divine service. The men, who, according to a law of the 1738. province, had brought their arms to the place of worship, left the women in the church, and instantly marched in quest of the negroes, who, by this time, had become formidable, and spread desolation above 12 miles. Availing themselves of their superior military skill, and of the intoxication of several of the negroes, they attacked the great body of them in an open field, killed some, and dispersed the rest. Most of the fugitives were taken and tried. They who had been compelled to join the conspirators, were pardoned; but all the chosen leaders and first insurgents suffered death.1 ness. New Inverness, in Georgia, was settled by highlanders, of the New Invercity and province of that name in the north of Scotland. They were conducted to this place by captain William Mackintosh, by order of the procurator of Georgia, captain George Dunbar.2 A college was founded, this year, at Princeton, in New Jersey, College at and called Nassau Hall.3 New Jersey contained 43,388 white Princeton. inhabitants, and 3981 slaves.1 The town of Newport, in Rhode Island, contained 7 worship- Churches in ping assemblies. At Portsmouth there was a large society of R. Island. quakers. In the other 11 towns in the colony there were 25 worshipping assemblies. In the 9 towns on the main land there were 8 baptist churches, 8 quaker meeting houses, 4 episcopal, and 3 congregational churches.5 Winnesimmet, or Romney Marsh, which had hitherto been a Chelsea indistrict or ward of Boston, was incorporated by the name of corporated. Chelsea.6 A workhouse was built in Boston." Work house. Jamaica. The colonists of Jamaica having in vain attempted the subjuga- Treaty with tion of the fugitive negroes, who at length intrenched themselves negroes in in inaccessible places in the mountains; Edward Trelawney, governor of Jamaica, made a treaty with them. It was agreed, that they should remain in a state of freedom; that they should have the property of 1500 acres of land, northeast of Trelawneytown; that they should have liberty to hunt within 3 miles 1 Hewatt, ii. 70, 73. 2 Alcedo, Tr. Art. INVERNESS. This is described by geographers as situated where Darien now is, and as the same town. During a residence of several years in Georgia, I heard nothing of Inverness, but much of Darien, which was at that time in Liberty county, but which now belongs to Mackintosh county, formed at a later period. The name of Mackintosh was still respectably preserved there. 3 Trumbull, Century Sermon. See A. D. 1746. 4 Smith, N. Jersey, p. 489; total, 47,369. 5 Callender, 67. Beside one congregational church on Block Island. 6 Pemberton, MS. Chronology. 7 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. iii. 252. A brick building 120 feet long and 2 stories high. 1738. of the English settlements; that they should submit to the orders. of the governor, and assist in defence of the island; and that they should deliver up all fugitive negroes.1 Death of Edmund Quincy, agent at London for settling the boundary E. Quincy. line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, died in that city, of the small pox, in the 57th year of his age. The general court of Massachusetts made a donation to his heirs of 1000 acres of land in the town of Lenox, in the county of Berkshire; and caused a monument to be erected to his memory in Bunhill Fields, London.2 War declared against Spain. Scheme for taxing the American colonies. 1739. WAR being declared by Great Britain against Spain,3 admiral Vernon was sent to take the command of a squadron on the West India station, with orders to act against the Spanish dominions in that quarter. Sailing with six men of war from Jamaica to Porto Bello, he attacked that fortress on the 21st of November, and the next day the Spanish governor capitulated. The admiral, having blown up the fortifications and castles of the place, returned fo Jamaica.4 During this war with Spain, a scheme for taxing the British colonies was mentioned to Sir Robert Walpole. "I will leave that," said the minister, "for some of my successors, who may have more courage than I have, and be less a friend to commerce than I am. It has been a maxim with me during my administration, to encourage the trade of the American colonies in the utmost latitude." The scheme of taxation was reserved for a bolder minister, and a more eventful period; but the British 995 1 Salmon, Chron. Hist. Raynal. vi. 345–348; but he says, in 1739. 2 Quincy's Life of Josiah Quincy. The late President Adams told me, that Mr. Quincy, had he not been a Dissenter, would have been interred in Westminster Abbey. 3 The English colonies, but chiefly Jamaica, had carried on a contraband trade with the settlements in America, which custom had long made them consider as lawful. The court of Madrid concerted measures to stop or at least to check this intercourse; and, under the pretence of carrying on a contraband trade, many ships were stopped, which, in reality, had a legal destination. England, incensed to find these hostilities carried to an excess inconsistent with the law of nations, after taking measures for redress, declared war against Spain 23 October, 1739. Raynal, v. 90-95. Hewatt, ii. 69, 75. 4 Univ. Hist. xli. 412, 416. 5 Annual Register for 1765. The minister said more; and the reason assigned for his maxims and measures was recollected, more than twenty years afterward, to his honour. "C Nay," proceeded the minister, "it has been necessary to pass over some irregularities in their trade with Europe; for by encouraging them to an extensive growing foreign commerce, if they gain £500,000, I am convinced that in two years afterwards full £250,000 of their gains will be in his majesty's exchequer, by the labour and product of this kingdom; as inmense quantities of every kind go thither; and as they increase in their foreign American trade, more of our produce will be wanted. This is taxing them more agreeably to their own constitution and ours." parliament passed an act for more effectually securing and en- 1739. couraging the trade of the British to America; and an act for naturalizing such protestants and others, as were, or should be, settled in any of his majesty's colonies in America.1 visits the Indians; Oglethorpe, agreeably to a promise which he had made at the Oglethorpe treaty the last year, went into the Indian country, 500 miles distant from Frederica. At the town of Coweta, he conferred with the deputies of that town, and with those of the Chickasaws. These deputies, after drinking black broth together, according to the usage of their ancestors, unitedly declared, that they adhered in their ancient love to the king of Great Britain, and to the who renew agreements made in 1733 with the trustees of Georgia. They their covefarther declared, that all the dominions, territories, and lands ant. from the Savannah river to St. John's river and all the islands between them, and from St. John's river to the bay of Apalache, and thence to the mountains, do by ancient right belong to the Creek nation; and that they would not suffer either the Spaniards, or any person, excepting the trustees of the colony of Georgia, to settle on the said lands. While they acknowledged the grant which they had formerly made to the trustees of all the lands on Savannah river, as far as the river Ogeechee, and all the lands along the sea coast as far as St. John's river, and as high as the tide flows, and all the islands as far as the said river, particularly the islands of Frederica, Cumberland, and Amelia ;2 they declared, that they reserved to the Creek nation all the land from Pipemaker's Bluff to Savannah, and the islands of St. Catharine, Ossabaw, and Sapelo; and farther declared, that the said lands were holden by the Creek nation as tenants in common. Oglethorpe, as commissioner for George II. declared, that the English should not enlarge or take up any lands, excepting those granted, as above, to the trustees, by the Creek nation; and covenanted, that he would punish any person, who should intrude upon the lands, so reseved by that nation.3 There were, at this time, upward of 100 sail of vessels, be- Newport. longing to Newport, in Rhode Island.4 The yellow fever raged in Charlestown, South Carolina, near Yellow as violently as in 1732.5 fever. Jeremiah Dummer, of Boston, died at Plastow, in England.6 Death of 1 Salmon, Chronological History. 2 They gave to these islands the names of the king's family, tude to him." "out of grati 6 Eliot and Allen, Biog. Hutchinson, ii. c. 3. He was born in Boston, and educated at Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1699, when, as his president afterward declared (in a Preface to a publication of Mr. Dummer's), he was "the best scholar that had been there." Soon after he took his degree J. Dummer. Oglethorpe's 1740. GENERAL OGLETHORPE, having passed over to Florida with expedition 400 select men of his regiment and a considerable party of against St. Indians, invested Diego, a small fort (about 25 miles from St. Augustine. Augustine), which, after a short resistance, surrendered by capi tulation. Leaving in this fort a garrison of 60 men, he returned to the place of general rendezvous, where he was joined by colonel Vanderdussen with the Carolina regiment, and a company of Highlanders under captain M'Intosh. A few days after, he marched with his whole force, consisting of above 2000 men, regulars, provincials, and Indians, to fort Moosa within two miles of St. Augustine. The Spanish garrison, on his approach, evacuating the fort, and retiring into the town, he immediately ordered the gates of the fort to be burnt, and three breaches to be made in its walls; and proceeded to reconnoitre the town and castle. During his stay at fort Diego, the Spaniards put themselves in a posture of defence; and the general, soon discovering that an attempt to take the castle by storm would be presumptuous, changed his plan of operation, and resolved, with the assistance of the ships of war which were now lying at anchor off Augustine bar, to turn the siege into a blockade. Having left colonel Palmer with 95 Highlanders aud 42 Indians at fort Moosa, with orders to scour the woods around the town, and intercept all supplies of cattle from the country, and sent colonel Vanderdussen with the Carolina regiment to take possession of a neck of land, called Point Quarrel, above a mile distant from the castle, with orders to erect a battery on it; the general with his regiment, and the greatest part of the Indians, embarked in boats, and landed on the island of Anastatia. From this place, which lay opposite the castle, he resolved to bombard the town. Ships were so stationed, as to block up the mouth of the harbour; and the Spaniards were cut off from all supplies by sea. Batteries were soon erected on Anastatia, and several cannon mounted. Oglethorpe, having made these dispositions, summoned the Spanish governor to a surrender; but, secure in his strong hold, he sent him for answer, that he would be glad to shake hands with him in his castle. Indignant at this reply, the general opened his batteries against the castle, and, at the same time, threw a number of shells into the town. The fire was returned with equal spirit from the Spanish fort, and from six half at Cambridge, he went to Europe, and spent several years at one of the universities in Holland, where he received the degree of doctor philosophie, and then returned to New England. In 1710 he was appointed agent of Massachusetts, and rendered very important services to the colony. He was author of the able "Defence of the New England Charters." A list of his other publications may be seen in the above biographical authorities. gallies in the harbour; but the distance was so great, that the cannonade, though it continued several days, did little execution on either side. In the mean time, the Spanish commander sent out against colonel Palmer a detachment of 300 men, who surprised him at fort Moosa, and cut his party almost entirely to pieces. The Chickasaws, offended at an incautious expression of Oglethorpe, deserted him. The Spanish garrison, by some means, received 700 men, and a large supply of provisions. All prospect of starving the enemy being lost, the army began to despair of forcing the place to surrender. The Carolina troops, enfeebled by the heat of the climate, dispirited by sickness, and fatigued by fruitless efforts, marched away in large bodies. The naval commander, in consideration of the shortness of his provisions, and of the near approach of the usual season of hurricanes, judged it imprudent to hazard his fleet longer on that coast. The general himself was sick of a fever, and his regiment was worn out with fatigue, and disabled by sickness. These combined disasters rendered it necessary to abandon the enterprise; and Oglethorpe, with extreme sorrow and regret, returned to Frederica.1 1740. Charles town. While the province of Carolina felt the ruinous effects of the Fire in miscarriage of this expedition, a desolating fire in its capital deeply aggravated the calamity. It broke out in November, about two o'clock in the afternoon, and burned with unquenchable violence until eight at night. The houses being built of wood, and the wind blowing hard at the northwest, the flames spread with irresistible force, and astonishing rapidity. Almost every house, from Broad street, where the conflagration began, to Granville's bastion, was at one time on fire. Three hundred of the best buildings in the town, with goods and provincial commodities to a prodigious amount, were consumed. The legislature applied for relief to the British parliament, which voted £20,000 sterling to be distributed among the sufferers.2 thagena. Admiral Vernon, with a fleet of 30 sail of the line,3 made an Vernon beexpedition against Carthagena, and besieged it; but was at length sieges Carobliged to abandon the siege. The sailors amounted to 15,000; and the soldiers, including the American battalions and a body of negroes from Jamaica, to 12,000. This was far the greatest armament that America had ever seen.4 1 Hewatt, ii. 77-82. He reached Frederica about the 10th of July. 2 Hewatt, ii. 83, 84. "From a flourishing condition the town was reduced, in the space of six hours, to the lowest and most deplorable state." Salmon [Chron. Hist.] says, the damage of this fire was estimated at £200,000. 3 Raynal [iv. 59.] says, 25 ships of the line, 6 fire ships, and bomb ketches. 4 Univ. Hist. xli. 429-445. The fleet returned to Jamaica about the last of November, 1741. Though few had perished by the enemy, yet it was com |