beasts of chase upon which they mainly subsisted. That race, after conquering the ancient Britons, though conquered in war by the Normans, gained a substantial and durable victory over the latter in language, in literature, and, if legal antiquarians are to be believed, in the more important matter of legal principles. Composed of men who were able and willing to work, who despised danger, who bore imprinted on their heart of hearts a reverence for law combined with an ardent love of libertythe Anglo-Saxon race possesses so strong an element of vitality that it has assimilated the various nationalities which enter into the composition of American society, and has made the United States an English-speaking

nation.

Under a patent from Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to plant a settlement on the island of Roanoke in 1585. The colonists were reduced to such straits by the want of provisions that they were obliged to kill two mastiffs which they had with them, and make "dogge's porridge." They were taken off a year after their arrival by the fleet of Sir Francis Drake, just two weeks before Sir Richard Grenville arrived with reinforcements and ample supplies. Fifty men left as a garrison by Grenville were murdered by the Indians. A colony sent out in the following year probably met with the same fate. Raleigh had spent nearly £40,000 ($200,000), yet had accomplished nothing.

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These successive failures made it evident that it was not in the power any one man, however wealthy, to plant a permanent colony in the territory then claimed by England, which extended from Cape Fear in North Carolina to Halifax in Nova Scotia, and westward to the Pacific. Two companies were therefore formed-the London Company, of "noblemen, gentlemen and merchants," to colonize SOUTH VIRGINIA, extending from the thirty-fourth to the thirty-eighth degrees of north latitude, and the Plymouth Company, to colonize NORTH VIRGINIA, extending from the fortyfirst to the forty-fifth degrees of north latitude. The name of the latter division was changed to NEW ENGLAND by Captain John Smith, who explored the coast and made a map of it in 1614. The strip of territory, two hundred miles broad, between these divisions, was left free to both companies, to prevent disputes about boundaries.

The first settlement was made by the London Company at Jamestown, on the James River, in Virginia, in 1607. The first colonists were not very good material for the formation of a commonwealth, being afflicted. with the gold fever. Farming was so much neglected that for several years the main supply of food was purchased from the Indians with goods sent over by the company. When the Indians were hostile a "starving time" ensued. The wise management of the famous Captain John Smith; the gradual cure of the gold fever by the failure of all attempts to find any of that precious metal; the abandonment of the "community-of

goods" system, which resembled that of the " International Association of Workingmen," and the stern enforcement of the scriptural rule that "if any would not work, neither should he eat,"-placed the colony on a firm basis. The progress made was not steady and regular, as the following statements of the population at different dates will show. In October, 1609, when Smith left the colony, it contained 490 settlers. In April, 1610, the number was reduced to 60. In 1619 the number had increased to 600. In 1624, 9000 immigrants had been brought over, counting from the first planting of the colony, out of which only 1800 remained. In the following year Virginia was made a royal province, but the House of Burgesses was left in existence, and the government was really freer than that of England under Charles I. In 1649 the colonists numbered 15,000, and the little commonwealth was in a very prosperous condition. The difficulties which caused so great a fluctuation in the number of inhabitants were sickness, famine, massacres by the Indians, and desertions from the colony through fear of the savages. The fact that a permanent state was founded, in spite of so many and so great obstacles, is a proof that we have not been too lavish in our praises of Anglo-Saxon energy and per

severance.

For thirteen years the Plymouth Company existed, but it accomplished little more than one unsuccessful attempt at settlement in Maine and some explorations of the coast. In 1620 it was superseded by the COUNCIL OF PLYMOUTH, composed of forty of the wealthiest and most powerful men in England. The very names of these two corporations bring to mind the first successful attempt to settle in New England. The landing of the "Pilgrim Fathers" on Plymouth Rock in 1620; the bravery and steadfastness with which they struggled against all the difficulties which beset the Virginian settlers, together with a climate comparatively bleak and a soil comparatively barren; their ardent religious zeal, which frequently carried them beyond the bounds of that toleration which it was the professed object of their self-imposed exile to secure for themselves;these and kindred themes have served so frequently as subjects for poet and painter, for orator and lecturer, for historian and novelist, that “the wayfaring man, though a stranger," cannot be wholly ignorant of them. We shall, therefore, instead of attempting to tell a story which has been told so often and so well, condense a report of the results of thirty years' colonization, from a pamphlet entitled 'Wonder-working Providences of Zion's Saviour in New England,' published by Captain Edward Johnson in 1650, as quoted by Hildreth: "The wigwams, huts and hovels the English dwelt in at their first coming are turned into orderly, fair and well-built houses, well furnished, many of them, with goodly fruit trees and garden flowers." Many laboring men who had not enough to bring them over were now "worth scores, and some hundreds, of pounds. Those who

were formerly forced to fetch most of the bread they ate and the beer they drank a thousand leagues by sea, are so increased that they have not only fed their elder sisters, Virginia, Barbadoes and the Summer Islands, but also the grandmother of us all, even the fertile isle of Great Britain, besides Portugal, that hath had many a mouthful of bread and fish from us in exchange for their Madeira liquors, and also Spain. Good white and wheaten bread is no dainty, but every ordinary man hath his choice. Flesh is now no rare food, beef, pork and mutton being frequent in many houses, so that this poor wilderness hath equalized England in food." As many as thirty-two trades were carried on in the colony, those of coopers, tanners and shoemakers being the most successful, and shoes were already manufactured for exportation.

As this description gives a fair idea of the results attained by nearly every attempt at settlement, we shall devote the remainder of our limited space to giving the dates of the settlements of the remaining eleven of "the thirteen original colonies." The first permanent settlement in New York was made by the Dutch in 1623, the colony being named New Netherland, and the present city of New York was called New Amsterdam. In 1664 the province was seized by the English, and received its present name. New Jersey was settled in 1623 by the Dutch, passing into English hands at the same time with New York. New Hampshire was settled in 1623 by English settlers; Connecticut in 1633 by English and Dutch, but the number of the latter was so small that even that fierce old warrior, Peter Stuyvesant, was glad to give up the claim by treaty in 1650. Maryland was settled in 1631 by William Claiborne, and in 1634 by a colony under Leonard Calvert, the brother of Cecil, Lord Baltimore. Rhode Island was settled in 1636 by Roger Williams; Delaware in 1638 by Swedes, who named the colony New Sweden. In 1655, New Sweden was conquered by the Dutch, and in 1664 it followed the fortunes of New Netherland, falling into the power of the English. The first permanent settlement was made in North Carolina in 1665, and in South Carolina in 1670. In these two colonies, which were not politically separated until 1729, an attempt was made to carry out a scheme of government devised by the celebrated philosopher John Locke. This scheme provided for two orders of nobility, and contained various other features which rendered it totally unsuited for the management of a free colony. The result showed that however able Locke was in writing upon the theory of government, concerning the practice he possessed no "innate ideas," and those procured by "sensation and reflection" possessed little value. Although scattering parties of Swedes and Finns had reached the western bank of the Delaware as early as 1627, 1682 is given as the date of the permanent settlement of Pennsylvania. The "peace policy" toward the Indians, inaugurated by William Penn at the famous elm of Shackamaxon, preserved the Pennsylvania

settlers for many years from the horrors of Indian warfare. Georgia was settled in 1733 by a party of colonists under the command of General James Oglethorpe.

In 1689 the population of the colonies was about 200,000. In 1715 it had more than doubled, being 434,600. In 1733 the number of inhabitants in the twelve colonies first settled was not far from 750,000. For more than a thousand miles the coast was occupied, but the settlements did not extend very far inland. The nature of the country in the interior was not known, nor was there any accurate notion even of the breadth of the continent.

COLONIAL HISTORY [1733-1776].

While the English were busily engaged in settling the coast, the French were exploring the interior of the country, and building forts along the great lakes and down the Mississippi, from Montreal to New Orleans. These French posts finally amounted to more than sixty in number, and their positions were selected with great care. In 1688 the French in America numbered only 11,249, little more than one-twentieth part of the number of the English. Their strength lay in their skill in managing the Indians. Count Frontenac, the French governor of Canada, when he had nearly completed his allotted span of threescore years and ten, was still young enough to sing the war-song and dance the war-dance with his Indian allies. By such condescensions as these the good-will of the savages was conciliated, and an auxiliary force was secured which for a long time fully compensated for the lack of regular troops.

The wars in America between the French and English were generally excited by those between the mother-countries, and were therefore named by the English colonists after the reigning monarch of England. King William's War (1689-1697) consisted of plundering and massacring raids on the part of the French, and ineffectual expeditions against Quebec and Montreal on the part of the English. The main result of Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) was the permanent acquisition by the English of the French province of Acadie, the name of which was changed to Nova Scotia. During King George's War (1744-1748), Louisburg, on Cape Breton Island, then one of the strongest fortresses in America, was captured, after a six weeks' siege, by a force commanded by a colonial general (William Pepperell) and almost entirely composed of colonists. The latter were much disgusted when their conquest was restored to the French in 1748 by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Still, the exploit was not without its fruits. It revealed the strength of the colonists both to themselves and to the home government. A contest was approaching which was not entirely dependent upon the position of the mother-countries, as it was commenced a year and a half before the beginning of the "Seven Years'

War," and was practically ended, so far as the French and English in America were concerned, two years and a half before the treaty of Paris. We allude, of course, to the well-known "French and Indian War."

In 1754 the free and slave population of the colonies amounted to about 1,425,000. Then, as now, the surplus population was poured out toward the great West, and the English pioneers soon came in contact with the French, who held the line of forts above mentioned. In 1753, George Washington, then not yet twenty-two years of age, was sent to remonstrate with the French commandant on the Ohio. The only result of his mission was the discovery that the French intended to hold their ground. The war began May 28, 1754, with an insignificant skirmish at Great Meadows, in the south-eastern part of Fayette county, Pa. Not more than fifty men were engaged on each side, and the advantage lay with the English detachment, which was led by Washington. Little was accomplished during this year, but in 1755 several expeditions were planned by the English. One against Fort Duquesne (upon the present site of Pittsburg) resulted in "Braddock's defeat." Another against Crown Point, under Generals Johnson and Lyman, suffered a partial defeat, then gained a complete victory at Fort Edward on the same day (Sept. 8), but failed in its main object. In 1756 the home governments took up the quarrel. The earl of Loudoun was appointed commander-inchief, with General Abercrombie as his lieutenant. The latter was unwilling to make any forward movement in the absence of his chief, who was daily expected, but who did not arrive until late in the summer. In the mean time the vigilant and active Montcalm had taken Oswego, with one hundred and thirty-five pieces of artillery and an immense quantity of military stores. In 1757 Lord Loudoun left New York with the intention of taking Louisburg. Upon learning that the garrison was larger than had been supposed, he stopped to deliberate. The arrival of seventeen French ships of the line in Louisburg harbor put a speedy end to his cogitations, by making an attack wholly out of the question. In the mean time Montcalm had taken and dismantled Fort William Henry.

Such glaring exhibitions of inefficiency naturally awakened the contempt and disgust of the colonists, as well as of the people of England. William Pitt was called to the head of affairs in the home government, and in 1758 vigorous measures were taken. Pitt promised that the expenses incurred by the colonies during the campaign should be reimbursed-a promise which was faithfully kept. Upward of thirty thousand men were raised by the colonists, and the regulars made up the number to fifty thousand. Abercrombie, the commander-in-chief, showed at Ticonderoga, in the first part of the campaign, bungling rashness, then relapsed into masterly inactivity; but Louisburg was taken by Amherst and Wolfe, Frontenac (now Kingston, Ont.) by Colonel Bradstreet, and