luable history of the now United States might readily be compiled. Until one or both of these events occur, such a history is not to be expected. The author is by no means insensible of the insufficiency of that which is now presented to the public, but the Life of General Washington required some previous general knowledge of American affairs, and he thought it more advisable to accompany that work with even the imperfect sketch of our history which he has been enabled to draw, than to give it publicity unconnected with any narrative whatever of preceding events.

In executing the determination produced by this opinion, he soon perceived that though human nature is always the same, and consequently man will in every situation furnish useful lessons to the discerning politician; yet few would be willing to employ much time in searching for them through the minute details of the sufferings of an infant people, spreading themselves through a wilderness preoccupied only by savages and wild beasts. These details can interest themselves alone, and only the desire of knowing the situation of our own country in every stage of its existence, can stamp a value on the page which contains them. He has, therefore, omitted entirely many transac

tions deemed of great moment while passing, and yet he is more apprehensive of having overcharged his narrative with facts not of sufficient importance to be preserved, than of having contracted it too much.

For any inattention to composition an apology ought never to be necessary. A work of any importance ought never to be submitted to the public until it has been sufficiently revised and corrected. Yet the first part of the Life of General Washington goes into the world under circumstances, which might bespeak from candour less severity of criticism, than it will probably experience. The papers from which it has been compiled have been already stated to be immensely voluminous, and the public was already looking for the work, before the writer was fixed on and the documents from which it was to be composed placed in his hands. The impatience since discovered by many of the subscribers has carried the following sheets to the press much more precipitately than the judgment of the author would have permitted him to part with them, and he cannot flatter himself that they are free from many defects which on a re-perusal will attract even his own observation.

1

CHAPTER I.

Commission of Cabot.... His voyage to America....Claims

of the French to the discovery of North America....All

further views of discovery, or settlement, relinquished

by Henry VII....Renewed by Elizabeth....Letters patent

granted to sir Humphrey Gilbert....His voyages and

death....Letters patent granted to sir Walter Raleigh....

Voyage of sir Richard Grenville....Colonists carried

back to England by Drake....Grenville arrives with

other colonists....They are left on Roanake island, and

destroyed by the Indians....Arrival of captain John

White.... White dispatched to England for succour....

Raleigh assigns his patent to sir Thomas Smith and

company....Patent to sir Thomas Gates and others....

Code of laws drawn up for the proposed colony by king

James.

CHAPTER II.

Voyage of captain Newport....Colony settled at Jamestown

....Distress of the colonists....Influence and activity of

captain Smith....He is captured by the Indians....Con-

demned to death by Powhatan....Saved by Pocahontas....

Returns to Jamestown....Newport arrives with an addi-

tional supply of settlers....Smith explores the Chesa-

peak.... Is chosen president....New charter....Third voy-

age of Newport....Smith sails for Europe....Condition of

the colony...Determination to abandon the colony...Stop-

ped by the arrival of lord Delawar, the governor gene-

ral....Sir Thomas Dale....New charter....Captain Argal

seizes Pocahontas....She marries mr. Rolfe....Separate

property in lands and labour in some degree established

...Expedition of captain Argal against the French colony

at Port Royal....Against the Dutch at Manhadoes....

Fifty acres of land laid off for each settler....Tobacco....

Sir Thomas Dale....Mr. Yeardly....First colonial assem-

bly....First arrival of females in the colony....And of

convicts....First importation of African slaves.... Two

councils established....Prosperity of the colony....At-

tempt of the Indians to massacre all the whites....General

war....Dissension and dissolution of the company....Co-

lony taken into the hands of the king....Arbitrary mea- .

sures of the crown....Sir John Harvey....Sir William

Berkeley....Provincial assembly restored....Virginia de-

clares in favour of Charles II....Grant to lord Baltimore

....Arrival of a colony in Maryland under Calvert....

Assembly composed of all the freemen.... William Clay-

borne.... Assembly composed of representatives....Di-

vided into two branches....Tyrannical proceedings.

First ineffectual attempts of the Plymouth company to

settle the country....Settlements at New Plymouth....

Sir Henry Rosewell and co....New charter....Settlement

of the country vigorously prosecuted....Government

transferred to the colonists....Boston founded....Reli-

gious intolerance....General court established....Com-

mission granted by the crown for the government of

the plantations....Contests with the French colony of

Acadié....Hugh Peters....Henry Vane....Mrs. Hutchin-

son and the antinomians....Maine granted to Gorges....

Quo warranto against the patent of the colony....Re-

ligious dissensions....Providence settled....Rhode Island

settled....Connecticut settled.... War with the Piquods....

New Haven settled.

CHAPTER IV.

Massachussetts claims New Hampshire and part of Maine

....Dissensions among the inhabitants....Confederation

of the New England colonies....Rhode Island excluded

from it....Separate chambers provided for the two

branches of the legislature....New England takes part

with parliament....Treaty between New England and

Acadie....Petition of the non-conformists....Disputes

between Massachussetts and Connecticut....War be-

tween England and Holland....Machinations of the Dutch

at Manhadoes among the Indians....Massachussetts re-

fuses to join with the united colonies in the war........

Application of New Haven to Cromwell for assistance

....Peace with the Dutch....Expedition of Sedgwic

against Acadié....Religious intolerance.

CHAPTER V.

Transactions immediately succeeding the restoration of

Charles II....Contests between Connecticut and New

Haven....Discontents in Virginia....Grant to the duke of

York....Commissioners appointed by the crown....Con-

quest of the Dutch settlements....Conduct of Massa-

chussetts to the royal commissioners....They are re-

called....Massachussetts evades a summons to appear

before the king and council....Settlement of Carolina....

Form of government....Constitution of mr. Locke....

Discontents and insurrections in the county of Albe-

marle....Southern colony is invaded by the Spaniards

from Florida....Abolition of the constitution of mr.

Locke....Bacon's rebellion....His death....Assembly.de-

prived of judicial authority....Discontents in Virginia....

Population of the colony.

CHAPTER VI.

Prosperity of New England.... War with Philip....Edward

Randolph arrives in Boston....Maine adjudged by the

king in council to Gorges, and is purchased by Massa-

chussetts....Royal government erected in New Hamp-

shire....Complaints against Massachussetts.... Their let-

ters patent cancelled by decree of the court of chancery

....Death of Charles II....James II. proclaimed....New

commission for the temporary government of Massa-

chussetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Narraghansetts

....Sir Edmund Andros....The charter of Rhode Island

abrogated....Odious measures of the new government

....Andros deposed.... William and Mary proclaimed....

Review of the proceedings of New York and the Jerseys

....Pennsylvania granted to William Penn....Frame of

government....Foundation of Philadelphia laid....As-

sembly convened....First acts of the legislature....

Boundary line with lord Baltimore settled.

CHAPTER VII.

New charter of Massachussetts....Execution of Leisler

....War with France....Schenectady destroyed....Expe-