THE old king Massasoit died in 1662. His son, Alexander, now became chief of the nation, but died within the year; and the chieftainship descended to the younger brother, Philip of Mount Hope. It was the fate of this brave man to lead his people in a final struggle against the whites. Causes of war already existed, and the time had come for the conflict.

2. The natives of New England had sold their lands. The English were the purchasers; the chiefs had signed the deeds; the price had been fairly paid. There were at this time in the country east of the Hudson about twenty-five thousand Indians and fifty thousand English. The young warriors could not understand the validity of land-titles. They sighed for the freedom of their fathers' hunting-grounds. The Wampanoags had nothing left but the peninsulas of Bristol and Tiverton. There were personal grievances also. King Alexander had been arrested, tried by an English jury, and imprisoned. He had caught his death-fever in a Boston jail. On the 24th of June, 1675, the village of Swanzey was attacked, and eight Englishmen were killed.

3. Within a week the militia of Plymouth, joined by volunteers from Boston, entered the enemy's country. A few Indians were overtaken and killed. The troops marched into the peninsula of Bristol, and compelled Philip to fly for his life. A general Indian war broke out. The hatred of the savages was easily kindled into hostility. For a whole year the settlements on the frontier became a scene of burning and massacre.

4. King Canonchet of the Narragansetts first made a treaty of peace with the English, but later violated it and chose to share the fate of Philip. But after much desperate fighting and heavy losses on both sides, the resources of the savages were exhausted and their numbers daily grew less. In April, 1676, Canonchet was captured on the banks of the Blackstone. Refusing to make a treaty, the haughty chieftain was put to death. Philip's company had dwindled to a handful. His wife and son were made prisoners; the latter was sold as a slave, and ended his life in the Bermudas. The savage monarch cared no longer to live. A company of soldiers surrounded him near his old home at Mount Hope. A treacherous Indian took a deadly aim at the breast of his chieftain. The report of a musket rang through the woods, and the king of the Wampanoags sprang forward and fell dead.

5. New England suffered terribly in this war. The losses of the war amounted to five hundred thousand dollars. Thirteen towns and six hundred dwellings lay in ashes. Six hundred men had fallen in the field. Gray-haired sire, mother and babe had sunk together under the blow of the Red man's tomahawk. Now there was peace again. The Indian race had been swept out of New England. The tribes beyond the Connecticut came and pleaded for their lives. The colonists returned to their farms and villages, to build new homes in the ashes of old ruins.

6. The next trouble was concerning the province of Maine. Sir Ferdinand Gorges, the old proprietor, was now dead; but his heirs still claimed the territory. The people of Maine had put themselves under the authority of Massachusetts; but the heirs of Gorges carried the matter before the English council, and in 1677 a decision was given in their favor. The Boston government then made a proposition to the Gorges family to purchase their claims; this was accepted, and for the sum of twelve hundred and fifty pounds the province was transferred to Massachusetts.

7. A similar difficulty arose in regard to New Hampshire. As early as 1622 the Plymouth council had granted this territory to Ferdinand Gorges and Captain John Mason. Seven years afterward Gorges surrendered his claim to Mason, who thus became sole proprietor. But this territory was also covered by the charter of Massachusetts. Mason died, and in 1679 his son Robert came forward and claimed the province. This cause was also taken before the ministers, who decided that the title of the younger Mason was valid. To the great disappointment of the people of both provinces the two governments were separated. A royal government, the first in New England, was now established over New Hampshire, and Edward Cranfield became Governor.

8. But the people refused to recognize Cranfield's authority. The king attributed this conduct to the influence of Massachusetts, and directed his judges to make an inquiry as to whether Massachusetts had not forfeited her charter. In 1684 the royal court gave a decision in accordance with the monarch's wishes. But before the charter could be revoked, Charles II. fell sick and died.

9. The new king, James II., adopted his brother's policy, and in 1686 the scheme so long entertained was carried out. The charter of Massachusetts was formally revoked; all the colonies between Nova Scotia and Narragansett Bay were consolidated, and Sir Edmund Andros was appointed royal governor of New England.

10. His despotism was quickly extended from Cape Cod Bay to the Piscataqua. The civil rights of New Hampshire were overthrown. In May of 1686, the charter of Rhode Island was taken away and her constitution subverted. The seal was broken, and a royal council appointed to conduct the government. Andros next proceeded to Connecticut. Arriving at Hartford in October of 1687, he found the assembly in session, and demanded the surrender of the charter. The instrument was brought in and laid upon the table. A debate ensued, and continued until evening. When it was about to be decided that the charter should be given up, the lamps were dashed out. Other lights were brought in; but the charter had disappeared. Joseph Wadsworth, snatching up the parchment, bore it off through the darkness and concealed it in a hollow tree, ever afterwards remembered as The Charter Oak. But the assembly was overawed, and the authority of Andros established throughout the country.

11. His dominion ended suddenly. The English Revolution of 1688 was at hand. James II. was driven from his throne; the system of arbitrary rule which he had established fell with a crash, and Andros with the rest. The news of the accession of William and Mary reached Boston on the 4th of April, 1689. On the 18th of the month, the citizens of Boston rose in rebellion. Andros was seized and marched to prison. The insurrection spread; and before the 10th of May, New England had regained her liberties.

12. In 1689 war was declared between France and England. This conflict is known in American history as King William's War. When James II. escaped from his kingdom, he took refuge at the court of Louis XIV. of France. The two monarchs were Catholics, and on this account an alliance was made between them. Louis agreed to support James in his effort to recover the English throne. Parliament, meanwhile, had conferred the crown on King William. Thus the new sovereign was brought into conflict with the exiled James and his ally, the king of France. The war which thus originated in Europe soon extended to the French and English colonies in America.

13. The struggle began on the frontier of New Hampshire in June, 1689. Later in the same year, the English and the Mohawks entered into an alliance, but the latter refused to make war upon their countrymen of Maine. The Dutch settlements of New Netherland made common cause with the English against the French.

14. New England at length became thoroughly aroused. To provide the means of war, a congress was convened at New York. Here it was resolved to attempt the conquest of Canada. At the same time, Massachusetts was to cooperate by sending a fleet up the St. Lawrence against Quebec. Thirty-four vessels, carrying two thousand troops, were fitted out, and the command given to Sir William Phipps. Proceeding first against Port Royal, he compelled a surrender; the whole of Nova Scotia submitted without a struggle. The expedition was foolishly delayed until October; and an Indian carried the news to the governor of Canada. When the fleet came in sight of the town, the castle was so well garrisoned as to bid defiance to the English; and it only remained for Phipps to sail back to Boston. To meet the expenses of this expedition, Massachusetts issued bills of credit which were made a legal tender. Such was the origin of PAPER MONEY in America.

15. Meanwhile, the land forces had proceeded from Albany to Lake Champlain. Here dissensions arose among the commanders, and the expedition had to be abandoned. The war continued nearly five years longer, but with only here and there a marked event.

16. Early in 1697, commissioners of France and England assembled at the town of Ryswick, in Holland; and, on the 10th of the following September, a treaty of peace was concluded. King William was acknowledged as the rightful sovereign of England, the colonial boundary-lines of the two nations in America were established as before, and King William's war was at an end.

17. The darkest page in the history of New England is that which records the Salem Witchcraft. In February of 1692, in that part of Salem afterwards called Danvers, a daughter and a niece of Samuel Parris, the minister, were attacked with a nervous disorder which rendered them partially insane. Parris pretended to believe the girls were bewitched, and that an Indian maid-servant was the author of the affliction. He accordingly tied the ignorant creature and whipped her until she confessed herself a witch. Here, perhaps, the matter would have ended had not other causes existed for the spread of the delusion.

18. But Parris had a quarrel in his church. A part of the congregation disbelieved in witchcraft, while Parris and the rest thought such disbelief the height of wickedness. The celebrated Cotton Mather, minister of Boston, had recently preached much on the subject of witchcraft, teaching that witches were dangerous and ought to be put to death. Sir William Phipps, the royal governor, was a member of Mather's church.

19. By the laws of England and of Massachusetts, witchcraft was punishable with death. In the early history of the colony, one person charged with being a wizard had been arrested at Charlestown, convicted and executed. But many people had now grown bold enough to denounce the baleful superstition; and something had to be done to save witchcraft from falling into contempt. A special court was accordingly appointed by Phipps to go to Salem and judge the persons accused.

20. On the 21st of March the proceedings began. Mary Cory was arrested, brought before the court, convicted, and hurried to prison. Sarah Cloyce and Rebecca Nurse, two innocent sisters, were next apprehended as witches. The only witnesses against them were the foolish Indian woman and the niece of Parris. The victims were sent to prison, protesting their innocence. And so the work went on, until seventy-five innocent people were locked up in dungeons. In hope of saving their lives, some of the prisoners confessed themselves witches. It was soon found that those were to be put to death who denied the reality of witchcraft. Five women were hanged in one day.

21. Between June and September, twenty victims were hurried to their doom. Fifty-five others were tortured into the confession of falsehoods. A hundred and fifty lay in prison awaiting their fate. Two hundred were accused or suspected, and ruin seemed to impend over New England. But a reaction at last set in among the people. The court which Phipps had appointed to sit at Salem was dismissed. The prisons were opened, and the victims of superstition went forth free. In the beginning of the next year, a few persons were arrested and tried for witchcraft. Some were even convicted; but not another life was sacrificed.

22. Most of those who participated in these terrible scenes confessed the wrong which they had done; but confessions could not restore the dead. Mather, in a vain attempt to justify himself, wrote a book in which he expressed his thankfulness that so many witches had met their just doom; and the hypocritical pamphlet received the approbation of the president of Harvard College.

23. In less than four years after the treaty of Ryswick, France and England were again involved in a war which soon extended to the American colonies. In the year 1700 Charles II., king of Spain, died, having named as his successor Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV. This measure pointed to a union of the crowns of France and Spain. The jealousy of England, Holland, and Austria was aroused; the archduke Charles, of the latter country, was put forward as a candidate for the Spanish throne; and war was declared against Louis XIV. for supporting Philip.

24. In 1701 James II., the exiled king of Great Britain, died at the court of Louis, who now recognized the son of James as sovereign of England. This action was regarded as an insult to English nationality. King William prepared for war, but did not live to carry out his plans. In May of 1702 he died, leaving the crown to his sister-in-law, Anne, daughter of James II. From the fact of her sovereignty, the conflict with France is known in American history as Queen Anne's War; but a better name is the War of the Spanish Succession. This continued feebly through eleven years, and with many of the horrors incident to Indian warfare, as the Indians were leagued with the French against the English.

25. On the 11th of April, 1713, a treaty was concluded at Utrecht, a town of Holland. By it England obtained control of the fisheries of Newfoundland. Labrador, the Bay of Hudson, and Nova Scotia, were ceded to Great Britain. On the 13th of July a second treaty was concluded with the Indians, by which peace was secured throughout the colonies.

26. In the times that followed Queen Anne's war, the people were greatly dissatisfied with the royal governors. The opposition to those officers took the form of a controversy about their salaries. The royal commissions gave to each officer a fixed salary, which was frequently out of proportion to the services required. The difficulty was finally adjusted by an agreement that the salaries should be allowed annually, and the amount fixed by vote of the assembly.

27. On the death of Charles VI. of Austria, in 1740, there were two claimants to the crown of the empire—Maria Theresa, daughter of the late emperor, and Charles Albert of Bavaria. Each claimant had his party and his army; war followed; and nearly all the nations of Europe were swept into the conflict. England and France were arrayed against each other. The contest that ensued is generally known as the War of the Austrian Succession, but in American history is called King George's War, for George II. was now king of England. In America the only important event of the war was the capture of Louisburg, on Cape Breton Island.

28. In 1748 a treaty of peace was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, a town of western Germany. Nothing was gained but a restoration of conquests. Not a single boundary line was settled by the treaty. The real war between France and England for supremacy in the West was yet to be fought.

29. The history of Massachusetts has now been traced through a period of one hundred and thirty years. A few words on the Character of the Puritans may be added. They were a vigorous and hardy people, firm-set in the principles of honesty and virtue. They were sober, industrious, frugal; resolute, zealous, and steadfast. They esteemed truth more than riches. Loving home and native land, they left both for the sake of freedom; and finding freedom, they cherished it with the devotion of martyrs. Despised and hated, they rose above their revilers. In the school of evil fortune they gained the discipline of patience. They were the children of adversity and the fathers of renown.

30. The gaze of the Puritan was turned ever to posterity. He believed in the future. For his children he toiled and sacrificed. The system of free schools is the monument of his love. The printing-press is his memorial. Almshouses and asylums are the tokens of his care for the unfortunate. He was the earliest champion of civil rights, and the builder of the Union.

31. In matters of religion, the fathers of New England were sometimes intolerant and superstitious. Their religious faith was gloomy. Human life was deemed a sad, a miserable journey. To be mistaken was to sin. To fail in trifling ceremonies was reckoned a crime. In the shadow of such belief the people became austere and melancholy. They set up a cold and severe form of worship. Dissenters themselves, they could not tolerate the dissent of others. To punish error seemed to the Pilgrims right and necessary. But Puritanism contained within itself the power to correct its own abuses. The evils of the system may well be forgotten in the glory of its achievements. Without the Puritans, America would have been a delusion and liberty only a name.