of £300 for the head of Captain Stewart, despatched a sheriff with his posse to seize him: but Ogden's brother was killed in an attack on the fort, and the garrison fled in the night, except twelve men, who yielded it up. In July a body of Connecticut people returned, with Captain Zabulon Butler and 70 men; and, having surrounded the new fort on the bank of the Susquehanna River, they began a regular siege, with trenches and cannon. Ogden got into a boat one dark night, and silently steered down the stream, deceiving his enemies by means of a bundle of his clothes, which he caused to float at a distance behind him, and at which they directed their fire. He obtained 100 soldiers at Philadelphia, who marched under Captain Clayton but one division of them was ambushed and defeated, while the other, after entering the fort, were obliged to capitulate in August, with the rest of the garrison, and leave the ground.

Complaint was made to Governor Trumbull, who declared that the colony had nothing to do with the proceedings of the settlers. At length, after they had remained for some time in quiet possession of the territory, and much increased in numbers, they made application for protection; the General Assembly, having already received an opinion favourable to their claim from four learned English council, determined, in 1773, to assert it, and sent commissioners to propose to Pennsylvania an amicable arrangement, or an application to the king for a settlement of the boundaries, or measures to preserve present harmony among the settlers. Governor Penn declined all these proposals, and the Assembly determined to extend their

316

STATE OF RELIGION.

[1755.

jurisdiction over the settlement; and incorporating it as the town of Westmoreland, attached it to the county of Litchfield, and received a representative from it in the Assembly. A strong remonstrance was made to this act by a number of persons in Middletown: but representatives were still admitted from the new town, though much opposition was made by some persons in Connecticut, and pamphlets were published on both sides of the question.

"The actual state of religion in any country," says Dr. Dwight, "must, of course, be an interesting object of investigation to every sober and in. telligent man. To give you a correct view of this subject so far as New-England is concerned, it will be necessary to go back to the war which commenced in 1755 and terminated in 1763. Antecedently to the first of these periods, all the changes in the religious state of this country were such as left the principles of the inhabitants essentially the same. They were not changes of the command. ing character, but shades of that character; through which it varied towards greater or less degrees of purity. From the first settlement of the country to the commencement of the war, the same reverence for God, the same justice, truth, and benevolence, the same opposition to inordinate indulgences of passion and appetite, prevailed without any ma terial exceptions. A universal veneration for the Sabbath, a sacred respect for government, an undoubted belief in Divine revelation, and an uncon. ditional acknowledgment and performance of the common social duties, constituted ever a prominent character. *** Vicious men constituted a small

part of the society; were insignificant in their character; and, independently of the power of example, had little or no influence on the community at large. They were objects of odium and contempt, of censure and punishment; not the elements of a party, nor the firebrands of turmoil and confusion.

"During this war, foreigners for the first time. mingled extensively with the inhabitants of NewEngland. The colonial officers and soldiers, whose principles had in many instances been imperfectly formed, and whose ardent dispositions qualified them to decide rather than to reason, to act rather than to think, easily imbibed, in an army composed of those whom they were taught to regard as superiors, loose doctrines and licentious practices. In that army were many infidels. *** Many of the Americans were far from being dull proficients in such a school. The vices they loved, and soon found the principles necessary to quiet their consciences. *** The means which had been pursued to corrupt them, they now employed to corrupt othFrom this prima mali labes (this first taint of evil) the contagion spread, not indeed through very great multitudes, but in little circles, surrounding the individuals originally infected."

ers.

The revival of religion before referred to offered the principal antidote to this spreading poison.

DD 2

318

CLAIMS OF ENGLISH RIGHTS.

[1761.

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 1761-1762.

Causes of the Revolution.-The Colonists of New-England claim Equal Rights with the Inhabitants of England.-Reasons why the People of Connecticut valued their Charter. -First Restrictions on Trade.-The Navigation Act of 1651 never submitted to in New-England.-Restrictions on Imports in 1663.-Ditto on Trade between the Colonies, in 1672.— Board of Trade and the Colonies formed in 1696.-Restrictions on Manufactures commenced in 1699-1719.-The Erection of Manufactories forbidden, and the Making of various Articles.-Appeals from the Courts required in England in 1680. -Governors' Salaries.-Taxes.-A Change in the Government contemplated in 1762.-The Stamp Act.

AND now we approach the important period in which the Revolution separated our country from that of our ancestors; and history most plainly shows, that the cause which led to our national independence was the injustice of the British govern. ment in denying the civil rights which belonged to us as British subjects.

The founders of New-England always regarded themselves and their descendants as retaining the privileges which they had claimed, in common with their fellow-citizens in their native land; and these were always insisted on by successive generations. The charter of Connecticut confirmed these privileges; and hence its value in the eyes of the people. Every intimation ever made of a design to invade it, alarmed them at once; and how many assemblies were convoked, how many solemn delibera. tions were held, how many agents despatched to

London, what voluminous letters of instruction were written, what an amount of money, labour, solicitude, and prayer was bestowed, for the pres. ervation of that possession, so highly prized for the one great principle which it contained! That doc. ument enclosed the seed of the revolution: for its friends were regarded as the friends of the colony; and nothing but opposition to that could make an enemy. They appear to have felt, from early times, prepared to defend it by force, if their weak. ness had permitted; and more than once the agents of royalty were intimidated by the display of their resolution. It was natural for other colonies to be influenced by the example of New-England; and we find that several of them also began early to urge the same claim to the privileges of EnglishThese privileges were those of being free from exactions which they had no hand in impo. sing. They demanded the right of governing themselves either in England or in America. The former was not allowed, as they could send no representatives to Parliament; and, therefore, they refused to acknowledge the power of Parliament to govern them.

men.

In 1640, as Governor Winthrop states, Massachusetts determined not to make application to Parliament for any favours, for fear that it might afford ground for their exercising some unjust authority in future. Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, in 1779, referring to this fact, declares that the colonies ever denied the right in Parliament to make laws for them "in all cases whatsoever." The" Act of Navigation," which was passed in 1651, and restricted almost the whole export