restraint in their emigration, under any pretence whatso- Book II. ever, except in cases of debt, and of criminal prosecutions. The time of emigration was limited to eighteen months, 1763. from the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty. These were the principal stipulations relative to the continent of America. Signally conspicuous was that all-governing Providence, which, for so many years, by sea and land, in Europe and America, and in other quarters of the world, combined such a variety of circumstances, as united their influence in this great event. In this important treaty, the American colonies saw the enemy which had given them such immense trouble, caused them so many years of fear and sorrow, such an incredible expense of blood and treasure, either removed from the continent, or reduced to circumstances in which they were so far from injuring them, that they could not but contribute to their emolument, and to the wealth and grandeur of Great-Britain. The treaty was Peace fapeculiarly favourable with respect to the colonies, in that vourable extent of territory which it secured to them. In the extent to the coand security which it gave them, relative to their fisheries and commerce, and in every other respect, relating to their particular interests, it was favourable, whatever deficiencies there might be in it with respect to the other interests of Great-Britain. In this, pious people could discover something very providential, that though the colonies had no hand nor influence in the treaty, yet that it was more favourable for them, than it was for the nation in general. lonies. Great and universal was the joy which the return of Joy on the peace gave to the English colonies in America. For near- general pacificaly eight years, they had been making the most strenuous tion. exertions to carry on the war, and to assist his majesty in humbling the pride of their common enemy. Their Burthens burthens and losses had been great. As the provincials of the war. enlisted for one campaign only, a new army was to be raised, new bounties given, and new clothing to be furnished, every spring. So great was the expense, that the colonies were obliged, not only to emit bills of credit to a great amount, but to tax the people as highly as they could bear, Besides the public bounties given by the colonies, the merchants, farmers, and gentlemen of character, were obliged to advance considerable sums to encourage the enlistments, or they must have left their farms, merchandize, and various employments, and gone into actual service. Especially was this the case with the northern colonies. New- Supplies England, in general, had, during the war, ten thousand from Newmen in the field. Some years, the two colonies of Massa England. Book II. chusetts and Connecticut furnished that number. Massachusetts annually sent into the field five thousand five hun1763. dred men, and one year, seven thousand. Besides her annual quota, this colony, for several years, garrisoned Louisburg and Nova-Scotia, that the regular troops might be employed in the expeditions against Canada. On the application of the British admiral, she furnished five hundred seamen, in the expeditions against Louisburg and Quebec, At several times, many others were impressed out of the vessels employed in the fishery. According to the statement made by governor Bernard, and transmitted to the lords of trade, the colony had expended in the war, eight hundred and eighteen thousand pounds sterling.* Of this sum, three hundred and twenty-eight thousand pounds had been replaced by parliamentary grants. Four hundred and ninety thousand pounds were expended, for which the colony had no parliamentary compensation. Particu From the resolutions of the assembly, it appears that Jarly from Connecticut exerted herself more, beyond her proportion, Connecti- than Massachusetts. Qn the commencement of the war in cut. 1755, she raised a thousand men for the service. After the battle at the lake, on the 6th of September, she sent on a detachment of two thousand of her militia. From this time to the close of the campaign, she had about three thousand men in the field. The next year Connecticut sent into actual service two thousand and five hundred men. This was more than double the number required by the commander in chief. Such was her zeal for his majesty's service that, lest the cause should suffer by the failure of the southern colonies to furnish their respective quotas, she exerted herself in this duplicate proportion. In 1757, the requisition of the commander in chief was fourteen hundred only. These were not only raised, but on the intelligence that fort William Henry was attacked, she, with uncommon dispatch, sent forward a detachment of five thou sand of her militia: so that, for some time, the colony had about six thousand men in actual service. As she was called upon the next year, by his majesty and the commander in chief, to raise all the men in her power, the colony exerted itself beyond all former example, and sent into service about five thousand men. General Amherst, taking advantage of the zeal of the colony this year, made this number the rule of his demand dur ing the war. This was a number far beyond her proportion, and was a heavy burthen on the colony. The expense of this small commonwealth, during the war, from * Governor Bernard's letter, August 1, 1764. 1755, to 1762, inclusively, after deducting the parliamen- Book II. tary grants, amounted to upwards of four hundred thousand pounds.* 1763. Besides the public expense, that of individuals was ve- Effects of ry considerable. It was sometimes at a great premium the war. that they could obtain substitutes; much time was spent by the officers of the militia, and principal men in the several towns, in procuring arms, clothing, and other articles for the troops, for which they had no compensation. Of these, and numerous other incidental expenses, losses, and damages, no estimate can be made. Exclusive of the men raised by the colonies, under the general name of provintrials, many of their inhabitants enlisted into the regular regiments, and were among their grenadiers and very best troops. They were in the sharpest actions and severest. services during the war. The royal American battalions, which were not inferior to any of the regular regiments, were raised wholly from the colonies. Numbers were impressed on board his majesty's ships; many were employed in privateering, and other services relating to the war. The whole number employed was very great. The colonies probably sustained the loss of considerably more than twenty thousand men. These, in general, were their most firm and hardy young men, the flower of their country. Many others were maimed and enervated, in the many distant and arduous campaigns during the war. As the New-England colonies furnished much the greatest number of men, so this loss fell with the heaviest weight upon them. Connecticut, as she exerted herself so much beyond her proportion, necessarily sustained a greater loss in proportion to her inhabitants, than the other colonies. The employment of so many men, for such a number of years, in the war, injured the husbandry and settlement of the country. The loss of so many young men, and the prevention of marriage for so many years, with respect to others, greatly retarded population. At the same time, the war was unfriendly to literature, destructive of domestic happiness, and injurious to piety and the social virtues. The country thirsted for peace. the colo A deliverance from these evils, the return of parents, Joy and sons, brethren, and friends, from distant countries, from state of captivity and the dangers of war, to the embraces of each nies on the other, with the countless blessings of peace, diffused a gen- return of eral and uncommon joy. The extent of territory ceded to peace. the colonies, the safety of their commerce and fishery, the * Reasons offered in behalf of Connecticut against the internal taxation of the colonies, printed at New-Haven, 1764, written by governor Fitch. BOOK II. prodigious scope which presented itself for both, the increase of wealth, the extent of settlement, the advance1763. ment of population, and the general diffusion of happiness, all united their influence to bring in a full tide of gladness. That high point of honor and magnificence, to which the nation had been elevated, the extension of her empire, the flow of the whole trade and wealth of Canada and of this great continent into her lap, whom they esteemed as a parent, and to whom they claimed the relation of children; the honors acquired in so glorious a war, with the advantages of a peace which gave such lustre to the crown, and aggrandizement to a prince whom they loved, were so maby circumstances enlivening the joy, and increasing the satisfaction which so universally prevailed. The colonies gloried in their prince, and in their relation to Great Britain. They felt a high degree of satisfaction, and it was no small part of their pride that, with their fellow subjects of the mother country, they had shared in the labors and enterprises, and with them had mingled their blood in those battles and victories, on the continent and in the Indies, which had given such lustre to her arms, and enlargement to her empire. They were impressed with a grateful sense of the royal beneficence, and parliamentary goodness, in the grants which had been made for their assistance, in defraying the expenses of the war. They were entirely satisfied with the British government, and conceived themselves to be peculiarly happy in the protection and privileges which they enjoyed, as British subjects. This was the general feeling and happy state of the country, at the return of peace. The extension of settlements, the increase of cultivation, numbers, commerce, and wealth of the colonies, for about ten or twelve years after the pacification of Paris, were almost incredible. During the war, and this whole subsequent period, money was plenty, and suffered no depreciation. Provisions of every kind, especially pork and beef, were in the best demand. This called forth the utmost exertions of the husbandman, in the cultivation of his fields, and enabled him with facility to pay the taxes which the state of the country demanded. It was the policy of Connecticut, in this favorable period, to tax the people as highly as they could cheerfully bear, providing substantial funds, in short periods, for the payment of their whole debt. To assist them in supporting the war, the legislature called in all their outstanding debts. Contracts were made with the British commissary, annually, for several years, for provisions to the amount of four thousand pounds ster- Book II. ling. This was paid in money, or in bills of exchange. These contracts were principally for pork. At the same 1763. time, great quantities of fresh provisions were furnished the armies, in droves of fat cattle. The merchants had a safe and prosperous trade. Especially after the peace, an almost boundless scope of commerce and enterprise, was given to the colonists. In these favorable circumstances, with the return of thousands of her brave and industrious inhabitants, to the cultivation of their fields, and the various arts and labors of peace, the colony was soon able to exonerate itself from the debt contracted by the war. The other colonies, who adopted a different policy, and neglected to tax the people, in these favorable periods, were a long time burdened with a heavy tax. CHAPTER XXIII. The enemy Unexpected Indian war. The reasons of it. Ta time when there seemed to be the fairest prospect of a long and universal peace in America, the southern colonies were suddenly involved in a destructive. Indian war. In 1761, a firm peace had been made with the Cherokees. Three of their chief men soon after visited Great-Britain, and there confirmed it with the British. court. About the same time, Sir William Johnson made a tour among the Indian nations, to quiet the fears and jeal- Reasons of ousies which might have been occasioned by the conquest the Indian of Canada. These fears and jealousies, it seems, had been fomented by French emissaries, with much industry and success. The same year a conference had been held between several of the American governors and the six nations, with a view of ratifying former treaties, and of more entirely conciliating and fixing their friendship. At this conference, a warm dispute arose on account of certain lands, of which a Delaware chief complained that certain war. |