastor of the Old South.1 Again, when he marries Mrs. Tilly in 1719, he would have sat with her in his own "pue." But that was too retiring a position for a judge's lady, and the " overseers " invite her to sit beside the magistrate in the " Foreseat." Worcester 2 grants Hon. Adam Win throp the first pew to right of the door, fifteen others being assigned. "Foreseat," second seat, etc., were main tained for places of consolidated rank, as in Boston. Colchester,3 Conn., has all the metropolitan sense of dis tinction, voting the pew next the pulpit " to be first in dignety, the next behind it to be 2d in dignety & the fore most of the long seats to be third in Dignety," etc. Richard Hazzen, in Haverhill,4 Mass.', is allowed to build a small pew, as he has " no place to sit but upon courtesy of Mr. Eastman or crowding into some foreseat too honor able for me." The building changed in outward form very little dur ing this period. The interior was developing constantly. The foreseat shone in the full refulgence of heaven, and lesser places were equal to the lower steps of the heavenly throne. New London 5 votes Mrs. Green, the deacon's wife, into the foreseat on " the woman's side," and Mercy Jiggrels into the third seat. But here the communal au- thority girded itself for tasks even more minute, preca rious, and delicate. The families of two brothers-in-law occupied a pew together : the upper seat being the post of honor, neither wife would yield precedence, and the quarrel waxed strong. Finally the town meeting ap- 1 M. H. C, vi. 379 ; vii. 234. 2 Records, ii. 27. 8 Records, p. 14. * Chase, p. 253. 6 Caulkins, p. 379. 530 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713^5. pointed a committee to hear all the facts and assign the seats. Do not imagine that this arranging of seats for the Evolution of congregations was in any way peculiar to Bos- society. ^Qn^ jjew L0IM}0I1) or any other locality. It was a necessary evolution prevailing everywhere, and proceed ing from principles I have defined. First the community fell into a democratic meeting on the long seats, then an aristocratic selection was gathered into pews. New dis tricts generally went through a process similar to that already described, and occurring so frequently in the first- settled towns. In western Massachusetts, about 1717, pews came in slowly. Many persons disliked that the town should build pews for the principal families while " others sat in seats." x Votes for building a few pews were reconsidered generally before their actual accom plishment. We remark the community was now passing beyond mere sufferance of the aristocratic distinction. At first it allowed, after much discussion, private persons to build for themselves especial pews. Now the whole community reluctantly but certainly took unto itself the business of seating the families of its promiment members in a decorous manner. The meeting-house itself was improved and elevated in its style, a change according with the general improve ment in living we have noticed. The Old South, built in Boston in 1730, is a present example of the style of archi tecture prevailing. Dr. Porter 2 considers this the type of meeting-houses for the century following. It had two galleries, and the houses in the populous towns of Milford and Guilford in Connecticut had the same. That at Guil ford mounted the first steeple in Connecticut in 1726. J Old Trinity Church, at Newport, R. I., was known from an early day as " the Church." Episcopalians have al ways cherished this preferential nomenclature with fond care. 1 Judd, Hadley, p. 319. 2 New Englander, xiii. 308. 1713-45.] COLONIAL MANSIONS. 531 The ordinary houses of the average people we are con sidering were little changed. In 1745 not a house in Kennebec (now Maine) had a square of glass in it.1 The style of one and two storied dwellings remained «Coionial„ like that of the previous half century, and paint architect™e. began to be used about 17 34.2 But a more sumptuous and larger type dates from the beginning of the century. Sir William Phipps's " fair brick house " was noteworthy in 1692. Brick was well established after the fire of 1711. The buildings erected in Cornhill were of brick, and generally three-storied. What is now known as colonial architecture, gradually developed, dates some of its best examples from about 1720. Boston, the lesser towns, and especially Newport and Salem, built many fine three- storied mansions. Solid and portly, like their merchant owners, these houses — of brick in Boston, generally of wood elsewhere — took good hold of the present, and waited in quiet dignity for the coming generations. The nation was new and in embryo. These stately houses al ways seemed old. The Brom field and Faneuil Bostonm]m. homesteads were examples in Boston.3 The slons- Champlin or Chesebrough house still standing in New port 4 is a fine specimen of the ample luxury of these clays. A wide hall from front to rear suggested the comfortable country dwellings of our English ancestors, and the stair case was as roomy as it was elegant. Wainscots mounted from floor to ceiling, while carving in relief adorned the mantels. Broad window-seats looked out upon well-or dered grounds, and four entrances opened their hospitable doors to a gay and social concourse of friends. The large houses in Boston, which were preserved for subsequent generations, had these features and surround ings, as is well known. Many dwellings went out in the changes occurring through the growth of the large towns, 1 Bourne, Wells and K., p. 650. 2 Chase, Haverhill, p. 95. 8 Mem. Hist, ii. 521, 523. 4 Mason's Reminiscences. 532 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713^5. which had the same arrangements for living in ample comfort. R. Auchmuty's house in Essex Street, Boston, was offered for sale in 1738,1 with gardens, coach-house, stable, wood, cow, hen and three coal-houses, with a back kitchen in an outhouse. We remark the large provision for coal. Grates were common, and the coals 2 of Scot land, Newcastle, and Nova Scotia were burned in them. The mansion was wainscoted from " garret to cellar," ex cepting one chamber, which was " well hung." The most of the chimney-pieces were in marble, with hearths of the same stone ; all had " Glasses over them." In 1721 3 a brick dwelling-house in King Street, renting at £41 per annum, was appraised at £400. Another house, of wood, in the same street, with garden, yard, wood-house, and smith's shop, is priced at £1,000 ; a wharf, £300 ; a large wooden warehouse, £325 ; three other wooden do., £675 ; one brick do., £300. A lime-kiln was located near the Bowling-green in Boston, 1723.4 An estate offered at £700 in 1732 brought an income of 8 per cent.5 The large towns were more luxurious,6 but comfort, increase of moderate affluence, and ordered good living, ap- luxury. pears to be the rule in all the older parts of our colonies. The dress of the people of the better sort did not change its general character in the half or three quar ter century which saw the development of New England commerce, and the large increase of wealth among the 1 Bos. Gazette. 2 Bos. News Let, Sept. 23, 1724 ; Ibid., March 23, 1732 ; Ibid., Oct. 22, 1737 ; and Bos. Evening Post, July 26, 1736 ; also R. Hale's MS. Diary, Am. Ant. Soe. 8 Bos. Gazette, April 24, 1721. 4 Bos. News Let, March 28, 1723. 6 New Eng. Weekly Jour., Dec. 4, 1732. 6 Samuel Greenwood (Suffolk P. R., xxxvi. 68, 69), in Boston, had eleven pictures, "Metzintinto,'' valued at £5. Rev. T. Harvard had six " Apostles " in frames, two being glazed, valued at 12s. An. King's Chap., i. 428. 1713-45.] MORE GENEROUS LIVING. 533 people. Materials were richer and more abundant, and wardrobes were more ample. The royal governors, coming shortly after commercial prosperity began, helped the on ward course of luxury, but the main cause was in the more abundant resources of the people. The staff and at tendant officials of the governors, the ladies coming from polished society, formed a miniature court in Boston, the influence of which went through all the settlements. But it was rather the more subtle and diffused influence of the mother country, working through intercourse and cor respondence, which shaped and affected the customs of our land. Gentlemen wore the deep, broad-skirted frock-coat so long established. It was more or less orna- Gentiemen's mented with varied trimmings, running up to dres8, gold lace in the more splendid specimens. But the use of broadcloth was becoming more general, and embroideries or trimmings were not so necessary with this solid ma terial. The long waistcoat, deep - pocketed, with loose, swinging flaps, hung over breeches or small-clothes, hose, buckled shoes, frills or cuffs, neck-bands and ruffled shirts, a felt hat,1 generally three-cornered, completed the dress of the better sort of citizen. Almost every inventory to ward 1745 contains a valuable suit or at least a coat of broadcloth, generally black, but sometimes in shades of fancy color. Adam Winthrop,2 in 1744, had a black coat and waistcoat valued at £12 ; six ruffled shirts at the same figure, one holland and one dimity waistcoat, with an old gown, completed his wardrobe. One of the best- dressed men by the record, in 1741, was William Ben nett : 3 a " suit of fine dark-colored broadcloth clothes," £35 ; a suit of gray Duroy, £20 ; a coat and breeches of " grey cloth," £12 ; blue cloth coat, £2 10s. ; light-col ored cloth coat, £5 ; dark frieze coat, £3 ; an " Allipeen 1 Felt, An. Salem, ii. 170. 2 Suffolk P. R., xxxvii. 399. 8 Ibid., xxxv. 417. 534 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. speckled jacket & breeches, £9 ; red Whitney jacket & breeches, £1 10s. ; white plain fustian jacket, £2 ; brown hollaud coat & jacket and 3 pair breeches, £2." In an other instance, Captain Thomas Templer's l best suit was a "double Alpeen coat & breeches," £25. He had " Padusoy," figured velvet, " grogrum," and black cloth waistcoats ; in addition to his coats, a " fustian " frock and a serge coat. But serge is not as common as it was at the close of the seventeenth century. They seemed to wear jackets in undress or half dress. The wealthy mer chants wore rich dressing-gowns of flowered silk or other material. Generally there was a blue cloak or greatcoat in a good outfit. Captain Samuel Osgood, of Andover,2 Mass., in 1743, had a suit of red, another of blue, a dark green coat and jacket, an " old white coat, with camlet and fustian jackets." The captain had one fine linen shirt and six of cotton, stockings both yarn and worsted. Plush was a common material for breeches. Both cotton and holland, i. e. linen, were used for sheets.3 In a Hartford inventory of 1719 all the shirts were linen.4 William Mitchell,5 a " merchant " of Windsor, Ct., in 1725, had a blue coat, another of duffel, another of gray drugget, one do. blue, a suit of " beggars' velvet," and leather breeches with silver buttons. His wardrobe was ample and varied, but not as valuable as the better sort in Boston. Leather breeches kept in, well through the century; breeches generally worn by servants and laborers, thev survive. " J appear also in well - furnished Boston6 ward robes. Most substantial men had walking - staff s, fre- quently with silver heads. Silver watches, rapiers, and pistols were common. Ensign Leffingwell, at Norwich, Ct., in 1724, had, perhaps, the largest estate there, valued at 1 Suffolk P.R., xxxviii. 368. 2 Bailey, p. 79. 8 Suffolk P. R., xxxiv. 127. 4 John Eliott, Hartford P. R., May, 1719. 6 Ibid., 1725. 6 Suffolk P. R., xxxiv. 327. 1713-45.] RUNAWAY SERVANTS. 535 £9,793 9s.1 He had elegant furniture, abundant stores of linen, with some plate, and wearing apparel worth £27. This did not include wigs, side-arms, etc., which were accounted for separately. This is an index and one of the signs of the increasing wealth scattered among the people, in the fact that the wardrobe is a very small fraction of the estate. It was not so in the cen tury preceding. As we saw in 1670 and 1680,2 the dress of a man of substance was an important item in his inventory. The fabrics and stuffs for all this varied wearing ap parel were being imported constantly from Europe, espe cially from England and the Mediterranean ports, where the fish and timber laden vessels made their exchanges. They were offered for sale 3 by traders, who received them from the Faneuils and other merchants. The stocks were generally mixed, containing all goods, from pork and hard ware to ribbons and laces. Runaway servants, white and black, are often adver tised,4 and their dress indicates the costume of Dress 0I the lower classes. Leather breeches are the servants- most common item, and coats with frogs appear fre quently. The garments are similar to those worn by the masters, but in poorer quality of material. The dress of a runaway " English man-servant " is a complete picture of the luxurious living prevalent in Boston in 1741 :5 "A blue straight-bodied coat with black velvet buttons and black button holes, a bluish silk camblet jacket, a fine white shirt with ruffles at bosom and wrists, cloth breeches, 1 Caulkins, Norwich, pp. 191, 192. 2 See above, p. 290. 8 See Bos. News Letter, Nov. 17, 1712 ; Dec. 8, 1726 ; Nov. 6, 1735 ; April 8, 1736 ; Bos. Gazette, Oct. 15, 1733 ; Bos. News Letter, Dec. 11,1735. 4 Bos. News Letter, May 17, 1714 ; Aug. 27, 1716 ; July 14, 1718 ; Aug. 25, 1718. 6 Ibid., Feb. 5, 1741. 536 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. worsted stockings, new calf-skin shoes with metal buckles, a blue shag greatcoat, a beaver hat and a linen cap." Metal shoe-buckles for women were worn until about 1727, when they went out, together with the fashion of square-toed shoes ; x the round or peaked toe of the seven teenth century came in again, " pointed to the heavens in imitation of the Laplanders." Alas for the manes of Samuel Sewall, who fought wigs Troubles ~vfith every possible weapon, — scriptural, ethical, from wigs, economical, and prudential! By 1740 they were in such common wear as hardly to be noticed. In 1721 they still vexed the Puritan mind, and a meeting at Hampton, after solemn consideration, decided "ye wear ing of extravegent superflues wigges is altogether contrary to truth." 2 About the same time, in the quiet precincts of the Old Colony, the Rev. Joseph Metcalf, who carried a sensible pate under his artificial tresses, devised a better way to trim his top-gear, and at the same time employ the restless energies of the female critics of his congregation. They had complained of his new wig as " too worldly." He made each one trim off locks of hair until it suited them all.3 The dress of the ladies was growing richer ; it did not Ladies- fully surpass the male bird until the next gen eration. A " fine brilliant diamond ring " was advertised in 1738.4 Whitefield, on his visit to Boston in 1740, complained of the " jewels, patches and gay apparel commonly worn by the female sex." The finery of boys and girls and of infants, also, vexed the eager evangelist. Bennett says in the same year, " both the ladies and gen tlemen dress and appear as gay in common as courtiers in England on a coronation or birthday." 5 Madam Eliza- 1 Newhall, Lynn, p. 90 ; Drake, Roxbury, p. 54. 2 Coffin, Newbury, p. 221. 8 Freeman, Cape Cod, p. 443. 4 Bos. Evening Post, February 20, 1738. 5 Proc. M. H. S., p. 125. 1713-45.] SINFUL HOOP-PETTICOATS. 537 beth Gedney, in 1738,1 has fourteen shifts, £8.4 ; nine handkerchiefs and thirteen petticoats, £10.7. A " suit of dark-colored flowered silk " at £8, a striped lutestring gown at £7, a velvet hood, a lutestring do., two silk aprons, all at £1.4., make up the wardrobe of a comfort able matron. The hood was an important item for every lady. Mr. Thomas Amory in 1724 writes to England for a " good fine fashionable riding hood, or a cloak with a hood to it, embroidered." 2 Auy color suitable for a young woman would be agreeable, except scarlet or yellow. An umbrella was carried about 1740 by a dame of Windsor, Conn., whose husband brought her various elegances for her toilet from the West Indies. It excited so much attention and satire that her neighbors mocked her on the streets, carrying sieves balanced on broom- handles.3 The greatest innovation in the realm of feminine adorn ment was an immense hoop, which spread the Hoops lutestring skirts in ample volume, like a fishing- c0lnem- smack under full sail. In 1723 Pepperell, afterwards Sir William, married Mary Hirst, granddaughter of Judge Sewall,4 lofty people on both sides. Among other presents he gave her a large hoop. The fashion was well established by 1727, for Mr. Amory condemned a lot of petticoats received from a consignor because they were too scanty for hoops. Such a breezy revolution in the volume of petticoats 5 did not come in without profound ethical disturbance and physical portents, according to the 1 Suffolk P. R., xxxiv. 14. 2 Amory Correspondence, MS. 8 Stiles, Windsor, p. 482. 4 Parsons, Pepperell, p. 26. B 1722. Rev. Hugh Adams inveighed against wigs and hoop- petticoats, prophesying Indian barbarities in consequence. " Therefore I must adventure to divine, If reformation can't among you shine Quickly in wigs and hoops : the mistake 's mine If on frontier's f .. od savages shan't dine Before one year 's expired," &c. Proc. Mass. Hist. S. 1855-58, p. 326. 538 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. magnitude of the change. The good women had hardly adjusted their trains to the enlarging demand of fickle Fashion, when Nature, by an unusual disturbance, fright ened the poor dames into narrower draperies. An earth quake occurred, and the people of a considerable town in Massachusetts were " so awakened by this awful Provi dence that the women generally laid aside their Hoop Petticoats." x Rings were the most common article of jewelry, and the gift of these with scarfs and gloves became as general and inapposite as the useless custom of bridal gifts in our day. At the funeral of Governor Belcher's wife in 1736, over 1,000 pairs of gloves were given away. In 1742 an act forbade the giving of rings, scarfs, or gloves at funer als, except six pairs of the latter to bearers, and one pair to the pastor ; it did not stop the practice, however. I referred to women's shifts in an inventory. This Marriage garment, essential as it was, symbolised a curious m a shift. custom, which marked a step in the evolution of the institution of marriage. The new husband was generally responsible for the previous debts of his bride. If he married her in her shift or chemise on the king's high way, then the creditor could follow her person no further in the pursuit of his debt. Many such marriages were recorded in Rhode Island, often " at evening," as on the 20th day of April, 1 724, at Westerly.2 The practice con tinued a half century or more later. The observance on the highway relaxed, for I have seen a certificate stating that the bride stood in a closet, extended her arm through a hole in the door, pledged her vows, and joined her heart to the palpitating groom, who stood with the company assembled in the adjoining room. We are always curious to know how another generation Their diet ate anc* drank, what nourished the daily board, and what good cheer warmed the social life. 1 Mag. Am. Hist, ii. 631. 2 Town Records. 1713^5.] EARLY TEA DRINKING. 539 These things animate the time. The greatest change ever effected in diet, except through alcoholic spirits, was made by the introduction of tea and coffee among the Western nations. Malt was superseded by alcoholic spirits and by cider in New England ; finally tea and coffee supplanted these as the common beverage. The political conse quences, of this economic introduction of tea some three score years later into our colonies, were too vast to be ex pressed here. It suffices to say that in this little Chinese leaf was folded the germ which enlarged into American independence. We wonder that Sewall did not mention tea in all his fussing about wines, chocolate, raisins, almonds, figs, etc. It was advertised, together with coffee, other ° ' ' & drinks. by Edward Mill, Sudbury Street, Boston, May 24, 1714,1 " Very fine green tea, the best for color and taste." In 1718 the accounts at Lynn 2 say it was "little used." There were no tea-kettles as yet, and when the ladies went for a gossip and drinking, each carried her own teacup, — very small, — with saucer, and spoon. By 1740 Bennett finds the ladies in Boston drinking tea, and " in dulging every little piece of gentility and neglecting the affairs of their families with as good a grace as the finest ladies3 in London." 4 Madeira wine and rum punch were 1 Bos. News Letter. 2 Newhall, p. 313. 8 Tea and tea drinking was matter of comment in England as late as 1740, as we see by the following old English letter : — " They are not much esteemed now that will not tr%at high and gossip about. Tea is now become the darling of our women. Almost every little tradesman's wife must set sipping tea for ail hour or more in a morning, and it may be again in the afternoon, if they can get it, and nothing will please them to sip it out of but china ware, if they can get it. They talk of bestowing thirty or forty shillings upon a tea equipage, as they call it. There is the silver spoons, silver tongs, and many other trinkets that I cannot name." — Coffin, Newbury, p. 191. 4 Proc. M. H. S. 1860, p. 125. 540 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. the social drinks, while the "generality of the people with their victuals " drank cider, which was plentiful at three shillings per barrel. There was no good beer,1 yet English malt was imported occasionally. Coffee was planted in the West Indies about 1720, but it made its way slowly in our colonies. A coffee-mill appears occa sionally in the inventories during this period. Chocolate was common, and handled by elaborate methods.2 Robert Hale3 confirms the free drinking of wine and punch. On his way to Nova Scotia in 1731 he is royally enter tained at Portsmouth by Benning Wentworth, Hunking, Walton, and others. He is not allowed to go to a tavern, but is taken from house to house, where " splendid treats " are served. He saw no women at these parties, excepting the serving maids. And, according to another account, sumptuous entertainments are given in New London,4 at the Browne- Winthrop and the Stewart-Gardiner marriages. Bennett's5 account of food and marketing in Boston in Boston 1740 is careful and full. Butcher's meat, beef, market. mutton, lamb, and veal averaged 'id., the very best 6c?., New England currency ; venison plenty and cheap ; poultry very cheap, — turkeys at 2s. which would be 6s. or 7s. in London ; wild pigeons abundant and cheap from June to September ; a twelve - pound cod at 2d ; smelts plenty ; salmon about Id. per lb., and it was at the same price on the Connecticut River ; 6 oysters and lobsters in course, the latter in large size at three half pence each ; bread cheap, but not as good as the average in London* ; butter excellent at 3d. ; cheese neither good nor cheap ; milk at London prices, but full measure. They tried to get good cheese, though our varieties did 1 Bos. News Letter, May 6, 1736. 2 New England Weekly Journal, May 1, 1727 ; and Bos. News Let ter, December 30, 1731. 8 MS., Am. Ant. Soe. 4 Caulkius, New London, p. 408. 6 Proc. M. H. S., pp. 112, 113. 6 Judd, Hadley, p. 315. 1713-45.] FORKS ARE MORE COMMON. 541 not suit a European palate. Rhode Island furnished the best here, probably the best in America. Cheshire was imported constantly. We presume Bennett included only the domestic varieties in his criticism. Loaf sugar was used, and " white " English salt bettered the poorer sort from the Tortugas. Irish beef and butter come, though the latter is sometimes only fit for the soap-boiler; wheat from Maryland and flour from New York, with " pease " from Albany. " Choice ship, white and milk bread " appears.1 This was the comfortable diet of the larger towns, and of affluent people. The commonalty ate salt pork and fish, baked beans, Indian pudding, rye-and-In- The common dian bread, fried eggs, and black broth. A tabIe- " boiled dinner " of salt meats, cabbage, and other vege tables, flavored together, was a common dish, served gen erally in wooden trenchers. " Barley fire - cake " for breakfast, parched corn " nocake," and for company cake made of parched corn and strawberries, was served. Baked pumpkins were common in winter.2 Potatoes were scattered about after 1720 ; the first crop in Haver hill yielded only the balls for cooking, for they did not find the tubers until next spring's ploughing.3 Knives and forks appear in stocks of merchandise by 1718.4 The forks were still a luxury, for in the same year Judge Sewall, then courting Mrs. Denison, presents her with two cases, each containing a knife and fork ; " one Turtle shell tackling, the other long with Ivory handles squar'd cost 4s. 6d." 5 Sewall's experiences, in his various courtships before contracting his second marriage, are very enter- *» ° . , - Courtships. taining. After a long and happy married lite, i Bos. News Let, Aug. 19, 1734 ; Sept. 25, 1735 ; Dec. 1, 1737. 2 Drake, Roxbury, pp. 56, 57. 8 Chase, Haverhill, p. 250 ; Coffin, Newbury, p. 190 ; Bourne, Wells and K., p. 647. 4 Suffolk P. R-, xxi. 415. 6 5 M. H. C, vii. 188. 542 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. his wife, Judith Hull, died October 19, 1717. By the sixth of February following he had put off the old love sufficiently to pen this naive statement : " This morning wandering in my mind whether to live a Single or Mar ried life."1 In less than three weeks more, he could gossip with neighbors in this fashion : " They had laid one out for me; and Governor Dudley told me 'twas Madam Winthrop. I told him had been there but thrice, and twice upon Business: He said Cave tertium." 2 The most striking feature of all his courtships 3 is the sordid ne- vei7 sharp bargaining on both sides. These in- gotiations. nocent widows and this kindly magistrate hig gle like hucksters and pedlars. Madam Winthrop, in her turn, was " courteous," but spoke " pretty earnestly " about his keeping a coach : " I said twould cost £100 per anum; she said twould cost but £40." He gave Mrs. Denison a pair of shoe-buckles, cost 5s. 3d., and in another interview told her " twas time now to finish our Business. Ask'd her what I should allow her ; she not speaking, I told her I was willing to give her Two [Hundred ?] and Fifty pounds per aniim during her life, if it should please God to take me out of the world before her. She answer'd she had better keep as she was, than give a Certainty for an uncertainty ; she should pay dear for dwelling at Boston. I desired her to make proposals, but she made none." Either the charms of Mrs. Gibbs were less dear, or his passion had weakened, or the general bride-market had fallen, for he was much more severe in chaffering with this poor lady. He proposes that her sons be bound to pay him " £100 provided their mother died before me : I to pay her £50 per aniim during her Life, if I left her a widow," — the £100 being to indemnify him against former debts in her " administration." Marriage settle- 1 5M.H. C, vii. 165. 2 Ibid., p. 172. 8 Ibid., pp. 199, 202, 269, 300. 1713-45.] HUCKSTERS IN MARRIAGE. 543 ments must never be viewed too closely, but the petty spirit appearing in all these negotiations is painful. Romance in matrimony was superficial; the economic factor was deep and abiding in a prudent people just yielding to the approach of luxury. Notwithstanding the judge's wary scruples, his example did not seriously af fect his young relative, Samuel. He was a " bride man " at the wedding of Conrade Adams's nephew in 1713. Cupid seems to have seized upon his susceptible heart after the ancient fashion, and he " could scarce Refrain his thoughts from the Bliss of matrimony." J When the groom carried his bride home " wee were all decently merry two days after the conjunction." Woman, a " sweet sex " even in the singular celibate eyes of Sir Thomas Brown, was held closely to -woman's in- domestic matters, according to modern notions. fluence- Yet she influenced larger affairs, as well as that social world all societies have yielded to her almost exclusively. When she trespassed into the outward world of govern ment and administration, she made her gentle hand to be felt. In 1713 2 "most of the Gentlewomen" of Boston waited on the governor " with Prayers and Tears " for the lives of Berry and Mark, condemned to be hanged for counterfeiting paper money. The poor governor's firm ness melted in this torrid flood of sympathy. But the feeling against counterfeiters was very urgent and strin gent. This incident shows the constant power of feminine sentiment. Though in a dispute for a wife between two men in Boston 3 one sold his right for 15 shillings, the wives seem to have been able to take care of themselves generally, and the condition of widows was considered carefully in the disposition of property. The bulk of estates was real generally, and the right of dower protected the widow. 1 Stephen Sewall's Papers, MS., in Am. Ant. Soe. 2 Bos. News Let, Sept. 21, 1713. 8 Bos. Eve. Post, March 15, 1736. 544 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. In nearly all wills there are minute provisions for the minor rights and comfort of the widows. In Gideon Freeborn's will,1 at Portsmouth, R. I., 17$, he leaves his wife the use of the " great lower " room, with lodging- room adjoining, firewood and fruit, the use of bed and bedding and of a " good gentle riding horse," one bed and bedding for her own disposing, and £15 yearly dur ing her widowhood ; if married again, she would receive only £10. The use of a riding-horse was a common bequest to widows. Governor Benedict Arnold, a merchant of New port, but dwelling in Jamestown, R. I., in 1733,2 after pro viding well for his widow, and leaving her the service of three negresses, left a three - year - old gray horse, to be kept in a particular pasture, for twenty years. It was to be for " the use of the women of the public ministry of the Quakers " who desired to visit in their ministry any part of New England, New York, or Philadelphia. Freeborn left a bedstead, etc., to remain in his house for " the ac comodation of friends as occasion requires." All of this shows a kindly use of property among the Society of Friends. The estates were divided sometimes among the chil- Divisionof dren evenly, or nearly so, but not always. A estates. partial primogeniture, following English tradi tions, prevailed frequently. The sons were preferred over the daughters, almost without exception. Generally, the larger the estate, the greater the relative difference. Pepperell, the father of Sir William, in 173', left his daughters £500 each in addition to their marriage por tions and previous advances ; then, after a few bequests, the whole of the large estate descended to the future baronet. The daughters and sons-in-law were much dis appointed.3 1 R. I. Hist. Mag., v. 228. 2 Ibid. (Newport), iv. 22. 8 Parsons, Pepperell, p. 17. 1713-45.] VERY POOR LITERATURE. 545 In turning the pages of these wills and inventories, and in reading the meagre lists of books found among these excellent people, we wonder that such poor literature could sustain the mind of so intelligent and practically educated a people. The occasional poems reveal the thin imagination, lean culture, and dull, heavy men- Their tal routine, of their lives. A long poem in 1729 P°etry- on the deaths of Revs. Messrs. Thatcher and Danforth, by Rev. J. Danforth, of Taunton, Mass., is a type : — " Their Temper far from Injucundity Their tongues and Pens from Infecundity. All to their office-work subordinated ; A work unrivall'd, not to be check-mated ; A work, upon the Wheels forever going ; 1 A work, (whatever else was done) still doing," etc. Think of these pompous platitudes rolling on through hundreds of lines ! We are prepared for the statement that the library of Harvard College contained in 1723 no volume from Addison or his fellows, nothing of Locke, Dryden, South, or Tillotson ; Shakespeare and Milton had been acquired recently.2 The Boston inventories contain few books. We wonder that we find so few traces of the stocks of John Dunton, and the booksellers of a generation earlier. Edward Watts3 bound books at Boston in 1728, Rev. Thomas Harvard, minister of King's Chapel, serenely confident that he would find " no Gout or Stone " in heaven, started on his journey thitherward in 1736. He left a scanty library, " only ninety works, mostly small and of poor quality,"4 — among them, Fuller's " Medicinal Gymnastica," one vol. ; Sydenham's Works, one vol., 14s. ; Howe's " Blessedness of the Righteous," one vol., 8s. The pious scholar was an active writer, and left stacks of unsold publications of his i Hist. Taunton, p. 287-289. 2 Palfrey, N. E., iv. 384. 8 Suffolk P. R., xxvi. 319. 4 An. King's Chap., i. 427-429. 546 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION [1713-45. own. In an invoice of books sent to Rev. Mr. Curwen, Salem, from Boston, in 1717, there appears, among a num ber of obsolete works, a volume, " Apophtegmata Curiosa," at 2s.1 The largest library at New London in 1726, belonging to George Dennis, contained 139 books, " mostly of small value."2 The most comprehensive list I have seen covers the library of John Eliott, Esq., at Hartford, in 1719.3 It contains 243 titles. The brilliant and permanent liter ature of Queen Anne had made hardly any impression in our colonies, but this collection had two volumes of " The Tattler." It is a most heterogeneous lot, — old histories, sermons, a few medical books, and more upon law, miscel laneous literature, almost all now unknown to the ordinary reader. Then I find the classics always known : books like "Naturali Phylisophia " go out with the generation making them, while Homer and Cicero are read in per petual succession. Among remembered titles are the " Whole Duty of Man," " Call to the Unconverted," Eras mus's " Colloquies," Calvin's " French Commentary," " Religio Medici," " Defence of Human Learning," Ba con's "Book Learning," Aristotle's "Logic," Josephus, Cicero, Lucan, Horace, Ovid, Virgil, Homer, and Seneca. Boston had five printing presses in 1719, and booksel ler's shops were numerous about the Exchange. Book auctions date from 1717. " Mother Goose " appears. The " News Letter," after fifteen years, had attained a circu lation of only three hundred impressions in 1719. But room was found for the " Gazette " at that time. The " New England Courant " began in 1721.4 We cannot give a history of literature, but any story The coming OI the social life of New England would be in- of Berkeley. comp]ete which should not notice the advent of 1 Curwin MS., Am. Ant. Soe. 2 Caulkins, N. L., p. 351. 8 Hartford C. P. R. 4 For these and other details of the literature of this period, see Nar. Sr Crit. Hist Am., v. 121, 137. 1713-45.] BERKELEY'S INFLUENCE. 547 Bishop Berkeley, one of the greatest minds of all time, — the greatest foreigner ever sojourning here : his stay and his work left lasting marks on Newport, the place of his abode. These influences reached far beyond the lim its of the little eighteenth century paradise on fair Rhode Island. He brought not only a great intellect and great metaphysical insight, but the broadest and most generous culture known in his time. New England had not read the literature of Swift and Addison ; they had in Berkeley more, — the power that makes letters. This was some thing quite different from anything known in Massachu setts or the Connecticut valley for the first two centuries. Commerce always broadens, but there are merchants and merchants. Faneuil and his fellows in Boston were fed by the men living on such literature as we have noted. Tho Malbones, Wantons, and the rest lived in an atmos phere animated by the genius of Berkeley. John Smy- bert, a Scotch artist, came with Berkeley. His presence in the colony stimulated the rising love of art. Henry Collins, an accomplished merchant at Newport and a patron of the arts, commissioned portraits of Berke ley, Hitchcock, and other divines.1 The great idealist came in 1728, and left about 1730. His gift of books — the best then known in Berkeley's America— was the foundation of the library of ^^"^ Yale College. The Society of Knowledge and Virtue,2 springing from his influence and his direct intervention,3 dates from 1730. Channing was born just fifty years later. The soil of heredity in which Channing germi nated was first cultivated by Berkeley. Jonathan Ed wards published his first work attracting general atten tion about 1746 ; he died in 1758. In these two mental poles, in these two centres of intellectual life, inhered the ideal forces which controlled New England, moulded i Callender, R. I, p. 44. 2 Ibid., R. I. 3 Newport H. Mag., iv. 67. 548 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. her thought, broadened her Puritanic tendencies, and gave her the lead of America. The first book published in Newport is said to have been "A Looking Glass for Elder Clarke and Elder Wightman," by William Claggett and other aggrieved Baptists. It was issued in 1721, supposed to have been printed in Boston by James Franklin, the brother of Ben jamin. Franklin afterwards located at Newport, and pub lished the " Rhode Island Gazette " in 1733. The political, ecclesiastical, economical framework we Atypical have been considering served to embody and town- convey the social life of the people ; a people who had descended literally from their English ancestors,1 and had not yet ascended to the plane of our forefathers, the builders of the American republic. Dedham,2 in 1736, was a type of the early towns made on our soil, — offshoots of those first companies settling on the shore, then putting forth communities instinct with Germanic and Puritanic life ; a life speedily adapting itself to the conditions of a new hemisphere. There were some 1,500 inhabitants, nearly all farmers, stretching their homes six or seven miles away from the village, where few besides farmers were left. The separation between close church life and scattered economic life concentrated in families — deprecated by Governor Bradford in the beginning — had accomplished itself. For all these people, there was one minister and one schoolmaster employed for a few weeks in one place. There was one physician, a few mechanics, 1 Benjamin Colman, writing from England to Stephen Sewall about 1717, claims that the dissenting clergy were equal to those bred in the Established Church. He said the "Act agt Schism" was caused by jealous dread of the Nonconformists. " Whereas they saw with Envy as many fine Scholars and Preachers as we could desire rise up from a private Education, that shone as bright as any of their own Doctors, their spite has burst them, & spread out this Act.'' Sewall Papers, MS., Am. Ant. Soe. 2 Worthington, p. 59. 1713^5.] CONCERN ABOUT TRIFLES. 549 and no tiaders. The high consciousness and citizenhood of the first generation, the lofty sense of a peculiar mis sion, had degenerated into petty local strifes, mere wordy disputes about trifles. This decadence is illustrated in the Report of Associated Churches of Connecticut to the Governor, Coun cil, and General Court in 1715.1 After inquiry in Connec- they reported a lack of Bibles in some families, and of " domestical government ; " great neglect of pub lic worship, also of " catechizing ; " " irregularity in com mutative justice ; " tale-bearing, defamation, and intem perance ; " calumniating and contempt of authority and order, both civil and ecclesiastical." They proceed to strengthen the laws, and the administration accordingly. The observance of Sabbath and other religious formal ities was very punctilious. In 1715 Paul Dav- Moraisand enport, of Canterbury, was fined 20s. for riding manners- from Providence on Sunday. In 1720 Samuel Sabin com plained of himself before a justice at Norwich,2 that on the previous Sabbath night he went with a neighbor to visit relations ; " did no ha-rm, and fears it may be a trans gression of ye law," promises amends, etc. In 1738 or derly meetings on Sunday evening and individual absences from Sabbath public worship are condemned. Nor are these strict proceedings confined to steady-going Connec ticut. Boston 3 orders its representatives to procure an act from the General Court in 1715 to prevent stage plays which "may have a Tendancy to corrupt youth," etc. Worcester, in 1733 and 1734, convicts many per sons for unnecessary work on " the Lord's day," and the grand jury busies itself over the culprits avoiding public worship.4 This absurd social exaggeration of little things crops out in many directions. The General Assembly of Con- 1 Col. Rec. Conn. 1706, p. 520. 2 Caulkins, pp. 279, 280. 8 Town Rec, p. 239. 4 Worcester Soe Antiquity, xviii. 71, 107. 550 THE PERIOD OF INFLATION. [1713-45. nectiout in 1725, exempts Mr. Nathaniel Clark from mili tary duty by special act. And what was the reason given by a grave legislature for this simple act ? Because he had been educated at the college at Saybrook and " had obtained the honor of a Diploma, which may be supposed to elevate the gentlemen adorned with such a laurel something above the vulgar order ; " nevertheless he had been called to military and other common employments, " a disparaging imposition on the order above said." a Defence of his country came between the wind and his nobility. We smile at the expenditure of so much legislative and administrative force upon these trivial errors. Our time would put these trespasses into the province of manners, and could not lift them into the region of morals. Not so the eighteenth-century Puritans. Their conscience, their concurrent public sentiment, was oppressed by these petty crimes and prepared for some great change ; it was found in the mission of Whitefield in 1740. The evangelist found a people sore in their own heart, ready to respond to his fiery appeal. Nor should we exaggerate the features of these worthies either in the high lights or the low shadows. It partook of has been too much the fashion to exalt the Mas- its period. , . , . . sachusetts provincial generations into a sweet company of frost-bitten angels, oppressed and a little warped out of their skyward tendencies by the royal offi cers, or by their own citizens elevated and corrupted by royal commissions. These artless Puritan celestials reveal their earthly natures in the facts we have cited, which are not exceptional. Governor Belcher, with his brutal slang ; 2 town officers slinging epithets ; 3 Rev. Hugh Adams using his " money if mistaken and Misimprov'd as a bribe for an antidote against any real Bribes," his pa- 1 Col. Rec Conn. 1717, p. 533. 2 N. H. Prov. P., iv. 880. 8 Worthington, Dedham, p. 59. 1713-45.] A NEW ENGLAND OF ITS TIME. 551 rishioners harshly scurrilous ; magistrates busy with Sab bath-breakers, — all these jarring, petty, constituent parts of a starveling commonwealth were but the superficial exponents of a deeper, stronger, religious and civil life. This generation, somewhat corrupted by its great material prosperity, was not better or worse than its time. The eighteenth century was germinating the forces which rent and recreated the social world ere its years ran out. The New England of Adams and Belcher, creeping in the low valleys as it was, yet was not lower down in the historic scale than the England of Walpole, or the France of Louis XV. CHAPTER XIV. COMMEECE AFTER THE TREATY OF UTRECHT. 1713-1745. The great struggle on the continent of Europe known as the War of the Spanish Succession, ended in the Peace of Utrecht. This epoch in the affairs of the Old World affected the colonies of America vitally and permanently. The mind of Europe, agitated, almost convulsed through the seventeenth century by profound religious questions, disputed finally on the field of battle, had become quiet. The stormy era of religious and dogmatic dis- quiefand cussion was followed by a peaceful calm of phil osophic skepticism.1 Politics left the spiritual domain of religion, and found its business in urging for ward the material and industrial interests of the nations. The greatest commercial factor under the new treaties was in the " Assiento " slave contract, by which Spain passively, England actively, became the greatest dealers of all time in human flesh, mind, and spirit. The political and military power of France, preemi nent in the preceding century, passed to England ; while the maritime and commercial interests of Holland, grad ually supplanted since Charles II. 's time, gave way com pletely, and Great Britain became the acknowl- ain mistress edged mistress of the seas in war and peace. The beginning of the end of French colonial enterprise in North America dates from this treaty. Aca dia and Newfoundland, excepting its fishing privileges, were acquired by England. But this slight territorial 1 Grovestins, Guillaume et Louis, viii. 317. 1713-45.] COMING OF FOREIGN CAPITAL. 553 change was no measure of the waning and increasing co lonial power of the two countries. The northern colonies of France fell constantly behind in comparative develop ment. The final victory of Wolfe over Montcalm at Quebec was merely symbolic of the superiority of the English race in those qualities which subdue continents. Spain ceased to be an element of consequence on the mainland of our continent. Such momentous changes — in the grouping of political powers, in the rise and decline of nations — Effect in the must produce some corresponding result in the colonies- dependencies of those nations in the Western World. We have seen the results of this change in the growing home industries and wealth of New England, developed under all the disadvantages of a hard struggle with France for the final possession of the northern provinces. Now we take up the commerce which fed those indus tries, — the contact with the world outside, which devel oped the maritime traders of the second colonial period into the merchants of the third period. It was a time of enlargement. The ketch became the schooner ; the petty ventures of John Hull extended into the larger operations of Peter Faneuil. After the European changes creating a greater demand and compelling industrial effort, one main cause for this extension of commerce was in the action of Eng- Accessions lish capital brought over to reinforce that of the of English Boston merchants. The colonial resources had grown sufficiently to afford a stable basis for larger oper ations, and to attract the ever-ready assistance of foreign capital. Mr. Thomas Amory,1 of Boston, describes the process in 1722 in a letter to an Irish relative. The best method was to send over goods in advance, and to have timber cut in the fall ready for a vessel on arrival. A " small matter " of Irish goods, white or brown linen, or 1 MS. Letter Book, Oct. 6, 1722. 554 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. other staple commodities, would buy a cargo of lumber. " The Bristol men have a great trade here, as also the Londoners, by sending effects to build vessels, which load for the straights [Gibraltar] with fish, and so round to London. In this they find great advantage, as also in building larger ships, which they send with fish and lum ber to the West Indies to take a freight home, where they will sell the ships, and send the effects to build more." Here we see the whole round of commerce. Capital starts the impulse, but works through the skill and re sources of an industrious community to supply the needs of the rich tropical islands, then returns, heavy with in crease, to its owners. The New England trade with the West Indies, always so important, was especially stimu lated in the French possessions at this time by the aboli tion of government restrictions which had existed since 1664. In 1717 x the trade in these islands was freed under the king's patent, the decree being called a " pre cious monument." The illicit commerce with the Amer ican colonies, prohibited by England, which we shall discuss further on, was made easier by these changes.2 Boston, in Mr. Amory's phrase " a fine place and a noble country of great trade and good conversation," was the centre of this activity, but Newport came forward rapidly in this period, and all the maritime towns took part in the rising prosperity. For example, New London had built sloops hitherto, with an occasional snow and possibly a brig. In 1716 3 Captain Hutton launched a ship, and after that brigs became common. This ship probably carried horses to the West Indies, as Captain Hutton took out the extraordinary cargo of forty-five to Barbadoes in that year. Six of these " horse jockeys," as the craft were named, left New London harbor together June 26, 1724. Such villages as Marblehead4 started 1 Commerce de L'Amerique, i. 18. 2 See below, p. 557. 8 Caulkius, New London, p. 242. 4 Roads' History, p. 41. 1713-45.] LARGER SHIPS, MORE TRADE. 555 their own West India and Gibraltar merchants in 1714. These facts are mentioned to show the widen- Spread of ing out of commerce. The statistics1 of the comm.erce- number of vessels are uncertain and perplexing. Chal mers disputes the current figures, but admits a large movement of trade. He says 2 that in 1714 the domestic commerce of the northern colonies was nearly equal to that carried on with England ; that the trade to the West Indies, Azores, and the continent of Europe was larger than the whole coasting combined with the British trade. The colonists and their English correspondents had the ocean commerce pretty much to themselves, for the advan tages cited by Mr. Amory show that foreign vessels could not compete to any extent. Governor Hunter stated to the Board of Trade in 1718,3 that " no foreign vessel " had appeared in New York during his government there. The Board of Trade 4 reported in 1721 that the clear ances to New England in three years were 240 ships, 20,276 tons ; that the trade between England and " the American plantations" employed at least one fourth of the annual clearances. At the same time they said the English imports into America exceeded the exports by about £200,000 per annum, " which debt falls upon the provinces to the northward of Maryland." These figures confirm the above-stated flow of English capital into New England. They said that the American pitch and tar had become equal to any in the world, and the supply had lowered the current price one third. Pitch and tar, aromatic and fragrant with the obedience of loyal subjects, were about the only comfortable and sweet-smelling colonial products received by his Majesty's courtiers. The colonists, New Englanders especially, would 1 See Palfrey, N. E., iv. 429 ; Barry, Mass., ii. 106, 107 ; Doc. N. Y., v. 618 ; Mem. Hist. Boston, ii. 54. 2 Chalmers, Revolt Am. Col^ ii. 8. 8 Doc. Col. N. Y., v. 520. 4 Ibid., v. 615. 556 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. not produce naval stores enough, and would sell those they did produce to Portugal, Spain, and France, and would make iron and woollens to the annoyance of native Eng- Navigation lishmen. The Navigation Acts of Charles II. — atoSinis-rly which, administered as they were, fostered our tered. commerce in the beginning — continued a stand ing witness of sovereign imbecility in the English govern ment of her American possessions.1 Governor after gov ernor is reproved, admonished, urged to stop illegal traffic, now with one, now another foreign port. In 1715 and 1717 it was the " French plantations " and Governor Hunter, of New York,2 that were blamed by the blear-eyed, obtuse officials at Whitehall. The poor governor issued most stringent proclamations, though " what effect it may have in deterring men from it I can not tell." Others could tell the effect, which the vexed servant of the crown dared not put into words. It was matter of the commonest report. Mr. Thomas Amory in 1721 reveals to a correspondent the transparent stratagems by which prohibited goods were handled and the Acts defied under the eyes of the king's officers : " If you have a Captain you can confide in you will find it easy to import all sorts of goods from the Streights, France, and Spain, although prohibited." In another letter : " Modes, Lute strings, and Tea are staple commodities. They are pro hibited ; but nothing is more easy to import, recommend ing to the Captain not to declare at the Custom House — If he should he would forfeit his ship and pay a pen alty — There are no waiters kept aboard, and when the goods are known to be prohibited boats are sent off."3 There was no lack of certificates and bonds to give the vessels a good character.4 The royal officials even were not over-nice in their ideas 1 See advertisement, Bos. Gazette, Sept. 17, 1722. 2 Doc. N. York, v. 402, 498. s MS. Letter Book. 4 Mass. Arch., Ixiv. 37. 1713-45.] RESPECTABLE SMUGGLING. 557 of propriety. Good Stephen Sewall, a high magistrate, writes to his brother Mitchell that Collector Wendell, supping with a large company, including the governor of the Province, heard that Mitchell Sewall got large sums by " Bottoming." The governor happened not to over hear, but the canny judge, taking the friendly hint, advises his brother : " You Ought to be Very Cautious what is said in that Matter — for y" Govr Told me Last Week yors was ye Best post in ye County." : But in 1733 2 the " News Letter," commending the many virtues of John Jekyll, the deceased col- Decorous lector of the customs, gave this extraordinary """J*1™* notice of a royal officer : " With much humanity (he) took pleasure in directing Masters of Vessels how they ought to avoid the Breach of the Acts of Trade." There was no exception to this easy virtue in the high est places, apparently. In an argument for a bureau of the king's lands, etc., to be independent of any governor, Lewis Morris, of New York, advises the Lords of Trade that abuses will exist " whilst that Smuggling Trade of presents from an Assembly to a Govr subsists, and which will subsist till some way is found to make the Govr be lieve that the King's Instructions prohibiting taking any presents really mean what the words seem to import." 3 Great fortunes were made in every kind of illicit traf fic 4 in the colonies.5 Nor was there any lack of official knowledge of transgressions of the Navigation Acts. On some occasions the trading was "prohibited;" on others it was " discouraged " only.6 The selectmen of Boston felt obliged to notice the public utterance of the governor in 1721, that " French silks & Stuffs are cofnonly brought into this Province," and to make a show of action in the 1 Stephen Sewall MS. Papers, Am. Ant. Soe. 2 Next issue after Dec. 21-28. 8 Doc. N. York, v. 953. 4 N. H. Prov. Pap., ii. 727. 6 Chalmers, Pol. An., ii. 141. 6 Doc N. York, v. 513. 558 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713^5. matter.1 Occasionally property was carried into the courts, but there is no evidence that much benefit went to the royal exchequer thereby.2 If the conduct of the crown officers was such as these statements exhibit, we may expect to find all the results of poor government in the conduct of the governed. In fact, at Newport, in 1719, Heathcote reported to the Lords of Trade that, because the king's officers hindered the peo ple " from a full freedom of illegal trade," 3 the collector having seized several hogsheads of claret by due process, a mob in broad daylight took the wine and stove the casks in the open streets. The popular feeling ran so high that John Wanton, a respectable merchant and magistrate, arrested Kay, the collector, on a trumped-up charge for illegal fees, etc. The doughty Rhode Island Quaker, Wanton, even issued a second warrant, taking the king's officer from duty at the custom - house, and would not admit him to bail. In 1739, at New York, the Admiralty Judges would not keep their jurisdiction over some mo lasses and gunpowder duly libelled, "not having been bona fide laden in Great Britain." The lieutenant gov ernor said, if the decision was sound, " no breach of the 15th Car: 2a Cap. 7, can be tryed in the Admiralty but must be tryed at Common Law by a Jury, who perhaps are equally concerned in carrying on an illicit trade."4 Either Sir Robert Walpole was in his generation much waipoie's wiser than George Grenville in his time, or he indifference. knew mu(}n ^ Q£ ^^ wag t,eJng ^^ ^ ^ dependencies of the crown. Caleb Heathcote said saga ciously, when he reported the Newport doings concerning the claret, that they were extraordinary, and " hurtful to 1 Bos. T. Rec, p. 157. 2 Bos. News Letter, July 24, Nov. 6, 1721 ; Felt, Salem, ii. 254. 8 R. I. C. R., iv. 259. 4 Doc. N. York, vi. 155 ; and for certificate dated 1730, see Essex Inst, i. 169. 1713-45.] OUTLAWED PIRATES BEGIN 559 the prerogative and service of the crown, and contrary to the Acts of Trade." If the same turbulent colonies were not brought to account for such flagrant liberty and un chartered freedom, he foresaw that it " may with time be attended with very ill consequences." If Walpole, the great temporiser, had any sufficient plan for governing the colonies properly, he made no sign of putting it forth. The great minister managing parlia ments knew little of the greater issues beyond the Atlan tic, while the official starling was gravely and continually sending over his platitudes for diverting the plantations " from the thoughts of setting up manufactures of their own, interfering with those of Great Britain, & from carrying on an illicit trade with foreigners." J The governments of Europe maintained order but feebly in the new hemisphere appropriated by their am bition, then neglected in their careless domination and in their greedy desire for wealth. In our present period, one of the worst forms of disorder was in piracy on the high seas. In a former chapter I have outlawed sketched the course of pirates as they were de veloped gradually from private men-of-war, and were partially sustained by better people, ill - educated in the imperfect commercial ethics of the time. Now we have piracy of another order, more extended,2 bolder, more cruel and rapacious. Inefficient government makes outlaws, who are worse than savages. The maritime nations, after their fierce struggles concluded in 1713, emptied their navies, and sent swarms of sailors adrift without employment. Com merce 'was uncertain. Moreover, the warrior who had 1 Lords of Trade to the king, Doc. N. York, v. 628. 2 Communication with England was so uncertain in 1717, the coast being "much Infested with Pyrates," that Major Sewall congratu lates his friend Dummer especially on the safe arrival of Governor Belcher. Stephen Sewall Papers, Am. Ant. Soe. 560 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. tasted the delights of prize money found the ways of peace ful traffic tame and spiritless. The New World offered frequent opportunities for adventurers on the seas. The Spanish colonial governors carelessly or wilfully granted commissions, which were exceeded as soon as the free booter was out of port. But the black flag soon an swered their purpose as well as any recognised authority. They found the Spanish Main and the Atlantic coast almost helpless. The swoop of the hawk upon its prey was very like their course among the small craft, shedding the blood of mariners and plundering the cargoes. Some times they descended on the coasts. The royal navy fur nished an occasional escort,1 but the risks of trade in the decade following the Peace of Utrecht were aggravated enormously by these reckless and powerful rovers. Some English colonial officials were implicated in pira cy.2 In some instances the original cruiser was fitted out by owners on shore. Tew, admiral and chief of the pirate colony at Madagascar, once sent fourteen times the value of his outfit to his owners in the Bermudas. " Runaway" vessels were often advertised.3 But, once afloat, the pi rates soon extended operations far beyond the first vessel, and created a fleet from their captures. The ordinary commercial craft carried a few guns, but the crew was no match for the skill and numbers of the corsairs. Gener ally a pirate carried ten or twenty guns, and eighty to one hundred men. But Teach equipped one vessel with forty guns, as the story runs. The corsairs succeeded naturally to the old privateers ; Privateers the descent was easy to the outlawed pirate, who ' became frequently a mere desperado, controlled 1 Boston Gazette, Nov. 21, 1720. 2 Johnson, Pyrates, i. 77. I use his statements freely. Many stories are mere traditions, but Johnson wrote conscientiously, and the realism of many incidents carries its own evidence. 8 Bos. Neios Letter, May 18, 1713; Dec. 3, 1730. 1713-45.] THE PIRATE IDEAL. 561 by no power beyond the average passions of his crew. In 1720 Bartholomew Roberts voiced the pirate's opinions and sentiments very well : " In an honest service there is thin Commons, low Wages and hard Labour; in this Plenty and Satiety, Pleasure and Ease, Liberty and Power ; and who would not ballance Creditor on this side, when all the Hazard that is run for it, at worst, is only a sour Look or two at Choaking. No, a merry Life and a short one, shall be my motto." x The bandit and sensual ist spoke here ; the outlaw, the robber of the law's results and accumulated treasures, spoke more plainly through Captain Bellamy in 1717, when he took Captain Beer, in a sloop from Boston, off South Carolina : " Damn ye, you are a Sneaking Puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by Laws which rich Men have made for their own Security. They rob the Poor under the Cover of Law, forsooth, and we plunder the Rich under the Protection of our own Courage ; had you not better make one of us than sneak after those Villains for Employment ? " 2 The pirates generally gave the captured crews oppor tunity to turn outlaws and join them.3 This society beyond the law was not regulated by the mere will of its chief, though his executive power in action was of necessity almost absolute. He maintained his authority by skill and judgment, and in the last resort by inherent brutal force, which no individual could resist ; as when the arch miscreant, Blackbeard, wounded two of his own men, who were not offending and remonstrated, he an swered, if he did not now and then kill one of them they " would forget who he was." Yet this absolutist was not without a check upon his power. Government outside and beyond government curi ously illustrates that no government is impossible. The 1 Johnson, Pyrates, i. 271. 2 Ibid., ii. 219. 8 Col. Rec Conn. 1717, p. 166. 562 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-43. power of aristocracy was embodied in the captain and such officers as he admitted to his confidence. anTdemoc- The greater power of democracy was expressed through the quartermaster, who represented the crew, looked after their particular interests, and must be considered and propitiated in all the plans of the despot of the quarter deck. Especial knowledge and skill, also, can dispute arbitrary power. Edward Low,1 one of the most active 2 and brutal captains, received a severe cut, laying his teeth bare ; the remedial operation did not please the peevish autocrat, and he found fault with the surgeon. The latter, being " tollerably drunk," struck a violent blow with his fist, breaking out all the stitches from the wound, and bid Low Amenities of " sew UP his Chops himself and be damned." disorder. These were some of the amenities of disorder to which lawful life. was not subject. Low's crews, on the whole, were more barbarous than any others. They tor tured their victims, and their capricious humor was even worse than their cruelty. The practice of piracy was at its worst about 1723. The English government was show ing a little energy at last, and as the cords of justice tightened, the outlaws became more and more reckless. Captain Solgard, of his Majesty's ship Grayhound, brought a sloop with 36 pirates into Newport. Of these 26 were convicted, and hung under their own " deep Blew Flagg," " old Roger." Low escaped. The maudlin piety of these criminals, expressed in their lucubrations and poems 3 after conviction, is no better than their defiance of all law when at liberty. The fabled idea of the pirate — wrong himself, but righting wrong by chivalric generosity, bold and brilliant where common, industrious men were sordid and plod- 1 Doc N. York, v. 685 ; Bos. News Letter, July 2, 1722. 2 Amory, Letter Book, Aug. 12, 1723. 8 See R. I. Hist. Mag., vii. 260. 1713-45.] BLACKBEARD THE RUFFIAN. 563 ding — was perhaps most nearly realised in the person of Misson. He was cadet of a noble family in Provence, and organised a mutiny on a French man-of-war, which he turned into a piratical cruiser. His education was equal to his birth, and the traditions all make him out a gallant man. Thomas Tew, the famous Newport pirate, was trained to the business by Captain Misson. These larger rebels generally preyed on the rich East Indian com merce, and had their rendezvous at Madagascar. The ordinary West Indian mid-atlantic pirate of 1720 appears in the figure of Bartholomew Roberts x as he at tacked The Swallow. Waving his sword, he stood in his rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red feather in his hat, while a gold chain around his neck bore a dia mond cross. A silk scarf thrown over his shoulder, car rying two pairs of pistols, was the particular mark of a pirate chieftain. Roberts bore himself valiantly, and or dered his men to the admiration of the witnesses. The most famous ruffian of them all was William Teach, surnamed Blackbeard. His flowing man tle of hair fitly adorned this improved savage ; the chief it became a symbol of terror, almost supernatu ral in power, for all the coasts of North America and the West Indies. His career was from 1716 to 1718, when he was killed during a sojourn in North Carolina by an expedition under Lieutenant Maynard, sent by the gov ernor of Virginia. The administration of affairs was so lax at this time that he may have had a better field than his compeers. Certainly he outshone his rivals in the lurid glories of the outlawed world. He possessed an audacious enterprise, an initiating force, beyond the brutal courage of Low and such fellows. There was organising and mas terful power in him. He not only fitted out many vessels under his lieutenants, but he prevailed over the governor of South Carolina so that he obtained a chest of much- 1 Bos. News Letter, Aug. 22, 1720 ; N. H. Prov. P., ii. 735. 564 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. needed medicines, worth £300 or £400, with provisions for his vessels ; then he released his prizes and prisoners, after bagging £1,500 in specie, and sailed away in tri umph. When in The Queen Ann's Revenge, of forty guns, he met another pirate sloop of ten guns, commanded by Major Bonnet, " a gentleman of good Reputation and Estate in Barbadoes." He put his own officer, Richards, into the sloop, taking Bonnet in his own ship, telling him " he had not been used to the Fatigue and Care of such a Post ; it would be better for him to decline it, and live easy at his Pleasure in such a ship as his " (Teach's). It is needless to say that Bonnet declined. These traits show a grim humor under his fierce exterior. He soft ened, too, under the charms of the fair sex. He feared not Samson's lot when he brought his long beard to the lap of a gentle dame of his choice. He chose wisely and often. As tradition runs, he married fourteen wives, while only two brides had passed to the polygamous para dise awaiting them. Wonderful Blackbeard ! his multi farious tenderness was equal to his courage in battle. The last of the pirates who attracted general attention was J. Phillips,1 in 1723-1724, who, with his compan ions, began by running away from the Newfoundland fishing fleet. It was charged by Johnson 2 that the Eng lish fishing vessels carried over their crews at low wages and on poor fare. The men were harshly treated, and were sometimes tempted into piracy. The conviction of Phillips and his gang in 1724 — the execution cost the state £15 18s. 8d.3 — probably checked this tendency among the fishermen. Some idea of the depredations of the earlier and larger pirates may be formed from the operations of Phillips. This gang took thirty-seven ves sels in a little more than six months. 1 Mass. Arch., lxiii. 340, 341, 394 ; Babson, Gloucester, p. 287 ; Bos. News Letter, April 16, 1724. 2 Pyrates, i. 404, 405. 8 Mass. Arch., lxiii. 400. 1713-45.] SETTLED SOCIAL CONDITION. 565 About 1725 there was considerable trouble from the depredations of French and Indian pirates off Dec]ine o£ the coast of Maine and extending to Labrador.1 piracy- Pirates never ceased to interfere with commerce on the high seas. But the days of Kidd and Blackbeard had passed away. Better police and more settled commercial pursuits kept the seas in order. The development of pri vate war into piracy, and the passage of outlawry into organised spoliation, had worked itself out. The whole world was advancing in civilisation, and the little settlements on the low coast of New England had made their full share of progress in their century of ex istence. Thomas Amory, founder of a line of merchants and manufacturers in Boston, where he settled progressin in 1719, being bred in the commerce of the Uvlngp Azores, Portugal, Holland, and England, reveals our con dition in a single sentence : " People live handsomely here (Boston) and without fear of anything." This in dicates clearly the settled social condition which prevailed in the older parts of New England. The tremendous struggles of Louis XIV. and William III. had subsided on the continent. The England of Walpole had suc ceeded to that of Marlborough. The Western World worked securely in this calm, though the New England colonies were girding themselves for the great contest for possession of the French provinces in the North. In the general destruction of commercial documents, we are fortunate in having full personal records of the brief mercantile career in Boston of Mr. Thomas Thomaa Amory.2 He was descended from an English Amory- i Mass. Arch., lxiii. 410, 420, 466. 2 1720-28. This sketch is drawn from a MS. volume of his cor respondence, collected and arranged by his great-grandson, Thomas C. Amory, Esq., counsellor, of Boston. It is through his kindness that I am enabled to give the detailed notes from his letters, and this account, which is absolutely accurate, an autobiography in little, — a memoir reproduced from the words of the man himself. 566 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. family, settled for some 300 or 400 years in Oxfordshire and later in Devon and Somerset. He was born in 1683 at Limerick, Ireland, near the abode of his uncle Thomas, who married a daughter of the nineteenth Lord Kerry. He was carried by his parents to Barbadoes, where his mother died. His father, Jonathan Amory, removed to Charleston, S. C, about 1686, where he was a merchant, and Speaker of the South Carolina House of Assembly in 1694 ; he was Treasurer of the Proprietors in 1698-99, when he died. Meanwhile Thomas had been sent to England, where his cousin Thomas, counsellor in the Temple, placed him in the Westminster School. We have no evidence that " the little rod " of the great Schooled by Busby, which " had birched 16 bishops," ever Dr. Busby. crosserl the shoulders of our American boy. The famous pedagogue was drawing toward his ninetieth year when Thomas came under his charge. The West minster was preeminently a gentleman's school, and a knowledge of man as well as languages could be obtained there. The solid classical training of the old time stood by young Amory well, for he read and wrote Latin with ease, and afterward was fluent in Portuguese, French, and Dutch. At the death of his father, he was taken from school, at the age of sixteen, and placed in the counting-house of Nicholas Oursel, a French merchant, in London. He was regularly bound in the sum of £50 as an apprentice, and the contract was no mere form in those days. After his death in Boston, his widow speaks of the 'prentice, and of his going to the Azores in charge of his master's busi- Merchantat ness ln 1706. He soon commenced operations on his own account in Terceira, trading with Portugal, England, Holland, the Brazils, and America. After 1711 we have his correspondence, and some ac count books. He wrote in English, French, or Portu guese at will. The letters are somewhat diffuse, after 1713-45.] THE MERCHANT AMORY. 567 the manner of the time, but are clear and forcible ex positions of his meaning and of his mercantile sagacity. His handwriting was beautiful, and the accounts were carefully done, in excellent method. The old vellum- bound ledgers and invoices, kept by his own hand in his early days, are elegant in their kind. He soon obtained the confidence of his fellows, and the settled position of a merchant; for we find him in 1712 buying a rich French prize, the Mercure Volante, in company with Mr. William Fisher, the richest merchant of the place. He went to Europe to dispose of her, visiting several ports, and on his return was made English, French, and Dutch consul at Terceira. He bought real estate, including vineyards, and acquired property gradually. We say gradually, for the adventures of those days brought wealth by slow processes. The profits were larger, but the losses were in proportion, and the ventures were always uncertain. The merchant of the eighteenth cen tury impressed himself upon his enterprise, controlled his affairs more individually, than has been done in any period before or since. Convoyed transports, court con cessions, chartered privileges, no longer possessed the avenues of trade, and monopolies had ceased to control, though they still interfered with, its natural courses. Concentrated capital and the great mechanical inventions of our century had not yet mastered individual effort, and compelled it along narrow lines prescribed by a new industrial life. In this shifting time, the gallant little ship — not half the size of a modern pleasure yacht and owned by individuals — adventured everywhere, braving unknown coasts and frequent wars, while fierce pirates and the hardly less reckless privateer thronged the best avenues of commerce. It was the time for the men of the New World, and our subject was a type of his period. Cosmopolitan in his infancy, trained on English soil among the sons "of the best English men, he went to the 568 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. Western Islands, where vessels from all the world drifted by, and there he lived in the great commercial currents of the time. Without effective capital, — for his South Carolina in heritance was much of it in real estate, and the balances were withheld, in diametrical opposition to his directions, — without powerful friends to aid him directly, he made his way to a good estate by his own pluck, skill, and saga cious management, backed by solid honesty. His career is very instructive. The most promising ventures did not turn out the best. The purchase of the French prize, a ship with twenty-four guns and richly laden, proved a failure, almost a disaster, after much wearisome effort. A storm drove her away from the Azores without her intended supercargo. Amory followed her to Lisbon as soon as possible, but she had lost much of her cargo by a bad storm on the passage, and the delay injured the affair there ; then he took her to Amsterdam. But in the Texel she broke three cables in half an hour, and was driven ashore at high tide in six feet of water. Then, being half-freighted, the Peace of Utrecht suddenly cut off the remainder half. Great expenses followed these mischances, his interest being one fourth. The ex pected quick and profitable turn of the cargo, with his trip to his old home in Charleston, S. C, which he had planned, was turned into a loss, and he went directly back to Angra to make it up. There is no trace of despondency in any of several ac counts of the affair he gives to his intimate friends as well as to his partners. He starts cheerfully to send The Poor Jack to Brazil, " and please God hope so to bring up my losses." On the 12th of July, 1713, a few days after his return from England, Amsterdam, and Lisbon, he orders Geo. Jaffrey, Portsmouth, N. H., " to buy or build a ship, one half for me, one half for Mr. Fisher." Fishei & Co. owned half the French prize, and his manage- 1713-45-] HIS PATIENCE AND STEADINESS. 569 ment of the losing operation must have been good, or his copartners would not have ventured again and at once with him. There seems to be no trace of disagreement in any of his frequent, dealings with Fisher. And to lose money properly is the true test of the good merchant. Though the losing Mercure Volante brought him no profit, she gave him what was better, — oppor- Enlargedop- tunity, acquaintance, notice, and business. He Portuaities- was made consul by the English, Dutch, and French, and these combined offices brought him opportunities of van tage and profit. We hear more of his particular losses than of his particular profits ; those appear in the general result. He works steadily, and, however disappointed, always patiently. Patience has been called every-day courage, and in this world courage is always rewarded. He closed his business in the Azores in 1719, leaving an agent to attend to his property, or " effects," and went to Charleston, S. C, by way of Boston. He intended to settle in business there. Indeed, we find from the corre spondence that, seven years before, a matrimonial connec tion between his guardian's daughter and himself had been in contemplation, his sister, Mrs. Arthur Middleton, and Mrs. Black, being intimate friends. But during this long period that his absence was prolonged, the lady had formed an attachment to another, without the approval of her parents. It was proposed, after his reaching Carolina, that her younger sister should become his wife, but for sev eral reasons he enumerates in his more complicated letters, and particularly his dislike to the climate of Charleston, he resolved not to make his home in Carolina, and returned to Boston, where he settled permanently in business in 1720. His instructions to his agent at Terceira, Settled in at this time, show how scrupulous was his con- Boston- duct, and how he prized his good name : " Now if the above people send for these effects sell anything that be longs to me, or take money at interest on my account so 570 COMMERICAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. that you continue to discharge them, for I had rather be a loser any way than have my reputation in question abroad." Mr. Amory purchased lands on the southern confines of the Boston of that period, built a house and wharf and distilleries. In 1721 he bought lands in Maine, where there was good water-power and sawmills. His experience in the Azores, together with these manufacturing facilities, gave him advantage in the trade of the West Indies and the Carolinas. He dealt with Europe and the Azores also, but the Southern commerce was far more important in Boston at that time. Before commencing these permanent operations, he had made a tour through Rhode Island and New York to Philadelphia. He says that he liked the whole continent, and we must remember he had examined, with his merchant's eye, Lisbon, Amsterdam, London, and other commercial capitals, but he found no place like Bos ton for activity of commerce. He hired a store on the Long Wharf of his intimate friend, Jonathan Belcher, afterwards governor of Massachusetts. He joined in some of the clubs of the time, was very active in all affairs, riding about to the settlements in Rhode Island and New Hampshire on horseback. He was a favorite with his neighbors, and, as his widow said after his death, " ready and capable." His letter books show prodigious activity ; sometimes there are forty or fifty pages well written, often in Portuguese or French, in a single day. He married Rebecca, the daughter of Mr. Francis Holmes, as she says "by God's providence," in May, 1721. After a month's experience he writes to his father- in-law at Charleston in his usual cheery and confident manner : " This week we have got to housekeeping as Domes- new beginners in one of the new houses of Mr. Lindall. Our concern is to get a good servant or black housemaid, for good servants are scarce to be had here. If in your way be pleased not to lose the op- 1713-45.] BOLD ABROAD, CONTENTED AT HOME. 571 portunity of buying a good black maid. Rebecca remem bers her duty to you. I doubt not that Please God we shall be very happy and contented together, finding her very good humoured." In writing to his cousin he had described his bride as having " all the qualities to make a good wife, being virtuous, discreet, and good humoured. As to her fortune, it is but £500, your money [of Eng land] which is all they give generally with their daugh ters. Her father is well to pass in the world." He died at Boston, June 20, 1728, leaving a fortune in hand of £7,000 to £8,000, with debts due him amounting to more than £12,000, which were collected afterwards.1 It is in the conduct of his operations, and in the mode of his life, that we find the chief interest of Mr. Amory's history. Having created his own resources, he died just as his operations had fairly begun. Self-reliance was the necessary virtue for that period of individual outgrowth, and his experience affords it ; and it was a reliance based on prudence and foresight. Alert and bold, he never for got his retreat. When he expected great returns from the Mercure Volante, he directed his correspondent to in vest three fourths of his share in European goods, but to deposit one fourth in the hands of Mr. Godin in London. Thus he would keep a reserve. And from Boston he writes to his agent at Terceira, that friends have offered him capital for the London trade at that port, but he' had declined it, wishing to push the business there as far as possible with his own means, but unwilling to extend him self too far. Long credits prevailed, and the profits were good ; the prospect tempted an enterprising young mer chant to employ all the capital he could borrow. His ac tion was not the mere timidity of routine, it was judgment. When the South Sea excitement inflamed the whole world he writes : " Taking notice that my old master, Mr. Oursel, is concerned — We hear he hopes to make a great hand of it. I wish he may. Time will show." 1 This did not include his property in the Azores and in Carolina. 572 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. He was resolute, and pressed his affairs in the courts when other means of settlement had failed. But he pre ferred arbitration always. His vexatious difference with Oursel had lasted nearly a score of years, and yet we find him only six months before his death discussing it in the most candid and temperate manner. " I shall be heartily glad and rejoice to clear up all differences between us — Let me know your objections and I will answer them and put our account into any honorable merchant's hands in London that you will propose and I will name two or three of whom you shall choose one." Business, though Methods of profitable, was not transacted easily. He trusts business. from njs eariv an(j scanty capital " in sterling " to Oursel, and it does not return. He deals with many from whom he cannot collect again. In 1719 he is obliged to levy upon Jaffrey, at Portsmouth, N. H., for justice, for he " owes me £300, this money, and I cannot get a penny of it." He never descends into any chicanery or subtlety ; he deals in plain courses when in difficulty. His prudence was based on his conscience, and an endur ance which trusted in God. The seventeenth century men were fond of prying into the Providence of our daily affairs too curiously, and the merchants of the eighteenth were more sensible in their expressions. He appears to have been reverent and pious in a simple way ; inscribes his letter and memo, books, " Au nom de Dieu," or " In the Name of God Amen." "Thursday Oct. 4, 1726. Found a Spanish pistole in Mr. Selby's Coffee House (given Epis. Ch. So.)." He records this as carefully and as indifferently as he states the purchase of a negro, or the receipt of a lot of rice. He was a man of the world, peaceable, and, so far as any record reveals, pure, domestic, and affectionate. His letters describe and min gle together all his affairs, — mercantile and personal, — his hopes, desires, and affections, and few records of men anywhere are so minute and faithful. Such men leave 1713-45.] SCHOONERS ARE INVENTED. 573 a permanent mark on their time, whatever be their voca tion. Before treating the general commerce of this period we will consider the business of building the shipping in which that commerce was conducted. We may put the golden days of colonial and provincial ship- ghipbuiid- building in the first decades of paper inflation, ing- before prices had been so generally advanced that our mechanics could not compete with the specie values of Europe. In 1724 x sixteen master ship-carpenters of the Thames complained to the king that their trade was in jured, and their workmen were emigrating, on account of the New England competition. Much the most interesting feature in all this marine architecture was in the invention of the schooner, in our first year. Ketch, brigantine, and snow had The foreshadowed this new type of vessel. The sch00ner- genuine fore and aft sail on two corresponding masts was not put into use until Abraham Robinson launched the " strangely rigged craft " at Gloucester, Mass., in 1713.2 Tradition runs that a by-stander exclaimed, as she slid into the water, " How she schoons," the sagacious and delighted master builder cried out, " A schooner let her be." When we think of the long career of this type of vessel, — now nearly two centuries, — its gradual gain over brig and ship, its steady development into three, four, even five masted forms, its entry into the world of commerce is a most significant fact. Moreover it is the only one, of many sailing craft succeeding the old viking sailor, which has been able to adapt steam to itself. Steamers and pro pellers have patronised sails as a temporary dependence. The big- modern schooner makes a smoke -funnel of its fourth mast, using steam, not for propulsion, but to hoist its mighty canvas wings, and thus transfer labor from 1 Chalmers, Revolt Am. Cols., ii. 33 ; and Essex Inst, i. 80. 2 Babson, Gloucester, pp. 137, 252 ; 1 M. H. C, ix. 234. 574 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. its toiling crew to the smutty demon or donkey engine at work in its hold. This is one of the few and partial triumphs of Nature, as she adapts herself anew to the wants of man in this industrial age. As suggested heretofore, English capital frequently Use of Eng- t°°k UP g°0f our own building," logwood from Honduras, and bills of ex change taken from West India planters in payment for cargoes sent there. As we have seen in the account of the slave-trade, Newport employed Boston capital commer cially, just as Boston used that of English correspondents. The Wantons * were shipbuilders first, then merchants in the West India trade, where Newport gradually led. Mal- bone, Channing, Brenton, Vernon, Ayrault, Collins, are but few of the long list of names prominent in the busy port. Partridge, the agent of Rhode Island in London, led the colonies in their vain opposition to the British "Mo- 1 Letter Book, Nov. 8, 1713. 2 R. 1. C. R., v. 12. 8 R. I. C. R., v. 13. 4 R. I- Hist Tracts, iii. Go. 584 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. lasses Act " in 1740.1 Imposed six years before, it laid a The Moias- heavy tax on West India products imported into sesAct. our coionies from foreign countries, especially the French Islands. Rhode Island protested that she must have those products to reimburse herself for her own produce sent there, and thus enable the purchase of British goods. Newport distilled rum largely, and inter fered with the trade between the British sugar islands and home. Great Britain could not then see that the final eco nomic advantage would be hers, after the products were exchanged back and forth, and the resulting trade went to her, as the richest market. Rum-distilling and negro importation gave more than their direct profits to New port, great as these were. They gave a tremendous im pulse to more legitimate industry and commerce, and compelled the exchange to follow in the wake of " rum vessel" and slaver. The commerce of Providence developed slowly until after the Revolution. As early as 1740, Stephen Hop kins, residing there, and afterwards famous in Revolu tionary annals, was said to be concerned in several vessels with Godfrey Malbone, of Newport.2 Hopkins had three sons and four nephews, all captains of vessels. I have mentioned the interesting relations of master complex °^ Yessel Wltn owner or shipper, as a managing vofagel agent- In our changed conditions of commerce, we can hardly conceive of the complex trading conducted by these petty craft, which circulated products from one section of coast to another. The sloop Recruit,3 for example, loads at Newport in 1744 with bread, flour, Indian corn, sugar, molasses, salt, rum, tar, pipe-staves. This cargo looks very heterogeneous at first glance, but it was nicely assorted for its varied and variable destina- 1 Arnold, R. I, ii. 124. 2 Foster's Life of Hopkins, R. I. Hist. Tracts. 8 Newport H. Mag., iii. 260. 1713-45.] COMPLICATED VOYAGES. 585 tion. Newport was an active mart, a producing or ex changing port for most of these articles. It made rum ; took molasses, sugar, and salt from the West Indies, flour from New York, corn and pipe-staves from Narragansett, and tar from North Carolina. The Recruit went to New foundland first, where she exchanged her provisions and tar with the fishing fleet for " refuse " fish, which the island slaves of the tropics ate, while the Catholics of Southern Europe had the better grades for fast days. She made her first southern port at Barbadoes, thence Surinam, and in succession Nevis, St. Christopher's, St. Eustatius, thence Kingston, Jamaica, Darker's Bay (?), Savannah-la-mer, Kingston again, Savannah-la-mer again, thence Montecho Bay, all on the Island of Jamaica, Kingston again, thence home to Newport, with the mo lasses and other products which cargo and profits of the voyage returned. This was not the fancied course of any Ulysses, but the actual wanderings-of Captain Henry Tag- gert, as recorded in a court of law. A glance at the course reveals the great amount of trading, exchanging, and making of merchandise caused by the voyage. A shipowner at Antigua x sends to Boston salt, sugar, cotton, small quantity of rum, large quantity of molasses, lime juice, indigo, lignum vitse, cordage. He directs his \ captain to bring back codfish, mackerel, herrings, salmon, sturgeon, beef, tallow, oysters, train oil, oats, horses. It/ was estimated in 1741 that the trade between Barbadoes (meaning all the West India ports probably) and New England amounted to £100,000 per annum; and that the traffic between Old and New England amounted to the same sum.2 Naval stores of all kinds were a good article of export. 1 Mass. Arch., lxiii. 288-291. See, also, Ibid., lxiii. 294. A little tobacco went from Connecticut lo the West Indies. Stiles, Windsor, Suppl., p. 15. 2 Oldmixon, Br. Empire in Am., i. 234. 586 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. There was an excess of turpentine about 1722. From June mvai stores to December 1st in that year, Boston shipped andwines. 3^312 bbls.1 Mr. Amory, writing June 17th, states that he is about adding 120 feet to his wharf, then 70 feet, at the " South end," and where his distillery was located. He wished to place a distillery " for rosin " on the new wharf, but could " see no way of disposing of the oil of turpentine." 2 He began the business in 1724. The wines of the Azores and Canaries were consumed constantly in New England, and furnished the motive for an active commerce with those islands, sometimes called the " Wine Islands." It was a convenient stopping place for the vessels engaged in the larger trade of Portugal and Spain. Choice Madeira was at £18 per pipe in 1718.3 In 1720 Fayal was at £20. Mr. Amory quotes at £15 "good payment" in 1721 ; in 1722 he sold Terceira wine at £15, and had " old racked wine " for which he expected £25. Later in the same year there was an ab solute scarcity of Madeira and Fayal ; the latter even would bringmffiO per pipe "readily."4 In 1723 the price of J& *#' " l^s £19 > iQ 1725 it had risen again to £30 fy Ig, jzJL. yal was much poorer in quality, and sold >;,y ^al o ; while Madeira brought £26 to £28. An inuere^J. g feature of this period is in the beginning Marine °f sparine insurance, which has so changed the insurance. course 0f maritime adventure, and has given such stability to the extended operations of commerce. The pioneer in this business was Joseph Marion, notary public, who opened an office north of the court-house, near the head of King Street, Boston, in 1724. In 1745 he advertises 5 that it is " still held " by him for effecting insurance, loans on vessels, etc, " affairs of merchandise as well as other clerkship." He was a broker or agent, 1 Mass. Arch., lxiii. 304. 2 Amory Letters, 1722. 8 Bos. News Letter, August 18, 1718. 4 Amory MS. Letters. 6 Bos. Eve. Post, Dec. 9, 1745 ; Bos. News Letter, Dec. 26, 1745. 1713-45.] ADJUSTMENT OF INSURANCE. 587 obtaining for the shipper a guaranty of several persons, who each underwrote a particular sum, and thus became the underwriter of that portion of the risk. The devel opment of the modern corporation, acting for itself and assuming the whole risk, was gradual. Marion failed in the first essay of that kind. He started the " Sun Fire Office " in 1724, without success.1 English insurance stocks were quoted in Boston, with South Sea stock, In dia bonds, and other securities. We have Royal Exchange Insurance at £4.6, and London do. at £6.3.8 in 1724.2 The rates of insurance varied with the chances of war, privateers, or pirates. The lowest rate apparently to the West Indies was 4 per cent. ; 3 and 20 per cent, obtained at times.4 I append a memorandum of charges in 1739.5 And we may observe their method of appraising damages on goods injured at sea.6 Mr. Amory 's rule was to ship 1 Mem. Hist Bos., iv. 179. 2 Bos. Gazette, March 30, 1724. 8 N. H. Prov. Pap., iv. 848. 4 See above, p. 460. 8 Mass. Arch., lxiv. 219., 1740-1741 : — Messrs. Joshua and Isaac Winslow their accounts currents. Dr. £ s. d. To £400 insured on the Leghorn Galley and Company . 33 6 10 To cost insurance and charges on 1 case goods per the Milk River 131 18 8 To £825 insured on the Leghorn Galley at 5.5 per cent. 43 8 6 To £250 insured per Success, Snelling 10 4 6 6 Mass. Arch., lxiii. 269, 277, 1719. Some goods on board the Ship Patience, from London to Boston, being damaged, the captain asks the government officials to examine them, and make an estimate as to how badly they are damaged. The following is their estimate : — £ s. d. On one bale of Garlix, they being stained, mill-dewed and some rotten the damages amount to 45 8 6 On four casks of shot, two of them broken and all with their heads out, the damages amount to ... . 30 On two bales of broadcloth the damages amount to . . 12 4 On a trunk of gloves the damage amount to ... . 17 Total 60 9 6 588 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. not more than £500 in one bottom. When he heard of the pirate Low near one of his vessels, he insured £300 on the risk. Foreign commerce, — ship, galleon, liner, mighty craft crossing wide seas, carrying and bringing rare orfdomesKc products, strange wares, perfumed and spicy, — this large movement of trade attracts the notice of annalists in all ages. Though these greater exchanges stimulate trade and encourage enterprise immensely, it is not in themselves or through their own amount and weight that they contribute most to a nation's welfare. Big trade fosters the little ; it is the immense volume of petty domestic exchanges, initiated and impelled by the foreign movement, which sends prosperity to all the peo ple and into every district. Mr. Amory, informing a dis tant correspondent of the course of Boston market and relative prices, says, in explanation of differing quota tions, " Captain Atkinson sells for truck ; which with his great business does well." Here was the old barter of the meagre seventeenth century, still justifying itself in the vastly greater volume of eighteenth century traffic, where all the rich wares of all countries crowded the wharves and flowed freely through the streets of Boston. Amory was a thoroughly instructed merchant, trained in the meth ods of London and other great ports. Yet the swapping of " truck " did not inspire him with contempt. He saw in it the means of myriad exchanges, reaching out and enriching all classes of people. His own words are, " I find an inland trade the securest and best." x We get an occasional glimpse of this barter and retail Oakum trade, though the records preserved are sparse industry. and scanty_ Jn -^33 ^ -tf^ j^ Fayer_ weather2 dealt at Boston in shipstores and other goods associated with shipping and the fisheries. He puts junk 1 Amory Letters, MS., 1720. 2 See Waste Book in N. E. Hist, and Gen. Soe. 1713-45.] THE WAYS OF SMALL TRAFFIC. 589 or " ocum stuff " into the hands of Abijah Adams, — a middleman, — who distributes it to parties to be picked into oakum ; the price for the service is generally 16s. per cwt., sometimes 20s. per cwt. William Owen buys the oakum apparently at about 56s. per cwt. for " black," and 60s. for " white," for he gives a note for £27.7 to Fayer- weather, who charges it over to Adams to " discount." These small notes of hand play a great part in the traffic of the time in these retail transactions, and in the opera tions of the larger merchants as well. Fayerweather gives out " my note for |- mony J goods £6.10 " to another party. He gives to Adams in another instance " my note on Bill & Sewall for |- mony -| goods on a shop £9.6." This was a draft for money or an order for goods. He receives from Captain Jos. Allen note for £99.02.6 for 61 quintals fish at 32s. 6d., and charges it over to John Wheel wright. Sundry entries cover rum, " Rusha " duck, mo lasses, Spanish iron, and ambergris at 80s. per pound. In 1733 there appears eighty ounces of silver at 21s. 6d. He charges, " for the laying in of a horse on board ship, £5.14." He pays to a New London skipper 2s. 8d. for a letter received from Joseph Thompson, of New Haven ; and Is. 2d. is paid for a letter from Prudence Island by post. Among the curious uses of credit, postage was charged at the general office, and parties were warned by advertisement1 each quarter to settle, or their privilege would be cut off. A large proportion of this traffic, petty in detail, but large in resulting whole, was conducted by Coasting small coasting craft,2 ranging from the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, Philadelphia, and New York, along the shores of New England to Falmouth or Portland, in Maine. In 1725 the small district of New Hampshire 1 Bos. News Letter, June 7, 1714. 2 See Sewall's account of a voyage from New London to Boston, 5 M. H. C, vi. 439. 590 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713^5. alone reported its traffic with Boston in coasting sloops at £5,000 per annum.1 It received "English goods," and it sent in payment fish and timber. The Maine vessels, as early as 1739,2 stretched away to the farther north, even carrying cattle to Montreal. Their trade at Canso was the most profitable, and we shall see more of that dis trict in Peter Faneuil's operations. In 1721 or 1732, as variously stated,3 an interesting commercial exchange began between New England and the Carolinas, which lasted through the century. It sheds light both upon the general development of coasting trade and upon the peculiar tendency of early New Eng land enterprise to join capital and labor. Sometimes this junction was effected by a common interest, and sometimes by specialising the parts of an adventure in individual interests. In the winter, when the fishing craft, " very small sloops," had no work for vessel or men, the owners loaded them with salt, rum, sugar, or molasses for the Southern coasts. To these heavy staples they added a list of assorted articles, like iron and wooden ware, hats, caps, patterns of cloth for breeches, handker chiefs, and stockings. One of these small cargoes aggre gated £200. Neither master nor men received wages ; instead, each had a privilege of freight out, and of bring ing home his returns in Southern products. As no fish appears in the outward invoices, it is presumed that the men carried that article in their private ventures. Corn and pork were returned, but pitch and tar soon became the leading values. Mr. Amory4 expects 1,200 bbls. from one correspondent in a season, and quotes a cargo at £721 from North Carolina. In 1726 he charters the sloop Ad venture for that trade at £60 per month. He sends sixty 1 New Hamp. H. C, i. 229 ; and N. H. Prov. Pap., iv. 532. 2 Bourne, Wells and Kennebunk, p. 569. 8 Doc. N. York, v. 609 ; Babson, Gloucester, p. 384. 4 MS. Letters, 1727. 1713-45.] EXTENDED COASTING. 591 ewe sheep from Rhode Island to South Carolina, and sur veying instruments, bought at eleven guineas, to North Carolina. In 1721 his Charleston correspondent, Mr. Middleton, reports to him a sale of sixteen pieces of " Negro Cloth." He sends furniture and billiard-tables to these Southern ports. Sole leather was one of the Carolina exports.1 Quantities, in these periods, are poor indicators, but a list is given of the importations of provisions at the port of Boston in one week, May 8-14, 1741.2 It consists of 7,700 bu. wheat, 6,650 bu. Indian corn, 200 bu. peas, 180 bu. beans, 534 bbls. flour, 291 bbls. beef, 278 bbls. pork, 79 bbls. rice. The teasing, paternal government in England tried at various times to control this nimble colonial Briti8h coasting commerce, with but little effect. In enc^witn 1724 the Admiralty Court of Boston advertised3 00a8ters- that all coasters must deliver to the naval officer of the respective ports a " true invoice " of cargo, according to the act 15 Charles II., etc. ; i. e. the Navigation Acts. In 1741 the advertisement4 recites — with the usual wail of complaint — that " many coasters come into and de part this port without entering," etc., and that in future they shall be prosecuted, etc. Like all the colonial reg ulations, the administration was irregular and uncertain. Many vessels did enter and received certificates from the proper authorities.5 Another branch of the paternal administration affected the coasting trade more seriously. The impressment of seamen, as noticed above,6 was a harsh use of the royal prerogative. The transportation along the coast was so important in every-day living that, when interfered with, 1 Bos. Gazette, April 13, 1724. 2 Bos. News Letter, May 14, 1741. 8 Ibid., Jan. 2, 1724. 4 Ibid., Nov. 26, 1741. 6 See Mass. Arch., lxiv. 62. 6 See above, p. 577. 592 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-46. the whole community felt the shock. " Many coasters, trading with Boston were discouraged from coming hither or going thence." Captains of men-of-war, in several in stances, were obliged both to release men already seized, and to promise forbearance to all coasters in future.1 Coasters were exempted from the port charge of powder Li ht-honse money.2 The light-house,3 built for the harbor and pilots. 0£ Boston jn 1716, commuted its fees for coast ers, collecting two shillings each at their clearing out ; fishing vessels, wood-sloops, etc., paid five shillings each per year ; foreign-bound vessels paid one penny per ton, either inward or outward. The keeper of the light-house became the pilot by natural selection. But in 1739 the business of piloting in the richly-laden ocean-borne craft had become important enough to engender competition. " Other men would go way out to sea," and cut off the advances of Robert Balls, who was obliged to watch his lamps as well as breast the seas. Accordingly, Robert begged recognition of the General Court, and was ap pointed exclusively " the pilot of Boston Harbor." 4 He was to maintain boats with insignia not to be counter feited, " broad blue vanes " for the bay, and " broad red vanes " for the harbor, etc. His fee was to be £3 for a hull of 140 to 250 tons, £6 to £10 for 250 to 350 tons, inward or outward. The coasting trade, knitting together the several com- Poiiticaicon- munities in different colonies with gossamer sequences. w^os stronger than hooks of steel, was the first power to control the bungling legislators of the time, and to keep them from constraining and narrowing the grow ing stream of economic intercourse. This intimate inter course and exchange finally developed the American col onies into states, and bound them in imperial bonds. It 1 Bos. News Letter, April 11, 1745 ; Aug. 29, 1745. 2 Mass. Arch., lxiii. 424. 8 Bos. News Letter, Sept. 17, 1716. 4 Mass. Arch., lxiii. 517. 1713-45.] SOME LAWS MEDDLE WITH TRADE. 593 was not without interruption that this process went on. A whole treatise might be written on the various acts re straining trade and intercourse between colonial govern ments, but the life of the people made way for itself and grew while the law-makers paltered. The tide of economic effort was too strong to be controlled by petty political restrictions. In 1714 Connecticut tliought she would export her own pipe-staves, and laid a tax of 20s. per thousand on barrel and 30s. on hogshead staves.1 Rhode regulates Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, as well as other colonies, must pay these export taxes before sending the products to foreign ports, as they had done. Then the same colonies were building vessels or exporting plank and timber ; hence agricultural Connecticut coveted these good things, and in 1715 taxed the outgoing timber 10s. per ton, the plank 5s. per hundred feet, the boards 3s. per hundred feet. These acts were administered strin gently 2 for a time. In 1717 she revised her impost of 12s. 6c?. per £100 on all goods not belonging to her own inhabitants, and made it more effective.3 ^he excise on liquors touched foreign commerce, and was constantly changing in all the colonies.4 Rhode Isl and was interested largely in sugar and the traffic grow ing out of it ; therefore she laid a duty on sugar manufac tured in the " neighboring governments " in 1731. 5 New Hampshire was so incensed by an act of the Massachu setts General Court imposing double duties, double light house fees, and discriminating against her, that she re taliated in 1721.6 i Conn. C. R., 1714, p. 435. 2 Conn. Arch., Trade Ir Mar. Aff, i. 76. 8 Conn. Col. Rec, 1717, p. 23. 4 N H. Prov. P., iii. 819, 827 ; iv. 368 ; Bos. News Letter, Dec. 8, 1737 ; Mass. Arch., lxiii. 485. * R. I. C. R., iv. 454. " N. H. Prov. P., iii. 827. 594 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. These meddling restrictions occurred especially in the trade supplying food and provisions. In hus- nrtbeeon- banding the necessaries of life, the antique law- troiied. maker seemed to find a reasonable ground for artificial interference and impossible restrictions. Man had not discovered that commerce is a better provider than the shrewdest political wiseacre or the most active official. In 1713 Connecticut and Rhode Island both attempted to shut in their grain.1 In Massachusetts the matter assumed serious proportions, and opened all the questions — political, economic, and social — involved in such municipal administration. Sewall records, May 20 th,2 a riot caused by 200 people or more, who broke into Arthur Mason's warehouse on the Common at night time, thinking tp find corn. They wounded the lieutenant governor and another, cried " Whalebone." The imme diate cause of the riot was in Belcher's sending out grain to Curacoa in the time of scarcity. The poor selectmen begged the merchant to desist. Captain Belcher replied, " The hardest fend off ! If they stop'd his vessel, he would hinder the coming in of three times as much." The ex pression is interesting, and marks precisely the passage from a sentimental notion into an economic conviction. Sometimes the exigencies of war would interfere with the movement of provisions.3 The surrender of Acadia, to be known thenceforth as Nova Scotia, by France to England, under the overcomes terms of the treaty of Utrecht, has been consid ered the beginning of the decline of France in this hemisphere. It was the cod, or dun, or stock fish, inhabiting and loving the waters of these coasts, which worked the destruction of the French occupation, built up with such labor and weary pains by the great Louis. Other causes combined to excite and impel both the old iVonn. C. R. 1706, p. 417 ; R. I. C. R., iv. 159. 2 5 Mass. H. C, vi. 384. 8 Mass. Arch., lxiv. 41. 1713-45.] PROFITS IN COD FISHING. 595 and new Britain against their Gallic foes transplanted to these new districts. But the immediate, active, ever- ready cause of trouble between Latin and Saxon, was the knobheaded, richly fat, and succulent codfish. Many finny fellows have finer tissues and more exquisite flavors ; few survive time, endure salt, and serve common daily use, as well as the cod. The economic proof is in the fact stated in 1741.1 A vessel of 100 tons with twenty men fishing on the Banks, then voyaging to Portugal, Spain, or Italy, expended £1,000. Her receipts, if favorable, would be £3,000, showing a profit of 200 per cent. At first the Americans did not fully reap the expected advantages of the treaty. The best fisheries were along the coast, from Cape Sable to the Gut of Canso. The country was inhabited by Indians, who sympathised fully with the French. The most highly civilised of all the European races fraternised most completely with the North American natives. Whatever Frenchman or half- breed willed, the Indian did. Consequently, English or colonial vessels hardly dared venture upon the coasts to cure their fish, and in 1721 2 the French held a prac tical monopoly of the best fisheries. Clandestine trade sprang up between the New England ports and Cape Breton ; vessels carried up lumber, provisions, and to bacco, and brought back wine, brandy, linens, silks, as well as fish. Thus the movement of fish stimulated all trade.3 It was so popular that the collector of customs at Salem 4 vainly tried to induce the legislature to stop it. A remarkable change in the course of the fishing indus try was effected after the New Englanders had changein established themselves fairly in the more north- thefistenes- ern fisheries. In some way they propitiated the Indians, or swarmed so thickly that they bore down native opposi- 1 Oldmixon, British Emp. in America, i. 19. 2 Doc. N. Y., v. 593, 594. 8 Freeman, Cape Cod, p. 389. 4 Felt, ii. 254. 596 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. tion. About 1727 Peter Faneuil found his best market for dealing in fish at Canso. In 1744 the active Yankees had so allied themselves with the friend of their ancestors, the cod, that the French could buy fish at Canso cheaper than they could cure them for themselves at Cape Breton.1 Yet the French had their prey so near and so abundant that they dallied not with hook or line, but seized them with a " Kind of Grapling." 2 So the story ran. The fishing business was prosecuted at all the eastern and northeastern ports. Gloucester alone had seventy vessels engaged in 1741,3 and Marblehead competed with Canso.4 The Province of New Hampshire employed 100 vessels about 1725.5 It was the main business generally in places where it established itself. When New Hampshire laid an embargo on all outward-bound vessels in 1717, ehe excepted the fishermen.6 Mackerel and herring were sent to the West Indies 7 sometimes, but their chief use was for bait. In the early spring the young fry were taken and advertised by the barrel in Boston for that purpose.8 The mackerel run into Massachusetts Bay both in the spring and the au tumn.9 Salmon, the finny duke, compared poorly with Cod, the democrat, in those days. A few families on the Connecticut salted and preserved him for common food in the early part of the century. The price was less than one penny per pound. By 1729 petitions began for sal mon wears in Hampshire ; 10 this shows the fish was worth catching. 1 Belknap, N. H., ii. 193. 2 Douglas, Summary, i. 6. 8 Babson, Gloucester, p. 381. 4 P. Faneuil, Letter Book, July 15, 1737, at N. E. H. and Gen. Soe. 6 Doc. N. York, v. 595. « N. H. Prov. P., ii. 701. 7 Bos. News Let, Dec. 18, 1735. 8 Bos. News Let, Jan. 29, 1730 ; New Eng. Weekly Jour., Feb. 19. 1728. 9 See Deane's Scituate, p. 25, for habits of the mackerel at differ ent periods. 10 judd> Hadley> p. 314> 1713-45.] CHANGES IN USING FISH. 597 The first sale of shad recorded in Northampton, Mass. was in 1733 ; only a halfpenny in good money was paid for one fish. Scales were not necessary in ad justing these values. Of all the changes between fresTana ° , -, . . -. . . , , . salted fish. old-time and new-time palates none is more won derful than the relative appreciation of this delicious fish. Plump, juicy, savory, and luscious on the breakfast platter, he excites an appetite in the epicure, and gratifies the hunger of hardy laborer on all the Atlantic shores, from his spring coming to his summer going in his " last run." Nothing illustrates better the economic use of food as it is enforced by the conditions of civilisation changing with the centuries. Now, people both rich and poor value most — because they can afford to use — fresh, recent tis sues of flesh and fish, succulent and tender nutriment, not staled by processes of cure and preservation. Then, so ciety was obliged to use its forces in the good seasons of plenty, to save constantly and carefully against the wintry and barren times of scarcity. I have illustrated the prin ciple in the changed values of pork and beef. It is even more striking in the employment of these royal fish, wasted then, economised now, and made the common food of laborers. Express trains, telegraphs, and telephones market all the shad the seas can yield, while thousands of men and millions of active capital save the remote sal mon on the Pacific shores, then distribute him over the whole world. Invention in saving processes has helped the movement ; it did not create it. Society in the eigh teenth century, though desiring fish, had not capital enough to pay for the tin can. Much thought in legislation and care in official action was devoted to the fishing industries. They Curingof were appreciated as some of the surest founda tions of prosperity in the community, and worthy of the constant care of the state. The towns looked after the every-day business of locating "flakes," or open platforms 598 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. for curing the fish. Salem 1 in 1714 allowed these privi leges on the shore to her own townsmen at 5s. per annum, while a non-resident must pay 20s. The General Court of Massachusetts policed the whole matter, and heeded the complaints coming occasionally from foreign markets, that fish were not properly cured, assorted, or packed. In 1723 a bill passed for " ye better cureing and culling Fish." 2 A bounty was offered for porpoises and the oil in 1739.3 Salt was a constant necessity in this business, and it formed one of the best return fares in vessels of the ex port trade. The supply came from Spain and Portugal largely,4 though four vessels laden at the Tortugas are mentioned once in 171 8. B Any record of this important period in our New Eng land commerce would be far from complete which should neglect privateering, and its relation to the course of general trade. We have separated the tangled skein of private war and piracy on the seas, mak ing a positive break at 1713. Then the sudden settlement of the War of the Spanish Succession precipitated a swarm of discharged fighting sailors from the navies of the Old World into the ill-policed waters of the New. These men became outlawed pirates, different from the privateersman or developing pirate of earlier times. But a more gradual change should be indicated. In the beginning of the cen tury, privateering proper was practiced, and it was a legit imate means of annoying an enemy used by all contest ants. I cannot make a suitable history of private war upon the seas, — a matter of absorbing interest and a suffi cient story in itself. Ample material exists for a special history of American privateering, its daring and endur- 1 Felt, i. 195. 2 Proc Mass. H. S. 1855, p. 124. 8 Mass. Arch., lxiii. 552. 4 N. H. Prov. P., iv. 532. 8 6 M. H. C., vii. 216. 1713-45.] BRILLIANT PRIVATEERING. 599 a nee, its wonderful exploits and occasional disaster, a ro mance of truth in a field all its own. I must touch this great topic here and there as a part of general commerce. Scattered facts, also, will be noted, as they may help a larger treatment of the especial matter. Both the risks and the profits of commercial business were affected largely by the movement of these orthodox rovers. Established commerce, like that of Salem and Boston, suffered most, while new ports, like Rhode Island, received most benefit. The influx of merchandise so cheaply earned was very profitable, and doubtless all the New England ports gained by privateers, while France, Spain, or Holland lost. As soon as war opened with any of the continental powers, the New England docks bustled with busy outfitters, and the boldest venturers from every district mustered to the standard of the most lucky cap tain. Advertisements would read : " Capt. Peter Law rence is going a privateering from Rhode Island in a good sloop about 60 Tuns, and any Gentlemen or Sailors that are disposed to go shall be kindly entertained." 1 This was in Boston, 1704. Two years earlier there had been sent out from Newport such a fleet that Bownas, an Eng lish Quaker 2 visiting there, reported the most of the able- bodied men " gone off on privateers." The exploits of the Quaker, William Wanton, were more than brilliant. In that year he brought in three French prizes.3 Quakers both owned and sailed cruisers. Rhode Island had been charged with irregularity in commissioning privateers, and in the proceedings for the condemnation of prizes, before admiralty courts were appointed regularly.4 Much dispute appears among the officials. As William EUery, of Newport, received a let ter of marque about the same time from Prince George, 1 Bos. News Let, May 18, 1704. 2 Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, p. 9. 8 Arnold's Hist. R. I., ii. 9. 4 R. I. C. R., iii. 508-510, 537-540. 600 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. consort of the Queen, we may conclude the privateersmen had friends at court.1 France and Spain suffered much, as our scattered reports indicate.2 And they retaliated 3 as well ; the reports would come, as from Antigua, " the privateers are very thick about the Islands." The New England privateer contests gave a distin- Admirai guished officer of the royal navy his first oppor- wager. tunity. Charles Wager was the nephew of John Hull, a Newport merchant. He was with his uncle in one of his vessels, when she was threatened by a French or Spanish privateer. There is a well-attested tradition that Wager, only a lad but high-mettled, pur- suaded the peaceful, non-resistant owner to retire to the cabin and give him control of the vessel. He mustered the crew — they were always armed — and handled them so bravely and skilfully that the attacking party was baffled. The old Quaker's anxiety prevailed over his de corum, and coming into the companion-way he stood tak ing snuff and watching the fight. As he was below the level of the combatants, he could well see the effect of the firing. Again the man prevailed over the Quaker, and he cried out, " Charles, if thee means to hit that man in a red jacket, thee had better raise thy piece a little." The attack was repulsed, and neither a small trading craft or a counting-house could hold such a gallant spirit. Through his friends, Wager obtained a post in the royal navy, ending his honorable career as Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the Admiralty, with a monument in West minster Abbey. He had the sagacity to see that the com mon sailor in private war had an incentive of interest 1 Babson, Gloucester, p. 84. 2 Mass. Arch., lxii. 502 ; Proc. M. H. S. 1873, p. 423 ; 5 M. H. C, vi. 37 ; R. I. C. R., iii. 540, 547 ; iv. 57 ; Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, p. 12. 8 Conn. C. R., 1712, p. 343 ; Mass. Arch., lxiii. 234 ; Felt, Salem, ii. 216 ; Doc. N. Y., iv. 1147 ; v. 61, 469 ; vi. 243 ; Bos. News Let., April 26, 1707 ; R. I. C. R., iii. 581, 562. 1713-45.] RHODE ISLAND PRIVATEERS. 601 which no navy gave to its men at that time. Accord ingly he instituted the division of prize money,1 which gave every man an interest in overcoming the prizes. The rich Spanish vessels taken at Porto Bello were first divided in this way. These stirring times, poor in governing powers, rich in individual men, brought daring spirits to the surface, giving scope to their ambition and freedom to their higher nature. This partisan warfare and excels in suited the independent, self -containing spirit of r °g' the Rhode Islanders. There was reason for the success of the Rhode Island privateers, as well as for their num bers. Their merchants and sailors were more than enter prising ; they were bold, resolute, and aggressive. While lacking the power of combination and political deference prevailing among Massachusetts citizens, they were inde pendent and powerful wherever their individuality could make itself felt. Massachusetts, through the General Court, sometimes offered extraordinary inducements to vessels doing the work of privateers upon the enemy.2 The Massachusetts preacher berated the fisher folk and men of Gloucester that they quaked in their beds when they might be manning their vessels and chasing the one French privateer that held the whole coast in terror. Sewall, when he paused in one of his Narragansett jour neys at Bristol, heard of a French privateer in Vineyard Sound, but added that the Rhode Island men were after him.3 In the Spanish war of 1739 and the French war of 1744, the business of privateering, especially in Rhode Island,4 attained large proportions. The partisan arms forged against France and Spain by the colonists were 1 Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, p. 13. 2 See " Prince of Orange," in Bos. Eve. Post, Feb. 22, 1742. » 5 M. H. C, vi. 194. 4 See lists of vessels and captures in Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, pp. 44,48. 602 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713^5. turned against the mother country with terrible effect in the greater struggle of the Revolution. French and Span ish prisons had left deep scars in the memory of colonial privateersmen, but they retaliated upon property, if they did not treat persons with equal severity. In Simeon Potter, owner and commander of The Prince Charles of Lorraine, of Newport, the Spaniards found a rover as greedy for spoil as the old vikings, though not as cruel. In 1745 x he ravaged 1,500 miles of territory on the Spanish Main, "visiting" churches and private dwell ings. Ethics change with the seasons. Strangely as these exploits sound in our ears, the eighteenth century admiralty judge ruled that he had not violated civilised warfare, and the families of his crew sued the fierce privateer for their shares of the prize money. The Massachusetts towns,2 as well as Newport, fitted value of out privateers, which reaped rich harvests from prizes- the enemy's vessels. In 1741 a Rhode Island and a Massachusetts privateer went together against a Spanish wine vessel. A Massachusetts citizen testified, " it was only by luck that the Rhode Islander had taken the boat rather than the Boston vessel." 3 In 1740 Cap tain Hull, of Newport, took a prize of greater value "than all he had taken before; " each man's share was more than 1,000 pieces of 8.4 A few weeks later the "Boston News Letter"6 reported that Hull's exploits were so extraordinary, his owners "design to have his statue finely cut out of a block of marble to stand upon a handsome pedestal with each foot upon a Spaniard's neck." The Admiralty records 6 teem with accounts of prizes. and their condemnation. In 1744 the Spanish snow Lady de la Rosara, condemned with a cargo of 2,200 seroons of 1 Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, p. 20. 2 Coffin, Newbury, p. 214. 8 Mass. Arch., lxiv. 122. i Bos_ j^ews Let, 1710, Feb. 7. 6 Bos. News Let, March 20, 1740. 8 R. I. Arch., MS. 1713-45.] A MISTAKEN HOROSCOPE. 603 cocoa, 80 do. Jesuit bark, 4,600 pieces of 8, was a type of many captures. The Rhode Island court adjudged the captures made by its own citizens and those of other col onies. In 1745 The Dolphin, brigantine, of New York, 30 guns, with 100 men, commanded by Richard Langden, brought in the sloop Amity, commanded by Philip de Yonge, a Dutchman. It was attempted to free the prize on the score of the commander's nationality. He had thrown overboard his papers when the action was going against him. This in itself, according to the king's stat utes in 1664 and 1672, was evidence sufficient to condemn a prize. The judge, Leonard Lockman, decided that ves sel, cargo, and slaves belonged to French subjects, and was a lawful prize. The private property of De Yonge, some linen, holland, hats, cambric, gold frock-buckles, knee-buckles, and sleeve-buttons, and a bag of 500 pes. of 8, was returned to him, lest the States of the United Netherlands be offended.1 The results were not always favorable. In 1745 God frey Malbone, the leading merchant of Newport, built two large privateers for cruising about the Spanish Main. He manned them with 400 men, and gave the command to Captains Cranston and Brewer.2 The horoscope was cast, — in due custom, — and the forecastle fates either knew not their own mind, or warred against each other. The day of sailing fixed by the stars fell on Friday, and the ships sailed, seeking luck, on that unlucky day. They were never heard of more. Two hundred families in Newport were left each without a head, to mourn their losses. Often an interesting story, important enough for a place in history, could be made from the adven- strange tures of a single vessel, using such records as commerce- have escaped the accidents of intervening years. The comet -like courses of these privateers, shooting across, 1 R. I. Arch., MS. 2 Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, p. 18. 604 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. and entangling the lines of regular commerce, reveal many curious incidents, and reflect the true history of the time. Things which never would have seen light, or, seen, would have escaped notice and notoriety, were forced into full view by the revelations of prize courts. Malbone's occasional losses were conspicuous, as we have seen ; his gains and successes were much more striking. The Charming Betty, a privateer sloop, one half owned by him, had a romantic career. She was ap praised at £2,000, Rhode Island currency, in 1744.1 In 1740 she carried into Newport, among her prizes, the ship Oratavo, and the proceedings in condemna- Revelations « , . . .... of The ora- tion J open a strange chapter in politico-commer cial history. The Oratavo was loaded at Tene- riffe [" Teneries "] with wine and fruit, the island being an alien possession, and traffic with English subjects for bidden during the Spanish war. She touched at Cape Cod, putting ashore one Hubbard with some wine and fruit. While she was hovering on the coast, waiting the issue of her agent's illegal trading, she was taken by The Charming Betty. The voyage was planned boldly and skilfully, with every kind of chicanery then known, to get the vessel through the weak nets of prohibition spread by the British crown. A great profit was expected in Amer ica; at £50 paper currency per pipe, Supercargo McCan- ick was instructed to sell, reserving at least fifty to sixty pipes for Barbadoes. One Lockhart gave the instruc tions for the voyage, having had advice from Boston " of my friend Mr. James Bowdoin that wines were rising there and like to be in high demand, and that notwith standing our present rupture, as also the reported prohi bition of commerce with Spain, we could easily procure admittance for this country wines under the name of Madera, providing were put into pipes of that country." 1 R. I. Arch., Admiralty, MS. 2 Ibid., 1740, James Collingwood v. Oratavo. 1713-45.] AN AUDACIOUS SCHEME. 605 Accordingly shifty Mr. Lockhart and his partners racked their wine into Madeira casks, and sent the vessel on this illicit though presumed easy course for Boston or for Rhode Island. But this scheme was only a small part of the preparation. A consul's certificate was ob tained by some means at Teneriffe ; in the words of Judge Auchmuty, at Newport, " what Still more Shocks me is that in this Treasonable Commerce, a Gentleman that once had y" Honour and Trust of being his Majes ty's Consul in Tenerise, Should be Engaged a partner with this Lockhart. . . . Certify . . . Corrupt and Bribe," etc. This truthful document was " only designed if the other should not take," to impose an entirely different tale upon his Majesty's loving subjects, inform ing them that " said wines are the produce of effects be longing to me and other Protestant British Subjects which with great hazard have been happily secured from the Barbarous Spanish reprizals." Under this second projected course " Captain Williamson must enter his Ship at Rhode Island under the name of the Providence, Capt. Patrick Mackenna, from Madera, according to your colourable clearance from thence." It does not appear that any of the American merchants were implicated in the plan or execution of the voyage. A quarter cask of " Madera " was sent to be given to Cap tain Richard Malbone, collector at Rhode Island, but such gifts were not uncommon. " Ye may inquire for Capt. John Hull who if still there [Rhode Island] will bring you acquainted with " Messrs. Samuel Holmes, John Bennet, Thomas Richardson, and others. They were to advise, also, with Mr. Bowdoin in Boston. The plan, though very sagacious, did not contemplate the irruption of a privateer seeking a prize, or ready for plunder. The defendants set up in the Admiralty Court that, admitting all facts, " Lockhart and Company are good Loyal Subjects " trying to get property out of an 606 COMMERCIAL EPOCH OF UTRECHT. [1713-45. enemy's country. If the plan was illegal, it was not car ried into effect. Judge Auchmuty did not view it in that light ; indeed, he charged that Lockhart, with his friends, was acting "a part, as by papers appears he acted be fore." The judge doubtless crossed his stout thighs frequently beneath the splendid mahogany of the Mal- friendiy u bones, and often enjoyed the hospitality of the Ayraults, Holmeses, and the rest, then equal to any cheer on the American continent. His charge testi fies both the severity of judgment and the passion of patriotism. He condemns the prize for the benefit of the captors ; sounding out, in the bulging rhetoric of the time, against the "most Shocking Scene of Disloyalty, Treachery and Corruption." He felt the cause " to be of as high Importance as can come in Judgment," and important enough to justify the great " Auditory " present. Whatever the shortcomings of Rhode Island might have been in subjecting herself to the maternal government of England, this crown official meant to glorify her in the eyes of the Newport community of 1740. He descanted on the sacrifices of the colony in equipping the war sloop Tartar, and on the energy of the merchants in-dispatching privateers to annoy the enemies of the crown. Whatever we may think of the morality or patriotism of Mr. Lockhart, he knew his business thoroughly. His memorandum x is worth studying, for it reveals accurately the course of commerce between the Western Islands, New England, Virginia, and the West Indies. In these poorly regulated times commerce went on, lawfully if it could, but they traded. We leave the old privateers regretfully. They shot some bright threads of adventure through the dull webs of trade ; they lighted the growing new commerce with an occasional gleam from the dying fires of chivalry. 1 Appendix C. CHAPTER XV. PETER FANEUIL AND THE LAST GENERATION OF DEPENDENT COLONISTS. 1725-1742. The era of colonial commerce, the race of colonial merchants, closes properly with the career of Peter Fan euil. Louisburg was not taken when he died. In the assault on that stronghold, the colonies girded their infant loins against one of the matured giants of Europe. In that struggle they first learned how easy it was for a young and comparatively weak contestant on the ground to beat a strong enemy afar off. Between 1745 and 1775 ") the Revolution was gestating, and a new com merce gestated with it. Peter Faneuil, born in eration after 1700, died in 1742, in the prime of his years. His outgoing corresponds nearly with this pivot of the siege of Louisburg. It is worth a few pages of detail to set forth his career, and to study his methods, the records of which we fortunately possess, though in frag mentary form. These broken fragments are sufficient to picture the whole way of commerce and trade while the colonies were accumulating that wealth which afforded force sufficient to challenge and to dare the power of England. This forming process, this nation-building, went for ward by means of institutions and of individuals. Both are important, and the origins of both deserve attention in the study of either economic or social history. Puri tan New England and Cavalier Virginia have been much written about. Important as the Puritan - cavalier life 608 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42. and the particular race-growth of these districts are, we begin to see that they are parts, and that they are not the whole, of the great story of American de- nowhoiiyUt velopment. The local quarrels and constitu tional struggles of England, transferring their disjoined members to these new lands, were great moving influences here : they were not the sole influences in pro jecting the race and the institutions of America. Parts of England did much indeed, but Scotland, Ireland, Hol land, Protestant France, Germany, and Sweden conjoined in forming that racial tree, that enormous trunk, whose branches spread from Maine to California, with leaves spreading and flowering over Apalaehian and Rocky Mountains alike. The history of the Old World — though ancestral and important — beclouds the actual story of the vastly larger New. This fact most affects our conceptions of institu tions, but my present purpose tends toward the treatment of individuals. We forget that the new nation drew its members from strong individuals coming from many and diverse communities. The abounding social soil of the New World germinated and sprouted the incipient or budding institutions of the Old, using for seeds and off shoots the strongest individuals of half a dozen races. In blood and fibre, in breeding and hereditary training, Faneuil was a small epitome of this racial development, Faneuil's tnls cosmopolitan experience. His uncle An- ancestry. (jreWj driven out in the Huguenot expulsion, married while in Holland, settled in Boston by 1691, or earlier. Peter's father settled in Narragansett at first, but removing to New Rochelle, N. Y., our subject, the eldest son, was born there in 1700. Summoned to Bos ton, he inherited, as executor and residuary legatee, the large estate of his vigorous and enterprising uncle in 173g. We do not know the exact date of his coming, but he was a young man. He took up his uncle's methods, 1725-42.] LAST DEPENDENT COLONISTS. 609 and conducted the business for some years before he in herited it. He built Faneuil Hall in 1742. It was fitting that this institutional pile should have been built by a Franco- American cradled among the Knickerbockers, settling finally into a solid citizen of the three-hilled town, that centre of New England life, that source of so many ideas prevailing in American history. Some of the old Faneuil account books are well pre served,1 and they are oases in the documentary Account wastes made by fire, accident, and neglect in our b00ks' American commercial history. We have a ledger, 1725-32, invoice and journal specimens in the same period ; better than all, a letter book, 1736-42. The splendid parchment page of the old ledger rebukes the soft pulp, the swift- whirling rollers of modern paper-mills. " Laus Deo, Boston, N. E.," heads the page, inscribed by the portly and respectable clerk with a gray goose-feather, new- nibbed for the important occasion. No haste, no unseemly rush of telegraph messengers, no distracting " Helloa ! " of telephone, in the presence of that staid functionary, inditing the doings and doing the will of a Boston mer chant. Glory to God ! he put piously in Latin words not open to the vulgar. Then he reckoned his L., S., D., and posted his columns, if slowly and methodically, yet in very much the same spirit which inspires the nimble and facile ministers of Jay Gould or the Vanderbilts in our day. These records indicate, in modern terms, a general ship ping and commission business. He received goods from many correspondents, English, Por- sionbusi- tuguese, and French, sold them and made returns in new ships, fish, or other merchandise. Sometimes he ventured vessel and cargo, and these ventures were almost always divided in shares with his uncle, brother, friends, or correspondents abroad. But the most transactions 1 In cabinet of N. E. Hist, and Gen. Soe. 610 PETER FANEUIL. [1725^2. are upon commission, When he charges a commission, whether upon a lot of fish or oil, or a bag of gold, it is at 5 per cent. He seems, also, to have imported assorted English goods for the account of dealers in Boston, charg ing them at cost, with an agreed advance. For exam ple, December 2, 1732, an invoice of £93.5.2 sterling is charged at 350 per cent., the depreciated currency ac counting for much of the high premium. Then these dealers reimbursed him in small sums. Let us follow his operations in building and dispatching a specimen *ne snlP Providence for the account of Mr. shipment. William Limbery, of Bristol, England. January 12, 1736, he writes Mr. Limbery that Captain Godfrey is still awaiting the launching of the vessel, the winter being very severe. He was receiving English goods, chiefly tex tiles, constantly from Limbery. Pepperell & Odiorne had imported goods of their own, and they are mentioned in this letter. Moreover, Pepperell would give him but 4s. per dozen for Limbery's codlines, as Kenwood & Co. were selling at 4s. 3c?. for the single dozen ; the price had been 5s. the previous year at wholesale. Limbery had 500 pieces of " Duroys " ready for shipment in the spring. But Faneuil would not accept any business upon commis sion unless he could make returns in fish the year follow ing. " It is Impossible to sell goods to raise money out of them to Purchase Spring Fish." The fishing was poor in that particular season. January 24th, the ship is ready upon the stocks, but waiting for the harbor to be freed from " yB vast quantities of Ice." He sends an account current, showing balance due Limbery £8,965.14.6, made from the sales of numerous shipments given in detail. The goods came in ships and snows chiefly from " Exon " (Exeter), but occasionally from Bristol or London. March 4th he announces Captain Godfrey's ship " Prov idence, Exceeding good as well as Beautyfull," com pletely fitted and laden, though the weather had been so 1725-42.] A "FAIRE TRADER" OPPRESSED. 611 cold for three months that business had been " Impossable Scarcely." She was to sail in three days for Bordeaux with 137 hhds. 19 bbls. brown sugar, 7 hhds. 366 lbs. white do., owned by John Segal, of that port. The freight on sugars was. to be 2s. 6d. per cwt. She carried 2 hhds. indigo also. The sugars and indigo were upon a French snow from St. Domingo, the vessel having been con demned in Boston. The remainder of the cargo — which filled her — was for owner's account, viz. : 11 M barrel staves, 11 "Ulscriptores," and about 8 doz. finished oars. He hopes Limbery will order Captain Godfrey back to Canso with a cargo of salt ; in that event he will have a return of fish ready for the ship. He expects an answer from Limbery " by first Ships In the Spring." But Faneuil has been forced to one act which vexed him sorely. " Thro the Caprice of the Judge of The law the Admiralty here, and it is in no way founded l^Mie on Law nor Justice," he has given a bond that trader-" the ship will return directly from France to some port in America. Godfrey gave Faneuil a counter bond. His wrath is outspoken that his movements should be so con strained : " Every person here crys Shame of it. I hope you will represent this Imposition to some of your members that they may remonstrate this peice of Injustice done to the King's Subjects, and Endeavor to get him turned out of that post, for he is a Ville man, if you cannot obtain that I hope you will get a Letter of Repremand from their Lordships to him, which I desire you will send me open that so for the future there may be no more such Imposi tions on the faire trader, . . . the same being the needfull that Offers at present I kiss your hand remain " It is evident that the king's ministers were awaking to the necessity of putting screws on some of the loose doings of the king's subjects. March 22d, he advises that The Providence actually sailed on the 18th. He inclosed all the tradesmen's bills 612 PETER FANEUIL. [1725^2. incurred upon her, and noted the whole cost of the vessel at £4,873 6s. 2d., with £511 Is. Id. for the small portion of the cargo furnished by the owner. He observes that the prospective balance due Limbery, £3,582, will not be sufficient to pay for a full cargo of fish, when she comes for another freight. He says vessels are much cheaper in the river Thames than in Massachusetts. In another letter he had said : " Wee have 43 sailes of vessells now a Building in this Town, and there is nothing but Dis- apointnr* to be expected from them." It seems that Limbery had consigned some goods to Captain Lee, presumably one of his own shipmasters, and had apologised to Faneuil. The latter accords heartily with his course, not disappointed that he did not receive the consignment. " Must allways Expect that the masters will have the preferance withe sale of these goods when they sell so much under the prisses of the factors." He quotes sales of " Dufferen at 14s. 6d., Baye at 5s., Kersey at 25s., fine Whitneye 53s., coarse do at 28s." We may perceive the Boston notion of a " fair trader," in his relations with the British crown, from other portions Contraband °f Faneuil's correspondence. June 7, 1737, he hanakeT sends Mr. Thomas Lloyd, at North Carolina chiefs. probably, a box of fine Barcelona handkerchiefs, to be sold for his account, and the proceeds returned in pork, wheat, or flour; value of 62 doz. at £7 is £434. His instructions read : " Ye Mr (Captain) does not know what they are & you cannot be insensible that they can not be Imported oppenly therefore I desire yr care in gettB of them on Shoar Immediately on yre Arrival." May 16, 1737, he sends an account of the " duroys " with a case of shalloons sold ; also a case of shalloons sold for another party at 4s. 4d. per yard. He winds up. busi ness with Limbery June 20, 1737, saying he will accept no more commission business from any one, and recom mending the captain to other agents. His reason given is the " badness " of trade. 1725^2.] SHIPS BY CONTRACT. 613 Collections were slow. He remarks to Jacob Bernall, Jr., for whom he had sold rum, and who desires Spanish silver in remittance, that the shopkeepers always take twelve months and sometimes two years in payment. He has frequent dealings with Miguel Pacheco da Silva at Cadiz and London. December 2, 1736, he is building a ship for Da Silva's account, to be sent to Canso for a cargo of fish. He reports a portion of the consignor's " Linen Drapery " on hand, three trunks of " Callacoes," and all the 7s. 8d. " Garlex " and " muslins." Afterwards he reships some of these textiles to South Carolina. Da Silva sends him sails and cordage to fit the vessel. Log wood was often in great demand. May 16, 1737, the market having been cleared by cash purchases for Ham burg, the price had advanced so that he could buy judi ciously for Da Silva. It appears that Mr. Thomas Quay, of Kingston, Ja maica, sent an agent, Charles Pratten, to contract shipbuua- for building a vessel. June 3, 1737, Faneuil ad- mg- vises that he has put out the contract to " Benj. Hallowell, who will do it effectually." Pratten brought "so small matter of effects " that no builder would undertake the affair with him, and Faneuil was obliged to make it his own, and agree to pay the much-dreaded " Cash " for the vessel at £12 to £15 per ton. He quotes subsequently 800 tons shipping built for him at £12 or £15. " You'1 not by any means neglect to send a sufficiency of effects either in Cash or a Quantity of Molasses woh will allways fetch the money." He directs Quay to order canvas, cordage, and anchors from London ; these coming in time, the vessel would be launched the next November. June 8th he sends copy of the above, and reports sales of the inadequate " effects," rum at 7s. 6d. per gallon, with some sugar. He calls loudly for more rum, sugar, or anything, " surpriz'd that you sent so small a matter of effects as to carry forward such an undertaking and y* by a stranger." 614 PETER FANEUIL. £1725-42. More remittance : " Should you fail doing of it, you may depend that I shant go on wth her." Lest good Mr. Quay may not comprehend, he addresses him July 22, 1737, with the news that there are five ships belonging "to the West India," lying at the wharves, which the factors would not let go, for lack of payment, " so that I hope you'1 Prevent yr being one of the num ber." The fishermen of eastern Massachusetts, especially Cape Ann, Marblehead, and Salem, were accumulating wealth. Limbery had offered to receive consignments of fish, one third part in the interest of the fishermen. Faneuil answered that the fisher folk were getting vessels of their own. He wrote Da Silva, November 25, 1736, " the shoremen have now 6 sail of vessels in the trade and they shipt of the last Year 14,000 Q18." The merchant must extend his operations, looking east ward and northward for fishermen and customers move north- who were not so independent. The Gut of Canso had now become an important base of supplies for the commerce of New England, and Faneuil sends an agent or resident partner to abide there. These mercan tile connections bode no good to the realm of the king of France. June 13, 1737, our merchant commits the care of his affairs at Canso to Thomas Kilby, going from Boston to operate there in joint account with Faneuil. Francis Cogswell was to assist in the business, and appar ently he resided sometimes at Louisburg. Faneuil keeps Cogswell advised of the eastern Massachusetts market for fish. June 13, 1737, he quotes April and May " faires " at 45s. Kilby is to send Captain Cumby to Bilboa with fish immediately, and he notes three more captains for cargoes in the near future. Kilby is to offset debts due Faneuil there in making purchases ; to sell out Captain Merritt's sloop and cargo, if practicable ; or she must " touch at the Eastward " coming home, for a lading of 1725-42.] BUSINESS IN OTHER PORTS. 615 " cordwood." Kilby was to have a credit, in money, at Louisburg also, and to pick up indigo, rum, molasses, or any available merchandise. Faneuil desires especially "Ja maica & Refuse fish." The choice fish went to the south of Europe, chiefly for fast days, while Sambo took the rejected, when he could get it. Kilby was to get as long time as possible on the bills drawn on Faneuil. Canso was rising in civilisation, for our merchant sent books of music there, and a diamond ring. June 20, 1737, Faneuil consigned Kilby a cargo of provisions owned equally by himself and his " good friend Peter Warren," of whom we shall hear more in the siege of Louisburg. There was some bitterness between the Massachusetts fishermen and the rising Canso people. Faneuil wrote Kilby that he gladly commended Bell, Cogswell, and Odiorne for not over-salting their fish, which credits " their harbour." The Marblehead " Gentry wants much to here of their spoilling of there fish." Marblehead would have liked it destroyed, in Faneuil's opinion. In the opposite direction, New York was the port which gave him most business. Philadelphia appears but seldom. August 2, 1742, he asks with New Peter Boynton there for a freight for a good ship of two hundred tons then lying in Boston. He quotes molasses at 7s. 6d. His uncle had maintained corre spondence vnth Gulian Verplanck, in New York, and Peter wrote him frequently. He sends to New York small consignments of his English goods, with Barcelona handkerchiefs and Florence oil, when he has a surplus, and he frequently orders wheat or flour thence for his out going vessels, especially those to Cadiz. In 1736 wheat was 3s. 8c?. to 3s. 9c?. in New York. He buys bread for use of the ships. He buys, also, " inferior " bread, and New Jersey and " country bolted " flour. Verplanck in turn consigns various articles, sugar among others. Fan euil allows the customary 2\ per cent, to Verplanck on 616 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42. general business, after considerable cross-firing. Boston is the larger market, and controls more articles of luxury. In 1737 Faneuil is asked for a dozen "red Turkey or Morocker Lether chairs." And he sends Verplanck, by the " Sloop Boston Packett Josiah Milliken Mr," an easy- chair costing 14s. 14c?., ordered for a lady. He presents his New York correspondent, at the same time, a firkin of choice salmon. Some such amenities were needed, for there is a critical, even captious tone, sounding through Faneuil's letters, which the immediate facts do not war rant, as if there were old scores, irritating in themselves, but intangible, and not revealed by the ledger accounts. Occasional business drifted in, the Faneuils being known to the whole commercial world as responsible factors. April 15, 1737, he sends out the snow cantjiocon- Phenix, P. Mariat, master, for Dartmouth, 90 tons and 10 men, loaded with 102 hhds. tobacco, 40 bbls. tar, black walnut, and staves. Her owners were French apparently. She was on her voyage from Vir ginia, when, disabled by a violent storm, she was obliged to put into Boston and refit. The captain drew on Fan euil for the expenses, and hypothecated the vessel and cargo "to answer the bottom bill." The "Impost office" forced Faneuil to pay £178 duty on the tobacco, which he considers unjust, but the officer could not clear the vessel otherwise. He writes the owners that he will pe tition the General Assembly, and try to obtain redress for their account. Having this interest in the snow, he writes Silas Hooper, in England, to obtain £250 sterling in insurance upon her. He orders from Hooper small items, like £30 worth of snuff, pepper, 50 pieces Russia duck, 100 doz. " port lines of 18 thread," 200 lbs. sail twine. For these two latter items he enjoins writing to Exeter for a particular brand. " Those made in London wont do here therefore upon no pretence send me any other." He sells wines in considerable quantity — one 1725-42.] LONDON MARKET CONTROLS. 617 cargo brings £2,686 — for Thomas Pendergast. They are entitled " Videna " and " Malmsey ; " some are shipped from Teneriffe. When in over-advance for a return cargo, he takes security as above from the captain of the vessel. Hats were, always a good merchandise. He accounts for a parcel amounting to nearly £400, in 1736, to Edward Dymoke, and promises to remit him in beaver. And in 1738 he writes Peter Lynch there were no Madeira wines in town ; therefore " Vidone " would bring about £50 per pipe. Those were small affairs thus intrusted in London to Hooper. London was the central mart and final ex change for all the commerce circling through Canso, Boston, New York, Bilboa, Cadiz, or central other ports, American or European. The Lon don correspondence was all-important, and the Faneuils conducted theirs generally with Loyd & Lane, or Lane & Smethurst (also Smithurst). This mercantile house performed the functions assigned to bankers in our time. He draws bills of exchange on them frequently in favor of Verplanck and of many other parties ; settles his Bar celona and Cadiz business through them. He gets one item of credit in 1736 amounting to £10,104 3s. 9c?. He remits silver often, 410 oz. at one time. He is writ ing them for insurance frequently ; on one account £4,000 in insurance is noted, probably not all in one risk. Ma rine insurance was becoming common. He is constantly ordering tripe, chests of lemons, and " Seville oranges " and other dainties, by his captains, and they are sent to these banking merchants for the money. He is very precise in ordering articles of apparel for him self, i. e. "fine large silk hose for my own use." His sisters were equally fussy, finding a parcel of goods " to their Likeing except the Stock5 which was white worsted instead of thread." Accordingly the stockings are sent back to London to the bankers. In 1736 he requested 618 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42. Loyd & Lane to send from " Christ Hospital a Cleaver Educated Sober young youth that has had the Small Pox lads needed. wch js fitting to be bro" up in my Counting House, one that wrights and siphers well." He directs them to give the master a fee of two guineas to " bring such a Lad Forward." If Loyd & Lane are prudent in the selection, and the lad shall behave well, they can promise the parents that Faneuil will advance him in the world. Such indications correspond with other facts proving that educated men were needed in the larger sort of affairs here. There is a marked difference between. the correspondence of Amory, trained in the Westminster School, and that of Faneuil or the Pepperells. He commends the collector, John Jekyll, to these bank ers, and is gratified by their expression that they will " notice " him. The relations of the collectors of the royal revenue with the merchants were very intimate. We get an occasional glimpse of the larger regions of finance. The larger merchants of Boston had accumu lated wealth enough to avail themselves of the solid in- investments vestments of the mother country. There were m England. g00(j reasons for improving the opportunity. Probably the political tinkering with finance and the woful depreciation of currency in this generation im pelled conservative property-holders to seek the protec tion of a better system. Bank of England, East India stock, and other securities were quoted in the " News Let ter." December 8, 1737, Peter writes Claude Fonnereau & Sons, London, that his uncle, Andrew Faneuil, being in disposed, is unable to answer their " agreeable favour of the 11 October." The nephew acknowledges Fonnereau's advice of dividend received on Faneuil's £14,800 Bank stock, 3 per cent, received on £1,000 Exchequer annuity, and the reinvestment of his balance in £200 " East India Compy Bond " and £200 Bank stock. And the uncle is very well pleased with the agent's management 1725-42.] ENGLISH INVESTMENTS. 619 in his affairs. July 27, 1738, after his uncle's death, Peter sends a mourning ring, and acknowledges their credit of Bank dividend £408.7.6, and their debit of £438.1.5, which they had invested in four East India bonds. He observed the low prices of stocks occasioned by petitions of merchants to the king against Spanish de predations. " It is high Time wee should have Satisfac tion from those Villains who are as bad as Pirates." October 31, 1738, he had in S. & W. Baker's hands : — Old South Sea Annuities £6,531 11 3 East India £100 Bonds 300 " Stock 500 Barcelona was an important market at this time ; prob ably the fish for the Mediterranean ports was distributed thence. He corresponds with Michael and Traaewith Richard Harris there. In August, 1738, he BarceIona- had their commission to buy logwood at £60. It was very scarce in Boston, and not a ton to be had at the limit. He reports purchase, for their account, of the snow Friend's Adventure, John Corney, master, costing £3,322.6.11, with cargo of merchantable codfish costing £3,826.1.3. He was dispatching to them, also, the brig Ann, Bennett, master, with a lading of fish. At the same time he directs his joint operator Kilby, at Canso, to buy 1,000 quintals of fish, consulting with Captain Bennett. The Messrs. Harris were of the thrifty kind of correspondents whom merchants like. After making these disbursements Faneuil was still in their debt, and sends five drafts for £819.12. 1\ on Joseph Chitty, mer chant, of London, which he hopes will be duly honored, for " four hundred per cent, is the very height of excha." In September Peter gets news from his brother Ben jamin, visiting London, that he had met one of the Messrs. Harris there, who told him that fish have a good prospect " up the Streights." So Faneuil congratulates himself on the dispatch of the snow and cargo. She had been laden 620 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42. from Marblehead, for account of Messrs. Harris, with "the best & strongest mayfish ever shipt out of this Country, cost 4s. per quintall." It seems competitors of the Fan- euils, some of " our N. E. gentn," had promised on the London exchange to make returns, for English goods con signed, in less than twelve months. Peter says it could not be done within two years. He enjoins upon Benja min not to undertake business upon such premises, as his " character must suffer. Goods of all kinds goes a beg ging," and responsible shopkeepers would not buy, trade being sluggish and money very scarce. Peter was scrupu lous in promise, and careful in performance. He had drawn on Samuel and William Baker, London, and they had accepted £150 in favor of Verplanck. He writes September 7, 1738, expressing great satisfaction: "I would not for £500 you had not accepted of all those drafts for if you had not it would a bin a Slur to my Character wh I value more than all the money on Earth." This punctilious regard for duty to their fellows, and this respect for public opinion, renders the inconsistencies of these good citizens more glaring when they dealt with the crown. I have referred to Peter's idea of a fair trader.1 December 4, 1738, we get another exposition of the Boston " fair trader's " methods with the dealing with government. One Germain Quienastre had con signed Faneuil five hogsheads indigo and one tierce of rum, directing the captain to advise with him how to save the duty. Faneuil writes Captain Wilkinson to " send it to Providence & from thence to come down in Carts that is Provided you can get a certificate for it from the Custom house & by that means I could save the whole or a great part of the duty." September 7, 1738, he writes Silas Hooper concerning " the Discount of 6| p Cent in wh I am satisfyed I am sorry it should make you so uneasy my enquiry into it 1 See above, p. 611. 1725-42.] A MAIDEN'S EXPORTS. 621 when I wrote you about it I did not but that you were in Cash for me and that you had bo* the Pepper at the Sale & that you would have allowed me the Disco!:, but I find it to the Contrary I shall In a little time remitt you a bill of Exch" for your reimbursm* or more." This helps to explain his instructions of December 7th following to Lane & Smithurst. He was then making another shipment of 1,200 quintals merchantable codfish to Messrs. Harris, Barcelona. They were to remit pro ceeds to London to Faneuil's credit. He desires Lane & Smithurst to buy therewith a lot of good pepper at the " next India Sale " if it is " sold reasonable." He de sires, also, a " Lege " — runlet probably, called by New Englanders a " rullege " — of good arrack, if not too dear, — say 8s. to 8s. 6c?. per gall. He expects from Lane & Smithurst a similar discount to that in negotiation with Hooper. " The same advantage by buying at ye Sale as your predecessor Mr. Loyd used to allow deceased Uncle, this for your Government." The latter phrase was very common with him in winding up instructions or pointing an argument. Petty affairs, and microscopic, detailed directions for the gratification of a fussy bachelor, run through the graver matters, as the runlet of arrack moistens a whole invoice of pepper. Sister Mary Ann, " that lives with A maiden.s me," a thrifty maiden, packs her discarded lnv0,ce- " snuff-boxes, buckles & Glove Strings " in a small box, which punctilious Peter delivers to Captain Gentil, and tells his correspondent gravely to sell them and return the proceeds in produce to the best advantage. The ladies were wont to make commercial ventures in their relatives' ships, but this commerce is upon the smallest scale that I have discovered. All sorts of articles come from London through Hooper, the Bakers, Lane & Smithurst, and others, — Bachelor three gold watches, " my slippers, Knife, Fork wants- 622 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42. & Spoon," one dozen French knives presented, one dozen silver spoons, one dozen silver forks " with three Prongs, with my arms cutt upon them, made very neat & hand some, one dozen cotton caps in two sizes to sample. In one bundle was a piece of wax candle, sent " in order to gett me two pair of handsome new fashioned Silver Candle Sticks. Let em be very neatly made & by the best work man," arms engraved, etc. ; half a dozen razors of the best, with a hone in a case ; two pairs spectacles for the meridian of forty-five years, and one pair for fifty years. In all these personal conveniences, and minute provisions for adorning his own person and his female relatives, he did not forget the inner man. His palate was never long forgotten in the long letters put into prim, crabbed char acters by the staid copyist, as Lane and Smithurst are gravely ordered " for the use of my Kitchen the latest best book of the severall Sorts of Cookery, w? pray let be of the largest character for the benefit of the maids reading." When Faneuil was aggrieved by injustice or any lax conduct on the part of his correspondents, his Celtic blood fired quickly, and his wrath blazed in a flame, whose fierceness words could hardly convey. Boston the 6 April 1738 Captain James Geeenon — Inclosed you have the Coppy of MessI! Thos Tho! & Son's Letter to my Uncle & Self as likewise that of Mr Paul Griffen to me by w!1 you will see what unhandsome usage I meet with from your & Mr Sigal's Owner had I ever Imagined of receiving such base I would have L' both the ships have rotted by the Walls 1 before I would have Advanced my money to fitt them to the Seas & to be so used with Ingratitude by all w!1 you may see what handsome parcell of protested bills I must pay. if this be the honT of your (Ragon men) God deliver me from them for the future I would not take their word for a Groat nor 1 He always uses this term instead of " wharves " or " docks." 1725-42.] HONORABLE DEALING. 623 trust them for a Sous markt pray be so good as to inform Mr Sigal of this unhandsome treatment & that by those who call themselves Gent"! of honor I presume these pretended Gen'.? will think that I will sitt down by there unhandsome usage but they will find themselves very much mistaken for in about 3 weeks Time my Brother Benj1? goes for London & from thence for Rochelle & Bordeaux with all Acc'.B of both Ships & Cargoes with both the original bills of sale for them, & if they dont dis charge those bills with the charges of protest &c. I have given him orders by virtue of the bills of Sale to attach both the Ships the moment they arrive & by that means I hope I shall get Justice done me. . . . The style of expression in that period was loose and often furious. Faneuil's language is no more passionate than the occasion demanded. The action of his French debtors was extremely aggravating. Commerce demanded then a certain good faith and prompt cessaryto execution of trusts or it could not proceed. The machinery of trade was not organised commercially or politically for such speedy execution of the will of buyer and seller as we have now. All the more was it neces sary that men trusted in affairs should act justly, and an swer freely to the call of honor. We have seen how Faneuil valued his own good name. Many little things show his faith in his fellows, and much was done in the constant hope that they would answer to his fair expecta tion. The French incident is one of the inverse results of these reasonable assumptions. There was no harmony between the branches of the Faneuil family. When Benjamin was in France Family J matters. Peter wrote him January 21, 1738 : — " I note what you say in relation to my Aunts managemt w'? our Uncles Estate wch is no more then I expected Know5 her to be subtill & cuning enough to manage any Affair of that Nature the Affair depending with Mr. De la Croix being of a peice with the rest I hope you will have finished it some way or Other before you leave France." 624 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42. Their sister Ann married Addington Davenport, her legacy of £2,000 from her uncle Andrew being trusted to Peter. Another sister, Susannah, married James Bou- tineau, with £1,000 trusted as above. Peter made a cu rious mistake, much to his chagrin, October 26, 1738, in directing S. & W. Baker to transfer the above amounts to the husbands in fee. How he did it, with his careful habits, does not appear. We can perceive in the columns of a ledger, and in the figures of journal entries, the customs of the community and the person's notions of right and honor. Between the lines of old letter books there appear, also, some secrets of Affairs of ^he kearf > an- communication and exchange profitable. When he wants a negro servant he is his own banker and importer. Feb ruary 5, 1738, he invoices1 6 hhds. fish at 26s., 8 bbls. ale wives at 40s., amounting with charges to £75.9.2, to Cap tain Peter Buckley, of ship Byam, for Antigua. Neither Newport, Boston docks, nor his own vessels 2 offered choice enough for his fastidious taste in the selection of a house servant. The West Indies had the best supply of trained negroes. Accordingly he directs Captain Buckley, in a careful letter February 3, to sell the fish and buy a straight negro lad, 12 or 15 years old, having had the small-pox, — if possible. As the slave is to be in his own service, he desires as " tractable a disposition " as can be found. Any deficit in proceeds of fish would be made up, and if a surplus ensued it was to be invested in mer chandise. The " fair trader " is still pursued by pestilent officials determined to execute the laws of the realm. March 10, 1738, Faneuil sends his brig Rochell, 120 tons, Screech, master, consigned to Robert Pringle, probably at Charles ton. It was an experimental voyage, to occupy the sum mer, as the vessel had to return to Canso in the autumn for a load of fish. He shipped £1,580.0.7, all in The way t0 rum ostensibly, and wished the proceeds returned sh]p brandy- in the cheapest merchandise, preferring sole leather for a part, and silver or gold for a part, though he preferred a credit in London to the specie. She might be sent to any European port. But he must have " dispatch " rather than profit on this small venture. Mark the methods of a " fair trader." The captain signed for a given number of hogsheads of rum ; neither did the crew know of any- ' Proc. M. H. S. 1863, p. 419. 2 See above, p. 467. 628 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42 thing else in the cargo. Faneuil writes : " there are two casks, viz. No. 1 & No. 2, -wh. are Brandy, w1^ you'll use the necessary Caution in getting safe Landed on Shore, so as not to be of any Prejudice to my Vessel & advise me if at any time any quantity may be safely imported to you & how it will answer." The larger commerce continued the custom, noticed so frequently in the previous generations, of allowing cap tains a trading privilege for their own account free of freight. Faneuil writes Harris, his Barcelona correspond ent, January 7, 1739, that he was forced to pay Captain Coleman, just sailing, £5 sterling per month and 100 quintals of fish " priviledge." The cargo was all fish, as Boston afforded at the moment no beans, logwood, or " Brazelado." The solid men of Boston had newspapers brief and seldom in those days, no railway excursions, and few public engagements to absorb their time between the ar rival of one vessel and the departure of another. They had ample leisure to attend to little personal or domestic wants. Sister Mary Ann had a regular account Mary's ven- with Lane, Smithurst & Caswell, in London, which her brother managed in his ordinary cor respondence. A suit of hers sent over must be dyed a particular color, and fashionable, then " watered like a Tabby." But thrift alone did not content the Huguenot- American maiden, descended from mercantile stock, and living in a commercial atmosphere. Her feminine love of chance shows itself in a purchase of one half of Cap tain Peter Buckley's two tickets, " No. 42m, 234 & 43m 223 in the present bridge Lottery." She credits the cap tain £5.8.6 for the same with Lane, Smithurst & Caswell, in London. All sorts of articles come from London: four large, handsome octavo common-prayer books, in large type, with one " in f rench for my own use ; " six coach-horse, 1725-42.] OUTFITS AND RETURNS. 629 town-made bits; six bearskins of the largest, with two "large fine well painted Beaver Coats," for Personai sleighing. He orders a sleigh from Depeyster, wants- in Albany. A black foxskin is forwarded to be made into a handsome muff " for a woman." He sends back a dozen silver knife and fork handles to be sold, ordering the blades to be made into oyster knives and returned. The case for knives and spoons is ordered in great detail ; the lining to be of red velvet, as it would stand in his din ing room. His gold watch was to be put in order and returned with spare crystals. Captain David Le Gallais must bring from Jersey, ordering it knit there, a white petticoat of " fine three or four thread worsted." If he could deliver verdigris in Boston at 10s. per lb. he could bring 400 lbs., at 12s. only 200 lbs. Faneuil's gun has been abused, and he wishes the captain's new one in exchange, paying a fair difference. Le Gallais must bring him some singing-birds. The captain is authorised January 21, 1739, to sell " the snow," which cost in Boston, very well fitted, £4,000, also the brig Peter ; he hopes they will bring £550 each, to be deposited with Lane, S. & C. The " outsett " of Captain Peter Buckley's ship Byam is stated February 16, 1739, at £10,005.5.2, cargo at £1,135.14.8. One third interest is charged over to Lane, S. & O, viz., £3,403.11.2, and £390.19.10. The " outsett " of ship Judith aud Rebecca, consigned to Miguel Pacheco da Silva, of London, Septem ber 19, 1737, was £5,118.19.2. October 21, 1737, he in forms Silva, " Your ship and the two cargoes of Fish amounts to near £17,000." Silva was losing money on fish sent to Italy. In 1736 Silva had a cargo by ship Elizabeth, £2,326.11.3; do. by brigantine B £3,893.2.2 ; do. by snow Seville, £4,500.4 ; do. by snow Hannah, £838.12.11. Silva's credit balance then from several cargoes was £9,109.5.7. Captain Buckley's ship was a fine vessel, tight and well finished. She mounted a 630 PETER FANEUIL. [1725^2. number of guns, and could make a good defence, " at least against any small Pickaroon." But Faneuil would avoid risks, and ordered £600 sterling insured on vessel and cargo, for his one third part, from Boston to Param, Antisua, thence to London. He also insured £600 on the new brig Peter, about 100 tons, Screech, master, from Marblehead to Jersey, on the vessel only. Faneuil's thoughts were not confined to the enjoyment Larger °^ nis fortune and position, nor did he follow issues. always in the routine of business which these accounts indicate. The following transaction moves into a higher sphere and involves larger issues. It exhibits clearly the methods of administration, the prevalent idea of loyalty, which the loose connection between crown gov ernment and colonial subjects suffered to exist, if it did not encourage. Illegal trade was going on constantly ; when forced accidentally or incidentally on the attention of the royal officials, then the good colonial subjects winced and cried- out against the injustice. The sloop Dolphin, Adam Dechenseau, master, sailed from Cape Francis, consigned to Peter Faneuil. and colonial The crew mutinied, killed master, mate, and a nephew, and carried the vessel into Block Isl and, where she was lost. The cargo of molasses, rum, wine, stores, etc., was saved and carried into Newport, September 26, 1738. Peter details the occurrence to his brother, adding, " now I have a card to play to secure the Cargo for the owner wh I hope I shall effect the men are all in gaol & Irons. I suppose every one of em will be hanged Save a french boy." October 26th, he writes the men are all condemned to be executed, except one Englishman, turned "King's Evidence," and John Coupre, the boy, who was proven innocent. The authorities libelled the cargo, etc. Faneuil engaging Messrs. Read & Bollam, of counsel, " they assure me that they cannot take the Goods nor Materialls and at 1725-42.] RESULTS OF ENGLISH LAWS. 631 the worst all they could do is to oblige the Mollasses to pay the Duty Mr. Bollam goes to the Island (Newport) upon the affair 1 believe the Judge is much Pushed how to manage this affair for I have told his friends to let him know that if he does not do Justice in the affair that I will carry it Home to England & wh I am determined to do for the Vessel was not guilty of any acts of Piracy nor breach of any act of trade ... it is true the Sloop was bound here that is nothing to the purpose she did not come a person is not to be hanged for design." November 9th he writes his brother that " our worthy Judge " had condemned all the property. " Such a Peice of Villany no man could be guilty of but himself & all the world cries out a Shame at such unjust proceedings." One third of the value of the condemned property went to the king, one third to the governor, one third to the collector. Faneuil commended the handsome defence made by his lawyer. He had expended £200 from his own pocket, and expected further expenses. He appealed the case to the courts in England. February 24, 1738, he writes S. & W. Baker, London : — . . . " for I cannot see with w' pretext or Colour of Justice, any Vessell bound from a foreign part of the World to this port of Boston, after the Crew Barbarously murder the Officers & pi ratically take possession of the Vessel, can be condemned in any other p' in his Maj78 Dominions, as a perquisite of admiralty for an Illegal trade no such trade being began or Entered upon in any manner either by the Officers of the Vessell or by any Factor whatever in behalf of the Owners, to whom, after justice had been done on the Crew (being hanged) the Vessel and Cargo ought to revert." The facts are clear ; the law must have been equally clear, or the judge could not have rendered a Difflcult ad- verdict in the teeth of a public sentiment oppos- ^"X™**"- ing him so fiercely. The way of a crown administrator was hard. When we consider " the humanity " of Col- 632 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42. lector Jekyll, of Boston, so much bepraised in connection with the firmness of this Admiralty judge, we perceive that much was required of public servants, both by the masters in England and the mastering neighbors in the colonies. I pick up some scattering items from the correspond ence. In 1737 the fishing season was remarkably success ful ; in 1742 it had declined very much. In this latter year New England rum appears frequently in the ship ments. September 18, 1738, sugar was at £5 to £8 per cwt. ; iron at £80 per ton in Boston ; fish at 30s. to 35s. in Canso per quintal. The personal wants are unceasing : tripe and bacon, Luxurious citron water from London: backgammon table, living. men, dice, and boxes. He ships a pair of gray horses to St. Christopher's, the proceeds returnable in sweetmeats for sister Mary Ann, with remainder in sugar and molasses. He talks much of a gardener from Lon don, being willing to pay £15 to £20 sterling per annum, and gets a chariot " and sober coachman " thence in 1738. He had an order with Verplanck for coach horses, but his desires are increasing, and he withdraws it to be trans ferred to London. There, he demands four horses " right good or none ; " two English were inventoried in 1743. He writes in almost childish glee of the coachman, re ported " the Noted's man in England." He pushes de linquent correspondents, being determined that they shall " Act the Honest and Just part by me," which is one of his favorite epigrams. He is severe at times on " Great Scrubbs " and " Scrubb Actions." The principal books are kept in double entry, written in Method of a large and elegant round hand. The names of accounts. accourlts 011 tne ledger are in beautiful letters, half Old English in character. The creamy parchment and ink like ebony rebuke our modern improvements. We cannot arrive at the precise amount of the business, 1725-42.] MERCHANTS AND THEIR TRADE. 633 as the documents are fragmentary. " Profit & Loss " October, 1725, to March, 173jj, amounts to £15,069.12.3 ; " Commissions " for the same period shows £15,796.14.9 ; " Account of Expence," December 11, 1729, to March 13, 173§, is £1,332.1.6. There is an account with " Generall Wares." " Cash," April- August, 1725, foots £4,430.10.2, with balance of £1,198.9.5. August-December, 1725, foots £8,688.0.6, with balance of £788.16.4. December-April, 1726, foots £11,300.17.8, with balance of £861.11.8. July, 1732, to March, 1733, the total was £41,752.9.2. Evidently Peter did not allow much more than one thou sand pounds in poor currency to rust in the till. The accounts vary in amount and character, being the consolidated results of the business I have described. Theo. De La Croix, Rochelle, August 1, 1739, to March 13, 1732, indicates gross transactions £15,769.17.4, with a balance of £3,564.7.1. The adventures were divided on the journal, generally in quarters or thirds, sometimes in ninths, and posted to the ledger. There are many his toric names : James Scollay £433.19, Edward Bromfield £1,105.6.5, Edmund "Quinsey" £388.9.9, Samuel Pem- berton £497.16, Stephen Boutineau (Faneuil's brother- in-law), £125.16.3, Jacob and John Wendell £104.11.5, John Maverick, £181.4.7, James Bowdoin, eight months transactions, £2,056.3.8, John Brown, Jr., Rhode Island, £346.6. David Le Gallais was a Marblehead shipmaster, consid erably trusted in Faneuil's operations. August 7, 1730, to September 17, his account foots £6,527.7.3, with bal ance of £91.15 ; October 6, 1730, to July 25, 1732, it foots £4,982.11.7, balance £1,734; July 26, 1732 it foots £3,727.3.2, balance £1,638.1.8. Le Gallais had a respectable share in the ventures. With Gulian Verplanck, the account ran in two col umns, one in New York currency. Many of the small English wares were sold to women ; Hannah Deming, Bos- 634 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42. ton, is charged May 8 to December 27, in various items, women amounting to £1,005.0.6 ; again, £664.2.6. She traders. pays from £59 to £100 from time to time. Alice Quick, Boston, June 8 to September 7, 1731, is charged £1,508. Her payments run from £10 to £60. William Downes (" pinman "), Boston, May 27, 1731, owes for sundry charges £126.13.6. He pays about £40 in a credit. The invoices were numbered, and references made to these numbers in the journal entries. The shipping charges were given in detail, as in the specimen given.1 The main items of his inventory 2 are interesting. The amount of his fortune looks small and smaller as we turn the telescope of time backward and see the figures on a diminishing scale. We take leave of honest Peter Faneuil, the typical His char- merchant of the later days of colonial depend- acter. ence. He was a larger type of man than John Hull, but not much larger. He did not live to be tried in the experience of a generation later, when trading mer chants were lifted into citizens, and citizens into the statesmen of a new-born empire. Many of his class then went out as refugees, failing to comprehend that freedom is larger than loyalty, and that patriotism must finally outweigh the conserving instincts of wealth, as it leans on the settled order of government. There are indications in the character of Peter that he might have grown with that opportunity, and might have become one of the founders of the new state, as he did found the home of liberty in his adopted city. I have traced the course of a careful trader, a conscientious mer chant, ruled by the conscience of the time and the con ventional atmosphere around him. Kissing his hand to a consignor, pursuing a debtor, laboring to dispatch pretty and capricious Mary Iskyll, chastising a " scrubb," firing quickly at a " slur " upon his character , — in all these 1 See Appendix E. s See Appendix F. 1725-42.] FANEUIL THE CITIZEN. 635 scenes Faneuil is the same master of affairs. A sybaritic lover of luxury, planning every convenience, he reached after every dainty the old or new civilisation could afford. But these characteristics did not exhaust the doings or satisfy all the capabilities of the man. Allowing something for eulogistic J exaggeration, his charity must have been abundant, and not put forth in any ostentatious manner. The memorial hall bearing his name .is a sufficient testimony of his public spirit, and of munificence at a time when munificence was almost un known. His theory and practice of " fair " trading with the government under wliich he lived, as described , . Strange above, seems strange in any modern conception system of of loyalty and good citizenship ; but it is one of the curious revelations of the nature of New England allegiance to the British crown. Mr. Lovell, the eulo gist, coupled liberty and loyalty in the peroration of his funeral discourse upon Faneuil given in his own hall. Had Faneuil's acts and ways of trade been unpopular and counter to public sentiment, Lovell could not have put such emphasis into his eulogy. Technically, Faneuil appears to us to be wrong in construing the revenue laws. When he was ordering indigo and rum to Providence, thence by land, to avoid duties ; when sending Barcelona handkerchiefs clandestinely ; when sending brandy in false casks as rum, — he must have known, and his neighbors must have known, that the law was being broken. Yet custom had so dulled the public apprehension that they cried " shame of it " when the officials were obliged by their plain duty to enforce the laws. And now we come to the consideration of his proba ble attitude had he lived in the period when in- L;berty dependence was gestating. In The Dolphin case, J^*,^™ he was acting for a consignor, and paid the ex- 0Ter l°yM?- 1 Mem. Hist. Bos., ii. 265. 636 PETER FANEUIL. [1725-42. penses from his own pocket. He was so sure that he was right, that a technicality could prevent condemnation of a vessel pursuing illegal trade, because the trade had not been consummated, that he appealed the case to Eng land. It is fair to conclude that he was so entrenched in his idea of liberty that he would have followed that idea when it appealed to arms a generation later. The pas sionate enthusiasm of his race would have carried him probably into independence. Loyalty in such a commu nity meant obedience to law, so long as it did not inter fere with their cherished privileges, and those privileges, whether open or secret, were respectable. CHAPTER XVI. COMMERCE FROM LOUISBURG TO QUEBEC. 1745-1759. The eighteenth century was the first period of history when commerce and its dependent industries shaped the destinies of mankind. The great French and English commercial companies were contending for a mo- New com. nopoly of trade in India. On our continent the mercial li£e- two powers carried on a series of wars, rising or falling with the exigencies of the contest elsewhere. The Great Frederic, with his Prussian sword, was cutting away the heart of Austria bit by bit. But the main drift of the historic current prior to the French Revolution was in the play of the new commercial life. War and peace both worked out the new commercial desires, and with new methods of acquiring wealth through the possession and development of new countries westward and eastward. Trade was gradually supplanting plunder. The period including the years 1745-59 made a mere episode in the great drama, a scene in the shift- . r & ' The New ing world-play of the two great European powers. England But for New England this greater scene became a little drama all its own, pregnant with the fate of these rising colonies. It was true that the maturing state no longer felt the same apprehensions which vexed the in fant colonies. Village and homestead slept quietly now, without fear of French, half-breed, and Indian war par ties. Maps and plans projected from Canada for the con quest of Boston would excite now only laughter among the comfortable burghers of New England. But the New 638 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. England men could not rest, could not possess themselves or their own country, while martial France held such points of vantage. The fishing grounds and coasts were under constant menace, while the mighty rivers and lakes of Canada might bring down the power of France upon the new Anglo-American civilisation at any moment. The peculiar genius of New England, its will active in putting forth all energies, its adaptive power in geUniuseex-lar bending these energies to the public business in hand, shone out for the first time in the siege and capture of Louisburg, on Cape Breton, in Acadia. All the power of an empire, as expressed in one locality, all the science and rules of warfare, were overturned in a few months by a throng — it could not be called an army — of fishermen, farmers, and mechanics, officered by vol unteers, commanded by a merchant militiaman. Greater than all deficiencies of troops or commander was the as tonishing strategy of William Shirley, governor of Mas sachusetts, the directing genius of the expedition. He planned a simultaneous arrival of a hundred vessels, in the darkness of night, on a forbidding coast ; an instant landing ; a rush and surprise, with an immediate assault on one of the best-constructed fortresses in the world. These stone walls and moated bastions, with their subor dinate batteries, were defended by 161 guns, 76 swivels, and 6 mortars. It was expected that a garrison of two hundred could hold the works against 5,000 men. When our friends actually brought up their siege train they had only 18 guns and 3 mortars ; but they had men, though they were raw in the besieging of strong forts. A New Hampshire colonel, more familiar with saw and plane than handy in regimental manoeuvre and tactics, built sledges. The privates harnessed themselves thereto, with straps over their shoulders, and, knee-deep in mud, drao-ged the guns over morasses where wheels never could have gone, until they brought them into position. The whole 1745-59.] THE GALLANT PEPPERELL. 639 affair was a picnic ; but it was a festival of " Ironsides." Pomeroy. a Northampton gunsmith and major, wrote his wife : " It seems impregnable. It looks as if our cam paign would last long." The Christian wife, with Spartan spirit, answered : " The whole town is much engaged with concern for the expedition, how Providence will order the affair, for which religious meetings every week are main tained. I leave you in the hand of God." The general was characteristic of his country and of the expedition. New England commerce evolved but one baronet after Phipps. Sir William Pep perell was ennobled for his gallant conduct and success in this siege. The stroke by which his feudal suzerain lifted him above his fellow-citizens was fated if not fatal. His son and prospective heir died while the whole district around was praying for his life, leaving the baronet a helpless mourner. He bequeathed the great Pepperell estate, the accumulation of half a century, -without the title, to a fourth grandson, William, on condition that he change the name Sparhawk to Pepperell. It was said the baronet could ride from Piscataqua and Kittery Point, his residence, to the Saco River — nearly thirty miles — on his own soil. He had large possessions, also, in other dis tricts. The estate was confiscated in 1778 ; by one or another cause, large fortunes disappear in our country. Two grandsons of his daughters were kept from the poor- house by the bounty of strangers.1 Pepperell is a conspicuous figure in the middle time of New England history, the closing period of the colonies. As Faneuil was one of the last colonial or de pendent merchants, so Pepperell was a link be- social i t i, changes. tween a decayed feudalism and the new repre sentative or republican life. These feudal shreds and tatters, coming from the earlier and differing social con ditions of Europe, affected us but little. In Pepperell's 1 Parsons, Pepperell, pp. 327, 328. 640 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. declining days, when the baronet in scarlet coat and gold lace sat in his barge rowed by black liveried servants, his fortune decaying amid these hectic splendors bor rowed from the Old World, he was a feudalist. In his youth, when his sagacity improved estates and voyages, when his cheery voice of enterprise sounded through the inlets of Piscataqua and the far forests of Maine, he was a representative New England militia colonel ; he was the proper leader of the expedition which was to precipitate the new-grown forces of western life against the power of old Europe. A strong will went hand in hand with a controlling judgment, then unswerving tact worked out his purpose. His great personal power impressed itself on other men through this balance of character. It was said frequently that whatever he willed came to pass ; this was because he willed in the direction of common sense. His humane, sympathetic spirit was as marked as his faculty of com mand. Punctual himself, he exacted full performance from others. It was said x that he never failed in making a promised payment at his stipulated time ; such positive and conscientious punctuality was not common then. Massachusetts furnished the greatest number (3,000 men) to the expedition ; New Hampshire sent 500, Con necticut about as many ; Rhode Island embarked 300, but too late to participate in the capture. June 17, 1745, the city, fortress, and batteries were surrendered. Eng land owed the best success of the whole war to her chil dren in the new land. When the news came, our people were overjoyed. The reimbursement of the colonies for their expenses in the expedition and siege was made by England in specie; this was a great factor in the cur rency problem, as will be seen. The burghers of the various seaports now went on in the old ways of commerce. I have shown the importance 1 Parsons, Life of Pepperell, p. 322. 1745-59.] RUM NOW MOVES COMMERCE. 641 of the slave-trade.1 In whatever branch of trade we find ourselves now, we are impressed by the ini- ,i. {. Bum a great mense prevalence and moving power of rum. commercial Negroes, fish, vessels, lumber, intercolonial traf fic in produce, all feel the initiative and moving impulse of rum. The movement was at its height about 1750. In that year an agent reporting to the " Lords Com missioners of His Majesty's Treasury " 2 gave 63 distil leries in Massachusetts turning molasses into rum. It was merchandise in Guinea, on the Banks of Newfound land, in the Southern colonies, in exchange for furs with the Indians, and " as store for the consumption of about 900 vessels engaged in the various branches of their trade at sea." There were employed annually in the mackerel and other small catch for the West Indies, 200 vessels ; in cod-fishing, 400 vessels ; in the pursuit of whales on the North American coast, especially in the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence, 100 vessels. Rum was the mov ing agent in these various summer voyages ; when the vessels came in, they were dispatched again to exchange more of it in the Southern colonies during the winter for bread, corn, pork, and other provisions for other voyages in the ensuing summer. One half of the catch by the " Bankers " made refuse codfish, which was shipped to the West Indies for sugar and more molasses. The better or merchantable moiety went to Europe — chiefly to the southern part — for specie and desirable goods. Rum sent to Guinea brought back gold " to pay the balance of trade to England," or slaves sold in the West Indies for sugars or bills of exchange ; also used to liquidate bal ances. Governor Clinton reported the character of imports and exports for New York in 1749 with much detail. 1 See above, p. 451 et seq. 2 Mass. Arch., lxiv. 379. In 1749 there were entered at Boston 489 vessels, and 504 were cleared. 1 M . H C, iii. 288. 642 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. I cite this list in Appendix D, as it indicates equally well the course of New England foreign trade. Newport kept pace with Boston in the relative propor tion of its distilling business,1 though the amount was not so large. We observe an extension of general commerce into smaller ports like Gloucester.2 About 1750 this fishing port was sending cargoes to the West Indies, and to Bilboa and Lisbon. It was noted that the revenue officers connived at smuggling and fraudulent entries. ' Connecticut 3 exported little except to the neighboring ports. New Hampshire carried on a small foreign com merce.4 The business of shipping — the industrial movement, which, partly on land and partly on water, sent off a ship Course of an<^ ner cargo — created some of these minor industries. p0rts j^e Gloucester. The industries necessary to furnish the compensating parts of a voyage, or succes sion of voyages, could not be concentrated altogether in the great central ports, as in our time. Labor and labor ers were needed so constantly that minor communities sprang up where they could draw their support from the adjacent country. We see an illustration of this in the career of Edward Payne.5 He had been distilling, but lacking capital for that business, in April, 1746, he bought a vessel in partnership with others, loaded her with " rum, fish, flour &c," and sailed in her for Gibraltar. He sent the vessel back to Boston with prize goods, remaining himself to dispose of his merchandise and buy another cargo, against her re turn. But as she entered the Straits a second time, she was captured. He bought a brigantine, Zant, made 1 See above> P- 458- 2 Babson, p. 385. 3 Douglas, Summary, ii. 180. 4 For the commerce of Newport and Portsmouth, 1747-48, see Douglas, Summary, ii. pp. 50, 99. 6 M. H. S. Proc 1873, pp. 417, 418- 1745-59.] AN ENTERPRISING CAREER. 643 Philip Payne master, took some prize goods, and went in her to Villa Nova, in Portugal. There he loaded with salt and some fruit, returning to Boston April 22, 1747. In May, 1748, Peter Chardon furnished him £1,000 sterling for a venture in The English Trade,1 two thirds of the profits going to the capitalist, one third to Payne, with the privilege of transacting his own business sep arately. " Money growing scarce, and that Trade being dull, they closed the venture amicably " in 1752. He entered immediately into equal copartnership with James Perkins of Boston, agreeing to settle at Gloucester. Per kins put £1,000 sterling, Payne £500, into the capital stock. Payne removed to Gloucester March 22d, built a store, a wharf, and fish flakes, a number of fishing ves sels, carried on fisheries and a foreign trade, in which he " succeeded beyond expectation." After nine years of satisfactory business, they divided the stock, closed the copartnership, and Payne returned to Boston. Here Boston furnished the capital and the skilled en terpriser or capitaliser. Gloucester furnished the field of operations, with the mechanics, fishermen, and sailors, which made the business possible and successful. Whenever a political change in the foreign relations of England opened a port, or admitted commerce . _ •¦iii >i Interaction with any country, it quickened the commercial of English movement along the whole New England line. Wines of the Azores, Madeira, and the Canaries 2 were always an important factor in our trade. But a new privilege of trade between Madeira and Brazil took effect at once in increasing the exports of Salem. In 1748, Scott, Pringle & Scott,3 of Madeira, writing John and William Brown, Benjamin Gerrish, Jr., Samuel Curwin, of Salem, advise that the island has had some supply of " Bacalhao," but not enough for the season of 1 For the course of vessels here, see Bos. News Let, Dec. 22, 1748. 2 Mass. Arch., lxv. 376.- 8 Curwin MS., Am. Ant. Soe. 644 " COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. Lent. Wines were £36 per pipe. Grain was needed and rice was scarce. Again, in the summer, wines had advanced to " 40 to £46 per pipe," rice, train oil, and butt staves being in demand. But the significant state ment was that Madeira had been licensed to export " fish & other foreign provisions " to Brazil, " which in course will open a larger & more beneficial commerce between this & your Colony." The West Indian trade proper, always of consequence, west Indian increased in relative importance in the periods trade. when rum, molasses, and negroes were in the greatest demand. The poor or " refuse " codfish paid for the inferior molasses pouring northward into the dis tilleries of Boston and Newport. The embargoes of the French War interfered necessarily with the easy progress of the trade.1 It was estimated in 1755 2 that Barbadoes took from New England annually merchandise amounting to £100,000 sterling. The Boston newspapers reported the prices current of Jamaica3 and other markets in the West Indies. Horses and lumber eked out the exchanges of fish, as in former years.4 Honduras logwood was a cov eted article, and cargoes of provisions went to pay for it.6 War makes as well as destroys commerce. The " French •Trench War of 1756 " was a positive force in making IL"" ™" ,„ commerce for a time in our colonies. It was commerce. stated on tne authority of Dr. Franklin that the imports into the Northern colonies in the period 1754-58 were doubled over those of 1744-48.6 The increase was caused by the shipment of military supplies and kindred articles. Embargoes interfered with the ordinary course of trade, and the provisions usually exported were taken 1 Mass. Arch., lxv. 159 ; R. I. C. R., v. 442. 2 Hist, et Commerce Cols. Angleterre, p. 129. 8 Bos. Eve. Post, May 29, 1749. 4 Mass. Arch., lxv. 365 ; Bos. Eve. Post, Feb. 18, 1754. 6 Mass. Arch., Ix. 224. «_ Pitkin, Statistics, p. 13. 1745-59.] IRREPRESSIBLE TRADE. 645 for the colonial and English troops. All exports of pro visions except fish, to English ports, were forbidden.1 Massachusetts and Rhode Island each took stringent measures to prevent the illegal supply of provisions from going to the enemy.2 The general embargo was modified enough to allow vessels with provisions from the Southern colonies 3 to return home. The Newport merchants rep resented by Godfrey Malbone, William Vernon, Metcalf Bowler, and others made an ingenious remonstrance 4 against the Act of 1756 prohibiting trade with the neutral ports. The great Pitt was inflexible, and kept the ports closed. Monte Cristo was closed in 1757, and opened again in the following year by act of the Rhode Island colony.5 Some of the circumlocution in the reports con cerning illicit trade is very curious.6 Notwithstanding these legislative efforts, the futility of embargoes and paper blockades appears plainly in the commercial movement of the period of the Spanish and French wars.7 The demand for provisions in the French colonies, especially in the West Indies, must be met by a supply. When it failed in one direction, being checked by vigorous administration, it appeared in another. When Boston was under control, Narragansett Bay and the la goons of Connecticut and New Jersey spread too many outlets to be stopped. When the risk became too great there, as the patriotism of New England rose to the height required by the impending conquest of Canada, then Ireland sent the needed food across the seas to the West Indies. The prohibition of trade was hardly be gun before it began to oppress trade with friendly ports, which could hardly be distinguished from that intended i R. I. C. R., v. 442. * Ibid., pp. 439, 446 ; and Mass. Arch., lxv. 109. 8 Bos. News Let, April 7, 1758. 4 Newport Hist Mag., ii. 143, 144. 6 R I. C. R., vi. 147. 6 Doc. N. York, vi. 511. 7 Mass. Arch., lxiv. 212. 646 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. for illicit supply of the enemy. Parties exporting to Su rinam and to North Carolina gave bonds for a faithful execution of their published intention.1 A party, though proclaiming that he would carry his provisions to legiti mate ports, was suspected and pursued.2 Then another practical difficulty intervened. Merchants shipping to West Indies, thence to Honduras, thence to Leghorn, and so home, were accustomed to feed the long shoremen of the ports while their brigantines were ex changing cargoes. They obtained the privilege of taking out extra beef and flour by giving bonds.3 The Massachusetts embargo was reinforced by another act in 1756.4 But in the same year Governor Hardy,5 of New York, complained to the Lords of Trade that prohi bition of trade with the French Islands could not be made effectual unless all the " Provision Colonys " should unite in the action. Then he would need small cruisers to po lice the coasts and enforce the embargo. At the same time he stated that five Irish vessels carried cargoes to St. Eustatia at once. In 1758 the governor of Massachusetts was obliged to allow all provision sloops and schooners to pursue their voyages to Nova Scotia. Vessels under sixty tons were limited to five men, larger ones to six men, and they gave bonds to bring back a certificate of their unlading at Nova Scotia.6 In 1757 the crops were so bad in Great Britain and Ireland that they were obliged to lift the em- Irish trade. . n • P • • bargo, allowing an export of provisions from the colonies.7 The Irish market for grain was of sufficient importance to Boston to cause a publication of lists of the course of trade in it.8 1 Mass. Arch., lxv. pp. 120, 152. 2 R. I. C. R., vi. 627. 3 Mass. Arch., lxv. 131. * Mass. Arch., lxv. 236. 6 Doc. N. York, vii. 117, 163. 6 Mass. Arch., lxv. 449. 7 R. I. C. R., vi. 11. 8 Bos. Eve. Post, Nov. 25, 1754. 1745-59.] EXCISE TAXES AND FEES. 647 Boston in 1742 J had put its light-house fees at one half penny per ton for vessels outward or inward on foreign voyages. Coasters to Canso, or south- another86 ward to North Carolina, paid one shilling for each voyage inward. In 1751 2 a fire damaged the light house very much, and the General Court obliged every vessel sailing from any port in the Province, for two years, to pay from 2s. to 4s. toward the reparation. Naval officers' fees 3 at Boston in 1751 were 3s. on each vessel outward or inward on foreign voyage ; 2s. to or from Connecticut ; Is. to or from New Hampshire ; Is. for coasters to or from ports within the Province. New bury in 1759 was attached to the " Port of Piscataqua," and one William Jenkins writes to Mr. Curwin, the col lector at Salem, that the masters of vessels could not go to Salem to enter and clear for Piscataqua. Jenkins offers to collect all the fees on vessels coming from Hal ifax or elsewhere, " till its other ways ordered." 4 An excise was granted his Majesty in 1750,5 viz. : 12e7. per pound on tea, 2c?. on coffee, 2s. 6d. per gallon for ar rack, 6c?. per pound for snuff, 5 per cent, ad valorem on chinaware, gold and silver lace, French cambric and lawns. These duties were enforced, and committees ap pointed to farm them, together with those on wine, spirits, lemons, limes, etc., met from time to time.6 New Hamp shire in 1756 laid an excise of 20s. per hhd. on rum, 20s. per pipe on wine, Is. per bbl. on cider, 2s. 6d. per lb. on green and " Boha " tea, also a tax of one penny per acre on land.7 Connecticut in 1747 made one of the few spasmodic efforts to interfere with inter-colonial trade. She Connecticut entertained an act levying five per cent, duty for trade. 1 Mass. Arch.,hax. 182. 2 Ibid., lxiv. 454. 8 Ibid., lxiv. 424. 4 Curwin MS., Am. Ant. Soe. 6 Mass. Arch., cxix. 429. 6 Bos. Eve. Post, May 25, 1752 ; Jan. 20, 1755. 7 N. H. Prov. P., vi. 473. 648 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. citizens, or seven and one half per cent, for foreigners, on imports from neighboring colonies, and the same from Great Britain. It lasted but a short time, and an export duty on lumber shared the same fate.1 Joseph Marion 2 advertises in 1746 that his insurance Tjnderg. office, kept since 1724, is still at work, insuring writin. risks, lending money on " the bottom of vessels," and transacting other business of a maritime nature. When there was a partial loss, as in the case of the snow Union, and a part of the shippers were insured, they advertised 3 for the claimants to come together and take their share of the goods saved. Then the insurance was adjusted for those shippers who held policies. The business of underwriting was very hazardous when the European powers were at war, which included a large fraction of the time. In the French War, in 1757, rates from the West India " Sugar Islands " to London ad vanced to 30 guineas per cent. ; for the return voyage, 3 per cent, for convoy " clear of the islands," or 10 per cent. for " convoy the voyages," was charged. From all parts of the continent of America to London, without convoy, the rate was 30 per cent. ; between the " Sugar Islands " and America, either way, 20 per cent. It was claimed that the underwriters were losing money at these extraordinary rates.4 Stephen Hopkins, at Providence, engaged in under writing as early as 1756.5 Whether he wrote on voyages from Providence or from Newport does not appear. The great trade made from myriad articles exchanging coasting along the Atlantic coast went on so silently that its constant progress was hardly noticed. In 1 Conn. C. R. 1747, pp. 283, 293. 2 Boston Gazette, Feb. 11, 1746. 8 Bos. Eve. Post, May 17, 1756. 4 Bos. News Let, July 28, 1757. 6 Foster's Life of Hopkins. 1745-59.] DAMAGE BY RUM. 649 these sloops, brigantines, and small schooners, the great ebb and flow of colonial industrial life tided up and down, in and out, with an unceasing current of commercial ac tivity. We have seen the interchanges with Virginia and the Carolinas. The trip of The Bathias in 1755 2 from Philadelphia to Boston, thence to Newfoundland, is an example of these lively currents in the exchanges. She brought into Boston 1J tons bar iron, 261 barrels flour, 250 bushels corn, 1,500 staves, 10 barrels 5 kegs and 397 pounds bread. She took out for the fishing grounds the corn, staves, and the odd 397 pounds of bread. The flour was reduced to 195 barrels, and the chinks in the cargo made by reduction of the edibles were filled by 12 hogsheads 2 barrels of rum, and 6 hogsheads of molasses. Honest Jack Falstaff, the aristocrat, with his diminishing bread and his intolerably increasing sack, found his coun terpart in the poor commoner hooking cod on the Banks of Newfoundland. There is little doubt that this substitution of rum for food affected the whole business of commercial Losse3 exchange in this period. Between the derange- byrum- ment of an inflated currency and the diversion of produc tive industry to distilling and its collateral slave importa tion, the building of vessels and the catch of fish fell off. The waste of the Louisburg and Canada wars helped, — as we see from the rates of insurance and losses by un derwriting, — but the main cause of the decline in these important industries must be found in rum. Cod -fishing was a great factor in every industrial movement on the New England coasts. It was The watched over in the legislatures and always pro- fishenes- tected with jealous care. In spite of their interested co operation in the catch, the fishermen were not invariably contented. Desertions, while on the voyage or "fare," troubled each generation more or less. In 1755 the Mas- 1 Mass. Arch., lxv. 99, 100. 650 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. sachusetts General Court1 enacted that no man should receive any share unless he continued for the full term he shipped for. Douglas 2 cites the figures of the " two custom-house districts " of Massachusetts Bay to prove his allegation that the export of codfish fell from 120,384 quintals in 1716 to about 53,000 in 1748. Salem shipped in 174| to Europe 32,000 quintals, and to the West Indies about 20,000 quintals of refuse cod for negro con sumption.3 In 1748 4 there were 55 fishing schooners at Marblehead, 20 at Cape Ann, 8 at Salem, 6 at Ipswich. There were twice as many a few years before according to Douglas. The fifty-ton schooners ran out into deep water ; the deeper the water the larger and firmer the cod. Ac cording to Felt 5 the fishing was done by schooners alto gether. Only eight sailed in 1749, — less than usual, — about fifty tons each, carrying seven hands, with an average catch of 600 quintals per annum. They made " five fares " each season, two to the Isle of Sable, three upon the Banks along Cape Sable shore.6 To classify Douglas's 7 list of 174^ roughly, there were classes of more than three sloops to one schooner; more vessels. tnan two schooners to one each of the other types, — ship, snow, brig. The proportion of schooners was larger at Salem, which cleared in the proportion of one vessel to four from Boston. The latter cleared from Christmas, 1747, to the next Christmas, 540 vessels. It entered only 430, while Salem cleared 131, and entered 96 vessels. These were foreign craft, exclusive of coasters and fishermen. The larger proportion of clearances con firms a movement towards larger vessels noticed by Mr. 1 Mass. Arch., lxv. 69. 2 Summary, i. 539. 8 Summary, i. 538. * Ibid., ii. 537. 6 An. Salem, ii. 218. 6 For full details of the method and movement of the cod and mackerel fisheries see Douglas's Summary, i. 301-303. And for divi sion of each fare to each man, see Babson, Gloucester, p. 383. 7 Summary, ii. 538. 1745-59.] CLASSIFICATION OF VESSELS. 651 Amory a quarter century earlier. They sold out the smaller craft, and it was profitable to bring home only the larger classes. The New London list, 174 1, shows the same disproportion.1 Douglas states that the business of shipbuilding main tained " above 30 several Denominations of Varlet of Tradesmen and Artificers." This fact shows ^£i£in how our ingenious and industrious people di- mg' vided their labor, and combined it again in producing a ship, the noblest mechanism of that time. He shows a great decline or " gradual decay " of the business in Boston by the comparative numbers of topsail vessels on the stocks : 2 In 1738, 41 vessels ; in 1743, 30 vessels ; in 1746, 20 vessels ; in 1749, 15 vessels. He does not allow for the increase of shipbuilding through the growth of smaller ports like Gloucester noticed already. Haverhill became, before the Revolution, one of the most " impor tant interior commercial towns." 3 Its rise in commerce and shipbuilding dates from 1751, when there " was quite a rush for lots " to build wharves. Providence 4 was be ginning to follow Newport with slow steps, and York 5 in Maine had twenty vessels with five more fishermen afloat. Portsmouth, or Piscataqua, was an active port, and Ben ning Wentworth sent Daniel Blake into Connecticut in 1756 to survey masts and spars.6 Notwithstanding the " decay " of the industry claimed by Douglas at Boston, it was stated in 1755 that the New England vessels were cheaper and better than those of other colonies.7 Governor Wentworth, at Sir William Pepperell's re quest, appointed Jotham Odiorne, Joshua Pierce, and Mark Hunking Wentworth a commission to appraise the value 1 Caulkins, N. London, p. 245. 2 Douglas's Summary, i. 539. 8 Chase, Haverhill, p. 333. 4 Foster's Life of Hopkins, 6 Bourne, WeUs and Kennebunk, p. 570. 6 Conn. Arch., Trade and Mar. Aff., i. 41. 7 Hist, et Comm. Cols. Ang., p. 121. 652 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. of a frigate the baronet was to build for his Majesty's ser vice in 1747. They awarded £9 per ton for the vessel completely fitted and equipped with forty-four guns.1 In 1752 Josiah Quincy2 built the ship Fearon, receiving £2,250 9s. 4c?. " To send her to sea," £141 7s., and for master's bill £60 was paid. Her charges at Jamaica were £150, at Thames River, £60 ; portage bill, £270 ; insur ance on vessel, £240 ; her freight for " Lumber Cargo at Jamaica " was £500 ; freight home, £1,000. The shipmasters conducting this commerce were vigor- The ship- ous men5 wbo often went from the decks of these masters. little vessels to important positions on shore. Generally they settled as merchants, but sometimes be came men of mark in other vocations. Robert Treat Paine,3 afterward a lawyer of eminence and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was a school master at Taunton for one year, about 1749-50. Then he made three voyages to North Carolina, becoming a master on shipboard, and finishing his last trip via Fayal and Cadiz. Then he commanded a whaling vessel upon a trip to the coasts of Greenland. Captain Richard Derby,4 of Salem, had a conspicuous and eventful career on the seas. In 1739 he made suc cessful voyages in The Ranger from Salem to Cadiz and Malaga. In 1742 he was master and part owner of the Volant, for Barbadoes and the French Islands. Here he had some great difficulties to overcome. Finally, in 1757, he retired from the seas and became a merchant in Salem. New England was never altogether without furs in Furs and in- making its exchanges. The towns at this time dian trade. gaye DOunties for foxes, even as near Boston as Beverly.5 Faneuil mentions beaver at times in his remit- 1 Parsons, Pepperell, p. 161. 2 Mass. Arch., liv. 223. 8 Hist. Taunton, ii. 309. 4 Hunt, Amer. Merchants, iii. 20, 21. 6 Stone, Beverly, p. 318. 1745-59.] TRADE IN FURS. 653 tances to Europe. Probably he obtained furs in his trans actions at Canso, as the Indians had them on that coast. But the trade was now at a comparatively low ebb, which situation changed after the conquest of Canada. The Hudson Bay Company was summoned in London for " non-user " in 1749. Their enormous privileges had dwindled under their hands to the possession of four or five forts with 120 regular employees. In 1755 the Hud son Bay Company's beaver (winter) sold in London at 7s. 6c?. to 9s. 4c?. per pound. A bale of 120 pounds con tained 130 to 160 skins.1 The French struggled hard to confine the commercial advantage of their furs to Canada and to their home correspondents. A " great penalty " 2 was exacted in Canada for carrying furs to the English. But the laws of trade were stronger than the absolute edicts of the French officials. Indian goods were cheaper in Albany than in Canada. The French traders smuggled their furs by Indian carriers to their correspondents at Albany, thus sending trade away from " the flag." Massachusetts had a balance of £13,324 6s. 4d. old tenor in the hands of the commissary for the truck-houses in the Indian trade in 1746.3 As the beaver were more numerous in the northern districts, so their fur was of better quality and the staple longer. In the South the skin contained more hair relatively. In the northern parts of America the pound of beaver was often a unit of value in the currency, while in the Southern colonies the same office was performed by a pound of deerskin.4 The whale fishery, now an important constituent of our general commerce, according to Douglas, Ian- Whale guished somewhat about 1748. But the second fishery- Act of Parliament of this date encouraging the business 1 Hist, et Comm. Cols. Ang., p. 23. 2 Kalm, Trip into N. A., ii. 260. 8 Douglas, Summary, i. 538. 4 Douglas, Summary, i. 176. 654 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. was felt in New England the following year.1 This act added another 20s. per ton bounty to the 20s. granted properly equipped vessels by 6th Geo. II. Foreign Prot estants serving on whaling vessels had the privileges of naturalised citizens. American vessels were to be licensed on inspection, and if they touched England during their voyage, they would receive the bounty. The increased use of lamps in. Europe had made the oil a necessity.2 Prices of whale oil in England were £18 13d. per ton in 1742, £14 8s. in 1743, £10 in 1744, £21 in 1753.3 The business had concentrated in Nantucket by 1746. In 1745 the skilful fishermen of that port sent 10,000 bbls. of oil to Boston.4 The low prices affected the pur suit, and the amount fell off. Only three or four whales were caught near Cape Cod in 1746 ; they were leaving our colonial coasts. Attempts had been made to send vessels as far as Davis's Straits in former years, but now they persevered with six or seven vessels, and established the fishery there. The craft were sloops or schooners, each carrying two boats and a crew of thirteen men.5 In 1751 6 they voyaged about the Island of Disco, at the mouth of Baffin's Bay. In 1755 they cruised about the Western Islands. They enlarged their vessels now, fit ting some of 100 tons or more, and occasionally a square- rigged craft. Nantucket lost twelve of its finest ves sels by French captures in two years, — a severe catas trophe. An important industry, growing out of the whale fish- Manufac- ery> was founded in the manufacture of sperm sperm candles, by or "a little before" 1750. Benja min Crabb, an Englishman, obtained the exclu sive right of manufacture for fourteen years in Massachu- 1 Mass. Arch., lxiv. 315. 2 Starbuck, Whale Fishery, p. 36. 3 Macy, Nantucket, p. 54. 4 Douglas, Summary, i. 59. 6 Douglas, Summary, i. 296. e Macy, Nantucket, pp. 52, 54. 1745-59.] SPERMACETI CANDLES. 655 setts in 1750.1 It does not appear that he improved the privilege. His factory above mentioned was started in Newport, and burned in 1750 or 1751.2 In 1753 Oba diah Brown built another at India Point, in Providence, and engaged Crabb to conduct the business. He would not or could not give the necessary skill, and Brown was obliged to learn the secret of refining the spermaceti by his own experiments. He succeeded so well that 300 bbls. of head matter was manufactured that year, consuming all that was kept from the body oil and not exported to Eng land. Moses Lopez began at Newport in 1754 or 1755, and several others soon followed. By 1761 there were eight factories in New England and one in Philadelphia. Privateers were much employed by both contestants in the Spanish and French wars. They were the Succe8Stul most effective means of annoying the enemy. Pri™teering. The business of fitting and dispatching them became, for the time, the most important element in commerce at the port of departure. All the New England seaports took part in this private war and commercial speculation. Bos ton 3 and Salem were well represented, but Newport led in the number and enterprise of its vessels.4 In the war beginning in 1753, which resulted in the capture of Que bec, many of the old privateers5 cruising in African or West Indian waters were called home, and refitted for service against Canada. Officers and men trained in the partisan warfare of the seas fought on land also, at Ticonderoga and upon the Plains of Abraham. Captain John Dennis, of Newport, was a noted and suc- 1 Mass. Arch., lix. 370. 2 Macy, Nantucket, p. 69. 3 See Mass. Arch., lxv. 389, for form of certificate given the ship Kilby, 200 tons, 12 carriage, 18 swivel guns, and 30 men (crew not complete, probably). The privateers were generally armed with cannon and swivels, muskets, cutlasses, pistols, and grenades. Mass. Arch., lxv. 268. 4 See Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, pp. 24, 51. 6 Ibid., pp. 52, 56, for lists of vessels. 656 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. cessful commander. He won his reputation in the brig antine Defiance,1 as early as 1746. In 1756 he sailed in The Foy, a large new vessel, never to return. We may conceive the inflammatory effect on the New England imagination when the meagre newspaper an nounced a great capture, as in 1746. Dennis 2 had taken a rich Spanish prize, having in specie alone 22,500 pieces of eight. In one cruise, 1759-60, Abraham Whipple, of Rhode Island, captured 23 prizes, valued at 11,000,000 or its equivalent in paper.3 In a land where money was scarce and the people brave and venturesome, such sudden acquisitions of riches — though the prizes might be few in number — must have drawn the bold and reso lute spirits to the privateer flag. All sorts of questions in maritime, civil, and interna tional law arose in the prosecution of this half-trading, half-plundering business. In 1748 a prize proceeding to Boston was alarmed by the great numbers of French and Spanish privateers cruising on the coast. The master ran into Newfoundland, the weather likewise compelling towards that course. His cargo was condemned there, but he sailed to Boston without disposing of any portion. The Boston custom house attempted to collect duties, but on petition the cargo was released.4 Providence and Bristol,5 R. I., were beginning to appear in general commerce. In 1747,6 Stephen Hopkins and other citizens sent out the privateer Reprisal from the former place. She captured 160 hhds. 40 bbls. sugar and 12 bbls. indigo, which were sent into Newport, and Deputy Collector Wanton sued the owners of the priva teer for the duties under the Sugar Act. In a curious case the brigantine Providence, Jon. Shel don, master, with a cargo of molasses, valued at £20,000 1 R. 1. C. R., v. 170, 177. 2 Bos. News Let, Jan. 2, 1746. 3 Sheffield, R I. Privateers, p. 29. 4 Mass. Arch., lxiv. 3C8. 6 Bos. News Let.,M&y 19, 1757. 6 R. I. Arch., Admiralty Court. 1745-59.] PRIVATEERING TRICKS. 657 New England paper currency, was captured by the Span iards in 1747,1 and put under command of Francisco Yudice, lieutenant. He alleged that JS for the master agreed to ransom the vessel by giving enemieB' 500 bbls. flour and a sloop. On arriving in Providence, Sheldon, " not having any regard to justice or the Rules to be observed among Nations in Time of war for their mutual advantage," denied all satisfaction. The Spaniard brought suit for libel, but William Strengthfield, judge in the Admiralty Court decided that Yudice, being an alien enemy, could, not be heard, and dismissed him liable for costs. It would seem that it was the custom to ransom vessels, and if so, it must have been done upon honor. All the privateersmen were prolific in tricks. In 1746 the Spanish sloop Pearl was condemned a law ful prize by Judge Strengthfield2 to The Polly, Sharptricks- Captain Helm. The Pearl was commanded by a Dutch man, and it was attempted to clear her by a Dutch pass port issued for another vessel in the West Indies. It was proved that the fraudulent use of Dutch passports by Spaniards and Frenchmen was common. The cargo had neither " Bill of Lading, Loquet, or certificate ; " the vessel's papers had been thrown overboard. This, in itself, would have condemned her. Many slaves were taken in the prizes ; 96 are noted in one vessel. The business seems to have interfered with slavery at home, for Rhode Island passed an act in 1757 to prevent privateers from carrying slaves out of the col ony, under a penalty of £500.3 Notwithstanding the profits of plunder taken from the enemy, Newport lost much more commercially than she gained by the " old French war." Her citizens protested against a tax in 1759, because the town had lost more than "two millions of money," while the agricultural 1 R. I. Arch. Admiralty Court. 2 Admiralty Court Rec. in R. I. Arch. s R. I. C. R., vi. 64. 658 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. communities were benefited correspondingly by the high prices received for their produce, and which were the re sult of the war. Providence took part in privateering, which, in the words of Moses Brown, made " many Rich and some poor." The commerce of this port Commerce . ... -it atProvi- first becomes important in this period. James (I t'D. C P - Brown, the father of Obadiah, Nicholas, John, and Moses, had eight vessels under his management, " all West india vessels some to Surinam with Horses, &c." 2 Moses Brown found on his father's books the names of vessels belonging to different owners, viz., from 1730 to 1748, 15 vessels ; from 1748 to 1760, 60 vessels.2 Stephen Hopkins, Daniel Jenckes, Nathan Angel, and others were joint owners with the Browns. One cargo of ship timber floated down the Blackstone and loaded in the Seekonk for London, about 1751, he mentions especially. Colonel Edward Kinnicutt took out vessel and cargo, sold them, and brought back goods, which supplied " 3 shops," Daniel Jenckes's, Obadiah Brown's, — where Moses was brought up, — and Kinnicutt's. Before the opening of these shops, the county was furnished by a shop in Prov idence, owned by parties in Newport. One of the most instructive as well as the most curious lines of study growing out of historical records Morality .. . i t«. i-i changes with is in tracing the different kinds of morality pre- the period. ..... . J r vailing m the transactions and customs of a particular period or locality. The English Navigation Acts, and their outgrowth in illicit colonial traffic, furnish a fruitful field for this social development in every genera tion. We have seen how representative merchants like Faneuil shipped foreign brandy in false New England rum casks, and smuggled Barcelona handkerchiefs, as coolly as they took snuff in the streets of Boston. The trade at Cape Breton equally defied the law. 1 Moses Brown, MS. Letter on Commerce, R. I. H. S. 2 Ibid., p. 18, a list of vessels in detail. 1745-59.] VIGOROUS ILLEGAL TRAFFIC. 659 In 1746 x the French at Cape Breton, though prohibited by treaty from trading intercourse, were supplied with English or colonial products in such quantities that the markets were glutted, and prices fell below the cost of the produce at home. About 100 sail of vessels were employed each season. After the French fisheries were supplied, the surplus went to the French West Indies. These prices, though thus reduced, were not ruinous. For the brandy, wine, oil, sailcloth, cordage, iron, rum, molasses, sugar, coffee, indigo, drugs, East India goods, and other exports of France and her colonies, paid so well in the English colonies that the first loss was made up in the large profits of the return. In 1753 2 the same traffic is noticed. In 1748, " rum, cotton, molasses and other goods " 3 were carried into Boston by land from the Course of u. neighboring colonies, and these goods had not lesaltraffl0- been entered at any custom house. In 1751 4 " a settled course of traffic " had been carried on many years, in de fiance of the law, from the North American colonies to Marseilles and Toulon. The New Englanders and other colonists took out naval stores, timber, lumber, train oil, logwood, furs, etc., and returned the European, East and West India goods, as above stated. The returns did not pay the duties imposed by the Act 6 George II. The trade was so large that " vessels have been purchased for and fixed in this commerce only." A similar trade was conducted with Holland. The Dutch trade was " carried on to Rhode Island & Connecticut and thence through the sound " 5 to New York. The merchants of Newport and of New York were all engaged in it. This clandestine trade could be done so advantageously in small ports that out-of-the-way 1 Bollan, Cape Breton, pp. 118-120. 2 Mass. Arch., lxiv. 560. 8 Bos. News Let, Jan. 7, 1748. 4 Mass. Arch., xxii. 21. 5 Doc. N. York, vii. 273. 660 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. places like East Greenwich, R. I., entered into the bus iness.1 In the illicit traffic with the French, the officers and crew were interested in the venture of the cargo. In 1747 the brigantine Victory,2 owned by Joseph Whipple, a merchant of Newport, was captured by his Majesty's sloop Hind. She was libelled as a lawful prize concerned in illicit trade with enemies of the crown. The libel was lost, but the case was appealed. Meanwhile Cooper, the master, shipped at £20 per mo. New England currency, Downer, the mate, at £14, Vickers, a mariner, at £12, Concklin, a mariner, at £10, all sued Whipple for their wages. Whipple answered that he had received nothing from the vessel, and that officers and crew were concerned in the cargo, having " goods of great value on board." Judge Strengthfield decided that, the vessel having been released on bond, the mariners could have their wages on giving bond to restore them if the vessel and cargo should be condemned finally. Whipple paid the amount of wages into court under this decree. The existing records of original transactions are few and scattered, yet enough remain to show clearly that Desire for tne commercial business of New England went Wronger forward under different forms in the several thantheiaw. governments, but always toward one end. That end was money and profit, parliamentary law and crown administration to the contrary notwithstanding. The interesting letter 3 cited from Gilbert Deblois, a Boston 1 Greene, East Greenwich, p. 23. 2 R. I. Arch., Brig. Victory, 1747. 8 From Am. Ant Soe MS. : — Bos. Aug* 6 1759 Saml Curwin Esq"- S". I shall Esteem it afav. you'l take an Oppy to Inform all your Merch". & others, Concern'd in Shiping up Wine, Oyl, Olives, Figs, Raisins &c. that I am Determind Publickly to Inform the Col lector of this Port, of any those Articles I can find out, are on board 1745-59.] WONDERFUL OFFICIALS. 661 official, to Samuel Curwin, a prominent merchant of Salem, reveals the practice of Boston and Salem in hand ling imported merchandise which had escaped the king's duties. The "honest" candor of the energetic Deblois in visiting vengeance on Captain Ober — who had of fended the official — is as astonishing as it is nai've. Here a public officer deliberately warns a community of respectable law-breakers that they will suffer the penalty due any and all transgression, if they presume to ship their goods by a particular and proscribed captain. " They must not (after such notice of my Design) think hard of me, as what I may do will be to punish sd Ober & not them." Debauched public sentiment and corrupt official practice was never more plainly manifest in an in dividual action. If we had Ober's counter idea of hon esty and cheating, then eighteenth century public morality would stand out in full relief. As it is, these silhouettes are instructive. Interesting parallels might be found any Vessell Commanded by, or under the Care of Cap'. Ober, in order they may be Seiz'd, I shall not Concern my self ab' any other Coaster, let 'em bring up what they will, but this Cap' Ober has Cheated me in such a manner, (tho to no great Value) that I 'm de- termind to keep a good look out on him, therefore would have all those Concern'd in that Trade, Regulate themselves accordingly, & if they will Risque any such Prohibetted Goods in sd Ober* Vessell, they must not (after such notice of my Design) think hard of me, as what I may do will be to punish sa Ober & not them — I have just told sa Ober that I w* send this notifacation to Salem & wa Certainly get his Vessell & Cargo Seizd Sooner or Later. I am Sr Your hble Ser" Gilbt Deblois. P. S. I 'm a lover of Honest Men, therefore, dont be Surpriz'd at the above, as I look upon Ober to be a great Cheat. Pray Distroy this when done with. Answered Aug' 13th. 662 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. in the attitude of the public mind toward slavery leg islation in the United States prior to the war for seces sion. Ethics differed according to the latitude of the citizen. The business of evading the Navigation and Sugar Rhode isi- A°ts was done more openly in Rhode Island. and customs. rpne ]y[asgachusetts governors appointed by the king enforced a certain conventional observance of the laws. But the Rhode Island executive, elected by the people, found methods of interpreting the laws in a popu lar way. Robert Robinson,1 in a letter to Francis Brinley at Newport in 1749, gives* a graphic sketch of the circum locution in high places which embarrassed any effort to collect duties. On Tuesday, July 18th, one John Clarke, one of Mr. Whipple's shipmasters, informed Deputy Governor EUery that a French ship was seen going by Conanicut, through the west passage. Our old friend Whipple and his captains seem to have had sharp eyes for detecting illicit goods on an alien and competing ves sel. Deputy Ellery was not over-hasty, nor did he give information to the custom - house officers. He sent for Governor Green, of Warwick, who went to Newport and called a council. The council, " on mature deliberation," found they could not act in the affair. The next day, Wednesday, Mr. Wanton, the collector, being informed, got ready with his aids at 4 p. M. and sent to Robin son to " carry the colours, which I sent him." On Satur day morning Wanton told Robinson that he had been up the river as far as Warwick, and that the Frenchman was gone. The governor's warrant was not given to the col lector, but to one Bennett, a constable. He was to assist the king's collector, but would not part with his warrant. " By this management, Sir, you may see how the power of the King's officers is eclips't and what hopes there can 1 Newport Hist. Mag., ii. 123. 1745-59.] TRADE YIELDS TO WAR. 663 ever be of preventing illicit trade while the constitution contains thus." Vessels were dropping into Newport almost daily from the " Straits," nominally laden with salt, but it was an open secret that valuable goods were smuggled in. Rob inson says that he is weary of complaining, for every governor since 1738 had refused him assistance. " I have not yet seen or been present at the swearing of one Master that enter'd , or to one hogsh'd of molass's shipt off from here, tho' several of both sorts have been done since the instructions were sent." Laws thus executed must have trained the subject in a rude self-government, the beginning of the way of inde pendence. The activity of smugglers, the paltering impotence of officers executing unpopular laws, are forgotten Fallo£ for the moment. All bureaucratic work and °-uebec- the greater work of trade and commerce are overwhelmed now in the flames of the great tragedy blazing across the Canadian border. An empire was being consumed and was wasting to its end. War had solved destiny. Trade, lawful or unlawful, waited while the state, mustering its whole energy, put forth its arm and struck down the power of France in the New World. Quebec fell in 1759. The genius of the elder Pitt, " England incarnate," had found at last a fit instrument in the intense energy, the magnetic chivalry, the high soul, of Wolfe. After a weary, failing campaign, before defences supposed impregnable, with inferior forces, sick and worn, — his gallant soul chaf ing his weak body, — this hero had moved his forces in the night and sprung a battle, which is one of the finger-posts of Fate in her dealing with the modern civilised world. With admirable wisdom, adopting a plan not his own, using the best skill of sailor and soldier alike, Wolfe landed his columns under the rugged Heights of Abraham : these steady men, animated by their leader's valiant and 664 COMMERCE TO FALL OF QUEBEC. [1745-59. impetuous spirit, tugged at root, twig, and branch, climbed and ran, until the English power faced the French in equal position on the plains commanding Quebec. Montcalm, outgeneralled though he was, met his assailant with un flinching courage, and both these brave men fell in this memorable battle. It was not that Montcalm was altogether inferior to Wolfe, or that the victorious legions of the great English Louis had lost their valor or their skill. The races. power of feudal and military France had met the power of commercial and politically organised Eng land with inevitable results. The spirit of the seventeenth century yielded to that of the eighteenth. The English race, uncontrolled, untrammelled in individual action, germinated in thousands of settlers' homes along the Atlantic coast. France, a better organised military power, seized the points of vantage, occupied the fairest interior regions, and controlled the savage warriors who made those regions inaccessible. Pitt, the great commoner, was a fair exponent of this overwhelming force in his race. He was a proper genius of the eighteenth century, an in terpreter to the aristocratic ruling classes of the mighty social and political force heaving in the classes below. He brought a greater number of common men and women into larger life and freer action, and thus multiplied the power of the state. When he marshalled the forces of England and America against feudal-tied and priest-ridden France at Quebec, the result was inevitable. The mother country furnished the leaders and the dis ciplined skill necessary for a campaign. The colonies fur nished many of the men, the supplies, the solid forces of civilisation, which alone can sustain prolonged warfare. England, expecting defeat, went mad over the news of decisive victory. And New England ! Her joy expressed itself by all the loud methods of tumult. Bells, fires, gun powder, meetings, popular exultation, inspired by hered- 1745-59.] FORE-GLEAMS OF EMPIRE. 665 itary hatred of the French invader, sounded, blazed, and shouted everywhere. Senate, pulpit, press, all joined in the psalm of victory. Here and there a deeper tone vibrates through the shrieking clamor, and calls our at tention to the mighty possibilities of the future. The Swede Kalm, travelling here a few years earlier, had reported that America expected at some day prophetie to be freed from the sovereignty of Great Brit- indicati°"s- ain. It is known that cool observers in the mother coun try did not altogether relish the prospect of abolishing the new France when English expeditions were mustering. Victory, yes, but not annihilation. The immanent power of France was needed to keep the growing colonies in order. The political spirit of the vigorous children must be kept in leading-strings, in order that the commercial markets might remain open. These colonial markets were necessary receptacles of British goods, which the growing wealth of these communities might create for them selves. Jonathan Mayhew, a young minister of Boston, who was to become conspicuous in the Revolution, shows that the mystic hand of Destiny had been laid upon him in his Thanksgiving discourse. With the blessing of Heaven, these scattered colonies would become, " in another century or two, a mighty empire." Then the deep voice of the seer sounds through his exultant psalm, though its out ward expression is in the form of a negative, when he says, " I do not mean an independent one." CHAPTER XVII. THE LAST PERIOD OF COLONIAL DEPENDENCE. 1745-1762. Much patriotic ingenuity has been expended in liter ary exposition of the causes leading to the revolt of the American colonies. In both England and America the tendency has been to exaggerate the importance tion of of individual mistakes, the ultimate consequence of particular events, issuing from the conflict of parties, or the exigencies of administrative action, espe cially in England. American historians have magnified the loyal disposition of the dependent colonists seeking only the full privileges of Englishmen, while the advocates of the Loyalist cause and of crown rule have dwelt upon the idiosyncrasies of patriotic agitators intent on misrule. It has taken a full century to clear away the fogs of technical attack and defence. Modern historians cannot escape altogether the mists of the old disputes. Even the candid and fair-minded Lecky x has overdrawn the power of agitators and ambitious young lawyers in Boston, when initiating the " Writs of Assistance " resistance, " Stamp Act " agitation, and other measures culminating in acts of revolution. Neither Grenville nor Lord North, James Otis nor Sam- The inevita- uel Adams, did much toward creating or retard- bie conflict. mg tne ser jes Qf movements resulting in the Rev olution. Larger Europe put forth colonial settlements ; the inevitable outgrowth was an empire bounded by the two greatest oceans, swept by all the breezes and lighted 1 England in the Eighteenth Century. 1745-62.] OPPORTUNITY MAKES LEADERS. 667 by the fairest skies of our temperate zone. Legislation wise enough, bureaucratic administration energetic enough, to contain this tremendous and impending creation, was impossible in the Europe of the early eighteenth century. England half succeeded, France and Spain failed utterly, in their attempts to control the destinies of the New World. Representative government, not yet fully devel oped in the shires of England, could not stretch federal arms across wide seas, nor could it embrace varying social systems in its control. On the part of the colonists in the future United States, it was impossible for them to develop a system of obedience to distant rulers, to make harmonious response to ignorant and ill-regulated statutes. Their actual life had bred them to the practice of self- government, and was fast opening to them the methods of self-reliance. I have shown that the colonists — especially those of New England — went forward steadily, subduing the earth and multiplying wealth, through naviga- Prsvious tion and sugar acts alike. Whether ministers economio -i&" growth. were strict or lax, whether customs officials were active or lazy, public opinion in New England sanctioned a tacit nullification of parliamentary statutes, and indi vidual greed, with ingenious enterprise, secured nearly all the advantage of open and free markets. Now, after the capture of Louisburg, a new field was oneninsr to these illicit, excluded merchants and tr o 1 1 • v Develop- producers, — more prosperous than their ruling ment of competitors protected by Parliament, — these triumphant militia heroes, more successful as soldiers than the petted aristocrats sent from the dawdling court life of London to impose their petty dilettanteism on grow ing colonial strength and manhood. Leaders had been forged out of this rude colonial life, this contact with the widening spheres of America ; leaders with force sufficient for the impending crisis, with a mental grasp enabling 668 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-62. them to comprehend the opportunity of the continent. Their ambition would drive out the French ; their con scious strength would possess the privileges of English citizens, with the possibilities of American empire. In truth, this state-making force was but incipient and in the germ. Yet the new-born manhood, the conscious ness of power within the freeman, looking toward larger and better government, began to manifest itself. A larger organism of state, a better cooperation, an autonomy which should articulate into itself the town or parish meeting and the rude colonial assembly, began to work in the minds of men. This sentiment found its first political expression in the remarkable assembly at Albany in 1754.1 Over and beyond this industrial expansion by agricul ture and by productive commerce bringing wealth, this political expansion through the growth of a colonial planter into a citizen and governor, there was a negative force which enormously increased the action of these pos itive elements in state development. Each and suiararro- every American of worth and intelligence was made to feel definite and positive inferiority whenever he was brought into contact with any English man. There was a social essence of divinity clinging to the proud islander which benumbed the colonist of similar stock and heredity. The colonist had been subduing the rude earth, and the far-away islander would fain enjoy the best results of the effort, the first-fruits of colonial labor. The superior would possess the better results of the toil of the inferior. This insular pride, this over-conscious, unfeeling Eng- lishry, oppressed our present generation of Americans es pecially. Their pride was broken, their latent loyalty was grieved by their arrogant elder brothers, the representa tives of the crown. A remarkably clear manifestation of 1 Hutchinson, Massachusetts, iii. 20. 1745-62.] HALE'S INDIGNANT VOICE. 669 the effects produced in the sensitive colonists by this kind of depreciation appears in the letters of Robert Hale,1 of Beverly, about 1755. He was a prom- Haie's com- inent citizen of Massachusetts, and commanded P am ' one of the regiments in the first siege of Louisburg. Al together he was a man whose opinions were worthy of Consideration. He breaks out in sorrowful remonstrance : " A strange prejudice possesses ye minds of those of our mother country against ye Americans." Yet, as this pre vails especially against those of New England, he claims there must be a particular reason for it. He finds it in the fact that our colonists are dissenters from the national church. The insularity of our cousins fills him with won der. " I scarce ever cou'd light of an Englishman who wou'd admit that we had anything in this Countrey com parable with what they have at home of the same kind." Yet the " Gentleman's Magazine " could say at the same time that Boston was a finer town than any in England except London.2 His pride is not so much wounded as his/ patriotic love of his country and of the king's interests. " For my part I cou'd be content they might always enjoy the satisfaction of yr own Sufficiency & even in war, if it were not ruinous to his Majesties Service & our own welfare — but Experience shows their perseverance most always has proved fatal to us." He charges directly that commanders would " take the wrong path prefarably to any an American wou'd point out." In their arrogant self-sufficiency they could see nothing but inferiority around them. In proof, he cites the well-known instance of Admiral Walker's running the vessels of the Canada expedition on the rocks rather than listen to the expostu lations of the New England pilots. In England itself, at the mother's own hearthstone, he finds no better appreciation of the absent children, toiling in the wilderness, and buffeting the French and Indians. 1 MS. Letters, Am. Ant. Soe. 2 Narr. and Crit. Hist. A mer., v. 152. 670 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-S2. London magazines informed him that " Cape Breton was taken by ye British Fleet, tho' every one who was there knows that they never fir'd a Gun against it, nor losi'j a man, except by Sickness — so impossible does it seem . to be to our nation that a N. E. man can be good for aiiy- thing." He pays a just tribute to Governor Shirley, who, though an Englishman, had been twenty years domesticated here, and had acquired a knowledge of the necessary conditions of American warfare, and a due understanding of the temper of our people. England may have had the right to found colonies on the " mercantile system." She could demand the right and immediate advantages of their prosperity — by taking their products home to herself — rather than the indirect advantages coming to her, more slowly but more certainly, through the expansion of these affili ated and contributing communities. That was the way of states in those times, and none can dispute her right. But the right involves the duty of a thoroughly success ful execution of the purpose. Having proceeded in this direction, she was bound to make laws she could sustain, and when made, she must put them into execution. The colonies suffered by lax and poor administration, but England suffered more. She lost the opportunity of link ing the growing American nation to herself by the ties of constant interchange and intercourse. Laws to -the contrary notwithstanding, the American colonies had developed interests in every country and across every sea ; had accumulated wealth more speedily than almost any other people. They felt their strength. When to this course of inefficient legislation and weak administration there was added the insolence of incom petent soldiers and bureaucrats, one result, and only one, could ensue. The interests of the incipient state were growing too large for the rickety hoops of parliamentary 1745-62.] THE TROUBLES BEGIN. 671 legislation ; the personality of the citizens was over topping that of the insufficient agents of the crown and the feeble representatives of English pride. Waning de pendence, in the course of nature, must give birth to a new independence. The first serious eruption of this latent disease in the colonial body politic we have been studying, man- «Writs of ifested itself in resistance to " Writs of Assist- As8istance-" ance " in Boston in 1761. The lax methods of government could not go on forever, and the crown was proceeding to pick up and enforce its neglected and half-forfeited rights. The writs were search-warrants for smuggled goods, unre- turnable and liable to great abuse.1 They had been here tofore used sparingly — it is asserted — without exciting much discontent. Fifty-eight leading merchants had joined in a memorial against them in 1760.2 Now, under the lead of Chief Justice Hutchinson, after a fierce resistance in the courts on the part of James Otis, the question was referred to England. The home author ities ordered their issue, and they were freely employed in collecting the revenue from goods which had escaped the royal tolls in the first half of the century. Boston was inflamed and irritated in every nerve. Pocket and pride sympathised in a spirit of resistance, slow and stubborn, yet ardent from the latent forces I have described. The passion of Otis, the learning and audacious courage of John Adams, the scheming tenacity of Samuel Adams, all met ample response in the angry and resolute citizens, whose interests in production and exchange were now being fettered. Loyalty to the sovereign was something more than allegiance to the person of the king, even in Thenew the crude political development of the eighteenth loyalty- 1 Nar. and Crit. Hist. Amer., v. 155; Bancroft, Hist. United States, ii. 531, 547. 2 Snow, Hist Boston, p. 248. 672 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-62. century. There could be no abiding loyalty without a solid basis of law, justly enacted, firmly administered. When Navigation and Sugar Acts emanated from the British legislature, and were placed in the hands of the king's representatives, they carried inherent political growth or decay. If the vital chord of loyal administra tion carried the king's power into the subject's daily doings, then a good citizen was either created or assisted. Contrariwise, if for a century subjects grew and prospered, subduing the land, prevailing over seas, in daily disregard of plain parliamentary statutes and feeble crown admin istration, then decay of loyalty must and did follow. A new citizen was being evolved, who was to become neither colonist nor subject. For many reasons this last period of colonial dependence is interesting, both in its economic and its political aspects. The mid-century acts of the towns show more and more Course of °^ *nls rising- spirit of nationality. The crown the towns, officials could not comprehend the latent force of the bodies of freemen in town or province assembly. In their eyes, they all consisted of " ordinary Farmers & Shop keepers of no education or Knowledge in publick Affairs, or the World." x If these common people had not been out into the world, they soon brought the world home to themselves. Newbury, Mass., in 1754, considering the proposed act for granting his Majesty an excise on wine and spirits distilled or retailed and consumed in the Prov ince, voted that the part relating to consumption of spirits in private families " is an infringement on the natural- rights of Englishman'' 2 The towns passed on every kind of municipal business, Town ad- from a hangman's bill3 to the assessment of ministration. taxes_ Jn g^^ tf^Qi they assessed » Egtate 1 Doc. N. York, vi. 462. = Coffin, Newbury, p. 221. 3 Narragansett Hist Reg., i. No. 1, Sheriff Brown Papers. 4 Bentley MS., copy of old record, Am. Ant. Soe. 1745-62.] COMMUNAL ADMINISTRATION. 673 & Stock of Creatures " according to law, and a " Trading Stock and Shipps as one fifth of value." They assessed the interest of money loaned, provided the principal had not paid a tax. Commissions received, where no trading stock had paid assessment, rated at one fifth of value. Boston kept up its paternal function of supplying grain in times of scarcity to its citizens. The Louisburg ex pedition had deranged the local markets for food, and in 1746 the town supplied wheat " for the benefit of the in habitants of the Province." l Not more than 20 bushels nor less than 5 bushels, at 27s. old tenor, could be had in one parcel. The quantity of grain pressing on the millers caused delay in grinding, and they were warned 2 carefully that they must deliver the grists in three days at least, according to the law of 1728. Boston suffered from a fire in 1760 ; a worse accident, even, than that of 1711. The newspapers claimed dam ages of <£300,000, and the governor committed himself to " at least ,£100,000." 3 The old restrictions on the admission of freemen to the municipality, and on the sale of land to outsiders, do not appear to have been relaxed generally. They were so active in Norwich, Ct., in 1751,4 that the selectmen were directed to " prosecute with vigor " all who sold land to strangers. Such sales were declared void. Applications to remain there a limited time were often refused, or laden with burdensome conditions. These regulative acts continue as late as 1769. Norwich enforced its statutes against moral delinquen cies pretty stringently. Fines were collected for drunk enness, for not attending public worship, and for profane swearing. Sabbath-breaking by labor or vain recreation was prohibited, and laughing during worship was fined 5s. 1 Bos. Gazette, Dec. 15, 1746 ; Bos. Ere. Post, Dec. 15, 1746. 2 Bos. Neivs Let, Oct. 23, 1746 ; Bos. Eve. Post, Oct. 27, 1746. 8 Hutchinson, Massachusetts, iii. 80. * Caulkins, Norwich, pp. 276-278. 674 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-62. New Hampshire regulated carefully the salmon and shad fishery in the Merrimac River, at the petition of Londonderry1 in 1759. They allowed no fishing from Saturday at sunset until Monday at noon. Seines could be used only three days in the week. New Hampshire2 affords much interesting matter at this time in the settlement and management of half-set tled towns. "Proprietors" of new towns were much hindered in the business of settlement by those who could not or would not pay their proportion of the necessary ex penses. The indifferent thought their wild lands would be raised in value by the efforts of more public-spirited neighbors. A general act enabled all proprietors to as sess and carry forward the work of settlement. Weak settlements appealed for release from taxes, and the Prov ince loaned the selectmen of Bow £100. In our discussion 3 of the inflated paper currency, we left Massachusetts filled to overflowing. The absorbing The cur- power of the people having ceased, the Province MasJachu- was force Benjamin Franklin lived from 1706 to Eraukiin. 1790 ; an(j they were in a limited sense contem porary. The metaphysician died early, having confined himself to one vocation, — the study of theology and the treatment of moral issues. The philosopher lived long and wide, dealing with all the issues of practical living. The deep and subtle thinker sought for the source of Be ing itself in its relation to mankind. The large thinker found the outcome of Being in the relations of men one with another ; through the genius of common sense he sought for that organism of society which is the track of Being among human kind. Edwards preached and wrote from 1727 to 1758 ; Franklin published " Poor Richard " from 1732 to 1757. This tract of every-day philosophy circulated 10,000 copies sometimes in a single year. That was an immense number for the time and circumstances, and the positive influence was correspondingly great. Born of the best native stock, at East Windsor, Ct., Edwards was graduated at Yale College in 1720.1 He continued his studies for a time, then preached some eight months in New York. Returned to Yale and became a tutor for two years. Commenced his pastorate at North ampton, Mass., in 1727, continuing it until 1750. Then he spent about eight years as pastor in a small church, and also as missionary to the Indians in Stockbridge. He was installed as President of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and died about five weeks afterward. 1 Edwards's Works, Memoir in, i. 19 et seq. 1745-62.] GENIUS OF EDWARDS. 701 Genius is always original, but here was originality of the most subtle kind.1 In a new country, with Genius 0{ comparatively poor opportunities for learning, Edwards- he soon outstripped old scholars and dwellers in the great universities. His mind took in the largest ideas and held them firmly. Reading Locke at fourteen, he could grap ple with the mature philosopher and overthrow him in , some of his positions. There was precocity, and some- , thing beyond mere precocity, in his thought. Taught from boyhood to read and think, pen in hand, he wrote his way through thickets of thought, astonishing in a youth of any time. He was a keen observer in natural science in his youth, and reasoned out many principles afterward dis covered by experiment. A profound mathematician, so far as he went, he suppressed a keen wit and a potential imagination under the iron bands confining the preacher of his time. Before he attained his majority he worked out a system of idealism in philosophy on lines parallel to those of Berkeley, and it seems to be well established that he moved in complete independence of Berkeley.2 In his youth he wrote out a series of resolutions for practical guidance in his daily life. The moral insight revealed here, the heroism at work in subduing his own self into harmony with the Divine Will as he conceived it, — all this is as remarkable as the intellectual disci pline above described. " To live with all my might while I do live ; " " Never to do anything out of revenge ; " " To examine carefully and constantly what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God, and to direct all my forces against it," 3 — it is not in any one of these bold sentences, but in the spirit shin ing through all of them, that we discover the true nature of the man. Occasionally — very rarely — some puerility 1 See Prof. Tyler's admirable sketch of Edwards, HL*t Am. Lit, ii. 177. 2 Tyler, Hist. Am. Lit., ii. 183. s Edwards's Works, i. 68, 69. 702 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-621-5-62. of the seventeenth century exegesis crops out, as, " I think hen Christ has recommended rising early in the morning by in his rising from the grave very early." 1 We should con- ! sider the littleness of the literature that went before him, ,th in estimating the greatness of his ascent out of it into o ne a higher and purer realm. Of feeble body and delicate health, Edwards kept at Jin work by rigid temperance. He worked with unflinching in- A)3 dustry, spending about thirteen hours a day in his study./ to He was a very productive writer, and economised his men-gm. tal force in every possible way. As I have mentioned, hehed • • read pen in hand, not merely to acquire knowledge, but tcjthe > > create new thought out of his own teeming mind. So, ajong- 9 s he rode out for recreation, he pinned a bit of paper oi;ng. 1 [ his coat to mark a line of thought, and another ancCQe- 7 another ; when at home again, he recorded the resultsker following these tags of his memory. In the evening } one de took genuine recreation in cheerful converse with his fise heam- ily, rising between four and five in the morning for track nvork in his study. aid wiv Shortly after his settlement at Northampton, IRichaie mar ried Sarah Pierrepont, descended like himself 'philofrom the best clerical stock. It was a very hapjvy^4#^Hion, and their children numbered eleven. She w^y»n" ^ an accomplished wo man and a most capable wife^X.cr" She conducted the affairs of the family, leaving hi— " ** presence with h,r/ ais „ J^™, leaning on the Bi ble and holding, ^ % g^ ^* notes in his left hand, he made * %. But what ho ™h ,h,s right except to turn the leave-Jkme of God ( This ? , e Wen Messed done in the £i say, .. The God that hZj^ "* *** father coul. J°/s Works, i. 106. you over the pit 1 Edwardf- J°id., pp. 604-607 1745-62.] PREACHING OF EDWARDS. 703 of hell . . . abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked. . . . You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it and burn it asunder." 1 " If you cry to God to pity you, He will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favor, that instead of that, He will only tread you under foot." His ministry at Northampton lasted about twenty-three years, and after a controversy with the parish he was dis missed. The difficulty began in a point of morals2 and ended in a point of doctrine. In the latter, the commu nion had been administered by Edwards's predecessor, his grandfather Stoddard, as a " converting ordinance." The church had opened wide its doors, and welcomed all it could help. This freedom did not accord with the ideas of our severe follower of John Calvin. Edwards preached against the practice, and his congregation turned against him. It does not appear that his ministry was successful, on the whole. The enthusiasm of his biographers causes them to blink the obvious facts as they occurred. The majesty of Edwards's nature and character was such, his fame was so lustrous, that the narrators have assumed that he must have been right. The business of a parish priest is to make his flock into better men and better women. If he fails to adapt his preaching to the wants of these men and women at that time, his mission is a fail ure. Other men and other conditions may derive other results from that mission, but that does not change the principle. Edwards flashed like a meteor through the theology and through the mental development of that time. The light he shed has not faded yet. But the power of transfus- 1 Edwards's Works, vii. 171. 2 It is hardly credible that the facts in this affair of morals are all stated, or correctly stated. 704 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-62. ing his own exalted life into the lives of other and lesser persons was not in him, as his experience with his parish after twenty-three years of teaching shows. Men do not accomplish final success unless the whole man works to ward the successful end. That balance of mind and char acter we call judgment was lacking in him. As was to be expected, he saw visions or " views," as he terms them. " The person of Christ appeared His mys- A ticism. ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to 'swallow up all thought and conception — which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour. ... I have several other times had views very much of the same nature, and which have had the same effects." J When other people had trances and visions, he some times thought Satan took the advantage of them.2 Miracles appeared in orderly succession ; not only in the general course of great affairs, as on " God's so ex traordinarily appearing to baffle " 3 the French at Cape Breton, or " the dreadful hand of Heaven " ruining the French East India trade, — these were far-off Providences, — but Northampton had its own special ones. The social atmosphere there was so surcharged that it welcomed miracle as the murky air of an August afternoon opens to the thunderbolt. In the crowded church, the over strained or rotten timbers of the gallery gave way, burying the congregation in a terrible crash. Nobody was killed. The shaken matter did not follow the common laws of gravitation ; our author saw the facts and knew, as he supposed. " It seems unreasonable to ascribe it to any thing else but the care of Providence in disposing the motions of every piece of timber, and the precise place of safety where every one should sit and fall." 4 Devils and angels were almost equally nimble in their attendance upon our worthy forefathers. Satan took pos- 1 Edwards's Works, i. 133. 2 Ibid., p. 164. 8 Ibid., p. 231. 4 Ibid., p. 140. 1745-62.] GREATER THAN HIS SYSTEM. 705 session of most revivals before they were concluded. But the angels, as some compensation, would possess the soul of a child of four years, and make a " true convert," as in the case of Phebe Bartlett.1 Edwards's first publication was a sermon printed in 1731. He printed others from time to time. But the His ubu. chief sources of his influence were in his occa- cations- sional preaching, as the churches always welcomed him, and in his direct contact with the clergy. His more elab orate and formal treatises were not published until the very last of his life, or after his death. But he became a great influence during his life and through his preach ing. Though his preaching was great and his written thought was powerful, the man was greater than all he did. Two kinds of great men take hold of human affairs. In the one, Napoleon Bonaparte seized upon the movement of his time like a Titan, and bent it to his will. But the more we know of him, the less the man appears to have been. In the other, like Edwards, times change and systems fall, but the man, being near to God, grows higher and larger as knowledge enlarges. Edwards thought and wrote in a time when very crude ideas of nature and the external world prevailed. His idea of Science had not then developed those great nature' categories into which worlds, and even a universe of worlds, fall in divine order. Yet his conception of the order of nature was very high and large. In his diary he said : " There seemed to be, as it were, a calm, sweet cast, an appearance of divine glory, in almost everything. . . . And scarce anything among all the works of nature was so sweet to me as thunder and lightning ; formerly nothing had been so terrible to me." Thus he brought his conceptions of nature into harmony with his own soul. In a similar manner be brought his 1 Edwards's Works, i. 123. 706 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-62. ideas of the sovereignty of God in the human soul into an ordered dependence which was peace itself. Writing in his diary of his matured sense of God's sovereignty, he said : " I have often since had not only a conviction, but a delightful conviction. The doctrine has very often ap peared exceedingly pleasant, bright, and sweet. Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God. But my first conviction was not so." 1 This brings us to the main motive in treating the work His political °^ Edwards in this connection. He did not influence. toucn p0iitiC5 directly. What he might have done twenty years later we cannot know. As it was, he kept aloof from political surroundings. But consider the effect of this pulpit teaching on the political develop ment of the generation following him. The men who were to meet Grenville and George III. were bred in this high conception of the individual man. An absolute sovereign ruled in every heart that was touched by Edwards's sub lime humility. Were individuals bred in this way likely to submit kindly to absolutism of the human and tempo ral sort ? Would subjects ruled directly by the Almighty train readily in the harness of any vicegerent on earth, even though he might wear a king's crown? The facts of Benjamin Franklin's life are very well known. Attention has been concentrated on his Franklin. ., , ,,. ,., , • 1 romantic boyhood, his philosophical career, and the diplomatic distinction of his later years. Beyond all this, I would consider his remarkable sagacity in the con duct of affairs, — little as well as great, — and his influ ence in educating the common American citizen. While his manhood was spent outside New England, he was born and bred here, and probably could not have been bred anywhere else. He is the most illustrious example of the transplanted and elevated Yankee, so many of whom have gone from our district. Born in Boston in 1706, a 1 Edwards's Works, i. 60. 1745-62.] FRANKLIN, IN AFFAIRS. 707 family quarrel drove him to Philadelphia in 1723. An episode, which reads like the "Arabian Nights," sent him to London in 1724, to buy a printer's outfit.1 Deceived and disappointed in the help promised him, he worked there at his handicraft for eighteen months. If deceived by others, he could depend on himself, and returned ac complished in his art. In 1727 he commenced business for himself, and was successful, attaining first competence, then wealth. In 1736 he appears in general politics. In 1742 he invented the Franklin stove, and in 1746 began experiments in electricity. In 1753 he was appointed postmaster general by the British government, and in 1757 went to England as the agent of Pennsylvania. No one ever worked more thoroughly from his own centre outward, or brought himself into closer contact with his fellows thereby. He knew little of the training of schools. Books he devoured passionately. Then he assimilated their lessons of experience to the life within himself, and to the life of those around him. Everett said he was " master, not of arts, but of the art of arts." Like all men out of the heart of New England, his na ture was essentially religious. He " never doubted the ex istence of a Deity ; that He made the world and governed it by his providence ; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man ; that our souls are immortal; and that all crimes will be punished and virtue rewarded either here or hereafter. These I esteemed the essentials of every religion ; and being to be found in all the religions we had in our- country, I respected them all, though with different degrees of respect." 2 These prin ciples should be considered, not only for their effect upon Franklin, but for their power in affecting his influence on others. Working by his " singular felicity of induction," he found from these principles that " truth, sincerity, and 1 Autobiography, Harper's edition, p. 69. 2 Ibid., p. 128. 708 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-62. integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life." 1 On these foundations, together with industry, clear vision of his ob ject, imaginative power leading himself and others to it, and courage in pursuing his conviction, was reared the great fabric of Franklin's life. His lucid and agreeable style was formed on an odd His wonder- volume of the " Spectator," 2 during his appren- fui style. ticeship in Boston. His solid studies of this classic affected all his writing afterwards. Socrates, in Xenophon's rendering, affected his method of thinking as well as his expression. His newspaper was an essential part of his printing business, and afterwards of his polit ical career. But the novel literary engine that brought "Poor liim into close contact with the common people Richard." wag « p00r jjionar(p8 Almanac " ; with its annual circulation of ten thousand copies for about sixteen years. In the year 1757 he gathered the proverbs and senten tious maxims and printed them together. "The piece, being universally approved, was copied in all the news papers of the American continent ; reprinted in Britain on a large sheet of paper, to be stuck up in houses ; two translations were made of it in France." 3 Many of them4 have become ingrained in the common thought and speech of New England by a century and a half of use. All move like rifle-shots. " We are taxed twice as much (j. e. as by the government) by our idle ness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly. . . . But dost thou love life ? then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. . . . Drive thy business, let not that drive thee. ... He that hath a trade hath an estate. ... A fat kitchen makes a lean will. 1 Autobiography, Harper's edition, p. 98. 2 Ibid , pp. 23, 25. a Ibid., p. 149. 4 Franklin's Works, Sparks's edition, ii. 95 et seq. 2 1745-62.] HIS SCIENCE OF ECONOMY. 709 " Many estates are spent in the getting, Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting, And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting." " Many a little makes a mickle. . . . Lying rides upon Debt's back. . . . Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other." Industry, temperance, fru gality, all the virtues, move together in concrete excellence through this homely calendar. The author says these maxims contain the wisdom of many ages and nations. They reveal not simply the economy and sagacity of Ben jamin Franklin ; he adapted the experience of others to experience of his own ; out of the whole he drew maxims for wise action. We shall see in his political career the same facility of leading and following in the affairs of the state. It was not by accident that Franklin selected for his example of Poor Richard, in his analysis of its purport, the following : " It is hard for an empty sack to stand up right." This sagacious observation and its kindred prin ciples gave him great influence over the New England mind. He was profoundly convinced that in wealth there is weal. It was not power or comfort, but virtue, that inhered in economy. When a poor man, twenty-three years old, publishing the "Pennsylvania Gazette," some of his patrons complained of the conduct of the journal. He invited them to supper, and provided water and two coarse meal puddings, commonly called " sawdust." The diet was too coarse for them, and he said, " My friends, any one who can subsist as I can on sawdust puddings and water, needs no man's patronage." x But I would consider the political career of this phi losopher, not in diplomacy and the larger statecraft, but in legislation and active citizenship. Journal- Hisciti- ism leads naturally to political life in America, 2enshlp- and in 1736 he was made clerk of the Assembly of the 1 Autobiography, p 108. 710 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-62. Province. He was a controlling member of the " Junto," an affiliated association of clubs, admirably arranged for disseminating political ideas.1 The city watch was a miserable affair of village constables. He reformed that and gave it order. He organised a fire department. There was in Pennsylvania, in 1744, "no provision for defence, nor for a complete education of youth ; no militia, nor any college." He established the "Philo sophical Society," a permanent institution. The most re markable public service he rendered was in beginning the volunteer movement. The Quaker Assembly, though repeatedly urged by the governor, absolutely refused to enact a militia law ; while the Spanish and French war was actually going on. Franklin began a subscription for volunteers ; the num ber soon swelled to 10,000, who armed themselves as they could, then organised and drilled. He was offered the colonelcy of the Philadelphia regiment, but declined. With a committee he went to New York and borrowed 18 eighteen-pound guns, with their munitions, which were soon mounted in batteries. The same executive power in leading a people was shown a few years later, when Braddock's expedition was being formed. The general could obtain only 25 wagons, declared " his ex pedition was then at an end," and inveighed against the ministry that sent him to such a country without trans portation for his army on land. Franklin procured him 150 wagons with teams and 259 carrying horses in a few days. After Braddock's defeat it was the printer, editor, and nascent philosopher alone who could command upon the frontier of Pennsylvania, and restore order to that frightened region. He raised troops and built a line of forts. It would be easy to multiply these details. This phi losopher was before all, a man of action. This high priest 1 Autobiography, p. 161 et seq. 1745-62.] ARRAIGNED BY THE PEERS. 711 of utilitarianism was a passionate youth. While his youth was romantic, his manhood and old age were devoted to the most serious and weighty business of his fellow-men. He was an honest man. It may be doubted whether honor, the pearl of great price, can be evolved from the system of Poor Richard. But whatever Frank- Hoilcsty and lin did under pressure of circumstance, he did truth- for his country, and not for his own advancement. It has been charged that he yielded too much and too often to expediency in dealing with others. We must consider the occasion. He was constrained by a great political necessity, and forced fo yield in parts that he might main tain the whole of his country's larger interest. The most striking proof of his integrity under the grip of circum stance is in his account of his appearance before the Privy Council of England. He was arraigned before this august tribunal to answer for his conduct of colo nial affairs in 1773. He was both the subject of the crown and the representative of the crown's dependen cies. We must remember the characteristic features of the occasion. The majesty of the throne inhered in this council; the dignity of all the great offices of the state was concentrated there. Thirty-five lords, the largest number ever assembled, met to frown down this world- renowned citizen ; too proud for a subject, not yet en larged into a rebel. Abuse was intended and was fully administered by Wedderburn, a master of invective. He called Franklin a man of three letters, the Roman joke for thief. The great lords laughed frequently and cried " Hear." Directly after, he was publicly removed from his office of postmaster-general for America. The next day after this dramatic scene Franklin told a friend that he had " never before been so sensible of the power of a good conscience ; for that, if he had not considered the thing for which he had been so much insulted as one 712 LAST PERIOD OF DEPENDENCE. [1745-62. of the best actions of his life, and what he should certainly do again in the like circumstances, he could not have sup ported it." 1 The very simplicity of truth, the excellence of integrity ! A man given over to expediency would have crumbled under the shock. It was through the mastery of himself that Franklin maintained the integrity which enabled him to stand be- ms mastery fore klngs- Hls philosophy of economy — so of self. dear to the people — tended toward subjection of self. Desires of all kinds were subjected to a higher control, and that was outside one's self. The contrast is immense between the idealist Jonathan Edwards and the realist Benjamin Franklin. But they worked toward one and the same end, the elevation of the individual man in himself and through himself. The greatest possible idea — God — was brought by Edwards within reach of the common mind. He transfused his " delightful conviction " into the desire of the common people. Franklin, the ready man of affairs, lifted every common thing into importance, illuminated common sense with inspiration, and left the commoner a higher and better man. Institutions of government, kings, and min isters might go astray. But the every-day citizen, whom Franklin had taught, would rely on his higher self, though his instituted supports might fail. These thoughts — this rendering of the ideas of Edwards and of Franklin into the common education of the common people — necessarily an ticipates the coming of another generation. That genera tion belongs in its development to our next period. We leave this present period, sluggish, prosperous in material things, — the last days of economic prosperity in the eighteenth century. Its interest lies not Last days of , . " economic so much in economic development or change as • prosperity. . . L & in the smouldering political forces that under laid the common business of every-day fife. The depend- 1 Autobiography, p. 446. 1745-62.] BURGHERS GROW INTO CITIZENS. 713 ent burghers and burgesses were straining at the hard shells of custom, and preparing unconsciously for the in evitable outburst into the larger life of American citizens. The new generation is pressing in. We shall soon see the farmers, erect on their own soil, rising into proud freemen ; and we shall welcome the trading burgesses, growing under their new responsibility into the thews and sinews of a mighty state. CHAPTER XVIII. THE STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. 1763-1775. The Peace of Paris left the New England colonies with the same people which had enlisted in a war lasting nine years, but that people was changed by a knowledge of its own strength and resources. The common effort and sac rifice taught the people by the war had sent them for ward a long distance in the path of self-government. In the words of a late English commentator : " A people of strong fibre and high morals, strictly Sabbatarian, rigidly orthodox, averse to extravagance, to gambling, and to effeminate amusements, capable of great efforts of self- sacrifice, hard, stubborn, and indomitably intractable, they had most of the qualities of a ruling race." x But this graphic picture, discriminating as it is, does not render the whole story. Our nineteenth century, ac- The power customed to the use of liberty, breathing the of liberty, unchartered air of freedom, — beclouded, too, in the atmosphere of imperial combination and empire, — often forgets the original spirit of freedom, that divine impulse in the people which made possible all this liberty and well-ordered modern living. The eighteenth century burst the swaddling-bands of civilised institutions, and gave the individual citizen new movement and capabilities. Only the eighteenth century mind can appreciate that mighty change in all its power and consequence. Burke knew Europe well, and America better than any of his feflows. The philosophic master of rhetoric built even 1 Lecky, England in the Eighteenth Century, iii. 303. 1763-75.] THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY. 715 better than he knew when he uttered this pregnant sen tence : " From these six capital sources — of descent ; of form of government; of religion in the Northern prov inces ; of manners in the Southern ; of education ; of the remoteness of situation from the first mover of govern ment — from all these causes a fierce spirit of liberty has grown up. It has grown with the growth of the people in your colonies, and increased with the increase of their wealth." i The same comprehensive observer saw the vital point, the creative centre, of the matter involved. The English observers and expositors of to-day, after a century of his toric development, often grope about without seeing the truth as Burke saw it. England, after struggling PoIiticaI half a century with reform, did not fit her insti- f "fntnry™8 tutions to her people as well in 1832 as America behind- fitted hers in 1776 and 1789. The petty critics of Chat ham and Burke cried out with high and silly glee in the House of Commons, that the colonies, if taxed without representation, would be represented as well as was the lot of Manchester and the other great and growing towns. This was an argument mighty in its destructive conse quences. The mother's political incapacity was the child's opportunity. A great nation, a mighty empire, was born. Strange that any one in these days should wish it other wise! The unity of the English race might have been a good thing. A better thing was the unity of an imperial republic, moulding institutions to its destiny, and fusing all races into one race, into itself.2 Burke saw this dimly, but he saw it. " The colonies in general owe little or nothing to any care of ours, . . . but 1 From his great speech on Conciliation. Works, iii. 257 (Riv- ington's). 2 The inherent difficulties in governing the American colonies from England are well stated in Narr. and Crit Hist. Amer., vi..22, 23. 716 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. through a wise and salutary neglect, a generous Nature has been suffered to take her own way to perfection." This process toward perfection was to be rudely inter rupted now by a man great in little things, accomplished Grenviiie's ln aU the bureaucratic faults pertaining to Eng- virtues. lishmen. George Grenville, chancellor of the exchequer, had extraordinary capacity in making virtue do all the evil which vice might have done. Bred a law yer, fond of details, inflexible in routine, he had not the mental grasp of a statesman, or the practical tact and sa gacity of a good executive. It was reported that he " lost America because he read the American dispatches, which none of his predecessors had done." This bureaucrat went forward cheerfully, confident of success where Chatham might have failed, probably would have failed. He started to enforce strictly the Trade and Navigation Acts ; to permanently place a British army in America, and to raise a part, at least, of its support by parliamentary taxation in the colonies. These three meas ures, the seeds of the Revolution, affected the fate of both hemispheres. Had they been administered successfully, they would have put money into the English treasury, and would have widened the prerogatives of the crown, but they would have fatally checked the growth of America, especially of New England. Grenville found an immense deal of smuggling in the colonies, it is true. The whole revenue from customs in America brought in £1,000 to £2,000 annually, at a cost to the exchequer in collecting of £7,000 to £8,000.1 Not by care but by " wise neglect " did the colonies de velop toward empire. The French West Indies produced many things needed by New England, and craved in re turn her timber and fish. To stop this exchange, and force it toward the English Sugar Islands, Parlia- The Sugar ment had imposed in 1733 the prohibitory duty Aots- 1 Lecky, Eighteenth Century, iii. 303. 1763-75.] GRENVILLE'S MEASURES: 111 of 6d. per gallon on molasses, 5s. per cwt. on sugar when imported into British plantations from foreign colonies. If this act had beeii obeyed, it would have produced com mercial disaster. It scarcely affected the tide of com- ' merce which ran eagerly through the illicit channels which were undermining the authority of Parliament and crown. In 1763 it expired, aud the colonists begged hard that it might not be renewed. So in the tea trade : out of a mil lion and a half of pounds consumed annually in America, not more than one tenth came from England.1 Grenville began to administer the old as well as to prepare for new legislation, and in 1763 H. B. M. ship Squirrel was stationed at Newport "for the encourage ment of fair trade by the prevention of smug gling." 2 Though this severity of administra- fetohB po tion vexed the colonists, accustomed to the old easy-going customs, it was trifling in comparison with the new measures to be expected. Rumors of the impending Stamp Act which the colonial agents discussed and dis puted in vain with Grenville, filled America with vague alarm. Meanwhile the hated Sugar Act was renewed in 1764, the duty on molasses being reduced from the prohib itory sixpence to threepence per gallon. It was expected/ that the smaller rate would produce a revenue. The col onists found ways to reduce the tax still more. In actual practice they paid only about three halfpence per gallon.3 The news of this act and the prospect of further measures created intense excitement. Committees of correspond ence between the colonies were appointed to agitate the repeal of the new Sugar Act, and to oppose taxation of every kind by Parliament. The Stamp Act prescribed that all bills, bonds, leases, insurance policies, marriage certificates, vessel clearances, newspapers, broadsides, and legal » Bancroft, U. S., iii. 59. 2 Arnold, R. I., ii. 246. 8 Hutchinson, Mass., iii. 109. 718 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. documents of all kinds, should be written on stamped paper. Stamps at varying prices were to be sold by pub lic officers, and the proceeds, through his Majesty's treas ury, were to be expended for colonial protection and de fence. The law passed Parliament February 27, 1765, — " one of the most momentous legislative acts in the history of mankind ; " yet the House of Commons hardly listened to the discussion, and voted listlessly for the government measure. The Walpoles and other wiseacres of London society thought the doings of and about Wilkes were of much more importance. This act began the breach that rent the empire, swallowed millions of British money, and took away millions of vigorous subjects from their alle giance to the British crown. Never did legislation fail so completely in its antici pated effect ; never did the effect achieved reverse and oppose so completely the purpose of the administrators. The people to be governed bent every individual will in absolute opposition to the government. In vain England expected the " money to be received " from the colonies ; not a stamp was to be seen in America. The American distributors disappeared as if by magic : some resigned ; some were forced out of their places by the popular wrath. The law courts were closed, and business was vir tually suspended. Then the colonial governors assumed to make the law anew by issuing letters allowing noncom pliance with the act because stamps were not to be had. But the ardent citizens, now verging toward political rebellion, did not stop or content themselves with these negative forms of resistance. Economically, resistance to these subjects felt independence before in anv crown. p „ . . , _ ^ torm ot association they dared to breathe of non-allegiance. Let it be remembered that, as the ship- money tax crushed the crown at home and founded a new kingdom, so an economic principle crushed the crown in America and founded a new empire. Whether Parlia- 1763-75.] ECONOMIC RESISTANCE. 719 ment could tax was a mooted question ; whether colonists would buy wares of the constituents behind Parliament was a question quite within colonial control.1 Merchants agreed not to import ; 2 rich as well as poor dressed in homespun, ate no lamb to save the wool, while orders for British goods were cancelled, and ruin faced British man ufacturers as well as factors. Petitions poured into Parliament from the merchants of 1 From Correspondence of J. Sf J. Amory. Boston November 13th 1765 Messrs Bond & Smith, We are very apprehensive that if the Stamp Act be not repealed there will be a general determination, not only here but throughout the continent of America, not to make use of any English manufac tures other than what absolute necessity requires, which will reduce the importations to a mere trifle of what they have been, and must entirely put an end to our trade with you. If this Act is forced upon us we shall consider ourselves as slaves without anything we can call our own. It must render disaffected to the English government above a million of people who till now were proud of being English men, and as firmly attached to the interest of England as if tbey were born there. After being deprived of our natural liberties as men, and our privileges granted our ancestors by Royal Charter, we shall be very indifferent who our foreign masters are. And perhaps we may like them the least whom we once liked the best. Boston December 20 1765 Mess" Barnard & Harrison, We cannot think the merchants who deal to America will find it their interest to increase their debts here by farther exportations un less the Stamp Act be repealed. The resentment of the people is at a very high pitch, but will be much higher if not soon relieved. There will certainly be a general combination of all ranks of people to throw off every sort of luxury in dress, which you must know will take off two thirds of our imports from Great Britain. People be gin to clothe themselves in our own manufactures. We are at pres ent in a state of anarchy, but we are petitioning our Governor & Council that our courts may be open, and this we think they must come into, as people seem determined to pay no taxes to government, if we are deprived of the benefit of it. 2 Hutchinson, Mass., iii. 116 ; and see Nar. and Crit Amer., vi. 50, 76-80. 720 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. London, Bristol, and other places. The colonists owed them several millions for goods delivered. They would not order new supplies, nor could they pay for the old ones. Trade arrested always impairs the ability of the debtor, even when he desires to pay. The expectation of credit creates new credit, with a corresponding ability to turn the account. Artisans in Manchester, Leeds, and elsewhere lost their employment. The kingdom was con vulsed by the economic resistance in America to a polit ical act. Even the king saw the danger threatening the foundations of his authority before his immediate council lors waked to the occasion. Chatham opposed the Stamp Act, and defended the col onies with his magnificent eloquence, while Burke brought solid knowledge to his support. It was repealed Febru ary 22, 1766, and at the same time a Declaratory Act was Repeal with passed affirming the right to tax America. This of risotto1 did not attract much notice in America at the moment, in the extravagant joy over the repeal, which, according to John Adams, hushed " almost every popular clamour." But the new act proved in the end to be another tug at the lid of Pandora's box. In 1767 Charles Townshend, then chancellor of the exchequer, put his nervous hand to the work. The opponents of the Stamp Act, Pitt particularly, had made a distinction, " more nice than wise in its application to the colonies, between external and internal taxes." 1 The brilliant and foolish Townshend, following this, proposed to raise a revenue by a small duty on glass, lead, paints, and paper. With this the export duty of one shilling per pound on tea from England to America was remitted, and an im port duty of threepence was laid in America. This was in the line of Grenville's logic, but straight across the lines of existing economic development in America. One shilling export was four times larger than threepence im- 1 Arnold, R. I., ii. 275. 1763-75.] ENGLAND'S OWN CONFLICT. 721 poit ; but the small threepence was a tax, and the colonists had learned how to resist and beat down a tax. This was their political action ; in economic management they smug gled their tea, — from the Dutch chiefly. It was said that not one tenth of the American consumption had paid any English duty. So little did the English statesmen know of the enormous political forces they started into action when they meddled with these habits of the people. If we would comprehend the rapid and strange growth of rebellion ripening into revolution after the repeal of the Stamp Act, we must consider the principles involved in the whole English polity, as it was applied to Twoimea the regulation of the colonies. Two theories of J!dKJ!h administration interplaying — sometimes cross- tratl0n- ing and entangling themselves — were being worked out in England. One ruled the dependencies in the interest of the old mercantile system, which was about to fall under the blows of Adam Smith, who was aided somewhat by the French economists. This policy was ably represented by Grenville. The other, culminating in the rule of Chat ham and the philosophy of Burke, would have made the de pendencies into essential parts of the empire, would have modified parliamentary representation by some method allowing the colonists to take part in their own taxation. The sovereignty of England through Parliament — the king its executive head — was the principle dear to the greater Pitt. The ideal of this warrior-statesman was to enable the power of England, working through Chatham,a every fibre of colonial life, every possible inch of ldeaL territory, to beat off every other European, and to triumph over every obstacle. This ideal was actually moulded by Chatham into much accomplished fact. He cared little who paid if England and the English race won ; in this he led his willing country so long as it could move under such high motives, and bear such exalted strain. Gren ville, laboring at the old economic policy, attempted to pay 722 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. the bills. A conscientious king of narrow mind could only injure and derange these jangling elements of polity The km 'a when he brought the personal factor into the error. conduct of affairs. George the Third could not make his way through the clashing of imperial sovereignty and freeman's right, through the economic development of taxation under new conditions of citizenship. Clutching hard at the tattered shreds of prerogative, he made yet worse the jangling discord. This is not the place to show that Chatham's ideal of British sovereignty could not have been rendered into practical politics by any legislation or administration in that day. England had to set her own house in order be fore she could extend her parliamentary system over de pendencies then fast growing into states. After more than a century of enlightened development she governs Ireland, South Africa, Australia, by methods which jus tify themselves in political philosophy only by their prac tical success and general good order. It is the business of this chapter to show that the economical development of New England — and collaterally of the other American colonies — led the people into rebellion, then into revo lution and independence. This was an orderly develop ment out of the bad political administration of a bad economic system, which has been described heretofore. In theory the colonists could not export the chief prod- Economic ucts 0I their industry 1 except to Great Britain. restrictions. A foreign g^ could not enter tneir portg> g^ could be imported, and wines from Madeira and the Azores, under duties collected for the royal exchequer. Food, horses, and servants could be brought from Ireland. Lest they should increase wool, they could not weave their own cloth, nor transport wool from one colony to another. A British sailor could not buy more than 40s. worth of 1 See Bancroft, U S., iii. 107, 108 ; and Nar. and Crit. Hist. Amer., vi. 7, 64. 1763-75.] BUSINESS MUST CONTROL. 723 woollen clothing in their markets. The manufacture of hats from furs was limited in the same way. Iron-making was limited and crippled. The slave-trade was encour aged. The British statesmen differed much, but they agreed on the one point of colonial control. Chatham would not tax the colonial subjects without representation, but in the matter of subjecting colonial development to " British interests," he went to the extreme. " If this power [i. e. absolute sovereignty] were denied, I would not permit them to manufacture a lock of wool, or a horseshoe, or a hobnail." Yet the things forbidden in theory were done by the colonists in substance. It is true they did not manufac ture textiles or iron largely, because the labor was worth more for other affairs. But they had fies BritiBh i ¦ ii- i n control. grown up doing the things they found profitable, whatever the British law had been. When the Grenville ministry thought to puzzle and silence Franklin by their question, " Suppose the external duties to be laid on the necessaries of life?" they were amazed by his prompt answer, " I do not know a single article imported into the Northern colonies but what they can either do without or make themselves. The people will spin and work for themselves in their own houses." The British officials of the bureau fancied that these self-managing people were subject to the power and the administration of the crown and its officers. But the subjects readily evaded edicts they did not like. This fact cannot be presented too often, for its manifest bearing on the whole controversy is everlooked by many historians. Hutchinson, arguing for the royal cause, says that it was a great mistake that the new sugar duty was laid at 3d. : it should have been a penny or three halfpence. He adds naively, the mer chants wished to pay a small duty " rather than be at the charge and trouble of clandestinely importing foreign molasses." J 1 Hutchinson, Mass., iii. 108. 724 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. The spirit of independence — however it may have been stimulated or restrained by minor causes and the Revolt inev- work of individuals — was surely and fatally itabie. impelled by one overmastering cause : that cause was in the English polity, which was badly conceived and worse administered. The proposition laid down by Burke, that peoples should never be led to scrutinise the sources of sovereignty, had been neglected or traversed by the English rulers when the storm broke at Lexing ton and Concord. "If you sophisticate and poison the very source of government by urging subtle deductions, and consequences odious to those you govern, from the unlimited and illimitable nature of supreme sovereignty, you will teach them by these means to call that sover eignty itself in question." The wisdom of the paradox is complete. The kingly power is illimitable, yet lim ited essentially in the very nature of the governed, and those limitations can be made effective by the unwise ac tion of governors. Hutchinson dates the revolt of the American colonies Exact date from the year 1766. The exact date will never uncertain. be fixed jn 1768 Massachusetts addressed a dignified and temperate letter of remonstrance 1 to the king's ministers. This community had been agitating some time for the non-importation of British goods. When the prospect was assured that troops would be sent over to enforce the king's mandates, the movement for non-im portation gathered strength rapidly. In August, 1768, the merchants of Boston signed an agreement not to im port merchandise from Great Britain, excepting some few necessaries, during the year 1769. The troops landed in Boston October 1, 1768. The political development forced on the economic, and vice versa. There were some vio lations of the agreement by individual merchants in the various colonies, but public opinion was directed against 1 Bancroft, U. S., iii. 272-276. 1763-75.] THE GREAT COMMITTEES. 725 the offenders so forcibly, by publishing lists of names and by votes in town meetings, that the agreements were in substance enforced.1 The English exports to America dropped from £2,378,000 in 1768 to £1,634,000 in 1769 ;2 and to New England alone they were £430,807 in 1768, and £223,696 in 1769.3 In the next year, 1770, the agreements were virtually terminated, and the colonists concentrated their efforts on the prohibition of tea. Hutchinson noted that the power of the new economic and social government was greater than that of the old political one.4 Committees of correspondence compelled a certain uniformity of action equal to ordinary political evolution. In 1772 and 1773 these committees of correspondence were working silently through the colonies, and . .. , . ii* p i • • Committees virtually doing the business of legitimate gov- of oorre- _ spondence. ernment. lhe daring attack on the Gaspee man-of-war in Narragansett Bay,5 resulting in her destruc tion, in June, 1772, had inflamed the authorities against Rhode Island. It was proposed to annul her charter. Samuel Adams recommended union in anticipation of any such movement : " An attack upon the liberties of one col ony was an attack upon the liberties of all." The Massachusetts towns corresponded through their principal citizens. Gradually the revolutionary heat, thus engendering in individual breasts,6 burst forth in the posi tive resolutions enacted by various town meetings. The spirit of resistance in the colonies, rising gradually, was preparing the minds of the citizens for overt acts. The burning of the Gaspee having positively defied the crown, an opportunity for a similar and even more dramatic act of rebellion was at hand. The tea tax of Townshend had 1 Hutchinson, Mass., iii. 257 ; Arnold, R. I., ii. 303. 2 Lecky, England, iii. 404. 3 Bishop, Hist. Manuf, i. 374. 4 Hutchinson, Mass., iii. 261. 6 Arnold, R. L, ii. 318. 6 Hutchinson, Mass., iii. 85. 726 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. been thus far a mere political farce. In the three years, 1770-1773, not one chest in 500 had been seized for non payment of duties.1 Yet the East India Company claimed that the annual consumption in America was £3,264,000. Now that powerful corporation needed colonial custom, and was about to send its teas direct to America, free of duties in England. Townshend's tax of 3c?. was to be collected. In the words of Lord North, "the king means to try the question with America." Three ships loaded with the questionable stuff arrived Boston "Tea- m Boston harbor. Their entry was easy; but party." ^ ^ne coasf; j,a(j Deen lined with jagged reefs, or swept by all the highest waves out of the ocean's lowest depth, the entry of the tea into the economy of New Eng land life would have been no more uncertain and dan gerous. The country glowed like a tinder-box. Neither committees of correspondence, citizens of Boston, nor the interior towns would hear of any peaceable landing. Away back in Leicester, the committee wrote, " Do not suffer any of the teas already come or coming to be landed, or pay one farthing of duty. You may depend on our aid and assistance when needed." The body politic was hastening to an issue. In the dim light of the evening of December 16, 1773, the Boston patriots lifted their hands against the government of George the Third. Three hundred and forty chests, the whole importation, were emptied overboard without dam age to other property.2 They did not covet the value of the innocent Bohea, they struck at the symbol of sover eignty embodied iu the tax. Rebellion was rife and revo lution near at hand. Said John Adams, " This is the most magnificent movement of all. There is a dignity, a maj esty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire." Rebellious Boston first felt the heavy hand of British 1 Snow, Hist. Boston, p. 290. 2 Barry, Mass., ii. 473. 1763-75.] PUNISHMENT OF BOSTON. 727 power. The troops had been a menace of authority. Now the punitive blows fell thick and fast. The Act punishment of Parliament closing her port arrived in Boston oi Boston- May 10, 1774. Two days later — while her committee of correspondence were considering the situation — Bowler, Speaker of the Rhode Island Assembly, gave them the welcome news that all thirteen colonies had responded favorably to the Rhode Island circular calling for common union against Great Britain. General Gage had been ap pointed commander-in-chief for America, and governor of Massachusetts ; the military arm of the crown, stretching across the seas, was taking to itself all the local and civil powers of government. As Gage, the feeble exponent of despotic power, was sailing into Boston harbor, May 14th, Samuel Adams, the most commanding personality in New England, at that moment the incarnation of the American Revolution, was presiding over a large town meeting. This assembly of freeholders, nothing daunted by the shock of encounter with king and Parliament, pronounced the Port Bill "repugnant to law, religion, and common sense." They appealed to " all the sister colonies, inviting a uni versal suspension of exports and imports." In three weeks after the receipt of the Port Bill, the colonies were prac tically as one in resistance to it.1 This non-intercourse was practically adopted through out the country. The " sublimity " John Adams found in the action of the tea-party is much more . . , , Sublimity manifest to modern eyes in this calm, resolute, of silent re- self-denial of whole communities. In mercan tile correspondence from day to day, we can detect the very movement of the popular pulse. J. & J. Amory, of Boston, merchants who had done much toward the repeal of the Stamp Act, belonging to the moderate party, de siring peace, yet express 2 this drift of the popular will. May 30th they say : " Trade is almost universally here re- i Bancroft, U. S., iv. 18. 2 MS. Letters. 728 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. garded as necessary to the good of both countries ; but we conceive no suffering will induce the colonies to ac knowledge a right in Parliament to tax us at pleasure." July 5th they " find already an almost total cessation of business." September 3d they write to London, " as all Law is now at an end, we are left at the mercy of those who are indebted to us to pay us at their own time. We are satisfied with the honor and integrity of most of those with whom we deal, but how far they may be ren dered unable to pay us from their debtors availing them selves of the times, we are unable to say." Politics are the essence of the main current of history, but history is not mere politics. The social con- precede's" dition of a people expresses itself outwardly in the great activities of industry and trade ; then it is formulated in the ways of political action. Statutes, edicts, administration of law directed and adapted to the common life of the people, make politics. If the law and its administration does not formulate actual living in this way, then trouble and revolution must follow, until government fits itself to the wants and ways of the governed. The largeness of the political principles involved in the small movements of these obscure citizens, in a little com munity, was not apparent even to the near-by observers of these events, as they occurred. A curious misconception of the springs and causes of colonial revolt possessed England then ; she has not altogether recovered from it now. It was said that, just after the battle of Lexington and Concord, the local courts were long occupied in taking- testimony to prove that the militia were right and the royal troops were wrong. Even the logic pf rebellion could not convince these German - descended English freemen that they were in revolution against lawful authority. The technical points of this process of law were as nothing, 1763-75.] ORDER IN REBELLION. 729 but the orderly spirit of such courts was everything. Not withstanding this orderly conduct of disorder, English men could see nothing wrong in their own administration. Mackenzie, a British officer stationed at Boston, though born in Virginia, and knowing George Washington, preju diced him by correspondence against the Boston leaders. When Washington met the Massachusetts delegates at Philadelphia, he tested them for himself. " Instead of noisy, brawling demagogues, meaning mischief only, he found plain, downright practical men, seeking safety from oppression." 1 New England developed itself partly by a polity, and more by a lack of polity. A growing people, accumulat ing wealth through evasions of Navigation and Sugar Acts, through neglect of excise laws, found an easy way to open resistance of the Stamp and Tea Acts. In resisting constituted authority that oppressed their daily living, they learned to establish a constitution of their own. The evolutions of town government in New Hampshire are worthy of study. A curious instance may Townand be found at Dunstable in 1762.2 A meeting of com™ni'y- the proprietors adjourned and came together again with out the moderator or clerk. A part of the proprietors joined in electing a new clerk. The new officers sued the old clerk for possession of the records, but the court found " many Difficultys " in a decision. Therefore the House of Representatives, on petition, appointed a commission with authority to organise the meeting of proprietors. Taverns were controlled by license.3 In the present district of Maine, communities were push ing out to found new settlements, as at Machias in 1763.4 Twenty-five persons, mostly from Scarborough, including a i Proc M. H. S. 1858-60, p. 69. 2 Town Pap. N. H., ix. 207. » Ibid., ix. 432 ; Felt, Salem, i. 422. 4 Smith, Machias, p. 20. 730 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. millwright and a blacksmith, made the basis. The towns would not repair roads by a general tax, but each man turned out to do his portion.1 While these primitive steps were being taken in the far districts, Boston, the " metropolis," was adorning herself in 1774 with 200 or 300 street lamps.2 Haverhill, Mass., organised a fire club. The basis of government is in taxation, and the tax list of Haverhill is interesting enough to cite3 in detail. Perhaps no com munities, before or since, have so thoroughly distributed and adjusted the burdens of state as these carefully regu lated towns. 1 Bourne, Wells and Kennebunk, p. 671. 2 Bos. News Letter, March 3, 1774. 8 Chase, Hist. Haverhill, p. 426 : — Valuation of Haverhill, 1767. 478 Polls ratable, 27 Polls not ratable. £ s, a. 281 Dwelling Houses @ £5 each 1405 00 00 44 Work Houses @ 40s each 88 00 00 2 Distill Houses @ £23 each 46 00 00 3 Warehouses @ 80s each 12 00 00 3320 superficial ft wharf @ 30s p. 1000 ft . 4 19 5 19 Mills @ £6 each 114 00 00 10 Servts for life at 40s each 20 00 00 £4768.13.2 Trading Stock @ 6 pr cent. . . 268 2 4 242 Tuns of Shiping @ 3s pr tun 36 6 00 £3855.12.2 Money at Int @ 6 p et 231 6 8| 186 Horses @ 4s 9d 4436 252 Oxen at 4s 50 8 00 716 Cows @ 3s 6d 107 8 00 1315 Sheep &c @ 3d 16 8 9 59 Swine @ 12d 2 19 00 1040 Cow Pastures @ 12s 624 00 00 13765 bushels grain @ 8s 458 16 8 2736 barrels Cyder @ 3s 410 8 00 9164, Tuns English Hay @ 12s 549 18 00 945 " Meadow Hay @ 6s 283 10 00 £4791 13 4| 1763-75.] MANUFACTURES. 731 We must now consider the direct economic results of the changes in the political condition of the col- Economic onies. While the various manufactures devel- re5ults- oped steadily, it seems quite certain that they did not keep pace with the increasing capital of the country gained from other sources. The " News Letter " cited from a London writer showing that the export of British goods to America increased faster than the population.1 He stated that working braziers, cutlers, pewterers, even hatters, settling in the colonies, would soon drop the working part of their business, and import their goods from England. Burnaby 2 states that the rise of labor caused by the French war hindered manufactures in Massachusetts, especially in the linen industry. He says that all the colonies i n i „, Woollen were trying to make woollens, but not " to any mauutac- . . ture. degree of perfection." His critical opinion in this department was not worth much; he condemns the wool as coarse, and too short in staple, only seven inches. He did not know that this staple was better for carding and felting in the goods generally made in Massachusetts than the twenty - two inch Leicestershire wool which he commends. In 1766 3 Governor Moore reported for New York that there were two kinds of woollen made there ; " one coarse of all wool, the other Linsey woolsey of linen in the warp and wool in the woof." Nearly every house hold carded and spun, employing its own inmates, includ ing children. Then itinerant weavers wove the yarns on the household loom. The custom was the same in New England. After the troubles caused by the Stamp Act, we note a growing desire for American goods, with a con- ° ° , £ Colonial stant social pressure to encourage the use oi manufac- 11 /¦ i it tures- them, and the manufacture on a larger scale. In 1 Bos. News Letter, August 7, 1760. 2 Travels in N. A., pp. 137, 138. 8 Doc N. York, vii. 888. 732 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. 1766 "the Daughters of Liberty" had sessions all day long for spinning 1 in Providence. As one result of this movement, the president and first graduating class of Rhode Island College, at Commencement in 1769, were clothed in fabrics of American manufacture.2 In North- boro', Mass., forty-four women spun 2,223 knots yarn, and gave it to the soldiers.3 In 1767 one " small country town" of Massachusetts manufactured 30,000 yards of cloth, and Peter Etter & Sons, of Braintree, made wool len and worsted stockings and other hosiery, selling their product at wholesale.4 In 1768 Boston revived the old linen industry, and Brookfield started a woollen manufac tory, proposing " to keep a large number of looms con stantly at work." 5 Young ladies at Newbury6 imitated their sisters of Rhode Island in spinning. The towns generally 7 recommended " economy and manufactures." At Newport, R. I.,8 families made from 500 to 700 yards of cloth each in a year. Windham, Ct., moved in the same direction.9 A "blue-dyer" went from Boston to Norwich, and could dye cotton, tow, or linen in indigo. He had extraordinary versatility, — took " genteel board ers;" had a handsome chaise to let; and ladies' gauze caps, " flys," handkerchiefs, and aprons, " ready made in the newest taste," were to be found at his house.10 "North American manufactured mens and womens wear," including blue, black, claret broadcloth, was of fered for sale in Boston, or it would be received in ex change for English goods.11 Premiums were offered to 1 Arnold, R. I, ii. 266. 2 Ibid., ii. 299. 8 Essex Inst., xiv. 263. 4 Bos. Eve. Post, Nov. 2 and 23, 1767. 6 Ibid., Oct. 10, 1768. 6 Coffin, p. 234. 7 Butler, Groton, p. 116 ; Morse, Holliston, p. 329. 8 Bos. News. Let, Jan. 21, June 2, 1768. 9 Ibid., Feb. 11, 1768. w Caulkins, Norwich, p. 360. 11 Bos. Eve. Post, May 8, 1769 ; Bos. News Let, June 1, 1769 : Jan. 25, 1770. 1763-75.] SPINNING AND WEAVING. 733 encourage the growth of raw materials and their manu facture.1 One person had spun, chiefly by children, in six months, in Boston, 36,680 skeins of " fine worsted yarn, which will make about 7,320 yards of fine women's ap parel."2 Ebenezer Hurd, postrider to Saybrook, Ct., made in the year 1767, by the help of his wife and children, 500 yards linen and wooilen cloth, " the whole from wool and flax of his own raising." 3 The senior class of 1768 at Cambridge were much commended for agreeing to graduate " dressed altogether in the manufac tures of this country." 4 Mr. Henry Lloyd, of Charles town,5 had his clothes, linen, shoes, stocking, boots, gloves, hat, " wig and wig call," all of New England man ufacture. It is very interesting to the modern reader to study the arrangement and the methods of a worsted mill,6 as pro jected in those days. The production of textile fabrics was stimulated in every way. The ladies' meetings for patriotic spinning were continued. In 1771 as many as seventy linen wheels were employed at one gathering.7 Clothiers' shears8 were made here, and it was claimed that they were superior to those imported. Woollen and worsted weavers came from England, and followed their vocation in the "manufactory house"9 at Boston.10 Gloves, a necessary adjunct of funerals, were made at home. William Pool, of Danvers, advertised them es pecially for " friends to America." 1 Bos. News Let, Feb. 18, 1768 ; July 27, 1769 ; Oct. 5, 1769 ; May 10, 1770. 2 Bos. News Letter, Dec. 28, 1769. 8 Mag. Am. Hist, ii. 123. 4 Bos. News Let, Jan. 7, 1768. 6 Frothingham, p. 283. 6 See Appendix G. ' Bos. News Letter, June 20, 1771. 8 Bos. Eve. Post, Oct. 7, 1771. 9 See account of this factory-house in Bishop's Hist Manufactures, i. 375, 376. 10 Mass. Arch., clxxx. 181. 734 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. Potash, which was made about 1753,1 was now an article of some consequence. Kettles, cast from Salisbury iron ore, were sold for the manufacture.2 It was claimed in 1771 that over thirty tons were often made in a single kettle before it was worn out. Potash was applied to soap-mak ing: in Boston in 1767.3 American steel is advertised in 1774, " Equal to German," and suitable for edged tools.4 The production of metal buttons 6 at Boston, and of cop peras and other chemicals at Brookfield,6 are noticed in 1775. Powder mills spring from the atmosphere of the time, at Stoughton, Andover, and Bradford. The manufacture of iron was virtually checked but not Effect on entirely suspended by the parliamentary prohi- iron- bition of our last period. Some trip-hammers were set in motion. The slitting-mill 7 in Milton, Mass., was advertised for sale in 1765. A new mill 8 of the same character was erected in Dorchester in 1769. The busi ness was not profitable, and was continued only a short time. An " iron factory " was started a little after 1771 in the Kennebec district.9 Of more importance was the noted Salisbury furnace in Connecticut, begun in 1762 and rebuilt in 1770.10 The products of the Salisbury mines, especially the " charcoal coal-blast iron," were long regarded as the best in the United States. We shall see the iron playing an important part in the ordnance of the Revolutionary armies. In the various manufactures I note a paper-mill at Mil ton, Mass.,11 and two at Dorchester.12 The latter place 13 1 See above, p. 686. 2 Bos. Eve. Post, Nov. 18, 1771. s Felt, An. Salem, ii. 174. * Bos. Eve. Post, Sept. 26, 1774. 6 Mass. Arch., clxxx. 117. 6 Ibid., clxxx. 238. 7 Bos. Eve. Post, May 27, 1765. 8 Hist. Dorchester, p. 623. 9 Bourne, Wells and Kennebunk. 10 Trumbull, Conn., ii. 109 ; Bishop, Hist. Manufactures, i. 512. 11 Bos. Eve. Post, Sept. 8, 1760 ; Mass. Arch., xxv. 330. 12 Hist. Dorchester, p. 623. 18 Ibid., pp. 602, 627, 635. 1763-75.] AGRICULTURE. 735 was active in its industries, and included a snuff-mill and one or more chocolate mills, which began in 1765. John Hamran, from Ireland, made the first chocolate in New England. Pottery of superior quality was made in New Boston,1 and " cordial spirits," like orange - water, etc., were distilled at Newbury.2 The making of women's shoes, previously noticed, continued and increased at Lynn.3 Abel Buel, a goldsmith at Killingworth, Ct., made good type in 1769. Several fonts of this were in practical use. He was a self-taught mechanic, and an illustration of the power and adaptability shown in New England in meet ing the absolute needs of the time.4 In agriculture the changes were few. In 1762 the pio neers found that they could plant corn among the stumps and half- burned logs of cleared fields without plowing. The virgin soil responded buoyantly, and the process was very successful.5 " Heardsgrass " or timothy was coming into general use. The sowing of it is remarked at Dorchester in 1771.6 The first buck wheat was raised for animals.7 The attempt to revive the growing of wheat in Massa chusetts was continued, and the bounty increased to 8c?. per bu. in 1763.8 The harvest at Hartford, Ct., was re markably good in 1768.9 A little hemp was imported from London to Boston in 1762. The governor in his speech in 1765 advised the production of potash and hemp, with the transport of lumber to England, as the best industries for the colonies.10 This opinion was partly political and partly economic. " To the honor of Pomona," one Hingham apple-tree 1 Bos. Eve. Post, Oct. 30, 1769. 2 Mass. Arch., cxx. 393. 8 Newhall, p. 334. 4 Thomas, Hist. Printing, i. 27. 6 Belknap, N. H., iii. 137. 6 Hist. Dorchester, p. 362. 7 Judd, Hadley, p. 364. 8 Mass. Arch., i. 381. 9 Bos. News Let, Aug. 18, 1768. 10 Mass. Arch., lvi. 404 ; ex. 192. 736 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. showered down 87 bushels of apples, " in number 28,295 choice fruit." 1 The patient industry, minute skill, and resource of judg ment in these New England farmers has been the theme of many thoughtful men ; it can never be over-estimated or praised. Occasionally we get a concrete illustration of these lives of cheerful toil and steadfast devotion to duty. In 1774 James Burnam, of Norwich, Ct., brought into the village market a sledload of wood, making 2,500 loads in twenty years. All but 50 loads from his own land, and the greater part was cut by himself.2 This work was done without breaking a wheel or sled, bruis ing a finger, or injuring a single ox or horse. The whole sales amounted to £820. He had also subdued and fenced two acres of land in 500 days of his own labor. The currency underwent but little change in this period. Massachusetts had much the better system and The cur- ner tra(le profited by it. Connecticut had main- rency. tained her paper money fairly, and had raised liberal taxes during the French War, when her farmers were selling produce at high prices and could afford the taxes. Rhode Island had a very poor currency. Massachusetts had not dispensed entirely with paper money. She paid interest on treasury notes in 1762 and renewed them in 1765. Paper to the amount of £157,000 fell due in 1767, and there was a party still clamoring to make paper a legal tender.3 Though trade was embarrassed by the resistance to Stamp Acts and by the non-importation movements, yet Massachusetts was prosperous, especially in 1771-74, the years just preceding the Revolution. Hutchinson, the most competent observer in economic matters,4 affirmed 1 Bos. News Let, Jan. 6, 1763. 2 Caulkins, Norwich, p. 359. 8 Felt, Mass. Currency, pp. 150, 154, 156, 158. 4 See the excellent observations on currency in Governor Bernard's Letters on Trade, pp. 50, 51. 1763-75.] PAPER CURRENCY AGAIN. 737 this, and with reason. He attributed the prosperity to the specie circulating in the " silver money colony." Massachusetts was drawiug specie from her neighbors, and from Jamaica, Spain, and Portugal.1 Massachusetts had refused the bills of New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island ; in 1772 she proscribed those of New York, New Jersey, and Nova Scotia,2 also. ' Rhode Island3 was struggling with her wretched load. She sunk her old tenor in 1770.4 But now, in 1775, Massachusetts opened her pocket, as well as her heart, to the armed freemen of Connecticut and Rhode Island hurrying to her aid after the assault at Lexington. An act then sanctioned, in terms quite pathetic, the circu lation of the paper of the poorer colonies. This was quickly followed by an issue of her own bills for £100,000 to meet " the exigencies." 5 Rhode Island 6 began her Revolutionary issues by £20,000, followed soon by £10,000 more. Lotteries "' were as popular as ever, and many schemes both public and private, were promoted by the sale of tickets in these ventures. Some twenty-seven were granted by Rhode Island in five years. Losses by fire and through foreign privateers were recompensed by this means. Harvard College received a benefit in 1773. The general condition of the roads was improved and improving about this period. The rapid rally of the militia in 1775 to Cambridge, from all parts of Massachusetts and from Connecticut and Rhode Island ; their subsistence there largely by voluntary con- 1 Hutchinson, Mass., iii. 350. 2 See Haliburton, Nova Scotia, p. 261, for a curious currency of furs and other merchandise based on beaver at 5s. per lb. 8 See detailed accounts, R. I. C. R., vi. 328, 407. * R. I. C. R., vii. 24. B Mass. Arch., cxxxviii. 188. 6 R. I. C. R., vii. 321, 353. 7 Bos. News Let, April 4, June 12, 1760 ; April 22, 1773 ; N. Hamp. H. C, iii. 743 ; R. I. C. R., vii. 250, 263, 271, 635. 738 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. tributions of provisions, — all shows that communication was easier and more certain. In New Hampshire a ox teams were still used for family travelling as well as for hauling loads. In winter, sleds were often drawn by hand. But from Portsmouth along the shore to Boston a stage communication was opened in 1761 by John Stavers.2 His " curricle " on two wheels, drawn by two horses, and carrying three persons, laid over Monday night at Ipswich, passed through Salem, and arrived at Charlestown ferry next day. On Thurs days and Fridays it made the return trip ; fares 13s. 6d. The trotting - horse has incorporated itself so thor oughly in American civilisation that it is interesting to notice the first dates when its gait was appreciated. About 1770 3 they began in eastern Massachusetts to trot with the natural step. Previously they had trained for an artificial "pace," strapping the right and left feet together on either side. This is another indication that roads were better, and that vehicles were becoming more common as the exclusive training of horses for the saddle was going out. The mail went eastward from Portsmouth about 1760, and by 1775 our present Maine had three post-offices.4 Governor Hutchinson in 1770 6 recommended the con struction of a road to Quebec, or from the Kennebec River to the Chaudiere. If made, it would have saved the poor patriots of the Canadian expedition in 1775 from much weary toil. Newspapers were delivered by carriers on the main routes of travel. In 1774 " Silent Wilde," 6 whose name i N. H. H. C, iii. 190. 2 Adams, Portsmouth, p. 204 ; Newhall, Lynn, p. 333. 8 Felt, Ipswich, p. 31. 4 Willis, Portland, pp. 584, 585. s MasSm Arch-) CXi 363i 6 Bos. News Let, May 5, 1774. 1763-75.] SOCIAL CHANGES. 739 in no wise harmonised with his vocation as " news-carrier," performed this office from Boston, through Lancaster, " Rutland &c. to Northampton, Deerfield &c," collecting one dollar half-yearly for his service. The customs in daily life have changed little since our descriptions of 1740. The ladies and gentlemen of Bos ton are not unlike those described by Bennett, while the manners of the seaports affect the in terior districts more and more. Social distinctions in rank were yielding somewhat. I have remarked that the elaborate arrangement and seating of the congrega tion in the meeting-houses was given up. It is note- v worthy that the cataloguing of students according to so cial condition was abandoned at Yale College in 1768, and at Harvard in 1773. Among the lower classes the standard of both manners and morals was not advancing. The literary hero of this sort of people was Timothy Dexter, of Newbury, who made his mark on the social history of the period. He hated the " lamed " people, and was offended that the town had been divided through their influence, which he bewails thus : " Fite thay wood ; in Law they went to the Jinrel Cort to be sot of, finely they got there Eands Answered, the see pert caled Newburyport, 600 Eakers of Land out of 30,000 Eakers of good land, so much for mad, people of Laming." 1 " Bundling," certainly an unpuritan custom, had crept in, and was extensively practised in Connecticut and western Massachusetts.2 Possibly it was not as immoral as this age would think, but from any point of view it revealed a very coarse taste. Jonathan Edwards raised his powerful voice against it. Marriages were contracted in early years, the brides often being only fifteen or sixteen years old. Many in- i Coffin, Newbury, p. 229. 2 Stiles, Windsor, p. 495 ; Judd, Hadley, p. 247. 740 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. cidents show coarse yet innocent manners.1 An amusing „ . A case of love at first sight occurred at Hopkin- Meeting and ° . courtship. toD) ]vf_ jj_ ln those rural districts, religious ex ercises mingled all the excitements of this world and the next, as they existed in the imagination of the swains and damsels, who flocked to the meeting. An occasional or extraordinary meeting was even more attractive, and an ordination was a most exciting occasion. A youth, los ing sight of the preachers and dropping the threads of the ponderous discourses, had fastened eye and mind on an unknown damsel, whose beauty ravished every sense throughout his uncouth being. Text and prayer, hymn and sermon, passed over him, until at last the congrega tion broke up. In his agony, he rushed through the crowd, seized the maiden in his arms, crying out, " Now I have got ye, you jade, I have, I have ! " 2 And from this rude beginning of intercourse a marriage followed. About this time the men and women began to sit to gether in the meeting-house.3 The rigid observance of Sunday was still enforced in Connecticut. A party of youths and maidens in Norwich were arraigned in that they did, on " Lord's Day evening, meet and convene to gether, and walk in the street in company, upon no reli gious occasion." The economy enforced to avoid importations from Great Britain brought in sensible changes in the management of funerals and their attendant ceremonies.4 The full suits of black worn by all the connections were dispensed with, bands of crape for gentlemen and black ribbons for ladies being substituted. The gloves, formerly distrib uted generally, were now only presented to the " pall- holders." 5 I mentioned that so kind-hearted a man as 1 Burnaby, Travels in N. A., p. 141. 2 N. Hamp. H. C, iii. 191. s Judd, Hadley, p. 320. 4 Adams, Portsmouth, p. 247 ; Drake, Roxbury, p. 98. 6 Diary of Gov. Hutchinson,, p. 350. 1763-75.] FESTIVITIES AND GAYET1ES. 741 Sewall evidently accounted his rings gained at funerals as merchandise coming in and to be husbanded. A curious illustration of this way of thinking is in the language of Abigail Ropes's will,1 in 1775. She gives her grandson " a gold ring that I made at his father's death." Another, " a gold ring made when my bro. Wm. Pickman died." In the dearth of amusement and natural social excite ment, any novel incident furnished occasion for SodaI gatb. large gatherings of people. A commission ap- ermgs- pointed to adjust a dispute concerning an individual's lands in New London 2 was followed to the scene by forty mounted men. This cortege, growing as it went, found a concourse of people on the ground, and the farmhouses near overflowed with guests. Common gayety and mirth, repressed in every-day life, burst forth on these occasions. We noticed an accidental courtship at an ordination; sometimes an " ordination ball " 3 wound up the festivities at the settling of a minister. If the sermons were long, the jollities were serious. A " Drum or Rout " in Boston broke into the Sabbath at 2 A. M.4 At a wedding dance in Norwich more elaborate than usual, with 92 guests, there were recorded 92 jigs, 52 contra dances, 45 minuets, 17 hornpipes. The practice of stealing the bride, previously described, was continued in western Massachusetts until after the Revolution.5 Tripe suppers and " turtle frolicks " were in vogue, the latter in Newport especially. Dr. Solomon Drowne notes one there in his interesting journal.6 And the beautiful gar dens at Newport interested him, with their oranges, lemons, pineapples, and exotic flowers introduced from the West Indies. The Jews were of importance commer cially and socially at Newport, the rules of their social club being noteworthy. No talk concerning affairs of the 1 Essex Inst, vii. 34. 2 Caulkins, p. 326. 8 Caulkins, Norwich, p. 332. 4 Proc. M. H. S. 1864, p. 323. 6 Judd, Hadley, p. 245. 6 Newport Hist. Mag., i. 67. 742 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION [1763-75. synagogue was allowed.1 If members should be unruly, " swear or offer to fight," they were fined ; some penalties exacted four bottles of wine. They must have been sober drinkers, or the remedial forfeits would have aggravated the offences. Notwithstanding these social pleasantries, Rhode Island could not admit theatrical entertainments, and fined them £50 each in 1762.2 Though this century differed much) in culture from the ways of the first settlers, the habits of the earlier gener ations were not all changed. The reading of Scripture kept its place in the life of most well- disposed people. Robert Hale, of Beverly, records in his diary 3 his 134th reading of the Bible. But the new hab its of thinking showed themselves more in the formation of clubs and " social libraries." I have alluded to this kind of society at Newport. Salem 4 was represented and afterwards Hingham6 in these institutions. Scientific lectures were instituted at Salem, and the same had been carried on at Newport. Burnaby bestows faint praise on Harvard College, yet he approves it : " not upon a per fect plan, yet it has produced a very good effect." 6 In dress gentlemen were gradually becoming more sober, while the ladies were moving in the opposite direc- Dressand tl0n5 an£i arraying themselves in more luxurious fashions. an(j varje(j apparel,7 before the enforced econ omy began. Men still wore more or less silk, with gold or silver lace, and embroidered waistcoats for full dress. But the more substantial cloth coat with high collar was coming in ; knee breeches and stockings remained. Full ruffles were worn at the shirt front. The hair was craped, curled, and powdered when wigs were not worn. 1 Newport Hist Mag., iv. 58. 2 R. I. C. R. vi. 325. 8 MS. in Am. Ant. Soe. 4 Felt, ii. 31, 38. 6 Lincoln, Hingham, p. 13. 8 Burnaby, Travels N. A., p. 141. 7 Caulkius, Norwich, pp. 334, 337 ; Essex Inst., vii. 34 ; Hawthorne, Amer. Note Books, p. 277. 1763-75.] GOWNS, CALASHES, PARASOLS. 743 The belles attached long trains to their gowns of rich brocade ; the skirt opened in front, was trimmed, and sometimes there was an embroidered stomacher. Almost all ladies, old and young, had ruffles at the elbow. In walking, the belles threw their trains over the arm, dis playing dainty silk stockings, sharp-toed slippers, often of embroidered satin and with high heels. Out of doors, clogs were added. Old ladies had the gown of brocade, but in sober colors ; a nice lawn handkerchief and apron ; close cap of linen or lawn edged with lace ; black mittens ; hood of velvet or of silk. Sometimes the hair was dressed over a silk cushion stuffed with wool. This artificial enlargement in the top story of our lovely charmers involved a strange and un natural head-gear called a calash, of silk, ribbed, round and enormous, bulging in the wind like a yacht's spin naker. It swayed and bobbed like a balloon as the lady moved. The inherent beauty of the sex is the only power conceivable that could give grace and symmetry to many of the hideous fashions time and caprice have laid upon their wearers. Parasols or umbrellas were " unknown or rare " in Norwich, Ct., about 1775. Immense fans were carried there, for sunshades as well as for flirting — - the air. But " umbrilloes " 1 were made and used in Boston in 1768, the frames of mahogany, " Persian compleat at £6.10 and in proportion for better silk." Ladies, also, bought the sticks and frames and covered them for themselves. All these were doubtless used as parasols. Runaway slaves or servants 2 bring down the costume of the poorer people. An Irish servant, a weaver, SerTant8> wore jacket and coat of serge, breeches of pur- costmne- pie serge, linen shirt purple and white worsted stockings, 1 Bos. Eve Post, June 6, 1768. 2 Bos. News Let, Sept. 14, 1769 ; Bos. Eve. Post, July 18, 1774 ; Bailey, Andover, p. 41. 744 STAMP ACT AND REBELLION. [1763-75. and a beaver hat. A negress went in a striped homespun gown, " ozenbrigs " apron, and old camlet coat. A negro wore a blue serge coat, flowered flannel jacket, and leather breeches. In evidence that feminine dress was becoming more elaborate and costly, we may cite the wardrobe of a board ing-school miss at Boston. General Huntington's daugh ters were sent up from Norwich to be " finished," as the custom was, and they went into the best society. The outfit of one comprised twelve silk gowns, but her chap eron wrote for another of a " recently imported rich fab ric," which was procured that her appearance might corre spond with " her rank." But the women of New England were now turning their thoughts to things other than gowns by the dozen, whether silk or homespun. The town communities, those mutual associations with common aims, had worked their way by economic living, under the inspiration of common religious faith, into political organisms which were fast forming a national life, and developing the whole power of a state. The women did their full part in making this Women sus- .. . „ ,.,..,. . «... tam the re- lite, and in building up these masterful citizens for their conflict with King George in their struggle for independence. On the 19th of April, 1775, the brave but ill-organised militia at Lexington were sim ply murdered in the first shock of the British attack. A few hours later the " embattled farmers " at Concord met death with death, and organised war was begun. Isaac Davis, captain of the minute-men of Acton, was the first victim in the Concord fight. Thirty years old, father of four children, he had parted from his wife three hours be fore his death with the words, " Take good care of the children ! " CHAPTER XIX. THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. 1760-1775. The French War stimulated commerce, especially that portion of it carried on through illicit channels. The French islands in the West Indies needed intercourse with the northern countries — New England above all — for that natural interchange of commodities which nour ished the complementary districts. Some communication was allowed for exchange of prisoners and goods made le gitimate by the Navigation and Sugar Acts. Under cover of this regular commerce, many of the colonial . Contraband governors issued permits, which were stretched to French i i i • t • -ni West Indies. beyond their proper limits. Rhode Island was the most implicated, and was sharply rebuked by Pitt.1 All this was only the inevitable intercourse and ex change which the economic necessity of a people must and will have. The fierce will of the great Pitt could control armies, and incite them to wondrous feats in beating down the opponents of England in all parts of the world. He could not master a crowd of hungry stomachs ; nor could he check the silent movements of natural products back and forth, by the currents streaming in and out of the warm southern and the cooler northern seas. The Frenchman, Du Chatelet, told his government that " the wants of trade are stronger than the laws (i. e. political statutes) of trade." The great whale fishery was the branch of navigation immediately and most affected by the opening of the i R. I. C. R., vi. 263. 746 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. Straits of Belle Isle, the St. Lawrence, and other waters previously dominated by the French. Louis Whale-fish- ingstimu- XIV., notwithstanding great care and effort, had hardly been able to possess himself of the finny monsters swarming in those cold waters. The Nan tucket burghers had more skill in fishing if they had not imperial power. They did not wait for the formal assent of the Treaty of Paris. The guns and musketry of Wolfe were summons enough and warrant sufficient for the hardy harpooners of the New England seaports. In 1761 Massachusetts sent up 10 vessels of 70 to 90 tons bur den ; in 1762, 50 vessels ; in 1763, 80 vessels or more.1 The quantity of oil imported into London was 3,245 tons 2 hogsheads 28 gallons in 1759, and it increased to 5,030 tons 0 hogsheads 12 gallons in 1763.2 Of this amount nearly three fifths belonged to " owners of America." In the petition to the Lords of the Treasury cited above for the number of vessels, it is stated that 40 tons of bone or " whale fin " was sent into London in 1761 and 1762, which paid a duty of £31 10s. per ton. They asked relief from the duty, especially as the price of Dutch bone had been reduced from £500 to £350 per ton since the devel opment of the English and American fisheries. We shall soon see Grenville, the British minister, be coming the disturber of American society by the imposi tion of the Stamp Act. But in doing this in 1764 he in directly encouraged our whale fishery. He abolished the bounties paid to British fishermen, and relieved their American competitors from the discriminating duty, ex cepting an old subsidy of less than one per cent. Under the new impulse the pursuit was extended. New New ports Bedford entered it about 1760 ; Warren, R. I., engage in it. jQ -^gg . ^ ^wnfe^ m 17gg_ Jn ^ ^^ year Nantucket maintained 80 sail, and there were prob ably fully as many more , from Cape Cod, Dartmouth, 1 Mass. Arch., Ixvi. 243. 2 Ibid., Ixvi. 247. 1760-75.] THE WHALE FISHERY. 74T Falmouth, Boston, Providence, Warren, and Newport.1 But in 1768 a Boston writer bewails the neglect of this " beneficial branch of trade in this province." 2 The same authority mentions particularly the fitting out of a sloop by Murray and Franklin. The range of waters voyaged over extended as the busi ness increased. Mr. Macy gives the dates when the new and more remote fishing grounds were opened up by the Nantucket fishermen as follows : 3 Davis's Straits in 1746 ; Island of Disco, at the mouth of Baffin's Bay, in 1751 ; Gulf of St. Lawrence, as above stated, in 1761 ; coast of Guinea in 1765 ; eastward from the Banks of Newfound land in 1765 ; coast of Brazil in 1774. Some of these periods do not agree with scattered facts as we have them in other authorities. Spermaceti oil, " melted on the Banks, and called white Bank Oil," also oil " melted on the shore," was advertised in Boston in 1760.4 The coasts of Guinea and of Brazil are mentioned as good fishing grounds in 1754.5 The cruisers to the Western Islands made successful voyages at this time.6 In Nantucket and the ports best organised for the pur suit, the business was now a manufacturing exchange as well as a fishing voyage. Owners in the vessels were often officers, or held the more responsible posts among the crews. On shore, the owners or members of their house hold were engaged as coopers, blacksmiths, carpenters, ropemakers, or in kindred work. The stores for an outfit were chiefly produced at home. If the voyage yielded only moderate returns, it afforded a fair exchange for labor. 1 Starbuck, Whale Fishery, pp. 43, 49. 2 Bos. News Let, April 28, 1768. 8 Macy, Nantucket, p. 54. 4 Bos. Eve. Post, Dec. 29, 1760. 6 See 1 M. H. C, iii., iv. 161 ; also Macy, Nantucket, pp. 54, 72, details of catch and prices for many years. 6 Bos. Eve Post, Aug. 24, 1767 ; Bos. News Let, Aug. 10, 1769. 748 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. Almost all the ports from Boston around to Connecti cut ventured more or less in this fascinating enterprise. Connecticut stimulated the business by freeing both cod and whale fishermen from taxes.1 Three vessels were fitted from Middletown with poor success.2 Nantucket was the main centre, and in 1775 had more than 150 ves sels, of 15,000 tons, afloat ; these included some large brigs.3 Eight vessels were constantly bringing the neces sary supplies into Nantucket. The men of the New World, of New England chiefly, in their hazardous ventures, had now carried this land excels bold industry far beyond all possible effort of all others. mi • Hmropeans. Ihe sagacious management, the courage and solid audacity, of these fishermen, drew from Edmund Burke a fine tribute to the splendor of their achievement : " Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sa gacity of English enterprise, ever carried this most per- illous mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent People." This productive business was never a more important relative factor in the whole commerce of the country than in these years, 1774-75, when the Boston Port Bill took effect iu restraining the energies of our colonies. The amount directly involved was not very large, but it in cluded most desirable articles of merchandise, which stim ulated the whole current of commerce through their pos session and exchange. The estimated quantities produced by the fishery were 45,000 barrels of sperm, 8,500 barrels of right whale oil, and 75,000 pounds of bone.4 In preparing to resist the mother country, Massachu setts 5 was obliged to forbid all free sailing of vessels on 1 Conn. Arch., Maritime Aff, i. 93. 2 Starbuck, Whale Fishery, p. 42. 8 Macy, Nantucket, p. 68 ; Pitkin's Statistics, pp. 89, 90. 4 Starbuck, Whale Fishery, p. 57. 6 Mass. Arch., cxxxviii. 217 ; elvii. 17, 33, 92. 1760-75.] COD GREATER THAN WHALE. 749 whaling voyages. Then the Council gave permits for those who dared to attempt voyages under the changed conditions and risks. Bonds were given that all oil and bone should be brought back and landed in Mas sachusetts. This restriction would deprive an article of export of its chief value when the home country was at war. Under these limitations, the venturesome merchants and gallant fishermen of Nantucket 1 moored their return ing vessels, stripped them to their masts, and waited for the dark commercial horizon to lift its overshadowing clouds. They occupied themselves in the common and in ferior work of catching cod and mackerel in the nearer waters. The scarcity and high prices of salt took away the profits here. They tried making salt from the Atlan tic sea-water, but the fogs around their island gave them a too infrequent sunlight. As the war developed, West India produce became dear, and the whalemen engaged in this commerce. With salt at $2 to $4 per bushel, and molasses at $1 per gallon, it was necessary to follow the spouting leviathan through far-away seas for a profitable return. This resource failed, as the British occupying New York and Newport sent out small privateers, and soon stopped or hampered this commerce. Picturesque and fascinating as the immense leviathan and his captors were, the homely cod and the hook-and- line men were more vitally important in either the household or commercial economy of New England.2 Massachusetts found itself in new difficulties, as soon as hostilities broke out, through the working of the fisheries. She allowed the export of " Jamaica fish " in particular instances, the Committees of Safety overlook ing that " no other provisions " should be exported.3 This was the inferior fish fit for negro consumption. 1 Macy, pp. 80, 83. 2 See Pitkin, Statistics, p. 83, for detailed figures. 8 Mass. Arch., cxxxviii. 164. 750 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. The renewal and increase of the sugar duties in 1764 was a sore trial for the cod and mackerel fishermen. The easy exchange of the products of cold Northern waters for the rich products and delicacies of Southern climes and teeming lands had become so natural and essential that the colonial subjects were aghast when it was checked or even constrained. The cod-fishery was the main element in this wholesome trade. We can see the relative importance of the West Indian demand, sup plied as it was- by the inferior qualities not desired in the home market or for export to Europe. In 1763 Massa chusetts 1 took, in 300 vessels, 102,265 quintals merchant- vamesof able cod at 12s-> value .£61,359.0; and 137,794 catch. quintals unmerchantable or " West India Cod " at 9s., value £62,007.6. Her 90 mackerel vessels took 18,000 bbls., at 18s. value £16,200. She sent out in " shad, alewives, and other pickled fish " 10,000 bbls., at 10s., value £5,000. The poorer part was larger in quan tity and value than the best portion. Without a free ex change of the poorer part for the sugar and molasses of the West Indies, they could not push the business of ex porting the good grades to Europe.2 In 1764 New Eng land employed 45,880 tons of shipping and 6,002 men in fishing.3 There are cod and cod ; shoals of one sort feed near rocks and ledges, while others swarm over the Newfound land Banks. But the highest of all the grades in market was the " dun fish," most esteemed in southern Europe, where the shrunken Lenten ascetics ought to know the characteristics of fish. It was generally caught in the winter months, and in the open sea, far from shore. It was not fit for use until August, having undergone a fer mentation which changed its color, especially the back, and gave its distinctive name.4 1 1 M. H . C, vii. and viii. p. 202. 2 See Felt, Salem, ii. 220,221. 8 Starbuck, Whale Fishery, p. 59, from English An. Register. * Adams, Portsmouth, p. £60. 1760-75.] THE WAY OF COD-FISHING. 751 This fermentation, according to some accounts,1 was produced artificially in curing. The " Spring fare " of large and thick fish, split and salted on ship- Meti,0(ja of board, were rinsed in salt water on land, then teUD«- spread and dried on the " flakes " of boards or hurdles, raised three or four feet from the ground. In wet or damp weather the fish were housed, for they must never touch water after curing commenced. After drying, the largest and finest fish were kept alternately above and under ground until they " became so mellow as to be denominated dun fish." The heads were generally thrown away at sea, or fed to hogs on shore. Sounds and tongues were pickled in small kegs. The oil expressed from the livers — now a valuable tonic medicine — was then used in currying leather. The craft of this period were generally schooners 2 of 20 to 50 tons. Each crew consisted of six or seven men and one or two boys. A good catch was 500 or 600 quintals stored in bulk.3 They made three trips to the Banks in the season lasting through spring and summer. Fishing near the shores was done in boats, which re turned home at night. But the business had concentrated more and more at Canso. Between the French War and the Revolution, it was active and profitable. There was a steady export of provisions in exchange for fish from Boston 4 to the ports on the northeastern coast. The quantity of alewives, etc., cited above, shows that the river fisheries were of some consequence. All the interior districts protected the rivers by carefully regu lating the fishing on their banks.5 More interesting to l Belknap, N Hampshire, iii. 213. 2 Ibid., pp. 214, 215. 8 Gloucester had 80 fishing vessels in 1775 (Babson, pp. 382, 383). One vessel made two trips to the Banks, taking 550 quintals, which sold for £302. 4 Mass. Arch., Ixvi. 431. 6 Town Pap. N. H., ix. 426 ; Hist Framingham, p. 61 ; R. I. C. R., vi. 573. 752 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. the modern palate is the history of the oyster, uncouth and rough on the exterior, but succulent and delicious within. Rhode Island began to fear his extinction as early as 1766, and passed an act to prevent " dragging." l In 1774 enterprising cultivators began to "plant" the bivalves at Wellfleet, on Cape Cod.2 In the above list of vessels and values of fish, the grow ing pursuit of the mackerel appears. In 1770 more than 30 vessels fitted from the one port of Scituate 3 Mackerel. ^ ^ Q]d Col(my> The Ind;an testified to his luscious relish for the juicy fatness of this dainty fish by melting a flood of syllables into the name Wawunneke- seae;. But civilisation drove the mackerel farther and farther from the shores. The romance of the old-time fishing — the seine-haul by moonlight, when the silvery creatures, barred and striped in blue, tumbled in the nets as they were lifted through sparkling water into the moonbeams — was generally abandoned about 1776. The smacks then sailed slowly and steadily through the schools of fish " drailing " long lines and baited hooks. The nim ble fish were capricious, and often played with these tempt ing frauds, though in wet and cloudy weather they would bite greedily. The whale and other fisheries — important in them selves — constituted only partial factors in the great cur rent of foreign commerce, now to be interrupted Wealth must -it -iii i t -i • • nowbede- and disturbed by the startling: administrative fended. /• i t> • • , t •, changes of the British government. Liberty, freedom, self-government — as we have seen — soon be came the controlling influence in the daily life of the American people. Trade, commerce, the getting of gain through generations of peaceful intercourse, were the positive goods and possessions which the new-developing citizen would defend and would possess in his own right. 1 R. I. C. R., vi. 508. 2 Freeman, p. 399. 8 Deane, p. 22. 1760-75.] RESULTS OF THE SUGAR ACT. 753 The irregular commerce of dependent colonists had grown into the solid possessions of wealthy proprietors, when Grenville and his fellow-ministers attempted to embar rass them by new modes of taxation. The renewal and the new enforcement of the Sugar Act in 1764 was the most powerful cause in exciting Tne Sugax the discontent of the colonies. The old Act of Act- 1733 had levied 6d. per gallon on all molasses imported from ports other than British. The chief import into New England was from the French and Spanish islands of the West Indies. This duty, if collected, would have been prohibitive. It was simply evaded ; hence sugar and molasses came in freely. The new duty was 3d., and the colonists knew that it was to be actually collected. The prohibition of the exports of lumber 1 to ports other than English, in 1765, was a heavy blow to commerce. But the Sugar Act cut off commerce at its sources. It is true that the Stamp Act was more dramatic, and that it concentrated against itself a more direct and posi tive resistance. It brought the heavy hand of the royal tax-gatherer into every shop and every home ; it was the symbol of loss of personal freedom and political degrada tion, as the colonists conceived it. But the Sugar Act^ swept away the foundations of trade, and threatened the j whole economic structure of New England. Whatever we may think of Francis Bernard's character as a man, or of his achievements in the effort to rule Mas sachusetts in those troublous times, he gave the ... ., Governor British colonial administrators some excellent Bernard's . . . . , . , -, wise advice. lessons on the economic situation as it existed. Certainly he was not prejudiced toward colonial interests or views. In his " Letters on Trade," he shows the au thorities at home what would be the assured result of se vere taxation. He advises l\d. per gallon on molasses as the rate which would yield most revenue. The utmost 1 Mass. Arch., lix. 502. 754 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. he would recommend was 2d. He sees that the current of trade had formed permanent channels which neither leg islation nor the power of empires could control. " There has been an indulgence time out of mind allowed in a trifling but necessary article ; I mean the permitting Lis bon Lemons, and Wine in small quantities, to pass as ships' stores." 1 The wines and fruits of Portugal,2 Madeira, and the Western Islands were chiefly consumed here, and these articles of import, trifling in themselves, helped the out flow of fish, timber, and home-built ships. But much larger in effect was the " well-known indulgence " in the Molasses Act, which had " never been duly executed." In fact, in the year 1763, 15,000 hhds. of molasses came into Massachusetts, all excepting 500 hhds. from ports which were not British. The value of this molasses, as sold by the merchants at an average of Is. 4d. per gallon, was £100,000. The import was paid for in fish and lum ber, or by values created by the home industries, while the £100,000 finally went to Great Britain to purchase her wares. Bernard well argues the economic question. " It is really a contest between The West Indies and Great Britain ; for in the latter will the profit and loss arising from the result of this question be determined." 3 Franklin placed the discussion on yet broader founda^ tions when he told Parliament it mattered not to Eng land whether the same property was acquired by an Eng lishman living in an American colony, or in an English county. Collateral figures 4 show that Governor Bernard was correct in claiming that Great Britain gained more than 1 Gov. Bernard, Letter* on Trade, p. 2. 2 According to the report of Brit. MS. Commission for 1872, the Lansdowne MSS., v. 25, 135, have an account of the trade between Portugal and New England. 3 Letters on Trade, p. 7. 4 Bos. News Letter, August 7, 1760. 1760-75.] THE TRUE BRITISH GAIN. 755 the West Indies by this interchanging commerce with the "Northern Colonies" (i. e. New England chiefly). Be tween two periods of five years each, 1744-1748 and 1754- 1758, the increase of exports from Great Britain to the West Indies was £404,504.2.1, while to the Northern colonies it was £3,927,789.3.1. In the one case the in crease was about 12 per cent., in the other it was about 112 per cent. This was in the full tide of the French War, when commerce was certainly profitable. An accomplished English traveller, Burnaby, was greatly impressed with the general comfort of America, where no one begged. But he made one of those rash prophecies which tempt superficial observers : " America is formed for happiness, but not for empire. I saw in- Bumaby.s superable causes of weakness which will necessa- report- rily prevent its being a potent state." 1 Burnaby 2 visited Massachusetts in 1759-60. He represents Massachusetts as suffering then from the effects of the French War in heavy taxation. Paper money had injured her trade, not only with " Connecticut, but other parts of the continent." Fisheries had declined, and the foreign demand for ships had fallen, because the quality had deteriorated. Yet it was a " rich, populous, and well-cultivated province." He gives the routine of the domestic and foreign com merce of Rhode Island at the same time. This colony produced only rum for Africa ; flaxseed, oil, and a few home-built ships for Europe ; lumber, cheese, a little grain, and horses for the West Indies. But through their ex changeable goods of various kinds they levied considerably on Connecticut and the other colonies for provisions and other articles of export. Spermaceti candles were manu factured there freely. The course of commerce was in this wise : Vessels took out provisions to the West Indies, and rum to Africa ; brought back negroes to the West Indies. They carried 1 Burnaby, Travels in N. A., p. 155. 2 Ibid., pp. 146, 147. 756 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. West India sugar to Holland, selling it for money, which they paid to account in London. These credits afforded European goods, which were exchanged at home for prod ucts of the neighboring colonies. There were cleared in 1763 at Newport some 184 vessels in the foreign trade with a regular line to London.1 Burnaby 2 contemns the Rhode Islanders for their lack of " arts and sciences and public seminaries of learning." Officials " from the highest to the lowest are dependent on the people," and neither their character nor abilities find favor with this English observer. But if we study the judi cious and calm remonstrance against the Sugar and Stamp Governor Acts 3 sent by Governor Hopkins to the Lords remote'3 Commissioners by request of the General Assem- strance. ^fy Q£ ^e coiony? we £n(j that these " depend ent " burghers knew the business of life quite as well as the English scholar who despised them. The remonstrance states that about 150 of the Rhode Island vessels went to the West Indies annually, and brought into the colony 14,000 hhds. of molasses ; of this not over 2,500 hhds. came from the English islands, nor was their whole product equal to two thirds of the Rhode Island consumption. It will be observed that the little colony imported within 1,000 hhds. as much as her Mas sachusetts sister. From this time to about 1769, Newport commerce was at its highest prosperity. Rhode Island had thirty distilleries. American rum had driven the French brandies from the coast trade of Africa. The price of molasses was then 12<^. sterling per gallon, at which rate distilling was profitable. The colony remitted about £40,000 to Great Britain annually. The document argues at length, and with great force, that the interchange helped Rhode Island, the British West Indies, and finally Great Britain. 1 R. I. C. R., vi. 379. 2 Travels in N. A., pp. 126, 127. 8 R. 1. C. R., vi. 378-383. 1760-75.] WEST INDIAN TRAFFIC. 757 Moses Brown 1 states, on the authority of the committee of the General Assembly in 1764, that Providence had fifty-four vessels afloat, " 40 sail of which Used the West India and other Trade, and the 14 are coasters. Of the 40 sail 24 vessels Used the foreign Trade as the Dutch, Danes, French, and Spanish ports, the other 16 to the .English." They brought returns in salt, molasses, sugar, rum, coffee, cotton, pimento, etc. Spermaceti candles2 were made largely. ~~___ Connecticut employed 45 vessels in 1761,3 and after the Peace of Paris increased her West India trade consider ably. The returns thence overstocking her market, she sent some of the molasses and sugar to England.4 The merchants of the larger towns had always imported more or less goods from England direct.5 The West India commerce went in single-decked ves sels : horses and oxen were tethered on deck ; Connecticut lumber, shingles, staves, and hoops were stored ™iS?w«* in the hold ; occasionally the cargoes included Indles- some fish, beef, pork, or corn. Vessels also went into the Mediterranean, disposed of their cargoes in the Spanish ports, and bought mules in Barbary for the West Indies. They took out provender for the animals on the voyage. Insurance to Great Britain was about two per cent, in ordinary times, and 15 per cent, to 20 per cent, during the wars. The cruise of the brig Two Brothers 6 to Dutch Gui ana was a specimen of these Connecticut voyages. Her cargo was 76 bushels of oats, 25 tierces tobacco, 28 bbls. flour, 60 bundles oak staves, and as many bricks as 1 Letter on Commerce, MS., R. I. H. Soe. 2 Bos. News Let, June 8, 1769. 8 Caulkins, Norwich, p. 314. 4 Caulkins, N. London, p. 484. 6 Caulkins, Norwich, p. 311. 8 MS. Journal in Hartford Courant, April 25, 1881. 758 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. she could stow in two days at Rocky Hill. Ropes of onions were included. The culture of onions at Weathers- field dates from 1710. She went around to New London, took on horses, and sailed for Surinam, thence to Para maribo. The commerce of Connecticut increased from 76 vessels of 6,790 tons in 1762 to 180 vessels of 10,317 tons in. 1774,1 all to the West Indies, excepting " now and then a vessel to Ireland with flaxseed, and to England with Lumber and Potashes, and a few to Gibraltar and Bar bary." The import of British manufactures, including those brought through Boston and New York, was £200,- 000 per annum. The average exports to England were about £10,000, and all exports were about £200,000 per annum. " Stores for muling " appear in the items of commerce. The commerce of New Hampshire 2 was similar, as it was carried on with the West Indies. In addition there was a considerable export of timber, masts, and ships to Europe. To comprehend the changes initiated by Grenville, we Chan es in must &° ^ack a ^u^ century to tne modifications stitutedby of the old British Navigation Acts made under Grenville. ° Charles II. In the legislation of 1660-63, the intention was to bind the colonists in two ways: First, the colonies must get their European merchandise in English bottoms navigated by Englishmen ; second, they must produce only those commodities which Great Britain did not produce, and send them to her ports. Commodi ties of no consequence to British trade might be ex ported to European ports south of Cape Finisterre. To secure this latter issue, the classification of " Enu merated Commodities " was made ; that is, " sugar, to bacco, ginger, indigo, cotton, fustic and other dye-woods " 1 Connecticut Arch., Census, p. 5. a For details, see Belknap, N. H., iii. 204. 1760-75.] INJURIES BY GRENVILLE. 759 could be transported only to countries belonging to the British crown, under penalty of forfeiture. To the list, molasses and rice were added in 1704 ; rice was set free in 1730. Furs and copper ore were added in 1721. At various times tar, pitch, turpentine, hemp, masts, yards, pig and bar iron, pot and pearl ashes, whale fins, hides, and some other articles were added. By the 6th of George III., 1766, the non-enumerated commodities were limited to the same lines which included the enumerated. The British ministry intended to stop the vigorous illicit trade which had been conducted through every generation of colonial life. In this attempt they hampered all trade as well. This adverse legislation in Parliament produced an im mediate and positive effect on the actual com- Econornio merce of New England. There can be no ques- e£Eect" tion of this. We have seen its effect on the lumber in terest ; 1 but wherever we get a glimpse of mercantile correspondence, it shows positive changes induced by the mother country's new grip on her half-dependent children. Richard Derby, of Salem, writing in 1768,2 said it was " out of the people's power to pay money for the necessa ries of life, because the duties arising by the late act have almost deprived us of our silver and gold currency al ready." And he limited purchases of wine, in return for molasses exported, to three fourths of the previous cost, by reason of sluggish trade at home. In Lisbon, too, Amer ican grain was in sale " so delatory and precarious by some late laws, injurious to the trade of Great Britain and her colonies," 3 that it required a year to turn a cargo of 5,000 bushels. Such hindrance in a warm climate was a virtual prohibition of trade in the article. J. & J. Amory,4 at Boston, write their London correspondent : " Goods of all kinds are a drug, quantities selling every day to the i Mass. Arch., lix. 502. 2 Essex Inst, viii. 159, 160. 8 Bos. News Let, July 6, 1769. 4 MS. Letters, June 18, 1768. 760 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. destruction of the trade. Money has become scarcer than ever, and collecting of debts, even from among the most opulent people, extremely difficult. This will lead us to import but a trifle for a considerable time." William Samuel Johnson, in a letter to Jonathan Trum bull, stated that English exports to New England, which were £419,000 in 1767-68, fell to £207,000 in 1768-69.1 The natural reaction following all great economic move ments came after the Grenville acts, and before the out break of the Revolution. April 20, 1771, J. & J. Amory write : 2 " There never has been a time within our know ledge when there was so great a rivalry in business as there is at present. Each one is striving to undersell his neighbours, and engross as much of the trade as possible." The profit of the British shipping merchant at this time, on goods sent here, was from 10 to 15 per cent.3 When the Revolutionary struggle fairly commenced in 1775,4 exportations of all provisions to the British fish eries were prohibited. Exports were definitely forbidden to Nantucket, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Quebec. JIn the South, only the parish of St. John's in Georgia was allowed ; " East and west of Florida " was a forbidden district. The coasting trade 5 continued the marvellous develop ment which was ever a chief element in the making of coasting tnis Western empire. Rarely did any colony trade. break the course of this magnificent inter change by any foolish acts of legislation. Georgia fur nished an instance in 1765, when the General Assembly laid import duties on provisions, fish, spermaceti candles, 1 5 M. H. C, ix. 424 ; and see Pitkin's Statistics, p. 19, for detail of English commerce to New England. 2 MS. Letters. 8 Hutchinson and Oliver, Letters, p. 24. 4 Mass. Arch., cxxxviii. 157. 6 See a cargo, Mass. Arch., Ixvi. 221. 1760-75.] THE COASTING TRADE. 761 etc., brought from colonies north of South Carolina.1 "Lit tle Rhode Island alone had 352 vessels coasting from Newfoundland to Georgia in 1764.2 In 1762 two sloops started on weekly voyages from Newport to New York, making a line of packets. Cabin passengers paid one pistole, and those in the steerage two dollars each.3 Among the petty annoyances which the British minis try inflicted on the colonies at the eve of the Revolution, in their new regulation of American commerce, perhaps the most vexatious, mischievous, and futile was in their interference with the coasting trade. A British naval officer of the olden time was not too humane or concilia tory at his best. Give him the enforcement of a harsh, imperious system of police inspection, and all the exac tions of tyranny must follow. The espionage of the coasters and fishing boats on the Piscataqua was espe cially vexatious.4 Worse than this occurred which never went upon record. The traditions along the coast, of the common acts of British officers and sailors against per sons and property, would cause shame to any civilised nation. Nantucket, exposed to the temptation of supplying the enemy, and necessarily constrained by the home govern ment, suffered much in the Revolutionary derangements of commerce. She was constrained by her friends and plundered by her enemies. A feeble and dangerous com munication was maintained in open boats with the ports on Long Island Sound.5 These boats could steal by the British cruisers off Newport, in places where sailing ves sels would have been captured. Friction and ill-feeling followed from all the efforts of the British revenue officers to collect from the people. i Bos. News Let, April 25, 1765. 2 R. I. C. R., vi. 379. 8 Bos. Eve. Post, Aug. 2, 1762, has list of prices for freight. 4 Adams, Portsmouth, p. 254. 5 Macy, Nantucket, p. 84. 762 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. In Newport, they charged more than the customary fees as allowed by law. The merchants made a pub- in enforcing lie remonstrance,1 bound themselves not to pay the extra charges, and to assist each other and all strangers in resisting payment. Seizures were made occasionally, and some illegal com merce was stopped, but enforcement of laws2 was not easy, in the condition of the popular mind. Information given against smugglers engaged in evading the revenue would cause a riot, and one informant at Newbury 3 was tarred and feathered. An importer at Newport had sworn to his cargo of molasses at 50 hhds. The count showed more than 80, though some had been landed al ready. The cargo was seized; but a mob in disguise came at night and took away all the cargo except the 50 hhds. which had been regularly entered.4 Vessels were generally brought into port after dark, their cargoes being discharged and secreted under cover of the friendly night. All kinds of tricks served to divert and foil the officers of the crown. In Gloucester,6 half a cargo had been secured, when morning came and with it the royal officer from Salem. The town at that time maintained a watch-house, during a temporary alarm concerning smallpox, where strangers were stopped and fumigated. McKean, a stout Irishman, kept watch and ward. Duly inspired by Colonel Foster, the owner of the offending vessel, he seized the inspector of customs, kept him through the day, and dismissed him after nightfall, freed from all infection. The moral infection of the irregular cargo remained unchanged, however. While the favored whites of English and American 1 Bos. News Let, Sept. 21, 1769. 2 Felt, Salem, ii. 261 ; Bos. News Let, July 13, Sept. 11, Nov. 9, 1769. 8 Coffin> P- 235. i Newport Hist. Mag., i. 125. 6 Babson, p. 387. 1760-75.] SLAVE-TRADE AND FREEDOM. 763 descent were preparing their great struggle for political freedom, they busily plied the dark commerce Whit6free. for bringing their black brethren out of per- ua'c'kTitv- sonal liberty into the hard manacles of slavery. ery- The trade to the coast of Guinea for negroes was under full headway in all this period. A writer in the " News Letter " claimed that, " upon examining the imports of ne groes," 1 23,743 were " brought into this province " from 1756 to 1766, or an average of 2,374 for each year, ac cording to his statement. I think he must have included the Newport importation in his sum total for " this prov ince." No other figures show such immense dealings as this would give to the mart of Boston. The main dis position of the New England cargoes was in the West Indies. The greater part of the blacks never touched our soil. They were advertised freely in Boston, but there could not have been two thousand and more sold in Massachusetts in every year. In 1762 2 a "number of prime Goree and Senegal slaves" were just imported and for sale. In 1761 the thrifty descendants of the old Puritans could trade off, in this uai've and interesting manner, lean morals and brawny muscles in bulk for more muscles in little, with undeveloped souls, untainted except by their original sin : " A parcel of likely negroes, cheap for cash. Also if any persons have any negro men, strong and hearty, tho' not of the best moral character, which are proper subjects for transportation, may have an exchange for small negroes." 3 Is not that a delicious and artless mixture of the casuistry of culture with rude, impassioned humanity, — a commingling hash of Satanic civilisation and simple, savage nature ? Connecticut imported a few Africans. Samuel Willis, at Middletown, advertised in 1761 " several likely Negro Boys and Girls : arrived from the coast of Africa." 4 But 1 Bos. News Let, Aug. 10, 1769. 2 Bos. Eve. Post, June 14, 1762. 8 Bos. Eve. Post, Aug. 3, 1761. 4 Hist New Haven, p. 64. 764 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. the great market for this traffic was at Newport. The trade seems to have been especially stimulated about the j time of the Peace of Paris. Newport had engaged in ' 1763 some 20 sail of vessels, with a capacity for 9,000 hhds. of rum ; " too much for the coast." 1 The common ! price of a slave on the coast had risen to 200 gallons of rum, and Barbadoes even gave 270 gallons in one in stance. The educating power of a great popular and national movement took effect at last and influenced this traffic. The Association of the Colonies in 1774 agreed gradually to prohibit it. Rhode Island, in forbidding the further importation of negroes into her own territory, stated as a reason that those " desirous of en joying all the advantages of liberty themselves should be willing to extend personal liberty to others." But with curious inconsistency, she did not regard this . principle as extending so far as the West Indies ; for the traffic there was not interrupted. So difficult it is for ethics to prevail over commerce ! While our colonists were bringing in the black savages from Africa, the copper-colored prototypes native to the Indian soll were moving backward and fading away. The Indian trade either went to Canada or concentrated itself at Albany. Furs had become of slight consequence in the New England exchanges. Soon after the Canadian conquest, the Americans were much impressed by the "magnitude and importance of the trade in furs there. Probably the conviction2 that there was much profit in the great Northwestern Indian trade did much in promoting the unfortunate expeditions to Canada attempted during the Revolutionary struggle. The shipping for our home trade, and for sale abroad, 1 Newport Hist Mag., v. 76 ; see Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, p. 56, for list of slavers. 2 See Bos. News Let, Dec. 17, 1772 ; and Doc Col. N. Y., vii. 954, 1760-75.] VESSELS MOVING ON LAND. 765 was built chiefly in northeastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. These two colonies built rather 6hipDUild. more than one half the American tonnage from ine' 1769 to 1771, or from 10,000 tons to 12,000 tons.1 Along the Connecticut River, lumbermen felled trees in the winter to be floated down in the spring, and cut into lumber at points below. But the virgin forests on the streams flowing eastward and southeastward were birth places for vessels. Shipbuilding in the large way had not gone east of the Piscataqua as yet. The largest vessel launched in Wells, Me., by 1767, was a schooner of 88 tons.2 The older ports could not compete with the new settle ments amid the timber. When the great trees had been exhausted on the river bank, gangs of shipwrights went a mile or two into the forests, seeking to join the naiad and the dryad nymphs. Here on the upland they would build a vessel of 100 tons or more, mount her on strong sledges of timber, hitch in a team of 200 oxen, and drag her in triumph over the snow until she rested on the frozen surface of a navigable stream.3 When the ice melted she abandoned this unnatural elevation, and the water nymphs took her to their own home. Fishing schooners and whaleboats could be easily handled in this manner. At seven and eight miles from the stream, vessels were built, taken in pieces, and then carried by common teams to the launching place. These monster teams of oxen were organised at first to bring the great mast trees4 — often 120 feet long — out of the forest to the river brink. It was ex ceedingly difficult to start so many inert beasts into a living, moving team ; it was called " raising them." The work once done, the listless and restless, the active 1 Macpherson, An. of Commerce, iii. 570. 2 Bourne, WeUs and Kennebunk, p. 570. 8 Belknap, N. H, iii. 209. 4 Burnaby, Travels N. A., p. 152. 766 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. and lazy, mass, fairly started into harmonious action, nothing must stop. If an ox was ill — as sometimes hap pened — his lashings were cut, and another forced into his vacant place, the team not losing its headway. In felling these immense trees used for masts, they were obliged to exercise great care. Often the trunk was bare for 80 or 100 feet, and it would shatter and break unless protected in its fall. On the side where they proposed to lay it, the workmen would bring small trees, or fell any standing there. The process was called " bedding," and on this natural mattress the mighty shaft of pine was stretched without injury. The largest were three feet in diameter.1 They generally cut for a mast three feet in length for each inch of diameter ; the yards and bowsprits were shorter in proportion. These building operations were carried along every branch of the Piscataqua, and brought out not shire ship- less than 200 vessels per annum.2 Newbury port 3 had seventy-two vessels on the stocks at one time. Among the curious municipal functions there was a shipyard located on her common land, and she charged threepence per ton for the privilege of building. Some merchants in Portsmouth each built a dozen vessels in a year, generally of 200 tons to 300 tons burden. The building was profitable ; it was a large barter. The Eng lish merchants contracting for the vessels sent out cord age, anchors, canvas, etc., the year before the building. Moreover, Portsmouth 4 was exporting to the West Indies, and would ship the produce received there to England for liquidating debts made for European goods used in con structing vessels, or in paying laborers employed on them. Smaller vessels, taking the West India returns, would dis tribute them in the Southern colonies, then bring corn, 1 See lists in Belknap, iii. 103. * Burnaby, Trav. N. A., -p. 150. 8 Smith, pp. 61, 65. 4 Adams, p. 258. 1760-75.] LOSS AND GAIN, IN LARGE. 767 rice, flour, pork, tar, pitch, etc., homeward to the Piscat aqua. The best cordage came from abroad, but three ropewalks were producing in Portsmouth. It is said that solid rafts of timber and lumber were rudely shaped into hulls, with small spaces left 0ceantim- in the centre, where the crew and provisions ber-ra£ts- were kept. Rigged with ingenuity^ and navigated with great skill and courage, they made their way across the seas to England. Captain Rose, of Newburyport,1 carried one to London in twenty-six days from home. A " tow of masts " was taken up at Salter's Beach, Duxbury.2 Light-houses were erected 1768-1771 at Plymouth Har bor, Thatcher's Island, the latter in preference to Cape Ann.3 The commerce, which had grown from such small be ginnings in the seventeenth century, was soon shattered and nearly destroyed in the punishment administered by the mother country to her rebellious child. Mankind made great gains by the American Revolution. A1 1 . . Commercial All that was destroyed weighed little as against loss, poiit- • i i aii icalgain. the mighty creation of that epoch. A develop ment of representative institutions on that broad basis which included the play of the individual freeman on the one side and the local autonomy of great states on the other, all interlocking together by a marvellous distribu tion of political power, the whole regulated by that great legal tribunal, the Supreme Court, — that was a world- triumph. The whole world gained by such an exposition of government on the ample field of the new Americas. But it was a purely political gain, carrying with it the social blessings good politics always convey. Commerce lost, while liberty, law, and government gained. Both England and America lost wealth on the high seas, until 1 Smith, p. 65. 2 Bos. News Letter, April 16, 1762. 8 Mass. Arch., Ixvi. 429, 485, 494. 768 THE LAST COLONIAL COMMERCE. [1760-75. the younger and poorer community replaced her shat tered vessels by larger ones with better cargoes. Both nations lost at first, and probably England never recov ered commercially the results of her mistaken political adventure. CHAPTER XX. REVOLUTIONARY COMMERCE. 1775-1783. The words indicate sufficiently the tremendous changes brought into the commercial life of our country by her struggle for independence. Under the sharp necessity of the time, skippers were, soon passing into captains of fleets ; fishermen were yielding the stuff of heroes ; trading mer chants were converting their ships into arsenals, their merchandise into munitions of war. Priva- ar c anBes' teers were well named the " militia of the sea." Captain Mngford, in the schooner Franklin, from Marblehead, in June, 1776, took the British ship Hope, with 1,500 half- barrels of powder and other stores. General Ward recog nised the great value of the exploit in his report : " The country owes in some degree its independence to him." J Trade was blocked or interrupted so that legitimate ven tures could not hope for success ; but the commerce of " our unnatural enemies," as the timely phrase ran, was subjected to the enterprising grasp of the peaceful fisher folk and sailors, now turned into fightiug Tritons. Private war upon the seas became a cheerful pastime to the bold and ingenious crews, a fascinating series of ven tures for the owners on shore. At first profitable, after Newport and New York had been occupied and the coasts thoroughly patrolled by the royal navy, the business soon became much more hazardous. Seamen left the British service, changed their names, and enlisted in the Yankee 1 Proc. Mass. H. S. 1791-1835, p. 353. 770 REVOLUTIONARY COMMERCE. [1775-83. privateers.1 At this period the Loyalists retaliated, also, with great effect, upon our commerce, and upon Privateering. *> , t, • ¦ the French, after the British government loos ened the sea-dogs of war against his Christian majesty.2 Lord George Germain and Governor Tryon, of New York, mutually congratulated themselves that they had secured the issuing of letters of marque against opposition at home. Tryon reported, June 29, 1779, that the priva teers' crews from New York numbered more than 6,000 men, " many of whom are Converts from the Rebels, and others persecuted Loyalists." 3 Within five months 142 prizes were carried into that port. Our ventures were at their lowest ebb about 1777 ; later on, as the French fleet supported our forces and the British became less active, the American privateers made good headway again. The business was then profitable) the prizes frequent, and the New England ports bustling with the activity it occasioned. Britons could not believe that the injuries inflicted on their commerce came from the natural resources of America. Lord Sheffield, the best informed of the English writers on American com merce, claimed after the peace that three fourths of the crews in American privateers were European sailors. So little could insular prejudice comprehend of the inherent forces working in the Revolutionary contest ! The parti sans of the seas were generally of native growth, and their spirit was all American wherever they were born. Boston4 had, according to the lists of the Massachu setts Archives, 365 vessels5 commissioned during the term of the Revolution in this international piracy. It 1 R. I. Arch., James Watson's affidavit. 2 Doc. N. York, viii. 746, 748, 754, 756, 761. 8 Ibid., p. 772. 4 Mem. Hist, in. 118. 6 For the whole list of Massachusetts privateers see Preble's ac count in N. E. H. and G. Reg., xxv. 362-369 ; xxvi. 21-29. 1775-83.] BRISK PRIVATEERING. Ill was legitimate warfare,1 because the nations had not yet outgrown this form of barbaric private war, as they had gradually risen above other forms of it. No contests in all history better brought out the qualities of individual men, or yielded such immediate results to enterprise and valor. It was a border region of human experience, containing the wealth and prizes of civilised order, yet admitting the wild encounter and fierce bravery of bar baric life. Boston probably sent out vessels owned wholly or in part by merchants living in the other ports not At the Tari_ as favorably situated as she was after the evacu- ous ports- ation. Salem had a large number of vessels ; Felt 2 puts it at 180, mounting from six to twenty guns each. The number recorded in 1782 was larger than in any other year. Felt's list of prizes for the whole war was 445, though he said it was incomplete from the nature of the case. The hazard to British commerce was felt imme diately. The rate of insurance from West Indies to Eng land rose to 23 per cent, in 1776. Sheffield claims that Rhode Island issued nearly two hundred commissions.3 In the latter part of the war her ports were lively, and her admiralty judges were busy in condemning prizes. Poor Newport ! Her open port and advantage of situation proved her ruin. The royal fleets and armies could not hold Boston, but they secured New York, and for nearly four years Newport was held hard and fast under the lion's claws. She lost her commerce \ forever. Her wealth was wasted, and the opportunity of j privateering afforded by the Narragansett inland sea was 1 For the "resolves" of Congress, and consequent methods of privateering, see R. I. C. R., vii. 481, 535-537. 2 Annals Salem, ii. 267, 268, 277 ; and see Proc. M. H. S. 1884, p. 21. 8 Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, p. 29. See list of prizes, p. 63 ; also Newport Hist. Mag., iv. 105. 772 REVOLUTIONARY COMMERCE. [1775-83. checked and half destroyed. As it was, these fascinating ventures on the high seas, so dear to the Rhode Island individual independence and courage, absorbed much of her energy and public spirit. The little state furnished her quotas of regular troops, and they were good in quality. Her large infusion of Quaker blood never lowered her fighting spirit. Privateering was so popular that the Assembly 1 checked it in 1776, and found it necessary in 1780 to limit island is the number of officers and men at twelve for each vessel. The " Intendants of Trade," who had direct control of the movements of privateers, were directed to require from captains positive proof that the towns had furnished their quotas of enlisted men, — towns from whence the privateering crews had come. John Paul Jones, starting on his splendid exploits, was fortunate enough to get away in The Alfred before Admiral Parker, with his overwhelming fleet, came into the Bay. Jones stopped at Martha's Vineyard to overhaul one privateer Eagle, Isaac Field, master, taking from her by force twenty-four men for his own crew.2 Connecticut sent vessels from New London 3 frequently, with a few from Hartford and New Haven.4 Between March and June, 1779, nine " New York or Tory " priva teers were captured and carried into New London. This port was so closely watched by the British fleet that its operations were made very uncertain. It is doubtful if the business, as a whole, paid much profit. Newburyport, Mass.,5 sent out twenty-two vessels, with varying success. Her business suffered severely, early in the war, by the non-importation, and the suspension of shipbuilding for export. She recompensed herself and 1 R. I. C. R., viii. 434 ; ix. 144 ; Arnold, R. I, ii. 388. 2 Sheffield, R. I. Privateers, p. 30. 8 Caulkins, pp. 540-545. 4 Hist New Haven, p. 91. 6 Coffin, Newbury, p. 407 ; Smith, Newburyport, pp. 104, 106. 1775-83.] A ROMANCE IN COMMERCE. 773 nearly made up her losses by the prizes. Gloucester 1 and Marblehead embarked a great many privateers. The superstition of the seventeenth century crops out occa sionally, and an instance occurs in the loss of the ship Tempest. A severe thunderstorm overtook her, and she was lost at sea. The religious feeling — as it was termed — of the community was much shocked that in her name her owners had dared to brave the elements. The commerce from Nova Scotia, Annapolis, and Hali fax to the West Indies, also from Liverpool to these points, also the Portugal ventures from England, — freights which New Englanders once carried for themselves, — they now followed with privateers. Wherever a keel could be laid successfully, or be floated beyond reach of the British cruisers, the Yankee shipwright and bold rover of the seas started his little craft. Often under one hundred tons, they carried heavy guns, brave warriors, skilful and dash ing sailors. All the scattered literature 2 of the Revolu tion contains traces of their work. All the archives in New England contain many original documents of interest relating to this subject. These are in themselves an abstract of the com- inpnv- merce, fettered and interrupted by the great wars, but continued through all the hazards these wars occasioned. To the greater romance of war was added every possible vicissitude of commerce on the high seas, as when the schooner Le Comite, from Nantz in France for Virginia, was taken by the British armed sloop Hiber- nia in 1780.3 She was recaptured by an American priva teer and condemned, one half to the captors, one half to her friendly owners, the French. An invoice of thirty- one pages covered a great variety of merchandise, dry goods, broadcloths, medicines, etc., in great detail. The 1 Babson, pp. 73, 86, 99, 125, 399, 410-414, 417, 423. 2 See Proc. M. H. S. 1791-1835, pp. 317, 353 ; also 1860, p. 347 ; Hunt's Amer. Merch., vols, i., ii. 8 R. I. Arch, at Providence. 774 REVOLUTIONARY COMMERCE. [1775-83. Philadelphia schooner Molly1 had a similar experience. The Diamond,2 owned by Nicholas and John Brown, of Providence, captured in 1776 The Star and Garter, of Exeter, England, last from St. Christopher's. Her papers show the list of enumerated commodities in actual prac tice, viz. : " Any Sugars, Tobaccos, Cotton- Wooll, Indico, Ginger, Fustick, or other Dying-Wood; as also Rice, Melasses, Tar, Pitch, Turpentine, Hemp, Masts, Yards, Bowsprits, Copper-Ore, Beaver Skins or other Furs, Coffee, Pimento, Cocoa-Nuts, Whale Fins, Raw Silk, 1 R. I. Arch. 1779: — Invoice Sundries ship3 by Stephen Cronio on board of the Sloop Molly, Capt McKeever for Phila on Account & Risque of Mess. Matt" Irvin & Co Merchants there and consigned to them. 6 Hhds Brown Sugar 10,000 1,100 Tare at 11 p ct £2,937 00 00 150 00 00 £1,152 00 00 180 00 00 £1,096 14 6 45 00 00 £3,087 00 00 1,332 00 00 1,141 14 6 8,900 Nettat33p . . . Coopering the Same 25 p . 12 Casks of Saffia £96 . . 2 " " £90 . . 12 bbls Coffee 2089 Nett 10/6 Cask & Coopge £3.15 . . Charges. To Jayun Flat having to carry Sug. on board To Cash pd Duty cus. h. Sug. Cof fee & Saffia Carting Coffee to whf .... £5,798 8 1 Built at Bermuda 1772 Cleared Nav off Phila Nov 10, 1778. Taken prize by Privateer Brig Dunmore. Retaken, carried into Warren to unlade on account of ice at Prov. and into John Foster's Maritime Court. 2 R. I. Arch, at Providence. £5,560 14 6 £24 00 00 211 8 7 2 5 0 237 13 7 1775-83.] BRILLIANT EXPLOITS. lib Hides and Skins, Pot and Pearl Ashes ; of the Growth, Production or Manufacture of any British plantation in America, Asia, or Africa." She gave bond to deposit any such goods " on shore " in some port of Great Britain proper. Generally the owners of the privateer took one half the prize money, as in tlie account of the Gamecock ; l the officers and crew took the remainder in varying propor tions. Brilliant exploits, courage, skill of the highest order, au dacity beyond measure, shine through the records of these partisan heroes. The damage inflicted by this warfare on the older and richer combatant was incalculable. As Dr. Hale has shown,2 England was injured in her resources 1 From Miller Papers at Newburgh, N. Y. Miller, of Hartford, managed several privateers, — sloop Raven, schooner Revenge, and others. Db. Ownees Sloop Gamecock in Acct with Miller & Olmsted. 1779 Sept. To 24661 Galls. Rum 1 delivered to the > Owners at £7.16 ) Balance due owners . To r Bal. due Elisha ) Pitkin, Jr. . . . ) To A Bal. due Jona- i than Waldron . . | To ^ Bal. due Aaron j Olmsted .... I To 1 Bal. due Abra- ) ham Miller . . . j £19,236.15.0 867.13.1 1770 Sept. £20,104.8.1 £216.18.3J 81.6.10i352.9.8;} 216.18.3J By half the Neat Pro- ' eeeds of the Game cock's proportion of rum out of the Prize Schooner Re ward, By half the Neat Proceeds of the Schooner Reward . & appurtenances, [" &c, belonging to j the Gamecock, J By Bal. due the Own ers £19,288.17.3 815.10.10 £20,104.8.1 £867.13.1. Hartford, Sept 27th 1779 Errors Excepted Miller & Olmsted. 2 Nar* and Crit. Hist Amer., vi. 584, 585 ; and see notes, pp. 591, 592. 776 REVOLUTIONARY COMMERCE. [1775-83. more upon the seas than in her actual losses on the land. It is proper that especial mention be made of Elias Eiias Has- Hasket Derby,1 of Salem, for his achievements ket Derby. -n tnjs war]ike commerce, and because he was a type of the period. Of a maritime lineage, his father Richard, captain at the age of twenty-four, was an excellent specimen of the resolute, self-possessed shipmasters and owners of the middle eighteenth century. Elias was born in 1739, and from 1760 to 1775 was his father's account ant aud confidential manager, while he steadily built up a business of his own. He owned seven sail, ranging from 60 to 100 tons, and was worth 150,000. The outbreak of the Eevolution swept away a large part of his earn ings. At the end of the first year, he faced a ruined trade, and there was no opportunity of recovery through the old channels. On the other hand, new channels were opening. Bos ton, New York, Newport, Philadelphia, were occupied or soon to be occupied, by the powerful enemy. Salem, and the little fishing ports roundabout, offered comparatively safe ground whence privateers could fit out and attack the British commerce. Derby was prominent, and generally the chief owner, in fitting out the Salem fleet of " at least 158 armed vessels mounting more than 2,000 cannon." They brought in more than 445 prizes. He was not content with the small type of vessels which constituted the first letters of marque. The British were sending large private vessels, and the naval cruisers made short work of the " Yankee privateer " when they could catch him. Derby established shipyards, studied plans for himself, and projected larger, swifter, and finer vessels than had prevailed. In speed they could outsail the sturdy but slower Englishman, and in weight of ar mament they could cope with the royal sloops of war. 1 Hunt's Merch. Mag., v. 36, 155 et seq. 1775-83.] DERBY THE MERCHANT. Ill Derby's Grand Turk, Astrea, Light Horse, and Hasket & John, were ships ranging from 300 to 360 tons. In brigs he owned three, — Henry, Cato, and Three Sisters. These seven vessels, superior in their size, form, and quality, represented his property at the end of the war. At the beginning he had seven small sloops and Typica,ex. schooners. His experience is a fair type of the f^^. adventures of America in private war with Eng- Ueiinz- land. The Americans lost their first commerce ; they re placed it with better vessels of larger burden. They could carry larger cargoes, and they had the property to fill them. The old merchants — the Tories — were gener ally driven out ; they were replaced by a new order of men, not as cultured but more adventurous and vigorous than the exiles. After the United States accomplished its final union, these men led in opening the great Chinese and India trade. Elias Hasket Derby died in 1799, worth about one mil lion dollars. He was of true constructive genius „,. /-. • i • x iiA sagacious in aftairs. Occasional instances are recorded andpatriotio illustrating his sagacious comprehension of his fellow-men. He was cheated once by a man who wore nankeen breeches. He then told his clerks : " Never tT ust a man again who comes here in January dressed in .ian- keen : if he cheats himself he will certainly cheat us." Like all hasty generalisations, this did not work. A rich Boston merchant came to Salem in Derby's absence, and was refused credit on account of the interdicted costume. He went away in high dudgeon. But when the yellow- breeched magnate learned all the circumstances, he joined in laughing at the joke, which told as well against Derby as against himself. In keeping a model farm he showed the same adaptive skill that built the successful privateers. He was of large public spirit. At the time of the battle of Lexington he loaned "the government a large proportion of the sup- 778 REVOLUTIONARY COMMERCE. [1775-83. plies for the army, and took their obligations for so much specie." This debt was unsettled in 1790. He supplied the boats for Sullivan's expedition to Rhode Island. He furnished the French fleet with coal, and was among the sufferers on whom our government inflicted the famous " French spoliations." He was tall, finely developed in his person, and of elegant manners. Grave and careful, bold in projecting, exact and methodical in conducting his enterprises, he may be considered a model merchant. A good husband and father, a sound citizen, few men have left a more fragrant memory. I could give most interesting details of adventure culled from these scattered records, but it would extend far beyond my limits. We should have a well-digested his tory of privateering, from the French and Spanish wars to the gallant encounter with our English cousins The seas lost, but not in 1812. We have lost our natural place on the seas, but not necessarily forever. The de scendants of the vikings will return again to their native element. The deeds of privateers and whalemen should be cherished by our generation, for the benefit of the grandsons of those who built the clipper merchantmen. Those strong-winged gulls in timber put swift girdles about the 'earth in the days when the new gold made nimble commerce everywhere. Our American race, which has mastered the seas so often, has not weakened its fibre nor lost its invention. When it fairly takes in hand again ocean navigation, it must win anew the wide-reaching seas our sires loved and occupied so well. Illicit trade was carried on from Long Island and Block Island with the mainland, and our government watched those shores constantly.1 The privateers, also, often seized vessels which were convicted or suspected of irregular commerce.2 The British were charged with un- 1 R. I. C. R., ix. 367, 369, 592 ; Caulkins, New London, p. 523. 2 See case of sloop Fancy, in R. I. Arch. 1775-83.] THE PEOPLE SELF-SUSTAINING. 779 lawful use of the commissions of officers and crews, or the papers taken from American privateers. Congress prescribed 1 especial forms of commissions which could not be converted to any unlawful use by the enemy. The former commerce of the country was largely super seded by this trade in irregular but abundant supplies of wares taken from the rich commerce reguia^but of the enemy. Articles actually needed for the comfort of a household wrere generally to be had in the marts of trade, and luxuries were not wanting. "An assortment of very fine and beautiful Patches, also Ger man flutes and best Roman violin strings," as advertised,2 shows that all tastes were reasonably well satisfied. New England felt occasional but not constant privation. A large majority of the merchants of Boston, Salem, and Newport being Loyalists, their business was broken, their estates generally were confiscated, and many of them fled into exile. A new order of men came forward, and transacted the business incident to the new conditions of the country. Moreover, as the chapter on the internal affairs of these states indicates, the people, during the Revolution, had paused for the moment in their natural commercial development, and had be- taining come an industrial community almost self-sus taining. This result was achieved very soon. Boston, and through her the district of Massachusetts, was much fettered and hindered by the outbreak of revolution, and by the hostilities of the first year. But in less than a year Massachusetts had recovered all her losses. April 4, 1777, a merchant could say : " Though our money has de preciated, the internal strength of the Country is greater than when the war began ; and there is hardly a town that has not more ratable polls than at that time. And though many individuals suffer, yet the farmer and the bulk of the people gain by the war ; and Great Britain 1 R. I. C. R., ix. 322. 2 Bos. Eve. Post, June 29, 1781. 780 REVOLUTIONARY COMMERCE. [1775-83. therefore ought not to think of ever getting a peace with out allowing independence."1 Salaried men, and the few persons living on capitalised incomes, suffered, but the producers gained steadily. Among the foolish economic expedients 2 attempted by the authorities in the beginning of the struggle, was a pro posed limitation of trade between one part of inXiPegis™ B Massachusetts and another. Also the export of lumber to foreign ports was proposed. These measures produced no positive effect, and December 31, 1776, Congress formally removed the old restrictions of the Navigation Acts on the export of lumber to ports other than those of Great Britain.3 Some trade was car ried on with France direct,4 especially to Bordeaux and Nantes. The State of Massachusetts sent there two hhds. of furs, chiefly otter and beaver ; a shipment of oil, at .£3.10 per ton of 252 gallons for freight to Bordeaux, was proposed. The shipments also included rice and West India products. But the chief business was done with the West Indies, as in the old and regular times. The cargoes iucluded fish, lumber, cooperage stock, and sometimes bricks, with the usual returns. Permits were granted for this intercourse, as it was overlooked by the authorities.5 Congress was tinkering constantly with commerce,6 trying to get the control, which the states as yet meant to keep for themselves. The cash disbursed by the French forces gave consid erable impetus to trade. It made a direct demand for merchandise, and afforded a good medium of exchange. One party, Mr. Amory, of Boston, remitted more than 100,000 livres in a short period during the year 1781.7 1 J. and J. Amory, MS. Letters. 2 Mass. Arch., ccx. 114. 8 Mass. Arch., ccxi. 453. 4 Ibid., cxxxviii. 360, 361 ; clvii. 20, 27 ; cli. 2. 6 Ibid., clvii. 2, 8, 62 ; clxvi. 282 ; clxxxii. 311 ; ccx. 36 ; N. H. State P., viii. 562 ; Stone, Beverly, p. 319. 6 Pitkin, Statistics, p. 28. 7 J. and J. Amory, MS. Letters. 1775-83.] FASHIONS STILL PREVAIL. 781 European goods were in good demand then, and those from the East Indies especially so, — linens, calicoes, gauzes, pins, needles, cutlery, etc. The wants in these latter years of the war were such as a people experience who are living in comfort. French silks, cambrics, etc., are called for. " I would observe that people dress as much and as extravagantly as ever. The ladies lay out much on their heads, in flowers and white gauze ; and hoop petticoats seem crawling in." x The belles of the Hub at Boston and those of distant, ocean-bound and cruiser-watched Block Island, had the same wants for "gauze " and at the same time. The trade to the Salt Islands in the West Indies was important, and the scarcity of salt at times, occasioned by its interruption, was a hardship. The papers of the brig- Nancy, sent out from Wickford, R. I., in 1776,2 are inter esting, as showing the method of the voyage and of hand ling small brigs at that time. Probably they had more time, in a small port on Narragansett Bay, to consider affairs seriously, than sailors and shipping masters had in larger Boston and New York. The sailors signed a cu rious agreement, binding them to thorough obedience, on penalty of forfeiting their wages, especially if absent twenty -four hours in any port without leave. Methodo£ Moreover, "Every Lawfull Command of the Toyages- Commanding officer of Sa Vessell in Suppressing Immo rality Sin of all Kinds" was to be enforced under the penalty. It is not recorded whether or not the good Nancy, Captain Baker, achieved a moral and sinless voyage under such excellent provisions. The price of a brigantine complete with her stores, in the same year, at Providence, was £318.3 The fishermen did not cease throwing hook, line, and 1 J. and J. Amory, MS. Letters. 2 See Appendix H. » R. I. C. R., viii. 103. 782 REVOLUTIONARY COMMERCE. [1775-83. seine, though their industry was fettered, and their mar kets were precarious. I have memoranda of four distinct cargoes to the West Indies from Massachusetts in 1777,1 including considerable quantities of codfish, as well as some salmon and mackerel. Trade was liable to constant interruption, but commod ities were produced, and the advertisements 2 show that they were moved outward to meet the foreign demand. A person having either vessel, lumber, or fish would adver tise for partners who could furnish the elements lacking for a foreign shipment. War had frequently been a disturbing hazard in our Under- commerce, but a civil war increased all the ad- writing, verse chances. The business of insurance, or underwriting, grew in consequence. After the evacuation of Boston, Edward Payne — one of the adventurers in Eu ropean commerce — came home and established an office for insurance. He concentrated the most of the business in the town,3 continuing it until his death in 1788. The practice was to open a policy guaranteeing the risk ; then any responsible parties would underwrite their names for fixed sums, each receiving his apportioned part of the pre mium. Newburyport had an office of its own, opened about the same time.4 The intercourse by coasting vessels, always so positive an element in the prosperity of New England, tionsiu was much affected by the war and the vexatious coasting. , . ^ # # interruptions of the British fleets. Occasionally rice from South Carolina,5 tobacco from Virginia, with some naval stores and the agricultural products of the Southern States, came through to New England. West India products were in constant demand, and were carried 1 Mass. Arch., clvii. 2, 8 ; clxvi. 282 ; ccxiii. 375. 2 Bos. Eve. Post, Nov. 27, 1779. 3 M. H. S. Proc. 1873, p. 418. 4 See Smith's Newburyport, p. 72, for form of the old policies. 6 Mass. Arch., clvii. 17. 1775-83.] COASTING IS DISTURBED. 783 from the seaports to the interior. When the king's cruis ers were not in the way, the coasters took them by water ; rum, sugar, and molasses being the chief necessaries. A cargo from Boston to Great Barrington and Williams- town contained 11 hdds. and 6 tierces of rum, 3 bbls. of wine, 2 do. of brandy, £ bale of cotton, and 1 small cask of indigo.1 The proportion of " wet goods " to the small quantity of cotton and indigo is significant, and indicates the prevailing appetites. Another vessel carried 3 hhds. of rum, 2 of sugar to Connecticut, and returned 4,000 lbs. of flax.2 As we have seen in the early days, the great internal trade between our colonies was occasionally in terrupted by brief spasms of legislative inter- Sate'iegMa- ference. One of these occurred between the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1777.3 The first named prohibited the export of rum, molasses, cotton, or woollen goods, wool, leather, and many neces sary articles. New Hampshire laid the same restrictions, and searched vessels going out of Portsmouth to enforce them. In this account of a commerce that was revolutionary, we may fitly consider the destruction of the great mast trade, or the furnishing of the royal navy over masts with masts and spars. The romance of the primeval forests of New England had centred itself in these imperial trees. Wherever a lofty pine lifted its head above its common fellows, the crown surveyor had found his way and had marked it with the broad arrow ; after this royal appropriation, it could not be felled for common uses. These favorites of Nature had been monu ments of proper prerogative, and in many instances land marks of the bureaucratic insolence which often ministered between that prerogative and the loyal subjects. I have 1 Mass. Arch., cxcvi. 284. 2 Hid., ccxiv. 176. » N. H. H. C, vii. 80. 784 REVOLUTIONARY COMMERCE. [1775-83. described the great occasions when all the country's oxen, and all the country's men, worked together in behalf of the king in conveying these monstrous trunks of timber to their places of embarkation. Very early, the intuition of the people taught them that these symbols of sovereignty must be stopped in their course to the naval arsenals of Britain. Even after Lex ington, a large minority of people hoped for some com position of the unhappy differences. The royal busi ness of securing the masts went on, in halting fashion. May 17, 1775, a brig from England came into Ports mouth on the usual errand. A ship just built at Casco Bay arrived at the same time in Portsmouth "with an intention to load masts which are now ready for her." 1 But the local authorities took alarm, and waited for " the opinion of the Congress touching the Propriety of ship ing the Masts." The capitals of the old-time spelling sometimes emphasised the right words. Now events shaped opinions very fast. Early in May there had been a naval conflict on the south shore of Massachusetts. On the 12th June, the former subjects dwelling at Machias, Me., seized his Majesty's sloop Margaretta. There was no more question of sending the mighty sticks across the waters, whence they might bring back ships, guns, and men to chastise the king's rebellious children. If any were taken away, it was in the illicit commerce of timber, which the French tried to stop in 1778. Their minister, with the approval of Congress, offered a reward to any vessel taking or destroying a " vessel of the enemy loaded with masts or spars, and destined to the ports of Halifax, Newport, or New York." 2 The broad arrow-marks re mained in their places of abode. Many of these trees took new growth from republican soil. They even served in equipping the stout cruisers of 1812, in which the chil dren of Revolutionary sires fairly beat the great navy that 1 Prov. P. N. H, vii. 461. 2 R. I. C. R., viii. 493. 1775-83.] ROYALTY AND THE REPUBLIC. 785 had once absorbed all the imperial trees of the subject colonies. We part with genuine regret from the royal arrow and the towering pine, — monuments of Nature's original do minion over these lands of New England ; they became the high marks of royal assertion, the silent proclamations of kingly control and administration. New England did not overcome her royal allegiance, nor give herself over to untried ways of government, without severe agony. We may well partake of her mental struggles in that crucial time. A king ! if the man could embody and represent the power of the institution, what one of us would not render a subject's gratitude to the imperial ruler ? Such was not to be the outgrowth of modern governmental ideas ; yet while the idea changed in form, little was lost in substance. The arrow mark was outgrown, and en veloped by the abounding life of Nature. The pine did not halt, but continued its upward sovereign course. The towering masts of the republic, though stripped of the romance of royalty and the glamour of prerogative, stepped themselves firmly in the solid heart of the people. / CHAPTER XXL THE GREATER COMMUNITY FORMING ITSELF INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 1775-1783. In the seventeenth century, we found the impelling purpose of the colonists who settled these lands, organ ised living, and formed an orderly society, to be a pro found social impulse, religious, political, and economic, Towns and which manifested itself in the rapid development assemblies. 0£ numerous towns, perhaps the most consistent instruments of government the world knew at that time. These towns formed partial assemblies or colonial legisla tures, then gradually put forth powers trenching on those of Parliament, and seriously affecting the free exercise of the royal prerogative. In the Revolution, that social impulse underlying the New England town as a political entity, forming Communi- , . x 1 . ties and a the community, as 1 have termed it, was put- nation, j. -, , . . „ . ting torth a larger organism, — a union of the colonies, which ultimately worked out the imperial unity of the United States of America. This does not arro gate too much for the town. That was simply the best medium of a governing spirit which was deeper than any town, or than any one part of the American people. New England never could have accomplished independence alone. Virginia gave the larger motives which finally brought empire; and Washington, the god - descended individual who made a nation possible and brought in the state, was not and could not have been of New England. 1775-83.] THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 787 The great master of American history has said that the Declaration of Independence gave the American peo ple "a single and inspiring purpose."1 That Birth0Ithe purpose changed the people from an aggrega- oitizen- tion of fellows — male and female — into a vigorous, ag gressive society, which never rested until it became an organised body politic, a state. The individual citizen fighting in the Louisburg trenches, then bringing sugar from the West Indies in defiance of law, then suppress ing stamps and collectors in defiance of the crown, — this citizen had come to regard himself as a political as well as a trading animal. He cried out, Where is my state ? The family, church, nation, all are here ; where is my government, — the seat of power, the throne, whether royal or representative, to which I shall bow down in respectful and enduring allegiance ? The economic and social life that had been working itself upward for two generations, creating political grievances by the way, now burst the shackles of grievance and sprang forth from the Jove of Nations, — a spirit of liberty and of empire. It is true this spirit had to content itself with such earthen vessels as it found. Then, as always in our history, the spirit of the people was essentially larger than any persons or coteries which it embraced. Many times in the war, the inferiority of statesmen and the in competency of generals seemed about to overwhelm the high genius of the people, and to consign the country to disaster. But the same high purpose and impulse that started the country upon its mission prevailed over every mischance, doubt, and defeat, until triumph was assured. In fact, so little of this deeper purpose and stronger impulse, this fibre of a community, appeared on the sur face, or affected the common acts of individuals, Patriotism a that observers had denied its existence. I have 6l0W growth- cited 2 Burnaby, the learned and generally acute traveller. 1 Bancroft, U. S., v. 3. 2 See above, p. 755. 788 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. He saw, as he thought, " insuperable causes of weakness " which must inevitably prevent the growth of a great state on these shores. Once emancipated from British control, there would be civil war from " one end of the continent to the other," while the Indians and negroes would exterminate the surviving combatants. James Otis was sure that independent America would be "a mere shambles of blood and confusion." Patriotism was not created in a moment. The passion was born ; but patriotic strong-doing, — the transmutation of the grand, heroic forces into the small change of petty, popular ac tion — this, like all good work, had to be worked out with much hardship and minute detail. England had believed during the agitations begun by Grenville that the civilised needs of the colonists, so to speak, — the wants for clothing, luxuries, and refine ments, — would compel the rebels to return speedily to their wonted allegiance. In vain Franklin and the class of European observers like Burke told Parliament and the extreme advocates of royal prerogative that these expec tations were fallacious. A rich country, an ingenious and capable people, were not to succumb, enervated by the wants their own development of civilisation had created. Out of the patriotic impulse of the rising state, there was to come new invention and ready enterprise for supply ing the yawning necessities of a civilisation sundered by the rebellion from its natural supports in Old England. In manufactures the new citizens began at once to make the munitions of war. Clothing had been in- Manufac- creased considerably by the homespun efforts for several years, as we have seen. Gunpowder and its constituent saltpetre were made in many towns.1 Families were encouraged to preserve nitre in every pos sible way ; though the legislatures did not go as far as the early colonists who appointed " conscionable men " 1 Bliss, Rehobolh, p. 147 ; Smith, Newburyport, p. 82. 1775-83.] SOCIAL INDUSTRIES. 789 to superintend these processes of gathering saltpetre out of the domestic economy. Massachusetts offered boun ties on sulphur 1 to be extracted from native ores ; and powder mills 2 were erected at many points. Rhode Isl and 3 regularly inspected the powder made and encour aged by bounty within her borders ; she forbade the ex portation by land or water. General Howe thought "Linnen and Woolen Goods much wanted by the Rebels " 4 when he was preparing to evacuate Boston, and he ordered them carried away. But he knew as little of the industrial resources as his superiors knew of the political strength of the country. In the chapter describing the agitation caused by the Stamp Act, I noted in much detail the movements for producing textile fabrics for ordinary clothing. These impressed the popular mind exceedingly, and turned the skill and industry of the women of all classes to the pro duction of cloth as a domestic business. This social movement was so effective that it ceased to be a matter of particular record.5 The people were now clothed in their own garments as naturally as they were fed by their own Indian corn. We see that here and there the stimulus was occasionally applied to extraordinary pro duction, either in quality or quantity. About 1776, Miss Holt, in Andover,6 Mass., was paid 18s. for spinning 72 skeins, and 7s. lid. for weaving 19 yards of cloth. At East Greenwich,7 R. I., in 1777, Miss Eleanor Fry spun 7 skeins 1 knot of linen yarn in one day, a large product, 1 Mass. Arch., ccviii. 179. 2 Hist. New Haven, p. 88 ; N. Hamp. S. Papers, viii. 98. » R.I. C.R., viii. 19,428. 4 Howe's Proclamation, Mem. Hist. Bos., iii. 97. 6 See Mem. Hist Bos., iii. 150, where the social condition of Bos ton is described. Worcester had an association for spinning and weaving cotton in 1780. A jenny was bought by subscription and corduroy was woven. Barry, Mass., iii. 193. 6 Bailey, p. 578. 7 Greene, pp. 47, 55. 790 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. as the usual quantity was two skeins ; it would weave one piece of 12 lawn handkerchiefs of as good quality as those imported from England. The council of East Greenwich fixed the prices to be allowed in the depart ments of manufacture at this time, and the details are very interesting from various points in the economic per spective. Spinning linen or worsted, " 5 or 6 skeins per pound," should not exceed " 6c?. per skein of 15 knots," with finer work in proportion. Carded woollen yarn should be 6c?. per skein of 15 knots. Weaving " plain flannel or tow or linen should be five pence per yard ; common worsted and all linen, one penny per yard ; all other linen, like proportion." The difference in prices seems incomprehensible. The changed value of cotton since the Whitney gin Textiles in was introduced is a marvel in the history of detail- manufactures. The prices fixed by law in 1779 in the Anti-monopoly Acts, though unstable as against inflated currency, show the relations of values to one an other. Cotton was 3s. per lb. by the bag, or 3s. 8c?. per single pound. Plain dinners were Is. 6c?., supper or breakfast Is., lodging 4c?., shaving 3c?. One pound cot ton would buy two dinners, one lodging, " once shaving," and leave a penny over.1 The New Hampshire settle ment with her troops iu 1782 2 shows the kinds of cloth, etc., made for the use of the army. " White woolen cloth well mill and sheared once J wide 7s. per yd., 8-quarter blankets for soldiers 21s. per yd. Cotton or cotton and linen cloth | wide 25s. per yd. Tow and linen cloth one yard wide Is. 6c?. per yd. Linen cloth | wide for shirt ing for officers 5s. per yd. Good felt hats 5s." These prices were at or near specie values, as beef ranged in the same list at 2£c?. to 3^c?. per pound, according to the season. Governor Greene, in a letter to the Rhode Isl- land delegates in Congress December 22, 1781, enumer- 1 Coffin, Newbury, p. 256. a N. H. State P., viii. 9." 7. 1775-83.] MANUFACTURE OF CARDS. 791 ates the domestic manufactures. " Coarse woolens, blan kets, stockings, shoes and linen are manufactured here." 1 Probably this indicates the condition of manufactures for any district in New England. Contingent to clothing was the manufacture of wool- cards,2 their use being almost the mainspring of home spun industry. Bishop3 says the making of them by hand began in Boston before the Revolution. Connecticut loaned £300 to Nathaniel Niles, of Norwich, for four years, and he began the making of wire for card-teeth, continuing it through the Revolution. It was the importance of these articles to the domestic in dustries which prompted the Connecticut Assembly to this action. Jeremiah Wilkinson manufactured them at Cumberland, Rhode Island. And R. Mathewson em ployed horse power in the manufacture at East Green wich 4 during the Revolution. Massachusetts granted in 1777, £100 bounty for the first 1,000 lbs. "good mer chantable card-wire" made before January 1, 1779, by a water-mill within her own territory, out of iron made in any " of the United American States." 5 The grant was made to any one who has erected or shall erect " such a mill." Rowley 6 had a mill for drawing wire run by the Spoffords " at the commencement of the Revo lutionary war." Massachusetts fixed the price of bloomery iron at 30s. per hundred weight in 1777, on the petition of "Middle- ton " manufacturers, claiming that they had made iron since 1728 equal to " Philadelphia refined iron." 7 They brought evidence to prove this. The price was deemed so exorbitant that dealers petitioned for its i R. I. C. R., ix. 503. 2 See bounties given, New Hampshire S. P., viii. 777. 8 Hist. Manufactures, i. 497. 4 Greene, p. 57. 5 Mass. Arch., clxxxii. 77. 6 History, p. 413. ' Mass. Arch., clxxxii. 147 ; ccxiii. 100. 792 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. reduction. Rhode Island1 in the same year fixed" refined iron " at 50s. per hundred, " bog or brittle " iron at 39s. She gave £60 bounty per gross ton for " good German Steel " made within the state. Some attempts at mining and refining lead — a metal so necessary and timely — were made in Connecticut. At Stafford, in Connecticut,2 a new furnace for casting hollow ware, etc., was started by John Phelps in 1779.3 It produced 80 to 120 tons per year, of excellent quality, by the end of the century. Away onward to Maiue the impulse to make iron — the circulating blood of industrial life — extended itself. The legislature granted in 1778 £450 to Rev. Daniel Little, to aid in erecting at Wells a building 35 X 25 feet to be used in manufacturing steel. There was a furnace and a forge also. The attempt failed, but the town made iron in 1781, as they could not get it from abroad.4 Gun factories sprang up. One at Sutton, Mass., was converted, after the peace, to the manufacture of scythes, Manufacture axes> etc Such was the general course of the of arms. shops f or making arms after civil war. Leices ter had a " famous gunsmith, Thomas Earle," claimed to be the equal of any in the country. Springfield, long kept in fear of Indian raids, had now become a safe inland post, convenient of access for New England and the Middle States. It was well adapted for an arsenal and place for manufacturing arms. Artisans began this work in private shops, until in 1778 or 1779 the Con gress established works on their present site. Cannon were cast and forging was done there. Small arms were not made until after the peace. The present national armory was established there in 1794, and has affected 1 R. I. C. R., viii. 133, 240. 2 It was said (Bishop, Hist. Manuf, i. 516) that tinware was made at Berlin in 1770. s Trumbull, Ct., ii. 87. 4 Bourne, WeUs and Kennebunk, pp. 544, 717. 1775-83.] MAKING ARMS: ITS INFLUENCE. 793 favorably the industries and prosperity of the region around. Waterbury, Ct., — since become an important metal- working place, — took its start in the manufacture of small arms. Lieutenant Welton made them by hand during the Revolution, and furnished some to the national government. Connecticut had offered in 1775 a bounty of 5s. for each complete staud of home-made arms to the number of 3,000, and Is. 6c?. for each gunlock. In Rhode Island Stephen Jenks, of North Providence, made arms for the local companies as early as 1775. Sev eral other persons engaged in the same business, and a considerable number of muskets were made in the colony. The same persons engaged in making arms or munitions of war often turned their ingenuity to new devices and products needed by themselves or their neighbors in that dire time. The Wilkinsons, a most capable family of me chanics, who afterward did much iu developing Slater's cotton machinery, were especially stimulated to these ef forts. It was claimed * that the first cold-cut nail in the world was made in 1777 by Jeremiah Wilkinson, of Cum berland, R. I. He made tacks, cutting the forms with shears from an old chest lock : he then headed them in a vise. Sheet-iron and Spanish hoops were then taken into the shears, and the process was extended to small nails. Pins and needles he made from his own wire at the same time. Forging wrought nails was a common pro cess among blacksmiths and farmers. Thomas Hazard, in his minute diary, frequently notes his nail-making. He forged the tools and then made the nails. He mentions especially "nail tools and hammer," also " shingle - nail tools " and " planking-nail tools." 2 As the seaports suffered in foreign commerce, so the in land towns 3 increased by these rough-and-ready industries, 1 Arnold, R. I., ii. 69. a Narragansett H. Reg., i. 9?. 3 See decline of New London and rise of Norwich. Caulkins, N. L., p. 536. 794 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. / instituted by the changes and necessities of war, and often V Cornstalk stimulated by bounties. Among the enforced molasses. expedients, the scarcity of sugar compelled the manufacture of molasses from cornstalks in 1776 and 1777. Apparently, after the privateers cut into the West India commerce with a frequency next to regularity, this poor substitute for sweets of the cane was abandoned. But it was tried in all parts of the country.1 Colonel Samuel Pierce notes his experience. They ground the stalks, then boiled the juice to a thick molasses. It was also distilled into rum. The best report was " tartish," and "better for puddings than for any other culinary use," a moderate comparative negative. The maple-tree was a better competitor with the sub-tropical cane. A man and boy could collect sap for 500 lbs., a man with two boys 700 lbs. of sugar in a season, and the boiling was done by women.2 This has been a permanent article for con sumption and commerce. Rhode Island fixed the prices3 of sugar in 1777 at Is. 6c?. per hundred for refined loaf, and Is. 8c?. by the single loaf. Colonel Pierce quotes the price 7s. per pound in 1778. Other prices cited by the garrulous col onel are interesting.4 He sold hay at $6 a hundred, — " intolerable ; " in February, 177|, at $ 9 ; again, in No vember, at $20. The upward flight of the currency had now exhausted his adjectives. In 1780 he sold English hay at £33 per hundred, and bought a new clock for £21 "hard money." In 1778 lime was $30 a hogshead; in 1776 the Rhode Island kilns sent it by the cargo from Providence to Boston.6 We note a paper-mill in New Hampshire, a snuff-mill 1 Hist. Dorchester, p. 368 ; Hist New Haven, p. 94 ; Felt, Ipswich, p. 100. 2 Belknap, N. H., iii. 113-116. a R. /. C_ Rj viii. 133. 4 Hist Dorchester, p. 369. 6 Mass. Arch., ccv. 135. 1775-83.] POWDER AND BULLETS. 795 in Rowley, Mass., and a chocolate - mill in Dorchester ; 1 and salt bounties in Massachusetts for home production. The business of our citizens, after supplying immedi ate necessities from their home products, drifted Suppiymg almost insensibly into efforts for supplying our the troops- troops directly or indirectly. Patriotic adventurers and merchants brought in gunpowder early, before the colonial assemblies were ready to act on any general plan of resist ance. Mr. Shaw, of New London, in December, 1774, offered a fast-sailing vessel of his own to the legislature for this purpose. With the legislative order he obtained 600 half-barrels of powder from the French West Indies.2 John Brown, of Providence, the hero of the Gaspee affair, sent out his own vessel to the West Indies and brought in powder. Some of this importation, it was said, reached our army during or directly after the action at Bunker Hill. On the other hand, the king's friends plotted as well as fought. Governor Tryon, of New York, paid three Eng lish gunsmiths thirty guineas for their passage to Eng land, twenty guineas additional, and promised them em ployment in the king's armory. He persuaded thera against " the execution of purposes contrary to the feel ings of their natures, as Englishmen, in the present un natural rebellion." 3 The governor was told that there was only one more workman in America capable of " gun- welting," but he was misinformed probably. The towns turned everything available into army sup plies. Lead weights in the meeting-house windows 4 were taken from the tabernacle and run into bullets to be fired against the king's mercenaries. Stockings,5 so much 1 Prov. Pap. New Hamp., viii. 721 ; Hist Rowley, p. 413 ; Hist. Dorchester, p. 623 ; Mass. Arch., ccxiv. 387. 2 Caulkins, New London,- p. 508. 3 Doc New York, viii. 647. * Butler, Groton, p. 259. 5 R. I. C. R., viii. 332. 796 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. needed by poorly supplied troops, would be apportioned to towns on requisition. Collectors bought or impressed them as opportunity offered. " Good yard- wide, whitened tow cloth " was obtained in the same way. A specimen order given a vessel from Boston to St. Eustatia in 1777 2 calls for 500 firearms with bayonets, 500 soldiers' blankets, 50 barrels gunpowder, 200 pieces raven duck or tent cloth, 300 pounds twine, 60 casks nails. If these articles were not to be had, then Russia duck or cordage would do ; this would fit a privateer, and she would bring in everything desirable. Large ventures in commerce and manufacture were un. Armybusi- dertaken, based on the constant needs of the ness- government and its armies. Barnabas Deane & Co.3 was a typical firm. The principal partner was a brother of Silas Deane, while General Nathanael Greene and Colonel Wadsworth, commissary general of the United States Army, were silent partners. There is no evidence that official position was used in any illegitimate way. Greene and Wadsworth furnished most of the capital em ployed, and the firm operated largely in Philadelphia, as well as other places. They were general operators, though dealing chiefly in staples and manufactures needed for the army, or which could be exchanged for provisions and forage. They bought or bartered wool, grain, homespun fabrics, etc. They had distilleries for domestic rum and " Geneva ; " failed in running saltworks, and succeeded with gristmills. They imported salt from the Bermudas, and were interested in one or more privateers. The business of the struggling states would have been difficult enough if they had known how to convert their actual resources, and to apply them in consolidated ef- 1 R. I. C. R., ix. 534. 2 Mass. Arch., ccv. 179. 8 J. H. Trumbull's account in Mag. Am. Hist., July, 1884, pp. 17-28. 1775-83.] BAD FINANCIAL MEASURES. - 797 fort by definite fiscal methods to the work in hand. But financial science was not matured then, while Bad fiscal such methods as were known found little favor methods- in the sparsely settled districts of the United States. The work of the Revolution was immensely aggravated by the wretched administration of the currency, — the enforced travel on the quaking bogs of paper money. The doings of the individual states in paper were bad, those of the United States were worse. At the outbreak "of the Revolution the New England governments had issued paper money, as we have seen, for immediate use. Massachusetts proposed a convention in 1776, and, at the call of Rhode Island for a " council of war," committees from all the New England States met at Providence J on Christmas Day to consider the currency.2 This convention undertook to regulate prices, to encourage taxation and loans, and strongly recommended that the states issue no more paper " unless upon a critical contin gency." These resolves had little practical effect, and another convention, with New York in cooperation, met at Springfield in the following year. It proposed to sink all paper money, and to provide for both local and war ex penditures by quarterly taxes. This action did not bring the required money into the public treasuries. The pressure of public sentiment was brought to bear for enforcing the circulation of paper. A coun- Forced oir. tryman was beaten in the streets of Salem 3 for culat1011- refusing paper in exchange for his hard-earned meat. Neither individual nor social despotism can control the pocket. By 1778 the whole system of currency had broken down hopelessly. People looked to Europe and foreign alliances for loans which would bring in currency, i R. I. C. R., viii. 97. 2 The exchange on London, October 9, 1775, was at 15 per cent. Amory Letters in MS. 8 Felt, ii. 193. 798 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. and enable them to do business through the new supplies of expected money. But the foreign money did not come soon enough, nor freely enough, for the economic wants the void in the pub lic credit had created. Continental as well as state paper flooded the land, debtors paying their obligations in bills worth hardly five per cent, of their face value. Trade, when not in the form of barter, became mere chance. Shrewd creditors waited long for their debts until the con tinental bills should lose their quality of legal tender. By 1780 1 the towns were voting " hard money " to the soldiers, and in some instances taxes were collected in beef or silver money, at the option of the payer. Con tinental money was now forty to one, as shown in the rent of the Vassall house,2 at £2,600 in that paper, equal to £65 specie. But Haverhill3 did not stop receiving paper for taxes until 1781. It then had over ten thou sand pounds in the treasury, valued at seventy-five for one. Mr. Jonathan Amory4 says, December 16, 1780 : " Every body asks silver or Gold or paper, as they please, paper having been for a considerable time at 75 pr ct ; goods bring three for one." Bancroft 5 gives the value of the dollar, " buoyed up by the French alliance," in 1778 at 20c. It fell to 12Jc. in January, 1779 ; to 5c. in April ; to 2^c. in December. The United States opened loan offices in the four New England States which received continental bills at par, and issued debt certificates bearing six per cent, inter est.6 But the interest was not paid. At first they circu lated at par.7 1 Barry, Hanover, p. 127 ; N. H. S. P., viii. 128. 2 Proc Mass. H. S. 1884, p. 324. 3 Chase, p. 434. 4 MS. Letters. 8 Hist. U. S., ed. 1885, v. 440. 6 Ibid., v. 290 ; R. I. C. R., ix. 318, 479. 7 Bos. Eve. Post, Oct. 23, 1779. 1775-83.] CONSTANT DEPRECIATION. 799 While the French army and navy were disbursing funds, some exchange was afforded for liquidating indebt edness in Europe. We see the friendly livres shining through the correspondence of merchants, as they are sent over to offset the unfriendly pounds, shillings, and pence. The currency, as a medium of value at home and for ex change abroad, was a continual and varying perplexity to merchants. Bills of exchange as then prevalent were not positive values abroad, for they might be and Disordered often were protested ; then they came home, to excnanees- be accounted for in paper much poorer than was paid for them originally. Paper was a legal tender; but goods were perishable, subject to the risks of a fluctuating war. When Massachusetts passed her " Depreciation Act," it gave confidence for the time, and merchants moved more freely. Yet they did not realise their expectations, since they sold their good merchandise and their collections were poor as before. When paper money broke down altogether, another impulse was given to trade, but the contracts thus initiated were but seldom made good. Finally the General Court of Massachusetts x passed a "Tender Act," enabling debtors to turn over in ..Tender their own county — be it in Kennebec or Berk- Aet-" shire — to the sheriff, at appraisal, any cattle, grain, deal boards, or other produce, in payment of debts. This completed the vicious circle of transmutation from cur rency into no currency. It is pathetic to read the doubts and struggles of men as they were sorely tried in the unwholesome economic measures of these times, " so many regulating Bills & Acts forcing us to sell for this wicked paper." Good patriot ism and bad economics were mixed inextricably. Mr. Jonathan Amory2 said, "A good proportion of the money I took for debts was not worth one third, and before I had a chance to lay it out, perhaps not one sixth of what I had taken it for." » Barry, Mass., iii. 222. 2 MS. Letters. 800 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN [1775-83. If such were the difficulties and anxieties of the citizens and constituent members of the new state, we may imagine The Loy- tne greater trials of those children of the old — aiists. yet dwelliiig in the new — England who were oppressed by the grinding force of the Revolution, and finally driven into exile. The unhappy Loyalists sinned, but from the nature of the case they were sinned against. That chief virtue, the foundation and stay of states, — love of country, — was turned against itself in these unhappy persons. This was in the beginning. As the action devel oped, everything severe in government, everything base in humanity, contributed to harass and oppress them. Sin cere they must have been, or they would not have sacri ficed their property on the frightful altars of confiscation. While we must sympathise with the struggling patriots and approve their general course in holding the Tories sternly to account during the contest, history must note their unfortunate error when the war closed. The ban ishment of some thousands of former Loyalists to Nova Scotia strengthened the old country at the expense of the new. No compensating advantage could atone for this wholesale expulsion and deportation of superior persons and families. The British Parliament gave them nearly fifteen and one half millions of dollars 1 with which to start life again. We are mainly interested in the social and economic Effects of effect of this partition of the tissues of the body banishment, politic. Like the immensely greater movement of the Huguenots out of France, it was an incident of the highest social importance, and its consequences were fated and fatal. The districts losing most of this emigra tion suffered most in the end. The states confiscated the estates of these malignants, who fled during the war. Rhode Island passed an act in 1779, and further cut off the dower of the widows of absentees in 1780.2 Some 1 Sabine, Am. Loyalists, p. 111. 2 R. I. C. R., ix. 139, 252. 1775-83.] EXPENSIVE BANISHMENT. 801 thirty-five men are named in this act, and classified accord ing to their vocations. Probably the list is somewhat typical, and indicates the drift of this movement. There are classified and denominated 17 merchants, 7 gentlemen or esquires, 4 mariners, 3 yeomen, 2 traders, 1 clerk, 1 cordwainer. The proportions are significant. When we consider what society pays in getting out a merchant or a gentle man, any wholesale excision or slaughter of -. . -, . . . TT , Social waste. these social integers is expensive. How much of life a mariner holding property on shore, and suffi cient in himself to attract legislative notice, must have lived and undergone in working out his career ! Quick intelligence, education, and culture are the rewards of organised societies. The then merchant, or the corre sponding economic exponent in any time, — the exploiter of economic life, its capitaliser, — is in himself a " clear ing-house " of culture. Just as coin and currency need a fiscal centre for exchange, an economic ganglion where vital forces concentrate and strike out anew in their round of creative power, so society has to condense its vibrating tissues into individual men and women, to be put forth in new social issues. The merchant in his strength may lack grace, but he is none the less the opportunity of grace in others. He upholds the social framework by sturdy work in business, in order that others may play in the graces and elegances of life. The banished Americans in England suffered the dis tractions which the loss of one home and ill- Weary ban. fitting nature of another occasioned to them. lshment- They were " sick at heart and tired of a sojourn among a people who after all are but foreigners." Poor Curwin, after some two years' compulsory residence in England, said, " Nothing but the hopes of once more revisiting my native soil has hitherto supported my drooping courage." 1 1 Curwin's Journal, p. 161. 802 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. On the other hand, some changes produced by confisca tion brought out the ironies of liberty and bondage. This story of the Vassall slave excited the humor of the great jurist Shaw, who related the tradition.1 The large Vas sall estate was confiscated, and when the commissioners were offering the homestead at public sale, an old black servant, " Tony," stepped forward, saying he was no " Tory, but a friend of Liberty ; having lived on this estate all my life, do not see why I should be deprived of my dwelling." In Rhode Island, the confiscated estates of the Tory ab- Connsca- sentees were assigned to the officers and soldiers tion. 0£ tne state contingent in the continental army. In 1780, when the general breakdown in the currency occurred, the Assembly agreed 2 to pay the soldiers one quarter of their " wages " in specie, three quarters in lands of the Royalists at appraised values. The accounts were known as " depreciation accounts," and were settled by committees of the General Assembly in 1781 and 1782. Greene's, Sherburne's, and Angell's regiments especially received large quotas of land. Among the forfeited es tates,3 one belonging to Governor Thomas Hutchiuson, of Massachusetts, containing 640 acres, was valued at £7,306.19 in silver ; Isaac Royal's Mount Hope Farm at Bristol, 385 acres, stood at £4,512, silver; Charles Ward Apthorp's farm in Jamestown, 384 acres, at £5,196, sil ver ; Isaac Lawton's house at Ne-wport, on a lot 59x45 feet, near the State House, at £396.14.6, silver. Prices of commodities during this witches' dance of the paper currency went beyond all ratios of reason Deprecia- L x ^ , J tion of cur- and into the uncertain regions of chance. The rency. ° so-called acts "against monopoly and extor tion," 4 made in the beginning to give artificial circula tion to the paper, failed utterly in their effects. This fail- 1 Proc. M. H. S., 1858, p. 66. 2 R. I. C. R., ix. 270. 8 R. I. C. R., ix. 324, 391-392, 618. 4 See Felt, Mass. Currency, p. 170. 1775-83.] GRIEVOUS DEPRECIATION, 803 ure was due solely to inherent economic causes. There was no lack of political or social support for the laws. Some towns met and passed unanimous resolutions accept ing them, and promising observance.1 All who lived on salaries or settled incomes suffered especially by deprecia tion. Dr. Ezra Ripley, settled at Concord in 1778, in his " Half Century Discourse " gives a graphic account of his trials : " With all his exertions in various ways, as teach ing scholars, manual labor, &c, your pastor could not have waded through, had it not been for a particular event in Providence, and the long credit given him by one benevolent trader (Deacon John White) in town."2 When Massachusetts fixed her scale of depreciation, his parishioners made up, as far as they could, the losses suf fered by their pastor. In 1778 Machias 3 engaged to pay Rev. Mr. Lyon " either in cash or other specie, as we shall subscribe." These were the sums agreed in pounds, shillings, and pence. Others were payable in boards and shingles, while Mr. Samuel Rich made a standard for him self, exceeding in psychologic possibilities all the efforts of the modern " fiat-money " advocates. He " will give as much as he finds himself willing." Thus the methods of adjusting contracts varied in different districts. It is impossible to follow, within these limits, the course of prices,4 as they changed with the varying standards of these years,5 initiated as they were by necessary custom 1 Coffin, Newbury, p. 256. a Dr. Ripley, Half Century Discourse. 8 Smith, Hist. Sketch, p. 143. 4 See, for prices, History Rowley, p. 267 ; and N. H. S. P., viii. pp. 128, 927 ; Chase, Haverhill, p. 434. 6 See Bancroft, ed. 1885, v. 290, vi. 70, 168 ; Felt, Mass. Currency, Tables of Depreciation, pp. 186, 196; Belknap, N. H., ii. 226, 426 ; R. I. C. R., ix. 254, 281 ; N. H. State P., viii. 858 ; Bronson, Hist. Cur rency in Conn. Mass. Arch., cxlii. 104, quotes for 1777 : Tobacco, £80 to £90 per cwt. ; indigo, £3 to £6. (sic) ; rice, £28 to £30 per cwt. ; pot ashes, £22 to £25 per cwt. ; pearl, £50 to £55 per cwt. ; flaxseed, 40*. to 50s. per bu. 804 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. and enforced by halting legislation. When the paper was passing, as in 1779, articles of food and European goods or luxuries were highest in price, while labor, and articles readily produced by domestic labor, were moderate in their ratio. For example, according to standards of 1776 and 1779, corn, rye, and beef, sold at 1 in the first period, brought 22 to 24 in the second ; labor was 1 and 18 ; hay 1 and 10; men's shoes 1 and 16. In 1781, as the currency was passing out and the standard was 1 to 75, commodi ties brought enormous prices : shoes £20 per pair, milk 15s. per quart, potatoes 96s. per bu., pork 60s. per lb., rum 45s. per pint, corn $40. per bu., a cow $1,200, etc. At the Revolution, the habits and domestic economy Houses and OI tne people were as they had been gradually habits. developed during a half century of prosperous living. The frame houses, their upright walls covered with clapboards, the roofs shingled, — all handsome, safe, and comfortable, readily and cheaply built, — attracted the favorable notice of European observers. The Abbe" Robin 2 thought them much superior to those of the Old World " in neatness and salubrity." That a house could be moved bodily from its foundations and transferred to another street or town seemed more wonderful to him than the travelling houses of the nomadic Scythians. Anbury 2 remarked on the great number of houses half finished, one half covering the rough frame merely. A man would build and occupy the first half ; then, when his son married, the new couple finished and settled in the second half. The families lived distinct, but protected by one roof. In the cities the colors used in painting then were white or pale yellow, but in the country the farmhouses were generally painted red, or weather-beaten to the nat- 1 New Travels through N. A. He was a chaplain under Bocham- beau in 1781. 3 Travels in America, p. 262. 1775-83.] THE AMERICAN FARMER. 805 ural gray. He speaks of the supports as " a wall about a foot high." But in many districts, in the middle of the last century, the houses were not " underpinned " except at the corners, where they rested on stones. The word is a curious double survival from the times when all dwell ings rested on a pile of some sort. " Underpinning " meant in New England, not its first and obvious deriva tion, but it meant the laying of stones for a foundation. In Boston, though the floors of many houses were car peted, some were still sprinkled with fine sand, character of Throughout the land, each home contained with- Pe°Ple- in itself " almost all the original and most necessary arts." The adaptability of the New Englander, the ready power of fitting his capacity to the work in hand, much impressed our Abbe". That a farmer could be an artisan in the most essential features, that a housewife or maiden — not rough ened by outdoor labor — could be deft in spinning or weaving, filled him with natural wonder. More signifi cant still was the conception formed by the Frenchman of this democratic lord of the soil, in comparison with the dependent peasants of Europe. The rural American, with slight opportunities for education, formed himself in the mould of a larger manhood. With less manners than the serving member of a feudal community, he had greater moral force and sounder moral integrity. Anbury, a British officer, studying the people about the same time, did not comprehend the inherent powers of this freeman, whose appearance — often eccentric — he carica tures. He laughs at the wayfarer mounted on a slender, meagre horse, bestrode by long legs hardly reaching the longer stirrups. Above was "his long, lank visage,"1 behind were the saddle-bags, in front were provision bags, and on the shoulder of this restless pioneer was a blazing iron to mark his way through the untracked forests. The painful bridle-path of these constant travellers, 1 Anbury, Travels in America, p. 219. 806 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. was pushed through to the Pacific coast in the lifetime of that lank pioneer's child. Iron rails followed, and ere a century lapsed the greatest network of railway and water communication the world knew, was stretched over the fair land. The lank visage looked out from a brain that was not weak and attenuated, however defective it might be. That brain has forged out an empire, and solved problems of government nowhere else matured and worked out in the history of the world. The foreign officers could not abide the puritanical observance of the Sabbath1 still enjoined by these ear nest workers. Committee-men stopped their travelling, and finally they compromised by attending religious ser vices at their own barracks. Yet the positive and negative testimony of the French and the English observer all looks toward the same end, Quick inge- a^ reveals the quick capacity of the people. nmty. rpne marvellous ingenuity of Joel Hawey's mill at Sharon, Ct.,2 where by water-power wheat was threshed and winnowed in one set of rooms, ground and bolted in another, where hemp and flax could be broken and dressed, impressed the English critic, just as the excel lence in shipbuilding was everywhere apparent. The inventive mind, the skill and mechanical dexterity manifested, in applying the mind to common business, as appeared in the eighteenth century, has been recorded in many resulting inventions, of which we see an instance in Hawey. There were other men, hovering between the practices of agriculture and of mechanical industries, who never achieved the fame of inventors. They were social links between the true artisan of mediaeval life and the modern mechanic, the follower of a machine. Every hamlet had a blacksmith of this type, and many districts nurtured men of superior powers — Tubal Cains of Saxon stock — who mastered the industrial problems of 1 Anbury, Travels in America, p. 63. 2 Ibid., p. 260. 1775-83.] NAILER TOM HAZARD. 807 their neighborhoods with ready brains and skilful hands. A fragmentary diary of one of these modest workers in the great drama of American civil- Tom Haz- ard." isation has been preserved. Thomas B. Haz ard lived at the hamlet now Peace Dale, R. I., in old Narragansett, in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Thirty-two of his lineage shared this name Thomas, and he was distinguished therefrom as " Nailer Tom." " Col lege," "Barley," "Fiddle Head," "Pistol," "Tailor," " Long (as well as Short) Stephen's," were some of the fanciful epithets marking these Tom Hazards in the Nar ragansett of this period.1 A Quaker, restless and roving about the neighboring districts in his youth, he sharpened his notable faculties for observation, and accumulated the knowledge of men which shaped his political management in his mature years. He did not seek or hold office, but was a most influential politician — a local Warwick — who rode his _ own little state, after she entered in the Union, in the interest of the Anti-Federal party. A delightful talker, with the true genius of conversation, he interested alike young or old, cultivated or simple, as they listened late at night to his narrative or argument, his stores of fact lighted up by a fanciful imagination. One who knew his traditional repute wonders at the dry and vfork.not meagre details, such a man set down in his worda- diary.2 But that is significant of the man and his time. Then words were for the moment, work was for all time. A diligent reader, who must have reflected much at his daily tasks when he recorded himself, he set down his deeds, rather than the words of himself, or thoughts shared with other men. The diary dates from June 21, 1778, to August 18, 1781.3 In the first year he labored four weeks at Oziel 1 Updike's Narragansett Church, p. 247. 2 Narragansett Hist. Reg., i. 291. « Ibid., i. pp. 28-41, 167-179, 277-285. 808 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. Wilkinson's, at Smithfield, R. I., receiving three oxen for his pains. This was a central school for tool-using ; there were no better adepts or teachers than the Wilkinsons. Shortly after, in January 1779, he worked about ten days at " Congdon's shop," in Newport, in making bridle-bits. This was a special industry, much needed among the horsemen and horsewomen of his native district. Evi dently the Newport artisans would give the most elegant turn to this article, so necessary in a farmer's or gentle man's outfit. These districts had numerous residents of both kinds. The Wilkinsons, descended from a Cromwellian soldier, extended their inventive genius, in the person of a female descendant, into the mysteries of the spiritual world. Jemima, " the Universal Friend, a new name which the mouth of the Lord hath named," was pursuing Jemima Wil- , . . .. , , , . -, . kinson, the her mission of prophetess and miracle-worker at Judge William Potter's in the northerly part of South Kingstown. She evinced a powerful personality, and showed many characteristics of a natural leader of people. It is pretty well agreed that Jemima, like other modern enthusiasts, thought that she could work miracles. The consequences of this thought were, that many fam ilies were broken up, many estates were sacrificed, and many disciples finally emigrated to Yates County in New York.1 There a community was founded, and the thau- maturgist lived in peace and plenty until she died con veying her property to individuals for the use of the " Society of Universal Friends," by a testament signed with a mark. Potter, the chief justice of common pleas in Washington County, R. I., built an addition of four teen rooms to his large house near Kingston for the accom modation of Jemima and her followers. He was a mag nate intelligent and cultured. He went to New York State with the other deluded disciples, but returned to an 1 Updike, N. Church, pp. 231-238. 1775-83.] HE REJECTS JEMIMA. 809 estate embarrassed by his expenditures. He finally sold out, and emigrated again to the Genesee country. Hazard, a follower of the true inward light, was in quisitive enough to seek out this strange offshoot from George Fox's tree, that came so near his daily life. Ac cordingly he " went to hear Jemima at Champlain's and dined at William Potter's thence to Champlain's." The canny Quaker gives no sign of his own impressions, ex cepting the negative one that he did not follow her. Wil liam Potter, his host, was the judge, and a chief apostle of the mystic woman. It is likely that the host and cred ulous lawyer argued the mysteries with the shrewd and wiser blacksmith in vain. Two months after working on the bridle-bits at New port, he began " keeping house with George," his brother, and to work in George's shop. He worked . ™ -, . . -, . Daily habits. there tor his own account, though sometimes he worked " for George " or for other persons. Like all the blacksmiths, he " split " or " drawed " rods and made nails, as his nickname indicates. But this common work filled the time when he had not in hand locks or keys, latches or hinges, skates, shovels, or any of the varied household utensils of iron. While at his brother's he re cords the changing of the ear-mark of Thomas Hazard's sheep. This ear-mark was an important link in social organisation. In later days, a shifty sheepowner adopted a lopped ear as his private mark. It was surmised that ears bearing his neighbors' marks sometimes fell under his enterprising knife. In any event, in disputed cases, he had the convenience and the inconvenience of "no documentary evidence." Toward, the end of June, 1779, Hazard closed accounts with George, and set up his own shoj) on a larger scale. Books are mentioned occasionally. Evidently Hazard's he did not record all he read, for he was quick readms- in turning the pages. He finished the first volume of the 810 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. " History and Adventures of Joseph Andrews," and be gan the second during the same day. " Agricola " proba bly took more time. In the autumn of 1780 he was very ill ; after this he enlarged his means for working in his shop. He spent several days in making tools, and afterwards made an " upright drill stock " and a bellows. He had made a variety of tools previously for nail-making, — " shingle " and " planking " nails, etc. While George and Stephen, his brothers, were at work for him making deck nails, he put iron on the toes of his own shoes. " Chappell came here to work," either as a journeyman blacksmith or to produce in some other department of labor. He settles his own board " with Hannah and Pereginel Paine's," as if Paine were a workman of his also. There is always patient and reflective industry. Some times he made nails in the night. As soon as convales cent after his illness, he began to " read out the history of Joseph and his brethren," and after his recovery the notices of books are more frequent. Among them are " Prose and Verse for the use of Schools," " Memorial of America," " History of Colonel Church," " Robert Bar clay's Apology," "Bale's Dictionary," "John Churchman's Journal," "No Cross no Crown," "W. Penn's Morals," " Anson's Voyage." " Reflections on Courtship and Mar riage " only confirmed him in his single and often singu lar state of life. He read the " Theory of the Earth con cerning the Conflagration." The list indicates the general reading of the day, with a slant toward the especial litera ture of the " Friends." Our blacksmith had the best op portunities for self-education. He lived for a time at his uncle Redwood's in Mendon, Mass., and afterwards vis ited Dr. Willard in Uxbridge, who was one of the most accomplished men of his district. Hazard went in 1781 to the " General Meeting " in Pennsylvania. There is little evidence of positive and immediate effect 1775-83.] DEEDS GREATER THAN WORDS. 811 from the great Revolutionary struggle, which was wasting some districts, and which held poor Newport in cruel bonds. Of course they felt the confusion the Revoiu- of prices, and the pressure which forced their savings into " Loan office certificates." But the working out of the momentous Revolution does not appear in these lines. He notes the movements of privateers, and an entry of forty-six sail into Newport is a local event which gets a record. So does the death of De Tierney and the entry of Washington into Newport, with the illumination of the town. While Washington toiled with his mighty patience, and the marplots of an inefficient Congress de ranged his work, throughout the land the farmers and blacksmiths ploughed and hammered, the women plied spindle and distaff, and nurtured their families in the daily round of plain home living. The consistent Quaker's inconsistent non-resistance gave him little opportunity of playing the larger part of a whole citizen in the great drama that was developing an empire. Like Nathanael Greene, he must doff the straight collar and uniform himself with patriots and heroes if he would sink the Quaker in the man. But we admire the writer of this plain diary. In these days of voluminous writ ing and printing, men spin out every emotion of their puny hearts into gossamer threads stretching far beyond the crack o' doom ; they magnify every deed of their own into a Himalayan mount of egotism. It is wholesome to consider that men just as intelligent as we are, doing their plain duty, forged a shingle-nail with the same skill which yields a Nasmith trip-hammer, and with the invin cible, immortal integrity that balances one world with an other, and that rolls the universe straight forward in its grooves. Block Island, located as it was, became debatable ground between Great Britain and America, while the royal fleets controlled our coasts. While " Nailer Tom " 812 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. was hammering iron into tools and utensils on the shore, Block island skipper John Rose was running The Dolphin experience. £rom tne is\an([ to Newport to carry small sup plies of produce, and bring back such necessary articles as the inhabitants must have. These two -masted, " double -ender" boats peculiar to Block Island deserve a word of notice for themselves. No vessel ever triumphed more completely over the seas than this craft driven by her hereditary navigators. She was developed from the ancient pinnace, but was made simpler and much more effective. The keel, bearing one to four tons burden, was laid deep in the water, the bow and stern rising high on stem and sternpost set at an angle of 45°. Bow and stern nearly alike, — without a deck, — she ploughed deep in the trough and mounted high over the crests of the seas. Her sides were " lapstreaked " with cedar. Her masts, mere poles without stay or shroud, swayed with the fiercest winds, and seemed by their elas ticity to help in the lift over the plunging waves. Her crew were equal to their rare craft. Venturing into al most any weather, shifting their pebble ballast deftly as the fickle winds veered their course, they breasted the foaming waters in company with the gull or petrel. Tra dition claims that no one of these boats was ever swamped in the open seas. Sir Peter Parker had given a permit to The Dolphin, which she availed of, until stopped by our armed boats about one mile from Newport, September 9, 1779. Her documents 1 are an interesting revelation of the life of the island families as they quietly drank their tea, while the maidens made their furbelows in spite of King George or General Washington. Thomas Dickens sends 3 bush. " potaters ; " he wants one pound " tee," 2 oz. indigo, " and the Rest Shuger ; " the postscript calls for " a good pair of Sleaf Buttons for 1 R. I. Arch, at Providence. 1775-83.] LIFE ON BLOCK ISLAND. 813 myself, Brass." A little money was often sent with the produce, and the remittances did not always balance. Captain Rose must have had rather complicated accounts. Edmund Dodge, in return for his potatoes, wants " 2 gal lons of melasses one puter bason that olds 2 quarts and the Rest in rum." Daniel Mott, in two transactions, sends sheep, cheeses, potatoes, eggs ; and calls for a rennet skin, 1 bu. salt, 1 lb. tea, molasses, one |- pint glass, " Calico for one Collor and one hate for Edward felt with botens," " nif [always written for ' and if '] any thing more Lay it out in Rise." Samuel Dickens, after the usual groceries, asks for " 6 Shets of paper and three pipes, and I have sent half a genne." Again he sends " 9 Dollors " for tea and sugar. The farmers order also lath, shingle, and " clabbord " nails. The above articles, with a little red wood and cotton, comprise the list of masculine wants. The spelling on Manisses matched that upon the main and throughout New England ; it was no better, no worse. When we scan the feminine orders, the effect ,. -, £ . Hard block- of the Ion? blockade on the nerves of the fair ade for wo- . men. is more apparent than it is in the dry and curt demands of their husbands and brothers : — " Sir please to get me Six yards of Calligo such as you can get for a half Dollar a yard or if it is a little more I dont care do pray get it and dont fail get that is Dark that will do for a bed covering and get me one ounce of garlic thred one Chest lock and you will oblige your friend " Polly Sands " I have sent the Dollers for the Calligo and if you put a Doller to it it will pay it." Lydia Rathburn mingles luxuries for ornament with the useful articles she needs. " Sent eighteen shillings and seven pence and desire you would buy me a yard and a quarter of fine holland and one bottle of snuf and one Peace of french Lace and two yards of Corse holland 814 THE UNITED STATES BEGIN. [1775-83. and two quart basons and out of the eggs buy Checks for an apron and there is twenty shillings you must lay out in holland and Cambrick nedles." Again, Lydia must have 2 yards narrow white ribbon, 2 yards narrow red, and some " floured or spotted gose [gauze]." Gauze seemed to be an indispensable luxury: Sarah Dickens, with her allspice and tea, wants " gaus and a yard of Ribbin." For 9 chickens one female expects " one quartor of a yard of Sarsnet one nail of K, 2 cans [skeins] of hollon thred one yard and a half of bonnet trimmen half a Corter of Catgot half a Paper of Pins." Neither the simple manners of this isolated Arcadia nor the enforced abstinence of a blockade kept the buoy ant forms of the island maidens under sufficient control. Feminine To support themselves in their insulation they stays. must be stayed in the current fashion. So the fair Patience Dodge sends for " three quarters of a yard of Buckrum three quarters of whale Bone a yard and a half of caleminck yallow three Skanes of yallow Silk ten yards of white logrum [lockram]." There is only one order for " woolen," and that only three quarters of a yard ; the islanders clothed themselves in all that was necessary. This American people, — farmers, sailors, and artisans, spinners, weavers, and housewives, — together with their natural leaders, who made the Revolution and sustained it through arduous campaigns, now found themselves at peace with all the world. The war over, their worst troubles had just begun. The latent force of the Amer ican community inhered in the English families and townspeople who first landed on these Western Task of forming a shores. But this force had not been put forth government. • , , i> m the larger organs of government, when the spirit of the people arrayed the country in opposition to its head, the crown of England. To form a government, with powers adequate to the administration of an empire, 1775-83.] NEW TASKS FOR THE PEOPLE. 815 was a task far beyond the capabilities of the people act ing through any political methods then known in either hemisphere. This modulated popular dominion — freely delegated, yet held in control — required representative action in its highest possible expression. Before the peo ple were wise enough to make this effort, before they se creted governmental energy enough to endow a sovereignty greater than the king's, they must pass through the sever est ordeal, and be trained in several hard years of discor dant confusion little better than anarchy itself. CHAPTER XXII. THE COMMERCE OF THE CONFEDERATION. 1783-1789. The great struggle being ended, the treaty of peace signed at Paris September 3, 1783, consummated the sep aration of the colonies from their mother state, and the consequent formation of the United States of America. As soon as the war ceased, and the problems occasioned America and Dy *ne new conditions of government pressed Engian . up0n ministers and Parliament, the same eco nomic stolidity, the same lack of political sagacity, pos sessed the British statesmen that had alienated the colo nies. Though the American descendants of the English race had well mingled the blood of continental Europe in their veins, yet strong links bound them to the mother country. These links were broken because the English political system was not sufficiently developed to bear the strain, and no political leaders appeared comprehending the difficulty, or capable of enlarging the home govern ment to the demands of the occasion. When Parliament attempted to adjust their legislation to the new order of things across the seas, its action was no better. The Navigation Acts and the principle of the Sugar Acts still dominated the imagination of parliamen tary rulers. The commercial system of Great Narrow po- -p, . , .-..,.. uticaisci- .Britain was to be ruined, m their view, partly by the competition of the new state, but more by any innovation upon the system itself. Shelburne was the one man perceiving dimly the economic possibility, the future opening to unfettered manufactures and freer 1783-89.] ENGLISH MISTAKES. 817 trade ; and he was hampered by the childlike prejudices of Pitt and Fox. They were giants in the old politics, but children in that larger world of finance and trade which was to control the politics of the next century. The " nation of shopkeepers " had begun, then, the trade their great continental rival feared while he was ridicul ing it, yet their political leaders little comprehended the true sources of English power. Lord Sheffield, their most trusted adviser in commer cial affairs, said positively that the principle of the Navi gation Acts was as dear as Magna Charta. These were not purely economic heresies, or the mere sulking preju dices of defeated prerogative. They were blundering concepts resulting from misconceived political ideals. Mo nopoly and restriction filled the economic air, while the world of the intellect was widening daily in the new dis coveries from the new light of science. London traders thought Barbary pirates a providential blessing, because they helped to confine trade to the ships of those strong powers that could protect their flag. Small countries were commercial nuisances, in that they competed with British bottoms for the carrying trade. Among other things taught by the young America, early in the follow ing century, to the older powers, was the fact that it paid commercially to clear out Barbary pirates and ocean thieves. Collateral to this economic ignorance, there was a po litical mistake which aggravated it and deepened it. The British seemed unable to see the magnificent oppor tunities of trade opening to them in the rising empire beyond the seas. And why? Many, probably most, British thinkers, fully believed there was never to be a great nation or a greater nationality in America. Said Dean Tucker in 1781, a prophet of insight just sufficient to lead his fellows into folly : " Its being a rising empire, under one head, whether republican or monarchical, it is 818 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. one of the idlest and most visionary notions that ever was conceived even by writers of romance." The future was concealed from the wise, but it was revealed unto babes. These mistaken notions, both of polity and of the new industrial life just beginning to agitate the world, all together caused Great Britain to narrow her policy of commercial intercourse with the new state. Parliament left the virtual decision to the ministry of the crown. An Order in Council limited the trade between the United States and the British West Indies to British-built ships owned and navigated by subjects of Great Britain. These narrowing restrictions limited the commercial intercourse resumed after the war, and which might have Effect on been more extended had the conditions been commerce. more favorable. Ordinary commerce with the West Indies and with Europe was undertaken as soon as peace was assured. The country was hungry for the European luxuries which had been dear so long and in limited supply. The merchants imported freely, and, as usually occurs when the demand is unnatural, the market was soon overstocked. Sellers were even more imprudent than buyers, and English exporters forced their shipments on " unlimited credit " to America, this credit being a large factor in pressing out the over -supply of goods from England. A " manufacturer " writing in 1785 claimed that Germany, France, and Holland could not give the length of credit needed by America. French cloths and German iron would have been exported there if sufficient credit had been given. Not less than three millions of pounds sterling in manufactured goods had been sent from Great Britain to America since the peace. The average annual export to New England for five years before the war was £409,000. The annual return or im port was £384,000.x 1 Short Address by a Manuf'r on Trade, Great Britain with U. S., pp. 8, 15, Carter-Brown Library. 1783-89.] TRADE IS OVERDONE. 819 Money was scarce here, and some political difficulties soon aggravated the commercial condition. The states were not agreed in their action. Connecticut laid a tax of 5 per cent, on all goods imported from any other state, — a virtual prohibition of trade. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island all passed navigation acts forbidding exports in British bottoms. A discrim inating tonnage duty was laid upon foreign vessels. Glut succeeds famine. In the autumn of 1784, the stores of the importing and commission merchants were filled with European goods. Messrs. Amory, in Boston, stopped importing, and were offering goods freely at "2 or 3 per cent, over cost & charges." 1 In the summer of 1785, the usual consequences of a sur feit appeared. Goods could not be sold : country buyers could not pay for what they had bought, and responsible merchants were getting their debts extended in England. Colonel Febiger, of Philadelphia, made a trip of obser vation for business into New England, and informed his Danish correspondent, J. Sobotken, June 15, 1785, that he found in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Boston " an amazing Superfluity of all kinds of European goods." 2 The chief supplies were in the hands of British agents, which annoyed the resident citizens exceedingly. Why fight for political independence if British capital could control trade after the citizen was free? New York and Philadelphia were overstocked, but the glut was much worse in New England at that time. The Phila- delphian claimed that his own city was easily the first in trade, and "in fact governs the whole Marketts of this extensive Continent." There was no place east of Bos ton, in his opinion, where a cargo could be sold promptly for cash. Salem, and the lumber ports as far Cour8eof east as the Kennebec, were then dealing freely rommerce- with the West Indies in the old round of produce ex- 1 MS. Letters. 2 Mag. Am. Hist, viii. 351-355. 820 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. changes.1 Salem and the ports adjacent shipped also to the Western and Canary Islands, to the Mediterranean, London, and Holland. This round of commerce took in Nova Scotia and the fisheries, for the busy pursuers of the cod were swarming on the Grand Banks again.2 These communications brought a surplus of wines and West India produce into New England, and it was sent to New York and Philadelphia. The old coasting ex change was resumed, of fish and imported goods for natural products, with Maryland, Virginia, and the Car olinas. The men of Salem were among the pioneers in that greater commerce which was soon to open the little oriental known Antipodes to the American merchant trade- and mariner. A mystic charm impelled the movement. Always, since the Aryan hordes swarmed out from the mother continent, spreading over Europe, then over the new Americas, Oriental trade had at tracted the boldest and most venturesome spirits. The wealth of " Ormus and of Ind " drew the dealer in mer chandise first across sandy wastes on the camel's back, then, through Prince Henry's enterprise and Vasco da Gama's pluck, along the coasts, by the benighted conti nent, to the warm tropical seas beyond. Here silks, jewels, and spices, with aromatic tea and coffee, waited for the Aryan cousin voyaging back from the cold climes. Now, the last outgoers from the Aryan stream, the Americans from the last-subdued continent, were about to join the eager throng of visitors. These Yankee sail ors, pressing around either great cape, would bring back the rich Asiatic goods to the fishermen and corn-planters of the New England States. Massachusetts took her old place in the general for eign commerce.3 In 1783 they had begun to agitate 1 Felt, Salem, ii. 286 ; Bourne, Wells and Kennebunk, p. 759. 2 Roads, Marblehead, p. 200. 3 See 1 M . H. C, iii., and iv. p. 216. 1783-89.] A NEW ORDER OF MERCHANTS. 821 the China trade in Salem.1 In 1784 the Connecticut men mooted the same question, and asked for state aid in so large a venture, which the sturdy farmers in the legis lature wisely declined.2 In the same year Captain John Green sailed direct in the ship Empress from New York for Canton. In 1785 Elias Hasket Derby cleared his ship Grand Turk, Captain West, from Salem, for the Isle of France, and finally for Canton. She had been at the Cape of Good Hope on a moderately successful voy age in 1785.3 One purpose in that voyage had been to learn the actual wants and methods of the markets be yond. In this time of sorrow, the republic was in her moult ing season ; while painfully casting off the old separative notions of the colonial communities, she was Thegreat coming into her new national life through deep merchants- political agony. Her children were gathering force, and instructing themselves in this rising Oriental commerce which was soon to bourgeon forth in splendid growth. When the United States formed its constitution and based itself on solid political foundations, there were merchants found ready for the commerce which waited for their skilful hand. -The creative power of generalisa tion — that rare intelligence looking beyond fettered rou tine, yet holding fast the skilled discipline of custom — was in these men, who launched the old privateers, and swept the proud English commerce off the seas. Some of the vessels themselves were converted from privateers to Indiamen.4 The owners and masters needed no con version. The old New England moral strength had bred these men in her common life, but larger issues of world- life had developed the venders of fish and lumber into merchants. We pass from the Peter Faneuils, the negro i Felt, ii. 285, 291. 2 Conn. Arch., Trade and Mar. Aff., p. 163. 8 Hunt's Merch. Mag., xxxvi. 165. * Hunt's Am. Merch., ii. 17. 822 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. and rum dealers of the middle century, to the Derbys, Perkinses, Thorndikes, Browns, and the scores of names whose flag adorned the seas in the last decade. These men brought the far Eastern world home to its new counterpart in the West. Elias Hasket Derby — the senior of that name — sent The Astrea in 1789, commanded by Captain Magee, to Batavia and Canton. She was not a large ship, — she registered about 330 tons,1 — but she landed a cargo of great value at Salem in 1790. The "manifest," still preserved, was a document eight feet long, and under it duties were paid amounting to $27,000.2 On this voyage there went as supercargo Thomas H. Perkins, ThomasH. . , , r , °. . ^ Perkins and destined to make a deep impression on the com- others. . TT mercial record of the following century. He was a type of the merchants and ship-commanders whom Derby trained for the work. For more than a half cen tury commencing in 1792, when his partnership with his elder brother James began, Perkins carried on a great commercial business, chiefly to the northwest of America and thence to China and Boston.3 It was claimed in the early nineteenth century that no private firm in the world transacted more business in the China trade. There was no accident in the evolution of such a mer chant. His mother, widowed in 1771, took her husband's place in the counting-house, managed business, dispatched ships, sold merchandise, wrote letters, — all with such commanding energy that the solid Hollanders wrote to 1 The Massachusetts was said to be the largest vessel of her time, built in 1789. She was commanded by Captain Prince, having 75 officers and men, with 20 guns, pierced for 36. She was sold in Can ton for $65,000. JV. E. H. and G. Reg., xxvi. ; also Pattee, Brain tree, p. 493. 2 Essex Inst, v. 194; viii. 162. 8 Hunt's Amer. Merch., i. 3; Proc. Mass. H. S. 1791-1835, pp. 354-359. 1783-89.] RICH ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 823 her as to a man.1 In a whole family of merchants, the exceptional son of such a mother ought to have an ex ceptional career ending with a large fortune, and his met the natural expectation. His strong intellect, grasping a thorough knowledge of the detail of his business, could plan voyages on principles which ought to insure success. In the latter part of his life, he outlined the future course of the coffee market,2 at a difficult juncture, with a pre science which was better than divination. Another of Derby's privateersmen was Joseph Pea body.3 After the war he ran his own' schooner, The Three Friends. But he withdrew from the seas in 1791, becom ing a merchant. He built and owned 83 ships, freighting them all himself, and shipping over 7,000 seamen. His active business life included full sixty years. One of the first operators in the commerce of the Red Sea was Ebenezer Parsons,4 a younger brother of Chief Justice Theophilus Parsons. His vessels sent from Gloucester to the Indies carried large cargoes of coffee around to Smyrna, making large profits, sometimes 300 or 400 per cent. A strong character, passionate and hasty, but large-hearted and generous, he accumulated a consid erable fortune in his successful career. He began in pri vateering from Newburyport. This commerce around the world began under great difficulties. The modern instruments and appli- Great diffl. ances for laying the ship's course, and regulat- oulties- ing it with certainty, were then ill-developed and hardly known. On the other hand, the modern direction of a ship by electric cable, as she touches one port after an other, was then impossible. She sailed bearing written instructions elaborately studied by the projecting mer chant. These were made elastic and adaptable to the i Proc M. H. S. 1791-1835, p. 353. 2 Hunt's Amer. Merch., i. 82. 8 Ibid., 369-380. * Proc M. H. S. 1791-1835, p. 317. 824 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. possible contingencies of a world then dimly understood. The captain must have brains, for he had scant material aids in working forward his voyage. Even after 1800, a youth of nineteen sailed a ship from Calcutta to Boston with no chart whatever, except a small map of the world in Guthrie's geography.1 Men large enough to grapple with distant and un known difficulties must be gotten ready on the spur of the new demand. The old Yankee skipper, shrewd and long-headed, was the progenitor of these daring sors ot the officers, but his qualities, excellent in the smaller business of the seas, had to be supplemented by deeper and stronger characteristics. As Elias Hasket Derby studied shipbuilding to evolve larger and better models, so he trained the lads of eastern New England into men of a larger mould. He taught them for him self, giving up the leisure hours of his evenings to pains taking instruction. As Moltke trained that German staff which shattered imperial France, this American merchant filled these youths with his rich experience, and inspired them with his own large spirit of enterprise. The best he selected for supercargoes. If these developed the power of command and a large executive spirit, they be came shipmasters at last. Captain Cleveland, living until 1857, said of Derby that his " enterprise and commercial sagacity were unequalled in his day, and perhaps have not been surpassed by any of his successors." 2 Cleveland himself made a voyage, in which he, with his two mates, were all under twenty-one years of age. Like all grand commerce of the olden time, the China trade was a mighty round of small exchanges multiplied into the final freight of rich goods, which included all the Elaborate accumulated values that had gone before. For for oriental slx months before a Canton ship left Salem, a commerce. smaV[ fleet of brigs and schooners were plying 1 Hunt's Amer. Merch., i. 136. 2 Hunt's Merch. Mag., xxxvi. 178. 1783-89.] COURSE OF CHINA TRADE. 825 about and getting her with her cargo ready. They brought iron, hemp, and duck from Sweden and St. Petersburg,1 wine and lead from France, Spain, and Madeira, rum and sugar from the West Indies. Into these exchanges 2 there went fish, flour, and provisions, iron and tobacco, from New York, Philadelphia, and Virginia. An important part of the outfit was in ginseng and specie.3 In the early voy ages, neighboring merchants sent small ventures, paying from 20 to 33^ per cent, of their value as freight. The first ships brought back tea largely, and the market was soon overstocked. Coffee then became a better return. This, with tea, muslins, silks, etc., was distributed to the Atlantic ports. The customary profits on muslins and calicoes from Calcutta was 100 per cent. Some ventures returned like prizes in a lottery. One shipment by the ship Benjamin Silsbee, of plain glass tumblers, costing under $1,000, sold for $12,000 in the Isle of France. Derby generally in sured one half his outfit. As he owned one quarter of the Salem tonnage in the last decade, his risks were well distributed. His son was in India three years. In 1789 four of Derby's sliips were in Canton. From 1785-1799, he recorded 125 voyages, of which 45 were to India or China. At least 37 vessels were employed. He began 1 The bark Light Horse, Buffinton, master, cleared from Salem in 1784, was said to be the first American vessel sent to St. Petersburg. Essex Inst, xv. 315. 2 According to the statement of a British "manufacturer," an American-built ship at this time, of 300 tons, paid for £2,000 worth of English goods. His argument was that the manufacture of these goods employed 200 men for six months. Contrariwise, the exchange only displaced for England the labor of 20 or 30 ship carpenters. Short Address by a Manufacturer in 1785, p. 21, Carter -Brown Lib. It is said that the price of vessels built of oak in eastern Mas sachusetts was $24 per ton. » See Hunt, Merch. Mag , xxxvi. 169-171, for a full invoice of a cargo. 826 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. to " copper " his vessels in 1796 ; the custom was then beginning in America.1 In 1791 he built the new Grand Turk of 564 tons, the largest merchant vessel of Salem 2 at that time. I have dwelt on the operations of this strong and able merchant, though they should not be considered as exclud ing those of his peers and equals. He 3 was the type of a generation of sagacious, energetic men in Salem, Bos ton, and Providence who carried our flag into little known seas in the grandest commerce of their time. Providence sent out her first venture by The General Washington in 1787. After a voyage of nineteen months she connected the port with Canton and its yellow inhabitants. For half a century the business was pushed with much enterprise, and brought considerable wealth to Rhode Island. In 1788 4 a Boston ship, Kendrick, master, began the Commerce very profitable transactions in furs with the In- weste™rth" dians of the Northwest coast of America. The America. jurg were carriecl across to Canton, where they were in great demand, and exchanged for the products of China. In 1793 three Indiamen were reported as coming in ; two for New York, one, The Rising Sun, for Provi dence. Their cargoes included 2,532 chests Bohea tea, 592 tons of sugar, $14,600, " first cost," in China ware. In prosecuting this trade with the East, our ships found Mauritius a a convenient way-station at Mauritius, or the Isle way-port. ^ jTr-auce, w^n its neighboring Bourbon, near Madagascar. In 1787 the French opened these ports to the Americans on equal terms with their own citizens. Our Atlantic states sent vessels to Port Louis, the chief port, wliich eagerly took from them beef, pork, butter, 1 By coincidence of dates, the first elephant from Bengal was brought by Captain Crowninshield in The America. It sold for $10,000. Felt, Salem, ii. 304. 2 lbid.,il 296. 8 See above, p. 777. * Pitkin, Statistics, p. 249. 1783-89.] TRADE WITH MAURITIUS. 827 flour, fish, wheat, tobacco, naval stores, etc. In return our vessels took coffee, pepper, hides, teas, and East In dian manufactures. Many of the articles sent to Port Louis were exported again to India or China. Some 3,000 tons went to Mauritius in 1788, and about 4,000 tons in 1789. Four French houses at Port Louis had had control of the trade of those Islands with India, and monpolised the crops of coffee, etc. Through their con nections in France, they were able to get restrictions on this rising commerce, and they threatened its extinction. The larger interest of France was in the development of the whole trade with America. This larger trade was making of these French ports an entrepot for the prod ucts of either hemisphere. Hon. Stephen Higginson set forth these facts very cogently in a letter to John Adams, January 17, 1789.1 Adams indorsed it to Jefferson, then our minister to France, as "upon a subject of so much importance, and contains so much information," johnAd. etc. Mr. Adams thought the " jealousy, envy, Ws view- or caprice " of the French could only result in driving the merchants from the Isles of France and Bourbon. They would seek connections on the continent itself for their mid-exchanges, and thus France would only injure herself. She had an interest at that time in building up the trade of the port of St. Louis as a counterpoise to the British commerce with the East Indies. The trade to the West Indies,2 so profitable to the col onies, was continued with renewed energy by the West Indi!fa states. From sixty to eighty vessels from Amer- trade' ica were reported at once in a single port. From 1784 to 1793, while the carrying trade was confined to British bottoms, much of our merchandise went to the French islands. By some means it found its way to the British possessions needing it.3 1 U. S. State Dept Arch., Jefferson Cor., Series II. Vol. Let. 2 See Caulkins, New London, pp. 578, 579. 8 See Young, W. India C. P. Book, pp. 133, 143. 828 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. Vessels like the old " horse jockeys " from Connecticut were fitted out for this trade. Small sloops carried a sur prising number of cattle of all kinds from the south shore of New England to the West Indies, and to the northern coast of the farther America.1 One brig took 49 horses, but many sloops took 35 in a single cargo. The Enterprise, Williams, master, for Demerara, carried provisions, brick, and lumber, 20 horses, 17 neat cattle, 17 mules, 20 sheep, 20 swine, 150 geese, and 100 turkeys. The return cargo included rum, molasses, sugar, wine, pimento, pepper, tamarinds, sweetmeats, anise-seed, coffee, cotton, tobacco, indigo, and salt. Vessels in this trade averaged two voyages in a year. Rhode Island laid duties on imports in 1785.2 Provi dence had gained some of the commerce which Newport had lost. Newport3 revived in some degree after the peace, but her old place in the foreign trade was never recovered. The inchoate government of the confederation produced an unsettled condition in foreign trade generally. In Connecticut, memorialists complained, in 1785, of an excise act forbidding any trade in goods produced beyond the United States without a bond of £200.4 The whale fishery, which suffered so severely in the The whale outbreak of the Revolution, had been slightly flshery" encouraged in 1781.5 The British admiral Digby gave Nantucket permits for twenty-four vessels to pursue the fishery. Several of these vessels were captured by American privateers, but were invariably released in port. Nantucket asked the State of Massachusetts, in 1782, to confirm these privileges by legislation. It was referred to Congress, and was under discussion when the 1 Caulkins, Norwich, pp. 478, 479. 2 R. I. C. R., x. 87, 115. 8 Neivport H. M., ii. 25, for list of vessels. 4 Conn. Arch., Trade and Manufactures, p. 182. 6 Starbuck, Whale Fishery, p. 72 ; Macy, Nantucket, pp. 116, 117. 1783-89.] THE WHALE FISHERY. 829 news of peace arrived in 1783.1 Nantucket had been greatly depressed, and this privilege stimulated its busi ness. The resources of the island had been so wasted and diminished that but few vessels could be fitted out under the permits. It was claimed that the ship Bedford, Cap tain Movers, of Nantucket, was the first vessel to carry the new flag of thirteen stripes into a British port. This was in 1784.2 In 1775 it was considered necessary by Massachusetts to give bounties for the encouragement of the fishery ; £5 per ton for white sperm oil, £3 for yellow do., and £2 for whale oil were the inducements offered.3 The first effect was propitious. Provisions had fallen in price so that outfits could be made economically ; but the usual results from bounty-fed business followed in this instance. Many new parties having entered the pursuit, the increased quantity of oil found an unwilling market. Long priva tion had taught families to avoid expensive oil, and to make their own tallow light their homes. Even the light houses used substitutes for oil. Under these conditions crude sperm oil in 1786 fell to £24 per ton, and head matter to £45 per ton. About the year 1788,4 there was an increase in the number of light-houses, and they were returning to their old system of lighting by sperm oil. This demand helped to raise prices. On the other hand, the catch of right whales had increased so much in the far-away seas, that the market could not absorb the whalebone. One dollar per pound was a common price before the war, and it now brought only ten cents. Nantucket was now fitting out as many vessels as her people could man for the chase. 1 For account of the fishery see 1 M. H. C, iii., and iv. p. 161. 2 Starbuck, Whale Fishery, p. 77. 8 Ibid., p. 79 ; Macy, Nantucket, pp. 125, 131. 4 Macy, Nantucket, p. 137. 830 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. New Bedford also had lost its whaleships in the Revo- Rise of New lution. It now engaged in the business with Bedford. vigor. In the middle of the next century it had absorbed three quarters of the whale fishery of the United States. It was then by far the most important port in the world for that business. New London began in the last decade of the century. The Nantucket men were stimulated by the example of the China merchants, who were trading in the Pacific on the northwest coast of America. A vessel had been fit ted in England during the Revolution, and manned by a Nantucket crew, for the pursuit of whales in the Pacific. In 1789 the ship Ranger,1 Swain, master, returned to Nan tucket from the Pacific with 1,000 bbls. of whale oil. Captain Swain thought no vessel would obtain so large a cargo again. But in 1854 The Three Brothers brought 6,000 bbls. whale, 179 bbls. sperm oil, and 31,000 lbs. bone into Nantucket. In 1791 The Beaver, of 240 tons burden, Captain Paul Pacific Worth,2 was regularly fitted, and sailed from fisheries. Nantucket for the Pacific. Her cost, with outfit, was $10,212. She carried seventeen men, and could man three boats of five men each ; there were generally two "blacks," Indians or negroes, included in each boat's crew. When in actual pursuit of the "fish," two men remained as keepers of the ship. In her cargo she car ried 400 barrels with iron hoops, and about 1,400 barrels with wooden hoops; 40 bbls. salt provisions, 3\ tons bread, 30 bu. beans and peas, 1,000 lbs. rice, 40 galls. molasses, 24 bbls. flour. These provisions lasted through her voyage, with the addition of 200 lbs. bread. It was known as the " first voyage from Nantucket to the Pacific." After seventeen months' cruising she brought home 650 bbls. sperm oil worth £30 per ton, 370 bbls. head matter worth £60 per ton, and 250 bbls. whale oil worth £15 per 1 Starbuck, Whale Fishery, p. 96. 2 Macy, Nantucket, p. 142. 1783-89.] DIVISION BY "LAY." 831 ton. Captain Worth gave an account of five vessels in the Pacific in February, 1793. 1 The vessel was not cop pered. The use of sheathing began shortly after this. I subjoin the account of the ship Lion,2 a few years later, as it shows the interesting division and subdivision of the profits among the officers and men on a " lay," which served instead of wages. Details of the business in the Revolution are given below.3 1 Mass. Mercury, April 6, 1793. 2 2 M. H. S., iii. 19. "Lays' were almost universal, and this account is an example : — Dr. Ship Lion, Nantucket, 1807. To am't charge . . . $362.75 Sundry acc'ts in clear ing Ship *43.38 Share of Captain fa .f 2,072.13 Mate -fa. . 1,381.41 Second do. fa 1,008.06 " 2 Ends men each -fa 1,554.10 Share of 5 Ends men each fa ... . Share of Cooper -fa Boy^ . " 5 blacks each fa ... . Share of 1 black on 400 bbls. -fa . . . Share of 1 black fa « " on all but 400 bbls fa Owners' Share . 2,486.55 621.64310.82 2,331.14 108.36414.42 438.80318.10 24,252.74 Cr. By 37,358 galls, body oil $19,766.14 By 16,868 galls, head matter 17,849.73 By 150£ galls, black oil 45.15 $37,661.02 $37,661.02 * Not included in footing ; error prob acy- 8 The recovery from the disasters of the Revolution was slow. In the period, 1771-1775, the annual output of tonnage in Massachu setts was 27,840, with 4,059 seamen. The annual product was 39,390 bbls. sperm and 8,650 bbls. whale oil. In 1787-89 the annual ton nage was 10,210, with 1,611 seamen. The product was 7,980 bbls. sperm and 13,130 bbls. whale oil. — Pitkin, Statistics, p. 83. 832 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. The great whale fishery must always be considered a fascinating episode in the world's commerce of adventure. New England played a great part in its development and its progress, until the modern industrial system changed /the relative value of the product, and steam navigation ; changed the methods of the pursuit. The golden age of the business was in the years 1835-1846.1 Then the United States — and chiefly New England — employed in the fishery 678 ships and barks, 35 brigs, 22 schooners. They registered 233,189 tons, and were valued at $21,075,000. At the same time the foreign fleet included 230 vessels. The pursuit of the cod fisheries 2 in Massachusetts was Cod fish- relatively more prosperous than the whale fish- erie3- eries. From 1765 to 1775 3 there were sent out 665 vessels annually, 25,630 tons, with 4,405 men. They furnished for Europe 178,800 quintals at 3.5 dollars ; for the West Indies, 172,500 quintals at 2.6 dollars. In 1786-1790 the annual fleet was 539 vessels of 19,185 tons, with 3,278 men. It procured for Europe 108,600 quintals at three dollars, for the West Indies 142,050 quintals at two dollars. The proportion of inferior fish was larger. In 1790 4 Congress stimulated the business by a bounty on the export of salt fish, as a drawback for the duties on imported salt. Afterwards a positive bounty was paid to vessels permanently engaged in the cod fishery. Ships and shipping were an important industry.5 About fifty years before this period, vessels in general Larger yes- J J r . . m seisforcom- commerce were enlarged in size. The smaller merce. , ° craft were driven out of service by the competi tion of the larger at less relative expense. Now another enlargement was effected. Connecticut still ran small 1 Starbuck, Whale Fishery, p. 98. 2 Roads, Marblehead, p. 200. 3 Pitkin, Statistics, p. 83. 4 Ibid., p. 39. 6 For statistics see Pitkin, Statistics, p. 435 ; Felt, Salem, ii. 298, 302 ; Willis, Portland, p. 560. 1783-89.] LARGER SHIPS ARE USED. 833 vessels in her direct West Indian and Central Ameri can trade. But the general West Indian trade and that along the coast of the United States was transferred to larger craft. Sloops were generally replaced by brigs 1 in this service. The great China trade was demanding a larger class of ships also. These could carry a large crew, and guns sufficient to repel all pirates or an ordinary ship of war. The Massachusetts, of 1789, was surpassed in 1791 by The Grand Turk, of 564 tons. A register of 300 tons was still considered a " large ship." The whaleships were of about this size. Many of these were built in the " North River," at Scituate, in the Old Colony. This dis trict kept good repute in shipbuilding, and educated many shipwrights, who established the business along the whole coast from New York to Maine.2 Philadelphia mechanics gave their vessels a better finish. But New England built cheap, staunch vessels, with good sailing qualities. " Boston bottoms with Philadelphia sides " was the proverb for good ships. New England fast recovered its old business in building vessels. We have the testimony of a careful observer, Dr. Pierce, who made a journey from Dorchester through Providence, Norwich, and along the Connecticut coast in 1795. He found " in all the maritime towns great attention paid to the building of ships and smaller craft." 3 The " mast trade " was now prosecuted largely on the Connecticut River. Febiger in 1785 4 narrates his negotiations with Henry Porter, of North ampton, who had a store, and from that base conducted large operations in. cutting timber up the river. Porter could furnish one or more cargoes in a year of masts from 34 to 39 inches in diameter. The small spars were abundant. They were floated down the Connecticut to 1 Willis, Portland, p. 559. 2 Deane, Scituate, p. 27 ; Bourne, Wells and K., 571, 579, 758. 8 Proc. M.H. S. 1886, p. 45. 4 Mag. Am. Hist, viii. 353. 834 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. Lyme, and were shipped from some port on the Sound to Europe. Commerce in human flesh and spirit was not ended by the Revolution. Fourscore years of political l\"t\LT development in the United States, culminating in a great war, were needed for the final aboli tion of slavery. But for the New England States the Revolution was the death knell of slavery and of the slave- trade protected by the law. Massachusetts having estab lished a " free commonwealth " in making her constitu tion, slavery fell under its own weight of legal disability. A decision of her Supreme Court in 1783 l settled the status of the black, and made him the equal of a white citizen. Rhode Island, being a continuous commonwealth under her charter, needed legislation which should fit it to the new order of things. The decree of the king had merged itself into a constitution embodying the political life of a representative republic. Accordingly in 1784 the General Assembly 2 enacted that " no person " born after the first of March should be held as a slave. The question of slavery was of more practical importance to her than to the other New England States. In 1787, moved by peti tions of the Quakers, she prohibited the slave trade by a formal ordinance with penalties.3 The little state was largely influenced by the Quakers, who were strong in numbers, and stronger in wealth, intelligence, and social position. Under this influence Rhode Island, in some degree, atoned for her past deeds in promoting the slave- trade. In 1790 the " Providence Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery" was incorporated. A volun tary society had existed for abolishing the trade ; the cor poration extended its operations to total abolition, and to the assistance of slaves and their manumitted descendants. 1 Barry, Mass., iii. 189. 2 R. I. C. R., x. 7. 8 R. I. C. R., p. 262. 1783-89.] THE SLAVE-TRADE. 835 In this corporation were joined sixty-eight citizens of Mas sachusetts, including Jeremiah Belknap, 'Rev. Samuel Stilhnan, and Benjamin Waterhouse, and three of Con necticut, including Jonathan Edwards the younger. In New Hampshire the institution died a natural death. As Belknap said in 1792, " Slavery is not prohibited by any express law. . . . Those born since the constitution was made are free." 1 Although the legal status of the negro was somewhat different, he was practically treated in the same manner in New Hampshire that he was treated in Rhode Island. Connecticut did not change her royal charter into a state constitution until 1818, and her slaves were freed in 1784. The slave-trade in New England vessels did not cease when the state forbade it within New England territory. It was conducted stealthily, but steadily, even ..... cti n T-ii • • Illicit trade. into the luetime of J udge btory. h elt gives in stances in 1785, and the inference is that the business was prosecuted from Salem. " Of the instructions long given in our country relative to the Guinea trade we have the following. They come to our own threshold. They were indited by men of otherwise respectable standing. . . . The brig Gambia was reported the same month as bound on the like nefarious traffic." 2 The " instructions " were given to a brig already cleared and bound for the coast of Africa, November 12, 1785. They are of the same tenor as the many we have reviewed a half century earlier. There is the same sickening de tail, directing critical inspection as to " straightness of limbs, goodness or badness of constitution," etc. The cargo was to be husbanded by " bartering rum for slops, and supplying your people with small stores," if such traffic became possible. The captain was to receive " four slaves upon every hundred and four at the place of sale, 1 Belknap, New Hamp., iii. 211. 2 Felt, An. Salem, ii. 288, 289, 291. 836 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. the privilege of eight hogsheads, and two pounds eight shillings per month." The first mate had four hogsheads " privilege," the second mate two ditto, besides wages. It is to be remembered that the owners, these " gentle men of otherwise respectable standing," did not «speecrtnabie move from the same point of departure whence traders. peter -paneuil an(i tne Rhode Island men moved two generations earlier. The earlier men took the old commerce along the old customary track, before the eighteenth century had wrought its changes. The strug gle for American freedom had now opened the eyes of two hemispheres. The " rights of man " was no longer the sounding phrase of theorists. It had changed the face of one continent, and was about to shake the foundations of another. Our Southern States did not destroy slav ery, it is true, but their best minds even then forecast its doom. The New England men did know better, they should have done better, than to imbrue their hands again in the wretched West African traffic. Fortunately they were few in number. The majority of the Salem men were following Derby and his splendid vikings to the far In dian seas. The great and familiar Pecksniff had his progenitors at that day in his own country. Their compeers and equals were here also. They rolled the whites of their eyes and uttered pious ejaculations as they scanned their ledgers and wrote instructions for turning rum into " Slops " or human souls immaterially. After attending to such matters these " respectable " men take leave of their captain, and " conclude with committing you to the almighty Disposer of all events." 1 The profanity of sailors is grateful music to ears compelled to listen to the prayers of such damnable hypocrites. The. general commerce of the granulated mass of com- 1 Felt, Salem, ii. 290. 1783-89.] UNEQUALLY DISTRIBUTED. 837 munities called the United States, from 1783 to 1789, was probably the poorest commerce known in the Beggarly whole history of the country. England sent 00mmerce- America £3,700,000 worth of merchandise in 1784, and took in return only £750,000. The drain of specie to meet this difference was very severe, and merchants could not meet the engagements so rashly made. They had imported luxuries for customers who were poor, and non payment through all the avenues of trade was the conse quence. One circumstance and detail of the internal manage- ment of this commerce added to the distress and to the necessary difficulties of the time. Immediately after the peace, British merchants, factors, and clerks came across the seas in streams, to take advantage of the new oppor tunities for trade. It seemed to the citizens to be a worse invasion of their economic rights than the coming of the troops had been to the political rights of the old colonists. The whole country was agitated, but action was initiated in Boston in 1785. The merchants met and discussed all these difficulties. They pledged themselves to buy no more goods of British merchants or factors in Boston. In about three weeks the mechanics and artisans met in the old Green Dragon Tavern and committed themselves to the same policy. But the merchants went beyond mere non-intercourse with traders at home. The root of the difficulty was in the ill-regulation or want of regulation of our commerce with all foreign countries. The Con- foreign com- i. • • -t • tttt merce. federation was giving and not getting. Where it should have gotten, foreigners were getting, because the parts of the country had not agreed to unite in ac quiring for the common benefit, lest some part should be injured in the process. Congress made treaties for the Confederation. But if unable to treat with any power which excluded American shipping from its ports, or laid 838 CONFEDERATION COMMERCE. [1783-89. duties on American produce, Congress did not control our ports in an equivalent manner. Each individual state was to decide whether the unfriendly power should trade at its own ports. This in effect nullified any re taliatory action. England, being the best market, virtually controlled any change in commerce, as it was then conducted Her ports were closed to American products unless they were brought in British vessels. France admitted our vessels to her ports, but her merchants cried out against the competition. It was feared that the ministers would be obliged to yield to their clamor and close the ports. Probably the poor economic condition of the country af fected the foreign trade even more than the bad adjust ment of foreign relations. All causes combined to form two parties, one advocat ing imposts upon foreign trade or a Navigation Act, the other opposing this scheme, and insisting upon Acts and absolute freedom of commerce. It was in this direction that the Boston people moved, after they had instituted non-intercourse in their own market with British traders. They petitioned Congress to rem edy these embarrassments of trade, and sent a memorial to their own legislature. This document urged that body to insist on action by Congress. They formed a Com mittee of Correspondence to enforce these plans upon the whole country, revolutionary experience having taught them the efficacy of this means of agitation. John Adams during his residence in London advocated a Navigation Act with great force and ability. He could not move Pitt or the cabinet to grant what he considered fair and equal privileges of commerce. He wanted re taliatory measures to stimulate the British community to a more practical recognition of American rights. In his view the whole of Europe — friendly and unfriendly pow ers together — would respect the new nation more when 1783-89.] UNION AND COMMERCE. 839 it should fence in its privileges. When fenced and se cured, they could be dealt out and exchanged through treaties. The " impost," or, in the language of our time, the tariff for revenue, as proposed in 1783, was a very moderate measure. It was fiercely debated, as we have seen, until it was finally adopted by Congress in 1786. But the conditions imposed by the various states 1 in ratifying the Impost Act hampered any effec tive action under it. The action of New York alone vir tually nullified it. Very low duties were laid on seven classes of merchandise ; viz., sugars, liquors, teas, coffee, cocoa, molasses, and pepper. This travesty of imperial government went on until the loose mass of states was fused and converted into a firm union. As the states gave freely of their TjnionDrmg8 cherished prerogatives to the central union, each commerce- became larger in itself. The parts did not diminish as the whole grew into an empire. The local communities worked their beloved institutions as in the early days of their dependence. The people of the United States, a new political entity, was brought into being through the painful parturition of Revolution and of Confederation. Creative powers, imperial powers, carried in themselves the necessary development of commerce. Europe was soon convulsed by revolutions of her own, far transcend ing all the petty wars of the New World ; needing food and carrying ships, she took them wherever they were to be had. Then New England took her old place in the commercial marine. Her fishermen, sailors, and merchants carried the starry flag throughout the seas of the world. 1 McMaster, Hist i. 361. CHAPTER XXIII. THE CONFEDERATION SEEKING UNITY IN THE REPUBLIC. 1783-1789. After the Revolution was effected, the greater task of constructing a stable government was imposed on the peo ple. An anomalous machine, half royal and executive, half parliamentary and legislative, had directed, if it had not governed, the rising colonies. That was now broken. The communities and towns of the Atlantic seaboard were aggregated in districts called states, but these districts were not yet developed into the admirable local Slowevolu- . J . r „, . tion of gov- organisms we know as states. Ihe people ex- ernment. . •-iii isted, and carried the latent power of a state — of an empire — in their well-tried and enduring political temper. It remained for Madison and Hamilton, after wards Marshal], to fuse these forces and to embody them in permanent institutions. Thus the republic was organ ised into an empire without a sovereign, under a sover eignty intrusted by the people to Washington. The change experienced by the mind of the people in those scattered states, when they came to the final adop tion of the Constitution, must ever be matter for deep thought. After we have analysed and defined the part taken by each individual statesman or each local commu nity, there remains the larger and greater whole that eludes our analysis. The " modified unity " into which the mind of our American people was fused and blended is, and must ever be, a mighty problem in history. New England contributed indirectly rather than by her 1783-89.] CITIZEN AND GOVERNMENT. 841 direct action upon this process of consolidating the United States. The Websters of New England contrib uted a great bridge toward the advance and de- tionsofNew velopment of orderly union out of confederate disorder. In this great unifying doctrine — a positive political discovery — the particular states were for the moment ignored in the passage of citizens to their place in the imperial government of the United States. The United States government rested itself immediately upon the citizen, and, after the manner of an ancient king, en forced its own decrees by its own agents. In the absence of the imperial action of the Union, the particular local action of states went forward in its old, familiar channels. After this, the greatest of the controlling ideas of the Constitution, as finally adopted, was in the severance of religion from the central corporation of the state. " Re ligion was become avowedly the attribute of man and not of a corporation." 2 Heretofore the essence of govern ment and of religion had been one and indivisible. This departure originated in Rhode Island. Small in territory, this little government had established the fact, by a cen tury and a half of political experience, that a society can combine " only in civil things," leaving each individual soul to God. So much Roger Williams and William Coddington gave to mankind. The direct course of Rhode Island during the formation of the Union was lam entable. It was largely due to the revolt of the people against the wisdom of their natural leaders. But writers who dwell on such vagaries of a popular government, where the individual was so little fettered, should remem ber how much Rhode Island did for other communities as well as her own in founding this individual freedom. Her foremost citizen in Revolutionary times, Stephen Hopkins, saw as early as 1756 that King and Parliament must yield their ill-exercised prerogatives to American i Bancroft, U. S., vi. 443. 842 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. freemen.1 Jonathan Edwards had worked to establish the same principle on a different ground. He worked for the idea of the sovereignty of God within each individual soul. Out of these profound convictions came finally the self- dependence of the American people and the freedom of the American Church, Catholic or Protestant. Each man may be great in himself, the whole crowd may be little in the aggregate. How to get a whole result which shall be greater than the parts, — that was the ante- Revolutionary problem. One man thinks, all the men to- Poiiticai gether feel. The power that could kill a king society. Q£ ^.ne seventeenth century and yet save royalty was developed in England. The peers and descendants of those masters of kingly power settled in New England, chiefly in Massachusetts. Here they learned to think and to feel politically. They could resist ministers and Parlia ment, and yet conserve the institutions on which political order rested. This capacity for bringing each individual man and woman into harmony with the actual government of society through orderly political action was manifested especially in Massachusetts. She gave it to the nation. A convention met at Annapolis, Md., in 1786, to dis- commerciai cuss methods of enabling Congress to regulate convention. commerce< This body, was the forerunner of the greater convention assembled in Philadelphia in 1787. It has been remarked by more than one judicious observer of American history that commerce, or the lack of regu lated commerce, was the impelling necessity which forced states and people into the formation of a more consoli dated national government. Bad finance, public debts unpaid, soldiers suffering for their just pay, national dis credit, — all this affected the popular mind not so much as broken trade. The weakness of state governments — a notable instance of which will be mentioned directly — was a direct reason for creating some central authority. 1 Arnold, R. I., ii. 515. 1783-89.] ECONOMIC CONFUSION. 843 It was not to be expected that order could be brought out from the chaotic tendencies of revolution without great struggles and difficulties. The times were sadly out of joint. The immediate difficulty in every man's Eoonom;0 life was economical. War spends frightfully, disorder- but revolution deranges the body politic by which war and peace alike obtain their supplies. Patriotism, the greatest of virtues, often directly opposes economy, the least and therefore the most frequent and necessary of all the vir tues. King and Parliament deposed, state obligations re pudiated, currency broken, then property was assailed. The debtor and the poor man cried out for justice. The whole institution of property — the economic basis on which social order rests — was assailed. As taxation is the root of political power, so it is the most offensive of all the prerogatives of government. And as the best qualities of the self-governing Taxati0n citizen were produced in Massachusetts,1 so re- reslsted- sistance to taxation and rebellion broke out there in the year 1786. 2 From 1781 through the last throes of the Revolution, conventions and all the forms of popular agi tation had been at work in the sparsely settled Western counties. By 1783 the southeastern towns of Massachu setts were infected, and armed bands came into the ad joining districts of Rhode Island,3 rescuing offenders ar rested for resisting collection of the taxes. In Gloucester, R. I., rioters resisted, seizing distrained cattle, and releas ing prisoners held for taxes. A meeting was held in Killingly, Ct., to spread the new gospel. The governors of the three states acted in concert, and suppressed this movement. It did not pass beyond conspiracy and riot. In the above named year Daniel Shays, a captain re signed from the Revolutionary army, brave in the field but 1 Massachusetts had a form of stamp tax, also, which was unpopu lar and was resisted. Smith, Newburyport, p. 126. 2 Barry, Mass., iii. 218. 8 Arnold, R. I, ii. 489. 844 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. unfit for a general, bankrupt in fortune, came to the front in western Massachusetts. Luke Day, another captain, Sha s, major by brevet for honorable service, a stronger rebellion. mall) Was " the master spirit of the insurrec tion ; " 1 but Shays was the more prominent leader. The epidemic spread from Hampshire to Worcester, to Mid dlesex and Essex. Recruits were drilled by the leaders about Springfield, and those who were able armed them selves. Judges were threatened and the courts inter rupted ; the legislature, in the lower house at least, was infected. But the spirit of order gradually prevailed, more severe laws against illegal assemblies and rioting were passed, habeas corpus was suspended for eight months, and taxation was somewhat ameliorated. In January, 1787, the rebellion culminated. Some 1,800 men were organised in or near Springfield to resist the authority of the commonwealth. The state troops were mustered under the command of Major General Lincoln, who moved vigorously against the insurgents. The rebel lion crumbled at the first shock, and there was little or no blood shed. The state treated the misguided rebels with great clemency. This rebellion was the sore which revealed disease in the whole body politic. The power of the state, however misdirected in former generations, was not now poiiticaicon- directed at all. Peace had not brought pros- dition. . i'i, • i perity ; commerce languished, or was carried on by foreigners. Manufacturers dreaded the competition of goods manufactured under better - ordered governments, where labor was cheaper and better applied, and the peo ple asked for protection for their own goods. Agriculture could not be destroyed, but it needed the mutual support of commerce and manufactures. Farmers and laborers suffered especially from the wretched derangement of the currency. 1 Barry, Mass., iii. 233. 1783-89.] INSTITUTION OF THE DOLLAR. 845 The troubles from the condition of the currency were many and various. One series was moneyed and came from the unit of value ; another and more important series inhered in the currency as a basis of credit, and this affected all contracts. In the first instance, the unit of value represented by the dollar was practically uncertain. The nominal pound never was money in any large sense in America. The our_ It varied as a standard in different colonies from reucy' 966 grains of silver to 1,547 grains, being divided into shillings, and these into pence, so that the value of the pence varied with the locality. The nominal pound was the unit of barter. The coined silver and gold of sterling value was kept at home, as far as possible, by the British government. The colonies had been forced to largely use the Spanish milled dollar or " piece of eight " in actual transactions throughout their financial history. My own citations of figures, as they have occurred in many records, show the confusion of pounds and dollars. The dollar meant 6 shillings in New England, 8s. in New York, 7s. 6d. in Pennsylvania. Congress was driven notwithstand ing, to adopt the dollar and its decimal cent, as the least variable unit within their reach.1 Congress did not fur- \ nish these actual dollars and cents in metal until 1787, when the mint commenced operations.2 But the states / could work by easier processes ; they printed money, al most for the asking. Meanwhile specie took its usual course in a depreciated currency. It would not stay by the printing-presses, but went where it was wanted for actual use. In 1786 the whole country was shocked by the report that one vessel was carrying from Boston to London 3 the largest amount i I am indebted to Charles J. Hoadley, Esq., for the first sugges tion of this historical evolution of the pound aud dollar. 2 For the value of coins see Belknap, New. Hamp., iii. 226. 8 McMasters, Hist. U. S., i. 294. 846 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. of specie shipped in twelve years. Dollars, joes (the coin of Portugal), guineas, crowns, pistoles, and bullion were piled together and borne across the seas from poor America to rich Britain. Again the best prosperity ap peared, to the popular mind, like the worst disaster. New England had the money to send. She had manufactured the most, money was scarce and needed, therefore manu factures were unprosperous. Such was the popular logic. This ridiculous outcry reveals the larger series of Broken troubles, those of broken credit, underlying the credit. currency, to which I have referred. States were repudiating their debts ; merchants, foreign and domestic, were over-importing commodities ; debtors could not pay, and the courts could not find means to enforce payment. The machinery for exchanging property creaked in every joint, because the whole system of finance was ill-adjusted. Such prosperity as the people had — and they had much — could not be made available. Merchants took any movable property they could ob tain, then took mortgages or public securities of any Financial kind. Then they took farms from one debtor, methods. catt]e from another, and placed the cattle on a farm.1 And in some cases where the creditor " obtained execution against substantial people, we are no nearer get ting our money, which is impossible to raise, even if they would sell farms generally valued at £800 for £300." 2 The distress was beyond our comprehension. The ac count below 3 gives us a faint idea of events as they oc curred. 1 For rents of farms see R. I. C. R., viii. 505 ; Ix. 44. 2 J. and J. Amory, MS. Letters, 1786. 8 Ibid., p. 123 : — Boston October 16, 1786 Mess"8 . Domrss & Son : The principal surety lives iu New Hampshire, where laws have been made (since our taking the security) making lands set off at au appraisement satisfaction of an Execution, & this is in a manner an- 1783-89.] DISTRESSED FINANCES. 847 Massachusetts also came near, in 1786, to passing the act for making real and personal estate a legal tender. Fortunately she rejected it. Rhode Island adopted it in 1789,1 completing her drama of insolvency. She had tried forcing acts 2 to compel the exchange of property for paper money, which broke down in the celebrated case of Trevctt v. Weeden. The course of paper money in New Hampshire 3 and in the territorial districts of Ver mont was quite similar.4 The survey of history must move in periods, but there is hardly any stop in the progress of affairs. By common consent, the year 1783 has been made an epoch in indus trial development. About this time, England Division especially, by the improvement of carding, spin- of labor- ning, and weaving machinery, took a portion of her labor- nihilating property, as in the first place you are generally cheated one half or two thirds in the valuation of the land, and in the next place, you can neither sell or rent them to any profit. It is in this manner we suffer ourselves, having 4 or £5,000 due to us in that state. Mrs. Willard, the other surety, what she has in debts she cannot raise a penny from, neither could we distress her, being a very old infirm Lady with whose friendship we have been honored for many years. Add to this the present confusions which no doubt your newspapers will be filled with. Our Courts are stopped by mobs and all government is in a manner at an end. The Federal Court now sitting was called together on this occasion but such a universal discontent prevails on account of taxes which the farmers can't pay and such distress among an infinite number of debtors who from the scarcity of money are unable to pay their creditors, that the Court are unable to find a remedy for these evils. At present it seems that nothing will satisfy the body of the people but an exemp tion from taxes and either paper money or a Law making lands and personal estate of any kind a tender for debts. If this takes place it will be the utter ruin of a great number of people who have in vested their whole property in public securities which will be of no value if taxes cannot be raised. i R. I. C. R., x. 361. 2 Arnold, R. I, ii. 521, 525, 528. 8 N. H. H. C, iii. 117 ; Town Pap., ix. 311. * McMasters, Hist. U. S., i. 341, 347. 848 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. ers from agriculture, and placed them in organised man ufactories of textile fabrics. America had far less re source in capital or skill trained in industries, but the same tendency manifested itself here. As early as 1778, Elkanah Watson 1 had noted the " infant manufactures," in common with fisheries and commerce, as the " sinews of the North." Boston formed its association of trades men and manufacturers in 1785, one indication of the movement in New England. The new machinery for card ing, drawing, and spinning cotton, invented by Hargreave, Compton, and Arkwright, with the loom of Cartwright, gradually established themselves. The domestic manu factures of England were changing into the great modern system of classified and organised textile manufactures. A stringent Act of Parliament (14 Geo. III. c. 71) was designed to check the export of this machinery. But invention cannot be confined. Wherever a people exists capable of adopting new discoveries, there the in dustrial atmosphere wafts the pollen of invention and new growth springs up. Congress had laid increased Manuf ac- , «. « .HPTr.-OT turesinNew duties upon foreign manufactures in 1785. In England. L ° several places our busy mechanics and enterpris ing men of affairs were at work upon the new problem of manufactures. An attempt at spinning and weaving cotton had been made at Worcester in 1780.3 Orr, of Bridgewater, an active mind, had assisted two Scotchmen named Barr to build a " stock card " and spinning-jenny in 1786.4 The state recompensed the Barrs in lottery tickets, and allowed Orr to use the machines. In 1787 Cabot and others had begun at Beverly with these or similar machines. In 1787 Daniel Anthony, with Peck and Dexter, made machines at Providence, following the construction of those of Orr or the Barrs ; these were a 1 Travels, p. 70. 2 Bancroft, U. S., vi. 141. 8 Hist. Worcester Co., p. 321. * See Bishop, Hist Manuf, i. 398 et seq., for details of this period. 1783-89.] SAMUEL SLATER; MOSES BROWN. 849 card and jenny. The carded rolls of cotton, 18 inches long, were pieced together on a hand-wheel. In 1788 Joseph Alexander and another Scotchman came to Provi dence, and Alexander operated the first loom with a fly- shuttle in America, so far as is known. The loom was started in the old market house. Moses Brown pur chased the machinery of these Providence operators, after their attempts had failed, and moved it to Paw tucket. September 13, 1789, Samuel Slater sailed from London, arriving in New York about November 18th. He had emigrated intending to go to Philadelphia, where Samuel the manufacturing of cotton had been much Mosesand agitated. But the stronger industrial currents Brown- of New England drew him to Providence, as appears in our account.1 January 18, 1790, he was taken to Paw tucket by Moses Brown. December 20, 1790, Slater started there three cards, drawing and roving frames. Two spinning-frames of 72 spindles were con- Cotton spin. strncted under his direction, and the machinery nmg- was operated by a water-wheel in an old clothier's build ing, where a fulling-mill had been driven. This was the first successful manufacture of cotton in the United States. Others had made gallant attempts ; these were the suc cessful pioneers of this industry, which has spun its threads into the whole destiny of this great country. Moses Brown was a man of large intelligence on every side. He had that spirit of enterprise that builds com munities as well as accumulates fortunes. His large trust in his fellow-men, his sound judgment of affairs, and his courage, speak out in his invitation to Slater; without his capital, and steadfast energy the enterprise of Slater might not have succeeded. He furnished the capital for Almy (his son-in-law), Brown (his relative), aud Slater, when they built their first cotton factory in 1793. 1 See Appendix I. 850 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. Samuel Slater was a bold leader in business. If he did not invent, he brought great force of character and adaptive skill to the operation of the newly invented ma chinery. He incorporated the administrative capacity of the Englishman with the quick ingenuity of the American mechanics, whom he found ready for his work. In the Wilkinsons, at and near Pawtucket, he found the best mechanical skill that any new country or any race of men could furnish. They helped to build these machines. In 1789 Providence founded its "Association of Me chanics and Manufacturers (now extant), for the purpose of promoting industry, and giving a just encouragement to ingenuity." 1 In the years immediately following our Minor in- period, the Pawtucket mechanics made several ventions. inventions which much assisted the new cotton machinery and the growth of mechanical industries in gen eral. These inventions were stimulated by the incoming of Slater^ if not an immediate outgrowth from his system. The course of American mechanical engineering toward the minor inventions of England has always been in one direction. The English develop a machine or system of machinery out of their large industries, and by means of their enormous capital. The American mechanics take that mechanical process, then simplify it by their deft arrangement of forces, or invent new and more direct processes to attain equivalent results. This has happened in hundreds of instances. In the great inventions, Amer ica has generally led all nations. Thus in 1791 2 Sylvanus Brown invented the slide lathe, to turn rollers, spindles, etc., for the cotton machinery. This was the first invention for " turning " iron, and it was soon applied to the cutting of screws for pressing oil, etc. The advance over old processes was quite equal to the walking of an adult as compared to the creeping of an infant. Ozias Wilkinson, in the same year, built a small 1 R. I. C. R., x. 315. 2 Goodrich, Pawtucket, pp. 48, 51. 1783-89.] VARIED INVENTIONS. 851 " air furnace " for casting iron, and made the first Amer ican " wing-gudgeons " for Slater's " old mill." These fa cilities brought one Baldwin from Boston, for canal ma chinery and iron castings were made for a drawbridge at Cambridge. From 1785 to 1791 1 cotton was being introduced into the Southern States from West Indian seed, to meet the new demand for Northern manufactures as well as for ex portation. The manufacture of duck for canvas had been always encouraged by the colonies. Canvas was a prime necessity for the fisheries and for commerce. It had been a grievance that sails made or repaired must use British-made duck, or foreign that had paid British duties. About this time, duck mills were tried with varied success in several places.2 In 1788 or 1789, a large manufactory of linen canvas started in Boston. It was far beyond any other industrial enterprise of that time in its organi sation, and in the excellence of its product. The ship Massachusetts, already noticed as the largest vessel of her time, was suited in sails and cordage made in Boston. In 1792 the product of canvas had risen to 2,000 yards per week, and 400 hands were employed. The practical mind of Washington was much attracted to this establishment when he visited it in 1789, and he commended especially the moral order that reigned there. Next to the inventions of Arkwright, Compton, and their contemporaries, the manufacture of all textiles has been most advanced by the invention of machine-made cards. These are not the engines themselves, but the leather and wire cards with which the revolv ing cylinders are covered. Carding, i. e. separating, straightening, and arranging fibres of cotton or wool, is a 1 M. H. S. Proc 1855, p. 224 ; Pitkin, Statistics, p. 131. 2 See Felt, Salem, ii. 168 ; Chase, Haverhill, p. 448 ; R. I. C. R., x. 121, 180 ; Bishop, Hist. Manuf, ii. 419, 420. 852 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. vital process in all textile manufactures. Hundreds of fine wire teeth are set in a square inch of leather. The leather must be pierced, the wire cut and bent twice into a loop, then thrust through the leather and bent into two knees. The angle at which the wire teeth strike the fibre is an important element in carding. In making the "hand cards " used literally for ages, all this work had to be painfully manipulated. About 1784 one Chittenden, of New Haven, had in vented a machine for bending and cutting the wire.1 He could shape and finish 36,000 teeth per hour, a great gain. Eleazer Smith, one of the inventors of card-setting ma chinery, was at work about the same time.2 In 1788 Giles Richards and others formed a company and started the manufacture of cards, which Washington visited in the following year ; 63,000 pairs of cards of all kinds were made that year. They sold at lower prices than the im ported ones, and many had been smuggled into England. Smith was at work there, though it is asserted also that the machines used had been invented by Oliver Evans. Other manufactories were started. It was claimed that one em ployed 1,200 hands, chiefly women and children, the latter in sticking the teeth. In earlier days, women near the factories carried leather and teeth in tin pans when they spent an afternoon with their friends. Setting the teeth was an industrial amusement, like knitting.3 The invention completed itself in 1797 in the hands of whittemore's Amos Whittemore, an ingenious gunsmith, for- machmes. metly employed by Giles Richards & Co. With his brother he started a factory with the machinery above described. His patents date from 1796, and they include an epoch-making invention. One machine held and pierced the leather, drew the wire from a reel, cut and bent the looped tooth, inserted it and bent the knees, 1 Bishop, ii. 497, 518. 2 Worcester Soe Antiq., v. 20. 8 Greene, East Greenwich, p. 57. 1783-89.] WAR AND INDUSTRY. 853 passing out a whole card of any size or shape. The in vention made a revolution in the business, and was intro duced into England. Wars that do not actually impoverish their peoples pro mote organised industries. The necessity of the moment stimulates new inventions and new ar- moteenter- rangements of labor. But beyond this, people prl3e' sink their individualism for a time, overcome local isola tion, and bend together in new work. All this promotes enterprise in the largest sense. We saw this manifested in cotton-spinning, duck-weaving, card-making, etc. It appeared also in woollen manufacture. Wool 1 had been worked more thoroughly than any other staple in the do mestic industries; the time had come for a factory, an evolution beyond the house, a place of organised effort. As early as 1783, Daniel Hinsdale and others estab lished a woollen factory at or near Hartford. Aw00uen / The capital was £1,250 in £10 shares. Jeremiah £actor>'- Wadsworth was interested, and the legislature encouraged it. It is asserted that 5,000 yards of cloth was made there from September, 1788, to September, 1789. Some of this sold at five dollars per yard. Washington was much interested in this affair, so closely connected with the future progress of the country. He notes that all the parts were carried on there except spinning; that was done by the country people. Broadcloths, " not of the first quality as yet, but they are good," were made. There were made also " coatings, cassimeres, serges and ever lastings." He ordered a suit of the broadcloth for himself, and a whole piece of everlasting to make breeches for his servants. When he received the suit he wrote General Knox that it " exceeds my expectations." 2 The " Hart ford grey " was a celebrated cloth. Pierpont, a cloth- 1 Rhode Island encouraged sheep by a bounty conferred in 1786. i?. 1. C. R., x. 182. Act repealed the next year. 2 Maine H. C, iv. 60. 854 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. dresser there, finished in seven months, about 1789, at one press, 8,134 yards of cloth, of which 5,282 yards were fulled.1 A factory began at Stockbridge, Mass., about as soon as at Hartford. The worsted which we noted as spun in the household in early colonial days, was woven, according to President Washington, into serges and everlastings at Hartford. It was also knit by machinery into stockings. An establish ment working eight stocking-looms is recorded at Norwich in 1789. The constructive power, the inventive genius of our peo ple, went forward from this great impulse imparted in the waning years of the century, until the land has Evolution of . manufac- been filled with factories. Every article used or tures. ii, . touched by man — the persistent meddler with established Nature — becomes a new thing thrilling with humanity. This new creature of civilisation has writ him self all over the matter provided by Nature, until that matter is turned by his restless brain and ready hand into new organic forms. One generation sinks enervated by the luxury thus engendered, but another springs forward with appetite made keener by the new opportunities for mastering the surrounding Nature. This great result of the eighteenth century, this process of bringing all mate rial forces into harmony with a mind that directs, wrought a change in the word that describes it. The old name " manufacture " gradually changed from its true meaning to mean the making of things by the working together of all the forces of nature, through processes which imi tate the stroke of the human hand. While the movement was making the initial start I Household have described, the old household industries made a final effort to renew their hold on the growing life of the new time. It was the outward hectic flush that animates the inner processes of decay. The 1 Bishop, i. 418. 1783-89.] NEW AND OLD INDUSTRIES. 855 domestic textile industries were beyond question a posi tive factor in common life and prosperity. The neces sity imposed by the war and the patriotic spirit of inde pendence had worked together to increase production among the people. The cards so ingeniously manufactured were made primarily for hand and not for machine use. The quantities made in Boston, under President Wash ington's eye, were used by the industrious women of New England, or were exported to other states. Cotton, wool, flax, were all worked into fabrics, though AVashington thought the linen product had been overestimated in the reports carried South. Even thread and silk laces or edgings were made at Ipswich, Mass. Connecticut and Massachusetts had a surplus of these homespun fabrics, which they sent into the Middle States in exchange for provisions. This creation by the home industries had forestalled the market furnished by the increasing popu lation. It was a chief cause in the disasters of the im porting business following the Revolution. But this every-day movement was not enough for the hectic feeling that broke out in 1787-1789. An outcry was made against the luxury said to be eating away the sub stance of the people. Poor administration of government, especially in finance, was deranging the whole body poli tic. A new social movement1 was instituted in Massa chusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to promote econ omy, and to encourage domestic industries especially. " The Rich & great strive by example to convince the populace of their error by growing their own Flax (and wool) having some one in the family to dress it, & all the females spin, several weave & Bleach the linen." Throughout the land, the old spinning -matches were revived, and while the Rev. Mr. Murray preached to the faithful economists, filling the rooms of his parsonage, 1 Bishop, i. 411 ; Arnold, ii. 552 ; MeMaster, i. 314 ; Coffin, New bury, p. 261 ; Bailey, Andover, p. 403. 856 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. " the wise-hearted did spin with their hands." It was a true festival of the plain people of New England, com bining religion, industry, and economy. " A pleasing sight. Some spinning, some reeling, some carding the cotton, some combing the flax." l The next industry of importance was in the manufac- ironand tures of iron. The slitting-mills were increased uaiis. generally in the years following the Revolution. The new commerce with Russia, which attained large pro portions in 1790, brought in large quantities of iron in bars and rods. The making of nails was of immense im portance to the whole settlement and household economy of America. Wood was abundant, and artificers con structed it ingeniously into houses and furniture more com fortable and convenient than the world had ever had for its common people. This great evolution of utensils in wood required nails. Jacob Perkins, a wonderful inven tor of Newburyport, started a machine for cutting and heading them, in Amesbury, about 1790.2 In the follow ing decade, 23 patents were granted in the United States for improving this excellent device for elevating the con dition of mankind. The business of distilling liquors was revived. Rhode Island3 repealed her Act of 1777, which forbade the use of grains for such purposes. Nathan Read, of Salem, made improvements in the process of distillation,4 as while distilling he succeeded in obtaining saleratus, by subjecting pearlash to the fumes of the fermenting mo lasses.5 One of Rochambeau's staff6 had noted the great inge- 1 Coffin, Newbury, p. 261. 2 Bishop, i. 492. See, also, Barry, Hanover, p. 142 ; Worcester Soe. Antiquity, v. 20 ; Mitchell, Bridgewater, p. 59. 3 R. I. C. R., x. 318. * For the West India process, see Edwards, W. L, ii. 51. 6 Felt, Salem, ii. 175, 187. « Mag. Am. Hist, iv. 214. 1783-89.] LIMITED MEANS OF TRAVEL. 857 nuity of the Connecticut mechanics. He was also at tracted by the paper-mills and two chocolate factories at Milton, Mass. After the war, some of the old powder- mills were turned into manufactories of paper, there being a considerable increase in the manufacture of this article.1 These growing manufactures, thus briefly noted, were extended in the last decade. As soon as the Generalm_ new republic established itself firmly, manufac- cf^t°L tures, like commerce, increased rapidly, and tures' shared the rising prosperity. By 1793 Worcester County2 was fairly alive with industries. A significant indication of the movement of the time appears in the importa tion of skilled labor. Salem3 chronicles, July 7, 1795, that " thirty mechanics and manufacturers from London arrived lately." The roads of New England and the means of transpor tation had changed little for a half century. Stages had been gradually introduced on the more frequented routes. About 1795 there was a movement4 to improve staKesand the roads in various directions, especially on the Packets- great line of communication from Boston to New York. According to President Quincy, the journey overland oc cupied a week, being accomplished in eighteen-mile stages. All day, until ten in the evening, the rickety carriage labored, drawn by two horses, partly harnessed with ropes, and with a driver half intoxicated. Quagmires were fre quent, and the passengers must be ready to help in overcoming such obstacles. Only two coaches and twelve horses were employed on this great route. Packet sloops ran from New York to Providence, and coaches carried the passengers thence to Boston. In 1 Bailey, Andover, pp. 581 84. 2 Whitney's Hist, pp. 79, 109, 183, 198, 201, 213, 229, 240, 242, 247, 260, 267, 278, 297. 8 Felt, ii.303. * Hist. Stamford, p. 438. 858 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. 1793 the stages went from either place on alternate days.1 Packets ran to other points on the navigable waters. But they were an uncertain and shifting means of conveyance. Newbury put the first four-horse coaches on the Boston route in 1774.2 Stages did not make their way into Maine until 1787, when Joseph Barnard, the old post-rider, started a two-horse wagon that met the Boston stage at Portsmouth.3 Post-riders were common in the latter years of the century.4 Our generation can form slight conception of the diffi culties of travel, or the strength of the travellers. One Metlin was a baker at Portsmouth. He would walk sixty-six miles in one day, buy his flour and ship it by a coaster to his home ; then he would return on foot the next day.5 He continued this practice until eighty years of age. The tradition runs that a cabinet-maker living a dozen miles from Providence made light tables and stands to be sold in that town. He could not afford to hire a wagon to convey them thither, and mounted them in an unwieldy package on one shoulder. As the ill- balanced load strained his aching shoulder, he would take a stout rail from the fence and burden the other shoulder in compensation. Thus he travelled cheerfully to his market. Sturdy, solid men and women went out and in, while doing the common business of New England in the post- ciass dis- Revolutionary days. They were usually dressed tmctions. jn hcraespu^ though the gentry wore the Euro pean dress common to their class. This distinction of the " gentleman " was charily recognised now. The care ful social classification I have described in so many forms was gradually breaking down under the pressure of the eighteenth century, the Revolution hastening the oblitera- 1 Mass. Mercury, June 12, 1793. 2 Smith, Newburyport, p. 71. 3 Willis, Portland, p. 586. 4 Bailey, Andover, p. 407. 6 Adams, Portsmouth, p. 289. 1783-89.] CHANGES OF DRESS. 859 tion of class distinctions. Its doctrines of political equal ity, its easy creation of new and its ruthless destruction of old families and fortunes, all united in working out changes in society. It is stated that John Adams uses the term " gentleman " occasionally, and that he does use it after the Revolution is matter of remark. There were yet men and women of mark, boundary limits in the social territory, pivots in the social move ment of this incessantly active life. The dress x of gentlemen was that of fifty years before, simplified somewhat by the more sober taste prevailing. The old cocked hat rested on a bottomed wig. Coats were without collars, with full, broad skirts, or fitted more to the body and cut away over the thighs. Large pocket flaps and cuffs were after the old fashion. Buttons, plated or in silver, ornamented the front, as well as the long waistcoat ; this was buttoned closely, with a simple neck cloth, or opened over ruffled shirt fronts ; and ruffles Avere worn at the wrist. The neck-cloth was often of lace, or embroidered, the ends long and swinging. Breeches fitted closely, with buckles at the knee. Long gray stockings were assorted with white-topped boots, or with silver-buckled shoes ; in full dress, the stockings were of white or black silk. Ladies attired themselves in caps and high-heeled shoes, and took the air in bonnets of silk or satin. Gowns, of brocade or other rich material, were very long in the waist, and they overlaid stiff stays. Tight sleeves prevailed, but the loose frilled sleeve falling over the bare forearm, pre viously described, was still worn. Hoops, once driven out by an earthquake, were in wear again. The most per sistent ornament was a string of gold beads, the size of peas, worn about the neck. Thirty-nine was said to be 1 Newhall, Lynn, pp. 348, 349 ; Bailey, Andover, p. 403 ; N. H. H. C, iii. 37 ; Chase, Haverhill, p. 444 ; Bourne, Wells and K., p. 680 ; Mag. Am. Hist, x. 258, 259. 860 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. the customary number. One proverb of the historical old woman affirmed that she was " so poor she had n't a bead to her neck." These were the best clothes. When the social excite ment tended to drive out foreign merchandise, as on the occasions described, then rich people dressed in homespun to encourage the fashion. For better wear, the homespun was not only fulled but regularly " finished," and it was then known as " pressed woolens." One man wore homespun at college for two years, then his suit was a " boughten one." Laborers and boys wore leather breeches. It was common to walk from the farms bare footed on Sunday, then to don stockings and shoes as they approached the village. Women of good condition would wear old shoes, which they thrust into a shrub or wall by the roadside, and replaced with their best shoes, before they entered a village. So severe were the meth ods of economy. Mourning garments did not come in fashion again im mediately after the privations of the Revolution. Mr. Amory1 upbraids his English correspondent, June 18, 1784, for sending an invoice of black crapes, " as mourn ing is not worn." The fashion of houses was essentially the same as has been described in the second quarter of the century. A controlling feature of our society was in the rapid and easy growth of the family out of the conditions pre- Growthof vailing in all the towns. The common people the family. created self -sustaining families as readily as the banyan tree spreads a grove around the parent trunk. New land was easily obtained. A thrifty farmer2 could buy acres enough on which to settle his sons from the savings of a few years. - The axe could create the log- house anywhere, and in most places sawmills gave a cheap supply of planks and deals. The splitting of 1 J. and J. Amory, MS. Letters. 2 Belknap, N.H., iii. 260. 1783-89.] FAMILIES AND EDUCATION. 861 shingles was an accomplishment almost as common as whittling. The practice of making this cheap and ex cellent roofing material was carried into the Middle States by the New England emigrants.1 The homestead was often given to the younger son, who provided for the parents in their old age, the elder brothers having ac quired settlements of their own. Thus the teeming so cial soil was ready for the family roots, which were con stantly extending. Unmarried men of thirty were rare in country towns. Matrons were grandmothers at forty ; mother and daughter frequently nursed their children at the same time. Father, son, and grandson often worked together in one field ; and the field was their own. In external life these freemen and their families wrought at the work described through these pages. Their life within was influenced largely by the minister, Educational in a less degree by the schoolmaster and the influences- doctor. A few academies with limited resources pre pared lads for Harvard or Yale. The great body of the people were educated in the district school, two months in the winter by a man, two months in summer by a woman. The three R's were taught there by a poor scholar generally, or by a youth who was earning means to complete his own education. The range of books was very limited. Stout old Ezekiel Cheever's Latin Acci dence had held the ground during the century for the upper class of pupils. Noah AVebster's spelling-book was just coming into use, with Webster's Selections, Morse's Geography, and the Youth's Preceptor, etc.2 The Bible was the groundwork of all reading. The helps to the pupils being few in comparison with modern resources and methods, the self-help and reliance developed by this crude system of education was something remarkable. This appeared in average characters and ordinary minds. But let us turn to the superior individuals bred 1 St. John de Crevecoeur, Letters, p. 81. 2 Felt, Salem, i. 485. 862 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. under this system. Mary Moody Emerson, sister of the preacher William, aunt of Ralph Waldo, and descended from a line of our ministers, was a high type of her class. Born about 1774, her maturity was later than our period, but its essential features were the same. In these years she was reading Milton, Young, Akenside, Samuel Clarke, Jonathan Edwards, and " always the Bible." Take a week from her diary : " Rose before light every morn ; visited from necessity once, and again for books; read Butler's Analogy ; commented on the Scripture ; read in a little book, Cicero's Letters, — a few ; touched Shak- speare ; washed, carded, cleaned house, and baked. To day cannot recall an error, nor scarcely a sacrifice, but more fullness of content in the labors of a day never was felt. There is a secret pleasure in bending to circum stances while superior to them." l Noble privation! The spirit compressed within these narrow bounds springs up ward toward the infinite, as the archer's bolt flies from the constraining hand that forced it down. And what economy and ordered expenditure, there was of all that makes life valuable ! "I had ten dollars a year for clothes and charity, and I never remember to have been needy, though I never had but two or three aids in those six years of earning my home." Similar but closer economy prevailed in the Nott family, on a stony farm in Connecticut, during our period. A dozen sheep and one cow comprised the stock, and to her yield of mild the latter added service at the plough. Corn-bread, milk, and bean porridge were the staples of the diet. The father being incapacitated by illness, the mother did her work in the house and helped the boys in the fields. Once in mid-winter, one of the boys needed a new suit, and there was neither money nor wool in the house. The mother sheared the half-grown fleece from a sheep, and in a week it was made into clothing. The 1 Atlantic Monthly, December, 1883, p. 733. 1783-89.] OFFICE OF THE PHYSICIAN. 863 shorn sheep, so generous in such need, was protected by a wrappage made of braided straw. They lived four miles from the meeting-house, to which the mother and her two boys walked every Sunday. The boys became Samuel and Eliphalett Nott, one a famous preacher, one the president of Union College. Of such stuff were the ministers who trained the moth ers, and of the mothers who bred the ministers. The physician had not then become the priest and natural confessor of the American household, as he is to-day ; but he was of great importance in the social sys tem. His education through books was scanty, judged by modern standards, while a large knowledge of human kind drawn from direct observation served to bring him into close accord with his patients. Apothecaries were hardly known outside the largest towns ; for the doctors' saddle-bags carried the simple pharmacy to the remotest hut. Cheerfully these public servants toiled over the hard est roads, in every season and in all weather, to attend rich and poor alike ; the country doctor could not choose his patients if he would. A rigid standard of custom gave his services to all who needed them, fees being hardly considered when any one needed medical attendance. The fees were very modest. Even in Boston, prior to 1782, the ordinary visit was charged at one shilling six pence to two shillings. Half a dollar was only charged " such as were in high life." In that year a club of the leading physicians1 fixed the common fee at fifty cents, in consultation at one dollar. Night visits were doubled ; midwifery was at eight dollars ; capital operations in surgery, at five pounds lawful money; medicines were charged at very high prices, comparatively. Amusements were more general than in the earlier days, though a " playhouse " was not opened in Boston Am,lse. until 1794. A company from Boston played ments- i M. H. S. Proc. 1863, p. 181. 864 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. the " Beaux' Stratagem " at Salem in 1792, causing much discussion concerning " the tendency of these perform ances." 1 The first circulating library had been opened there in 1789. French 2 was taught in Newport and Salem, as well as in the chief city. Dancing schools 3 were common, and generally taught by Frenchmen, though they did not ex tend to Maine until 1798.4 The minuet was the favorite measure on state occasions, with reels, jigs, and contra- dances for mirthful times, a few experts practising the hornpipe, while cotillions were coming in. These were the more refined modes of diversion. Jolly parties, hot suppers, and great dinners at the taverns, card parties and shooting matches, occupied those whose taste was less nice.5 Gin sling and old Jamaica rum, with pipes and tobacco, made the atmosphere lively in the inns, coffee-houses, or other gathering places. Racy talk and practical jokes stirred a willing audience, and the horse laugh was easy for people who had few resources in enter tainment. The curious custom of " bundling," which accorded little with the New England character, lingered among the lower orders of people. Burnaby6 commented upon it, and Anbury 7 described it as prevailing in western Massachusetts as late as 1777. He said it was " in some measure abolished along the sea coast ; " yet there a sim ilar habit termed " tarrying " was still in vogue. While the American Union was forming itself, some of the worst symptoms of social and political dissolution were manifesting themselves. In this chapter I have stated 1 Felt, Salem, ii. 33. 2 Newport Hist Mag., iv. 99 ; Felt, Salem, i. 456. a Caulkins, Norwich, p. 541 ; and Diary Rochambeau's aid, Mag. Am. Hist., iv. 214. 4 Bourne, Wells and Kennebunk, p. 677. 6 Caulkins, New London, p. 581. 6 Travels in N. A., p. 145. ' Travels, ii. 41, 95. 1783-89.] DEEPER THAN DEMOCRACY. 865 some of the causes of disintegration at work in the new states. Of necessity, these causes were largely economic, and they prevailed in New England b?hIgsyorder especially, as is revealed in the incident of Shays' m^°" rebellion. In the final rendering, all liistory is one. The greatest revelation rendered to all subsequent generations by these opening years of the American Re public is in the constant proof they exhibit, of the pre vailing power of the people for self-government. Civil government exists in institutions. But these institutions find their sure and abiding foundation, not in ranks or orders of society, not in property or privilege, not in king, lords, or commons, not in army, senate, or priesthood, but in the fibre of the people themselves. Much passion of praise or of denunciation is devoted in our day to democ racy. The principle here treated lies deeper than either aristocracy or democracy.1 It is in the relation of each individual man and woman to the essential principles of society, of order itself. Napoleon's private soldier may or may not have carried the fictitious baton of a marshal m his knapsack ; the American citizen always carries his own political privilege. We can comprehend these things better, perhaps, if we study them in places where they are absent. A foreign. Foreigners open to us some of the best avenues ers vlew- of insight into our own virtues and defects. From the nature of the case, they usually fail in that insight itself, which ought to be easy to the native. An enlightened writer has lately made a study of the New England col onies. After descanting much upon the limitations of the 1 The institutions of New England were democratic in form, bnt aristocratic in the substance of their administration. Dr. Jameson has proven quite recently that the number of voters in Revolutionary times was very small. " From 1780 to 1789 inclusive, we have estimated that 16 per cent, of the inhabitants of Massachusetts were qualified to vote. The number of those who actually did vote in those ten years amounted to just about three per cent." New Eng. Mag., January, 1890, p. 488. 866 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. New England Puritan, the subjugation of his individual nature, the monotony of his life and character, Mr. Doyle a says : " To us (i. e. Englishmen) the state is an aggregate of classes, each in a measure with its own needs, its own conception of life, its own moral standard. Behind this there may be the sense of state unity, resting on historical associations and on certain broad common interests ; but it is only in supreme moments of the nation's career that this comes forth. With the New Englander of the first generation, as with the Greek, the sense of corporate life was ever present." This shows clearly the strength and the limitations of England and the English. A state founded on classes lacks homogeneity, but our business with Mr. Doyle's statement is in its application to New England. It is sin gular that Europeans have almost always failed to get at the passion for state unity that exists in the very passion for nature of the American people. Every crisis in unity. . our history has brought this to light. Daniel Webster was a man greater than his time. His faults were not those of petty ambition. The jarring wrongs of the slave could not turn him from the great harmonies in the music of the Union. It was local love of state, as well as the passions engendered by slavery, that fed the flame of Confederate insurrection and the beguiling dream of distorted unity in 1861. It is true that state unity could not be fully compre hended in the Revolutionary period, before there was any state. The germ was there. The New Englanders made many pathetic appeals to be treated as children and part ners, not as colonial offshoots of England. This for one hundred years before the Revolution ; loyalty to the crown was a precious inheritance. When the new state was in the agony of its gestation, it is no disparagement to the Revolutionary agitators that they did not know just l Eng. Cols, in Amer., ii. 96. 1783-89.] AN IDEAL IN WASHINGTON. 867 what they were doing. Samuel Adams fiercely compre hended the collective power of New England for destruc tion ; he had scant conception of the building of a state. John Adams, the best-instructed statesman of them all, looked upon any one outside dear New England as the Greek regarded the barbarian. It was reserved for the sagacity of Hamilton — an alien genius, a rare creation independent of race or time — to see through to the end, to behold the possibilities of an empire. But the man of the time, the concrete actual personifi cation of these godlike faculties, inchoate and dimly per ceived in common men, was George Washing- TT ... , ,. Washington ton. He — a king in substance and dignity — the head of , , . , , . . . . the people. was nearest to the people in the working oi his spirit. Patriotism is too large a motive for common and daily life. If the state were everywhere and always active, we should have no citizens, but puppets. The court of Washington never equalled his punctilious and formal expectation, but the king went into the very hearts of those he ruled. He embodied those virtues of patience, endurance, economy, and self-denial, that good sense cul minating in unerring judgment, which the people can comprehend and can hold. It is by no accident that the Father of his Country has become the sufficient model and forming image of the citizen. State unity is the historical theme of themes ; we might well set forth the pages of another volume if this • i rv • p iii state uni*y divine principle in the affairs of men should in New Eng- . n . t v land history. thereby receive further illustration and expli cation. The idea of the Pilgrims, transplanted to this continent, was inoculated and enlarged by the greater impelling power of the Puritans. The Pilgrim was greater in the home ; the Puritan was greater in the state. Robinson and Bradford well may be studied as house fathers, — 868 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. men of the family, — while Winthrop and Hooker were essentially men of the state ; citizens succeeding to a po litical system developed from a union of homes. When the state enlarges its functions in a simple society, the inevitable effect of its first crude efforts will result in annoyance, perhaps oppression, to some of its members, its individual householders, and incipient citizens. This manifestation of the state found its martyrs in the per sons of Williams, Coddington, and the company exiled to Providence and the Narragansett shores. It was a small political movement, estimated in numbers or extent of ter ritory, but it engendered consequences which reached be yond its district, and far beyond the actual consciousness of the heroes and martyrs who made it possible. Roger Williams's conception of a state exercising its political force " only in civil things " was a direct spark from the eternal fire of genius. This was the heroic side of state development as em bodied in Bradford, Winthrop, Hooker, and Williams. Had New England produced nothing more, her a commu- history would be an account of sporadic exploits, like numerous episodes in all the experience of the world. These large individuals were only representa tives of the people behind them. This people organised itself into a community, a something moving in individ uals and families, a concrete society, preparatory and an terior to the mere town which is subject to limitations of place. An aristocracy of aristocracies — bred out of the best moral fibre of the English race — was creating town government in the form of a democracy. Not that New England had all the best people or made the only good system, but these particular political and social institu tions found their highest manifestation here. The people of these communities moved to their work animated by a wonderful impulse for association. While they moved by instinct and intuition rather than with con- 1783-89.] THE OLD ECONOMIC FORCE. 869 scious purpose toward stable political development, there was yet a motive behind these religious and political forces. This motive force was in the desire to live ; an , . . , , . . , , . Impelled by economic, working necessity acting m their or- economic ganic life, and which controlled the forms of their political and social existence. Wherever and whenever we pierce below the surface of our early institutions, we find this economic principle at work, moulding these insti tutions anew to fit them into the forms of the new circum stances. Republican democracy was forged out in this pro cess. This was neither aristocracy nor democracy accord ing to the old rules , it was a practical system in the form of democracy, using such accumulated aristocratic culture as was to be had, and bending it rigidly to its own ends. Our whole early development partakes of these prin ciples, moves onward in this stream through prescribed channels. The great imaginary American Puritan state, inspired from England and projected from English expe rience, broke down utterly about the year 1640. Then the man of the new world, an organised citizen, began to create new organs for industrial and commercial progress. The gold sovereign, the money of England, failed to con trol the deranged affairs, and to lead prosperity out of the abundant resources of the country. Men trained to work together in building up homes and communities now turned their hands to building vessels. They gave and took labor and supplies in a round of current industry where no currency was to be had. AVithout money, they converted " Country Pay " into a satisfaction of the legit imate wants of the country. The buoyant life of a new land, upspringing through the efforts of orderly men and women, freed from many of the functions of order then decaying in older New ( nations, carried these vessels by an impulse of its own into the marts of the world. Our poor try- soil yielded little, but enough to furnish forth the hardy - com merce in a new coun- 870 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. fishermen who should bring in the abounding yield from prolific seas. The superstitious fasts of the Old World created wants that were most easily supplied from the New. The Catholics of Southern Europe, the West Indian ne groes, were fed by the same restless and energetic Pro testants. The English Navigation Acts, strengthened by Charles II. , could hardly affect this commercial movement, so natural, so fitted to the time ; could not impede this succession of vessels laden with necessary cargoes, pro duced and husbanded by one of the most thrifty peoples in history. The loosely administered Acts only fretted the people into more vigorous activity. The years following their reenactment were among the most enterprising of our whole experience. Shipyards sprang up, new ports of entry were opened, commerce extended through the in crease created out of itself ; this was actual free trade in sssence, though unfree in form. The second generation, the " New England men," so often and fondly noted by Judge Sewall, were now acting the parts of the incoming drama, and filling the The New , ¦ , i , • ,. , England new stage which the closing years of the seven- men. , . teenth century open to our view. A generation had passed off from the colonial stage. The great men, founders, heroes, — • of genius proportioned to their oppor tunity, — were gone. The makers of home and commu nity were followed by keepers, who should safely bind and safely find the goods attained through peril, acquired by courage and strength. Careful and thrifty, they fortified the ground, and economised the possessions which their fathers had occupied. Perhaps, if they had been of larger mould, they might have attracted too much notice from kings and ministers, who knew not the business of govern ing colonies, simply because that science had never been discovered. The great Louis smothered his colonies by too much care ; England helped the growth of hers by a step-motherly neglect. Out of the accidents of the time, 1783-89.] GROWTH OF THE PEOPLE. 871 rather than from forecast or inventive statecraft, did the American colonies get their opportunity for expansion. The people passed through varied experiences on their way and in their growth into the full life of a state. '' Country Pay " could afford the means of se- Cnlde curing prosperity and comfort to simple people ; fmanco- it could not furnish support to the great enterprises of state, nor administer the business of wealth. The French — and Indians impelled by the French — hampered and harassed, while they threatened even more, the expanding life of our New England colonies. The public exigency required more capital and better currency ; it resorted to issues of paper money in the hope of creating a new circu lating medium. An interesting portion of economic his tory lies in the facts of these issues of paper, as they were evolved from the dire necessities of the country. These movements were not mere caprices and freaks of the pop ular will. The statesmen of those days were not departing from an assured road and certain way in finance. They travelled in an unknown country, tugging at a load they could not weigh or comprehend, and blundering through paths untried in all previous experience. In the first quarter of the eighteenth century our com merce extended and greatly widened its scope. Mer chants like Peter Faneuil succeeded to the careful trader like John Hull. Capital accumulated, and luxury, satisfy ing its cravings with the produce of many countries, suc ceeded to the generous but plain comforts of the second generation. The distilling of rum and bartering it for negroes became an enormous commercial industry. We must remember that, while foreign commerce left the most shining marks and received the highest rewards in the convertible forms of wealth, the industry of the Homestead homesteads, the patient work of farmers, in com- mdustries- pany with their wives, sons, and daughters, was the actual basis and primary impulse of this brilliant trade across 872 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89. the seas. Ships were built by a home exchange of labor. Their cargoes of fish came through the toiling efforts of men supported by the excellent economy of the homefolk. Moreover, the coasting trade, surrounding and interpen- ¦ etrating the older districts, forwarded the constant ex changes which made all this industrial movement possible. The Sugar Acts, before and after they were strength ened by the action of the home government, affected the practical course of our commerce much more than it had been influenced by the Navigation Acts. The whole com mercial atmosphere of the colonies was surcharged with illicit trade in one or another form. Generations had grown up in the practice of a virtual free trade, when Grenville came to apply his stricter theories and andBritish his impracticable notions of taxation. These ministerial experiments, being backed by new assertions of the royal prerogative, provoked and incensed a people who were affectionate and loyal, yet grudgingly obedient to the substance of authority. Perhaps the poor king has received too much obloquy in the discussions of these stirring events and these troublous times. There were deeper causes of alienation of the colonists than those lying in the character or the positive action of the king. It is very doubtful whether the colonists would or could have developed into good subjects under the pre vailing political conditions. It is absolutely certain that they never would have accepted the contemptuous inferi ority tendered them by the average British Islander, and which he expected them to gratefully accept. Consider their condition. Wealth had accumulated, had given the growing citizens greater opportunities, widening their ; mental horizon, as well as increasing their facilities of life. Enterprise, conduct of large affairs, high public spirit, had entered into their dependent life, and was fit ting them for even better political deeds. They had taken Louisburg, and had assisted in taking Quebec. Their 1783-89.] GERMS OF INDEPENDENCE. 873 success, their steady expansion, had unfitted them, had rendered them unable to bear the touch of any English official coming among them with airs of lofty superiority. The downrightness of British pride in the eighteenth cen tury — as England was moving into the front rank of na tions — perhaps put forth its worst expression in its con tact with colonial-bred subjects. The supercilious wrays of civil and military officers in their colonial administra tion — an administration which generally manifested in competence or mediocrity — irritated and inflamed the colonists far more than any direct assertion of British power. Men who were subduing a continent could ill brook the assumed superiority or petty insolence of martinets and perfunctory formalists. The second quarter, roughly taken, or the middle period of the eighteenth century, has not been so much regarded in the development of our independence as the years after the Writs of Assistance and the time of the Stamp Acts. Yet it was a fertilising and gestating Thegestat_ time. Two men as unlike as the two poles con- mstlme- tributed largely to the ideas which formed this time, — to the putting away of dependence, to the faint beginning of independence. Jonathan Edwards, a prophet who hardly touched politics, a seer seeking the inmost recesses of the human soul, taught that each individual man should bow to the immediate and absolute sovereignty of God. He built better than he knew ; there was no place for another sovereign in that inner chamber of the soul. Benjamin Franklin, not yet the natural philosopher or commanding statesman, was a great master of affairs in early life. He published " Poor Richard " in our period of gestation, as I have termed it. The close and painstaking economy of this treatise was only excelled by its subjection of the individual self to a higher law of prudence and sacrifice. It was a practical expression of the utilitarian philosophy, and it exercised a tremendous influence. Without Ed- 874 CONFEDERATION AND UNION. [1783-89.' wards's finer penetrating power, it might have contracted the citizen too much ; acting together, the two influences were invincible. The soul aspiring to closer union with God planted its earthly parts on the firm ground of Poor Richard's common sense. Much political heat has been engendered by patriotic Large pout- or loyal discussion about the Stamp Acts. Tre- icai issues, mendous forces have been wasted in charges or recrimination concerning the political doings of this or that official, concerning the popular movement here or there, as if these items controlled the final account. In themselves, these discussions seem trifling to the mind of our time ; they have helped to bring out or preserve interesting facts, and they have accomplished little more. Whether Gren ville, North, or the Third George was wise or foolish ; whether the rising colonists, soon to be freemen, moved aright or mistook their course in a particular incident — all these incidents were virtual accidents in the great political drama. Institutions directed the evolution of this drama ; it was not controlled by the accidental interposition of in dividuals at critical points in the action, whether these individuals were narrow as Grenville, or large-minded as Burke. The polity proceeding from Burke's theories was hardly more adequate than the administration of Gren ville, to the American crisis In America, rep- Freed repre- , , . ' sentative resentative government was working out new government. . . , , . problems through tree citizens growing into large political agents, and through institutions that had been gradually dropping the constraints of feudalism. Government by the people was getting itself done by such agents as the people could put to the work. Institutions under which the people had truly loved the office of a king had suddenly proven their elastic capacity by main taining the wars and furnishing the civic administration of a central government soon to evolve itself into an inde pendent government. 1783-89.] BEGINNING AND END. 875 I have attempted to show that these institutions were enfolded in the families, and in the strong, individual men and women, transplanted here in the seventeenth An economic century ; and these institutions were not simply eyolutiou- domestic, religious, or political in their essential character. There were imbedded in all the ways of living among these New Englanders certain tendencies which can only be classed as economic, and which affected the action of these people as they came to organise a church or to settle a town. Fortunately or unfortunately, both the neglect and the occasional administrative interference of England touched and affected these people in their economic bent and inclination. These were not merely questions of pence, shillings, or dollars, nor manifestations of the love of money: the whole business of living was disturbed and deranged whenever parliamentary taxes and royal admin istration were brought across the intervening seas. It mattered little whether a tax was in pence or shillings, or whether the collector might come from parliament or king. Neither in England nor in America, then, were there representative organs and an organism to unite in regular movement the life of the citizen subject with the rule and direction of the moderate king. I would not make overmuch of economy, yet it is the basis of life ; it moulds peoples, it builds or it destroys states. It was the firm resistance of orderly citizens to the Stamp Acts and similar measures which won the magnificent rights of freedom that developed into the splendid power of the United States of America. APPENDIX A. TABLE OF PRICES. 1630. Wages. Beaver. Master mechanics, 16a". to 24a\ Fixed at 6s. per lb., then freed. per day and board. 10s. to 20s. per lb. Common mechanics, 12a\ per day and board. Freight from England. Laborers, 6d. to 12rf. per day and 20s. to 60s. per ton. board. Ditto, insured, £5 per ton. Sawyers, 4s. 6d. per 100 of 6 Adult passenger, £5. score. Horse, £10. 1631. Corn, lOs.-lls. per bu. Oxen, £40 yoke. Wheat, 14s. per bu. Cows, £25. 1632. Wages, capt. pinnace, 1 mo., £2. Corn, 4s. 6d. per bu. 1633. Inferior laborers, fixed by consta- Wages and Values. kjes Master mechanics, 24d. per day Master tailors, 12a\ per day with without board. board. Master mechanics, lid. per day Inferior tailors, 8d. with board. with board. 1 meal at inn, 6c?. Mowers, 24a". per day without 1 quart beer at inn, Id. board. 1 lb. butter, Gd. Best laborers, 18a\ per day with- 1 lb. cheese, 5d. out board. Alewives, 5s. per M. Best laborers, 8a". per day with Corn, 6s. per bu. board. 878 APPENDIX. 4 eggs, Id. Quart milk, Id. Butter, 6c?. per lb. Cheshire cheese, 5c?. per lb. Beaver. 2\ lbs. = 1 fath. blk. wampum. 1 lb. = 8 lbs. tobacco. $ lb. = 2 bu. salt. 1 lb. = 2 bu. corn. 3 \ lbs = " one c." (codfish.) 5 lbs. = 200 "of drifish." Corn, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Coat beaver in England, 20s. Some above, 14s. to 16s. skin. Musket bullets, farth. apiece to 12c?. Indian corn, 6s. per bu. Corn, Conn. Riv. 12s. per bu., Beaver, 5s. per lb. 39-J y. tanny shagg. 38 y. murry shagg. 38 y. liver culler shagg. 34 y. of tanny : plaine wool. 38^ y. liver culler shagg. 37| y. murry shagg. 225 y. at 8s. = 90 li. Butter, 7c?. per lb. Cheese, 7c?. per lb. Sack, 6s. per gall. Irish beef, 50s. per ton. 9 lbs. = 20 gall. aq. vitse at 4s. 6d. \ lb. = 5| lbs. sugar. 3 lbs. = 8 gall. " sack." 1$ lbs. = 2 gall. oil. 2 lbs. = 2\ gall. " aquay." 2 lbs. = 3 bu. corn. X\ lbs. = 2\\ lbs. butter. | lbs. = 8-| lbs. soap. 7 lbs. = \\ hhd. malt. 2 lbs. = 2 jars oil. 4J lbs. = 14 bu. rice. 5 lbs. = 9 bu. corn. 1634. Otter in England, 14s. to 15s. per lb. lb. per lc?. quarte of beer. 1635. up 27 Flan, mares at £34 the mare. 63 heifers at £12. 88 sheep at 50s. 5s. a head for keeping cattle. 1636. Alewives, 5s. for 1,000. Coat beaver, 20s. per lb. ,some 24s. Skin beaver, 15s. per lb., some times 16s. Bermuda potatoes, 2c?. per lb. School, £40 per year. 1637. Irish rugs, 14s. Indian corn, 5s. 6c?. bu. in money. " " 9s. per lb. in beaver. Corn, 5s. per bu. 1638. Dwelling h. and garden in Bos ton, £28 stg. House and lot in Cam., 6 ac. ara ble land and 5 ac. meadow, £10. Corn, 5s. 6c?. per bu. Oxen, £25 per head. Wharf, crane, warehouses, 100 acres of land, and a dock in Bos ton, £170. APPENDIX. 879 1639. Ferry Boat Cape Ann. Strangers, 2c?. apiece. Town dwellers, lc?. Horses and great beasts, 6c?. Goats, calves, swine, 2c?. Worsted stockings, 6s. 8c?. Hard sealing wax, 3c?. 1 pair stockings, 20c?. 1,000 pipe-staves, £18 per M. \ Prudence Island, £50. Schoolmaster's salary, £20. Wages. Carpenters for 9 mos., 2s. 6c?. per day; for 3 mos. from Novem ber 1st to Feb. 1st, 2s. per day. Mowers, 2s. 6c?. per day. Sawyers, 6s. 6c?. per c. feet. Husbandry or ordinary labor, 2s. per day for 9 mos ; for 3 mos. from November 10 to Febru ary 10, 18c?. per day. Blacksmith's apprentice for 9 yrs. £12, double apparel and 51. 1640. Brandy, hhd. cost £7, retailed £33. Powder, cost 20c?., sold 3s. Summer wheat 7s., per bu. ; Rye 6s. per bu. Barley 5s. per bu. ; Corn 4s. per bu. Peas, 6s. per bu. Hemp and flaxseed, 12s. Corn in payment new debts: Ind., 4s., Rye, 5s., Wheat, 6s. per bu. Beaver, 8s. per lb. Shot, 4c?. per lb.; paid in beaver at 6s. the pd. Cattle, 18 li. per head ; some 18.15s. and 20 li. An estate worth, 3 mos. before, £1,000, fallen to £200. White wampum, 4 a penny. Blue wampum, 2 a penny. 1 pair gray stockings, 2s. Brandy, 6s. 8c?. per gal. Legal interest, 8 per cent. 1641. Wages and Values. Common laborer, Is. 6c?. per day. Mowing, 2s. per day. Carpenters, 10c?. to work 8 hours. Wheelwrights lowered 3c?. in shil. From September to March, work men, Is. 4c?. per day ; from March to September, Is. 8d., ex cept mowing, 2s. A man, 4 oxen and cart, per day, 5s.-6s. Price of cow fell in 1 month from £20 to £5. Price of goat fell in 1 month from £3 to 10s. In payment of debts : old Indian corn, 3s. the bu. ; new Indian corn, 2s. 6c?. the bu. ; English wheat, 4s. the bu. Clapboards, 5 ft., 3s. per hundred. Sawn boards, 5s. per hundred. Slit work, 4s. 6c?. per hundred. Hhd. mack., £3 12s. 400 pair sea-horse teeth = £300. Gristmill, £74 10s. Bark, 50t., £200. 880 APPENDIX. 1642. 1 warming pan, 5s. 6d. 1 pair andirons, 10s. 2 Holland sheets, 9s. 1 pair spectacles, 2s. 4 pigs, £1 13s. 13 bus. Indian corn, £2 5s. 1 cow and yearling, £5 10s. Meal, 14s. per bu. Peas, lis. per bu. Beans, 16s. per bu. Holland ducat, 3 guil. = 6s. Rixdollar = 2\ guil. = 5s. Ryall, 8 guil. = 5s. Span, broadcloth, 17s. per yard. Wheat aud barley, 4s. per bu. Rye and peas, 3s. 4c?. per bu. Corn, 2s. 6c?. per bu. 1643. Indian corn, 2s. 4c?. per bu. Bricks, lis. per M. For common work, each laborer, from November 1st to Febru ary 1st, 18c?. per day ; for rest of year, 20c?. per day. For work of 4 oxen and a man per day, 4s. 6c?. For work of 6 oxen and a man per day, 7s. For work of 8 oxen and a man per day, 8s. Man's washing and diet for 1 year, £9 beside bedding. 1645 1644. Goldsmith's apprentice for 12 years, meat, drink, apparel and £3 at end of term. 3 lbs. bacon, 6c?. 1 lb. tobacco, 18c?. 2 oz. ginger, 3c?. 1 li. sugar, 20c?. Wolf's head = 10s. Doe = 2 fath. wampum. Fawn, 1 year old = 1 fath. wam pum. Silk quilt, 26s. 1 little Turkey carpet, 26s. Ladder of 21 rounds, 2s. Horse, £10. Wheat, 4s. per bu. Mill, £75. 1 cow, £4. 1 ox, £7. 1 old scythe, Is. 1 plough, 6s. Harrow, 10s. Axe, 2s. 6c?. 30 bu. Eng. wheat, £6. Rye and peas, 3s. 4e?.-3s. 6c?. bu. Indian corn, 2s. 8c?.-3s. 6c?. bu. Wheat and barley, 4s. per bu. Venison, 2-2\d. per lb. Codfish, £1 per quintal. 1646. Plank table, 10s. Pair moose gloves, 2s. 6c?. Alewives, 2s. per M. Cow, £5. Cattle, 3-4 years, £3. Sheep, 10s. Yearling swine, 20s. Schooling, 4s. per quarter. APPENDIX. 881 1 chest drawers, £2. 1 quilt, £1 6s. 1 trunk, 4s. 1647. 1 cow, £5. Indian corn, 6s. per bu. Wheat, 8s. per bu. 1648. Indian corn, 3s.-4s. per bu. House, £8. 500 apple trees = 250 ac. land. Rye and peas, 4s. per bu. Peas and rye, 4s. per bu. Indian corn, 3s.-4s. per bu. Wheatj 5s.-8s. per bu. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Barley, 5s. per bu. Corn, 3s. per bu. 1649. Corn, 6s. per bu. Barley, 5s. 6c?. per bu. 1650. Cow, £5. Negro maid, £25. 2 servants, £20. Cider, Is. 8c?. per gal., £4 4s. per hhd. Apples, 6s-8.s. per bu. \ bu. quinces, 4s. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Rye and peas, 4s. per bu. Wheat and barley, 5s. per bu. 1651. White sugar, £10 per barrel. Rug, £1 5s. Wheat and barley, 5s. per bu. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Onions, 5s. per bu. Salt, 2s. per bu. 1 hhd. ginger, £5. 1 cwt. sugar, £3. Brandy, 12s. per gal. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Peas and rye, 4s. per bu. Corn, 5s. per bu. Cast iron, £6 per ton. 10 of bar iron, £10. Rye, 4s. per bu. Peas, 3s. 8c?. per bu. Schoolmaster's salary, £30 per annum. 1652. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Wheat and barley, 5s. per bu. Rye and peas, 4s. per bu. 1653. Sack, 6s. per gal. White wine, 18s. per gal. Strong water, 3s. per quart. Sugar, 7c?. per lb. Beef, 3c?. per lb. Pork, 4c?. per lb. Venison, Is. 6c?. per lb. 882 APPENDIX. 1654. Warming pan, 5s. Bedstead, 5s. Hat, 5s. Pillow, 3s. Spinning-wheel, 2s. Apples, 2s. 6c?.-3s. per bu. Cider, Is. 4c?. per gal., or £1 10s. per bbl. Conn. Wheat, 4s. per bu. Corn, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Peas 3s. per bu. Rehoboth. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Corn, 3s. per bu. Rye, 7s. per bu. 2 quires paper, Is. Rye and peas, 4s. per bu. Barley, 5s. per bu. Beef, 3c?. per lb. Pork, 4c?. per lb. Brandy, 3s.-4s. per gal. Sweet oil, 8s. per gal. Flanders grass seed, 4s. and 5s per lb. Powder, £4 per bbl. Wheat, 4s.-5s. per bu. Rye and peas, 4s. per bu. 1656. Broadcloth, 12s. or 15s per yard. Sturgeon, 10s. a keg, 1657. Negro boy, £20. 1655. Barley, 4s., 4s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Beef, 2e?.-3a\ per lb. Pork, 3c?.-4c?. per lb. Musket, 10s. Horse, £10. Cow, £3. Horse, £10. Ox, £5. Wheat and barley, 5s. per bu. Rye and peas, 4s. per bu. Meal, £1 10s. per bbl. White starch, £4 per bbl. Hhd. of rum, £12 12s. Swine, 20s. Barley and barley malt, 4s. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Rye and peas, 3s. per bu. 1658. Indian corn, 8s. per bu. 1659. Cotton, ls.-ls. 6c?. per lb. Interest, 6 per cent. Wheat, 4s.-5s. per bu. Indian corn, 2s.-3s. per bu. Barley and barley malt, 4s. 6c? per bu. Peas and rye, 4s. per bu. Shingles, 18 in., 20s. per M. 1660. Shingles, 3 ft., 35s. to 40s. per M. Cord of wood, Is. Hhd. sugar, £6 10s. Oatmeal, £1 5s. per bbl. Powder, 7s. 6c?. per bbl. APPENDIX. 883 Tobacco, £2 per bbl. Mare, £14. Cord of oak wood, Is. 6c?. Bushel of turnips, Is. 6c?. 1 lb hides = 10 lbs. old iron. Kersey, 10s. per yard. Sheep, 10s.-23s. 1661. Yoke of oxen, £14. Yoke of steers, £10. 1662. Peas and rye, 4s. per bu. Wheat and barley, 3s. per bu. Barley malt, 5s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. 1663. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Rye and peas, 4s. per bu. Wheat, 5s.-5s. 6c?. per bu. Barley and barley malt, 5s. per bu. Salt, 3s. per bu. Otter skin = 10s. Firkin of butter, £1 10s. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Pease, 3s. 6c?.-4s. per bu. Rye, 4s. per bu. Barley, 5s. per bu. Cow, £4. 1664. Wheat, 4s. 6c?.-5s. 6c?. per bu. Pork, £3 10s. per bbl. Masts, 33 to 35 in. diam., £95 to £115 per mast. 1665. Horse 4 years old, £10. 1666. Wages. Mowing, 2s. 2c?. per day. Common labor, 2s. per day, £10 per annum. Women's labor, £4-£5 per an. Indian corn, 3s. 6c?.. per bu. Wheat, 5s. 6c?. per bu. Peas, 4s. per bu. Apples and turnips, Is. per bu. Candy, 6s. per lb. Tea, 60s. per lb. Common powder, £6 per bbl. Musket powder, £7 per bbl. Corn, 3s.-2s. 8c?. per bu. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Peas, 2s. 8c?.-3s. 6c?. per bu. Rye, 4s. per bu. Barley and malt, 4s.-4s. 6c?. per bu. Pork, 3c?. per lb. 1667. Butter, 6c?. per lb. Horse, £8. Cow, £4. Negro, £26. Sawn boards, 4s. 6c?. per M. 884 APPENDIX. Corn, 3s.-3s. 6c?. per bu. Wheat, 5s. 6c?. per bu. Rye, 3s. 6c?. per bu. Barley, 4s. per bu. Claret, £1 10s. per bbl. Cider, 10s. per bbl. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Rye, 4s. per bu. Pease, 3s. 6c?.-4s. per bu. Corn, 3s. per bu. Oats, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Barley malt, 4s. per bu. Butter, 6c?. per lb. Ox, £3. Cow, £2 5s. Sheep, 3s. 3-year-old horse, £2. 1668. Peas, 3s. per bu. Horse, £5. Gun, 3s. 1669. Butter, £1 5s. per firkin. Wood, 3s. 6c?. per cord. 1670. Pork, 3c?. per lb. Wool, 12c?. per lb. Beef, £1 10s. per bbl. Tierce vinegar, £1 10s. Hhd. rum, £7. Beer, l^c?.per quart. 1671. Wool, 12c?. per lb. Rosin, 15s. per cwt. Rum, 5s. gal. ; 2c?. gill. 1672. Wages. Common workmen, September to March, Is. 3c?. per day. Common workmen, March to June, Is. 8c?. per day. Common workmen, June to Sep tember, 2s. per day. Carpenters, masons, and stone- layers, March to October 10th, 2s. per day. Beaver, 10s. per lb. 1673. Linen, 2s. 6c?. per yard. Rum, 6s. to 6s. 8c?. per gal. Barley and barley malt, 4s. Wheat, 4s. per bu. Peas, 3s. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn and peas, 3s. Wheat, 5s. per bu. 1674. Pork, £3 per bbl. Sugar, £2 10s. per bbl. Sturgeon, 10s. to 12s. per keg. APPENDIX. 885 1675. Wheat, 5s.- 6s. per bu. Rye, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Barley and peas, 4s. per bu. Indian corn, 3s.-3s. 6c?. per bu. Oats, 2s. per bu. Beef, 40s. per bbl. Sawing planks, 8s. per M. 1676. Barley, malt, rye, and peas, 4s. Turnips, Is. per bu. per bu. Oats,«2s. per bu. Winter wheat, 5s. per bu. Summer wheat, 4s. per bu. White peas, 3s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. 6c? .-3s. 6c?. per bu. Pork, £3 10s. per bbl. Beef, 40s. per bbl. Butter, 6c?. per lb. Hemp, 6c?. per lb. Hides, 6c?. per lb. 1677. Wages. Mowing, 2s. 2c?. per day. Men's, £10 per annum. Women's, £4 to £5 per annum. Labor, 2s. per day. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Apples and turnips, Is. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. per bu. Peas, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Barley, 2s. per bu. Barley malt, 2s. 6cf. per bu. Pork, 2c?. per lb. Malt, 3s. per bu. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Pork, £3 10s. per bbl. Oats, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Peas, barley, and barley malt, < per bu. Horse, £3. Hog, £1 10s. 1678. Beef, 12s. per cwt. Butter, 5c?. per lb. Wool, 6c?. per lb. Needles, 10s. per M. Slaves, £30 to £35. 1679. Shingles, 10s. per hundred. Tobacco, 6c?. per lb. Clapboards and boards, 5s. per Cider, 10s. per bbl. hundred. 1680. Stamford. Winter wheat, 5s. per bu. Summer wheat, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. 6c?.- 3s. per bu. Pork, 3\d. per lb. New Hampshire. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Malt, 4s. per bu. Rye and peas, 4s. per bu. Barley, 4s. per bu. Oats, Is. 8c?.-2s. 6c?. per bu. APPENDIX. 1681. Madeira wine, £11 per butt. Rye, 3s. 6c?. per bu. Barley, 3s. and 3s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Canary wine, £12 per pipe. Sherry wine, £18 per butt. Negro, £20. Ox, £3. Cows, 40s. Swine, 10s. Beef, 2c?. per lb. Pork, 3c?. per lb. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Wheat, 5s. per bu 1682. Barley malt, 3s. 6c?. per bu. Oats, 2s. per bu. Wheat, 5s. 6c?. per bu. 1683. Barley and barley malt, 4s. per bu. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Oats, 2s. per bu. Rye, 3s. 6c?. per bu. 1684. Peas, 4s. per bu. Malt, 3s. per bu. Hayseed, 3s. per lb. Sawmill, £100. 1685. Butter, 9c?. per lb. Tobacco, 5c?. per lb. Whalebone, 2s. 6c?. per lb. Beef, l^c?. per lb. Pork, 2£c?.perlb. Wheat, 4s. 6c?. and 5s. 6c?. per bu. Oats, 2s. 6c?. per bu. 1686 Peas, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 2s.6c?.-3s. per bu. Barley and barley malt, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Red oak staves, 16s. per M. Boards, 18s. per M. Barque 20 tons, £40. Shoeing horse, 12c?. •Wheat, 5s. per bu. Peas, 4s. per bu. Barley, 3s. per bu. Wheat, 4s. per bu. Barley, 3s. per bu. Rye, 2s. 6c?.-3s. per bu. Indian corn, Is. 6c?. per bu. Butter, 4c?. per lb. Wool, 8c?. per lb. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Pork, 3c?. per lb. Beef, 2c?. per lb. Pine boards, 20s. per M. 1687. Cotton wool, Is. 6c?. per lb. Whalebone, Is. 6c?. per lb. Powder, Is. 4c?. per lb. Rum, Is. 6c?. per gal. Cow, £2 5s. Razor. £1. APPENDIX. 887 1688. White oak bbl. staves, 15s. per M. Red oak hhd. staves, 15s. per M. Crosscut saw, 3s. 6c?. Horse, £6. Steer, £2. Paper, 8s. per ream. 1689. Dozen silver spoons, £5 13s. 3c?. 1690. Wheat, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 2s.-3s. per bu. Rye, 2s. 3c?. per bu. Barley and barley malt, 4s. per bu. Peas, 4s. per bu. Oats, 18c?. per bu. Butter, 4c?. per lb. Pork, £1 18s.-£3 per bbl. Beef, 36s. per bbl. Wool, l\d. per lb. Codfish, £5 per hhd. Musket, £1 15s. 1691. Powder, £2 5s. per bbl. Clapboards, 3s. per M. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Wheat, 5s.-8. per bu. Malt, 3s. per bu. Peas, 4s. per bu. Pork, £3-£3 15s. per bbl. Rum, 2s. per gal. Sugar, £12 per hhd. Salt, £2 10s. per hhd. Indian corn, 2s. per bu. Wheat, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Peas, 2s. per bu. Corn, Is. 6c?. per bu. Cow, £3. 1692. Tobacco, 2^c?. per lb. Beef, 2c?. per lb. Wool, 8c?. per lb. Cow, £2. Sheep, 5s.-6s. Swine, 12s. Pine boards, 36s. per M. 1693. Molasses, Is. 2c?. per gal. Salt, £1 per hhd. Otter skin, 10s. Mouse-trap, 3c?. 1694. Seamen's Wages. Master, £6 per month. Mate, £4 10s. per month. Seaman, £3-£3 15s. per month. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Rye, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Oats, 2s. per bu. Beef, £2 per bbl. Sugar, 3\ per lb. Barrel staves, £1 10 per M. Cow, £2 5s. 888 APPENDIX. 1695. Indian corn, 2s. per bu. Rye, 2s. 3c?. per bu. Butter, 4c?. per lb. Wool, l\d. per lb. Ullage of beer, £1 10s. Cask of sugar, £11. Barrel of gunpowder, 9s. Tobacco, £8 9s. 6c?. per hhd. Sugar, £11 14s. 6c?. per hhd. Salt, 25s. per hhd. Flour, £3 7s. 4£c?. per bbl. Red oak hhd. staves, 15s per M. Pork, £1 18s. per bbl. Fish, 15s. per quintal. Pine boards, 3s. per hundred. 1696. Negro man, £40. Negro boy, £20. 1697. Pine boards, 25s per M. White oak pipe, 45s. per M. Codfish, lis. per quintal. Molasses, Is. 2c?. per gal. Rum, 2s. 8c?. per gal. 1698. Winter wheat, 4s. per bu. Summer wheat, 3s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. per bu. Rye, 3s.-3c?. 6c?. per bu. Peas and barley, 3s. per bu. Oats, Is. 6c?. per bu. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Corn, 3s. per bu. Bye, 2s. 6c?.-3s. 6c?. per bu. Pork, 3c?. per lb. Beef, 2c?. per lb. Flax, 10c?. per lb. Salmon, lc?. per lb. Cider, 6s.-7s. per gall. Hemp, 4^c?. per lb. Indian corn, 2s. 3c?. per bu. Oats, Is. 2c?. per bu. Corn, 3s. per bu. Piece muslin, £5 10s. Piece damask, £2 7s. Pipe best wine, £9. Musket, £1 5s. 1699. Hops, 6c?. per lb. Cider, £1 7s. per hhd. Rum, £19 2s. 6c?. per hhd. Molasses, £8 10s. per hhd. Holland, 3s. 6c?. per yard. 1700. Carbine ,£1. 1701. Wicker cradle, 16s. 1702. Rye, 2s. Barley, 6c?. per bu. 2s. per bu. APPENDIX. 889 1703. Turnips, Is. 3d. per bu. Indian corn, 2s.-2s. 3cf. per bu. Barley, 2s. per bu. Wheat, 4s. per bu. Rye, 2s. 4c?. -3s. per bu. Oats, Is. 2c?. per bu. 1704. Indian corn, 2s. per bu. Barley, ls.-ls. 8c?. per bu. Oats, Is. per bu. Rice, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Wheat, 3s. 8c?. per bu. Cotton wool, Is. 10c?. per lb. Fayal wine, £10 per pipe. Madeira wine, £18 per pipe. Beer, £4 per pipe. Wheat, 4s. per bu. Beef, l\d. per lb. Pork, 2c?. per lb. Wool, 9c?. per lb. Cider, 6s. per bbl. Walnut wood, 5s. per cord. Oak wood, 3s. per cord. 1705. Cider, 2s. 8c?. per pipe. Brandy, 9s. 6c?. per gal. Rum, 2s. per gal. 1706. Turpentine, 6s. per 112 lbs. 1707. Wages of Seamen. Master, £6 per month. Chief mate, £3 10s. per month. Second mate, £2 15s. per month. Gunner, carpenter, and boatswain, £1 15s. Jar of oil, £5. Wheat, 3s. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. per bu. Rye, 2s. 6d. per bu. Turnips, Is. 8c?. per bu. Winter wheat, 4s. per bu. Rye, 2s. 4c?. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. per bu. Barley, Is. 8c?. per bu. Soap, 2s. 6c?. per bbl. Pork, £3 15s. per bbl. Beef, £2 5s. per bbl. Wheat, 6s. per bu. Malt, 3s. per bu. Rye, 3s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Cotton wool, Is. 4c?. per lb. 1708. Barley, Is. 8c?. per bu. Oats, Is. 2c?. per bu. Wool, 9c?. per lb. 1709. Pork, 50s. per bbl. Beef, 30s. per bbl. Apples, 10s. per bu. Straw, 18s. per load. 890 APPENDIX. Rye, 3s. 6c?. per bu. Wheat, 4s.-6s. per bu. Indian corn, 2s.-2s. 6c?. per bu. Pork, £3 15s. Peas, 6s. per bu. Bread, Is. 7c?. Pork, £3 10s. per bbl. Beef, £3 per bbl. 1710. Beef, £2 5s. Molasses, Is. per gal. Silver, 8s. per oz. Wheat, 6s. per bu. Barley, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Corn, 6s. per bu. Tobacco, 6c?. per lb. Butter, 10c?. per lb. Pork, 2c?. per lb. Beef, 3\d. per lb. Wool, Is. 6c?. per lb. Wheat, 10s. 6c?. per bu. Barley, 4s. per bu. Rye, 5s. per bu. Indian corn, 4s. per bu. Canary wine, 3s. per bottle. Madeira wine, 4s. 8c?. per gal. Capers, 2s. 3c?. per lb. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Rye, 4s. per bu. Wheat, 5s. per bu. Beef, 40s. per bbl. Butter, 5c?. per lb. Indian corn, 2s. 6c?. per bu. 1711. Flour, 19s. 6c?. per bbl. Butter, 7c?. per lb. Sturgeon, 2c?. per lb. Rum, 3s. 3c?. per gal. 1712. Hayseed, 2s. per lb. Veal, 3c?. per lb. Fine lace, 14s. per yard. Cord wood, 14s. Quintal fish, £1 6s. Cow, £3. Horse, £2. Ox, £4 10s. 1713. Flour and bLscuit, 30s. per hun dred. Plain cloth, Is. 3c?. per yard. Drugget, 12c?. per yard. Checkered shirting, Is. 3c?. pr. yd. 1714. Ginger ground, 5c?. per lb. Turnips, 5s. per bu. 1715. Cider, 3c?. per quart. Beef, 50s. per bbl. Silver, 12s. per oz. 1716. Fayal wine, £8 per pipe. Horse, £3 6s. APPENDIX. 891 Cinnamon, 14s. per lb. Nutmegs, 20s. per lb. Cloves, 20s. per lb. Fayal wine, 2s. per gal. Madeira wine, 3s. 6c?. per gal. Rum, 3s. 6c?. per gal. Molasses, 2s. Gd. per gal. Powder, 2s. 6c?. per lb. Wool, 18c?. per lb. Wheat, 7s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 4s. per bu. Hay, 4s. per cwt. Flour, 28s. per cwt. Snuff, 25s. per lb. Butter, lie?, per lb. Beef, 3c?. per lb. Pork, 4|c?. per lb. Hops, 5c?. per lb. Cotton wool, 2s. per lb. Bohea tea, 34s. per lb. English wheat, 7s. per bu. Salt, 18s. per hhd. Madeira wine, 4s. per gal. Flour, 8s. 6c?. per c. White bread, 15s. per c. Brown bread, 10-lls. per c. Bohea tea, 25s. per lb. Snuff, 16s. per lb. Tobacco, £9-£9 6s. per bbl. Rye, 5s. per bu. Wheat, 3s. per bu. Indian corn, Is. per bu. Barley, 2s. 9c?. per bu. Salt, Is. 2c?. per bu. 1717. Silver, 9s. per ounce. Gold, £7 15s. per ounce. 1718. Jamaica leather, 18c?. per lb. Butter, 8c?. per lb. Cheese, 5c?. per lb. Brandy, 3s. per pint. Cider, 18s. 4c?. per bbl. 1719. N. E. rum, 5s. per gal. Molasses, 2s. 4c?. per gal. French salt, 22s. 6c?. per hhd. Mackerel 40s. per bbl. Bricks, 22s. per M. Pine boards, 55s. per M. Shingles, 14s. per M. Pipe-staves, £5-£8 per M. Red oak hhd. staves, 45s.-50s. perM. White oak hhd. staves, 50s. per M. 1720. Cider, 20s. per bbl. Silver, 12s. per oz. 1721. Malt, 3s. 6c?. per bu. Clapboards, £3 10s. per M. Pine boards, £3 per M. Planks, £4 per M. Pipe-staves, £3 per M. Barrel staves, 22s. 6c?. per M. Bricks, 24s. per M. Gunpowder, £8 per bbl. Pork, 45s. per bbl. Beef, 30s. per bbl. Pitch, 12s. per bbl. 892 APPENDIX. Tar, 8s. per bbl. Turpentine, 8s. per bbl. Rice, 14s.-15s. per bbl. Molasses, 13c?. per gal. Wheat, 5s. 6c?. per bu. Rye, 3s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 3s. per bu. Firkin butter, £3 9s. 2c?. Wheat, 8s. 6c?. per bu. Peas, 8s.-9s. per bu. Bass fish, 18s. per bbl. Rum, 2s.-2s. 2c?. per gal. Glue, Is. per lb. Hemp, 8c?. per lb. Flax, 10c?. per lb. 1722. Wool, 18c?. per lb. Rum, 4s. per gal. Cider, 6s. per bbl. 1723. Gloves, 4s. per pair. Bohea and green tea, 25s. per lb. Ship bread, 25s. per hd. 1724. Peas 5s. per bu. Lime, Is. per bu. Fayal wine, 3s. per gal. Molasses, 3s. per gal. Sugar, 3s. per lb. Green peas, 3s. per peck. Sugar, 2s. per lb. Indian corn, 6s. 6c?. per bu. Deerskins, 3s. 6c?.-7s. Silver, 15s. per oz. Chocolate, 3s. 6c?. per lb. Skein of yarn, 5c?. Wool, 16a". per lb. Negro, £70-£80. 1725. Pepper, 3s. per lb. 1726. Gold, £11 10s. per oz. Cotton wool, 2s. 6c?. per lb. 1727. Winter wheat, 6s. 6c?.-8s. per bu. Summer wheat, 5s. 6c?. per bu. Barley, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Bye, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. 6c?.-4s. per bu. Oats, Is. per bu. Peas, 7s. 6c?. per bu. Flax, Is. 2c?. per lb. Tobacco, 4c?.-6c?. per lb. Hemp, 7c?. per lb. Beeswax, 2s. 4c?. per lb. Butter, 10c?.-12c?. per lb. Tanned leather, 10c?. per lb. Mackerel, £l-£i 10s. per bbL Beef, £2 10s.-£3 per bbl. Pork, £5-£5 10s. per bbl. Salt, 20s. per bbl. Turpentine, 13s. per bbl. Bar iron, 48s. hd. Dry codfish, £1 10s. quintal. APPENDIX. 893 1728. Molasses, 9s. per gal. Rum, 2s.-3c?. per gal. Madeira, 4s. 6c?. per gal. Canary, 7s. per gal. Brandy, 10s. per gal. Indian corn, 16s. per bbl. Carrots, 15s. per bbl. Chocolate, 9s. per lb. Bohea tea, 45s. per lb. Bohea tea, 30s. per lb. Velvet corks, 9s. 6c?. per gross. Peas, 3s. per peck. Chocolate, 10s. 6c?. per lb. Turpentine, 15s. per bbl. Cider, 12s. per bbl. Wheat, 8s. per bu. Salt, 20s. per hhd. Cotton, 12c?. per lb. Silver, 18s. per oz. 1729. Salt, 3s. 4c?. per bu. 1730. Silver, 20s. per oz. 1731. Silver, 22s. per oz. Negro, £50. 1732. Indian corn, 7s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 5s.-6s. per bu. Barley, lis. per bu. Rye, 7s. per bu. Tar, 20s.-28s. per bbl. Rum, 4s. 6c?.-5s. per gal. Molasses, 3s. 6c?. per gal. Barley, 6s. per bu. Wool, 24c?. per lb. Fish, £2 per bbl. Cider, 16s. per bbl. Bohea tea, 26s. per lb. Congou tea, 34s. per lb. Pekoe tea, 50s. per lb. Green tea, 30s. per lb. Cow, £5. Saddle, £3 10s. Rye, 7s. per bu. 1733. Butter, 18c?. per lb. Cheshire cheese, 15c?. per lb. Ambergris, 80s. per lb. Shad, id. per fish. Silver, 25s. per oz. 1734. Worsted, 5s. per lb. Beeswax, 2s. per lb. Chocolate, lis. per lb. 1735. French rum, 6s. per gal. Barbadoes rum, 5s. 9c?. per gal. New England rum, 4s. 10c?. per gal. 1736. Silver, 27s. per oz. Chocolate, 13s. per lb. 894 APPENDIX. 1737. Bohea tea, 16s.-26s. per lb. Raisins, 6c?. per lb. Indigo, 30s. per lb. Maryland beans, 12s. per bu. Peas, 10s. per bu. Madeira wine, £50 per pipe. Canary wine, £45 per pipe. Vinegar, 4s. per gal. Oats, 4s. per bu. Peas, 10s. per bu. Turkey, 3s. Beaver, 10s. per lb. Beeswax, 3s. per lb. Castile soap, 2s. per lb. Cloves, 2s. 3c?. per lb. Wheat, 22s. per bu. Seal skins, 2s. 6c?. Beaver skins, Is. 3c?. Barley, 6s. per lb. Raisins, 18c?. per lb. Wheat, 15s. per bu. Rye, 12s. per bu. Indian corn, 9s. per bu. Oats, 5s. per bu. Barley, 10s. per bu. Pimento, 2s. per lb. Rosin, £3 3s. per bbl. Tar, £1 12s. per bbl. Turpentine, £2 5s. per bbl. Molasses, 3s. 4c?. per gal. Coffee, 5s. per lb. Peas, 22s. per bu. Gunpowder, £10 per \ bbl. 1738. Hhd. Molasses, £20 5s. Hhd. lime, £1. Bbl. flour, £3 18s. 9c?. Rosin, 3c?. per lb. Silver, 27s. per oz. 1740. Beef and mutton, 6c?. per lb. Lamb and veal, 6c?. per lb. Butter, 3c?. per lb. Fresh codfish, 2c?. per fish. Salmon, 14-15 lbs., Is. per fish. Bar iron, 40s. per hd. Silver, 27s. per oz. 1741. Bottle corks, 8s. per gross. Pork, 20s. per bbl. Cider, 12c?. per bbl. Silver, 30s. per oz. 1742. Indigo, 30s. per lb. Figs, 2s. 6c?. per lb. Raisins, Is. 6c?. per lb. Sago, 8s. per lb. Brown sugar, Is. 6c?. per lb. Pork, 20s. per bbl. 1743. Rum, Is. per gal. Cord of wood, £1 7s. Hhd. of salt, £1 2s. 6c?. Silver, 31s. per oz. APPENDIX. 895 Chocolate, 7s. 6c?. per lb. Powdered sugar, 2s. 9c?. per lb. 1744. Raisins, 3s. per lb. 1745. Beef, £5 per bbl. Pork, £12 per cask. Peas, £3 per bbl. Tobacco, 2s. per lb. Tea, 35s. per lb. Sugar, Is. 9c?. per lb. Coffee, 5s. per lb. Tobacco, 2s. per lb. Wheat, 27s. per bu. O. T. Indian corn, 12s.-20s. per bu. Wheat, 22s.-25s. per bu. Rye, 16s.-22s. per bu. Oats, 7s. per bu. Barley, 14s. per bu. Salt, 32s. per bu. Butter, 2s. Gd.-5s. per lb. Cheese, 2s. per lb. Candles, 5s. per lb. Sugar, 2s. 3c?. per lb. Negro girl, £30. Horse, £6. Silver, 33s.-37s. per oz. Claret, 10s. per gal. 1746. Beans, £2 10s. per bu. o. T. Flour, £6 per bbl. Silver, 38s.-40s. per oz. 1747. Beef, 9c?.-ls. 6c?. per lb. Pork, 15c?.-2s. per lb. Mutton, Is. 6c?. per lb. Sugar, 5s. per lb. Chocolate, 14s. per lb. Cotton wool, 13s. per lb. Molasses, 15s. -20s. per gal. Milk, 4s. per gal. Rum, 21s. per gal. 1748. Indian corn, 32s. per bu. Rye, 46s. per bu. Wheat, £3. per bu. Butter, 6s. per lb. Rice, 2s. per lb. Molasses, 17s. per gal. Butter, 7s. 6c?. per lb. Flour, £10 per hd. Beef, £14 to £15 per bbl. Salt, £12 per hhd. 1749. Barrel hoops, £5 per M. 1750. English hay, £3-£3 10s. per hd. 896 APPENDIX. 1751. Indian corn, 2s. per bu. Rye, 2s. 4c?. per bu. Wheat, 3s. 9c?. per bu. Barley, 2s. per bu. Peas, 4s. per bu. Cheshire cheese, 6s. 6c?. per lb. Hemp, 3c?. per lb. Wool, 10c?. per lb. Oil, £1 6s. per bbl. Pork, £2 10s. per bbl. Beef, £1 12s. per bbl. Codfish, 12s. per quintal. Potatoes, 19s. O. t. per bu. Indian corn, 4s. per bu. Rye, 5s. per bu. Wheat, 6s. per bu. Barley, 4s. per bu. Peas, 8s. per bu. Flax, Is. per lb. Indian corn, 4s. per bu. Barley, 4s. per bu. Wheat, 6s. per bu. Rye, 5s. per bu. Beef, 3c?. per lb. Pork, 8c?. per lb. Wheat, 8s. per bu. Corn, £1 5s. O. T. per bu. Rye, £1 3s. O. T. per bu. Potatoes, 15s. o. t. per bu. Beaver skin, £2 10s. Indian corn, 6s. per bu. Rye, 6s. per bu. Wheat, 10s. per bu. Barley, 6s. per bu. Peas, 10s. per bu. Potatoes, 17s. 6c?. O. T. Flax, Is. per lb. Pork, 7c?. per lb. Beef, 3c?. per lb. 1752. Beef, 3c?. per lb. Pork, 4c?. per lb. Pitch, £1 5s. per bbl. Tar, £1 per bbl. Turpentine, £1 10s. per bbl. Laborers, 15s. per day. 1753. Flax, Is. per lb. Sugar, 6s. 6c?. per lb. O. T. Iron, 2s. per cwt. Codfish, 2s.. per quintal. Hemp, £2 15s. per cwt. Laborers, 15s.-16s. per day. 1754. Otter skin, £3 15s. Cheshire cheese, 4s. per lb. Brick, £4 10s. per M. Laborers, 15s. per day. 1755. Sugar, 5s. 9c?. per lb. o. t. Cheese, 4s. per lb. O. T. Turpentine, £2 per bbl. Pitch, £1 10s. per bbl. Tar, £1 5s. per bbl. Cider, £2 per bbl. o. T. Codfish, £1 10s. per quintal. Laborers, 15s.-16s. per day. APPENDIX. 897 Barley, 2s. per bu. Rye, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Wheat, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Indian corn, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Oats, Is. 3c?. per bu. Potatoes, 5s. o. t. per bu. Beef, 6s. 4c?. o. t. per lb. 1756. Tea, £3 o. T. per lb. Wool, Is. 0. T. per lb. Salt, £1 10s. o. t. per bu. Laborers, 7s. 6c?. o. t. per day. " sawing timber. £1 Is. 9c?. -o. t. per day. " agricultural, 15s. O. t. per day. 1757. Indian corn and barley, 7s. per bu. Pork, 9c?. per lb. Peas, 12s. per bu. Winter wheat, 20s. per bu. Oats, 15s. O. T. per bu. Salt, £1 16s. o. t. per bu. Hemp, 2s. 6c?. per lb. Flax, Is. 6c?. per lb. Beef, 4c?. per lb. Cider, £1 10s. O. t. per bbl. Codfish, £2 10s. O. T. per qtl. Iron, £4 per c. Wood, £4-£4 15s. per cord. Laborers, 7s. 6c?. per day. " agricultural, 14s. 6c?. per day. 1758. Rye and Indian corn, 6s. per bu. Beef, 7^c?. per lb. Barley and peas, 10s. per bu. Winter wheat, 20s. per bu. Salt, £1 17s. 6c?. o. t. per bu. Hemp and flax, Is. per lb. Pork, 7c?. per lb. Sugar, loaf, 8s. 5c?. o. T. per lb. Bar iron, £3 per hd. Codfish, £1 10s. per quintal. Eggs, 3s. 6c?. per doz. Laborers, lis. per day. 1759. Rye and Indian corn, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Potatoes, 15s. o. t. per bu. Beans, £1 16s. o. t. per bu. Oats, Is. 3c?. per bu. Wheat, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Barley, 2s. per bu. Cheese, 4s. per lb. Chocolate, lis. per lb. Wool, lie?, per lb. Sugar, 3s. 2c?. o. t. Iron (refined), 2s. 6c?. per. lb. Pork, £3 per bbl. Beef, 40s. per bbl. Bread, 19s. per cwt. Flour, 19s. per cwt. Laborers, lis. per day. Buckwheat, Is. 8c?.-2s. per bu. Potatoes, 18s. o. t. per bu. Corn, £1 10s o. T. per bu. Beef, 3c?. per lb. 1760. Flour, 3c?. per lb. Mutton, 4c?. per lb. Laborers, lis. per day. 898 APPENDIX. 1761. Wheat, 3s. 2^c?.-30s. per bu. Indian corn, Is. 8c?.-10s. per bu. Rye, 2s. 6c?.-10s. per bu. Peas, 15s. per bu. Barley, 10s. per bu. Butter, 4s. 6c?. per lb. Pork, 3c?. -Is. per lb. Beef, 9c?. per lb. Hemp, 2s. per lb. Flax, 2s. per lb. Beaver, 5s. per lb. Cider, £2 5s. per bbl. O. T. Codfish, £4 per quintal. Bar iron, £6 per cwt. Rum, 3s. per gall. Herring, Is. 6c?. per doz. Laborers, lis. per day. " agricultural, 14s. per day. Potatoes, 2s. 4c?. per bu. Corn, £1 10s. o. T. per bu. Rye, £1 10s. o. t. per bu. Butter, Is. per lb. Cheese, 6c?. per lb. Beef, 2\d. per lb. Potatoes, 3s. per bu. Rye, 4s. per bu. Corn, Is. per peek. Beef, 3c?. per lb. Cotton wool, 17s.-18s. per lb. 1762. Iron, 3c?. per lb. Molasses, 3s. per gal. Salt, \\d. per quart. Laborers, 8s. O. t. per day. " chopping wood, Is. 6c?. per day. 1763. Mackerel, 18s. Shad and alewives, 10s. Cider, 6s. per bbl. Laborers, 15s.-16s. per day. 1764. Potatoes, 15s. o. t. per bu. Rye, £2 o. t. per bu. Corn, Is. per peck, o. T. Cotton wool, £1 2s. 6c?. per lb. o. t Beef, 3c?. per lb. Flour, 13s. 4c?. per cwt. 1765. Brick, 15s. per M. Cider, £2 5s. per bbl. O. T. Rum, 4s. 6c?. per pint. Laborers, 16s. per day. " agricultural, 17s. per day. Indian corn, 10s. o. T. per bu. Rye and barley, 10s o. T. per bu. Peas, 20s. o. t. per bu. Winter wheat, 25s. O. T. per bu. Potatoes, 12s.-15s. O. T. per bu. Plax and hemp, 3s. o. T. per lb. Beef, 9c?. o. t. per lb. Pork, Is. o. T. per lb. Codfish, £4 o. t. per quintal. Iron,' £5 O. T. per hd. Molasses, 8c?. per quart. Meal, 2c?. per quart. Rum, 5s. o. t. per pt. Brick, 18s. per M. Laborers, 15s. per day. APPENDIX. 899 1766. Com, ls.-3s. 2c?. per bu. Potatoes, 2s. per bu. Rye, 4s. per bu. Beef, 3c?. per lb. Corn, 3s. 4c?. per bu. Potatoes, 2s. per bu. Rye, 4s. per bu. Oats, 2s. per bu. Meal, 3s. per bu. Mutton, 3c?. per lb. Pork, 5c?. per lb. Cider, £1 10s. o. T. per bbl. Meal, Is. 4c?. o. t. per quart. Laborers, 15s. per day. 1767. Tobacco, 2s. 6c?. per lb. Flax, 10c?. per lb. Molasses, Is. 2c?. o. t. per gal. Vinegar, 9c?. o. T. per gal. Cider, £2 5s. o. t. per bbl. Laborers, 15s. o. t. per day. 1768. Indian com, £1 Is. 7c?. O. T. per bu. Onions, £1 5s. o. T. per bu. Potatoes, 18s. o. t. per bu. Flax, 5s. 2c?. O. t. per lb. Peas, 12s. o. t. per peck. Laborers, 15s. 9d. o. t. per day. 1769. Lemons, £3 12s. O. T. per hd. Beef, Is. 3d. o. T. per lb. Sugar, 3s. 9c?. O. t. per lb. Laborers, 13s. 4c?. o. T. per day. Indian corn, £1 2s. 6c?. O. t. per bu Potatoes, Is. 6c?. o. t. per bu. Rye, £1 o. t. per bu. Wheat, £2 5s. o. t. per bu. Tobacco, 2s. 10c?. o. t. per lb. 1770. Lemons, 7s. 6c?. o. T. per doz. Cider, £2 2s.-£2 15s. O. t. bbl. Laborers, 15s. o. t. per day. per Potatoes, 9s. 2d. o. t. per bu. Peas, 2s. 6c?. o. t. per quart. Tea, 3s. per lb. Butter, 4s. 6c?. o. t. per lb. Indian corn, 2s. Gd. per bu. Wheat, 4s.-6s. 6c?. per bu. Potatoes, 7s. 8c?. per bu. Butter, 4s. lie?, per lb. o. T. Tobacco, 2s. Gd. per lb. o. t. 1771. Sugar, 4s. le?. o. t. per lb. Tobacco, 2s. 6c?. O. t. per lb. Cider, £2 lis. per bbl. Laborers, 15s. o. t. per day. 1772. Flax, 4s. 6e?. per lb. o. T. Cider, £1 10s.-£2 4s. O. T. per bbl. Carpenters, 19s. o. T. per day. Laborers, 15s. o. t. per day. 900 APPENDIX. 1773. Potatoes, 15s. O. T. per bu. Molasses, 3s. 9c?. o. T. per quart. Butter, 4s. 10e?. o. t. per lb. Sugar, Is. 6c?. to 4s. o. t. per lb. Hyson tea, 18s. O. T, per lb. Cider, £2 5s. o. t. per bbl. Eggs, 2s. 6e?. o. t. per dozen. Laborers, 15s. o. t. per day. 1774. Corn, 22s. 6e?.-25s. o. t. per bu. Potatoes, 10s. 4c?. o. t. per bu. Wheat, £2 5s. o. t. per bu. Salt, 22s. 6c?. o. t. per bu. Coffee, 9c?. per lb. Butter, lie?, to 15e?. per lb. Beef, 5e?. per lb. Pork, 3s. o. t. per lb. Wool, 9e?. per lb. Cheese, 3s. 6c?. o. t. per lb. Bohea tea, £2 5s. o. T. per lb. Tobacco, 2s. 6e?. o. t. per lb. Sugar, 3s. 9c?. o. t. per lb. Molasses, 3s. 9e?. o. t. per quart. Milk, Is. O. T. per quart. Cider, £1 10s. o. t. per bbl. Eggs, Is. per dozen. Carpenters, 16s. per day, o. T. Laborers, 15s. per day, o. T. Rye meal, 3s. 9c?. per bu. Potatoes, 9s.; 10s. 6e?. ; lis. o. x. per bu. Indian meal, 3s. 9c?. per bu. Wheat, £1 17s. per bu. Butter, 2s. per lb. Cheese, 4c?. per lb. Sugar, 6^e?. per lb. Pork, 4c?. per lb. Corn, 3s. per bu. Rye, 4s. 6c?. per bu. Wheat, 6s. 8c?. per bu. Potatoes, Is. 6c?. per bu. Oats, Is. 9c?. per bu. Peas, 7s. per bu. Butter, 9c?. per lb. Cheese, 6c?. per lb. Indian corn, 4s. o. T. per bu. Wheat, 6s. 8c?. per bu. Potatoes, 2s. 6c?. per bu. Corn, 5s. 6c?. per bu. 1775. Beef, 3c?. per lb. le?. Mutton, 3Jje?. per lb. Tobacco, 4s. o. t. per lb. Molasses, 18s. o. t. per gal. Cider, £1 12s. 2e?. o. t. per bbl Eggs, 7c?. per dozen. Lemons, 2s. per dozen. Butchers, 15s. O. T. per day. Laborers, 17s. 2e?. per day. 1776. Fresh pork, 6c?. per lb. Beef, 3c?. per lb. Salt pork, 7c?. per lb. Cider, 4s. per bbl. Dry codfish, 16s per quintal. Laborers, 18s. 7c?. per day o. T. " agricultural, 15s. per day o. T. 1777. Butter, 8e?. to 9e?. per lb. Pork, 4c?. per lb. Sugar, Is. 8c?. per lb. Wool, 2s. per lb. APPENDIX. 901 Mutton, 6c?. per lb. Vinegar, Is. per gal. Meal and rye meal, Is. per peck. Laborers, 10s. per day, O. t. " agricultural, 3s. 4c?. per day, o. t. 1778. Potatoes, 15s. o. t. per bu. Butter, 4s. lie?, o. t. per lb. Sugar, 7s. o. t. per lb. Laborers, 17s. o. t. per day. 1779. Corn, £3 12s. O. t. per bu. Rye, £5 2s. o. t. per bu. Wheat, £8 2s. o. t. per bu. Oats, £1 16s. o. t. per bu. Salt, £1 2s. 6e?. o. t. per bu. Butter, lis. O. T. per lb. Cheese, 5s. 6c?. to 6s. o. t. per lb. Wool, £1 is. o. t. per lb. Cotton, 3s. 8d. o. t. per lb. Mutton, 3s. 6e?. o. t. per lb. Beef, 5s. 6c?. o. t. per lb. Molasses, 17s. 6e?. o. t. per gal. Rum, £1 O. T. per gal. Cider, 4s. o. t. per gal. Carpenters, £1 9s. le?. to £2 6s. 2c?. O. T. per day. Laborers, £1 15s. 8c?. O. t. per day. 1780. Corn, 4s. 4e?. ; $40 per bu. Rye, 6s. ; $80 per bu. Potatoes, 2s. per bu. Beef, 5e?. per lb. Flax, 9c?. per lb. Pork, 9c?. per lb. Sugar, 7c?. per lb. Tea, 3s. 9e?. per lb. Mutton, 5c?. per lb. Vinegar, 8c?. per gal. Molasses, 2s. 4e?. per gal. Milk, 2e?. per quart. Carpenters, 20s. O. t. per day. Laborers, 2s. 8e?. O. t. per day. 1781. Meal, 7s. 8e?. o. T. per bu. Potatoes, 15s.-18s. o. t. per bu. Beef, Is. 6e?. o. t. per lb. Flax, 5s. O. t. per lb. Sugar, 54s. O. T. per lb. Coffee, 96s. O. T. per lb. Butter, 60s. o. t. per lb. Pork, 60s. o. T. per lb. Tobacco, 36s. o. T. per lb. 1782. Corn, 5s. 5e?. o. t. per bu. Salt, 5s. l. m. per bu. Meal, 6s. o. T. per bu. Rye, 2s. l. m. per peck. Oats, 3s. 10e?. o. t. per bu. Beef, 5e?. l. m. per lb. Potatoes, 3s. lawful money, per bu. Pork, 8e? l. m. per lb. Milk, 15s. O. T. per quart. Molasses, 22s. O. t. per pint. Rum, 45s. O. T. per pint. Blacksmiths, 4s. o. t. per day. Carpenters, £1 3s. 8c?. o. t. per day. Laborers, £1 Is. and 18s. O. t. per day. 902 APPENDIX. Sugar, 6e?. and 10c?. L. M. per lb. Wool, 2c?. L. m. per lb. Cheese, 6e?. O. T. per lb. Codfish, 6e?. O. T. per lb. Coffee, 2s. le?. o. t. per lb. Flax, Is. o. t. per lb. Flour, 4e?. o. T. per lb. Tea, 9s. 9e?. o. T. per lb. Tobacco, 7d. o. T. per lb. Molasses, Is. 2e?. o. t. per quart. Rum, Is. lie?. O. t. per quart. Cider, 6s. O. T. per bbl. Blacksmiths, 5s. o. t. per day. Carpenters, 4s. o. t. per day. Laborers, 15s. o. T. per day. 1783. Corn, 3s. 4c?. to 6s. 10c?. per bu. Oats, 2s. le?. to 8s. 9c?. per bu. Potatoes, 2s. to 3s. 4e?. per bu. Rye, 6s. 4e?. per bu. Peas, 3s. le?. per peck. Salt, Is. 2c?. per peck. Butter, 8e?. per lb. Cheese, 3c?., 5c?., and 10e?. per lb. Chocolate, Is. 3e?. to 2s. 4c?. per lb. Coffee, Is. per lb. Cotton wool, 2s. 7c?. per lb. Flax, 10e?. per lb. Flour, 3c?. per lb. Mutton, 3e?. per lb. Rice, 3e?. per lb. Sugar, 8c?. per lb. Tea, 5s. 10c?. per lb. Tobacco, 8c?. per lb. Molasses, 8c?. per quart. ¦ Rum, Is. 4c?. per quart. Vinegar, 3c?. per quart. Eggs, 4e?.-8e?. per dozen. Lemons, 3e?. apiece. Carpenters, £1 2s. and 3s. 3c?. per day. Laborers, £1 Is. 6e?. and 16s. Gd. per day. Corn, 3s. 2c?. per bu. Meal, 3s. 4c?. per bu. Oats, 3s. per bu. Potatoes, 7s. 6c?. per bu. Rye, 5s. lie?, per bu. Salt, 6e?.-ls. per peck. Cheese, 3e?.-6e?. per lb. Chocolate, Is. 4e?. per lb. Coffee, Is. per lb. Flax, 6c?. per lb. Flour, 2c?. per lb. Sugar, 7c?. per lb. Corn, 5s. per bu. Potatoes, Is. 4e?. per bu. Rye, Is. 6c?. h. M. per peck. Salt, Is. 2d. L. m. per peck. 1784. Tea, 3s. lie?, per lb. Tobacco, 4c?. per lb. Wool, 10s. 2c?. per lb. Molasses, 5c?. per quart. Rum, 8c?. to Is. 3c?. per quart. Milk, Is. 3c?. per quart. Gin, 2s. 7c?. per quart. Fish, $3 per quintal. Blacksmiths, 4s. per day. Carpenters, £1 7s. 6c?. and 3s. 7c?. per day. Laborers, 15s. to 18s. per day. 1785. Meal, Is. 3c?. l. m. per peck. Beef, 3c?. l. m. per lb. Cheese, 6c?. l. m. per lb. Pork, 7e?. l. m. per lb. APPENDIX. 903 Flour, 2e?. l. m. per lb. Sugar, 7c?. l. m. per lb. Tea, 3s. 2c?. l. m. per lb. Molasses, 2s. 2c?. r,. m. per quart. Milk, le?. l. m. per quart. Rum, 2s. 2e?. per gal. Oil, 6s. 6e?. per gall. Carpenters, 3s. 6e?. per day. Laborers, 3s. 4c?. per day. 1786. Indian corn, 4s. per bu. Corn, 4s. 8c?. per bu. Potatoes, Is. 4c?. to 13s. 4c?. per bu. Rye, 4s. 6c/. to 6s. per bu. Salt, 4s. per bu. Beef, Is. 10c?. to 2s. per lb. Butter, 5s. per lb. Corn, 3s. 4e?. per bu. Oats, 2s. per bu. Potatoes, Is. per bu. Butter, 8c?. per lb. Cheese, 5e?. per lb. Corn, 4s. L. M. per bu. Oats, 4s. l. m. per bu. Potatoes, 2s. l.m. per bu. Rye, 5s. 8e?. l. m. per bu. Salt, 2s. L. M. per bu. Cheese, 6e?. l. m. per lb. Cotton wool, 3s. L M. per lb. Pork, 8c?. x. m. per lb. Indian corn, 3s. 2e?. per bu. Cheese, 5c?. per lb. Coffee, 10 cents per lb. Flour, £1 12s. 6e?. per bbl. Molasses, 2s. per gal. Linseed oil, 7s. 7c?. per gal. Milk, 2c?. per quart. Carpenters, 3s. per day. Laborers, 4s. per day. 1787. Cotton, 3s. per lb. Flax, 8e?. per lb. Blacksmiths, 3s. 9e?. per day. Carpenters, 3s. 2c?. per day. Laborers, 5s. per day. 1788. Bohea tea, 3s. per lb. Tobacco, 6c?. per lb, Molasses, 2s. l. m. per gal. Vinegar, 3e?. L.M. per gal . Milk, 2e?. per quart. Carpenters, 3s. per day. Laborers, 3s. le?. per day. Masons, 6s. per day. 1789. Carpenters, 3s. 4e?. per day. Laborers, 2s. 4c?. per day. 904 APPENDIX. APPENDIX B. Method op Vessels' Accounts in 1731. Schooner Cupid Dr. to Robert Hale. June 5, per Sundries bought of John Carnes, of Boston. £ s. d. Per my Wages at £6 per month to July 14 8 8 0 Per Joseph Sallis his wages at £4.10 to July 14 ... 660 Per a Pilotts wages at £9 per M 10 10 3 Per my Commissions 000 Per a pair Bellows 5/, mending Lock 1/, Salt 9/ . . . 0 15 0 Per Saucepan 1 quart 4/4 Almanack 6c? 0 4 10 Per 106 Gall" Rum, 5/3 27 16 6 Per Fish & pepper 1/6, nails 3/, Brimstone 5c?. ... 0 4 11 Per Knife & Whetstone 4/, Funnel 1/6 0 5 6 Per W" Haskalls Wages at £5 per month to July 14 . . 7 0 0 Per Glass 3/, Staple 10e?, Yard 6e?, sheers 2/ .... 064 Candles 9/, Pepper Box 1/, Pyes 2/ 0 12 0 Meat 6/, Candlestick 1/2 0 7 2 Bottles 40/, Corks 6/, Pitch 3/ 2 9 0 June 5, Bot of Carnes Cod hooks, Leads, Hoops & Twine 3 3 7 Pork £7, Salt 40/ 9 0 0 A Candlestick 1/2 0 12 £77 10 3 Ditto more for Glass 1/, & for Rigging 18/, & oakum 10/, Staples 2/ 1 11 0 £79 1 3 [sic\ 62 19 3 Sugar Haskall's^p' 6 2 0 Fish 7c? Calkor 1 10 6 Medicines 1731. Contra, Ck. Per Cash £5 recd of Gov1 Cosby for Freight .... £5 0 0 Per Cash recd of Carnes and Comp1 for freight ... 48 16 0 ttoforPilott 500 tto Cash rec" for Mackarel 200 £60 16 0 Per Ricarlo Nicholson 6/6, Sallis 36/9 2 3 3 £62 19 .' APPENDIX. 905 Haskall's Wages ..£700 1 10 6 pd. Haskall qr tto. 2 £5 9 6 tto. 3 1 12 0 £1 12 0 3 17 6 due to Haskall ... 0 1 2 Candlestick £3 18 8 Schooner Cupid Dr. to Wm. Haskall. Per a Candlestick 1/3, Ballanc'd. Per his Wages at £5 per Month. Beverly, July 14, 1731. Then Robert Hale & Wm. Haskall.owners of the Schooner Cupid, adjusted Ace"1 and there remains due unto s*1 Haskall to Ballance all Acc'! referring to their Wages & Partnership, &e°, in sd vessel, the Sum of ... £3 19 8 Witness our Hands, Robert Hale Wm. Haskall Beverly, August 20, 1731. Wee Reckoned again, & now remains due to Haskall be sides his quarter part of a quantity of Fish & Rum sd Hale has in his hands & his part of y° Freight (no wages reckon'd for as yet) £3 6 7 Wm. Haskall September 2, 1731. Reckoned again value to P. Haskall £5 17 4 besides his quarter part of Demmurrage, Fish, Grind- or rather stones, Freight of Coal from Boston, & y* Ace' of Rum unsettled £6 2 1 Wm. Haskall N. B. James Patches wages were not reckoned w° makes 15/1 less due to Haskall 0 15 1 So y* tis £5 7 10 Robert Hale's MS., Am. Ant. Soe. 906 APPENDIX. APPENDIX C. 1740. R. I. Arch., MS. Orataro, cap" by Charm. Betty. Memorandum from Boston or Rhode Island to Barbadoes. Staves, shingles, flower, Indian corn or any other goods you find will turn to account either at Barbadoes or the Leeward Islands which you'l be best informed of there, and if conveniently to carry what horses you can, &c. From Rhode Island and Boston to this Island for the Orataro or any other Vessel you shall send — 1,000 bushels of wheat. 1,000 bushels of Indian corn of the yellow sort. what bees wax can get. 40 to 50 boxes of tallow Candles of 8 to the pound and 80 lb neats tanned leather a good parcel of the yellow sort. Cod fish for the Jamaica market, about 200 quintals put up in kegs. 15 barrl of Rice. 100 to 200 barrl of the best new flowers of one hunda and £ neat. Six Dozen of Men's beaver hats of a fashionable size. Fill up with Butt and pipe staves f Butt and ^ for pipes, also hogsheads and quarter Cask if the Vessel you freight be not so large as the Orataro must — everything accordingly. From Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands for Virginia — Rum and Molasses, § of the former and J of the latter — Brown sugar or Muscovada in small light Barrl. a quarter part of Cargo. N. B. the smaller the Casks of Rum be, they will be the easier disposed of. From Virginia to this Island — 1,000 bushels of wheat. 1,000 bushels of Indian Corn of the yellow sort. bees wax as much as can get, being the best article. tann'd leather of the yellow sort, a good parcel of about 8 to 12 sides. 20 to 30 barr. of Pork, and if cheap may increase to double the quantity. Beef, 70 to 100 barr. free from necks and shanks as Possible, and if cheap may encrease the quantity 100 to 150 hams, all or mostly legs ; fill up with staves, voz, § Butt and \ pipes staves shaved down for the conveniency of stowing. If the Pork and Beef be scarce and dear then must encrease the quantity of wheat. APPENDIX. 907 APPENDIX D. 1749. Doc. New York, vi. 510, 511. Governor Clinton's Report on the Province of New York. New York, May 23, 1749. " What Methods are there used to prevent illegal trade & are the same Effectual ? " Ans'. The Inward Trading in General is from Great Britain, European Goods, & those India with silk Manufac tures chiefly. From Ireland Linnen & Canvas Manufacturies certified duly. From British Colonies, enumerated Commodities, Piemento, Sulphur, Straw Plating, Lime juice, Coffee growth thereof, Hides, Deer Skins, Conch Shells, Mohogonie, Plank, Ebonie, & Negros. From Europe and Africa, besides English Foreign Settlements in America, Salt. From the African Coast within the proper limits Directed, Negros now less than formerly. From Madeir & Canarie Islands the growth thereof. From the Northern and Southern parts of this Continent, Fish, Oil, Bluber, Whale Fins, Turpentine Oil, Seal Skins, Hops, Cyder, Flax, Bricks, Cole, Lamp Black, certain wrought Iron — Tin and Braisery, Joinery, various Carriages and Chairs. From Plantations not under his Maj* Dominions, Molasses, Sugar & Rum in no great quantitys, since the Act imposing the New Dutys thereon, Lign. Vitae, Drugs, Logwood & other Dying wood, Indico, Cocoa Nutts, Cotton Wool, Snuff, &etc. And the Outward is to London and it's outposts, the latter more seldom, Naval Stores, Copper ore, Furs and other the enumerated Species with the legal Import of divers Mercantile Wares, Plantation Iron, Oil, Sperma- caeti, Whales Fins, Lime juice, Shruff, Myrtle Candles, Mahogany, & Walnut Planks, Reeds & Drugs. To Ireland Flax Seed, Rum, Sugar, being Prise effects, and Staves. To Sev: Parts in Europe, Grain, Hides, Deer & Elk Skins, Ox Horns, Sarsaperila, Indico, Log wood, Cocoa Nutts, &etc. And Foreign Produce & Lumber. More over Argent Vivum, Coffee, Anato, Elephant's Teeth, Beewax, Leather, Sarsafrax, Casia-fistula, Wines and other Goods as Prise Effects hitherto brought and in the Vice- Admiralty Courts here and elsewhere adjudicated upon proper certifying. To Madeira & the Azorts, Grain and other Provisions, Bee Wax and Staves. To English Districts North and South of this Continent & West Indies, Provisions, Chocolate, Lumber, European and India Goods with those Enumerated in the Plantation Trade Acts, and such other Imported here for conveyance home regularly. To neutral Ports as Coracoa, Suronhaim, & St Thomas ; Provisions, Lumber, Horses, Sheep, & other live Stock with their Provender. 908 APPENDIX. APPENDIX E. P. Faneuil, Invoice, 1725, Jul. 15. 80J bbls. Flower, impd. by And. Faneuil on Sloop Grayhound for acct. Steph De Lancey : Gross £153 3 27 Tare 12 1 21 £ s. d. £141 2 6 neat 12/ per hd 84 18 1\ Bbls 18/ 6 0 0 Weighing, Carting, Nails, &c. 1 5 i\ £92 4 0 Sept. 9, 1725. Inv. 20 p" Demy Long Cloths, 2 Coll" @ 21/ £21 0 0 60 p" printed CaUicoes, 3 ColP (colors?) 17/ 51 0 0 2 " Demy Garlicks 19/ 1 18 0 4 " "| " 21/6 460 2 " brown papered Garlicks 27/6 2 15 0 10 Ells brown ozenbrigs @ 8e? and chest 0 14 2 18 p" Narrow Double Camblets 39/6 35 11 0 2 " Cherry in grain " 4 8 0 40 half bbls. gunpowder 65/ 65 0 0 P. Faneuil, Invoice, Sep. 9, 1725. £ e. d. Locq1 searcher's fees wharf porters, Carmen & Water- adge of y° 3 bales Camblets 0 13 4 Clearing of the gunpowder & Waiterage 0 19 6 Primage to the Master 056 Insurance of £450 @ 2 pr cent .... .... 900 Commissions 2 pr cent on £425 8 10 0 London, 23 June, 1725. £19 8 4 APPENDIX. 909 \ APPENDIX F. . 1743. Suffolk P. R., xxxvii. 112. Peter Faneuil, Esq. £ s. d. 1 engine 15 00 00 1 copper cistern 6 00 00 1 gold watch, chain, & seal of Graham's make .... 125 00 00 5 negroes at £150, 130, 120, 120, & 110 respectively. A chariot 400 00 00 A coach 100 00 00 A twc wheeled chaise 50 00 00 2 English horses 300 00 00 2 Albany " 100 00 00 1 white horse 15 00 00 1743. Suffolk P. R., xxxvii. 112, 113. Peter Faneuil, Esq. £ *. d. 100 bushels oats & buckwheat 40 00 00 9 loaves of sugar 10 00 00 1,400 oz. of silver plate 2,122 10 00 10 pipes Madeira wine 900 00 00 7 hhds. of ordinary claret 150 00 00 25 gallons of arrack 62 10 00 4 jars of oil 60 00 00 1,200 yds. of French canvas 180 00 00 22 bbls. of Connecticut Pork 308 00 00 11 " " N. Y. " 132 00 00 5 tierces of rum 125 00 00 1743. Suffolk P. R., xxxvii. 113, 114. Peter Faneuil, Esq. £ s. d. 1^ quintals of stock fish 3 00 00 2 " "cod 4 00 00 16 bbls. of starch 19 03 02 3 bbls. of peas 7 10 00 Mansion House, with garden, outhouses & yard . . . 12,375 00 00 10 pipes of cider 50 00 00 £ of the brig' Rochelle 1,300 00 00 The brig" Flower de Luce 1,100 03 03 Sloop Swan 1,000 00 03 l"jarr"ofoil 15 00 00 910 APPENDIX. . APPENDIX G. 1770. Boston News Letter, March 8th. A scheme, by James Popham, of Newark in New Castle County, for manufacturing two hundred stone of wool at 16 pounds to each stone, together with the expenses of labor utensils, houses, &c, which will employ the number of hands as mentioned underneath. Expenses or Utensils. £ ,. d. 1 pair wool combs 3 00 00 1 pair stock cards 0 12 00 6 pair hand " 1 01 00 Warping mill 2 00 00 Twisting mill for worsted 5 00 00 4 looms & tackle 12 00 00 Furnace for dying 20 00 00 Fulling mill 100 00 00 Houses for carrying on the work 100 00 00 Expenses op Wool, Dying Stuffs, & Workmen's Wages. £ s. d. 200 stone of wool at 24s 240 00 00 Dying stuffs of all sorts 30 00 00 1 comber may earn per annum 40 00 00 4 weavers ditto. 160 00 00 15 spinners 220 00 00 3 winders of worsted & yarn . . . • 35 00 00 2 boys 30 00 00 1 manager 100 00 00 £855 00 00 The produce of one year may be about 6,000 yards of different sorts, such as camblets, callimareoes, cambletees, plain, striped and figured stuffs, druggets, raggathies, German serges, everlastings, plushes, &c. The aforesaid number of yards may be computed on an average worth 4 shillings per yard, which will amount to £1,200.00. £ s. d. 1,200 00 00 Expenses of wool, &c 855 00 00 345 00 00 Leaves an annual profit of £101 07 00 APPENDIX. 911 R. I. Arch. APPENDIX H. 1776. Brig Nancy, Benj. Baker, Master. Shipped by the Grace of God, in good order and well conditioned, by John Northup & Benjamin Gardiner, in and upon the good Brig< called the Nancy whereof is Master under God for the Present Voy age Benjamin Baker and now riding at anchor in the Harbour of Wickford, and by God's grace bound for the Salt Islands. To say Twenty bbls. Flour, Ten bbls. Beef, Twelve ditto Pork, 198 Cheese, 40 Bu' Ind" Corn, -Hard Money to Amo' Sixty Dollars Stores — 4 Tierces Bread, 3 bbls. Beef, 3 ditto of Pork, 30 Bus' Potatoes, 2 do Ind" Meal, £ Ct. Brown Sugar, 2 half bbls N" Rum, 1 Cag 1\ Galls, west India d", 2 bbls Cyder, 1 Cord Wood, 2\ Bu' Beans 40 lbs Candles, 1 Cag Vo\ Gall. Molasses, 20 lbs Salt Fish, 8 lbs powder, 30 lbs Ball, 1 Swivel Gun, 2 Brass Blunder Busses, 3 Musket Guns, 20 Flints, 4 Spades, 1 Salt Rake, 1 Half Bushel, 50 yds Ozabrigs, 3 Sk. Twine, 1 Hour Glass, 4 Wheel Barrows, \ Q" Car. Paper, 24 lbs Coffee, 10 Hhds Water. Being mark'd & numbered as in the Margin and are to be delivered in the like good order & well conditioned at the aforesd Ports or Salt Islands, the danger of the Seas & Enemy only Excepted, unto sd Master or to his Assigns. He or they paying Fret, for the sd Goods Nothing. In Witness whereof the Master of sd Brig' hath affirmed unto Two bills of Lading both of this tenor & date, one of which two bills being Accomplished, the other to stand Void. And so God send the good Brig' to her desired Portor Ports in Safety. Amen. Dated at North Kingstown, Febry 1st, 1776. Benj. Baker. 1776. Bare Nancy, Benjamin Bakee, Mastee. Time of Entry. 23 Jan. 23 ditto 26 Jan. 29 Ditto 25 Ditto 23 Jan. 26 Jan. 26 Ditto IFfib.2 Ditto Men's Names. Quality. Wages per Month. Advance Wages. Wages on ye Voige. Benj. Baker Captain £10 10 £10 10 month 2-27 John Bissel Mate 6 18 6 18 2-27 Ezekil Mitchel Saler 3 6 3 S M 2-22 John X Jones Saler 3 6 3 6 Mth 2-17 mark Raw hand 2 11 2 11 M2-25 Wm. Homes Cook 2 2 2 2 Mth 2-26 his Simon X Lavens Saler 3 0 3 0 2-23 Dom Smith Saler 3 0 3 0 2-23 Saler 3 6 3 6 2-17 3 6 2 P4 2-17 2 P4 £40 13 Whole Wages. £30 9 0 20 0 6 9 0 4 7 4 6 6 4 3 8 6 0 8 6 0 8 11 7 6 18 9 £113 8 6 912 APPENDIX. APPENDIX I. H. N. Slater's Reminiscences of Saml. Slater, his Father. April 26, 1884. The initial step towards cotton manufacturing in this country was taken when S. Slater, at the age of fourteen, in 1782 apprenticed himself to Strutt in England. Strutt was a partner of Arkwright, and had, perhaps, the best arranged mill, containing the new system of drawing, roving, and twisting cotton for warp and woof. He finished his apprenticeship in 1789. The period 1782-89 was one of great poverty and depression in the United States. The Pennsylvanians wished to introduce the cotton manufacture, a duty of ten per cent, on the fabrics having been instituted under the new Constitution. Samuel Slater was invited to come over, and at that time there were not more than five persons in England capable of conducting the business out of their own knowledge. At New York he met Captain Curry, and was induced by his rep resentations to correspond with Moses Brown, who with character istic pluck and sagacity answered, " If thou canst do what thou sayst, I invite thee to come to Rhode Island, that I may have the credit and advantage of introducing cotton spinning." Rhode Island would have seemed to be the last place for the enter prise, for it was not in the Union as yet. The firm of Almy, Brown & Slater was formed, and started the manufacture of cotton yarns in Pawtucket in 1790, in all the perfec tion of the best mills in England. It was not imperfect, as has been said. Samuel Slater sent some yarns to his old master, who pro nounced them as good as any. They were made from Surinam cotton, longer than our present Sea Island, and in fibre like silk. Cotton sewing-thread was unknown in England, aud we are in debted to the Wilkinson women in Pawtucket for the idea which initiated the invention. Using the yarn which had been spun in Pawtucket for a year and a half, these women — of a family re markable for mechanical ingenuity — conceived the idea of a thread which should take the place of linen. They twisted the yarns on their domestic spinning-wheel, and made the first cotton thread in 1792. The manufacture was established by Wilkinson Bros. When Almy, Brown & Slater had been producing yarns for about one year, the first panic in the American market for cotton goods oc curred. Some 5,000 or 6,000 lbs. had accumulated, and the supply APPENDIX. 913 had outrun the demand, apparently. Moses Brown said to his part ner Slater, " If thee goes on, thee will spin up all our farms." In the sparse population, one of the chief difficulties of the early manufacturers was in procuring operatives, or " help." The mills suc ceeding Slater's were located farther in the interior on this account. Mr. Slater was obliged to seek families, and induce them to emigrate to Pawtucket. He found one Arnold, with a family of ten or eleven, living near the village of , in a rude cabin chiefly made of slabs, and with a chimney of stone. The roof of this comfortless structure sloped nearly to the ground, but it was the home of these hardy people. Mrs. Arnold appreciated it fully, for when her husband con sulted her on the proposed change, she insisted that Mr. Slater should give them as good a house as their old one. The wages paid these operatives range from 800 to 130(6 or 1400 per week. Pawtucket then contained not more than a dozen houses. There was no school and no church. Slater introduced the English apprentice system, but it did not suit the American temperament, and was abandoned. One lad found the pressure hard and " Slater too strict." Again he complained to an older companion that he "could not stand it." "Very well," said his adviser, " Act like the Devil, and Slater will let you off." At first Salem was the chief market. Hartford was opened next, when the supply accumulated ; then Philadelphia became the chief mart of all. E. Waring, of Philadelphia, a Quaker, was the first com mission merchant who sold the yarn. New York or Boston hardly took any of the product. Much was retailed at the mill. The first 13,000 lbs. of cotton carded at Pawtucket was picked by hand. Webster, May 1, 1884. Wm. B. Weeden, Esq. Dear Sir, — My talk on the evening of the 26th ult. was rambling and very informal, and without thought of its being published. I am surprised that you have been able to recall so much of it so well. At best, however, I consider what I said too incomplete to go into print until I find myself able to do the subject more careful justice. Truly yours, H. N. Slater. INDEX. Abby, Samuel, 407. Abel's "Wigwam," 403. Acadia. See Nova Scotia. Accounts, business, in early New England, 132, 609, 632-634, 904, 908, 909. Acton, the minute-men of, 744. Adams, Abijah, 589. Adams, Rev. Hugh, 516-518, 531, 537, 550. Adams, John, 671, 727, 838, 859. Adams, Samuel, 606, 671, 725, 727, 867. Africa, the settlement of, compared with that of America, 5—7 ; geo graphically considered, 6, 7; in history, 6, 7. Agriculture, 53, 88, 89, 98, 100-102, 168, 184, 330-334, 374, 375, 376, 492, 493, 687-691, 735, 844, 861, 862, 880. Alden, John, 250. Alewife, the, 102, 133, 134, 596, 750, 751, 877, 878, 880, 898. Alexander, Joseph, 849. Allen, Captain Josiah, 589. Allen, Matthew, 520. Allen, W. F., referred to, on the New England tour, 48. Allerton, the agent for Plymouth, 95, 96. Allyne, Edward, 56. Almy, Brown, & Slater, 912. Ambergris, 241, 431, 438, 893. America, at the dawn of the seven teenth century, 1 ; its settlement compared with that of Africa, 5- 7 ; importance of the water-ways of, 15-17, 377 ; develops the in dividual, 179; character of the commerce of, 232 ; affected by the Peace of Utrecht, 5") 2 ; born of England, but not wholly Eng lish, 608 ; Burnaby on, 755, 787 ; not dependent on the Old World, 788 ; the political problem solved by, 874 ; industrial awakening in, 848 ; inventive genius in, 850. Amesbury, bridge built at, 311 ; nail-making in, 856. Amory, J. and J. , quoted on trade, 566, 719, 727, 759, 760, 780, 781, 798, 799, 819, 860. Amory, Thomas, quoted on manu factures, money, and trade, 397, 441, 478, 480, 502, 503, 537 (bis), 553, 555, 556, 574, 570, 580-588, 590 ; on Boston, 554 ; career of, 565-572. Amory, Thomas C, 565. Amusements in early New England life, 224, 230, 412, 423, 515, 516, 698, 863. Anato, 907. Anbury J on American oddities, 805. " Anchor Tavern," the, of Lynn, 112. Ancram, iron-furnace at, 500. Andover, Massachusetts, roads laid out about, 208, 209; fulling-mill in, 306 ; scythe-grinding in 498 ; cattle-marks used at, 523 ; early dress in, 534 ; gunpowder manu factured in, 734 ; spinning in, 789. Andrews, Robert, 112. Andros, Sir Edmund, land disturb ance in Boston under, 30 ; visit of, to Boston, 298 ; the administra tion of, 354; and the whale fish ery, 435, 436. Angel, Nathan, 658. Angier, Edmund, 209. Ann, Cape, Gosnold at, 9 ; John Smith at, 10 ; the Dorchester Company at, 13, 91 ; horse-boat from Salem to, 114; fishing sta tion at, 139 ; the Navigation Acts infringed upon at, 361 ; ferry charges at, 879. Annapolis, commercial convention at, 842. 916 INDEX. Anniversary week in Boston, 417. Anthony, David, 848. Apples, 881-883, 889. Apprentices in early New England, 85, 259, 274, 309, 520, 879. Apthorp, Charles Ward, 802. Aqua fortis, 881. Aquidneck, transfer of the island of, to the colonists, 30. Aristocracy, as a power in the col onies, 48, 87, 865, 868. Armada, the, 5. Arms, manufacture of, 498, 685, 792, 793, 795. Army supplies and business, 795, 796, 797. Arnold, Governor Benjamin, 544. Arrack, 621, 647, 909. Art in New England, stimulated by Smybert, 547. Ashley, Lord, 321. Asia, compared with Africa, 6, 7. Asneau, Pierre, 488. Attleboro', Massachusetts, value of land in, 493. Atwater, quoted on the division of land in early New England, 54. Aubrey, William, 189. Auchmuty, Judge R., 532, 605, 606. Ayres, Nathaniel, 498. Azores, trade with the, 553, 643, 907. Babcock, Sahah, 305. Baccalaos, Basque name for the cod, 92. "Bachelors' grants," 405. Bacon, John, 292. Baker, the stalwart, of Portsmouth, 858. Baker, Captain, 781, 911. Baker, Samuel and William, 619, 624, 631. Bale, Francis, 273. Ballards, the, 306. Banks, 318, 319, 322, 323, 328, 329, 474, 476, 481-4S 3, 485-487. Barbadoes, trade with the, 152, 154, 155, 158, 160, 245, 248, 362, 585, 764, 906. Barbary pirates, 817. Barcelona, trade with, 619. Barley, 188, 382, 479, 879-S98. Barnard and Harrison, 719. Barnard. Joseph, 858. Bankable, fulling-mill in, 306. Barrell, George, 109. Barriton, Katherine, 114. Barrs, the, 848. Barstows, the, 369. Baiter. See Money, and 324, 325. Bartlett, John, 209. Bartlett, PheVe, 705. Basques, dari ig voyages of the, 92 ; their name for the cod, 92. Bass, dried ^or export, 133 ; prohibi tion concerning, 139 ; value of, 892. Batavia, tr<;de with, 822. Bates, John, 454. Bates, Joshua, 494. Bath, Adam, 498. Batman, Margery, 85. Batt, Christopher and Anne, 114. Bayberry wax, 479, 504, 687. Beads, their value for barter, 90; the wearing of, 859. Beans, 879, 880, 894, 895, 897. Beard, Thomas, SO. Bears, the, hunted by the colonists, 102, 691. Beaver, the trade in, 38-40, 43, 90, 93, 96, 97, 98, 115, 130-132, 136, 139, 15S, 181, 189, 251, 262, 314, 324, 325, 360, 401, 402, 617, 652, 653, 737, 774, 780 ; prices current in, 401, 402, 617, 877-879, 884, 894, 896, 898. Bedford, The, the first ship under the American flag in a British port, 929. Beef, 242, 266, 332, 479, 582, 591, 597, 678, 757, 798, 804, 826, 877- 903, 906, 907. Beer, 188, 190, 207 (bis), 313, 415 (bis), 501, 540, 877, 878, 884, 888, 889. Beere, John, 369. Belcher, Andrew, character and policy of, 209, 239, 342, 4S5, 487, 516, 550, 551, 559, 570, 594. Belcher, Benjamin, 369. Belcher, Jonathan, 397. Belknap, Dr., on slavery, 452. Belknap, Jeremiah, 835. Bell, Thomas, 456. Belle Isle, Straits of, the whale fish ery at the, 746. Bellomont, the Earl of, character and policy of, 346-348, 353, 360, 363, 375, 394, 395, 401, 436. Belton, Peter, 510. Bennet, John, 605. Bennett, Captain, 619. Bennett, William, 533. Berkeley and his influence, 546. INDEX. 917 Berlin, tinware made at, 792. Bermuda potatoes, early importa tions of, 136 ; value of, 878. Bernall, Jacob, 613. Bernard, Governor Francis, 736, 753, 754. Berry, Elizabeth, 483. Beverly, Winthrop's privilege at, 169 ; bounty on foxes in, 652 ; bears and wolves at, 691. Bible, not read at public service in early New England, 69 ; legisla tion taken from the, 78, 79, 82, 87 ; assiduous reading of the, 742. Biddeford, timber regulations in, 63. Bilboa, trade with, 144, 150, 177, 237, 248, 372, 581, 642. Billiard-tables, 591. Birchall, George, 468. Biscuit, 890. Blackbeard. See Teach. Blacklead, 200. Blacksmiths, desirable citizens, 81 ; of New England, 806 ; wages of, 901-903. Blackwell, John, 329. Blake, Daniel, 651. Blake, Robert, England's naval supremacy founded by, 3 ; his way, how prepared for him, 3 ; voyage of, around the world, 4 ; the "sea-dogs " of, 4, 5. Blauvelt. See Bluefield. Blessing of the Bay, The, Win throp's ship, 123 ; her ventures, 124. Blin, James, 575. Block Island, illicit trade carried on from, 778 ; during the Revolution, 811-814 ; the boats of, 812. Blodgett, Samuel, 686. " Blue Anchor Inn," 209, 301, 314. Bluefield, the pirate, 154, 338. Boat to sail against wind and tide, 396. Bog-iron, 173, 174, 177, 192, 684. Bollan, William, 675. Bolting-mills, 310, 382. Bonaparte, Napoleon, 705. Bond, Sampson, 433. Books and literature in the colonies, 230, 290, 298, 302, 413, 545-548, 705, 742, 809, 810, 861. Bordeaux, trade with, 611, 623, 780. Boston, the settlement of, 14 ; dis turbance among land-holders in, ' 30 ; land regulations in, 57 ; com monage in, 61 ; an early meet ing-house in, 71 ; regulations ex cluding strangers from, 80 (Ins) ; freed servants a burden to, 85 ; the Watertown windmill moved to, 102 ; sale of land in, 109 ; fer ries established at, 110 ; builds bridges, 111 ; a market maintained at, 111, 118 ; early hotels in, 112 ; wine-license at, 114 ; developed politics and religion, 132, 135 ; commission appointed by to trade with the Indians, 140 ; ships build ing at, 143, 150 ; first ship built at, 143, 1 66 ; commerce of, 144, 155 ; trade of, with the Western Islands, 158 ; ropewalk started in, 171 ; manufactures saltpetre, 171 ; organised charities in, 196 ; route used from Providence to, 211 ; school in, 221 ; prosperity of, its trade and fisheries, 245 ; shipbuilding at, 253 ; the ' ' mar ket-town ' ' of the West India trade, 255 ; the merchants of, 265 ; stands surety for a citizen received by Dorchester, 272 ; the herdsman of, 277 ; dress in, in 1682, 280-289 ; value of certain estates in, 292 ; decorous behavior of, 296, 298 ; the women of, in early times, 299- 301 ; standards of intelligence in, 302 ; cost of passage from, to England, 310 ; coasting trade of, 310; roads built near, 311, 312; economy in pavements at, 312; coaches in, 312 ; Navigation Acts infringed by, 361 ; ships of, 303, 304; a port of entry, 373 ; trade of, between Norwalk and, 375, between Portsmouth and, 375 ; controls exchange with New York, buying up all the specie, 386 ; weaving in, 389-391 (bis) ; trade of, in tar and turpen tine, 395 ; a turner in, and his patents, 396 ; the making of rope in, 396; market and market-day in, 406 (bis) ; admits citizens on bond, 407 ; the post from, to New York, 410 (bis) ; Madam Knight opens a school in, 410; anniver sary week in, 417 ; the first organ ist at King's Chapel, 417 ; com mercial port for whale-oil, 437 ; and bone, 438 ; facts concerning 918 INDEX. the whale fishery at, 439; the slave-trade of, 456, 458, 465-471 ; the rum trade of, 559 ; weaving in, 494 ; attempts the manufac ture of linen, 495 ; the making of buckram in, 496 ; dyeing and fin ishing in, 496 ; fan and toy mak ing in, 497 ; working in iron in, 498 (bis) ; gun-making in, 500; distilling in, 502 ; tobacco manu factured in, 505 ; wigs made in, 505 ; silversmiths in, 505 ; first hackney coach in, 508 ; a coach for hire and a sleigh in, 50S ; com fort becomes luxury in, 509 ; roads near, 509 ; stage-line between New port and, 510; express and post- rider between Newport and, 510 ; careful about admitting strangers, 519 ; Honduras advertises for set tlers in, 521 ; the town bull of, 522; Faneuil Hall in, 524, 520; markets in, 525, 526 ; control of its industries by the town govern ment of, 527 ; houses of, about 1745, 531, 532 ; a. limekiln in, 532 ; value of an estate in, 532 ; dress in. 534-53S ; tea-drink ing in, 539 ; food and marketing in, 540 ; few books in, in 1745, 545 , book-binding in, 545 ; print ing-presses in, 546 ; commerce of, about 1722, 554 ; makes pretence of recognizing the governor's de nunciation of illicit trade, 557 ; life in, about 1719, 565 ; a typical merchant of, 565-572 ; as a cen tre of commerce, 570; value of Thomas Amory's estate in, 571 ; shipbuilding in, 574, 575 ; im pressments in, 577 ; number of vessels cleared in, in 1714, 579 (bis) ; supplies Newport with cap ital, 583 ; marine insurance office in, 586 ; a junk-shop in, 588 ; trade of New Hampshire with, 590 ; the light-house and pilot of, 592; hurt by privateers, 599; privateering advertisement in, 599 ; Peter Faneuil, a typical mer chant of, 008-636 ; shipbuilding in, 612, 613; wealthy merchants of, invest in England, 618 ; trad ing ventures of women of, 633 ; distilling in, 642 ; the capital and financiers of, 643 ; light-house and other fees in, 647 ; number of ves sels cleared from, in 1747, 650; decline of shipbuilding in, 651 ; later privateering in, Goo, 666 ; illegal traffic in, 658, 659 ; pater nal government of, 673 ; suffers from a fire, 673 ; trade of, with Albany, 679 ; encourages home- production of woven goods, 680; lotteries in, 692 ; wigs in, 695 ; plays acted in, 696 ; Franklin in, 700-708; revolutionary acts of, 724, 720 ; the same punished, 727 ; sets up street lamps, 730 ; linen industry in, 732 ; spinning in, 733, 789 ; woollens and worsted made in, 733 ; soap and buttons made in, 734 ; hemp imported by, 735 ; stage communication opened be tween, and Portsmouth, 738; news-carrier from, 739 ; manners in, in 1700, 739 ; a dancing party in, 741 ; umbrellas in, 743 ; dress of a boarding-school girl in, in 1775, 744 ; whaling industry of, in 1760, 747; trade of, in fish, 751 ; slave - trade of, in 1762, 763 ; Revolutionary privateering of , 770 ; royalist merchants of, 779 ; underwriter's office in, 782 ; speci men cargo from, 783 ; wool-cards manufactured in, 791 ; trade in lime between Providence and, 794 ; specimen order from, during the Revolution, 796; Oriental trade of, 822, 824; fur trade of, 826; institutes a policy of non-inter course with England, 837 ; indus trial association formed in, 848; manufacture of dnck in, 851 ; manufacture of cards in, 852, 855 ; improvement of stage-roads be tween, and New York, S57 (bis), 858; doctors' fees in, 863; first theatre built in, 863 ; educational advantages and amusements in, 864 ; value of real estate in, 878, 909. Boudouin, Pierre, 368. Bounds, beating the, 314. Bourne, J., 207. Boutineau, James, 624. Boutineau, Stephen, 633. Bowdoin, James, 604, 605, 633. Bownas, quoted, 343, 599. Bradford, Governor, quoted on the Pilgrims, 8, 11; quoted on the value of hoes to the Indians, 38 ; INDEX. 919 quoted on the beaver trade, 38, 40, 131 ; on the growing of maize, 88 ; and the Plymouth colony, 89 ; on communism, 90 ; character of, 867, 86S. Bradford, gunpowder manufactured in, 734. Bradford, on the pirates, 338. Braintree. See Quincy. Branch, Peter, 168. Brandy, 627, 660, 756, 783, 878, 879, 881, 882, 885-S91, 893. Brattle, Captain Thomas, 292. Brazil, trade with, 643, 644 ; the coast of, opened for the whale-fish ery, 747. Brazil wood, 241. Bread, regulations in New Haven, 185, 405, 526, 540 ; price of, 891 ; in ship stores, 911. Brenton, William, 253. Brewer, Captain, 603. Breweries, 190, 195. Brewerton, Winthrop's London cor respondent, 322. Brewster, Elder William, a leader of the Pilgrims, 11. Brick, Madam, 300. Bricks, 178, 181, 309, 531, 757, 780, S28, 880, 891, 898, 907. Brides, pin-driving by, 295 ; stealing of, 295. See Marriage. Bridger, 393, 394. Bridges, building of, 111, 208, 210, 211, 311, 312, 510, 511, 528, 693, 851. Bridges, Robert, 177. Bridgewater, regulation of morals in, 273 ; meeting-house in, 278. Brimfield, the settlement of, 404, 513 ; seating the meeting in, 699. Brinley, Francis, 602. Brinton, Jahleel, 457. Bristol, England, early maritime ven tures from, 4; Amory 's still made in, 503 ; trade of, with New Eng land, 554, 574, 610. Bristol, cart-bridge built in, 312 ; a port of entry, 372 ; primitive town offices in, 404 ; appoints a market- day, 406 ; the slave-trade of, 404 ; fines for blazing chimneys in, 528 ; growth of, 656 ; value of an estate in, 802. Broadcloth, manufacture of, 853. Bromfield, Edward, 633. Brookfield, the post-road through, 410 ; woollen manufacture in, 732 ; chemical factory in, 734. Brookhaven, meeting-house disturb- i ance at, 41S. | Browns, the, of Providence, com mercial operations of, 633, 643, 055, 757, 774, 849, 850, 912. Brown, Edward, 510. Brown, James, 397. Brown, John, 291. Browne, William, 317, 581. Brunning, the bookseller, 303. Bruster, Thomas, 455. Buck, the pirate, 342. Buckles, 536, 542. Buckley, Captain Peter, 627 (bis), 629. Buckwheat, 909. Budd, Lieutenant, 152. Buel, Abel, 735. Buffington, Captain, 825. Bulkly, Peter, 316. Bull, Dixey, 126. Bull, Deacon Thomas, 391, 399. Bullets, value of, 878. BuUivant, Dr., 302. " Bundling," 739, 864. Buns and cakes, permitted only at marriages and burials, 113. Burke, on the growth of liberty in New England, 715, 788 ; on colo- . nial taxation, 720, 721, 724 ; on the New England whale-fishers, 748; a large-minded man, 874. Burnaby, quoted on New England in 1770, 755, 756, 788. Burnet, Governor, 477, 478. Burnham, James, 736. Busbie, Nicholas, 177, 391. Busby, Doctor, 566. Business methods in early days, 132, 201, 572, 609-028, 620-034, 831. Butchers, wages of, 900. Butler, Peter, 308. Butter, price of, 102, 132, 877, 878, 883-888, 890-896, 898-903 ; trade in, 333, 414, 582, 690, 827 ; a rare luxury, 416. Buttons, gold and silver, 286, 687, 859. Buzzard's Bay, Plymouth men at, 94 Cabot, Sebastiak, 92. Cades, John, 576. Calash (carriage), 693. Calash (dress), 743. Calcutta, trade with, 824, 825. 920 INDEX. Calico, 825. Cambridge, timber regulations in, 62 ; communal herding in, 64 ; sale of land in, 109 ; builds a bridge, 111 ; grants a fishing priv ilege, 134 ; The Endeavor of, 149 ; Indian trade of, 161 ; printing be gun at, 169; the "Blue Anchor" of, 209, 301 ; pay of the school master in, 221 ; bridge built in, 312 ; careful of admitting stran gers, 519 ; «, patriotic citizen of, 733 ; rally of New England mili tia in, 727 ; drawbridge at', 851. Campeaehy, trade with, 359. Canada, the French in, 15, 18, 19, 353 ; New England trade with, 263 ; expeditions from the colo nies against, 356, 379, 491 ; the communal principle at work in, 407 ; the whale-fishery in, 435 ; playing-card currency iu, 477 ; New England and, compared, 512 ; passes over to England, 552 ; the fisheries of, finally determined England to war, 595 ; Revolution ary expeditions against, 764. Canal, projected through Cape Cod, 375 ; machinery made for a, 851. Canaries, trade with the, 245, 265, 643, 820, 907 ; value of wine from the, 890, 894. Candles, 654, 755, 757, 895, 904, 906, 907. Candlewood, 216. Candy, 883. Canes, 534. Canonicus, signs the deed of the island of Aquidneck, 30, his fulfilment of his bargain, 31. Canso, the fisheries at, 590, 595, 596, 614, 615, 619, 627. Canterbury, Sabbath-breaking in, 549. Canton, trade with, 821-823. Canvas, 396, 574, 582, 589, 613, 616, 795, 825, 907, 909. Cape Breton, illegal trade with, 595, 596, 658, 659. Capers, 890. Cards, 791, S51, 852. Carr, Geovge, 153, 207, 333. Carriages, 297, 312, 409, 415, 495, 509, 542, 693, 909. Carrots, 893. Carter, Edwin, 455. Carter, John, Jr., 407. Carts, 312, 410. Casco, the value of heaver, in 1640, 40 ; petty offenses punished in, 294. Casting, 174, 500, 734, 792. Cast-iron, 500. Cattle, raising and keeping of, in early New England, 64-67, 335 ; marks for, decreed, 6Q ; vicious damage by, specially punished, 66 ; Danish imported, 102 (bis), 121, 128, 170, 204, 242, 266, 357, 375, 376, 382, 404, 405, 522, 523, 775, 803, 828 ; taxes paid in, 315, 326 ; taxes paid on, 374 ; prices paid for, 877-S84, 886-890. See Herding. Chair, 509, 693, 697. Chaises, 693, 909. Chalkhill, 387. Channing, WiUiam Ellery, 470, 547. Chapman, Ralph, 369. Chardon, Peter, 643. Charity, organised, in Boston, 196 ; Miss Emerson's allowance for dress, etc., 862. Charles, John, 115. Charles, II., and the colonies, 232, 234, 268. Charleston, South Carolina, the Amo- rys in, 566, 568, 569. Charlestown, Massachusetts, 14 ; colonises Woburn, 53 ; land regula tions in, 57 ; ferry established, 110; inn licensed at, 113 ; wine license in, 1 14 ; commerce of, 155 ; ferry license granted in, 208 ; a fishing centre, 245 ; shipbuilding at, 253 ; ships of, 364 ; Boston the port of entry for, 733 ; carriages in, in 1753, 693. Charming Polly, The, 465. Chatham, Lord, 716 ; and the Stamp Act, 720-723. Cheese, price of, 102, 132 ; use of, and trade in, 370, 414, 479, 540, 582, 690, 755, 877, 888, 891, 893, 894, 896-898, 900-903, 911. Cheever, one of New England's early scholars, 221. Cheever, Ezekiel, the Latin Acci dence of, 861. Chelsea ferry established, 110. Cheney, Peter, 306. Chestnut - gathering as an amuse ment in early Boston, 296. Chichester, James, 230. Child, Sir Josiah, 243. Children, religions oppression of, 428. INDEX. 921 Childs, the Boston distiller, 459. China-ware, 539, 647, 826. Chinese trade, 777, 822, 824-826, 833. Chisholm, Thomas, 112, 191. Chittenden of New Haven, 852. Chitty, Joseph, 619. Chocolate, 414, 539, 540, 686, 735, 795, 857, 892, 893, 895, 897, 902, 907. Church organization. See Meeting. Cider, 188, 196, 198, 201, 333, 3/6, 415 (bis), 507, 540, 647, 8S1, 882, 884, 885, 888-894, 890-902, 907, 909, 911. Cinnamon, 891. Cistern, copper, value of a, 909. Citizen, evolution of the, 47, 49-52, 56, 60, 67, 72, 73, 75, 76, 525, 713, 787, 865 ; solemnly recognized his responsibility, 7S ; kept by law to his duties, 78 ; privileges of the, closely guarded, 79, 80 ; the desir able, brought in from without by public effort, 80 ; examples, 81 ; the qualifications required of a, in Massachusetts, 269, 865. Clapboard, derivation of the term, 284. Clarendon, Lord, on New England, 400. Claret, 834, 895, 909. Clark, Captain, 418. Clark, Nathaniel, 238, 550. Clark, Richard, 500. Clarke, Hannah, 474. Clarke, John, 134, 662. Clarke, Governor Walter, 345. Clarke, William, 206. Class distinction. See Sank. Class privilege not favored in New England, 50, 51. Cleland, William, 687. Clerke mines blacidead, 200. Cleveland, Captain, 824. Clewly, Joshua, 495. Clinton, Governor, 641; report of ,907. Clock, the first, in New Haven, 217; English, from the Barbadoes, 362 ; price paid for a, 794. Cloth, prices of, 107, 229, 248, 307, 370, 371, 391, 401, 533, 534, 537, 612, 61.3, 789, 790, 808, 813, 814, 878-880, 882-890. See Textile Fabrics. Clover, 689, 691. Cloves, 891, 894. Coal, 18, 532, 626, 905, 907. Coasting trade, of New England, 260, 310, 375, 376, 648, 760, 773, 782, 872. Cocoa, 839. Cocoanuts, 907. Cod, the, 9, 92, 133, 139, 750-751 ; Basque name for, 92; lines pur chased by Winthrop, 126 ; impor tance of the, 244. See Fisheries. Cod, Cape, by whom and why so named, 9, 92 ; visited by Hudson, 9 ; dangers of, 94 ; canal through projected, 375 ; the stranding of whales on, 431 ; the whale fisher ies of, 437 ; communal charity at, 527. Coddington, William, purchase of land by, 31 ; expulsion of, and his band, from Massachusetts, 76; founds the colony of Newport, 77 ; causes of his expulsion, 79 ; sale of land by, 109 ; trade of, in horses, 158, 160 ; influence of, 841, 868. Cod fisheries of New England early known, 9, 10, 92 ; the Earl of Stir ling quoted on the, 10 ; their im portance, 244; a nursery of sea men, 245. See Fisheries. Coes, Thomas, 694. Coffee, 539 (bis), 540, 647, 659, 757, 774, 820, 825, 827, 828, 894, 895, 900-903, 907, 911. Coffin, Peter, 439. Coffyn, Tristram, 207. Cogswell, Francis, 614. Colchester, fulling-mill in, 394 ; reg ulations regarding horses in, 523. Cole, Samuel, 109. Collins, Henry, 547. Collins, Widow, 272. Colman, Benjamin, 548. Colonies, character of the French, 1, 19, 21, 127, 866, 870; the English, 19, 20, 125, 127, 721, 806, 870; true infant communities, 19 ; prin ciples governing in the, 20 ; how developed by external pressure, 20, 22 ; peculiar character of the New England, 20, 21; the growth of the, socially, 47-87 ; those started as commercial enterprises failed, 97 ; English and French contrasted, 127", 191, 667 ; Pitt's policy for the, of Britain, 719, 727 ; Doyle on the New England, 866. Colson, David, 394. Columbus, Christopher, 1, 9. 922 INDEX. Combs, 687. Commerce, the enterprise of, early a factor in the opening of the New World, 1, 4, 5, 10, 13 ; for examples see Beaver, Corn, Fisheries ; open ing of, in the New England colo nies, 117-164; legislative restric tions of, by Massachusetts, and reasons therefor, 117-119; profits in, limited by statute, ll8 ; brisk internal trade created a demand for, 119; what is, 123; Winthrop led the, of New England, 123 ; im portance of New England, recog nized at home, 136, 138 ; English restrictions on, 13S ; details of, supervised by the General Court, 140, 141 ; the Parliament encour ages, 141 ; established on a new basis, 142, 143 ; slave-trade carried on by New England men, 149 ; facts showing the increase of, 1 49— 154 ; piety hand in hand with, N 152, 158, 249 ; jingle showing the - staples of, 152 ; stimulates liberal opinions, 155; Massachusetts ap points a committee to improve, 157 ; affected by tlie war with the Dutch, 157 ; summary of New Eng land expansion in, 164; effect of an early tightness in money on, 105, 107 ; rise of a new, 169 ; in Rhode Island, 185 ; narrow re strictions of, 189, 190; evidence of increasing, 207; the Naviga tion Acts and their effect on (q. v. ) , 232-267, 353-355, 360, 361, 373; character of the, between Eng land and America, 232 ; colonial, was not understood, 234, 235 ; Parliament report on New Eng land, 237 ; the Acts may have ben efited, 255 ; methods in New Eng land, exemplified, 248, 251, 256, 257, 203 ; effects social changes and makes types, 259, 263 ; effect of tobacco on, 262 ; rapid expan sion of, exemplified, 264-267 ; of England, Holland, and New Eng land compared, 267 ; virtually a barter of commodities, 314 ; pirates and privateers in their relation to, 337-377 ; Bellomont hinders, 346 ; of 1680-1696, 353 ; effect of the Revolution of 1688 on, 353 ; treas- ' nre-trove expeditions affect, 358 ; in 1709, 364 ; course of, 365 ; methods of foreign, 370; impor tance of the fisheries, 372 ; ports of entry, 373 ; between the South ern States and New England, 370 ; economic aspects of the slave-trade, 449-472; inflation affects, 490; after the Treaty of Utrecht, 552- 606; English capital quickens, 553, 555, 574 ; course of, between Eu rope and New England, 553, 581 ; spread of, 555 ; a typical mer chant and his operations, 505-572; an interesting ease for students in, 576, 630; the mast trade, 578, 579 ; examples of complex trading voyages, 584, 5S5 ; importance of domestic, 5S8-590 ; British and domestic meddling with, 591, 593 ; law and, 594; the movement of fish stimulates all, 595-598; the effect of privateering on, 598-606 ; a new, born with the Revolution, 607 ; and business methods illus trated by Peter Faneuil, 607-636 ; London, the central mart of, 617 ; demanded utmost good faith, 623 ; of the eighteenth century, 637; from Louisburg to Quebec, 637-665; the fall of Louisburg reassures, 640 ; example of, in 1746, 642 ; English policy affects our, 713, 728, 740, 753, 759, 760; French War stimulates, 644, 745 ; effects of rum on, 649 ; defies Brit ish control, 723, 745 ; between New England and England, 731 ; Bernard on, 753; effect of the Revolution on, 707, 769-785 ; car ried on by privateers, 773, 779 ; specimen cargoes, 774, 775 ; Con gress tinkers with, 780 ; of the Confederation, 816-839 ; England's narrow policy concerning, 816- 818; piracy and, 817; just after the Revolution, 818-820; Con gress on matters relating to, 842 ; bird's-eye view of the commercial development of "New England, 870; examples of New England's, 906-911. Commission business in early New England, 009-012. Commonage in early New England, 54 (bis), 55, 60-62, 275, 404, 519, 522. Common - sense, New England tri umphed by, 86. INDEX. 923 Communal principle in New Eng land, 49, 51, 54, 55, 56 (Water- town), 58; 59-02, 04, 79, 80, 115, 168, 172 (bis), 272, 275, 277, 403- 407, 408 (harvest custom), 520, 522, 523. Communistic experiments, 54, 89, 90, 115, 168, 172, 179. Community. See Town. Conant, Roger, 132. Conch-shells, 907. Concord, Massachusetts, mill early built at, 103 ; road opened between Sudbury and, 113 ; Indian trade of, 161 ; seeks nitre in her hen houses, 171 ; iron-works built in, 201 ; highway made between, and Lancaster, 211 ; builds bridges, 211 ; the welding of a shaft by impromptu blacksmiths in, 498; the battle of, 744. Confiscation of the estates of Loyal ists, 800, 802. Congregational Church, the. See Meeting, and 268, 269. Congress, the resolves of, on priva teering, 771 ; prescribes forms for commissions, 779 ; removes the re strictions of the Navigation Acts, 780 ; tinkers with commerce, 780 ; establishes the gun factory at Springfield, 792 ; deliberates on forwarding the whale-fishery, 828 ; encourages the cod fishery, 832 ; endeavors to help commerce, 837- 839, 842 ; adopts the Impost Act, 839 ; adopts the dollar and cent, 845 ; increases import duties, S48. "Connecticut, Colonial Records of, quoted on the trade in maize with the Indians, 38 ; the value of bea ver in, in 1638, 40; the value of wampum in, in 1638, 40; legis lates concerning wampum, 42 (bis), 44 ; wampum still used in, in 1704, 44 ; aristocracy in, 48 j^Jand regu lations in, 53-62, passim ; theo cratic influences in, 69, 77, 79 ; adopts a civil code, 78 ; trade be tween Massachusetts and, 124 ; colony at, founded, and a vessel built, 136 ; commerce of, 137, 140, 147 ; rivalry of, with the Dutch on the Delaware, 143, 176 ; ship building in, 154;~""mterdiets the export of provisions for the Dutch, 158 [^encourages the manufacture of textile fabrics, 170, 176;>com- merco and manufactures of, 170 ; joins the federation of colonies, 180^-egulates the use of wine and liquor, 185 ; ^.troublesome harbor rates of, 187, 196;Siarrow trade restrictions of, 189, 190; famous for its cider, 195, 333 ;' regulates butchers and tanners, 198 j^^passes statutes regulating morals, 200 ; prohibits the export of leather, 203 ; ' provides for inns in every town, 207 ; ferries instituted in, 20S; a new TOad to, opened by Naslma, 208 ; Blue Laws in, 222, 223 ; tfibaceo law of, 224 ; offends against the Navigation Acts, 239 ; West India trade of, 242, 264; Supplies the fishers with food, 245 ; shipbuilding in, 253 ; appears loyal to the commission, 268 ; the church of, 269 ; Nregulates the founding of settlements, 270 j^en- courages the growing of sheep, 276 ; nress regulations in, 288, 289; coast trade of, SlOpiigh- ways, and highway regulations, of, 312 ; price of wheat in, in 1660, 331 ; illicit traffic in, 340 (bis), ' 345, 348, 349 ; passes an act against pirates, 341 ; """trade in horses of, 362 ; paper currency of, 380 ; price of silver in, 387 ; the tar and turpentine interest of, 395 ; mining in, 397 ; value of lands in, in 1708, 399 ; forbids the importation of Indians, 403 Reg ulates the export of leather, 408 ; orders the highways cleared of brush, 409 ; road between Massa chusetts and, 410 ; methods of di version in, 412 ; marriage customs in, 412 ; slavery in, 415, 454 jS-eg- ulates shore whaling, 432 ;~"man- agement of paper currency in, 475, 483^-— manufactures linseed oil, 496 ; — encourages duck-weav ing, 496 ; copper discovered in, and worked, 497, 498 reestablishes a slitting-mill, 498 ; iron mining and working in, 500 ; distilling in, 501, 502; grants a monopoly .in Indian corn molasses, 503 ; nayberry-bushlawof, 504; wheat- growing in, 507 ; regulates the selling of arms to Indians, 507 ; first passage of a team from, to 924 INDEX. Providence, 5107~Kcenses an inn at New London, 510 ; first bridge between, and Rhode Island, 510 ; -^grants a wagon privilege from Hartford to New Haven, 511 ; the first steeple in, 530 ; decadence in, from former high religious standards in, 594 ; masts and tim ber trade in, 578T^number of ves sels belonging to, in 1730, 580; "Mays imposts on exports, 593 at tempts to shut in her grain, 594 ; the salmon in, 596 ; small com merce of, 642 ; illicit trade of; during the French War, 645 ; taxes home trade, 647; illegal traffic of, 659; refuses to join in a scheme to redeem all paper, 675 ; "^grants a monopoly in a flax-dress ing machine, 681 ;^grants » mo nopoly in the slitting of iron, 684 ; opens a toll-bridge at New Mil- ford, 693 ; paper currency of, in ; 1760, 736 ; Massachusetts' action j towards the paper currency of, j 737 ; rally of the militia of, to j the help of Massachusetts, 737 i (bis) ; the whale fisheries of, in 1760, 748 ; trade of, with Massa chusetts, injured, 755 ; commerce of, in 1761, 757; in 1774, 758; I slavery in, in 1761, 763 ; priva teers of, 772 ; example of the commerce of, during the Revolu tion, 783 ; wool - cards manufac tured in, 791 ; casting-furnace in, 792 ; manufacture of arms in, 793 ; embargo laid by, on trade, S19, 828; West India trade of, 832; shipbuilding in, 833 ; mast trade in, 833 ; disposition of the slavery question in, 835 ; social industrial movement in, 855 ,- the mechanics of, 857 ; picture of farm life in, 862. Connecticut River, Winthrop's ship at the, 124 ; The Rebecca trades in, 129 ; Dorchester fur trade with, 131 ; road along the, 311 ; ship building on the, 765 ; mast-cutting on the, 833 ; price of corn on the, 878. Conscience, in legislation, 86. Continents, new, afford the greatest of historical problems, 5 ; effect of their discovery upon the imagi nation considered, 5. Converse, Edward, 110. Cook, George, 369. Cooke, Joseph, 111. Cooke, R., 173. Cooper, Rev. Samuel, 680. Cooper, outfit of a, 686. Copper, 189, 396, 497, 759,774, 907. Copper sheathing first used, 826, 831. Copperas, 734. Cork, S94, 904. Corlet, one of New England's early scholars, 221 (bis). Corn, Indian, trade with the Indians in, 37, 38 (bis), 98 ; increased pro duction of, as affecting the value of wampum, 43 ; its beauty and blessing, 88 ; Squanto teaches the colonists how to grow, 88 ; Plym outh trade in, 93, 95 ; trade in, in Massachusetts, 97, 98 ; prof its in, 98 ; prices of, 98, 100, 334, 382, 401, 678, 804, 877-904 ; used' as currency, 101; 142, 176, 17*, 196, 314, 324-326, 479 ; the first and most pregnant industry, 115, 584, 590, 591, 906, 907 ; as food, currency, and merchantable com modity, 119 ; fluctuations in the value of, and their consequences, 119, 128, 142, 170, 178, 185 ; great exportation of, 163 ; a famine in, 175 ; how used, 1 98 ; a scarcity of, 199 ; price of, in 1660 and 1061, 204; trade in, 375, 376; frost affects the price of, 400 ; molasses made from, 503, 794; the staple grain, 507; in ships' stores, 911. Cornhury, Lord, cited on colonial affairs, 386, 387, 393, 394, and the whale fishery, 436. Corney, John, 619. Cornish, John, 389-391. Corps, John, 404. Correspondence, committees of, 725. Corwins. See Curwins. Cossart, John & Sons, 629. Cotton, Connecticut encourages trade in, 140; The Trial brings in, to Boston, 144 ; the trade in, and manufacture of, 163, 170 (ter), 176, 177, 201, 232, 238, 242, 255, 355, 359, 585, 659, 757, 774, 783, 790, 828, 848-S53, 882, 889, 892, 893, 895, S9S, 901-903, 907, 912. Cotton, Rev. John, 71 ; sermon of, INDEX. 925 on the office of the magistrate, 76 ; frames a code of law, 78. Council for New England, plans of the, 52 ; minutes of the, cited, 125. " Country Pay." See Money. Courtship. See Marriage. Coytmore, Peter, 166. Coytmore, Thomas, 143, 147. Crabb, Benjamin, 654. Cradle, price of a wicker, 888. Cradock, Francis, 321. Cradock, Matthew, 96, 103. Cranston, Captain, 603. Cranston, Governor, 454, 455. Credit, letter of, a typical early, 316. Cromwell, plans of, for New Eng land, 198 ; effects of the treaty made with the French by, 197. Cromwell, Captain, 151, 159. Cromwell, Thomas, 339. Crosby, Governor, 904. Crowninshield, Captain, 826. Cubit, the, a standard of length be tween Indians and colonists, 37. Cumby, Captain, 614. Cupid, The, accounts of, 904, 905. Curacpa, trade with, 301, 907. Currency. See Money. Curriers, desirable citizens, 81 (bis). Curry, Captain, 912. Curwins, the, 247, 291, 316, 384, 474, 518, 546, 643, 660, 661, 801. Cutler, John, 467. Cuttyhunk, how first named, 9. Dade, Henry, letter of. quoted, 127. Dagyr, John Adam, 0S2. Danbury, value of land in, 399. Dancing in early New England, 296, 417, 526, 696, 741, 864. Danforth, Rev. J., jingle from the "Almanac" of, 152; poem by, 545. "Dark Days," the, 419. Dartmouth, becomes a whaling port, 746. " Daughters of Liberty," the, 732. D'Aulnay, Chevalier, 145, 146. Davenport, Addington, 024. Davenport, I 'aid, 549. Davidson, Daniel, 238. Davie, Humphrey, 247. Davis, Barnabas, 110. Davis, Colonel James, 515. Davis' Straits, the whale fishery at, 747. Day, Luke, 844. Day, S., 180, 181. Deacon, John, admitted into Lynn, 81 . Deane, quoted, on New England grants, 12. Deane, Barnabas, 796. Deane, George, 575. Deane, Silas, 796. Deblois, Gilbert, 660, 661. Debtors, sold for slaves, 274, 275. Dechenseau, Adam, 630. Declaration of Independence, the, 787. Dedham, as an example of the for mation of the New England town, 53, 548. Dedham, Massachusetts, division of land in, 55 ; settled Medfield, 56 ; an early meeting-house in, 71, 74; regulations concerning servants in, 84 ; early houses in, 2S3 ; sump tuary laws neglected in, 2S6 ; Ma dam Knight travels through, 410 ; wildcats killed in, 528. Deerfield, news-carrier from Boston to, 739. Deerskin, as currency, 653 ; value of, 8S0, 892, 907. Defoe, Daniel, on English commerc3, 234, 235 ; on New England com merce, 574. De La Croix, Thomas, 633. De Laneey, Stephen, 347, 908. De l'Valier, cited on illicit trade with Acadia, 241 ^ Delaware, the Indian trade on the, 143. Deming, Hannah, 633. Democracy, the town as an inspired, 47 ; Rhode Island first showed the possibilities of pure, 77 ; how tem pered in the early towns by a solid aristocracy, 87, 865, 868. Denison, Captain George, 294. Denmark, trade with, 757. Dennis, George, 546. Dennis, Captain John, 655. " Depreciation Act ' ' the, of Massa chusetts, 799. De Rasieres, trading expedition of, to Plymouth, 38, 94. Derby, Captain Richard, 652, 759. Derby, Elias Hasket, 776-778, 821- 826. Desire, The, of Marblehead, 135, 137, 138. De Tierney, Chevalier, 811. Dexter, Samuel, on slavery, 453. 926 INDEX. Dexter, Thomas, 109. Dexter, Timothy, 739, 848. Diamond, The privateer, 774. Dickens, Samuel, 813. Dickens, Sarah, 814. Dickens, Thomas, 812. Dickerson. Philemon, 168. Digby, Admiral, 828. Disco, opened for the whale fishery, 747. Discovery, The, and her Plymouth trade 90. Distilling, 501-503, 856, 871. Dix, Samuel, 505. Dixey, William, 206. Doctors, and their bills, 863. Dodge. Edmund, 813. Dodge, Patience, 814. Dollar, origin of the, 383 ; settle ment of the value of, 845. Dolphin, case of the, 576, 630 ; of Block Island, 812. Dongan, Governor, 436. Dorchester, England, fishing and trading expedition from, to New England, 13. Dorchester, 14 ; as an example of the formation of the New England town, 53 ; land regulation in, 56 ; the fencing regulations of, 58 ; communal herding in, 65 (bis), regulations against strangers in, 80 ; regulations concerning com pulsory service in, 82 ; mill built in 1633 at, 102 ; fishing privilege granted by, 102 ; sale of land in, 110; ferry at, 111; inn licensed at, 113; fur trade of, 131; led in fishing, 132 ; shipbuilding at, 143 ; fulling-mill erected in, 200 ; ferry to Braintree instituted, 208 ; bridge built in, 20S, 211 ; orders roads cleared, 211 ; guards against admitting bad citizens, 272 ; regu lation of morals in, 273 ; inter feres in private matters, 273 ; meeting-house in, 278 ; fulling- mills in, 394 ; mining and mills at, 397 ; a venison breakfast in, 414; Sewall's little jaunt to the Turk's Head in, 415 ; paper-mill at, 504, 734 ; fulling-mill in, 679 ; slitting-mill in, 734; snuff and chocolate mills in, 735 ; sowing of ' ' timothy "' in, 7o5 ; chocolate-mill in, 795. Dove, The, trading venture of, 128. Dowling & Son, S46. Downes, Thomas, 251. Downes, William, 634. Downing, Emanuel, 103, 129, 186, 219. Downing, Sir George, quoted on the slave-trade in New Kngland, 149 ; a graduate of the first class in Harvard, 149. Doyle, on the English colonies, quot ed, 866. Dress, in the colonies, and legisla tion thereon, 106, 115, 226-229, 286-290 (bis), 291, 412, 533-538, 629, 694-696, 742-744, 812-814, 859, 860, 862. Drowne, Dr. Solomon, 741. Drugget, 890. Drugs, 660, 904, 907. Druilletes, Father, 155. Ducat, the Holland, value of the, fixed, 142, 880. Du Chatelet, 745. Duck. See Canvas. Dudley, Governor Josiah, land dis turbances in Boston under, 30 ; quoted on the scarcity and price of corn, 97 ; appointed to man age a fishing trade, 135 ; goes after chestnuts, 296 ; and the mast trade, 363 ; and the whale fishery, 436. Dudson, Captain Joseph, 240. Dummer, John, 505, 559. Dummer, Richard, 103. Dunstable, the settlement of, 729. Dunster, President, 195, 221. Dunton, John, 298-302, 314, 545. Durham, curious ecclesiastical pro ceedings in, 516. Duxbury, mill early built at, 103 ; highways laid out at, 111 ; inn li censed at, 113 ; highways laid out about, 113; bridge built in, 113; supervision of the beaver trade in, 136 ; of the whale fishery in, 435 ; ironworks in, 499 ; " tow of masts " from, 767. Dyeing and finishing, 393, 496, 732. Dyer, John, 415. Dyewoods, 232, 241 (bis), 758, 774, 907. Dymoke, Edward, 617. Eabokne, Thomas, 174. Eames, Thomas, 284. Earle, Captain William, 464. INDEX. 927 East Greenwich, Rhode Island, house-building regulations in, 528 ; takes a risk in a Providence lot tery, 528; illicit trade of, 660; spinning in, 789. East Hampton, Long Island, a pirate haunt, 340. East India Company, created by England, 8, 619. East Indies, New England piracy in the, 344-347; trade with the, 820-827. Eastman, Captain, 511. Easton, a tanner of Newbury, 187. Easton, Governor, 345. Easton, James, 369. Easton, Nicholas, 168. Eaton, Governor, 215, 217. Ebony, 907. Ecclesiastical systems in the colo nies, 4S. Economic forms, their meaning and interest, 22. Economy, the basis of the New Eng land polity, 51, 293,869, 875; controlled religious desires, 57 ; of New England life illustrated, 860- 862. Edging, 855. Edwards, Jonathan, his life, genius, and influence, 474, 547, 700-706, 712, 739, 842. Edwards, Jonathan, the younger, 835, 873. Eggs, price of, in the colonies, 102, 132, 878, 897, 900, 902. Elder, the, 50, 68, 69. Elephant, first imported, 826. Elephant's teeth, 907. Eliot, Andrew. 496. Eliot, Jared, 688, 689. Eliot, Dr. John, on slavery in Massa chusetts, 395, 452, 492, 540. Eliot, Robert, 238. Elizabeth, fosters merchant com panies, 4 ; reply of, to a threat of war from Spain, 4. EUery, William, 343, 599, 662. Emerson, Joseph, 696. Emerson, Mary Moody, 862. Emerson, William, 862. Emigration, causes inducing, from England, 11, 13, 15, 21 ; blindly directed, 15; a "strength" for, 52 ; blessings of free, to New Eng land, 127, 128; Dade on this free, 127 ; Gorges' suggestion to limit, 127 ; New England's prosperity attracts, 141, 142; facts and sta tistics concerning, 165, 205 ; from Ireland to New England, 193; curious facts concerning, 202. Endeavor, The, of Cambridge, 150, 163. Endicott, John, takes charge of the Salem settlement, 13 ; lack of roads prevents, from visiting Win throp, 110 ; the orchard of, 186 ; copper mined by, 189 ; the char acter of, 248. Kngine, price of an, 909. England, joins in the strife for po litical supremacy, 1 ; how fitted for the struggle, 2, 3 ; her advan tage geographically, 2 ; compara tively free from religious dissen sion, 2 ; the naval supremacy of, established, 3 ; sterling virtue of the pioneer from, 3 ; see Founders of New England ; extension of the commerce of, 4 ; the merchant companies of, 4 ; freebooters of, 4 ; Spain's final struggle with, 5; best able to take, hold, and im prove the New World, 8, 19; creates the East India Company, 8 ; her achievements in India and America compared, 8; immigra tion from, how induced, 11, 13, 15, 21 ; character of the colonies planted from, 19, 21 ; first packet between America and, 124 ; the fisheries, the mainstay of, 125 ; complaints of illicit trade sent to, 126 ; bills ofyexchange on, 126 ; early freigfatfrates from, to Amer ica, 126 ; attitude of, towards her colonies,- 127, 129, 233 ; unfair prices demanded by the fishing ves sels of, 135 ; encourages New Eng land, 141 ; New England feeds, 155 ; interdicts the West India trade, 155 ; war of, with Holland, and its consequence, 157 ; com merce of, with the West Indies and New England, 163 ; effect of political troubles in, in 1640, on emigration, trade, and the food supply, 165 ; sawmills, fought against in, when welcomed in New England, 168 ; takes off the edict of restraint on the New England trade, 172 ; attitude of, towards the New England mint, 928 INDEX. 190; plans of, for New England, 197; export duties and regula tions of, affect New England, 197 ; curious policy of, in regulating trade, 202 ; curious facts concern ing emigration from, 202 ; charac ter of the trade of, with America, 232, 206, 357 ; the woollen interest of, 234 ; war of, with Holland, in 1672, and its consequence to the colonies, 240, 241 ; capital in vested by, in New England, 256 ; views of, in New England, 266; commerce of, the Dutch, and New England compared, 267 ; begins to interfere in the government of New England, 268 ; the royal com mission sent by, and its report, 268, 269 ; cost of passage from, to Boston, 310 ; at last alive to the evils of piracy, 346 ; fruitless ef forts of the governor sent by, 346- 349; sends out Captain Kidd to catch pirates, 350; acts passed by, concerning masts, 363 ; narrow policy of, in the matter of specie, 383 ; tries to regulate specie by edict, 385, 386 ; lays a duty on New England woollens, 388 ; travel in, in 1692, 409 ; lays a royalty on whales, 436, 442 ; inquires into the slave-trade, 454, 457 ; profits of, from the slave-trade 459 ; bars the issue of Rhode Island currency in, 474; provides for the redemp tion of Massachusetts paper, 475, 6f5 ; opposes nW issues,479 ; stojs theSLandBankJlkSO; iron exported to, 580, 501 ; res™ins the export of _N_e\ England hl^, 504 ; dress goods imported fron.,. 535 ; be comes mistress of the seas", aTfra the- greatest slave-trading power of all time, 552 ; sends capital to New England, 554, 555 ; tries to enforce the Navigation Acts in 1715, 556- 559 ; communication with, uncer tain because of pirates, 559 ; makes war on piracy, 562 ; demands made by, on American seamen, 577, 591 ; asserts a royal right in trees suit able for masts, 579 ; admits towns as private persons, 579 ; takes duty off lumber, 581 ; the ' ' Molasses Act " of, 583 ; trade between, and Newport, 583 ; interferes with coasters, 591 ; the fisheries of Can ada the prize tempting to war with France, 594 ; America born of but not wholly English, 608, 816 an accountant sent for from, 618 New England merchants invest' in, 618 ; character of New England's allegiance to, 635, 671, 672 ; reim burses New England for the Louis burg expedition, 640 ; an excise granted, 647 ; encourages the whale fisheries, 653 ; price of oil in, 654 ; destroys the power of France in America, 663 ; and France con trasted, 004 ; the colonies a mer cantile necessity to, 065, 671 ; half succeeded in permanently holding all America, 667 ; insular arro gance of, towards the American, 668, 872 ; her right and duty to ward the colonies, 670 ; interferes with colonial iron, 684 ; legiti mized lotteries, 692 ; appoints Franklin postmaster general, 707 ; Franklin called before the Privy Council of, 711 ; a century behind New England politically, 715 ; provokes New England to revolt, 716-723, 753, 758, 759-761 ; con sequences of America's economic resistance to, 719 ; pursued two lines of colonial administration, 7 21 ; the sovereignty of, a, mere practical success, 722 ; New Eng land, how hampered by, 722 ; Massachusetts remonstrates with, 724 ; . effects of the policy of, 724- 720, 753, 759, 810-818, 872 ; does not- even yet quite understand the Revolution^ 788 ; commerce between, and New England^ fSH^ rebukes the issuing of West India . permits, 745 ; asked U> take off imposts on whalebone, 746 ; ad vantage derived by, from New England's West India trade, 754- (bis) 750 ; character of the trade with, 750-75S, 760, 907 ; loss of, through the Revolution, 767, 775 ; makes unlawful use of papers of American vessels, 779; was con fident the colonies were still de pendent upon her, 788 ; reim burses exiled Loyalists, 800 ; short-sighted policy of, 816-818; commerce with, following upon the Revolution, 818, 837, 838; sudden industrial development in, INDEX. 929 847 ; the inventive genius of, 850 ; New England attitude towards, before the Revolution, 866, 867, 872. See Navigation Acts and Sugar Acts. Episcopal Church, the, 424, 530. Equity, as overruling common law in early New England, 57. Etter, Paul, 732. Europe, the geographical advantages of, 6. Evans, Elizabeth, imported contract labor, 84. Everden, William, 309. Everell, James, 308. Everhed, Richard, 108. Exchange, rates of, 126, 153, 205, 316, 386, 387, 467, 797. Execution, enjoyment of an, 423. Exeter, New Hampshire, timber reg ulations in, 63. Expansion, struggle among Euro pean powers for, 1 ; commercial enterprise as & factor in, 4 ; re ligions strife as a factor in, 11, 13. Fairfield, Connecticut, Henry Grey of, 219, 220 ; value of land in, 399. Falmouth, ferry provided at, 211 ; inn established at, 313 ; mast- cutting in, 578 ; the mast fleet convoys vessels from, 578 ; trade of, 589 ; a whaling port, 747. Family, size of the early New Eng land, 284 ; growth of the, 860 ; o) New England as an economic fac tor, 860, 871; our growth iror^Jt^t ncomparable benefa»ii»n?*^24. Faneuil, Mary Ann, life of, with her brother Peter, 621, 624; business venture of, 621, 628 ; marries, 624. Faneuil, Peter, his character, com mercial vigilance, and slaving ventures, 465-470, 484, 596, 871, 908,909; ancestry of , 608 ; goes to Boston, 608 ; builds Faneuil Hall, 609; the account books of, 609; the business of, 609-628, 626-632; his private life, 621, 622, 624-626 ; hement language of, when in anger, 622 ; pride of, in his good name, 623 ; his family matters, 623 ; luxurious living of, 632 ; his method of accounts, 632-634; character of, 634-636. Faneuil, Susannah, 624. Fans, 497, 743. Farmer, the New England, 805, 806, 860-862. Fast Day, 425. Fathom, the, a standard of value, between Indians and Europeans, 31, 37. Fayal, trade with, J43, 889, 890. Fayerweather, John, 588. Febiger, Colonel, 819, 833. Fencing, in early New England, its importance and meaning, 58, 59 ; overseers and viewers of, 59-61, 513, 527. Ferries, the establishment of, and fares charged, 110, 206, 208, 211, 311, 511, 879. Feudalism, not favored in early New England, 51, 87. Field, Isaac, 772. Fish, manuring with, 88, 89, 139 ; thj chief food of the early colonists, J 90 ; economy of fresh and sah 597 ; the curing of, 597 ; th of, 877-880, 884, 887r89jf See Fisheries. Fisher, William, 56.7. FisheriesflJ|B.'w ' Engla jLjVS>&ijity-f•rges' W^ffiM perils of the, . in the Eng lish vdfl Hf92 ; boats built at PlyinlB lithe, 93, 124 ; set tlement af^MShmond Island for the, 124 ; contrast of and the fur trade, 129 ; the early, 132-136 ; un fair prices demanded by English vessels at the, 135 ; recognized as the great productive industry, 139 ; regulations concerning the, 139; extent and value of the, and the fish trade, 141, 147, 150, 152, 164, 172, 244, 247, 248, 256, 265, 303, 359, 364, 371, 372, 374, 400, 585, 595-598, 610, 614, 615, 619, 627, 628, 632, 641, 644, 749, 750, 755, 930 INDEX. 757, 7S0, 820, 825, 832, 870, 872, 898, 900, 902, 904-906, 907 ; effect of the Navigation Acts on, 235 ; a nursery of seamen, 245; the French capture English vessels at the, 355 ; fish as currency, 479 ; the value of the, made the English covet" French Canada, 594; ice affects the, 10; the, move north ward, 614 ; affected by the Revo lution, 749 ; various details of the, 750-753. Fish-hooks, 498, 904. Fishing privileges, local, 102, 134. Fish-lines, 610, 616. Fitch, Ebenezer, 498. Fitt, Goodman, 168. Flax, 157, 170 (ter), 392, 479, 494, 496, 527, 681 (ter), 690, 755, 758, 783, 803, 806, 855, 856 (bis), 888, 892, 896-899, 901-903, 907. Florida, export to, forbidden, 760. Florio, Jeremy, 500. Flour. See Wheat. Flynt, Father, 697. Fogg, Ralph, 193. Folk-mote, the New England town meeting an analogue of the, 20, 75. ffpnnereau, Claude, 618 the serious question of, to the ~"S ; kind and quality of, "17, 622, 812-814, cism an influence in tlie colonies of, 2S5 ; privateers sent out against the colonies of, 343 ; preparing for war on New England, 353 ; captures English ships, 355 ; fisheries in jured by wars with, and the Indians, 372 ; exercised over New England trade, 373; lack of enterprise in the colonies of, 392 ; and the Indian trade, 507 ; surrenders her power to England, 552 ; the Canadian fisheries finally determine England to war with, 594 ; the fisheries of, 595, 596 ; losses of, through priva teers, 599, 600 ; a privateer of, scatters terror, 601 ; in India, 637 ; New England's terror of the colo nies of, 637, 638 ; war with, in 1755, 644, 745 ; the fur trade in the colonies of, 653 ; captures Nan tucket whalers, 654 ; privateers in the war with, 655, 656 ; the power of, in the New World, destroyed, 663 ; and England contrasted, 664 ; trade with, 757 ; helpfulness of, during the Revolution, 770 ; trade with, in 1776, 780; money spent by the troops of, 780 ; and Ameri can commerce, 827, 838. Franchise, the, in early New Eng land, 69, 865. Franklin, Benjamin, at school in Boston, 410; on New England commerce, 644 ; life and influence of, 700, 706-712, 873 ; endeavors to impress broad economic truths taglish legislators, 754, 788. cos Foster, JonL,., Founders or, acter of thefi 3,' -lf^& 13 19, 21, 50, 51^9r7'0",f2, 74, 78, 86; first food of" tne.m Fox, George, of Woljurn, 254. Fox, Rev. Mr., 284. Foxes, bounty on, 652. Framingham, roads built in, 311 ; value of an estate in, 399 ; muni cipal government in, 407, 411. France, early follows Spain into the New World, 1 ; the St. Lawrence held by, 15 ; sought gold and furs in the New World, 18; its efforts in the New World commented on, 19, 21, 242 ; New England's trade with the colonies of, 263 ; asceti- Freemen chusetts, 2607" Free trade in early -New 266. Freight rates in early New England, 140, 260, 311, 369, 877, 904, 907. Frie, James, 523. Frontenac, 241. Frost, Lydia, 219. Frost, the great, 400. Fruit, suffers from mice, 175 ; use of, and trade in, 186, 188, 196, 414, 539, 617, 643, 736, 741, 754, 881, 882, 883, 889, 894, 895. Fry, Eleanor, 789. INDEX. 931 Fulling-mills, 271, 306, 394, 679. " Fund-bills," 328, 329, 330. Funerals, cakes and buns prohibited except at marriages and, 113; sensations in the community, 414 ; gloves at, 414, 538 ; rings at, 414, 619, 699; Sewall's ideas on, 424 (bis) ; changes in the management of, 740. Furniture, in early New England, 215, 229, 290, 308, 309, 415, 591, 616, 881, 882, 888; the stalwart maker of, near Providence, 85S. Fur trade, Spain and France desired the, 18 ; in New England, 37, 38- 40, 139, 652, 053, 0 .9, 774, 780 ; decline in the, as affecting wam pum, 43 ; Scituate's venture in the, 126 ; contrast of the fisher ies and the, 129, 14S; details of the, 139, 140, 401, 442, 507 ; made- up furs ordered from London, 629 ; illicit, of the French, 653 ; currency of, 737 ; affected by the Navigation Acts, 759 ; falling away of the, 764 ; in the North west, 826 ; price of otter in the, 878, 883 ; of deerskins, 880, 892, 907; of sealskins, 894; in 1749, i 07. See Beaver. Fustic, 232, 355, 774. Gage, General, 727. Gainer, Thomas, 153. Gallop, John, 127. Galton, Robert, 696. Gamecock, the privateer, 775, Gardiner, Benjamin, 911. Gaspee, British man - of - war, del stroyed by Rhode Island, 725. Gates, ^regulations concerning, in early New England, 61, 67. Gedney, Elizabeth;, 537. General^olr61. Germain, Lord George, 770. *' - Germany, immigration from, 394. Gerrish, Benjamin, Jr., 413, 643. Gibbons, Edward, 145, 146. Gibbs, Mrs., 542. Gibraltar, a part in the circle of trade, 554, 555, 582, 626. Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, the fate of, 9. Gilbert, Mary, 399. Gillam, Benjamin, 151. Gin, 902. Ginger, 232, 355, 359, 758, 774, 881, syo. Ginseng, 825. Glass, 169, 171, 686, 687, 904. Gloucester, Massachusetts, timber regulations in, 63 ; ships building at, 143, 162 ; value of land in, 186 ; highway made between, and Ipswich, 211 ; inn established at, 313; value of an estate in, 399; the fisheries of, 596, 757; growth of, 642 (bis), 651 ; a smuggling trick in, 762 ; privateers of, 773 ; Oriental trade of, 823. Gloucester, Rhode Island, tax riots in, 843. Gloves, early manufacture of, 174, 182, 733; at funerals, 414, 538, 740. Glue, 689, 892. Godfrey, Captain, 610, 611. Goffe, Christopher, 341. Gold, 173, 175, 181, 187, 234 (bis), 243, 2S6, 316, 317, 345 (Arabian), 320, 451, 471, 472, 678, 891, 892. Goodman and goodwife, 419. Goodyear, Moses, 124, 152. Goodyear, Stephen, 307. Goose, William, 137. Gorges, proposal to limit emigra tion, 127 ; and the fishing indus try at Piscataqua, 133 ; and Con necticut iron, 171. Gorton, Samuel, 199. Gosnold, Bartholomew, the first Englishman upon New England soil, 9. Gouge, Mr., 302. Gould, Zaecheus, 105. Goutier, M. de, 373. Government, self-, in the colonies, a necessity, not a principle, 47, 48, 50; character of the (see Gen- t eral Court, Law, Town), 105, 120 (bis), 121, 222 ; slow evolution of, 840, 874 ; New England's part in the formation of ours, 840-842, 865. Gowen, Jonathan, 696. Grand Turk, The, ofSalem, 826, 833. Granite of New Hampshire, 18, 694. Grass, the Indian, 18, 101. Graves, John, 109. Gray, Henry, 498. Great men, two types of, 705. " Great Tavern," the, at Charlestown, 113. Green, Capt. John, 821. Greene, Governor, 662, 790. Greene, James, 500. Greene, Gen. Nathanael, 796, 811. INDEX. 933 Greene, John, 214. Greenon, Capt. James, 622. Greenwich, Connecticut, marriage annulled by the Dutch at, 218; the town bull of, 405. Greenwood, Samuel, 532. Grenville, George, the policy of, 666, 716, 717, 721, 723, 758-760, 788, 872, 874. Grey, Henry, 219. Gridley, Hon. John, 468, 469. Griffen, Capt. John, 462. Griffen, Paul, 622. Groton, Indian trade of, 161 ; roads laid out in, 311 ; story of an In dian trader of, 402 ; the meeting house in, 699. Guilds, 80, 184, 273, 309. ^~~Guilf orct?4and regulations in, 57 ; an early meeting-house in, 72, 530; tide-mill at, 182 ; school in, 221 ; ^Iswii purchase of drugs in, 272 ; f ulling-mill in, 394. Guinea, the trade with, 451, 452, 459, 462, 641, 755, 764, 835, 907 ; opened for the whale fishery, 747. Gunnison, Hugh, 207. Gunpowder, Smith's attempts to make, 169 ; other attempts, 171 ; successfully manufactured, 734, 788 ; obtained for war purposes, 795 ; price of, 879, 882, 883, 886- 888, 894, 908. Guns, 498, 685, 882, 884, 888. Hadley, land regulations in, 57 ; timber regulations in, 64; land granted to servants in, 84 ; money borrowed from,- for the sugar trade, 241 ; the herdsman of, 277; the sheep of, 277; the meeting house in, 279 ; roads in, 311 (ter) ; inn established at, 313 ; wheat- growing of, 331 ; price of wheat in, 332 ; the making of tar in, 395 ; the value of land in, 493 ; lumber industry at, 578. Hale, Robert, 473, 487, 577, 669, 742, 904, 905. Hall, Samuel, 496. Hallowell, Benjamin, 613. Hamburg, trade with, 613. Hammond, Captain, the slaver, 462. Hampton, New Hampshire, admits a blacksmith as a desirable citi zen, 81 ; allowance made for a road, 208 ; frowns upon wigs, 536. Hampton Falls, market day ap pointed at, 526. Hamran, John, 735. Handkerchiefs, contraband, 612, 615. Hanford, Joseph, 514. Hanover, inn established at, 313 ; shipbuilding in, 369; iron-forge at, 397 ; wildcats killed at, 528. Harding, Stephen, 335. Harding, Thomas, 338. Hardwick, the settlement of, 527- Hardy, Governor, 646. Harris, Gabriel, 305, 389. Harris, John, 437. Harris, Michael and Richard, 619, 620. Harris, William, 305. Harrison, John, 171. Hartford, malting carried on in, 201 roads to, 211 ; early life in, 215 houses of, in early times, 215, 284 a school in, 221 ; freight charges about, 260, 311 ; a house in, fur niture in, 290 ; prices in, 332 ; dress in, in 1692, 392 ; value of land in, 399, 493 ; butter a luxury in, 414; post between New Ha ven and, 511 ; a library at, 546 ; culture of wheat in, 735 ; priva teers owned in, 775 ; woollen fac tory in, 853 ; an early cotton mart, 913. Hartlib, 319, 322. Harvard College, and the redemp tion of its wampum, 41, 140 ; Cliisholm, the steward of, 112, 191 ; social influence of, 195 ; first efficient administration of, 221 ; Webb endows, 228 ; a Commence ment dinner in, 415, 416 ; essays on paper money at, 485 ; essays on prices at, 524 ; the library of, 1723, 545 ; essays on agriculture and commerce at, 688 ; senior class of, advised to dress in Amer ican cloth, 733 ; lottery in behalf of, 737 ; social distinctions given up in, 739 ; Burnaby on, 742. Harvard, Rev. T., 532, 545. Harvest customs, 408. Haskell, WiUiam, 904, 905. Hatherley, agent for Plymouth, 96. Hats, 371, 504, 590, 617, 723, 907. Haverhill, timber regulations in, 63 ; admits a blacksmith as a desirable citizen, 81 ; the school in, 282 ; roads laid out in, 311 ; rough ways 934 INDEX. and wasted molasses in, 511 ; in creases in importance, 651 ; pot ash manufacture at, 686 ; car riages in, 693 ; organizes a fire club, 730 ; tax list of, 730 ; collec tion of taxes in, during the finan cial depression, 798. Hawey, Joel, 806. Hawkins, Thomas, 145. Hay, 18, 101, 184, 185, 374, 493, 689, 735, 794, 882, 886, 890, 895. Haynes, H. W., quoted on wampum, 32. Haynes, Governor John, 215. Hayward, Nathaniel, 686. Hay-ward, 161. Hazard, George, 809. Hazard, Stephen, 810. Hazard, Thomas B., life and charac ter of, 793, 807-811. Hazzen, Richard, 529. Head, conventional respect for cov erings of the, among women, 294 ; dressing of the, in 1760, 743. Healths, the drinking of, 224. Heathcote, Caleb, 393. Heathcote, Colonel, 367. Heating apparatus, patented by Clarke, 192. Helm, Captain, 657. Hemp, 157, 170 (bis), 171, 176, 199, 306, 392, 396, 479, 495, 496, 735, 774, 806, 825, 879, 885, 888, 892, 896-898. Henchman, Daniel, 504. Henderson, Archibald, 136. Henry VIII, power of, through Wolsey, 1 ; promoted the New foundland fisheries, 4. Herbert, Joseph, 496. Herding, in early New England, characteristic of the communal spirit, 04-67, 277, 404, 522; by sheep gates, 66, 404, 523 ; by ear and other marks, 523, 809. Herring. See Alewife. Hewes, Joshua, 182, 206. Hibbins, Anne, 229. Hibernia, the British man-of-war, 773. Hicks, Mrs., 300. Higginson, one of New England's early scholars, 221. Higginson, John, 372. Higginson, Hon. Stephen, 827. Hilton, William, 153. Hingham, continuous highway opened from Newbury to, 114; price of labor in, 173 ; the wood en ware of, 395 (note) ; an apple- tree in, 735 ; literary institutions in, 742. Hinman, Edward, 503. Hinsdale, Daniel, 853. Hirst, Mary, 531. History, the function of, 5 ; by con tinents, 5 ; geographical conditions as hearing on, 6, 7, 15 ; newly viewed from the stand-point of each new generation, 22 ; that view of, denied by our generation, 22 ; the constant province of, 22 ; not mere politics, 72S. Hoadly, Charles J., note of obliga tion to, 845. Hoes, the value of, to the Indians, 38. Hog-reeves, the, of early New Eng land, 61, 513, 527. Holden, Randall, witnesses the deed ing of the island of Aqnidneck, 30. Holgrave, John, 112. Holland, early commercial interest of, in the New World, 1, 5; the Pilgrims in, 11; offers of , to grant the Pilgrims a settlement in the New World, 11 ; the Pilgrims ad vised to avoid, 11 ; value of the Pilgrims' sojourn in, 12 ; the Hud son in the possession of, 15 ; wam pum first used as an accepted currency, in the colonies of, 32, 38, 41 ; trouble of the colonies of, with their cattle, 66 ; colonies of, remark New England enterprise in building churches, 74 ; Plym outh trade with the colonies of, 94, 124, 126, 128; New England trade with the colonies of, 131, 143 ; West India trade of, 142 ; rivalry between, and the Connecticut traders on the Delaware, 143, 176 ; war with, and its consequences, 157 ; Rhode Island resumes her trade with the colonies of, 162 ; the sawmill fought against in, when welcomed in New England, 168; and the Indian trade, 179, 188; report of New England's prosperity sent to, 187 ; the colo nies of, provide an inn, 207 ; ef fect of the Navigation Acts on, 233 ; war of, with England, and its consequence to the colonies, INDEX. 935 240, 241; conflict with, in the West Indies, 242 ; New England trade in tobacco with, 202 ; com merce of England and New Eng land compared, 207 ; money con ditions in the colonies of, 324; paper imported from, 413 ; wakes to the value of the whale fishery, 432 ; after the Treaty of Utrecht, 552 ; losses of, through privateers, 599 ; illegal traffic with, 059 ; in the circle of New England's West India trade, 750, 757, 820. Holland, John, 157. Hollister, John, 291. Holmes, Francis, 570. Holmes, Joseph, 084. Holmes, Samuel, 005. Holt, Miss, of Andover, 780. Home-making power, the, 19, 22. Homespun, 157, 160, 168, 304, 7S8, 789, 800, 862. Honduras, trade with, 3C2 ; adver tises for settlers, 521 ; trade with, 646. Hooker, Thomas, 222, 230. 868. Hoops, in women's dress, 537, 859. Hoops for barrels and pipes, 895. Hope, capture of the, 769. Hopkins, Governor Stephen, 178, 459, 584, 648, 656, 658, 700, 756 ; foresaw American independence, 841. Hopkinton, New Hampshire, love at first sight in, 740. Hops, 888, 907. Hore, the pirate, 344. Horn, 907. Horoscopes, cast when slavers sailed, 461, 603. Horses, trade in, 128, 154, 158, 160, 163, 182, 204, 251, 277, 333, 362, 404, 523,- 554, 585, 632, 644, 658, 690, 755, 757, 758, 828, 877-880, 882-884, 887-890, 895, 906, 907, 909; the trotting - horse, 738; charge for shoeing, 886. Hosier, Samuel, 139. Hotel, the modern, and the ancient inn, 112, 314. Houghton, Thomas, 438. Household, the, forms the state, 19, 22 ; value of certain goods in the colonies, 107 ; industries of the, 852, 854. See Spinning. Houses and house-building of the colonies, 179, 186, 214, 283, 304, 528, 530-532, 694, 804, 860 (Us), 878, 881. Hovey, Joseph, 209. Howard's " Local Constitutional His tory " quoted, 48. Hubbard, Mr., 807. Hubbert, John, 397. Hubby, Charles, 457. Hudson Bay Company, 653. Hudson, Captain, 280. Hudson, Henry, touches at New Eng land, 9; discovers the river so named, 9. Hudson River, discovered for the Dutch by Hudson, 9 ; its impor tance, 15 ; trading expedition from Scituate to, 126. Hull, early maritime ventures f rom,4. Hull, Edward, 338. Hull, Hannah, 295, 420. Hull, John, on privateers, 158; on trade, 159, 162, 237 (bis), 242, 244, 256, 265 (bis), 302, 315, 335 ; a no table merchant, 159, 247-252, 285, 437, 456, 871 ; founder of specie currency, 175 ; on manufactures, 169, 196 ; on the new coin, 194 ; an account of, 201 ; blends piety with commerce, 258, 580 ; prefers cash, 315 ; on the culture of grain, 331 ; breeds horses, 334. Hull, Captain John, 602, 005. Hull, Judith, 542. Hunt. Richard, 457. Hunter, Governor, 457,477, 555,556, 744. Hurd, Ebenezer, 511, 733. Husking, 230. Hussey, Christopher, 440. Hutchin, John, 227. Hutchinson, Ann, 480. Hutchinson, Edward, 109. Hutchinson, Elisha, 340, 398. Hutchinson, Governor Thomas, 674, 675, 802. Hutchinson, William, 109 (bis). Hutton, Captain, 554. "Impost Act," the, 839. Impressments, 577, 591. Independence, of the New England colonies, 20,50, 51, 208, 347, 348, 359, 363, 665, 714, 715, 723, 724; how fostered by geographical con ditions, 15, 20. India, the English occupation of, 8; struggle of England with 936 INDEX. France in, 637; trade with, 777, 781. Indians, the, characteristics of, 23 et seq. seriatim ; intercourse of, with the colonists, 23-46 ; polit ical organization of, 23, 25-27 ; of the coast, 24 ; ravaged by an epi demic in Massachusetts, 24; played against each other by the colonists, 24 ; trade of the, 25 ; effects of legal constraint on, 28, 29; was wrong done the, in New England land transfers, 29 ; methods of computation of the, 37 ; as eco nomic agents, 37-40, 42 ; the trade in guns and powder with the, 3, 95, 126; trade with the, 93, 95, 126, 140, 143, 147, 160, 172, 179, 183, 262, 310, 330, 401, 567, 641, 653, 673, 764 ; use of for servants, 103, 104, 149, 153, 292; complaints of the, 181 ; trade with the, pro hibited, 1S8 ; examples of provi sion made for, 201 ; treated harsh ly, 274, 310 ; exceptions, become farmers, 402, 403 ; brought as captives from the Carolinas, 403, 449; sought for, for the whale fishery, 433, 435, 443, 447; and paper money, 488 ; Connecticut prohibits the sale of guns to the, 507 ; the French trade with the, 507 ; control of the French over the, 595 ; fading away and mov ing back, 764. See Wampum. Indigo, the trade in, 142, 194, 232, 255, 339, 355, 585, 610, 615, 620, 650, 059, 758, 783, 803, 828, 894, 907. Ingalls, E., 186. Inns, establishment of, 111, 205, 206, 210, 214, 411 ; social institutions, 112; regulations of the General Court concerning, 112, 113, 209; delightfulness of the old, 301, 313; license for, 729; prices at, 887. Insurance, marine and other, 460, 586, 587, 617, 629, 648, 757, 782, 908. Intelligence office, an, in the colo nies, 193. Interest, rate of, in early New Eng land, 178, 189, 200, 879. Inventions : scythes, 184 ; boat, 396 ; agricultural implements, 493 ; cot ton and iron machinery, 850; nail-cutting and heading, 856; wooden ware (q. v.), 856. Ipswich, timber regulations in, 63; gristmill in, 103 ; bridge main tained at, 111 ; interest of, in the fisheries, 141, 172 ; commerce of, 155 ; tannery established at, 168 ; malthouse established in, 171 ; salt-works in, 193; sawmill in, 198 ; road laid out from Andover to, 208; highway made from Gloucester to, 211 ; typical New England estate of a man of, 217; a fishing centre, 245 ; shipbuild ing at, 253 ; the commerce of, 264 ; fulling-mill in, 306 ; a port of en try, 373 ; Salem takes citizens from, on bond, 407 ; roads in, 408 ; grants land to a desirable citizen, 514 ; the fishing fleet of, 650; the stage-line through, 738 ; manufac ture of lace and edging at, 855. Ireland, emigration from, into the colonies, 193; trade with, 197, 242, 582, 645, 646, 722, 758, 87S, 907. Iron, of New England, and its working, IS, 173, 174, 177, 181, 189, 192, 194, 195, 201, 204, 307, 396,397,472,497-501, 556, 589, 590, 632, 649, 659, 683, 723, 734, 759, 791, 850, 851, 856 ; bars of, used for currency, 470 ; in the Ori ental trade, 825 (bis) ; prices on, 8S1, 892, 894, 896-898, 907. Iroquois, the, 24 (bis), 25 ; French criticism of, 27. Iskylls, the, 624-626. Isle of France, trade with, 826. Italy, fish sent to, 629. Ive, John, 414. Jackson, Mr., of Dorchester, 397. Jaffrey, George, 568. Jamaica, attempts to promote emi gration from New England to, 159, 197 ; trade with, 242 ; the pirates and privateers of, 242, 339 ; legis lates against piracy, 345. Jamestown, value of an estate in, 802. Jefferson, Thomas, quoted on the New England town, 48; corre spondence of Adams with, 827. Jekyll, John, 456, 557, 618. Jenckes, Daniel, 658. Jenkins, William, 647. INDEX. 937 Jenks, Joseph, moulding and cast ing of, 174, 500 ; manufactures and improves scythes, 1S4 ; makes dies for minting coin, 191 ; fire en gine of, 195. Jenks, Stephen, 793. Jews, 161, 200, 741. Jiggels, Mercy, 529. Johnson, quoted on the settlement of Woburn, 53 ; on economy as a shaping force in early New Eng land, 57 ; on pirates, 560. Johnson, Dr., and emigration from England, 142. Johnson, Edward, 367. Johnson, John, 81, 375. Johnson, William Samuel, 760. Johnston, William, 464. Jolly Bachelor, The, Faneuil's slave ship, 468-471. Jones, John, 467, 469. Jones, John Paul, 772. Jordan, Robert, 200. Junto, The, 710. Jynkes, Joseph, Mrs., 227. Keayue, Captain Robert, 189 (bis), 228. Keene. New Hampshire, town organ ization in, 514. Kennebec River, Plymouth's trade at the, 93, 95, 126, 131 ; Plymouth sells the same, 272 ; lumber trade along the, 503 ; an iron factory on the, 734. Kennebnnk, the, road by the sea, 209 ; trading posts on the, 373. Ketch, the, 254, 265, 553. Kidd, Captam, 349-351. Kilby, Thomas, 614, 699. Killburn, Mrs. Francis, 215. Killingly, Connecticut, tax riots in, 843. Killing-worth, Connecticut, Jared Eliot in, 688 ; type made in, 735. King WilUam, 408. King's Chapel, 417, 693. Kingston, Massachusetts, bog-iron in, 684. Kirke, Sir David, 150. Kitchen, home in the, 216- Kittery, road built at, 209; » port of entry, 373. Knight, of Newbury, 113. Knight, Sarah, 44, 410-412, 413, 415. Knives and forks, 415, 541, 621, 629. Knox, General, 853. Labor, difficulties in the adjust ment of, and wages, 83, 98, 99, 104, 148, 167, 172, 173, 182, 183 ; ceaseless legislation on, 104 ; great opportunities for, in the colonies, 179; price of, during the Revo lution, 804. Lace, 289, 647, 695, 855, 859, 890. Ladder, value of a, 880. Lambert, Daniel, 369. Lamberton, George, 143, 150. Lancaster, Massachusetts, division of land in, 54 ; cider made in, 507 ; prohibitive regulation of, against religious outcasts, 79 ; cornmill in, 195 ; highway made from Concord to, 211; bridges built in, 211; roads laid out by, 311 ; inn estab lished at, 313 ; cider-making in, 507 ; the news-carrier of, 739. Land, freehold, a shaping principle in the New England colonies, 20 ; early transfers of, in New Eng land, and their justice to the In dian, 29-31 ; the value of, and title thereto, varies how, 29 ; feu dal grants of, not successful in New England, 51 ; the community depends on, 53 ; admirable meth ods governing the tenure of, shaped the early towns, 53, 87, 404 ; examples in point, 53-62 ; severalty and commonage in, 60- 62 ; wide consequences of this early form of tenure of, 67, 75 ; early sales of, 108-110 ; prices of, 180, 290, 291, 334, 878, 879, 881 ; abun dance and cheapness of, 3O0; value of farm, 398, 493, 506, 802 ; meth ods of early speculators in, 506. Lane, Smithurst, and Caswell, 617, 628, 629. Langden, Richard, 603. Lathe, invention of the slide, 851. Laths, 400. La Tour, Charles de, 144, 146, 150. Land, Archbishop, 165. Law, equity as overruling common, in early New England, 56 ; put its seal on early and necessary cus toms, 59; decrees cattle-marks, 66 ; controls religious matters, 08, 69, 73 ; growth of a body politic to formulate the, 76 ; theocratic elements bearing upon, 76-79 ; code of, adopted by Massachusetts and Connecticut, 77, 78 ; rulings in, 938 INDKX. taken from the Scriptures, 78, 79, 82, 87, 99 ; old English, adapted to exigencies, 82 ; regarding com pulsory service, 82 ; attempts to frame, to govern wages, 83 ; gov erning servants, 85 ; early, a di rect expression of conscience, 80 ; common sense the basis of the early, 80 ; Scriptural tempered by the common law, 87, 222, 515 ; attempt to control prices by, 97, 99 ; to control wages by, 83, 98, 99, 104 ; remark upon the, of ear ly Massachusetts, 105, 115, 229; examples. 105, 106 ; attempts to restrict commerce by, and the reason therefor, 117-119; Puritan character impressed itself in the, 222, 223, 227 ; piracy affects mor als and subverts law, 347, 352 ; interesting legal points in a salvage case, 408 ; and ecclesiastical cus tom in New Hampshire, 515; med dles with commerce, 593 ; and privateering, 656 ; New England respect for, exemplified, 728. See General Court Lawrence, Captain Peter, 599. Lawton, Isaac, 802. Lawyers 108, 575. "Lay," payment by, 831. Lead, 792, 825. Leader, Thomas, 178, 185, 186. Leather, 168, 175, 187, 194, 196, 203. 228, 308, 397, 398, 408, 479, 534, 591, 616, 627, 681, 892, 906, 907. Lechford, Thomas, 106 ; the record and journal of, 107, 116 ; life of, 107, 108; theological tenets of, 108. Leehmere, Richard, 370, 372. Lecky, quoted, on New England character, 714. Lecture-day, 297, 412, 423. Lee, Henry, 487. Leffingwell, Ensign, 534. Le Gallais, Captain David, 629, 633. Leghorn, trade with, 646. Legislature, beginnings of a, 76. Lemons, 899, 900-902. Leonards, the, 122. Letters of marque, 240, 343, 770. Leverett, Governor, 262. Lewis, Joseph, 494. Lexington, the battle of, 744. " Liberty, the friend of," 802. " Liberty of conscience," what we understand by the term, not aimed at by the Reformation, 3; to day's might have produced anar chy in the colonies, 50, 77 ; not the chief end and aim of the fathers of New England, 50 ; expulsion of Williams and Coddington for upholding, 76, 70, 841 ; the Rhode Island colonies were founded on, and maintained, 76, 77, 841 ; Mas sachusetts views of, 78, 79 ; com merce as leading to, 155; the power of, 714. Lidget, Peter, 296. Light Horse, the bark, first Ameri can vessel in St. Petersburg, 825. Light-houses, 592, 707, 829. Lignum vitae, 907. Limberry, William, 610. Lime, 532, 794, 892, 894. Lime-juice, 907. Limestone, of Rhode Island, 18 : discovered in Newbury, 397. Lincoln, Major-General, 844. Lindsay, Captain David, 462, 464, 467. Lindsey, Lieutenant James, 474. Linen, the manufacture of, and trade in, 170, 393, 494, 534, 595, 626, 681, 731, 732, 789 (bis), 790 (bis) ; 191, 855, 850, 880, 884, 888, 907. Linseed-oil, 496. Lion, balance account of the ship, 831. Liquor, selling of, in the colonies, how limited, 112, 114, 182, 183, 185, 190, 207, 223, 224, 273, 275, 313, 334; social use of, in the colonies, 188, 211, 313, 539, 540, 742, 864 ; the excise on, 593, 647. Literature. See Books. Lithered, Captain Thomas, 626. Little, Daniel, 697. Littlefield, Edmund, 172. Little River ferry built, 311. Livingston, Robert, 350. Lloyd, Henry, 733. Lloyd, Thomas, 612. Lobsters, 540. Lockhart, Mr., 604-606. Lockman, Judge Leonard, 469, 603. Logwood, 241 (bis), 248, 251, 256, 339, 583, 644, 659, 907. London, the Virginia Company of, 8, 10, 11 ; commercial ventures of, in New England, 10, 554 ; ex change on, 365 ; freight rates from, 369 ; the central mart in the circle INDEX. 939 of commerce, 617, 619, 620, 622, 756, 820 ; articles ordered by Pe ter Faneuil from, 62S, 629; Frank lin in, 707 ; trade in oil with, 746 ; line from Newport to, 756 ; skilled labor imported from, 857. Londonderry, settlement of linen weavers from, 494. Long, John, 361. Long, Robert, 114. Long Island, iand regulations in, 57 ; Winthrop's ship at, 124; a husk ing on, 230 ; trade with, 260 ; pi rate haunts in, 340, 345-348, 349 ; the stranding of whales on, 431, 432 ; memorializes England re garding the whale fishery, 433, 437 ; whale fishery carried on by, 434, 437, 43S; illicit trade car ried on from, during the Revolu tion, 778. Long Island Sound, its importance to New England, 17 ; truly an in land sea, 17. Loper, James, 434. Lopey, Moses, 655, 686. Lotteries, 528, 691-693, 737. Louisburg, the siege and capture of, 426, 492, 607, 872. Low, Edward, 562. Loyalists, exiles of the, 800-802. Loyd and Lane, 617. Lucas, Colonel George, 576. Lucas, John, 508. Lumber trade, the, 90, 135, 138 (bis), 140, 142, 147, 152, 154, 156," 158, 163, 168, 200, 235, 243, 244, 248, 256 (bis), 265, 266, 276, 283, 333, 359, 362-364, 374, 395, 503, 553. 576, 578, 581, 584, 595, 611, 616! 644, 049, 659, 685, 735, 753- 755, 757 (6w)-759, 765-707, 780, 828, 833, 879, 882, 883, 885-897, 900, 907. Lynch, Peter, 617. Lynn, 14; settles Nahant, 56; ad mits a blacksmith as a desirable citizen, 81 ; mill built in 1633 at, 102; the "Anchor" Tavern at, 112 ; highways laid out about, 113 ; iron-working in, 174, 177, 178, 181, 184-186, 192, 307; value of land in, 186 ; value of wood in, 203 ; meeting-house in, 278, 279; value of an estate in, 292 ; manufacture of shoes in, 308, 682, 735. Machias, settlement of, 729 ; inhab itants of, capture British sloop, 784 ; a minister's salary in, 803. Mackenzie, 729. Mackerel, the, 133, 139, 141, 372, 596, 650 (note), 749, 750, 752, 879, 891, 892, 898. Madagascar, the pirates of, 344 ; the trade with, under suspicion, 346, 347. Madeira, trade with, 158, 604, 643, 644, 754, 907. Magistrate, the, 50, 70, 75, 76, 78, 79. Mahogany, 907. Maine, attempted settlement at No- rumbega in, 10 ; the value of beaver in, in 1640, 40 ; Plymouth trade in, 93, 95 ; English fishing settlement in, and its commerce, 124 ; iron ores of, 186 ; beginning to be connected with the other colonies, 209 ; provides ferries, 211 ; brutal offences recorded in, 294 ; butter little made in early times in, 414; Indian slaves im ported from, 450; the timber trade of, 503 ; houses in, 531 ; Amory's ventures in, 570 ; claimed by Massachusetts, 579 ; coasting trade of, 590 ; stili produced lum ber, 685 ; grew flax, 690 ; settle ments in, 729 ; post-offices in, 738 ; attempts the manufacture of iron, 792 ; travel in early, 858. Maize. See Corn, Indian. Malaga, trade with, 144, 177, 245. Malbone, Godfrey, 584, 603, 604. Malbone, Richard, 605. Mallinson, Joseph, 499. Malt, 171, 188, 190, 195, 201 (Indian method), 539, 540, 878, 882-889, 891. Manchester, New Hampshire, linen weaving near, 494. Manners in early New England, 281, 2S2, 411, 549, 739. Manomet, Plymouth post at, 94, 124. Manufactures. See Iron, Mills, Tex tile Fabrics, Wool, etc., 845, 848, 853, 854, 871. Manuring, fish made use of by the colonists, 88, 139. Maple-sugar, 794. Marble, of New England, 18, 532. Marblehead, 128 ; an important fish ing-post, 133, i35, 152, 596 ; ves sel built at, 135 ; inn licensed at, 940 INDEX. 206 ; a, law reading in, 225 ; town government in, 277 ; Salem, the port of entry for, 373 ; West In dian and Gibraltar trade of, 554 ; poor curing of fish at, 615 ; the fishing fleet of, 650 ; the wig- maker of, 694 ; the privateers of, 769, 773. Margaretta, captain of the, 784. Mariat, P., 616. Marion, 586, 589, 648. Markets, regulation of, 406 (bis), 524, 525, 526, 540. Marriage, courtship and, custom governing, among the Indians, 25 ; buns and cakes appropriated to, and burial, 113 ; in early New Eng land, 217-219, 293, 295 (bis), 300 (note), 412, 413, 420, 540, 541-543, 697 (note), 739 ; in a shift, 538, 861. Marshall, Captain, 218. Marshall, John, 400. Maryland, trade of, with New Eng land, 128, 820; exports iron to England, 501 ; price of beans from, 894. Mason, Arthur, 594. Mason, Captain John, imports Dutch cattle, 101, 128 ; starting the fish ing industry, 133. Massachusetts, first Englishman in, 9 ; names given localities in, 9 ; Hudson touches at, 9 ; John Smith explores the coast of, 9 ; the Pil grims settle in, 12 ; settled under grants from the Council for New England, 12 ; the Dorchester set tlement in, 13 ; the charter of, granted, 13 ; settlements in, in 1630, 14 ; fixes the value of wam pum, 40 ; farms out the trade iu wampum, 41 ; further legislation of, regarding wampum, 42, 43 ; allowance made by, for an amount of burned wampum, 44 ; aristoc racy in, 48 ; the ' ' strength " of the colony of, 52 ; land regulations in, 53-62, passim ; the franchise in early, 69 ; theocratic elements in legislation in, 76, 77, 79 ; expels Roger Williams, 76, 77, 79, 403 ; the "Body of Liberties" of, 77; legislation and citizenship in, 78- 82 ; economic development of, 96 ; interesting details of its trade with England, 96 ; effect of the immi grations in 1630 into, 97 ; prices in, 97, 99 ; Agriculture in, 98, 100- 102 ; labor and wages in, 98, 99, 104 ; sales of real estate in, 108 ; roads built in, 110-114 ; restric tions on trade in, 117-119 ; Win throp the foremost man in, and New England, 122; Wiggin's en comium on, 125 ; trades with the Dutch, 128; action of in the La Tour and D'Aulnay matter, 145 ; prosperity of, 157 ; population of, in 1658, 160; sturdy political in dependence of, 164 ; statistics of emigration into, 165 ; expansion of, 172 ; joins the federation of colonies, 180; charged with an arbitrary and harsh spirit, 187 ; quarrel of, with Connecticut, 187 ; loses Winthrop, 187 ; mint es tablished at, 190, 194, 196, 201, 315; response of, to Cromwell's plans, 197 ; oppresses Gorton in Warwick, 199 ; road improvement between Rhode Island and, 208, 210, 211; early houses in, 214; Blue Laws in, 222, 223 ; petitions in 1676 to be relieved from taxes incident to the Navigation Acts, 237 ; masts presented by, to the king, 243 ; commerce of, 265 ; puzzles the royal commission by her independence, 268, 269 ; free men and non-freemen in, 269 ; reg ulations of, concerning horses, 277 ; growing public spirit in, illustrat ed, 285 ; working of iron in, 307 ; roads laid out in, 311 ; " country pay " in, 325-327 ; fiat money is sued in, 328 ; other money experi ments in, 329, 330, 476, 485^87, 491 ; price of wheat in, in 1644, 331 ; value of land in, 335 ; impli cated in the illicit piratic trade, 349 ; complains of English taxes, 354, 355, 360 ; not over-prosperous after 1690, 355; toll -books for horses in the ports of, 362 ; ships of, 363, 364 (bis) ; need of a cur rency in, 379 ; fate of the paper currency of, 380, 475, 477, 478 (note)-481, 487-490, 674, 677; contracts to import copper pence, 387 ; price of silver in, 387 ; com pany formed by, to buy hemp, 396 ; road between, and Connec ticut, 410; fines towns for neg lect of schools, 412; marriage INDEX. 941 negotiations in, 413 ; slavery and the slave - trade in, 450, 452- 457 ; the rum trade of, 454, 459 ; depreciation in currency in, and redemption with English money, 475, 675 ; three theories of finance held in, 476 ; takes Rhode Island bills, 481 ; tries to keep out Rhode Island bills, 4S2 ; banks in, 485 ; 486; " Old and New Tenor " cur rency in, 488 ; resorts to a lottery to raise money for the Louisburg expedition, 491 ; lays an impost on manufacture, 493 ; value of farm land in, 493 ; weaving in, 493-496 ; the bog-iron of (q. v.), 497 ; other iron of, 500 ; distilling in, 501-503 ; value of land in, 506 ; forbids selling strong drink to In dians, 507 ; taxes coaches and chaises, 508 ; the meeting-houses in western, 530 ; illicit timber- trade in, 576; number of vessels launched in, in 1721, 579 ; discrimi nates against New Hampshire and is met by retaliation, 593, 783 ; corn-riot in, 594; and the king's tree-claims, 579; lays a claim to Maine, 579 ; the mackerel and herring in, 596; sends out priva teers, 601, 602; number of men furnished by, for the Louisburg expedition, 640; number of dis tilleries in, in 1750, 641 ; fishing- trade of, 641 ; takes measures against illicit trade during the French War, 645, 646 (bis) ; the fish trade falls off in, 650 ; the fur trade of, 653 ; manufactures in, 679-684, 6S6; attempts to restore her wheat culture, 690, 735 ; lot teries in, 693 ; Washington preju diced against the representatives from, 729 ; had the best system of paper currency, 736 (bis), 737 ; proscribed the paper of other col onies, 737; rapid gathering of militia in, 737 ; the whale fishery of, in 1760, 746; obliged^ to re strict the whale fishing, 748 ; in trouble over the cod fisheries, 749 ; value of the fisheries of, in 1763, 750; import of molasses into, in 1763, 754; effect of the French War on, 755 ; slavery in, in 1766, 763 ; economic condition of, during the Revolution, 779 ; foolish eco nomic expedients of, at the begin ning of the Revolution, 780 ; trade of, in 1776, 780 ; places a bounty on the extraction of sulphur, 789 ; wool-cards manufactured in, 791 ; places a bounty on card wire, 791 ; fixes the price of hloomery iron, 791 ; manufacture of arms in, 792 ; snuff and chocolate mills in, 795 ; bounties on salt in, 795 ; proposes a convention on currency, 797 ; the " Depreciation Act " of, 799 ; sale of confiscated estates in, 802 ; de preciation of currency in, during the Revolution, 802 ; embargo laid by, on foreign ships, 819 ; resumes her foreign commerce, after the Revolution, 820 ; encourages the whale fishery, 828, 829; disposi tion of the slavery question in, 834 ; influence of, in the forma tion of the Republic, 842 ; tax riots in, 843 ; currency troubles in, 847 ; social industrial move ment in, 855 ; industrial develop ments in, 856, 857 ; improvement of roads in, 857 ; " bundling " in, 864 ; the franchise in, 865. See General Court. " Massachusetts," the merchantman, 822, 833, 851. Massachusetts, the tribe of the, 24. Massey, John, 211. Masts, and the mast trade, 243, 244, 256, 356, 578, 758, 765, 774, 783, 784, 833, 883. Mather, Cotton, story from, 135; on money, 381 ; the slave of, 450. Mather, Increase, 422. Mather, President, 414. Mathewson, R., 791. Mauritius, trade with, 826, 827. Maverick, John, 633. Maverick, Samuel, 127, 132, 150, 203, 205, 265, 433. Mayflower, The, 11, 12. Mayhew, Jonathan, 665. Mayhew, Thomas, 136. Maynard, Lieutenant, 563. Maynard, Lord, 165. Medfield, colonized by Dedham, 56 ; ship built at, 129. Mediterranean, New England trade with the, 237. Meeting, the, a leading principle of the early New England commu nity, 20; theory that the town 942 INDEX. developed from, 47 ; influence of, 68-75 ; corresponded with the town, 68 ; supported by civil au thority and taxes, 68, 69 ; attend ance compulsory, 65, 69, 294; character of the services at, 69 ; a social gathering, 72, 73, 417 ; polit ical action developed by, 73, 75, 77 ; early music at the, 73, 417 ; significance of the, 87 (bis) ; power of the (see ante) 269 ; disturbances in the, 280, 418 ; separation of the, in Chester, 515 ; in New Hamp shire, 515 ; changes in the, 740. Meeting-house, the, 71, 75 ; exam ples of, described, 71, 72, 278; a social centre, 72; regulations concerning, 73, 278, 280,417, 418; rigid rules regarding seats in, 74, 75, 528-530, 699, 740; changed but little in form, 529, 530. Merchant, types of the New Eng land, 821-826 ; value of the, as a social factor, 801 ; evolution of a new order of, 821. Merchant companies, fostered by Elizabeth, 4 ; their enterprise in the New World, 4, 14 ; the East India and Virginia, 8 ; of Dor chester and Massachusetts Bay, 13, 14. Merchant Service of New England, 123, 124, 128, 129, 130, 137 (bis), 140, 143-150, 152-104, 100, 204; style of ships built, 102, 245, 251- 250, 259, 200, 265, 303, 348, 363- 377, 446, 553, 554, 573-582, 612, 629, 650-652, 750, 756-758, 760, 778, 820-826, 832, 833, 904, 911. Mercury, 907. Merrimac, Indian trade on the, 160, 373; bridged, 311. Merritt, Captain, 614. Metcalf, Rev. Joseph, 536. Metlin of Portsmouth, 858. Meulis, Intendant, 477. Miantonomo, judicial power of the sachem, 28; signs the deed of the island of Aquidneek, 30 ; his fulfilment of his bargain, 31. Mice, destroy the orchards, 175. Middleboro', slitting' -mill at, 499, 083. Middleton, Mrs. Arthur, 569. Middletown, Connecticut, the whale fishery of, 748 ; slavery in, 763. Milf ord, Connecticut, an early meet ing-house in, 72, 530 ; commerce carried on by, 137, 155 ; leather trade in, 408. Milk, 102, 132. 804, 895, 900-903. Miller, of Hartford, 775. Milliken, Josiah, 616. Mills, in the colonies, 102, 103, 116, 169, 182, 183, 196, 198, 200, 201, 271, 306, 310, 394, 498, 499, 683, 734, 879, 880, 886. Milton, Massachusetts, slitting-mill at, 499, 683, 734 ; paper-mill in, 734, 857. Minced pies, 417. Mind, the study of, the chief inter est of man, 5. Mines, the General Court encour ages the opening of, 171 ; the opening of, 1S6, 204, 396, 397. Minister, the, in early New England, 50, 68, 69; types of, 70, 71 ; prop erty set aside for the, 73. Mint, the Massachusetts, 190, 191, 194, 201, 315 ; the United States, 845. Mirrors, 532. Mishammoh, son of Canonicus, 30. Miss, the title, 418. Mississippi valley, the, not early ap preciated, 15. Missou, the pirate, 563. Mr. aud Mrs., the title, 418, 419. Mitchell, James, 695. MitcheU, William, 492, 534. Moggandge, Samuel, 575. Mohawks, the, 25, 139. Mohicans, the, 24. Molasses, 355, 376, 416, 472, 501- 503, 583-585 (bis), 5S9, 590, 613, 615 (bis), 641, 644, 649, 656, 659 (bis), 717, 753 (bis), 754, 756, 757, 759, 794, 828, 887, 888, 890, 891- 895, 898, 900-903, 906, 907, 911. Molly, cargo of the, 774. Monck, George, 209, 301, 314. Money, the use of wampum as, 24, 25, 32, .38-46, 131, 161, 196, 314, 324, 325 ; silver in New England, 41, 44, 45, 151, 175 ; beaver as, 90, 314, 324, 325, 402, 617, 653 ; maize used as, 101, 119, 128, 142, 170, 170, 178, 190, 314, 324, 325 ; tightness in, affects commerce, 105,167,170, 173, 199; value of foreign coins, fixed, 142, 175, 206 ; John Hull, the founder of specie currency, 175; rate of interest INDEX. 943 till 1693, 178, 189, 200>-the Mas sachusetts mint, 190, 191, 194, 196, 201, 315 ; standards of cur rency, 203 ; facts concerning coins current in New England, 205, 383, 676 ; the currency of New Eng land, 314, 325, 305, 366 ; difficul ties iu, both European and colo nial, 317 ; paper, its founder in the colonies, its use and abuse, 317, 323, 356, 380 ; other experiments in, 318, 319 ; Potter on, 320-323 ; his parable, 320, 321 ; banks, 318, 319, 322, 323, 328, 329 ; imperfect circulation of what was current, 324; discussion of barter, and " country pa>," 324-32S, 3S2, 869 ; the manufacture of fiat, 328, 380 ; fund bills, 328-330 ; need of a currency in Massachusetts,~*S79 ; legislation on the subject, 379- 382; results of fiat currency in various states, 380 ; Sewall's views on, 380 ; fluctuations in specie, 383 ; origin of the dollar, 383 ; four standards of currency, 383 ; fixing the standard, 384; various standards, 385-387 ; interesting case of New York and Boston ex change, 386, 387 ; relation of the slave-trade to, 451, 452 ; iron bars for currency, 471,472; values of silver at various times, 473, 475, 482, 484, 589, 677, 678. 887, 890- 895 ; paper currency and its de preciation, 474, 475-482, 485-491, 674-677, 737; three theories of finance held in Massachusetts, 476 ; playing-card currency in Canada, 477 ; Rhode Island's puzzle over her currency, 481 ; example of a mixed currency, 483 ; Harvard es says on paper money, 485 ; two opposing parties on the currency question, 490 ; inflation affects commerce, 496, 574; the Louis burg expedition brings in specie, 640 ; deerskin as currency, 653 ; currency in 1765, 736 ; scarcity of, in 1768, 759, 760; currency in 1775, 794, 797-799 ; in 1778, 892- 804 ; tightness in, in 1783, 819 ; specie in the Oriental trade, 825 ; currency troubles in 1786, 845- 847 ; the whole financial question in early New England. 869, 871. Montcalm, 664. Montreal, traded* through Quebec with France, 407. Moody, John, 85. Moose, the, 402. Morrell, I., 173. Morris, Lewis, 557. Mortimer, Mr., of Boston, 301. Morton's settlement |at Mount Wol laston, 95. Mott, Daniel, 813. Moulding, 174, 500, 734, 792. Mount Wollaston, Morton's settle ment at, 95 ; sale of land at, 109. Mourning, not worn, 860. Mugford, Captain, 769. Mulberry-tree, the, 689. Mulford, Samuel, 437. Murray, Rev. Mr., the economist, 855. Murrin, John, 408. Music, at early religious services, 73 ; in Connecticut, 223. Muslin, 825. Mutton, 894, 899-902. Mystic, 14; Winthrop's ship built at, 123 ; road made to, 207. Nahant, colonized by Lynn, 56 ; commonage and land improve ment in, 61 ; iron mined at, 307. Nails, 370, 498, 499, 683, 793, 796, 809, 810, 856. Nankeen breeches as a danger sig nal, 777. Nantasket, the fisheries in, 141. Nantes, trade with, 780. Nantucket, weaving at, 392 ; whale fishery of, 434, 436, 437, 440-442, 445, 654, 746-748, 828-830; ex ports whalebone to London, 438, 442, 746 ; export of provision to, forbidden, 760 ; sufferings of, dur ing the Revolution, 761. Napkins, the importance of, 415. Naponsett, bridge over the, 134. Narragansett, horses raised in, 398 ; wine and silk attempted in, 398 ; bears hunted in, 691 ; the Haz ards of, 807. Narragansetts, the, 24 (ter) ; how incited to final revolt, 28; trade of, in maize, 38. Nashua, Indian trade of, 161 ; road to Connecticut by, opened, 208. " Nation," Jefferson's use of the word, 48. Naumkeag, 13. 944 INDEX. Naval stores, 156, 232, 357, 362, 366, 367, 394, 555, 556, 575, 582, 585, 059, 759, 767, 774, 827, 904, 907. Navigation Acts, the working of the, 97, 232-267, 353-355, 360, 361, 373, 375, 611, 612, 620, 627, 631, 635, 647, 656, 659-062, 758, 701, 702, 810, 817, 870,_ 872; a forerunner of the Revolution, 148 ; piracy led to infractions of the, 348; poorly enforced, 550 ; changes in the, 759; on lumber, removed, 780; devices to escape the, see Smuggling. Nelson, Thomas, 108. Neponset. See Dorchester. Neponset River, the bridge over the, 210. New Bedford, becomes a whaling port, 740, 830. New Boston, pottery made in, 735. Newbury, trades and professions of the grantees of, 52; commonage in, 01 ; specially punishes vicious cattle, 66 ; mill built at, in 1638, 103 ; inn licensed at, 113 ; high way opened from, to Hingham, 114 ; English merchants settle in, 142 ; exchange of vessel and slave at, 153 ; docks and warehouses built at, 159 ; tannery established at, 187 ; value of wood in, 203 ; the ferry between Salisbury and, 206 ; licenses an inn, 207 ; road laid out from Andover to, 209 ; punishes health-drinking, 224 ; in fraction of the law governing dress punished in, 227 ; herding taxes of, 277 ; sheep-folding system of, 277 ; meeting-house disturbance in, 280 ; fulling-mill in, 306 ; road improvement in, 310 ; a port of entry, 373 ; limestone discovered in, 397 ; Portsmouth, the port of, 647 ; growing independence of towns illustrated by the action of, 672 ; ropewalk in, 686 ; wigs frowned upon in, 694; spinning in, 732 ; cordials distilled in, 735 ; a literary light of, 739 ; informer tarred and feathered in, 762 ; in troduces four-horse coaches, 858. Newburyport, a shipbuilding con tract by barter in. 575 ; Dexter on the settlement of, 739 ; ship building in, 766; timber raft from, 767 ; privateers of, 772, 823 ; underwriter's office in, 782 ; Perkins, the inventor of, 856. Newcastle, trade with, 626. New England, founding of, 1-22 ; character of the founders of (see Founders) ; steps which led to the English occupation of, 8-12 ; first visit of Englishmen to, 9; Hud son touches at, 9 ; expedition of John Smith to, 9; value of the fisheries of, early recognized, 9, 10, 13, 18 ; so named by Smith, 10 ; Smith's book on, 10 ; Gorges obtains a patent, and prepares for an expedition to, 10, 14 ; the Earl of Stirling, quoted on, 10 ; settle ment of the Pilgrims in, 10-12 ; Puritan movement as affecting, 12-14 ; physical features of, and their consequences, 15-18, 20 ; importance of railway communi cation to, 16 ; the rivers of, 16 ; the early social influence of, 16 ; the literal advantages of, 16, 17, 377, 260 ; soil of, 18 ; grasslands of, 18 ; mineral wealth of, 18 ; the fisheries of, 18 ; principles at work in the community in, 19, 47, 75 ; success of the colonies planted in, 19 ; the Indians of, 24, 26, 27 ; early land transfers in, 29 ; trade with the Indians in, 37-40, 42; the heaver trade of, 38-40, 43 ; wampum a recognized currency in, 40-46 ; introduction of a silver currency into, 44 ; the evolution of the town in, 47-86 (see Town) ; character and force of the town in, 47, 48 ; growth of society in, 49; the communal principle of, differed from that of other dis tricts, 49 ; aim of the fathers of, 50; religion, not a first thought in the founding of, 50; charter exemption from taxes an impor tant economic fact in the devel opment of, 97 ; summary of the first beginnings of the economic development of, 115 ; opening of the commerce of, 117-164; a re mark upon the outgrowth of, 120 ; what, owes to Winthrop, and men of his type, 120, 121; the first vessel, 123 ; value of the com merce of, attracts attention from home, 136, 13S; Parliament en courages the commerce of, 141 ; INDEX. 945 true commercial prosperity of, established, 142 ; slavery in, 148 ; slave-trade carried on by men of, 149 ; population of, about the year 1008, 160; West Indian trade of (q. v.), 163; summary of the commercial expansion of, 164 ; rise of homespun and other industries in, 165-231 ; tightness in money affects, 105-167 ; wel comes the sawmill, 168 ; inter course of, with England resumed, 172 ; public spirit of, 187 ; report on, sent to Holland, 1S7, 188; evidences of the expansion of, into a commonwealth, 1SS, ISO ; the money of, 191 ; plans of Crom well for, 197 ; evidence of the in creasing commerce of, 207; fife in early, 214—220 ; schools in early, 221, 282; effect of the Navigation Acts on, 232-267 ; in jured by the Dutch war, 240 ; helps the Dutch, 241 ; the ships of, 251-256 (see Merchant Ser vice) ; the Acts probably benefit ed, 255, 267 ; the centre of trade, 256, 260 ; England's views of, 266; growing independence of, 268; England begins to interfere in the government of, 268 ; the royal commission from England to, 208 ; character of the people of, in 1683, 285 ; growing public spirit of, 285 ; asceticism yielding in, 285, 294 ; brutality in early, 294 ; social life in, 294-303 ; the various in dustries of about 1650, 303-310 ; piracy and privateering in, and its effect on the trade, 337-377, and on the morals of, 348, 352 ; a typical man of, about 1690, 357 ; growing independence of, 347, 348, 359, 363, 665 ; life in, about 1700, 365, 366 ; trade of, with the Southern States, 376 ; domestic development of, in the dark days, 379-429 ; gains in specie exchange, 386; trade of, in wheat, with double profit, 387 ; textile fabrics manufactured in, 389-394 ; present value of the woollen manufactures of, 391 ; the constant industry of women, how important to the growth of, 398 ; wages in, 400; domestic life in, about 1700, 411-419; religion in, as exemplified by Judge Sewall, 420, 429 ; character of the men of, 426, 427 ; the whale fishery in, and its importance, 430—447 ; eco nomical and social relations of slavery and the slave-trade to, 449-472 ; attitude of, towards slavery, 450, 451 ; treatment of slaves in, 451, 454 ; the period of inflation in, 473-551 ; the industry of, the keynote of its history, 492 ; agriculture and the price of land, in 1719-1729, 492, 493 ; the woven fabrics of, at this time, 493-497 ; and iron, 497-501 ; distilling in, 501-503 ; decline of lumbering in, 503 ; manufacture of potash in, 503 ; small industries of, 504, 505 ; and Canada compared, 512 ; fur ther details of the evolution of the community in, 512-528 ; social life in, about 1745, 52S-544, 549- 551 ; books and literature in, 544- 548 ; a typical town in, 548 ; the Treaty of Utrecht as affecting, 553 ; English capital comes over to, 553, 555, 574; spread of the commerce of, 555 ; typical mer chants of, 565-572, 607-636 ; value of the exports of, in 1716, 574 ; number of vessels cleared from, in 1736, 580 ; coasting trade of, 584-592 ; commerce of, with the Carolinas, 589, 590 ; change iu the fisheries of, 595 ; fears the French colonies, 637, 638; the peculiar genius of, exemplified in the cap ture of Louisburg, 638-640 ; the sperm-candle industry of, 654, 655 ; joy of, over the fall of Quebec, 063 ; character of the people of, at the time of the Peace of Paris, 714 ; the spirit of liberty growing rapidly in, 715 ; growth of the Revolutionary spirit in, 718-728 ; how hampered by England, 722 ; could defy British control, 723 ; respect for law in, illustrated, 728 ; developed itself partly by a polity, but more by a lack of, 729 ; economic influences at work in, 731 ; rapid growth of the woollen industry in, 732, 733 ; industry and ability of the men of, exem plified, 736, 779, 805-808, 811, 814; tonnage of, in 1764, 750; widespread prosperity in, 755 ; Revolutionary commerce of, 769- 946 INDEX. 785 ; the seamen of, 778 ; through | agony won liberty, 785 ; the man ufactures of, 791 ; social and eco nomic condition of, during the Revolution, 791-815 ; rise of the Oriental trade of, 820-827 ; other commerce of, 820, 827, 828, 833 ; the fisheries of, after the Revolu tion, 828-832 ; renewal of the slave-trade in, 834 ; enters upon a 640 ; foreign commerce of, 642 ; excise imposed by, 647 ; regulates the salmon fishery, and town set tlements, 674 ; refuses to join in redeeming the paper currency, 075 ; forge for bar-iron in, 684 ; lumber still cut in, 685 ; the evolu tion of the town in, 729 ; travel in, 73S ; shipbuilding in," 765, 766 ; paper-mill built in, 794. siave-traae in, oo-± ; enters upon av paper-mill Duut m, iy-±. policy of non - intercourse with New Haven^iand rates iu, 54 ; divi English traders, 837 ; tax riots in 843 ; financial depression in, 845- 847 ; industrial awakening in, 84S- 857 ; improved facilities for travel in, 857 ; social condition of, 858 ; political rights of the citizen, how upheld in, 866; evolution of the citizen in, 865, 860 ; state unity in the history of, 807-870; char- acter of the second generation of the men of, 870 ; economic forces speeded forward the development of, S09-872, 875. Newfoundland, fisheries promoted by Henry Vlll., 4 ; trade of New England with, 163, 204; fisheries of, a nursery of seamen, 245 ; English ships captured by the French off, 355 ; increasing impor tance of the fisheries of, 372 ; trade with, 353, 373, 641 ; passes over to England, 551 ; export to, forbidden during the Revolution, 760. New Hampshire, the value of beaver in, in 1634, 40; the timber of, 244 ; brutal offences recorded in, 294 ; prices of lumber in, 333 ; Navigation Acts infringed in, 361 : lumber trade of, 362 ; vessels of, 364; paper currency in, 380; the attempted making of tar in, 394 ; the mills of, 395 ; paper currency in, 475 ; bank-loans in, 476, 483 ; linen-weaving in, 494, 495 ; re ceives hemp for taxes, 495 ; the working of iron in, 497 ; improve ment in the roads and ferries of, 509; ferries built in, 511; per mits separate church organizations in Chester, 515 ; curious social life in, 515 ; appoints market-days, 526 ; retaliates upon Massachu setts for invidious legislation, 596, 783 ; number of men furnished by, for the Louisburg expedition, sion of land in, 54 jTand regula tions in, 56 ; fencing regulations of, 59 ; an early meeting-house in, 72, 75 ; wine licenses in, 115 ; the merchants of, 137; enterprise of, 143, 155, 163 ; portents presaging the loss of a ship from, 150 ; fed eration, 180 ; exports shoes, 184; price of bread in, 184 ; affected by the quarrel between Massachusetts and Connecticut, 187; well sup plied with artisans, 1S7 ; consid ers a transfer to lihe Delaware, and to Jamaica, 197Jprovides post- horses, 209; the first clock in, 217; school in, 221 Ordains the institution of schools, 222 ^iron works started in, 307 j^Toads built in, 312 ; value of land in, 399 ; taxes in, 408 ; pushes northwards, 507Taegttfatifla-of koiueu-iu, 033 ; coasting trade of, with Boston, 589; Tiie fishing-vessels of, and their^exemption from an embargo, 596 ; emhargaJaid-hy^en-fereign veseelM, 819»; disposition of the slavery question in, 835 ; currency troubles in, 847. New Jersey, use of wampum in, 41 ; illicit trade from, during the French war, 645. New London, fencing regulations of, 59; timber regulations in, 64; West India trade of, 163 (bis) ; builds vessels, 163, 252, 253; weaving done in, 305 ; roads laid out in, 311 ; horse-thief court in, 362 ; weaving in, 389 ; value of land in, 399 ; whale-fishing at, 436; private paper money issued in, 483 ; duck-weaving in, 496 ; inn licensed at, 510 ; begins build ing large ships, 554 ; West India trade of, 554; the largest Amer ican vessel in 1725 built at, 576 ; turns to larger vessels, 651 ; horses INDEX. 947 shipped at, 758; privateers of, 772. Newport, Rhode Island, the found ing of, 76, 77, 79 ; early commer cial importance of, 154, 155, 158, 161, 163 (bis) ; builds a ship for New Haven, 154 ; the Jews in, 161, 200, 741 ; rapid growth of, 264 ; enriched by irregular traffic, 338 ; pirates and privateers in, 338, 340, 343-345; shipbuilding in, 369; the slave-trade of, 452, 453, 465, 469, 477, 763, 764 ; molasses and rum trade of, 453, 458, 501, 502, 764 ; New York insured the slave- ships of, 460 ; silversmiths in, 505 ; imitates Boston's increasing luxury, 509 ; stage line between, and Boston, 510; express and post-rider from, to Boston, 510; Trinity Church in, 530 ; houses in, about 1745, 531 ; Bishop Berke ley's influence in, 547 ; Smybert's influence in, 547 ; portraits painted in, 547 ; the first book published in, 548; Franklin and his news paper in, 548 ; commerce of, in 1722, 554; infractions of the Navigation Acts in, 558 (bis), 762 ; pirates brought into, 562 ; Tew, the pirate, from, 563 ; case of the sloop Dolphin in, 576 ; growth and importance of, 583, 584 (bis) ; later privateering in, 599-606, 655-657; distilleries in, 642; manufacture of sperm candles in, 655 ; lost in the French war, 657 ; the county store of Providence owned in, 658 ; illegal traffic car ried on by, 659, 660, 662, 663; Redwood Library founded in, 699 ; British revenue-coaster in, 717 ; cloth-making in, 732; "turtle- frolicks " in, 741 ; the gardens of, 741 ; literary institutions of, 742 ; becomes a whaling port, 747 ; commerce of, in 1765, 756 (bis) ; line from, to New York, 761 ; in fractions of the Navigation Acts in, 762; the commerce of, de stroyed by the Revolution, 771, 811 ; royalist merchants of, 779, 802 ; value of an estate in, 802 ; j-JJorwalk Nailer Hazard at work in, 808 ; intercourse of, with Block Island 812; commerce of, revives some what, 828 ; French taught in, 864, New Rochelle, New York, Peter Faneuil born in, 608. Newspapers, 738. New York, use of wampum in, long continued, 44 ; enriched by illegal traffic, 338, 340 (bis), 344, 345, 348, 349, 361, 659 ; money troubles in, 384-387 ; wages in, 400 ; post from Boston to, 410 (bis) ; whales daily in the harbor of, 433 ; re ports to England on the whale fisheries, 437 ; slave-trade of, 457 ; insured Newport's slave-ships, 461 ; paper currency in, 477, 478 ; prohibits the sale of Indian goods to the French, 507 ; roads and posts about, 511 ; infractions of the Navigation Acts in, 558 ; trade in flour from, 585 ; trade of New England with, 589, 820 ; the com merce of, 615, 819 ; woollen manu facture in, 73l ; privateers of, dur ing the Revolution, 770, 772 ; the followers of Jemima Wilkinson emigrate to, 808; Oriental trade of, 826 ; virtually nullifies the "Impost Act," 839; travel be tween, Boston and Providence, 857, 858 ; commerce of illustrated, 907. Nicholson, Captain, 341. Nicolls, Colonel, 242, 433. Niles, Nathaniel, 791. Noddle's Island, 150. Noell, Samuel, 239. North, Lord, 666, 874. Northampton, roads used by, in 1659, 211 ; freight charges from, to Windsor, 260; Dr. Bullivant in, 302 ; price of wheat in, 333 ; first sale of shad in, 597 ; Jona than Edwards in, 700, 703; a " miracle " at, 704 ; the news car rier of, 739 ; mast-cutting at, 833. Northboro', spinning in, 732. North Carolina, calls for slaves from New England, 456; trade with, 503, 585, 589, 590, 646, 820. North Kingston, the Indian trade of, 140 ; founded, 179 ; receives a citi zen oh bond from Portsmouth, 520. Northup, John, 511. Norumbega, 10. arwalk, Conneetieut.^-communal draining of the meadows of, 59; trade between, and Boston, 375. Sforwich, communal regulation in, 272 ; road laid out in, 311 ; value 948 INDEX. of an estate in, 534 ; town adminis tration in, 673 ; dress in, 695 ; Sabbath-breaking in, 740 ; a wed ding dance in, 741 ; umbrellas un known in, in 1775, 743 ; manufac ture of stockings in, 854. Notts, the, 862. Nova Scotia, trade with, 241, 263, 552, 820; exports to, forbidden during the Revolution, 760. Noyes, James, 397. Nutmegs, 891. Oakdm, 588. Oats, 479, 767, '882, 884-903, 909. Ober, Captain, 661. Ocean, the, ceased to inspire terror, 2 ; the high-road of New England, 16. Odiorne, Jotham, 610, 615, 651. Offiey, David, 139. Oil, trade in, 237, 241, 309, 431, 432, 436, 437, 479, 585, 615, 644, 659 (bis), 746, 747, 755, 780, 829, 830, 878, 882, 889, 896, 903, 907, 909. Oldham, John, 124; estate left by, 138. Old South, the, 526, 530. Oliver, Peter, 499. Onions, 758, 899. Onondagas, the, 25. Orataro, memorandum of the, 906. Organs, 417. Oriental trade, 820-827, 833. Orr, Hugh, 685, 848. Osgood, Captain Samuel, 534. Otis, James, 666, 671, 788. Otter fur, 878, 883, 896. Ottley, Drewry, 576. Oursel, Nicholas, 366, 571. Owen, William, 589. Ox, the, in New England, 357, 73S, 765. Oysters, 540, 752. Pacific, whale fisheries of the, 830. Paine, Hannah and Pereginel, 810. Paine, Robert Treat, 652. Paine, William, 229. Palfrey, Peter, 132. Palmer, Joseph, 680. Paper, 413, 504, 609, 638-640, 734, 794, 857, 882, 887, 911. Paper currency. See Money. Papillon, Thomas, 316. Paramaribo, 658. Parasols, 743. Parchment, 413, 609. Parke, R. W., 126. Parker, Admiral, 772. Parker, Sir Peter, 812. Parker, Richard, 109. Parkman, Deliverance, 370. Parkman, EUas, 196, 384. Parson, Joseph, 395. Parsons, Ebenezer, 823. Parsons, Chief Justice Theophilus, 823. Partridge, London agent for Rhode Island, 583. Partridge, WiUiam, 367, 397. Pastor, the, 50, 68, 69. Patriotism, a slow growth, 787. Pauperism, 696, 755. Pawtucket, value of land in, 506 ; bridge built at, 509 ; cotton spin ning in, 849, 912 ; inventions made in, 850. Payne, Edward, 642, 782. Payne, PhiUp, 643. Paynter, Thomas, 109. Peabody, Joseph, 823. Peace Dale, Rhode Island, Nailer Tom Hazard at, 807. Peake, John, 315, 316. Pearlash. See Potash. Pearson, John, 306. Peas, planting of English, 89, 99, 382, 479 ; price of, 880-888, 890, 892, 894-900, 902, 907. Peek, of Providence, 848. Pemaquid, ravaged by Bull, 127. Pemberton, Samuel, 633. Pemberton, Thomas, on slavery, 432. Penacook, New Hampshire, the set tling of, 513. Penacooks, the, 24. Pennsylvania, use of wampum in, 41 ; exports iron to England, 501 ; Franklin as the agent of, 707; Franklin's influence in, 710; cot ton manufacture in, 912. Pepper, 616, 621, 827, 828, 904 PeppereU family, the grammar of the, 283; the rise of the, 365, 419, 426, 699. Pepperell, Andrew, 697, 698. Pepperell, Sir William, 365, 419, 426, 537, 544, 618, 639, 651, 690, 698, 699. Pepys, Samuel, quoted on masts, 244. Peqnot, iron-works contemplated at, 195. INDEX. 949 Pequots, the, 24 (bis) ; as servants, 103. Perkins, Jacob, 856. Perkins, James, 643, 822. Perkins, John, 218. Perkins, Thomas H., 822. Perry, Michael, 413. Peter, Hugh, 103, 135. Pewter, 308. Phelps, Samuel, 305. Philadelphia, value of specie in, 3S5 ; trade with, 589 ; the com merce of, 615, 819; Franklin in, 70 1 ; sliipbuUding in, S33 ; cotton manufacture talked of in, 849, 912 ; a great cotton mart, 913. Philip, King, the wampum belts of, 35 ; trouble of; with the silver currency, 44 ; the dress of, 288. Phillips, John, 381, 564. Phipps, the privateer, 343. Phipps, Sir W., 357, 358, 381, 382, 531. Pickman, William, 741. Pictures, 532, 547. Pieces of 8, value of, fixed, 142, 383. Pierce, Colonel, 794. Pierce, Daniel, 85. Pierce, Dr., 833. Pierce, Joshua, 651. Pierce, William, 91. Pierpont, John, 200. Pierrepont, Sarah, 702. Pig, a, in poUties, 180. Pigeons, wild, destroy the wheat, 175 ; in the markets, 540. Pilgrims, the story of the, 10-12 ; church organization of the, 68 ; the spirit of the, not sufficient to evolve a state, 12i, 867 ; of the seven teenth century, 4l9; influence of the, 867. Pilots, 592, 904 (bis). Pimento, 774, 828, 891, 907. Pine-trees, the uses of, see Masts, and 395. Pipe-staves, price of, 138 ; a valuable export, 152, 154, 158, 163, 176, 235, 248, 359, 374, 5S4, 611, 616, 644, 649, 757, 879, 886-888, 891, 906, 907. Pirates, and their influence on com merce, 126, 151, 154, 337-377; privateers turned into, 340, 560 ; scarcely checked at all by law, 341 ; different kinds of, 342, 343 ; speci men outfit of, 342 ; aU over the world, 344 ; England wakes up to the trade of the, 345, 340 ; at tempts to bribe the English gov ernor by, 346; inEastlndias, from New England, 345 - 347 ; illegiti mate traffic fostered by, 348, 349 ; Captain Kidd sent out to stop, 349 ; the colonies awaken to the infamy of, 351 ; a constant annoyance in 1704, 423 ; later and more villain ous, 559-565 ; as regarded by the older powers and by young Amer ica, 817. Pitt, William, Sr., 721, 745. Plague, the, in London, affects prices, 136. Planter, The, 150, 153. Plato, Governor Bradford on the communism of, 90. Plymouth, England, early commer cial expedition from, to New Eng land, 10, 124. Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Pil grims' settlement at, 12,13 ; pun ishment meted out in, for a wrong done an Indian, 28 ; Indians fined and punished in, 29 ; trade of, in wampum and beaver, 38; as an example of the formation of the New England town, 53,58; destitution of, at the start, 88 ; disastrous outcome of the com munistic experiment in, S9 ; change of fortune following its abandon ment, 90; early trade in lumber and fur at, 90 ; not successful in her fisheries, 91, 93, 132; but made it up in fur, 91, 93 ; buys its freedom from the London capital ists, 94 ; various trading expedi tions of, to pay its debt, 94, 95, 126, 131; trade with the Dutch, 94, 124 (bis), 126, 128; breaks up the Morton settlement, 95 ; tries to prevent the trade in guns and powder with the Indians, 95 ; highways laid out about, 113; commerce carried on in, 137, 151, 155 ; behind the Bay in com mercial development, 150; closes its Kennebec venture, 162 ; bricks made at, 178 ; joins the federation of colonies, 180; affected by the quarrel between Massachusetts and Connecticut, 187 ; establishes a fulling-mill, 193 ; and a sawmill, 198 ; supplied food for the fishers, 950 INDEX. 245 ; fishing regulations of, 246, 247 ; appears loyal to the commis sion, 208 ; rank in, how estimated, 281 ; a port of entry, 373 ; regula tion of riparian rights by, 432 ; the whale fishery of, 433, 434 ; weaving in, 494 ; an obnoxious wig frowned upon, in, 536 ; light house erected at, 767- Point Judith, Hull's farms at, 25. Politics, economy the basis of early New England, 51 ; action in, de veloped by the leligious -'meet ing," 73, 75 : effects of the theo cratic element in, 76, 77, 79 ; com mon sense, the basis of early New England, 86 ; Boston developed the, of early New England, 132 ; the bearing of colonial federation on, 180 ; of the famous pig on, 180 ; influence of Jonathan Ed wards in, 706; Benjamin Franklin in, 707, 709-711 ; political action foUowing upon the Revolution, 842-844 ; a broad view of Ameri can thought on matters pertaining to, S65-871. Pool, William, 733. "Poor Richard's Almanac," 700, 708, 709. Popham, James, 910. Pork, 332, 591, 597, 767, 804, 880- 892, 894-903, 906, 907, 909, 911. Porpoise, Cape, road built to, 311. Port Bill, the, 727, 748. Porter, Henry, 833. Portland, mast-trade of, 578 ; trade of, 589. Port Louis, trade with, 826, 827. Ports of entry, 373. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, fish ing post at, 91, 133 ; Danish cat tle imported into, 101, 128; send help to capture the pirate Bull, 127 ; an account in beaver kept at, 132 ; commerce of, 155 ; the " gundalow " of, 162 ; saw mill established at, 168 ; inffactions of the Navigation Acts in, 238, 239: mast -trade of, 243, 244; shipbuilding in, 253, 705, 766; a town of commercial importance, 265, 583 ; intercourse of, with Boston, 310, 375 ; the making of tar in, 394 ; post-office established in, 409 ; iron-works established in, 497 ; life in, 540 ; mast cutting at, 578 ; Sir William Pepperell's pos sessions in, 639 ; the stalwart baker of, 858. Portsmouth, Rhode Island, first inn of the state licensed in, 113 ; early commercial importance of, 154; shipbuUding at, 252 ; the rapid growth of, 264; North Kingston receives a citizen on bond from, 520 ; trade of, 642 (note) ; stage time between Boston and, 738 ; the mail from, 738 ; commerce of, in 1775, 766 ; ropewalks in, 767 ; vessels searched at, 783. Portugal, follows Spain into the New World, 1 ; trade of New England with, 155, 504, 556 (bis), 576, 595, 598, 626, 642, 754, 759. Portugal Islands, trade with the, 245. Post-offices, 136, 409, 738, 858. Potash and pearlash, 168, 204, 401, 503, 686, 734, 735, 758, 759,. 774, 803, 856. Potatoes, 136, 416, 494, 758, 804, 878, 896-903, 911. Potter, Captain Simeon, 463, 602. Potter, Vincent, 85. Potter, WilUam, the "Key to Wealth " of, 231, 319-323. Potter, Judge William, 808 (bis). Pottery, 735. Poultry, an article of export, 164, 828. Powder. See Gunpowder. PownaU, Governor, 678. Prelacy, a great political factor, 127. Prendergast, Thomas, 017. Prescott, John, 195. Prices, artificial, 97, 99, 115, 118, 132, 135, 140, 275; the London plague affects, 130 ; stagnation in, in 1640, 100 ; during the Revolu tion, 802-804 ; general review of, 878-S97. Prince, Captain, 822. Prince, Moses, 508. Princeton, Jonathan Edwards at, 700. Pringle, Robert, 627. Printing begun in New England, 169, 735. Privateers, and commerce, 141, 158, 337-377 ; Bradford on, 338 ; cases of, 338-340 ; temptations offered to, 339, 344; economic value of, 339 ; merged into pirates, 340 ; scarcely checked at all by law, 338, 341 ; methods of, 340, 342- 345; Quakers as, 343; England INDEX. 951 wakes up to the trade of the, 345, 340 ; attempts by, to bribe the English governor, 346 ; multiply and grow rich, 348, 349 ; fitted out to catch pirates, 350 ; later, 598-606, 655-658 ; gains and losses from, 599; Quakers as, 599 ; horo scopes of, cast, 603 ; curious com mercial transactions of, 603-608 ; during the Revolution, 769-778, 796 (bis) ; commerce carried on by, 773 ; conversion of thj old, into Indiamen, 821, 823. Profits, limited by statute in Massa chusetts, 118. Protection for industry in the colo nies, 309. Providence, land regulations in, 57 ; the founding of, 76, 77, 79 ; throws out a trading-post, 178 ; imports corn, 187 ; bridge contemplated near, 195 ; attempt to establish iron-works in, 195 ; value of an estate in, 291 ; carts in, 312; value of land in, 335 ; refuses commis sions to privateers, 339 ; Madam Knight travels through, 410; first passage of a team from Connec ticut to, 510 ; lottery to build a bridge in, 528; marine insurance office in, 648 ; growth of, 584, 651, 656, 658 ; privateering from, 656 ; spinning in, 732 ; becomes a whal ing port, 746 ; trading fleet of, 757 ; value of vessels in, 781 ; trade of, in lime, 794 ; currency conven tion meets in, 797 ; Oriental trade of, 826 ; takes a part of Newport's commerce, 828; abolitionist soci ety in, 834; cotton-spinning in, 849 ; industrial association formed in, 850; travel between New York and, 857. Prudence Island, sale of one half of, 109 ; a portage charge from, to Boston, 5S9. Prudent Mary, The, 162. Puckeriug, Mrs. Jane, 202. Puritans, the, 12 ; their influence upon New England, 13, 115, 121, 869 ; church organization of the, 68 ; theocratic tendencies of the, 76, 77, 515 ; impressed their char acter on the law, 222, 223, 515 ; spirit of the, yielding, 285 ; char acter and social system of the, 293, 866-868; reUgion of the, illustrated by Judge Sewall, 420- 429 ; were slaveholders, 450. Pynchon, John, 241 , 332. Pynchon, William, 102, 136, 180, 181, 188. Quakers, 544, 628, 808, 835. Quary, Colonel Robert, 385. Quay, Thomas, 613, 014. Quebec, New England merchants contemplate trading with, 155 ; port of trade for Canada, 407 ; fall of, 3O0, 872 ; exports to, during the Revolution, forbidden, 700. Queleh, the pirate, 352, 423. Quincy, wine license granted at, 114 ; iron-mills in, 178, 381, 194, 307; ferry from Dorchester to, insti tuted, 208 ; value of an estate in, 292 ; roads laid out in, 311 ; a citi zen of, and his wage, in 1700, 400 ; enterprise at, 686 ; the granite of, 094; stocking manufacture in, 732. Quincy, Edmund, 292, 633. Quincy, Josiah, on "liberty of con science," 77, 652; on early travel, 857. Quipu, Peruvian, 36. Railroad communication, its mean ing for New England, 15. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 3 ; disastrous attempt to colonise Virginia by, 8. Randolph, Governor, 238, 241, 261, 264, 265, 340, 353, 384 ; on ship building, 253, 255 (bis), 256. Rankin New Kngland, 50, 51, 227, 279, 281, 739, 85S, 859; dress according to. 288. Rape oil, 204, 309. Rathburn, Lydia, 813, 814. Head and Bollam, in the case of The Dolphin. 630, 631. Read, Nathan, 856. Reade, John, 109. Reading, Massachusetts, timber reg ulations in, 63 ; road made to, 207 ; bridge built in, 208 ; high way laid out to, 210 ; roads laid out in, 211 ; shoemaker admitted into, 274 ; town government in, 276 ; building of a parsonage in, 284; taxes paid by tobacco in, 333. Redwood, Abraham, 699. Reed, Richard, 277. Reeds, 907. 952 INDEX. Reformation, the, only a single movement in a general awaken ing and renewal, 2 ; true liberty of conscience not an immediate aim of the, 3. Rehoboth, seeks for a midwife to be admitted as a desirable citizen, 81 ; method of improving roads about, 20S ; roads builfcin, 210, 211 ; iron forge at, 397 ; prices in, 882. Religion, part played by religion in the seventeenth century, 1—3, 5 ; dissension in, a factor in the found ing of New England, 11, 13, 127; in early New England, 20, 47, 50, 68-75, 125, 127, 128, 133, 135, 269, 515, 519, 698; and trade in termixed, 52, 158, 249, 336, 580, 836 ; prejudices connected with, affected the colonists' attitude to wards the French, 146 ; commer cial prosperity as affecting, 155 ; Judge SewaU as exemplifying New England thought in matters of, 420-429 ; decadence from former high standards in, 549 ; of New England, as typified in Jonathan Edwards, 702-705; of Franklin, 707 ; Rhode Island's influence to wards individual liberty in, 841 ; liberty in, an idea evolved along with that of political freedom, 842. Representatives, House of, a pig's influence in the formation of the, ISO. Republican government, early ten dencies in the colonies towards, 49. Revell, John, 126. Revolution, the, an economic resist ance, 51, 752 ; the Navigation Acts an early cause leading to, 234 ; as treated by history, 606 ; the cause of, 666-672, 715-724, 873-875; the beginnings of, 724—728 ; curi ous misconceptions of, 728 ; open ing battles of the, 744 ; effect upon commerce of the, 760-702, 767 ; expeditions to Canada during the, 764 ; of commerce during the, 709-785; further growth of the community during the, 7S0 ; Eng land's view of the, 78S ; inspired manufacturers with patriotic zeal, 788, 792-794 ; army business and supplies during the, 795, 796 ; de preciated currency during the, 797-799, 802-804; important so cial and economic effects of the, 800-802, 811, 831; social, condi tions during the, 804 ; close of the, and reflections thereupon, 816 ; action of Rhode Island Island dur ing the, 841. Rhode Island, limestone of, 18 ; In dian legislation in, 29 ; land transfers in, 30 ; recognition of wampum as a legal currency in, 44 ; eeelesiastieism as a force in the colonies of, 48, 77; timber regulations in, 62 ; story of the colonisation of, 76, 77, 79, 403 ; fiberty of conscience in, 77, 289, ' 520 ; iaw governing escaped ser vants in, 85 ; allowance made for a mill in, 103 ; first inn licensed in, 113; commerce of 137, 151, 161 ; the Indian trade in, 140 ; interdicts the export of provisions to the Dutch, 158 ; emigration of Jew merchants into, 161 ; renews trade with the Dutch, 162 ; excluded from the federation of colonies, 180; economic expansion of, by the year 1647, 185, 195 ; prices in, 203, 332, 333 ; road improvement between Massachusetts and, 208, 210, 211, 509 ; tavern law of, 210 ; offends against the Navigation Acts, 239 ; trade of, with the Bar badoes, 242 ; Hull in, 251 ; ship building in, 252 ; West India trade of, 264, 301 ; appears loyal to the commission, 208 ; treatment of debtors in, 274 ; dress in, 289 ; country pay in, 325-327 ; pirates and privateers in, 338-341, 343- 345, 348, 349 ; paper currency of, 380 ; regulates the trade in leather, 398 ; attempts at wine and silk in, 39S ; offered a bounty on the whale trade, 441; enterprising negroes in, 451 ; the slave-trade in, 452-456 ; silver in, 474 ; paper currency in, 474, 4S1, 482, 488, 4S9 (bis) ; the weaving of duck in, 496 ; iron works in, 500; orders highways laid out, 510; connected by bridge with" Connecticut, 510; travel on tlie south shore of, about 1715, 511 ; religious freedom and economic strictness in, 520 ; democratic ten dency in the towns of, 528 ; curi ous marriages in, 538 ; the cheese INDEX. 953 of, 541, 582 ; takes a leading part in opposition to the " Mo lasses Act," 583; lays a tax on sugars manufactured in the other colonies, 593 ; attempts to shut in her grain, 594 ; later and brilliant privateering of, 598-606 ; number of men sent by, against Louisburg, 640 ; takes measures against illicit trade during the French war, 645, 658, 659, 662 ; later privateering in, 655-658 ; refuses to join a scheme to redeem all paper, 675 ; hard times in, 676, 077 ; encour aged flax and wool, 081 ; tinkers her flax bounties, 090 ; tries to suppress lotteries, 693 ; attacks and destroys the Gaspee, 725 ; sends out a circular calling for common union against Great Brit ain, 727 ; paper currency of, 736, 737 ; lotteries in, 737 ; rally of the militia of, to the help of Massa chusetts, 737 (bis) ; frowns on theatrical entertainments, 742 ; re buked for using West India per mits, 745; protects the oyster, 752 ; commerce of, in 1760, 755- 757 ; pronounced illiterate by Bur naby, 756 ; the distilleries of, 756 ; coasting trade of, in 1764, 761 ; forbids the importation of slaves, 764 ; privateers and privateering in, during the Revolution, 771 , 772 ; manufacture of gunpowder in, 789 ; other manufactures of, (90 (bis) ; fixes prices of iron, 792 ; gunmaking in, 793; nailmaking in, 793 ; fixes the prices of sugar, 794 , manufacture of lime in, 794 ; confiscates the estates of Loyalists, 800, 802 ; life in, during the Rev olution, 807-814; embargo laid by, on foreign vessels, 819; dis position of the slavery question in, 834; attitude of, during the Revolution, and influence of, in be half of religious liberty, 841, 868 ; tax riots in, 843 ; currency troubles in, 847 ; rise of cotton-spinning m, 849; social industrial movement in 855 ; distilling revives in, 856 ; example of the commerce of, 906. , „ Rhode Island CoUege, graduates of, dressed in American-made cloth, 732. Rice, 355, 591, 644, 759, 767, 774, 782, 803, 878, 889, 895, 906, 907. Rice, Richard, the Cambridge herds man, 65. Rich, Samuel, 803. Richards, GUes, 852 (bis). Richards, James, 284, 290. Richards, John, 254. Richardson, Thomas, 605. RiehbeU, Robert, 286. Richmond Island, the settlement at, and its early foreign commerce, 124; lumber, fur, and fish trade of, 137, 150. Rickman, Isaac, admitted into Bos ton, 80. Rings, 414, 536, 538, 619, 699, 741. Ripley, Dr. Ezra, 803. Rivers of America, their importance, 15-17. Rixdollar, value of the, fixed, 142, 880. Roads, the making of, 110-114, 116, 205, 206, 207, 210, 211, 276, 310- 312, 408-411, 693 ; the importance of, 205. Roberts, Bartholomew, 561. i Robin, Abbe, 804. Robinson, Captain Abraham, 343, I 508. Robinson, John, pastor of the Pil grims, his character, 11, 867. Robinson, Robert, 662, 663. Rockwell, Samuel, 230. Rocky HiU, brick-making at, 758. Rogers, James, 686. Rogers. Mrs., 697. Rogers, Richard, 496. Rokeby, Justice, on travel in Eng land in 1692, 409. Rome, the Church of, in the New World, 1, 19; influence of, in Eu ropean politics, 2. Ropes, Abigail, 741. Ropewalks, 168, 309, 396, 680, (67. Rose, John, 812, 813. Rosin, 310, 395, 503, 586, 884 894. Rowley, cloth-making at, lib, lyd; a lumber regulation in, 201 ; road laid out from Andover to, 209; bridge in, freed from toll, 311 ; snuff miU in, 795. Roxbury, 14; builds roads, 111; bridge buut near, 134; bricks made at, 1S1 ; fulling-mill erected in, 200 ; inn opened at, 206 ; roads laid out in, 208 ; example of arti- 954 INDEX. eles of apprenticeship in, 274; value of an estate in, 399. Royal, Isaac, 802. Royal, Samuel, 480. Royal African Company, 243, 245, 256, 450, 453. Rugs, value of Irish, 878. Rum, 186 (ii'sj, 188, 376, 416, 459, 461,472, 501-503, 584, 585 (bis), 590, 613, 615, 620, 627, 641, 642, 644, 649 (bis), 659, 755-757, 764, 775, 783, 796, 825, 828, 856, 871, 882, 884, 886-898, 901-905, 906, 907, 909, 911. Rumford, iron forge in, 684. " Kunaway vessels," 576. Rusdorp,land regulations in, 57. Russia, trade with, 825, 856. Ryall, 880. Rye, 479, 804, 879-904. Sabbath, the, in early New England, 223, 225, 294, 424, 549, 673, 740, 804. Sabin, Samuel, 549. Sable, Isle of, expeditions from New England to the, 128, 650. Sack, 878, 881. Saco, timber regulations in, 63 ; de clares submission to Massachu setts and builds roads, 209 ; ferry licensed at, 209 ; meeting-house in, 279 ; punishment of an indeco rum in, 282; various prices in, 333. Saddle, price of a, 893. Sago, price of, S94. St. Lawrence, the, held by the French, and its value, 15 ; opened for the whale fishery, 746, 747. St. Thomas, trade with, 907. Salem, the Dorchester settlement at, 13, 14 ; its Indian name, 13 ; as an example of the formation of the New England town, 53 ; com monage in, 60 ; timber regula tions in, 02, 63 ; communal herd ing in, 05 ; congregational trou bles in, 80 ; mills at, 103 ; mar ket maintained at, 111, 118 ; eat ing-house prices regulated at, 112; act for mending highways in, 113 ; horse boat from, to Cape Ann, 114; Dutch and Virginia trade with, 124; fur company at, 132; exported salted sturgeon, 133 ; vessels belonging to, 130 ; India trade of, 137; ships building at, 143, 106 ; commerce of, 155, 163 ; tannery and ropewalks at, 168 ; glassworks at, 169, 171 ; gloves made at, 174; cloth-making at, 177 ; value of land in, 186 ; samp mortar miU at, 198; cook-shop Heensed at, 207 ; licenses an inn, 206; sells a "town horse," 209; orders roads cleared, 211 ; infrac tion of the law governing dress punished in, 227 ; a fishing centre, 245, 247, 650; shipbuflding in, 253 (bis) ; meeting-house regula tions in, 280, 418 ; value of an es tate in, 291 ; early life in, 298 ; Mrs. Hicks's marriage venture in, 300 ; standards of inteUigenee in, 302 ; fulling-mill in, 306 ; coastwise trade of, 310 ; West India trade in horses of, 362 ; a port of entry, 373; regulations against fire in, 41,6, 528; takes citizens on bond from Ips wich, 407 ; houses in, about 1745, 531 ; number of vessels cleared from, 1714, 579 ; price of the priv ilege to cure fish in, 598 ; lost from privateers, 599 ; Madeira and Bra zil trade enriches, 043 ; not a clear ing port for Portsmouth, 647 ; the vessels of, 650 (bis) ; privateering in, 655 ; illegal traffic carried on by, 661 ; taxes in, 672; literary institu tions in, 742 ; privateers of, 771, 776 ; Royalist merchants of, 779 ; commerce of, after the Revolution, 819; pioneered in the Oriental trade, S20-826 ; an early cotton mart, 913. Saleratus, 856. Salisbury, a scarcity of corn in, 199 ; ferry at, 206 ; shipbuilding in, 253 ; a port of entry, 264, 373 ; iron min ing and working in, 500, 734 (bis). Salmon, 540, 596, 888, 894. Salt, making of, in the colonies, 91, 96, 168, 169, 186, 193, 196, 198, 247, 398, 686, 796 ; trade in, 137, 142, 159, 237, 247, 370, 584, 590, 598, 011, 722, 757, 781, 790, 828, 878, 881, 883, 887, 888, 891, 893, 895, 897, 898, 900-904, 907. Saltonstall, Sir Richard, fined for absence from the Court, 78 ; grist- mUl of, 103 ; action of the son of, towards La Tour, 145 ; petitions for a monopoly of northern trad ing posts, 147, 1S3. INDEX. 955 Saltpetre, 171, 309, 788. Sandf ord, Robert, 305. Sandwich, sale of land in, 109 ; reg ulation of riparian rights by, 432. Sanford, Restcom, 292. Sarsaparilla, 907. Sassafras, 907. Saugus, bog-iron, 174, 184. Saw, price of a, 887. SawmiUs, 168, 172, 184, 198, 200, 201, 204, 271, 307, 309, 310, 395 886. Saybrook, troubles over the fort at, 187, 195 ; cloth-making at, 733. Scarborough, ferry provided at, 211 ; settles Machias, 729. Schools, early, 221, 247, 282, 410, 411, 419, 861-S64, 878-S81. Schooner, the, 553, 573. Scituate, Massachusetts, bridge built at, 111 ; trading expedition from, to the Hudson, 126 ; commerce of, 155 ; bricks made at, 178 ; f ulling- miU established at, 173 ; sawmiU in, 198 ; jury to lay out roads in, 208; bridge built in, 210, 211, 312; bmlder Ucensed to seU liquor, 211 ; coastwise trade of, 310 ; the mackerel fishing of, 752 ; ship building in, 833 ; improved dis- tiUery in, So{i ; importation of skilled labor into, 857 ; French taught in, 804. ScoUay, James, 633. Scott, Captain, 463, 467. Scott, Major, 245. Scott, Pringle & Scott, 643. Scythes, manufacture of 183, 498, 685, 792 ; Jenks's improved, 184. Sea-horse teeth, value of, 879. Sealing-wax, 879. Sealskins, 894, 907. Seamen, the fisheries a nursery of, 245, 769, 778; laws regulating, 246, 258, 259 ; apprenticed, 259, 369 ; wages and life of, 468, 469, 562, 577, 590, 830, 831, 887, 889, 904, 905, 911 ; character of New Eng land's, S24. Sedgwick, Captain Robert, 109. Sedgwick, Major, 182. Seekonk, bridge built at, 211. Self-government, in the New Eng land town, 47 ; a necessity not a principle, 47, 48, 50. Selleeke, David, 110, 158. Senate, a pig's influence on the, 180. Separatists, the. See Pilgrims. Serges, 391, 534, 853. Sermon, the, in early New England, 69, 70. Servants, condition of, in early New England, 83-86, 89, 634, 695; what the term meant, 84 ; scarce in 1641, 204; indentured, 520; dress of, 534, 743. Service, compulsory, demanded from citizens, 82 ; conditions of those in, in early New England, 83-86, 99. Severalty and commonage, in early New England, 60. Sewall, Joseph, 529. Sewall, Margaret, 508. Sewall, Mitchell, 557. Sewall, Judge Samuel, a Puritan of Puritans, 286, 294, 352, 394, 412, 416, 420-429, 529, 536; manners and customs noted by, 295, 296, 297, 539 ; journal left by, 295 ; a business order of, 331 ; a pa triotic ruling made by, 363 ; notes of, on financial depression, 3S0; inspects a Roxbury estate, 399 ; notes of, on the great frost, 400 ; visits an Indian settler, 402, 403 ; communal feeling shown by, 408 ; incident occurring to, while on circuit, 409; arranges his daughter's portion, 413; on fu nerals, 414; pleasure jaunts of, 415, 416, 509; the good sturdy English of, 419 ; spoke out against slavery, 450; regarded love with a "business eye, 543 ; makes note of a privateer, 601. SewaU, Major Stephen, 359, 396, 423, 509, 557, 559. Shad, 597, 750, 893, 898. Shagg, value of, 878. Sharon, Connecticut, Harvey's miUs at, 806. Sharpe, Henry, 410. Shatswell, Richard, 200. Shaw, anecdote related by the jurist, 802. Shaw, Abraham, 173. Shays, Daniel, 843. Sheafe, Sampson, 359. Sheep, 164, 177, 182, 193, 197, 198, 204, 276, 305, 404, 523, 591, 809, 828, 862, 878, 880, 883, 887, 907. Sheffield, James, 369. Sheffield, Lord, 770, 817. 956 INDEX. Shelburne, 816. Shelden, Isaac, 230. Sheldon, John, 656. Shelly, Captain Giles, 347. Shepard, Thomas, 70. Sheple, John, 402. Shipbuilding, 167, 252, 366-369,484, 573, 574-576, 583, 651, 652, 755, 758, 765, 776, 806, 825, 833, 851, 869, 872. See Merchant Service. Shirley, Colonel WiUiam, 426, 638. Shirting, 890. Shoemakers, desirable citizens, 80, 81, 274. Shoes, the making of, 106, 184, 308, 735, 791; prices, of, 804; the wearing of, 859, 860. Shot, value of, 879. Shrimpton, Henry, 180, 296 (ter). Shute, Governor, 479. Sierra 'Leone, and the slave - trade, 466, 469, 470, 471. SUk, 239, 305, 398, 496, 534, 595, 089, 744, 774, 820, 825, 855, 859, 880, 907. _ Silsbee, Benjamin, 825. Silva, Miguel Paeheco da, 613, 629. Silver currency, a curiosity in early New England, 41 ; finaUy re places wampum, 44, 45 ; West In dia trade brings in, 44, 45, 151, 324 ; the colonists deliberate over, and a substitute, 317-330; plate, 217,241, 290-292, 316, 317,382; value of, at various times, 385- 387, 473, 475, 482, 484, 589, 677, 678,887, 890-895 ; relation of bills and, 478 ; articles in, ordered from London, 622. Simsbury, Connecticut, mining at, 397, 497. Singing birds ordered from London, 629. Skipper, the Yankee, 259, 284. Slate, of New England, 18. Slater, H. M., 912. Slater, Samuel, 849-851, 912, 913. Slavery and the slave-trade, in New England, 148, 149, 243, 245, 255, 265, 274, 415, 429, 451, 501, 520, 627, 632, 641 (bis), 644, 657, 755, 703, 764 ; their economical and so cial relations, 449-472 ; stupendous character of the change in opinion concerning, 449 ; attitude of New England towards, 450, 451 ; treat ment of slaves in New England, 451, 454 ; Newport the chief port of the slave-trade, 453, 584 ; Eng land inquires into, 454 ; prices of slaves, 455-457, 403-471, 881-883, 885,888, 892, 893, 895, 909; de tails of the slave-trade: vessels, rum, insurance, horoscopes, 457- 402 ; character of the trade exem plified, 462-478 ; the " Assiento " contract between Spain and Eng land, the two greatest slave-deal ing powers, 552 ; dying out in the colonies, 764; after the Revolu tion, 834-836. Slitting-mills, 498, 499, 683, 734, 856. Smelts, 540. Smith, Arthur, 201. Smith, C. C, 169. Smith, Eleazer, 852. Smith, James, 149. Smith, John, visits and names New England, 19, 92 ; "A Description of New England " by, 10 ; quoted on the needs of a colony, 19 ; on the fisheries, 92. Smith, Martha, 436. Smith, Richard, 178. Smithfield, Rhode Island, "NaUer Tom " at work in, 808. Smuggling, 236, 239-241, 557, 658- 663, 716, 717, 721, 762. Smybert, John, 547. Smyrna, trade with, 823. Snelling, Dr. WilUam, 224. Snuff, 616, 647. ' Soap, 237, 878, 889, 894. Sobotken, J. , 819. Social economy, the history of, of peculiar interest to our genera tion, 22. Society, growth of, in the colonies, 49 ; this, a hud germinated in Europe, 49 ; upon its growth or decay the fate of the colony de pended, 49 ; its perfect develop ment, the Republic, 49 ; general consideration of the, of early New England, 50, 51 ; communal feel ing gave it growth, force, and vig or, 58 ; examples, 58-64 ; inference drawn, 64 ; land tenure as affect ing, 67 ; our, one of units, perfect ed severally and as they combined, 68, 75 ; importance of the meeting in the growth of, 68-74, 279 ; reg ulations preserving the integral character of each, 80-82 ; pubfio INDEX. 957 interference as bearing upon pri vate life and, 82, 105 ; ways of liv ing in early New England, 214, 231 ; commerce changes, making- types, 259 ; code of manners in New England, 281, 282 ; fixed ranks of, gradually abandoned, 281 ; customs, observances, and laws of, about 1675, 293-304 ; a typical man of 1690, 357 ; a typ ical family, 365, 366 ; customs, observances, and laws of, about 1700, 406-419; about 1725, 515- 519, 528-551, 565, 570, 5S0, 020- 022, 624-626, 028-032, 634-636; about 1750, 694-700 ; about 1760, 739-744; about 1776, 755, 779, 781 ; during the Revolution, 804, 815 ; after the Revolution, 855- 866 ; brings order out of chaos, 865. Society for Trade and Commerce in New London, 483,. " Society of Knowledge and Virtue," the, 547. " Soeiety,of Universal Friends," 808. Socrates, Franklin studied the char acter of, 708. Soil of New England, 18. Solgard, Captain, 502. Southampton, shore whaling at, 432. South CaroUna, and the pirate Black beard, 503 ; the Amorys in, 566, 568, 569; trade with, 589, 590, 613, S20. South Kingston, Rhode Island, Je mima Wilkinson in, 808. Southmead, William, 186. South Saa Bubble, the, 571, 619. " Sovereignty of the people,' ' the, as explaining the evolution of the town, 47. Spain, strength of, at home and in the New World, in 1600, 1 ; discovered America, 1 ; England an unex pected rival, 1 ; worried by Eng lish freebooters, 4 ; Elizabeth's reply to a threat of war from, 4 ; final struggle of, with England. 5 ; sought gold and furs in the New World, 18; New England trade with, 138; privateers of, alarm New England, 141 ; New England's trade with, 155, 556, 570, 598, 757 ; New England exports hats losses of, through privateers, 599- 001 (bis), 602. "Spaniard," Mather's servant, 449. Sparrow, The, 138. " Spectator," Franklin's style formed on the, 708. Spermaceti, 654, 686, 748, 755, 907. Spinning, schools for, and matches in, 170, 198, 304, 679, 680, 732, 855 ; successful, 789, 790. Sprague, Francis, 113. Sprague, Captain Richard, 315, 316- Springfield, the beaver trade at, 43, 147, 161, 180 ; roads made in, 211 ; prices in, 332 ; gun factory at, 792 ; tax riots at, 844. Squanto teaches the colonists to grow maize, 88 ; guides them on an ex pedition for beaver, 90. Squirrel, The, British revenue coas ter, in Newport, 717. Stacey, Samuel, 514. Stage, the, 549, 742, 863. ^ Stagg, Captain, 147. . >Stamf ord, Connecticut, cooperative gristmill at, 172 ; meeting-house in, 280 ;. fulling - mill in, 394; prices in, 885. Stamp Act, the, 717-720, 753, 756, 873, 874 ; indirectly stimulates the whale fishery, 746. Standish breaks up the Morton set tlement, 95. Stanley, Matthew, 229. Starch, 882, 909. State, the evolution of the, 19, 20, 22, 49, 68, 75-77, 188, 189, 268, 405, 592, 716, 755, 785, 786, 840, 865, 874 ; the household forms the, 19, 22. Staves. See Pipe-staves. Stevens, William, 162. Stillman, Rev. Samuel, 835. Stirling, the Earl of, quoted on the cod fisheries of New England, 10. Stirling, Captain James, 576. Stockbridge, Jonathan Edwards at, 700 ; woollen industry in, 854. Stockings, 307, 392, 534, 590, 617, 686, 791, 795, 854, 859, 879. Stoddard, Anthony, 151, 180. Stone, John, 200. Stony Brook, slitting-miU at, 408. Story, Chief Justice, 835. Stoughton, gunpowder manufactured in, 734. to 504 ; position of, after the in, 734. Treaty of Utrecht, 552, 553, 595; ' Stoughton, Israel 102; aUowed to 958 INDEX. "keep a bridge," 111; and weir, 134, 352, 354. Stoughton, WUliam, 316. Stove invented by Franklin, 707. Stowe, J., 173. Strafford Earl of, 169. Stratford, Connecticut, value of an estate in, 291. Straw, 889, 907. "Strength," a so-called, proposed for settlement in New England, 52; its character, with an example, 52. Strengthfield, William, 657. Stroudwater, Maine, bridge built at, 511. Sturgeon, the, 133, 139, 247, 882, 884, 890. Sudbury, road opened between and Concord, 113. Suffolk County, Massachusetts, dis turbance among landholders in, 30. Suffrage, the, in early New England, 69. Sugar, trade in, 142, 144, 152, 157, 163, 232, 238, 376, 584, 585 (bis), 590, 610, 613, 632, 641, 656, 659, 686, 757, 758, 774, 783, 794, 825, 826, 828, 880-882, 884, 887, 888, 892, 895, 896, 897, 899-907, 909, 911 ; the Acts, 716, 717, 750, 753, 756, 816, 817, 872. Sulphur, 789, 904, 907. Summer Islands, trade with the, 137. Superstition in early New England, 70, 150, 183, 704, 773. Surinam, trade with, 361, 362, 646, 058,758,907. Sutton, Ambrose, 84. Sutton, Massachusetts, the manu factures of, 792. Swansea, ranks of society in, 281. Swayne, Samuel, 172. Swinburne, Thomas, 369. Swords, 286, 534, 536, 695. Symonds, Samuel. Syria, New England trades with, 265. Taggert, Henry, 581, 585. Tailer, Lieutenant Governor, 508. Talbot, Christopher, 396. Talcott, Dorothy, 290. Tallow, 479. Talmud, the, and the moral respon sibility of brutes, 66. Tamarinds, 828. Tanneries, 196, 276, 308. Tar, 216, 310, 394, 395, 555, 584, 590, 759, 767, 774, 891, 892, 893, 896. Tarbox, John, 230. Tarentines, Indian, the, 90. " Tariff for revenue," the first, 839. Taunton, old story told of, 133; iron-works established in, l92. Taxes, the Revolution an economic resistance to, 51 ; early, on land in New Haven, 54 ; exemption from royal, an important fact in the early development of New Eng land, 97 ; on trading posts, 185 ; in the colonies, 188, 408, 647 ; as af fecting colonial trade, 197, 232, 715 ; prices of articles fixed by, 203, 314; the Navigation Acts mul tiply, 237, 354, 373, 374, 908 ; pe tition of Massachusetts in 1676 to be relieved from, 237 ; town, 272, 673, 730; paid in commodities, 203, 314, 325, 328, 332, 333, 479, 495, 647, 798 ; on wine, 354 ; cus tom-house, 370, 374, 908 ; Frank lin's word on, 708, 723; riots caused by, 843. Taylor, Robert, 369. Tea, 539 (bis), 647, 696, 717, 726, 812, 820, 825-827, 8S3, 891-S97, 899-903 ; duty on, 720, 725 (bis), 726 ; Boston destroys the, 726. Teach, 560, 561, 563. Tempest, the lost privateer, 773. Temple, Sir William, 263. Templer, Captain Thomas, 534. " Tender Act," the, of Massachu setts, 799. Teneriffe, Navigation Acts infringed in, 361 ; capture of the Orataro off, 604. Terceira, Thomas Amory in, 560. Tew, Thomas, 344, 560, 563. Textile fabrics, the manufacture of, and trade in, 170, 176, 177, 182, 193, 19S, 200, 203, 290, 304, 300; 333, 355, 387-394, 403, 493-497, 527, 010, 679-682, 722, 731-733, 788-791, 790, 848-850, 910. Theocratic elements in the early commonwealths and their effect, 70, 77, 79. Thomas, Hashai, 499. Thomas Thomas & Sons, 622. Throckmorton, John, 109. Thurston, Benjamin, 441. Tide-mills, 190. INDEX. 959 Tile earth, the digging of, regulated, 184. Timber, regulations concerning, in early New England, 62-04, 275, 270. Tiinothy-grass, 735. Tin, 907. Tinware, 792. Tithing-man, 279, 313, 513, 527. Tiverton, Rhode Island, shipbmld- ing in, 309. Tobacco, Plymouth, trade in, 94, 124 ; regulation of the use of, 185, 223, 224; grown in New Eng land, 204, 333; America's trade in, 232, 240, 241, 249, 250, 250, 261, 202, 595, 616, 757, 758, 774, 782, 825, S27, 828 ; the smuggling of, under the Navigation Acts, 236, 262 ; received for taxes, 333 ; manufactured in New England, 504, 735, 794; exported from Connecticut to the West Indies, 585 ; price of, in 1777, 803 ; the use of, 864 ; prices of, at various times, S78, 880, 883, 885-903, 907. Tobacco-takers, under a ban, 83. Tomlin, John, 247. Tomlins, Edward, 102. Tony, the friend of liberty, 802. Tooker, Joseph, 418. Tools, the manufacture of, 184, 085. Topsfield, road improvement near. 311. Tories, exile of the, 800-802. Torrey, James, 193. Tortoise, the, a totem mark, 25. Tortoise-shell, 241. Tortugas, trade with the, 137. Totem, the Indian, 23, 25-27. Touzell, Captain, 581. Town, the early New England, its evolution, 20, 22, 47, 209, 403- 405 ; formation of the community or, 47-87 ; theories as to the de velopment of, 47 ; sporadic growth of, 47 ; a complete self-govern ing organism, 47, 48 ; how distin guished from similar organisms in Virginia and the Middle States, 48 ; how settled, 53 ; land regula tions in the, 53-02; jealousy of the, in admitting citizens, 56, 57, 519, 520 ; communal force quickly shaped the, 58-67 ; our land ten ure and its consequences in the, and state, 67 ; the religious " meet ing ' ' corresponded with the, 68- 73, 515 ; the three factors in the evolution of the, 75 ; excluded strangers, 80, 272, 519 ; obtains desirable citizens by public ef fort, 80, 81, 523 ; regulated its citizens to achieve the greatest good to the greatest number, 81- 86, 271-273, 519; briefly charac terised, 87 ; greater care becomes necessary in settling a, 270, 512 ; cases in point, 270, 403, 513 ; com munal and other customs, 272 ; control of morals, 273, 549 ; guild survivals in the, 274 ; government by the, 276, 277, 286-289, 405- 407, 519, 082; the settlement of the, about 1731, with examples, 512-515 ; control of trade by the, 520 ; various eccentricities, 527, 528 ; a typical, 548 ; recognised as a body politic by English law, 579 ; growing independence of, illustrated, 072 ; evolution of the, in New Hampshire, 729 ; by union formed larger organisms, 780 ; contained the state in germ, 808. Town meeting, an analogue of the Germanic folk-mote, 20, 75 ; took its rise from the religious " meet ing," 73 ; absence from, fined, 78; its gradual growth everywhere interesting, 514; British coercive measures denounced in, 727. Townsend, Run, 381. Townshend, Charles, 720. Toys, the making of, 497. Trade. See Commerce. Training day, 412, 096. Trask, Captain, the tide-mill of, 103. Trask, William, 186. Travel, in the early days, 110-113, 310,311, 313, 408-411, 509, 511, 737, 738, 805, 857, 858. Treasure-trove, 358. Trelawney, Robert, 124, 137. Trevett v- Weeden, the famous case of, 847. Trial, The, ventures of the, 143, 144, 149, 166. Trotting-horse, 738. Trumbull, J. Hammond, 323, 328. Trumbull, Jonathan, 700._ Tryon, Governor, 770, 795. Tucker, Dean, 8i7. Tucker, Judge, on slavery, 452. Tumblers, an investment in, 825. 960 INDEX. Turkeys, 540, 894. Turnips, 883, 885, 889, 890. Turpentine, 395, 503, 586, 757, 774, 889, 892-894, 896, 907. Twine, 616. Tyler, William, 697. Tyng, Edward, 162. Tyng, William, 109. Umbrellas, 743. Underwriting. See Insurance. United Colonies, Indian trade pro jected by the, 179 ; character and prophetic meaning of the, 180 ; labor privilege of the corporation of the, 1 83 ; forbids trade with the Indians, 188. United States, part played by Vir ginia in the formation of the, 786 ; paper currency of the, 797, 798 ; the formation of the, 806, 814, 816, 872-875 ; slavery in the, 834 ; first commerce of the, 837 ; New England's part in forming the, 840-842, 805; the consolidation of the Confederation into the, 840 ; industrial awakening in 1783 in the, 848 ; early patents granted by the, 850 ; economic troubles during the formation of the, 804. Unity, American passion for, 800. Upsall, Ucensed in Dorchester, 113. Uring, on Boston craftsmen, 393 ; on early New England travel, 408. Usher, John, 302. Van Dam, President, 457. Vandernen, Timotheus, 440. Vane, Governor, and the Salem trou bles, 86. Vassall, Colonel Job, 695. Veal, 890, 894. Veal, the pirate, 342. Vegetables, in the New World, 89, 99, 100, 203, 204, 334, 416, 494, 591, 758. Velvet, "beggars," 286. Velvet corks, 893. Venison, 894. Veren, Joseph and PhiUp, 168. Vermont, currency troubles in, 847. Vernon, Samuel, 505. Verplanck, Gulian, 615, 617, 632, 633. Vessels, prices of, 140, 252, 367, 575, 781, 825, 879, 880, 909. See Merchant Service. Vincent, James, 496. Vinegar, 884, 899, 901. Vines, Richard, 180. Virginia, a company created by England to colonize, 8 ; what the name then included, 8 ; Raleigh's colony in, 8 ; the parish in, com pared with the New England town, 48 ; aristocracy in, 48 ; trade with, 94, 124, 906 ; New England feeds, 155 ; exports hides to Con necticut, 203 ; captures the pirate Blackbeard, 563 , coasting trade with, 589, 820 ; part played by, in the founding of the Repubhc, 786. Virginia Company of London, 8 ; attempts a settlement at Norum- bega, 10; the Pilgrims advised not to lean upon the, 11. Wadsworth, Colonel, 796. Wadsworth, Jeremiah, 853. Wager, Sir Charles, 600. Wages, attempts to control, 83, 98, 99, 104, 167, 172, 173, 179, 182, 275, 334; profits limited by, to offset limitation of, 118 ; these statutes repealed, 118 ; examples of, paid, 180, 877, 879-881, 883- 885, 887, 889, 896, 898-904 ; paid in commodities, 366 ; about 1690, 400. Walker, Henry, 399. WalUng, Thomas, 335. Wallingford, Connecticut, attempts to mine at, 397, 498. Walpole, Sir Robert, and the colo nies, 558. Walworth, John, 690. Wampanoags, the, 24 (bis) ; how incited to final revolt, 28. Wampum, the Indian medium of commerce, 24, 25, 32, 161 ; whence derived, how variously named, 32 ; its aspect and manufacture, 32, 33 ; how valued, 34 ; how carried, 34 ; symbolic use of, 35, 36 ; made use of by the colonists, 38-46, 131, 196, 878-880; its value assured by the beaver trade, 39, 43, 131 ; fluctuations and differences in the value of, 39-44 ; a. currency in universal use, 40, 41, 161 ; its value fixed by law, 40-42 ; ill- made and counterfeit, 42 ; how made equivalent to a coinage, 42 ; INDEX. 961 decline of, 42 ; the political econ omy of, 45; the bond between the savage and civilized communi ties, 46. Wanamataunewit, receipt witnessed to by, 30. Wanton, John, 558, 583, 599. Wanton, Joseph, 309. War stimulates manufactures, 853. Ward, General, 709. Ward, Governor, 583. Ward, Nathaniel, framed the " Body of Liberties," 77, 78. Ward, Thomas, 470. Wardell, Jonathan, 508. WardeU, Nathaniel, 526. Wards, care taken by towns for their, 84. Wareham, John, 290. Warehouse, value of a, 878. Wareing, John, 304. Waring, E., 913. Warner, Andrew, 134. Warren becomes a whaling port, 746, 747. Warren, Sir Peter, 615, 690. Warren, Sir WUUam, 243. Warwick, Rhode Island, land regu lation in, 61 ; sale of a house in, 199; condition of, as a colony, 199; will of John Greene of, 214. Washington, George, 729, 786; in terest of, in manufactures, 851- 855 ; character of, 867. -J7atcb.es, 534, 621, 629, 695. Waterbury, Connecticut, early houses in, 283 ; road laid out in, 312 ; value of land in, .399 f^-grants land for hog-keeping, 405 ; the commonage of, 405; weaving in, 494 ; manufacture of small-arms at, 793. Water - communication, importance of, 6, 7, 15-17, 377. Waterhouse, Benjamin, 835. Watertown, Massachusetts, 14 ; land regulations in, 56, 57 ; windmill at, 102 ; water-mill at, 103 ; inn licensed in, 112 ; road opened at, 113 ; fulling-mill established at, 203, 206 ; the schoolmaster of, 221. Water-ways of America, their im portance, 15-17, 260. Watson, Elkanah, 84S. Watson, Mr., 302. Watts, Edward, 545. Wax, 479, 504, 687, 892-894, 906, 907. Weathersfield, trade in pipe-staves in, 154; value of an estate in, 291 ; culture of onions in, 758. Webb, Henrv, 102, 182, 193, 228. Webster, Daniel, 800. Webster, Noah, the school-books bv, 801. Week-days, numbering the, 426 (note). Weekes, Samuel, 505. Weights and measures, 524. WeUfleet, oysters planted at, 752. WeUs, first building in, 172 ; de clares submission to Massachu setts, and makes roads, 209 ; value of an estate in, 291 ; shipbuUding in, 765 ; iron-works in, 792. Wells, Joseph, 252. Welton, Lieutenant, 793. Wendell, Collector, 557. Wendell, Jacob and John, 033. Wenham, Captain Thomas, 385. Wentworth, Benning, 540, 651 (bis). Wentworth, Governor, 497, 576. Wentworth, Mark Hunking, 651. Westbrook, Colonel, 578. Westerly, bridge buUt in, 510 ; curi ous marriage in, 538. Western Islands, trade with the, 158, 568, 583, 654, 754, 820; whal ing at the, 747. Westfield, highway through, 211. West India trade, made a silver cur rency possible in New England, 44, 45, _ 151, 175, 191; fish as a factor in the, 97 ; character of the early, 137, 139, 142, 144, 150, 155, 163, 170, 186, 241, 255, 359, 361, 362, 504, 554, 585, 586, 614, 627, 632, 642, 644, 645, 050, 716, 745, 750, 753-758, 764, 780-783, 795, 818, 819, 827, 828, 833, 906, 907, 911 ; suspended for a time by act of parliament, 155 ; break in the, 150 ; slaves and rum as items in, 454, 450-458, 041. West Indies, curious facts concern ing emigration from England to, 202 ; barter used by preference in the, 324 ; piracy in the, 563 ;' cotton seed introduced from the, 851. Westminster School, 566. Weston, Thomas, his advice to the 962 INDEX. Pilgrims, 11 ; and his settlement, 91. WethereU, Daniel, 340. Whalebone, 431, 438, 479, 740, 748, 759, 774, 829, 880, 907. Whales, the fishery for, and its im portance, 430-439, 447, 053-655 ; described, 431-439 ; their abun dance in early times, 431, 432 ; shore-fishing for, 432-434 ; Nan tucket fishery for, 434; irritat ing royalty required on captured whales, 436 ; perfection of the boat used in the fishery, 437 ; romance of the fishery, 443-445 ; the fish ery brought wealth and developed power, 443, 445, 446 ; encouraged by England, 653 ; affected by the opening of French waters 745— 748 ; as affected by the Revolution, 749; resumed after the Revolu tion, 828-832. Wharf, value of a, 878. Wharfage, 374. Wharton, Mr., of Boston, 340. Wheat, planting of English, 89 ; de fined as a, staple commodity for commerce, 141 ; suffers from wild pigeons, 175 ; price of, in 1660, 204; carriage charges for, 260, 311; used as currency, 325, 332, 382, 479, 678, 877, 879-898, 906, 907, 91 1 ; value of, 331 ; trade in, 375, 376, 387, 591, 615 ; price affected by a great frost, 400 ; the export of, frowned upon, 408 ; little cul tivated, 506 ; in Massachusetts, 690; trade in, 827. Wheelwright, 172. Wheelwright, John, 599. Whipeepheridge, Indian trade of, 161. Whipple, Abraham, 656. Whipple, Joseph, 660, 662, 676. White Angel, The, and her venture, 96. White, Captain Paul, 159. White, Deacon John, 803. White, Rev. John, leads the Dorches ter company to New England, 13, 91 ; laments the spiritual condition of the land, because of its tempo ral weU-being, 125. White, WiUiam, 186. Whiting, M., 432. Whiting, WiUiam, 216. Whittemore, Jeremiah, 853. Whittemore, Joel, 697. Wickf ord, Rhode Island, pious ship- holders, of, 781. Widows, provisions for, 544 ; dower- right of the, of loyalists, cut off, 800. Wiggin, Thomas, 125. Wigglesworth, preaches against wigs, 297. Wigs, 286, 297, 298, 412, 504, 522, 859, 536. Wilde, SUent, 738. Wilder, Judge Joseph, 507. WUkinson, Jeremiah, 791, 793, 808, 809. Wilkinson, Ozias, 850. WUkinson, Oziel, 808. WUkinsons, the, 912, 913. WUlard, Dr., of Uxbridge, 810. WiUiam, Parson, 690. William III. appoints a governor over Massachusetts and New York, 346. WiUiams, John, 368. WiUiams, Joseph, 305. WiUiams, R., of Saco, 135. WiUiams, Roger, anecdote from the " Key ' ' of, 27 ; witnesses the deeding of the island of Aquid- neck, 30 ; advises kindly treat ment of the Indians, 31 ; quoted on wampum, 32, 33 (bis) ; referred to, regarding King PhiUp's trouble with the sdver currency, 44 ; ex pulsion of, and his band from Massachusetts, 76 ; founded his colony " for civU things " only, 77, 841 ; causes of his expulsion, 79, 403 ; writes Winthrop about pi rates, 154 ; instructs Winthrop how to sow hayseed, 185 ; influence of, 868. WiUiams, Thomas, 110. WiUiamson, quoted on the fisheries, 245. WUlis, Samuel, 763. WUlson, Phineas, 391, 399. Wilson, Samuel, 251. Winchester, Massachusetts, sales for taxes at, 523. Windham, Connecticut, cloth-making in, 732. JVindmiUs, 102, 103, 116. v7indsor, Connecticut, the " chimney- viewer " in, 61 j^communal herd ing in, 65 ; admits a currier as a desirable citizen, 81 ^ care of, for INDEX. 963 a -ward, 84 ; West India trade of, 163 prohibits puhHc use of to bacco, 224 ; freight charges from Northampton to, 260 ; value of an estate in, 290 ; "% weaver estab- Ushed in, 305 ; the making of tar in, 395; value of land in, 493; early dress in, 534 ; first umbreUa in, 534. Windsor, Thomas, 454. Wine, licenses for the sale of, 113, 114; imported into Boston, 144; trade in, 148, 152, 157, 158, 199, 237, 261, 265, 347, 354, 376, 583, 586, 643, 644, 754, 759, 783, 820, 825, 828, 907 ; use of, 415, 416, 539, 540, 604, 616, 722 ; attempt grow ing of, in Narragansett, 398 ; duties on, 647 ; prices of, 881, 884, 886, 888, 890-894, 909. Winkham, Charles, 468, 470, 471. Winslow, Governor Edward, and the spoils of King PhUip, 35 ; and the beaver trade, 38 ; transfers the Plymouth interests at Penobscot, 145 ; receives a, license to trade with the Barbadoes, 156 ; enter prise of, 156. Winslow, J., 162. Winslow, Joshua and Isaac, 587. Winter, John, 124, 137, 140. Winthrop, Adam, 136, 151, 153,381, 484, 529, 533. Winttrop, Fitz John, 200, 292, 332. Winthrop, John, journal of, quoted on the beaver trade, 39, 42 ; on the polity of early New England, 51 ; public reproof of the administra tion of, 69 ; influential in the form ing of the general court, 76 ; teUs of John Moody's servants, 85 ; and the Salem troubles, 86 ; and Indian servants, 103 ; Endicott prevented from visiting, for lack of roads, 110; journey of, to Plymouth, 111 ; a type of the men of New England in their relation to the state, 120 ; character of, 120 ; Quincy on, 120; what New Eng land owes to, 120-122; quoted, 121, 122; the natural head of a state, 122 ; led New England in the opening of her commerce, 123 ; builds the first New England ves sel, 123 ; famous f reight-bUl made out to, 126 ; complains of unfair profits of the English fishing ves sels, 135 ; married Mrs. Coytmore, 143 ; favored La Tour, 145, 146 ; traveUing in 1656, 210 ; owned slaves, 449. Winthrop, John, Jr., business activity of, 169, 174, 177, 182, 186, 193 (bis), 198, 203, 307; correspond ence of, with Roger Williams, 185, 187, 211 ; account between and John Hull, 201 ; correspond ence of with Coddington, 202; a man of culture, 222 ; fibrary of, 228 ; founder of paper currency in America, 317 (6is)-328 ; on the commerce of 1660, 331 ; influence of, 868. Winthrop, Stephen, 150, 152, 153, 202. Winthrop, WaitstiU, 287, 292. Wire, 307, 397, 498, 791. Witches, 421. Wits, noted, in early New England, 696, 697. Wives, advertised, 577. Woburn, as an example of the forma tion of the New England town, 53 (bis) ; road made through, 207 ; meeting-house in, 280 ; inn estab lished at, 313 ; admonishes a citi zen for misspent time, 407. Wolf, General, 603. Wolsey, teaches England to use her power, 1 ; the European poficy of, 2. Wolves, 102, 277, 691, 880. Women in New England, facts con cerning, 289, 293, 294, 299, 366, 398, 436, 543, 577 (note), 621, 624- 626, 633, 691, 732, 743, 744, 789, 822, 859, 861, 862, 885. Wonnumetonomey, sachem of Aquid- neck, 30. Wood, the value of, in early New England, 203. See Lumber and Woodenware. Wood, WUliam, his description of a Sagamore's full dress, 34 ; on the use of fish manure, 88. Woodbridge, Rev. John, 328, 329. Woodbury, value of land in, 399. Woodenware, 395, 590, 856. Wood reeves, 276. Wool, 157, 177, 182, 193, 195, 198, 238, 305, 333, 355, 387-392, 556, 681, 722, 731-733, 789, 790, 796, 853, 854, 878, 879, 884-893, 897, 900-902, 910. x- 964 INDEX. Wool-cards, 791. Woolcot, Christopher, 306. WooUens, English, 234. Woory, R., 182. • Worcester, the settlement of, 270, 404 ; the post-road through, 410 ; bund a meeting-house, 480; value of land in, 506 ; municipal eccen tricities at, 527; the choice of a minister in, 515 ; admits a citizen on good behavior, 519 ; Sabbath- breaking in, 549 ; spinning in, 789. Worcester County, manufactures of, 857. Worsted. See Wool. Worth, Captain Paul, 830, 831. Worthington, quoted on the division of land in Dedham, 55; on the colonization of Medfield, 56. "Writs of Assistance," 671. Yale, David, 151, 200. Yale University, the library of, 547 ; a braiding of, 699 ; social distinc tions given up in, 730. Yarn. See Spinning, and 393, 912. Yonge, PhUip de, 603. York, Maine, iron ores of, 186 ; trading fleet of, 651. Yorkshire, immigrants from, manu facture cloth, 176. Yudice, Francisco, 657. Books on Government and Political History. American Commonwealths. 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