was slow, her development unsteady, and her prospects darkened with much adversity. In population she stood, at the outbreak of the French and Indian war, but sixth in a list of the colonies. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia had all outstripped her in the race. But the elements of future renown were nowhere else more abundantly bestowed. Here at the foot of her principal city lay the most convenient and commodious harbor on the Atlantic. A magnificent river-draining the country as far as where, at Onondaga, burned the great council-fire of the Six Nations-rolled down through fruitful valleys to join the waters of the bay. Best of all, the people who inhabited the noble province were ever ready to resist oppression, bold to defend their rights, and zealous in the cause of freedom.

Such is the history of the little colony planted on Manhattan Island. A hundred and thirty years have passed since the first feeble settlements were made; now the great valley of the Hudson is filled with beautiful farms and teeming villages. The Walloons of Flanders and the Puritans of New England have blended into a common people. Discord and contention, though bitter while they lasted, have borne only the peaceful fruit of colonial liberty. There are other and greater struggles through which New York must pass, other burdens to be borne, other calamities to be endured, other fires in which her sons must be tried and purified, before they gain their freedom. But the oldest and greatest of the middle colonies has entered upon a glorious career, and the ample foundations of an EMPIRE STATE are securely laid.

COLONIAL HISTORY.-CONTINUED.

MINOR EASTERN COLONIES.

CHAPTER XXI.

CONNECTICUT.

HE history of Connecticut begins with the year 1630. The first

THE

grant of the territory was made by the council of Plymouth to the earl of Warwick; and in March of 1631 the claim was transferred by him to Lord Say-and-Seal, Lord Brooke, John Hampden and others. Before a colony could be planted by the proprietors, the Dutch of New Netherland reached the Connecticut River and built at Hartford their fort, called the House of Good Hope. The people of New Plymouth immediately organized and sent out a force to counteract this movement of their rivals. The territorial claim of the Puritans extended not only over Connecticut, but over New Netherland itself and onward to the west. Should the intruding Dutch colonists of Manhattan be allowed to move eastward and take possession of the finest valley in New England? Certainly not.

The English expedition reached the mouth of the Connecticut and sailed up the river. When the little squadron came opposite the House of Good Hope, the commander of the garrison ordered Captain Holmes, the English officer, to strike his colors; but the order was treated with derision. The Dutch threatened to fire in case the fleet should attempt to pass; but the English defiantly hoisted sails and proceeded up the river. The puny cannons of the House of Good Hope remained cold and silent. At a point just below the mouth of the Farmington, seven miles above Hartford, the Puritans landed and built the block-house of Windsor.

In October of 1635 a colony of sixty persons left Boston, traversed the forests of Central Massachusetts, and settled at Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield. Earlier in the same year the younger Winthrop, a man who in all the virtues of a noble life was a worthy rival of his

father, the governor of Massachusetts, arrived in New England. He bore a commission from the proprietors of the Western colony to build a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River, and to prevent the further encroachments of the Dutch. The fortress was hastily completed and the guns mounted just in time to prevent the entrance of a Dutch trading-vessel which appeared at the mouth of the river. Such was the founding of Saybrook, so named in honor of the proprietors, Lords Sayand-Seal and Brooke. Thus was the most important river of New England brought under the dominion of the Puritans; the solitary Dutch settlement at Hartford was cut off from succor and left to dwindle into insignificance.

To the early annals of Connecticut belongs the sad story of THE PEQUOD WAR. The country west of the Thames was more thickly peopled with savages than any other portion of New England. The haughty and warlike Pequods were alone able to muster seven hundred warriors. The whole effective force of the English colonists did not amount to two hundred men. But the superior numbers of the cunning and revengeful savages were more than balanced by the unflinching courage and destructive weapons of the English.

The first act of violence was committed in the year 1633. The crew of a small trading-vessel were ambushed and murdered on the banks of the Connecticut. An Indian embassy went to Boston to apologize for the crime; the nation was forgiven and received in friendship. A treaty was patched up, the Pequods acknowledging the supremacy of the English and promising to become civilized. The Narragansetts, the hereditary enemies of the Pequods, had already yielded to the authority of Massachusetts and promised obedience to her laws. A reconciliation was thus effected between the two hostile races of savages. But as soon as the Pequods were freed from their old fear of the Narragansetts, they began to violate their recent treaty with the English. Oldham, the worthy captain of a trading-vessel, was murdered near Block Island. A company of militia pursued the perpetrators of the outrage and gave them a bloody punishment. All the slumbering hatred and suppressed rage of the nation burst forth, and the war began in earnest.

In this juncture of affairs the Pequods attempted a piece of dangerous diplomacy. A persistent effort was made to induce the Narragansetts and the Mohegans to join in a war of extermination against the English; and the plot was wellnigh successful. But the heroic Roger Williams, faithful in his misfortunes, sent a letter to Sir Henry Vane, governor of Massachusetts, warned him of the impending danger, and volunteered his services to defeat the conspiracy. The governor replied, urging Williams

to use his utmost endeavors to thwart the threatened alliance. Embarking alone in a frail canoe, the exile left Providence, which he had founded -only a month before, and drifted out into Narragansett Bay. Every moment it seemed that the poor little boat with its lonely passenger would be swallowed up; but his courage and skill as an oarsman at last brought him to the shore in safety. Proceeding at once to the house of Canonicus, king of the Narragansetts, he found the painted and bloody ambassadors of the Pequods already there. For three days and nights, at the deadly peril of his life, he pleaded with Canonicus and Miantonomoh to reject the proposals of the hostile tribe, and to stand fast in their allegiance to the English. His noble efforts were successful; the wavering Narragansetts voted to remain at peace, and the disappointed Pequod chiefs were sent away.

The Mohegans also rejected the proposed alliance. Uncas, the sachem of that nation, not only remained faithful to the whites, but furnished a party of warriors to aid them against the Pequods. In the meantime, repeated acts of violence had roused the colony to vengeance. During the winter of 1636-37 many murders were committed in the neighborhood of Saybrook. In the following April a massacre occurred at Wethersfield, in which nine persons were butchered. On the 1st day of May the three towns of Connecticut declared war. Sixty gallant volunteers-one-third of the whole effective force of the colony-were put under command of Captain John Mason of Hartford. Seventy Mohegans joined the expedition; and the thoughtful Sir Henry Vane sent Captain Underhill with twenty soldiers from Boston.

L

The descent from Hartford to Saybrook occupied one day. On the 20th of the month the expedition, sailing eastward, passed the mouth of the Thames; here was the principal seat of the Pequod nation. When the savages saw the squadron go by without attempting to land, they set up shouts of exultation, and persuaded themselves that the English were afraid to hazard battle. But the poor natives had sadly mistaken the men with whom they had to deal. The fleet proceeded quietly into Narragansett Bay and anchored in the harbor of Wickford. Here the troops landed and began their march into the country of the Pequods. After one day's advance, Mason reached the cabin of Canonicus and Miantonomoh, sachems of the Narragansetts. Them he attempted to persuade to join him against the common enemy; but the wary chieftains, knowing the prowess of the Pequods, and fearing that the English might be defeated, decided to remain neutral.

On the evening of the 25th of May the troops of Connecticut came within hearing of the Pequod fort. The unsuspecting warriors spent

SCENE OF THE PEQUOD WAR.

their last night on earth in uproar and jubilee. At two o'clock in the morning the English soldiers rose suddenly from their places of concealment and rushed forward to the fort. A dog ran howling among the wigwams, and the warriors sprang to arms, only to receive a deadly volley from the English muskets. The fearless assailants leaped over the puny palisades and began the work of death; but the savages rose on every side in such numbers that Mason's men were about to be overwhelmed. "Burn them! burn them!" shouted the dauntless captain, seizing a flaming mat and running to the windward of the cabins. "Burn them!" resounded on every side; and in a few minutes the dry wigwams were one sheet of crackling flame. The English and Mohegans hastily withdrew to the ramparts. The yelling savages found themselves begirt with fire. They ran round and round like wild beasts in a burning circus. If one of the wretched creatures burst through the flames, it was only to meet certain death from a broadsword or a musket-ball. The destruction was complete and awful. Only seven warriors escaped; seven others were made prisoners. Six hundred men, women and children perished, nearly all of them being roasted to death" in a hideous heap. Before the rising of the sun the pride and glory of the Pequods had passed away for ever. Sassacus, the grand sachem of the tribe, escaped into the forest, fled for protection to the Mohawks, and was murdered. Two of the English soldiers were killed and twenty others wounded in the battle.

In the early morning three hundred Pequods, the remnant of the nation, approached from a second fort in the neighborhood. They had heard the tumult of battle, and supposed their friends victorious. To their utter horror, they found their fortified town in ashes and nearly all their proud tribe lying in one blackened pile of half-burnt flesh and bones. The savage warriors stamped the earth, yelled and tore their hair in desperate rage, and ran howling through the woods. Mason's men returned by way of New London to Saybrook, and thence to Hartford. New troops arrived from Massachusetts. The remnants of the hostile nation were pursued into the swamps and thickets west of Saybrook. Every wigwam of the Pequods was burned, and every field laid waste. The remaining two hundred panting fugitives were hunted to death or captivity. The prisoners were distributed as servants among the Narra