PASSAGES IN HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. BY SALMA HALE. IN 1682 Edward Cranfield was appointed lieutenantgovernor. He was to receive for his compensation, all the fines and forfeitures due and accruing to the king, and one fifth of all the rents due and accruing to Mason. He was authorized, by his commission, to negative all acts of the assembly, to suspend councillors, and to appoint a deputygovernor and all colonial officers. He did not hesitate to avow that he accepted the office with the expectation of enriching himself. On his arrival, in 1682, he suspended two councillors, Waldron and Martyn, who had been active in opposing Mason; and in a short time, by new appointments, filled all the offices with his adherents. Mason then brought a suit against Waldron, to try the validity of his title. Waldron made no defence, and judgment was rendered against him. Many other suits were brought; no defence was made; executions were issued, but only two or three were levied, and these levies were ineffectual, for no one would purchase or take a lease of the lands, and the former claimants continued to enjoy them. The tyranny and extortion of Cranfield and his subordinates goaded the people to desperation; and they secretly sent an agent, Nathaniel Weare, to England with petitions for his removal. Major Vaughan accompanied him to Boston; and, it being known that he had been employed to procure depositions to be forwarded to the agent in Lon PASSAGES OF HISTORY. 247 don, he was, on some pretext, committed to prison when he returned, and was kept nine months in confinement. Greedy for more money than he could gain by extortion, Cranfield summoned an assembly, and laid before them a bill for raising money to defend the province and to defray other necessary charges. The assembly refused to pass the bill; when he, in a rage, told them that they had been to consult Moody and other enemies of the king and church of England, and dissolved them. In a spirit of revenge, he persuaded the courts of sessions to appoint several of the members constables for the ensuing year; some of whom took the oath, and others paid the fine, which was ten pounds, and was one of his perquisites. This Moody was a Puritan clergyman, who had rendered himself obnoxious by the plainness of his pulpit discourses, and had, moreover, given offence by a highly-honorable enforcement of church discipline against a man whose cause Cranfield had espoused. The penal laws against non-conformists were then executed with great rigor in England; and the governor, believing that his conduct would not be disavowed by his sovereign, declared, by proclamation, that all ministers, who should refuse to administer the Lord's Supper, according to the Book of Common Prayer, to any one requiring it, should suffer the penalty imposed by the statute of uniformity. A short time after, he gave notice to Moody that he intended to partake of the Lord's Supper the next Sunday, and required him to administer it according to the Liturgy. Moody refused, and was indicted for his refusal. At first, four of the six justices were for acquitting him; but the trial being adjourned, Cranfield found means to change the opinions of two of the four; and he was sentenced to six months' confinement. The two justices, who remained inflexible, were removed from all their offices. From Indian wars this colony suffered more than any of her sisters. The Indians who had been dismissed unharmed by Major Waldron, had not forgotten what they considered his breach of faith: some of those who had been sold into slavery had returned, and thirsted for revenge. New causes of offence had been given by Cranfield; and Castine, a Frenchman, who had a trading establishment east of the Penobscot, having been wronged, as he thought, by Andros, inflamed their animosity. In 1689, though peace prevailed, several tribes united to surprise Dover, and take vengeance on Waldron. Many houses were burned; much property was plundered; and so expeditious were the Indians, that they had fled beyond reach before the neighboring people could be collected. The war thus commenced was prosecuted with great vigor. The French, by giving premiums for scalps, and by purchasing the English prisoners, animated the Indians to exert all their activity and address, and the frontier inhabitants endured the most aggravated sufferings. The settlements on Oyster River were again surprised; twenty houses were burned, and nearly one hundred persons were killed or made prisoners. Other towns were attacked, many persons slain, and many carried into captivity. The peace of Ryswick, in 1697, closed the distressing scene. In 1703, another war began, which continued ten years. From 1722 to 1726, the inhabitants again suffered the afflictions of an Indian war. Following the example of the French, the government offered premiums for scalps, which induced several volunteer companies to undertake expeditions against the enemy. One of these, commanded by Captain Lovewell, was greatly distinguished, at first by its success, and afterwards by its misfortunes. A history of these Indian wars might be interesting, but would not be instructive. An account of the continual quarrels between the assignees of Mason and the people; between the governors and the assemblies; between the governors and lieutenant-governors; and between Massachusetts and New Hampshire concerning boundaries, would be neither. It may not be unimportant to allude to the frequent contests between the surveyors of the king's woods PASSAGES OF HISTORY. 249 and the people. It was the duty of this officer to mark, with a broad arrow, all pine trees suitable for the royal navy; and these the people were forbidden to cut. The prohibition was often violated, and prosecutions were frequently instituted. Sometimes logs were seized at the mill, and then forcible resistance was not unusual. Once the surveyor, with his assistants, went to Exeter to seize logs, but on the evening of his arrival was attacked by a party dressed and painted like Indians, and severely beaten. The dispute about boundaries was decided, by the king, contrary to the plain letter of the charters, in favor of New Hampshire, for the reason, it has been hinted, that, by so deciding, the land bearing the best of mast trees would be assigned to her, in which case they would be the property of the crown, while all that grew in Massachusetts belonged to that colony. Long after the transfer from Mason to Allen, some defect in the conveyance was discovered, which rendered it void. In 1746, John Tufton Mason, a descendant of the original grantee, claiming the lands possessed by his ancestors, conveyed them, for fifteen hundred pounds, to twelve persons, subsequently called the Masonian proprietors. They, to silence opposition, voluntarily relinquished their claim to the lands already occupied by others. They also granted townships on the most liberal terms. Reserving certain portions of the land for themselves, for the first settled ministers, and for schools, they required. merely that the grantees should, within a limited time, erect. mills and meeting houses, clear out roads, and settle ministers of the gospel. In process of time, nearly all the Masonian lands, being about one fourth of the whole, were, in this manner, granted; and contention and lawsuits ceased to disturb the repose, and to impede the prosperity, of the colony. TO THE AMERICAN EAGLE. SUGGESTED BY THE DEATH OF WM. LADD. BY MRS. ELIZA B. THORNTON. BIRD of my country's pride, mongst the stars soaring, In thy strong talons' grasp shine the red quivers, One eye has gazed on thee, in thy pride soaring, Proudly that eye of thine glanceth and flasheth, Yet should thy kindling eye haughty foes madden, Sleep saint!-the trumpet's blast shall not alarm thee, |