July 26, 2025 • 31 mins
Dive into the remarkable life of George Washington, as depicted by his equally impressive biographer, Marshall. Influenced by the greatness of Washington himself, Marshall evolved into a figure of similar stature. Over a period of nearly 25 years, Marshall dedicated his deepest thoughts to capturing Washingtons life and accomplishments. Thanks to his intimate understanding of his subject, first-hand knowledge of events, and exceptional writing skills, Marshall has given us a true masterpiece.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eight of the Life of Washington, Volume one by
John Marshall. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Proceedings of the Legislature of Massachusetts. Intrigues of the French
among the Indians, war with the Savages, Peace controversy with
the Governor decided in England, contests concerning the governor's salary.
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The Assembly adjourned to Salem. Contests concerning the salary terminated.
Great depreciation of the paper currency scheme of Outland Bank
Company dissolved by active parliament. Governor Shirley arrives Review of
transactions in New York seventeen fourteen. The heavy expenses of
Massachusetts during the late war had produced such large emissions
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of paper money that a considerable depreciation took place and
specie disappeared. The consequent rise of exchange, instead of being
attributed to its true cause, was ascribed to the decay
of trade. The colony, having now leisure for its domestic concerns,
turned its attention to this interesting subject Affairs of Massachusetts.
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Three parties were formed. The first, a small one, actuated
by the principle that honesty is the best policy, was
in favor of calling in the paper money, in relying
on the industry of the people to replace it with
a circulating medium of greater stability. The second proposed a
private bank, which was to issue bills of credit, to
be received by all the members of the company, but
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at no certain value compared with gold and silver. It
was not intended to deposit specing the bank for the
redemption of its notes as they might be offered, but
to pledge real estates as security that the company would
perform its engagements. The third party was in favor of
a loan of bills from the government to any of
the inhabitants who would mortgage real estate to secure their
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repayment in a specified term of years, the interest to
be paid annually and applied to the support of government.
The first party, perceiving its numerical weakness, joined the third,
and the whole province was divided between a public and
private bank. At length. The party for the public bank
prevailed in the General Court, and fifty thousand pounds were
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issued and placed in the hands of trustees, to be
lent for five years at an interest of five per
centum per annum, one fifth part of the principle to
be paid annually. Seventeen sixteen, this scheme failing to improve
the commerce of the colony. Governor Shoote, who had succeeded Dudley,
reminded the Assembly of the bad state of trade, which
he ascribed to the scarcity of money, and recommended the
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consideration of some effectual measures to supply this want. The
result of this recommendation was a second loan of one
hundred thousand pounds for ten years, to be placed in
the hands of commissioners in each county in proportion to
its taxes. The whole currency soon depreciated to such a
degree that the entire summon circulation did not represent more
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real value than was represented by that which was circulating
before the emission. The governor had now sufficient leisure, and
the General Court furnished him with sufficient motives to reflect
on the policy he had recommended. An attempted to raise
his salary as money depreciated did not succeed, and only
the usual nominal sum was voted for his support. Seventy nineteen,
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the Massachusetts Peace abroad was the signal for dissension at home.
Independent in her opinions and habits, she had been accustomed
to consider herself rather as a sister kingdom, acknowledging one
common sovereign with England than as a colony. The election
of all the branches of the legislature, a principal common
to New England, contributed, especially while the mother country was
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occupied with her own internal divisions, to nourish these opinions
and habits. Although the new Charter of Massachusetts modified the
independence of that colony by vesting the appointment of the
governor in that crown, yet the course of thinking which
had prevailed from the settlement of the country had gained
too much strength to be immediately changed. In Massachusetts sought
by private influence over her chief magistrate to compensate herself
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for the loss of his appointment. With this view, it
had become usual for the General Court to testify its
satisfaction with his conduct by presence, and this measure was
also adopted in other colonies. Apprehending that this practice might
dispose the governors to conciliate the legislatures at the expense
of their duty to the Crown, the Queen had given
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peremptory orders to receive no more gifts and to obtain
acts fixing their salaries permanently at a sum named by herself.
The mandate respecting presence was of course obeyed, and some
of the colonies complied with their requisition respecting the salary,
but in Massachusetts and New York he was steadily resistant.
A controlling power over its salaries was a source of
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influence which was pertinaciously maintained, and its efficacy was tried
in all the conflicts between Massachusetts and her governor. Almost
every important measure brought before the legislature was productive of
contests between these departments. They disagreed not only on the
policy of particular acts, but on the limits of their power.
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The governor claimed the right of negativing the speaker chosen
by the representatives, which was denied by them, and each
party persisting in its pretensions. The Assembly was dissolved and
new elections took place, the same members being generally re chosen.
The House of Representatives assembled with increased irritation and passed
some angry resolutions respecting its dissolution. The governor in turn
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charged the House with encroachments on the power of the executive,
among other instances of which he mentioned certain resolutions passed
on the commencement of hostilities by the Indians, which were
deemed equivalent to a declaration of war, and had therefore
been rejected seventeen twenty one. Disagreements were multiplied between them.
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Paper money and trade were inexhaustible sources of discontent. New
elections produced no change of temper. After war was formally
declared against the Indians, the House endeavored to exercise executive
powers in its prosecution, and the Council not concurring with them,
The representatives attempted, in one instance to act alone. The
measures recommended by the governor to successive assemblies were disregarded,
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Irritating resolves were adopted and reiterated, and a course of
angry crimination and recrimination took place between them, in the
progress of which the Governor's salary was reduced in its
nominal as well as real amount, and the sum granted,
instead of being voted, as had been usual at the
commencement of the session, was reserved to its close seventeen
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twenty two. In the midst of these contests, Governor Chute,
who had privately solicited and obtained leave to return to England,
suddenly embarked on board the Sea horse Man of War,
leaving the controversy concerning the extent of the executive power
to devolve on the Lieutenant Governor. The House of Representatives
persisted in asserting its control over objects which had been
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deemed within the province of the executive, but its resolutions
were generally negative by the Council. This produced some altercation
between the two branches of the legislature, but they at
length united in the passage of a resolution desiring their
agent in England to take the best measures for protecting
the interests of the colony, which were believed to be
in danger from the representations of Governor Schut intrigues of
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the French with the Indians. During these contests in the interior,
the frontiers had suffered severely from the depredations of the Indians.
The French had acquired great influence over all the eastern tribes.
Jesuit missionaries generally resided among them, who obtained a great
ascendancy in their councils. After the session of Nova Scotia
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to Great Britain. Father Raleigh, a missionary residing among the
savages of that province, exerted successfully all his address to
excite their jealousies and resentments against the English. By his
acts and those of other missionaries. All the Eastern Indians,
as well as those of Canada, were combined against New England.
They made incursions into Massachusetts in cons squints, of which
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some troops were detached to the village in which Raleigh
resided for the purpose of seizing his person. He received
intimation of their approach in time to make his escape,
but they secured his papers, among which were some showing
that in exciting the savages to war against the English colonists,
he had acted under the authority of the Governor of Canada,
who had secretly promised to supply them with arms and ammunition.
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Seventeen twenty six envoys were deputed with a remonstrance against
conducts so incompatible with the state of peace then subsisting
between France and England. The Governor received this embassy politely
and at first denied any interference in the corps, alleging
that the Indians were independent nations who made war and
peace without being controlled by him. On being shown his
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letters to Raleigh, he changed his language and gave assurances
of his future good officers in affecting a peace. On
the faith of these assurances, conferences were held with some
Indian chiefs. Then in Canada, several captives were ransomed peace,
and soon after the return of the commissioners to New England,
the war was terminated by a treaty of peace signed
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at Boston. Decision against the House on the controversy with
the Governor. Meanwhile, the complaints of Governor shoot against the
House of Representatives were heard in England. Every question was
decided against the House, and most of them. The existing
charter was deemed sufficiently explicit, but on two points it
was thought advisable to have explanatory articles. These were the
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right of the Governor to negative the appointment of the Speaker,
and the right of the House on the subject of
the adjournment. New Charter an explanatory charter, therefore affirming the
power claimed by the Governor to negative a speaker, and
denying to the House of Representatives the right of adjourney
itself for a longer time than two days. This charter
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was submitted to the General Court to be accepted or refused,
but it was accompanied with the intimation that, in the
event of its being refused, the whole controversy between the
Governor House of Representatives would be laid before Parliament conduct
of the Representatives had been so generally condemned in England
as to excite fears that an act to vacate the
chart it would be the consequence of a parliamentary inquiry.
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The temper of the House I had undergone a change.
The violence and irritation which marked its proceedings in the
contest with Governor's shoot had subsided, and a majority determined
to accept the new charter seventeen twenty seventh. The trade
of the province still languished, and complaints of the scarcity
of money were as loud as when only specie was
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in circulation. To remedy these evils, a bill for emitting
a further sum in paper past both houses, but was
rejected by the Lieutenant Governor as being inconsistent with his instructions.
The House of Representatives thereupon postponed the consideration of salaries
till the next session. The Assembly was then adjourned at
its own request, and after a recess of a fortnight,
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was again convened as an expedient to allude the instructions
to the Governor which interdicted his assent to any act
for issuing bills of credit except for charges of government.
A bill passed with the title of an Act for
Raising and Settling a Public Revenue for and towards deferring
the necessary charges of Government by an emission of sixty
thousand pounds in bills of credit. This bill, providing for
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the payment of the salaries to which several members of
the Council were entitled, passed that House also, and the
Lieutenant Government gave a reluctant assent to it. Its passage
into a law furnishes strong evidence of the influence which
to control over salaries gave to the House of Representatives.
Seventeen twenty eight contests respecting salary. Mister Burnett, who had
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been appointed Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, was received
with great pomp in Boston at the first meeting of
the Assembly. He stated the King's instructions to insist on
an established salary, and his intention firmly to adhere to them.
The Assembly was not less firm in its determination to
resist this demand, and that no additional and unnecessary obloquy
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might be encountered. Resolved not to mingle any difference concerning
the amount of the salary with the great question of
its depending on the will of the legislature as soon
therefore as the compliments usual on the arrival of a
governor had passed, the House voted one thousand, seven hundred
pounds towards his support and to defray the charges of
his journey. This vote was understood to give him, as
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a present salary, a sum equal to one thousand pounds
sterling per annum. The Governor declared his inability to assent
to this bill, it being inconsistent with his instructions. After
a week's deliberation, the Assembly granted three hundred pounds for
the expenses of his journey, which he accepted, and in
a distinct vote, the farther sum of one thousand, four
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hundred pounds was granted towards his support. The latter vote
was accompanied with a joint message from both houses, wherein
they asserted their undoubted right as Englishmen, in their privilege
by their charter to raise and apply money for the
support of government, and their willingness to give the Governor
an ample and honorable support. They apprehended it would be
most for his Majesty's service to do so without establishing
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a fixed salary. The governor returned an answer on the
same day in which he said that if they really
intended to give him an ample and honorable support, they
could have no just objection to making their purpose effectual
by fixing his salary, for he would never accept a
grant of the kind then offered. The Council was disposed
to avoid the contest and to grant a sally to
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the present governor for a certain time, but the House
of Representatives, remaining firm to its purpose, sent a message
to the Governor, requesting that the court might rise. He
answered that a compliance with this request would put it
out of the power of the legislature to pay immediate
regard to the King's instructions, and he would not grant
a recess until the business of the session should be finished.
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The Representatives then declared that, in faithfulness to the people,
they could not come into enact for establishing a salary
on the Governor or commander in chief for the time being,
and therefore renewed their request that the court might rise.
Both the Governor and the House of Representatives seemed thus
far to have made their declarations with some reserve. A
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salary during his own administration might perhaps have satisfied him,
though he demanded that one should be settled generally on
the Commander in chief for the time being, and the
House had not yet declared against settling a salary on
him for a limited time. Each desired that the other
should make some concession. Both declined. Both were irritated by
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long altercation, and at length, instead of mutually advancing, fixed
at the opposite extremes, after several ineffectual efforts on each side,
the representatives sent a message to the Governor stating at
large the motives which induced the resolution they had formed.
The Governor returned to prompt answering which he also detailed
the reasons in support of the demand he had made.
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These two papers, manifesting the principles and objects of both parties,
deserve attention even at this period. The House, not long
after his resis receiving this message, far from making any
advances towards the compliance with his request, came the two resolutions,
strongly expressive of its determination not to recede from the
ground which had been taken. These resolutions gave the first
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indication on the part of the representatives of a fixed
purpose to make no advance towards a compromise. They induced
the Governor to remind the Court of the danger to
which the proceedings of that body might expose the Charter.
This caution did not deter the House from preparing and
transmitting to the several towns of the province a statement
of the controversy, which concludes with saying, we dare neither
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come into a fixed salary on the government forever nor
for a limited time, for the following reasons. First because
it is an untrodden path which neither we nor our
predecessors have gone in, and we cannot certainly foresee the
many dangers that may be in it, nor can we
depart from that way which has been found safe and comfortable. Secondly,
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because it is the undoubted right of all Englishmen, by
Magna Carta, to raise and dispose of money for the
public service of their own free a court, without compulsion. Thirdly,
because it must necessarily lessen the dignity and freedom of
the House of Representatives in making acts, and raising and
applying taxes, etc. And consequently cannot be thought a proper
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method to preserve that balance in the three branches of
the legislature which seems necessary to form, maintain, and uphold
the Constitution. Fourthly, because the Charter fully empowers the General
Assembly to make such laws and orders as they shall judge,
for the good and welfare of the inhabitants, and if
they are any part of them, judge this not to
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be for their good. They neither ought nor could come
into it, for as to act beyonder without the powers
granted in that Charter might just incur the King's displeasure.
So not to act up and agreeable to those powers
might justly be deemed a betraying of the rights and
privileges therein granted. And if they should give up this right,
they would open a door to many other inconveniences. Many
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messages passed in quick succession between the Governor and the House,
in the course of which the argument stated in the
papers which have been mentioned were enlarged and diversified at link.
The House repeated its request for an adjournment, but the
Governor applied that unless His Majesty's pleasure had due wait
with them, their desires would have very little with him.
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The Council now interposed with a resolution declaring that it
is expedient for the Court to ascertain a sum as
a salary for his Excellency's support as also the term
of time for its continuance. This resolution was transmitted to
the House of Representatives and immediately rejected. After much controversy,
a small seeming advance towards an accommodation was made. Instead
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of voting a salary, as have been usual for half
a year, a grant was made to the governor of
three thousand pounds equal to one thousand pounds sterling, to
enable him to manage the affairs of the province. This
was generally understood to be a salary for a year.
Having withheld his assent from this vote, the House entreated
him to accept the grant and added, we cannot doubt
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but that succeeding assemblies, according to the ability of the province,
will be very ready to grant as ample as support,
and if they should not, your Excellency will then have
an opportunity of showing your resentment. The Governor, however, persisted
to withhold his assent from the vote. The colony, generally,
in especially Boston, was opposed to a compliance with the
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instructions of the Crown. At a general meeting of the inhabitants,
the town passed a vote purporting to be unanimous against
fixing a salary on the governor adjournment of the Assembly
to Salem. In consequence of this vote, and of an
opinion that the members of the House were influenced by
the inhabitants of the town, the Governor determined to change
the place at which the Court should hold its session,
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and on the twenty fourth of October adjourned it to
the thirtieth, then to meet at Salem, in the country
of Essex. Change of place did not change the temper
of the House. This was not, as in the contest
with Governor's Chuet, an angry altercation into which the representatives
were precipitated by a restless and encroaching temper, but a
solemn and deliberate stand made in defense of a right
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believed to be unquestionable and of a principle deemed essential
to the welfare of the colony. The ground taken was
considered well and maintained with firmness. Votes and messages of
the same tenor with those which had been often repeated,
continued to pass between the representatives and the Governor until
the subject was entirely exhausted, each party being determined to
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adhere to its principles. The House met and adjourned daily
without entering on business. In the meantime, the Governor received
no salary. To the members of Boston, who had not
been accustomed to the expense of attending the legislature at
a distant place, a compensation above their ordinary wages was
made by the town. The House, firmly persuaded of their
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propriety of its conduct, prepared a memorial to the King
praying a change in the royal instructions to the Governor.
Agents were appointed to represent the General Court in England,
and a vote was passed for defraying the expenses attendant
on the business. The Council refused to concur in this
vote because the agents had been appointed by the House
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of Representatives singly, and the measure must have been abandoned
for want of money, had not the inhabitants of Boston
raised the sum required by subscription. Seventeen twenty nine letters
were soon received from these agents, enclosing a report from
the Board of Trade, before whom they had been heard
by Council, entirely disapproving the conduct of the House. The
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letters also indicated that should the House persist in its
refusal to comply with the King's instructions, the affair might
be carried before Parliament. But should even this happen, the
agents thought it more advisable that the salary should be
fixed by the Supreme Legislature than by that of the province.
It was better, they said, that the liberties of the
people should be taken from them than given up by themselves.
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The Governor at length refused to sign a warrant on
that treasury for the wages of the members. One branch
of the legislature, he said, might as well go without
their pay as the other. The act and the reason
for it were alike unsatisfactory to the house. Death of
Governor Burnett. After a recess from the twentieth December to
the second of April, the General Court met again at Salem.
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Repeated meetings at that place having produced no accommodation, the
Governor journed the legislature to Cambridge. A few days after
the commencement of the session, he was seized with a fever,
of which he died. Mister Burnett is said to have
possessed many valuable qualities, and had he not been engaged
by a sense of duty in this long contest, he
would in all probability have been a favorite of the province.
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Seventeen thirty arrival of Governor Belcher. Mister Belcher, who succeeded Burnett,
arrived at Boston early in August, where he was cordially
received at the first meeting of the General Court. He
pressed the ublishment of a permanent salary, and lay before
them his instructions, in which it was declared that, in
the event of the continued refusal of the Assembly, his
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Majesty will find himself under the necessity of laying the
undutiful behavior of the province before the Legislature of Great Britain,
not only in this single instance, but in many others
of the same nature and tendency, whereby it manifestly appears
that this Assembly, for some years last past, have attempted,
by unwarrant to both practices, to weaken, if not cast off,
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the obedience they owe to the Crown and the dependence
which all colonies ought to have on the mother Country.
Have the close of these instructions, his Majesty added his
expectation that they do forthwith comply with this proposal, as
the last signification of our royal pleasure to them. On
this subject, and if the said Assembly shall not think
fit to comply therewith it is our will and pleasure,
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and you are required immediately to come over to this
Kingdom of Great Britain in order to give us an
exact account of all that shall have passed on this subject,
that we may lay the same before our Parliament. The
House proceeded, as in the case of Governor Burnett, to
make a grant to mister Belcher a one thousand pounds
currency for defraying the expense of his voyage and as
a gratuity for his services while the agent of the
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Colony in England, and some time after voted a some
equal to one thousand pounds sterling to enable him to
manage the public affairs, etc. But fix no time for
which the allowance was made. The Council concurred in this vote,
adding an amendment and that the same sum be annually
allowed for the Governor's support. The House not agreeing to
this amendment, the Council carried it so as to read
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that the same sum should be annually paid during his
Excellency's continuance in the government and residence here. This also
was disagreed to, and the resolution fell the small pox
being in the town of Cambridge, the Assembly was adjourned
to Roxbury. Two or three sessions passed with little more
on the part of the Governor than a repetition of
his demand for a fixed salary and an intimation that
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he should be obliged to return to England and stay
the conduct of the House of Representatives to the King.
Some unsuccessful attempts were made by his friends to pass
a bill fixing the salary during his administration, with a
protest against the principle and against that bills being drawn
into precedent. Failing in this expedient and finding the House inflexible,
he despaired of succeeding with that body, and turned his
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attention to the relaxation of his instructions. Seventeen thirty one
he advised an address from the House to His Majesty,
praying that he might be permitted to receive the sum
which the legislature had offered to grant him. This was
allowed by the Crown, with the understanding that he was
still to insist on a compliance with his instructions. Leave
to accept particular grants was obtained for two or three
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years successively, and at length, the general permission was conceded
to accept such sums as might be given by the Assembly.
Contest concerning the salary terminated. Thus was terminated the stubborn
contest concerning a permanent salary for the governor. Its circumstances
have been event more in detail than consists with the
general plan of this work. Because it is considered as exhibiting,
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in genuine colours the character of the people engaged in it,
it is regarded as an early and an honorable display
of the same persevering temper in defense the principle of
the same unconquerable spirit of liberty, which, at a later day,
and on a more important question toward the British colonies
from a country to which they had been strongly attached
seventeen thirty three, the immense quantity of depreciated paper which
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was in circulation throughout New England had no tendency to
diminish the complaints of the scarcity of money. Massachusetts and
New Hampshire were restrained from further emissions by the instructions
of their governors, who received their appointments from the Crown. Connecticut,
engaged chiefly in agricultural pursuits, suffered less from this depreciated
medium than her neighbours, and was less disposed to increase
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its evils. Rhode Island, equally commercial with Massachusetts and equally
fond of paper, chose their own governor, and might therefore
indulge without restraint her passion for a system alike unfavorable
to morals and to industry. That colony now issued one
hundred thousand pounds on loan to its inhabitants for twenty years.
The merchants of Boston, apprehensive that this capital would transfer
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the stock of Massachusetts to Rhode Island, associated against receiving
the new emission, and many of them formed a company
which issued one hundred and ten thousand pounds redeemable with
specie and ten yures, the tenth part annually at the
then current value of paper. The association against receiving the
new emission of Rhode Island was not long observed. In
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the bills of New Hampshire, Connecticut, were also current silver
immediately rose to twenty seven shillings. The ounce and the
notes issued by the merchants soon disappeared, leaving in circulation
only the government paper seventeen thirty nine Great uneasiness prevailed
through Massachusetts on this subject. The last installment of the
bills would become due in seventeen forty one, and no
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power existed to redeem them by new emissions. Serious consequences
were apprehended from calling in the circulating medium without substituting
another in its place, and the alarm was increased by
the circumstance of the taxes had been so lightly apportioned
on the first years as to require the imposition of
heavy burdens for the redemption of what remained in circulation.
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The discontents excited by these causes were manifested in the
elections and were directed against the governor, who was openly
hostile to the paper system. Land Bank, the projector of
the bank again came forward, and, placing himself at the
head of seven or eight hundred persons, some of whom
possessed property, proposed to form a company which should issue
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one hundred and fifty thousand pounds in bills. By this scheme,
every borrower of some larger than one hundred pounds was
to mortgage real estate to secure its repayment. The borrowers
of smaller sums might secure their repayment either by mortgage
or by bond with two securities. Each subscriber or partner
was to pay an nat nually three per cent interest
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on the sum he should take, and five per centum
of the principle, either in the bills themselves or in
the produce and manufactures of the country, at such rates
as the directors should from time to time established. Although
the favorers of this project were so successful at the
elections as to obtain a great majority in the general Court,
men of fortune and the principal merchants refused to receive
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these bills. Many small traders, however, and other persons interested
in the circulation of a depreciated currency, gave them credit.
The directors themselves, it was said, became traders and issued
bills without limitation and without giving security for their redemption.
The Governor, anticipating the pernicious effects of the institution, exerted
all his influence against it. He displaced such executive officers
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as were members of it, and negative the Speaker and
thirteen members elected to the Council who were also of
the company. Seventeen forty company dissolved. General confusion being apprehended,
application was made to Parliament for an act to suppress
the company. This being readily obtained, the company was dissolved
and the holders of the bills were allowed their action
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against its members individually. About this time Governor Belcher was
recalled and mister Shirley was appointed to succeed him. He
found the land Bank interest predominant in the House and
the treasury empty seventeen forty one. In the state of things,
he deemed it necessary to depart from the letter of
his instructions in order to preserve their spirit. A bill
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was passed declaring that all contracts should be understood to
be payable in silver at six shillings and eight pence
the ounce when goat at its comparative value. Bills of
a new form were issued, purporting to be four ounces
of silver, which were to be received in payment of
all debts, with this proviso that if they should appreciate
between the time of contract and of payment, a proportional
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addition should be made to the debt affairs of New York.
While these transactions were passing in New England, symptoms of
that jealousy which an unsettled must produce between neighbors began
to show themselves in Canada and New York. The geographical
situation of these colonies had at an early period directed
the attention of both towards the commerce of the lakes.
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Mister Burnett, the governor both of New York and New Jersey,
impressed with the importance of acquiring the command of Lake Ontario,
had in the year seventeen twenty two, erected a trading
house at Oswego, in the country of the Senecas. This
measure excited the jealousy of the French, who launched two
vessels on the lake and transported materials to Niagara for
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building a large storehouse and for repairing the fort at
that place. These proceedings were strongly opposed by the Senecas
and by the government of New York. Mister Burnett remonstrated
against them as encroachments on a British province, and also
addressed administration on the subject. Complaints were made to the
Cabinet of Versailles, but the Governor of Canada proceeded to
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complete the fort. To countervail the effects of a measure
which he could not prevent, Governor Burnett erected a fort
at Oswego soon after the building of which while mister
van Dam was Governor of New York. The French took
possession of Crown Point, which they fortified and thus acquired
the command of Late Champlain. Obviously, as this measure was
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calculated to favor both the offensive and defensive operations of
France and America, the English Minister, after an unavailing remonstrance,
submitted to it end of Chapter eight
Chapter eight of the Life of Washington, Volume one by
John Marshall. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Proceedings of the Legislature of Massachusetts. Intrigues of the French
among the Indians, war with the Savages, Peace controversy with
the Governor decided in England, contests concerning the governor's salary.
(00:23):
The Assembly adjourned to Salem. Contests concerning the salary terminated.
Great depreciation of the paper currency scheme of Outland Bank
Company dissolved by active parliament. Governor Shirley arrives Review of
transactions in New York seventeen fourteen. The heavy expenses of
Massachusetts during the late war had produced such large emissions
(00:43):
of paper money that a considerable depreciation took place and
specie disappeared. The consequent rise of exchange, instead of being
attributed to its true cause, was ascribed to the decay
of trade. The colony, having now leisure for its domestic concerns,
turned its attention to this interesting subject Affairs of Massachusetts.
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Three parties were formed. The first, a small one, actuated
by the principle that honesty is the best policy, was
in favor of calling in the paper money, in relying
on the industry of the people to replace it with
a circulating medium of greater stability. The second proposed a
private bank, which was to issue bills of credit, to
be received by all the members of the company, but
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at no certain value compared with gold and silver. It
was not intended to deposit specing the bank for the
redemption of its notes as they might be offered, but
to pledge real estates as security that the company would
perform its engagements. The third party was in favor of
a loan of bills from the government to any of
the inhabitants who would mortgage real estate to secure their
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repayment in a specified term of years, the interest to
be paid annually and applied to the support of government.
The first party, perceiving its numerical weakness, joined the third,
and the whole province was divided between a public and
private bank. At length. The party for the public bank
prevailed in the General Court, and fifty thousand pounds were
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issued and placed in the hands of trustees, to be
lent for five years at an interest of five per
centum per annum, one fifth part of the principle to
be paid annually. Seventeen sixteen, this scheme failing to improve
the commerce of the colony. Governor Shoote, who had succeeded Dudley,
reminded the Assembly of the bad state of trade, which
he ascribed to the scarcity of money, and recommended the
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consideration of some effectual measures to supply this want. The
result of this recommendation was a second loan of one
hundred thousand pounds for ten years, to be placed in
the hands of commissioners in each county in proportion to
its taxes. The whole currency soon depreciated to such a
degree that the entire summon circulation did not represent more
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real value than was represented by that which was circulating
before the emission. The governor had now sufficient leisure, and
the General Court furnished him with sufficient motives to reflect
on the policy he had recommended. An attempted to raise
his salary as money depreciated did not succeed, and only
the usual nominal sum was voted for his support. Seventy nineteen,
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the Massachusetts Peace abroad was the signal for dissension at home.
Independent in her opinions and habits, she had been accustomed
to consider herself rather as a sister kingdom, acknowledging one
common sovereign with England than as a colony. The election
of all the branches of the legislature, a principal common
to New England, contributed, especially while the mother country was
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occupied with her own internal divisions, to nourish these opinions
and habits. Although the new Charter of Massachusetts modified the
independence of that colony by vesting the appointment of the
governor in that crown, yet the course of thinking which
had prevailed from the settlement of the country had gained
too much strength to be immediately changed. In Massachusetts sought
by private influence over her chief magistrate to compensate herself
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for the loss of his appointment. With this view, it
had become usual for the General Court to testify its
satisfaction with his conduct by presence, and this measure was
also adopted in other colonies. Apprehending that this practice might
dispose the governors to conciliate the legislatures at the expense
of their duty to the Crown, the Queen had given
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peremptory orders to receive no more gifts and to obtain
acts fixing their salaries permanently at a sum named by herself.
The mandate respecting presence was of course obeyed, and some
of the colonies complied with their requisition respecting the salary,
but in Massachusetts and New York he was steadily resistant.
A controlling power over its salaries was a source of
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influence which was pertinaciously maintained, and its efficacy was tried
in all the conflicts between Massachusetts and her governor. Almost
every important measure brought before the legislature was productive of
contests between these departments. They disagreed not only on the
policy of particular acts, but on the limits of their power.
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The governor claimed the right of negativing the speaker chosen
by the representatives, which was denied by them, and each
party persisting in its pretensions. The Assembly was dissolved and
new elections took place, the same members being generally re chosen.
The House of Representatives assembled with increased irritation and passed
some angry resolutions respecting its dissolution. The governor in turn
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charged the House with encroachments on the power of the executive,
among other instances of which he mentioned certain resolutions passed
on the commencement of hostilities by the Indians, which were
deemed equivalent to a declaration of war, and had therefore
been rejected seventeen twenty one. Disagreements were multiplied between them.
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Paper money and trade were inexhaustible sources of discontent. New
elections produced no change of temper. After war was formally
declared against the Indians, the House endeavored to exercise executive
powers in its prosecution, and the Council not concurring with them,
The representatives attempted, in one instance to act alone. The
measures recommended by the governor to successive assemblies were disregarded,
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Irritating resolves were adopted and reiterated, and a course of
angry crimination and recrimination took place between them, in the
progress of which the Governor's salary was reduced in its
nominal as well as real amount, and the sum granted,
instead of being voted, as had been usual at the
commencement of the session, was reserved to its close seventeen
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twenty two. In the midst of these contests, Governor Chute,
who had privately solicited and obtained leave to return to England,
suddenly embarked on board the Sea horse Man of War,
leaving the controversy concerning the extent of the executive power
to devolve on the Lieutenant Governor. The House of Representatives
persisted in asserting its control over objects which had been
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deemed within the province of the executive, but its resolutions
were generally negative by the Council. This produced some altercation
between the two branches of the legislature, but they at
length united in the passage of a resolution desiring their
agent in England to take the best measures for protecting
the interests of the colony, which were believed to be
in danger from the representations of Governor Schut intrigues of
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the French with the Indians. During these contests in the interior,
the frontiers had suffered severely from the depredations of the Indians.
The French had acquired great influence over all the eastern tribes.
Jesuit missionaries generally resided among them, who obtained a great
ascendancy in their councils. After the session of Nova Scotia
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to Great Britain. Father Raleigh, a missionary residing among the
savages of that province, exerted successfully all his address to
excite their jealousies and resentments against the English. By his
acts and those of other missionaries. All the Eastern Indians,
as well as those of Canada, were combined against New England.
They made incursions into Massachusetts in cons squints, of which
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some troops were detached to the village in which Raleigh
resided for the purpose of seizing his person. He received
intimation of their approach in time to make his escape,
but they secured his papers, among which were some showing
that in exciting the savages to war against the English colonists,
he had acted under the authority of the Governor of Canada,
who had secretly promised to supply them with arms and ammunition.
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Seventeen twenty six envoys were deputed with a remonstrance against
conducts so incompatible with the state of peace then subsisting
between France and England. The Governor received this embassy politely
and at first denied any interference in the corps, alleging
that the Indians were independent nations who made war and
peace without being controlled by him. On being shown his
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letters to Raleigh, he changed his language and gave assurances
of his future good officers in affecting a peace. On
the faith of these assurances, conferences were held with some
Indian chiefs. Then in Canada, several captives were ransomed peace,
and soon after the return of the commissioners to New England,
the war was terminated by a treaty of peace signed
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at Boston. Decision against the House on the controversy with
the Governor. Meanwhile, the complaints of Governor shoot against the
House of Representatives were heard in England. Every question was
decided against the House, and most of them. The existing
charter was deemed sufficiently explicit, but on two points it
was thought advisable to have explanatory articles. These were the
(09:26):
right of the Governor to negative the appointment of the Speaker,
and the right of the House on the subject of
the adjournment. New Charter an explanatory charter, therefore affirming the
power claimed by the Governor to negative a speaker, and
denying to the House of Representatives the right of adjourney
itself for a longer time than two days. This charter
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was submitted to the General Court to be accepted or refused,
but it was accompanied with the intimation that, in the
event of its being refused, the whole controversy between the
Governor House of Representatives would be laid before Parliament conduct
of the Representatives had been so generally condemned in England
as to excite fears that an act to vacate the
chart it would be the consequence of a parliamentary inquiry.
(10:10):
The temper of the House I had undergone a change.
The violence and irritation which marked its proceedings in the
contest with Governor's shoot had subsided, and a majority determined
to accept the new charter seventeen twenty seventh. The trade
of the province still languished, and complaints of the scarcity
of money were as loud as when only specie was
(10:30):
in circulation. To remedy these evils, a bill for emitting
a further sum in paper past both houses, but was
rejected by the Lieutenant Governor as being inconsistent with his instructions.
The House of Representatives thereupon postponed the consideration of salaries
till the next session. The Assembly was then adjourned at
its own request, and after a recess of a fortnight,
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was again convened as an expedient to allude the instructions
to the Governor which interdicted his assent to any act
for issuing bills of credit except for charges of government.
A bill passed with the title of an Act for
Raising and Settling a Public Revenue for and towards deferring
the necessary charges of Government by an emission of sixty
thousand pounds in bills of credit. This bill, providing for
(11:15):
the payment of the salaries to which several members of
the Council were entitled, passed that House also, and the
Lieutenant Government gave a reluctant assent to it. Its passage
into a law furnishes strong evidence of the influence which
to control over salaries gave to the House of Representatives.
Seventeen twenty eight contests respecting salary. Mister Burnett, who had
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been appointed Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, was received
with great pomp in Boston at the first meeting of
the Assembly. He stated the King's instructions to insist on
an established salary, and his intention firmly to adhere to them.
The Assembly was not less firm in its determination to
resist this demand, and that no additional and unnecessary obloquy
(12:00):
might be encountered. Resolved not to mingle any difference concerning
the amount of the salary with the great question of
its depending on the will of the legislature as soon
therefore as the compliments usual on the arrival of a
governor had passed, the House voted one thousand, seven hundred
pounds towards his support and to defray the charges of
his journey. This vote was understood to give him, as
(12:22):
a present salary, a sum equal to one thousand pounds
sterling per annum. The Governor declared his inability to assent
to this bill, it being inconsistent with his instructions. After
a week's deliberation, the Assembly granted three hundred pounds for
the expenses of his journey, which he accepted, and in
a distinct vote, the farther sum of one thousand, four
(12:42):
hundred pounds was granted towards his support. The latter vote
was accompanied with a joint message from both houses, wherein
they asserted their undoubted right as Englishmen, in their privilege
by their charter to raise and apply money for the
support of government, and their willingness to give the Governor
an ample and honorable support. They apprehended it would be
most for his Majesty's service to do so without establishing
(13:05):
a fixed salary. The governor returned an answer on the
same day in which he said that if they really
intended to give him an ample and honorable support, they
could have no just objection to making their purpose effectual
by fixing his salary, for he would never accept a
grant of the kind then offered. The Council was disposed
to avoid the contest and to grant a sally to
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the present governor for a certain time, but the House
of Representatives, remaining firm to its purpose, sent a message
to the Governor, requesting that the court might rise. He
answered that a compliance with this request would put it
out of the power of the legislature to pay immediate
regard to the King's instructions, and he would not grant
a recess until the business of the session should be finished.
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The Representatives then declared that, in faithfulness to the people,
they could not come into enact for establishing a salary
on the Governor or commander in chief for the time being,
and therefore renewed their request that the court might rise.
Both the Governor and the House of Representatives seemed thus
far to have made their declarations with some reserve. A
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salary during his own administration might perhaps have satisfied him,
though he demanded that one should be settled generally on
the Commander in chief for the time being, and the
House had not yet declared against settling a salary on
him for a limited time. Each desired that the other
should make some concession. Both declined. Both were irritated by
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long altercation, and at length, instead of mutually advancing, fixed
at the opposite extremes, after several ineffectual efforts on each side,
the representatives sent a message to the Governor stating at
large the motives which induced the resolution they had formed.
The Governor returned to prompt answering which he also detailed
the reasons in support of the demand he had made.
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These two papers, manifesting the principles and objects of both parties,
deserve attention even at this period. The House, not long
after his resis receiving this message, far from making any
advances towards the compliance with his request, came the two resolutions,
strongly expressive of its determination not to recede from the
ground which had been taken. These resolutions gave the first
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indication on the part of the representatives of a fixed
purpose to make no advance towards a compromise. They induced
the Governor to remind the Court of the danger to
which the proceedings of that body might expose the Charter.
This caution did not deter the House from preparing and
transmitting to the several towns of the province a statement
of the controversy, which concludes with saying, we dare neither
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come into a fixed salary on the government forever nor
for a limited time, for the following reasons. First because
it is an untrodden path which neither we nor our
predecessors have gone in, and we cannot certainly foresee the
many dangers that may be in it, nor can we
depart from that way which has been found safe and comfortable. Secondly,
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because it is the undoubted right of all Englishmen, by
Magna Carta, to raise and dispose of money for the
public service of their own free a court, without compulsion. Thirdly,
because it must necessarily lessen the dignity and freedom of
the House of Representatives in making acts, and raising and
applying taxes, etc. And consequently cannot be thought a proper
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method to preserve that balance in the three branches of
the legislature which seems necessary to form, maintain, and uphold
the Constitution. Fourthly, because the Charter fully empowers the General
Assembly to make such laws and orders as they shall judge,
for the good and welfare of the inhabitants, and if
they are any part of them, judge this not to
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be for their good. They neither ought nor could come
into it, for as to act beyonder without the powers
granted in that Charter might just incur the King's displeasure.
So not to act up and agreeable to those powers
might justly be deemed a betraying of the rights and
privileges therein granted. And if they should give up this right,
they would open a door to many other inconveniences. Many
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messages passed in quick succession between the Governor and the House,
in the course of which the argument stated in the
papers which have been mentioned were enlarged and diversified at link.
The House repeated its request for an adjournment, but the
Governor applied that unless His Majesty's pleasure had due wait
with them, their desires would have very little with him.
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The Council now interposed with a resolution declaring that it
is expedient for the Court to ascertain a sum as
a salary for his Excellency's support as also the term
of time for its continuance. This resolution was transmitted to
the House of Representatives and immediately rejected. After much controversy,
a small seeming advance towards an accommodation was made. Instead
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of voting a salary, as have been usual for half
a year, a grant was made to the governor of
three thousand pounds equal to one thousand pounds sterling, to
enable him to manage the affairs of the province. This
was generally understood to be a salary for a year.
Having withheld his assent from this vote, the House entreated
him to accept the grant and added, we cannot doubt
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but that succeeding assemblies, according to the ability of the province,
will be very ready to grant as ample as support,
and if they should not, your Excellency will then have
an opportunity of showing your resentment. The Governor, however, persisted
to withhold his assent from the vote. The colony, generally,
in especially Boston, was opposed to a compliance with the
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instructions of the Crown. At a general meeting of the inhabitants,
the town passed a vote purporting to be unanimous against
fixing a salary on the governor adjournment of the Assembly
to Salem. In consequence of this vote, and of an
opinion that the members of the House were influenced by
the inhabitants of the town, the Governor determined to change
the place at which the Court should hold its session,
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and on the twenty fourth of October adjourned it to
the thirtieth, then to meet at Salem, in the country
of Essex. Change of place did not change the temper
of the House. This was not, as in the contest
with Governor's Chuet, an angry altercation into which the representatives
were precipitated by a restless and encroaching temper, but a
solemn and deliberate stand made in defense of a right
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believed to be unquestionable and of a principle deemed essential
to the welfare of the colony. The ground taken was
considered well and maintained with firmness. Votes and messages of
the same tenor with those which had been often repeated,
continued to pass between the representatives and the Governor until
the subject was entirely exhausted, each party being determined to
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adhere to its principles. The House met and adjourned daily
without entering on business. In the meantime, the Governor received
no salary. To the members of Boston, who had not
been accustomed to the expense of attending the legislature at
a distant place, a compensation above their ordinary wages was
made by the town. The House, firmly persuaded of their
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propriety of its conduct, prepared a memorial to the King
praying a change in the royal instructions to the Governor.
Agents were appointed to represent the General Court in England,
and a vote was passed for defraying the expenses attendant
on the business. The Council refused to concur in this
vote because the agents had been appointed by the House
(20:15):
of Representatives singly, and the measure must have been abandoned
for want of money, had not the inhabitants of Boston
raised the sum required by subscription. Seventeen twenty nine letters
were soon received from these agents, enclosing a report from
the Board of Trade, before whom they had been heard
by Council, entirely disapproving the conduct of the House. The
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letters also indicated that should the House persist in its
refusal to comply with the King's instructions, the affair might
be carried before Parliament. But should even this happen, the
agents thought it more advisable that the salary should be
fixed by the Supreme Legislature than by that of the province.
It was better, they said, that the liberties of the
people should be taken from them than given up by themselves.
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The Governor at length refused to sign a warrant on
that treasury for the wages of the members. One branch
of the legislature, he said, might as well go without
their pay as the other. The act and the reason
for it were alike unsatisfactory to the house. Death of
Governor Burnett. After a recess from the twentieth December to
the second of April, the General Court met again at Salem.
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Repeated meetings at that place having produced no accommodation, the
Governor journed the legislature to Cambridge. A few days after
the commencement of the session, he was seized with a fever,
of which he died. Mister Burnett is said to have
possessed many valuable qualities, and had he not been engaged
by a sense of duty in this long contest, he
would in all probability have been a favorite of the province.
(21:47):
Seventeen thirty arrival of Governor Belcher. Mister Belcher, who succeeded Burnett,
arrived at Boston early in August, where he was cordially
received at the first meeting of the General Court. He
pressed the ublishment of a permanent salary, and lay before
them his instructions, in which it was declared that, in
the event of the continued refusal of the Assembly, his
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Majesty will find himself under the necessity of laying the
undutiful behavior of the province before the Legislature of Great Britain,
not only in this single instance, but in many others
of the same nature and tendency, whereby it manifestly appears
that this Assembly, for some years last past, have attempted,
by unwarrant to both practices, to weaken, if not cast off,
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the obedience they owe to the Crown and the dependence
which all colonies ought to have on the mother Country.
Have the close of these instructions, his Majesty added his
expectation that they do forthwith comply with this proposal, as
the last signification of our royal pleasure to them. On
this subject, and if the said Assembly shall not think
fit to comply therewith it is our will and pleasure,
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and you are required immediately to come over to this
Kingdom of Great Britain in order to give us an
exact account of all that shall have passed on this subject,
that we may lay the same before our Parliament. The
House proceeded, as in the case of Governor Burnett, to
make a grant to mister Belcher a one thousand pounds
currency for defraying the expense of his voyage and as
a gratuity for his services while the agent of the
(23:12):
Colony in England, and some time after voted a some
equal to one thousand pounds sterling to enable him to
manage the public affairs, etc. But fix no time for
which the allowance was made. The Council concurred in this vote,
adding an amendment and that the same sum be annually
allowed for the Governor's support. The House not agreeing to
this amendment, the Council carried it so as to read
(23:35):
that the same sum should be annually paid during his
Excellency's continuance in the government and residence here. This also
was disagreed to, and the resolution fell the small pox
being in the town of Cambridge, the Assembly was adjourned
to Roxbury. Two or three sessions passed with little more
on the part of the Governor than a repetition of
his demand for a fixed salary and an intimation that
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he should be obliged to return to England and stay
the conduct of the House of Representatives to the King.
Some unsuccessful attempts were made by his friends to pass
a bill fixing the salary during his administration, with a
protest against the principle and against that bills being drawn
into precedent. Failing in this expedient and finding the House inflexible,
he despaired of succeeding with that body, and turned his
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attention to the relaxation of his instructions. Seventeen thirty one
he advised an address from the House to His Majesty,
praying that he might be permitted to receive the sum
which the legislature had offered to grant him. This was
allowed by the Crown, with the understanding that he was
still to insist on a compliance with his instructions. Leave
to accept particular grants was obtained for two or three
(24:42):
years successively, and at length, the general permission was conceded
to accept such sums as might be given by the Assembly.
Contest concerning the salary terminated. Thus was terminated the stubborn
contest concerning a permanent salary for the governor. Its circumstances
have been event more in detail than consists with the
general plan of this work. Because it is considered as exhibiting,
(25:06):
in genuine colours the character of the people engaged in it,
it is regarded as an early and an honorable display
of the same persevering temper in defense the principle of
the same unconquerable spirit of liberty, which, at a later day,
and on a more important question toward the British colonies
from a country to which they had been strongly attached
seventeen thirty three, the immense quantity of depreciated paper which
(25:29):
was in circulation throughout New England had no tendency to
diminish the complaints of the scarcity of money. Massachusetts and
New Hampshire were restrained from further emissions by the instructions
of their governors, who received their appointments from the Crown. Connecticut,
engaged chiefly in agricultural pursuits, suffered less from this depreciated
medium than her neighbours, and was less disposed to increase
(25:51):
its evils. Rhode Island, equally commercial with Massachusetts and equally
fond of paper, chose their own governor, and might therefore
indulge without restraint her passion for a system alike unfavorable
to morals and to industry. That colony now issued one
hundred thousand pounds on loan to its inhabitants for twenty years.
The merchants of Boston, apprehensive that this capital would transfer
(26:14):
the stock of Massachusetts to Rhode Island, associated against receiving
the new emission, and many of them formed a company
which issued one hundred and ten thousand pounds redeemable with
specie and ten yures, the tenth part annually at the
then current value of paper. The association against receiving the
new emission of Rhode Island was not long observed. In
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the bills of New Hampshire, Connecticut, were also current silver
immediately rose to twenty seven shillings. The ounce and the
notes issued by the merchants soon disappeared, leaving in circulation
only the government paper seventeen thirty nine Great uneasiness prevailed
through Massachusetts on this subject. The last installment of the
bills would become due in seventeen forty one, and no
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power existed to redeem them by new emissions. Serious consequences
were apprehended from calling in the circulating medium without substituting
another in its place, and the alarm was increased by
the circumstance of the taxes had been so lightly apportioned
on the first years as to require the imposition of
heavy burdens for the redemption of what remained in circulation.
(27:19):
The discontents excited by these causes were manifested in the
elections and were directed against the governor, who was openly
hostile to the paper system. Land Bank, the projector of
the bank again came forward, and, placing himself at the
head of seven or eight hundred persons, some of whom
possessed property, proposed to form a company which should issue
(27:40):
one hundred and fifty thousand pounds in bills. By this scheme,
every borrower of some larger than one hundred pounds was
to mortgage real estate to secure its repayment. The borrowers
of smaller sums might secure their repayment either by mortgage
or by bond with two securities. Each subscriber or partner
was to pay an nat nually three per cent interest
(28:02):
on the sum he should take, and five per centum
of the principle, either in the bills themselves or in
the produce and manufactures of the country, at such rates
as the directors should from time to time established. Although
the favorers of this project were so successful at the
elections as to obtain a great majority in the general Court,
men of fortune and the principal merchants refused to receive
(28:23):
these bills. Many small traders, however, and other persons interested
in the circulation of a depreciated currency, gave them credit.
The directors themselves, it was said, became traders and issued
bills without limitation and without giving security for their redemption.
The Governor, anticipating the pernicious effects of the institution, exerted
all his influence against it. He displaced such executive officers
(28:47):
as were members of it, and negative the Speaker and
thirteen members elected to the Council who were also of
the company. Seventeen forty company dissolved. General confusion being apprehended,
application was made to Parliament for an act to suppress
the company. This being readily obtained, the company was dissolved
and the holders of the bills were allowed their action
(29:08):
against its members individually. About this time Governor Belcher was
recalled and mister Shirley was appointed to succeed him. He
found the land Bank interest predominant in the House and
the treasury empty seventeen forty one. In the state of things,
he deemed it necessary to depart from the letter of
his instructions in order to preserve their spirit. A bill
(29:29):
was passed declaring that all contracts should be understood to
be payable in silver at six shillings and eight pence
the ounce when goat at its comparative value. Bills of
a new form were issued, purporting to be four ounces
of silver, which were to be received in payment of
all debts, with this proviso that if they should appreciate
between the time of contract and of payment, a proportional
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addition should be made to the debt affairs of New York.
While these transactions were passing in New England, symptoms of
that jealousy which an unsettled must produce between neighbors began
to show themselves in Canada and New York. The geographical
situation of these colonies had at an early period directed
the attention of both towards the commerce of the lakes.
(30:12):
Mister Burnett, the governor both of New York and New Jersey,
impressed with the importance of acquiring the command of Lake Ontario,
had in the year seventeen twenty two, erected a trading
house at Oswego, in the country of the Senecas. This
measure excited the jealousy of the French, who launched two
vessels on the lake and transported materials to Niagara for
(30:32):
building a large storehouse and for repairing the fort at
that place. These proceedings were strongly opposed by the Senecas
and by the government of New York. Mister Burnett remonstrated
against them as encroachments on a British province, and also
addressed administration on the subject. Complaints were made to the
Cabinet of Versailles, but the Governor of Canada proceeded to
(30:53):
complete the fort. To countervail the effects of a measure
which he could not prevent, Governor Burnett erected a fort
at Oswego soon after the building of which while mister
van Dam was Governor of New York. The French took
possession of Crown Point, which they fortified and thus acquired
the command of Late Champlain. Obviously, as this measure was
(31:14):
calculated to favor both the offensive and defensive operations of
France and America, the English Minister, after an unavailing remonstrance,
submitted to it end of Chapter eight
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