Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/59

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1670-6] Indian wars. 27 their territorial rights, while Ferdinando Gorges, the grandson and heir of the founder, was taking steps to assert his authority in Maine. The Crown did not uphold Gorges' claim, but it suspended the question, and in 1665 set up a provisional government in Maine of which we know but little. In 1668 the government of Massachusetts, with the approval of the majority of the inhabitants of Maine, reasserted its authority over that district. In 1678 it finally extinguished Gorges' claim by purchase; and Maine continued incorporated with Massachusetts till after the Revolution. New Hampshire fared differently. The law officers of the Crown decided against Mason's territorial claim, but at the same time ruled that the territory in question lay outside the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Thereupon the Crown, in 1679, created New Hampshire a separate province with a governor, a council, and a representative assembly. The first governor and at least one of the council were loyal citizens of Massachusetts ; and the provinces remained friendly. The last quarter of the seventeenth century was in every way a time of trouble for Massachusetts. Since the extinction of the Pequods there had been only one native tribe, the Pokanoket Indians, numerous and strong enough to be a source of danger. Their relations with the English settlers were continuously friendly till about 1670, when they were under the leadership of an able and warlike young chief called Metacam, better known by the English name of Philip. For some years there were alarming rumours of Indian hostility. In 1674 an Indian convert warned the English that there was danger. He was soon after murdered. Suspicion fell upon Philip, who anticipated an attack by falling on the settlements at the southern extremity of Plymouth. The settlers were ill-prepared ; and, as we have seen, the machinery for united action was cumbrous and ineffective. Moreover the nature of an Indian invasion, as carried on by small parties making sudden and rapid inroads, rendered combined operations almost impossible. Every village had to become a fortified post and fight for its own hand. In November a day of humiliation was held at Boston; and the proceedings are instructive. The sins which had brought this calamity on the colony were chiefly neglect of worship, extravagance in apparel, the wearing of long hair, and lenity towards the Quakers. It is clear from the accounts left us by one who took a conspicuous part in the war that the English threw away no small advantage by their universal suspicion of all Indians, and by their consequent neglect to use even those who were friendly for scouting and irregular fighting. When once the first rush of invasion was baffled, the superior resources of the civilised race were certain, if numbers were anything like equal, to secure victory. The settlers could import supplies ; the savage engaged in war must neglect his hunting and fishing, and starvation must follow. In 1676, after nearly two years of warfare, the CH. I.