Lordships' favorable constructions of what herein shall appear amiss ; wishing his Majesty a long and peaceable reign, and your Lordships health and prosperity under his government.

Your Lordships' most humble servants,

SAMUEL CRANSTON, Governor.

Newport, on Rhode Island, the 27th of May, 1699.

John Russell Bartlett, editor, Records of the Colony of Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, in New England (Providence, 1858), III, 373–375.

20. An Historical Sketch of New England (1720)

TH

BY DANIEL NEAL

Daniel Neal was an intelligent historian, one of the few careful writers of his time. - Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 157-158; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 130. - For previous New England history, see Contemporaries, I, Part V. The Inhabitants HE Inhabitants of New-England are the Posterity of of New-England. the old English Puritans or Nonconformists to the Church of England, who chose to leave their native Country, and retire into a Wilderness, rather than submit to such Rites and Ceremonies in Religion as they apprehended sinful. They did not differ with the Church in any of the Articles of her Faith, but they scrupled the Vestments, kneeling at the Sacrament, some Parts of the Common-Prayer, and the promiscuous Admission of all Persons to the Communion; for these things they were silenced and deprived of their Livings, which put great Numbers of the Ministers under a Necessity of removing with their Followers to America.

Their Numbers, and military Strength.

THE Number of Planters that went over to NewEngland before the Year 1640, were about 4000; after which for the next 20 Years they had no Increase but what sprung up from among themselves; In the Reigns of King Charles II. and King James II. great Numbers of Dissenters, both Ministers and People went over, to avoid the Hardships they suffer'd from the Church; and it deserves to be taken Notice of, that the Increase of the English Plantations abroad depends very much on the Treatment the Dissenters from the Established Church of England meet with at home: When they are allowed the free Exercise of their Civil and Religious Liberties, they love their native Country too well to leave it; but when they are

oppress'd in so tender a Point as their Consciences, 'tis but reasonable to suppose, that many of them will go where they can make themselves easy; for the Confirmation of this Observation, we need look no further at present than Ireland, from whence, if I am rightly inform'd, above 6000 Scotch Presbyterians have shipp'd off themselves and their Effects within these few Years for the Plantations of America, chiefly on the Account of the Uneasinesses they were under, with Regard to the free Exercise of their Religion: And great Numbers are still going over every Summer, which if the Legislature are not pleas'd to take into Consideration, may in Time very much weaken, if not totally subvert the Protestant Religion in that Kingdom.

To such Causes as these, New-England owes the vast Increase of its Inhabitants. . . the whole Number of Inhabitants must now amount to 160 or 165,000, and of them about 30 or 35000 fighting Men, which is the Military Strength of the Country.

FROM this Calculation we may conclude, that the Province of NewEngland is in no great Danger at present from any of its Neighbours, for the Indians are an inconsiderable Body of themselves, and if the French should joyn them, though they might ravage the Frontiers by their flying Parties, they could make no Impressions upon the Heart of the Country; besides the Indians are divided, some being in Alliance with the French, and others with the English; so that in case of a War they may be play'd one against the other.

As the Government of New-England is dependant on Their Trade. the Crown of England, so is their Trade; 'tis impossible

to make an exact Estimate of the Exports and Imports from NewEngland, without examining the Custom-House-Books, but 'tis computed by the most experienced Merchants trading to those Parts, that they receive from hence all Sorts of Woollen-Drapery, Silks, Stuffs, and Hats; all Sorts of Linnen, and printed Callicoes, all Sorts of Iron Manufacture, and Birmingham Ware, as Tools for Mechanicks, Knives, Scissars, Buckles, Nails &c. to the Value of 100,000 7. annually, and upwards. IN Return for these Goods, our Merchants export from thence about 100,000 Quintals of dried Cod-fish yearly, which they send to Portugal, Spain, and the several Ports of Italy, the Returns for which are made to London out of the Product of those Countries, and may amount to the Value of about 80,000 7. annually.

BUT in the Concerns of Civil Life, as in their Dress, Tables, and Conversation, they affect to be as much English as possible; there is no

Fashion in London, but in three or four Months is to be seen at Boston, nay, they are fond of the very Name. and Person of an English Man, insomuch that some who have had no great Affection for the People on ⚫ the Account of their Preciseness, have yet been so agreeably entertain'd by them, as to leave the Country with Regret. In short, the only Difference between an Old and a New-English Man is in his Religion; and here the Disagreement is chiefly about the Liturgy, and ChurchGovernment, the one being for a National Church, govern'd by ArchBishops, Bishops, and a Convocation: The other esteeming all Ministers to be of the same Order, and every Society of Christians meeting together in the same Place, a compleat Christian Church, having all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within itself, without being subject to a Classis, Synod, or Convocation any further than for Advice.

Their Political
Interests.

It can't be denied but there are two State-Factions in New-England, as well as in most Kingdoms of Europe, which have arisen partly from a private narrow Spirit in some leading Men, who are a Sort of Spies upon the Gover[n]ment they live under, and express their Dislike of the Management of publick Affairs in all Companies, chiefly because themselves have no Share in it; but I can assure the World, that Religion is no Part of the Quarrel, for there being no Sacramental Test for Preferments in the State, all Parties of Christians among them are easy; Happy People! as long as Religion and the State continue on a separate Basis; the Magistrate not medling in Matters of Religion any further than is necessary for the Preservation of the pubtick Peace; nor the Churches calling for the Sword of the Magistrate to back their Ecclesiastical Censures with corporal Severities. May they long continue on this Foot a Sanctuary to oppressed Protestants in all Parts of the World!

BUT after all, it will be impossible for New-England to subsist of itself for some Centuries of Years; for tho' they might maintain themselves against their Neighbours on the Continent, they must starve without a free Trade with Europe, the Manufactures of the Country being very inconsiderable; so that if we could suppose them to rebel against England, they must throw themselves into the Arms of some other Potentate, who would protect them no longer than he could sell them to Advantage; the French and Spaniards are Enemies to their Religion and Civil Liberties, and the Dutch are too cautious a People, to run the Hazard of losing their own Country, for the Alliance of another at so great a Distance; 'Tis therefore the Grand Interest of New-England to

remain subject to the Crown of England, and by their dutiful Behaviour to merit the Removal of those few Hardships and Inconveniences they complain of; no other Power can, or will protect them, and next to their own, 'tis impossible their Religion and Civil Liberties should be in better Hands than in a Parliament of England.

AND I must do the People of New-England so much Justice as to acquaint the World, that their Inclinations as well as Duty lead them to this; they love the English Constitution, and would live and dye in the Defence of it, because when that is gone, they know their own must soon follow; In the Reigns of King Charles and King James II. all the Men of Reflection throughout the Country seem'd to be dispirited, and in Pain for the Protestant Religion, and English Liberty, but when the good Providence of God brought about the Happy Revolution, they began a Jubilee of Joy, which has continued almost ever since. When the Protestant Succession in the Illustrious House of Hannover was in Danger, no People in the World pray'd more heartily for its taking Place; and when it pleased Almighty God to bring His Majesty to the Throne of his Ancestors, none of his Subjects in any Part of his Dominions celebrated the Auspicious Day with louder Acclamations of Joy and Thankfulness. In a Word, the People of New-England are a Dutiful and Loyal People, and that which the Protestant-Dissenters of the City of London, declared with so much Justice to His Majesty, in their Address occasioned by the late Rebellion, is litterally true of their Brethren in this Country, That King GEORGE is not known to have a single Enemy to His Person, Family, or Government in all New-England. Daniel Neal, The Present State of New-England (Chapter XIV of his History of New-England, II, London, 1720), 600-616 passim.

21. The Condition of New Hampshire (1730/1)

BY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR JOHN WENTWORTH

This piece, very similar in character to those in Nos. 19 above and 22 below, is unsigned, but appears to be by Wentworth, who was at this date the only representative of the home government. Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 163-164; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 123.- For previous New Hampshire history, see Contemporaries, I, ch. xix.

NSWERS to the Queries sent from the Right Honorable the Lords of Trade and Plantations. —January 22, 1730.

1. The situation of the province of New-Hampshire, is between the

province of the Massachusetts Bay, and the late province of Maine, bordering about fifteen miles in width upon the Atlantic Sea, or Western Ocean. The nature of the country, as to the ground, is rough, uneven, and hilly, but for the most part a good soil, being a mixture of clay land and loam, well watered, and suitably adapted for hemp and flax, and having considerable meadows in it. As to the climate, 'tis cold. Portsmouth, the capital of the province, is in forty three degrees and twenty minutes north latitude, and sixty eight degrees west from London, settled by good observations.

2. The province has no other boundaries than what are expressed in the King's commission to the Governor, and they are from three miles to the northward of Merrimack river on the one side, to Pascataqua river on the other, and no other bounds are mentioned in the said commission, and both of them are in dispute with the government of the Massachusetts Bay.

3. As to the Constitution of the government, the supreme power here, is vested in the Governor and Council, (appointed by the King,) and a house of representatives, (chosen by the people,) who make laws, &c.

4. The trade of the province is lumber and fish. The number of shipping belonging to the province, are five, consisting of about five hundred tons; and there are about three or four hundred tons of other shipping, that trade here (annually) not belonging to the province. The seafaring men, are about forty. The trade is much the same as it hath been, for some years past.

5. The province makes use of all sorts of British manufactures amounting to about five thousand pounds sterling, annually in value, which are had principally from Boston.

6. The trade of this province to other plantations is to the Caribbee Islands, whither we send lumber and fish, and receive for it rum, sugar, molasses and cotton; and as to the trade from hence to Europe, it is to Spain, or Portugal, from whence our vessels bring home salt.

7. The method to prevent illegal trade is by a collector appointed at home.

8. The natural produce of the province is timber (of various kinds (viz.) (principally) oak, pine, hemlock, ash, beech and birch,) and fish, and they are the only commodity's of the place.

The timber is generally manufactured into beams, plank, knees, boards, clapboards, shingles and staves, and sometimes into house