tude to the present day. They were united under the same jurisdiction in 1665, from a necessity of coope

ration against the contiguous tribes of savages, with . whom they maintained a perpetual and sanguinary

warfare. In battle they were no less skillful and intrepid soldiers, than in peace they were industrious husbandmen, rigid moralists, and bigoted theologians.

RHODE ISLAND.

A religious controversy in Massachusetts occasion éd, in the year 1636, the settlement of Rhode Island, where the weaker party sought refuge from the fury of their implacable antagonists. They had incurred the displeasure of the community, and were banished, by the authority of the magistrates, principally, for preaching and attempting to propagate the doctrine of toleration. This was regarded by the divines of Massachusetts as an impious rebellion against heaven, or what they esteemed no less iniquitous against the sacred authority of the puritanical church. It was, besides, a transgression of the fundamental laws of the province; for here, as well as in Connecticut, no individual was entitled to the freedom of the body politic, who did not believe in the infallibility of the established hierarchy, and yield an implicit obedience to its sacred institutions.

Rhode Island became, henceforth, an asylum for the unfortunate; for the victims of colonial as well as of European persecution, and its inhabitants have, at all times, been distinguished for their hospitality, humanity and liberality of sentiment.

NEWHAMPSHIRE.

Settlements had been made from the adjacent colonies in New Hampshire, as early as 1623; but, existing under distinct and imperfect systems of government, were united in 1641, though with much opposition, to Massachusetts. They remained under this authority, with some temporary exceptions, until the year 1741, when they assumed a separate and independent jurisdiction. Being exposed to perpetual warfare with the savage tribes in the vicinity, they nourished a hardy and martial youth, for the service of their country, who were deservedly esteemed among the most brave and gallant soldiers of the revolution.

It was computed, in 1642, that about twenty-five thousand emigrants had arrived upon the shores of New England. Fifty towns or villages had been founded, and contained nearly eight thousand men capable of bearing arms. But the revolution of the mother country and consequent ascendance of the

same free institutions, and extended their forts and settlements, with characteristic enterprize, from the banks of the Connecticut, through Jersey and Delaware to the eastern confines of Maryland. They defended their possessions with obstinate valour, and though forced to yield them, at length, to the superiority of the English arms, they retained a predominant influence in their subsequent administration. The colony of New York, after its conquest, was annexed to the jurisdiction of New England, until 1691, and then erected into a distinct and independent government.

NEW JERSEY.

The first settlements of the Jerseys by the Swedes were cotemporary with those of New York. In 1676 they were divided into East and West Jersey, the former of which, in 1682, was transferred by the proprietors to William Penn, and contained at this time, about seven hundred families. They were consolidated in 1702 into a single government, and connected successively with New England and New York, until they assumed, in 1738, an independent jurisdiction, under the title of New Jersey.

In all the vicissitudes of her colonial government, this province maintained her free institutions unsul

lied, and repelled the arbitrary pretensions of her regal governors, on various occasions, with a resolute and magnanimous spirit. During the revolutionary war, she sustained more than an equal share of the evils of it; and was the theatre of some of its most glorious and important events.

PENNSYLVANIA.

Philadelphia, the metropolis of this province, was founded in the year 1689. This city is celebrated for the rapidity of its increase, the humanity of its institutions, and no less distinguished by the singularity of its primitive inhabitants. They came to America under the patronage of William Penn, a man eminent for his rank, education and virtues, and sought upon the solitary shores of the Delaware, a refuge from the injuries and indignities they had suffered in their native country. They had incurred the hostility of other denominations, and exasperated against them all the rage of religious insanity, by the peculiar character and genius of their institutions.

They were Christians without the rites of baptism or communion, and what may appear a solecism in the ecclesiastical history of those days, they were sectarians without the spirit of persecution. The most pacific measures were pursued in all their se

cular transactions, and no intricate theological dogmas interrupted the harmony of their devotions. They imitated, in their deportment, the patriarchal simplicity of the apostles, rejecting every species of superfluity in their habiliments, phraseology, and gesticulation. All phrases of compliment or adulation were expunged from their language, as the monuments of barbarism or indications of pride and servility. The appellations of excellence, of mightiness, holiness, and all other titular marks of distinction, they reserved for their Creator, and thought them unbecoming the weakness and imbecility of man. They approached their chief as the Romans did the masters of the world. No attitudes of humility were permitted in their salutations or worship. They remained covered in the presence of their prince, and stood erect before the majesty of heaven.

Other legislators, as Lycurgus and Numa, inspired the love of virtue by theatrical ceremonies and enthusiasm; Penn, by the sober sanctity of his example. Without a display of the authority, or formality of the law, he administered justice; without priests and without anathemas or imprecations he propagated the truths of the gospel. By circumscribing their necessities, or by mutual acts of benevolence, his people were exempt from the odium of beggary, and from the reproach and disgrace of domestic servitude.