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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50149	Pietas in patriam the life of His Excellency Sir William Phips, Knt. late Captain General and Governour in Chief of the province of the Massachuset-Bay, New England, containing the memorable changes undergone, and actions performed by him / written by one intimately acquainted with him.	Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.	1697 (1697)	Wing M1138; Wing P2135_CANCELLED; ESTC R931	77,331	134

have considered the circumstances of England and of Scotland In New-England they differ from other Plantations they are called Congregational and Presbyterian So that such a Governour will not suit with the People of New-England as may be very proper for other English Plantations Two Days after this the King upon what was proposed by certain Lords was very inquisitive whether He might without breach of Law set a Governour over New-England whereto the Lord Chief Justice and some others of the Council answered That whatever might be the Merit of the Cause inasmuch as the Charter of New-England stood vacated by a Judgment against them it was in the King's Power to put them under what Form of Government He should think best for them The King then said That He believed it would be for the Advantage of the People in that Colony to be under a Governour appointed by Himself Nevertheless because of what Mr. Mather had spoken to Him He would have the Agents of New-England nominate a Person that should be agreeable unto the Inclinations of the People there and notwithstanding this He would have Charter-Priviledges restored and confirmed unto them The Day following the King began another Voyage to Holland and when the Attorney General 's Draught of a Charter according to what he took to be his Majesty's Mind as expressed in Council was presented at the Council-Board on the eighth of June some Objections then made procured an Order to prepare Minutes for another Draught which deprived the New-Englanders of several Essential Priviledges in their other Charter Mr. Mather put in his Objections and vehemently protested that he would sooner part with his Life than consent unto those Minutes or any thing else that should infringe any Liberty or Priviledge of Right belonging unto his Country but he was answered That the Agents of New-England were not Plenipotentiaries from another Soveraign State and that if they would not submit unto the King's Pleasure in the settlement of the Country they must take what would follow The dissatisfactory Minutes were by Mr. Mather's Industry sent over unto the King in Flanders and the Ministers of State then with the King were earnestly applied unto that every mistake about the good Settlement of New-England might be prevented and the Queen Her self with Her own Royal Hand wrote unto the King that the Charter of New-England might either pass as it was drawn by the Attorney General or be deferred until His own Return But after all His Majesties Principal Secretary of State received a Signification of the King's Pleasure That the Charter of New-England should run in the Main Points of it as it was now granted Only there were several Important Articles which Mr. Mather by his unwearied Sollicitations obtained afterwards to be inserted There were some now of the Opinion That instead of submitting to this New Settlement they should in Hopes of getting a Reversion of the Judgment against the Old Charter declare to the Mininisters of State That they had rather have no Charter at all than such an one as was now proposed unto Acceptance But Mr. Mather advising with many unprejudiced Persons and Men of the greatest Abilities in the Kingdom Noblemen Gentlemen Divines and Lawyers they all agreed That it was not only a lawful but all Circumstances then considered a needful Thing and a part of Duty and Wisdom to accept what was now offered and that a peremptory Refusal would not only bring an Inconveniency but a Fatal and perhaps a Final Ruine upon the Country whereof Mankind would lay the blame upon the Agents It was argued That such a Submission was no Surrender of any thing That the Judgment not in the Court of Kings Bench but in Chancery against the Old Charter standing on Record the Pattent was thereby Annihilated That all attempts to have the Judgment against the Old Charter taken off would be altogether in vain as Men and Things were then disposed It was further argued That the Ancient Charter of New-England was in the Opinion of the Lawyers very Defective as to several Powers which yet were absolutely necessary to the subsistence of the Plantation It gave the Government there no more Power than the Corporations have in England Power in Capital Cases was not therein particularly expressed It mentioned not an House of Deputies or an Assembly of Representatives the Governour and Company had thereby they said no Power to impose Taxes on the Inhabitants that were not Freemen or to erect Courts of Admiralty Without such Powers the Colony could not subsist and yet the best Friends that New-England had of Persons most learned in the Law professed that suppose the Judgment against the Massachuset-Charter might be Reversed yet if they should again Exert such Powers as they did before the Quo Warranto against their Charter a new Writ of Scire Facias would undoubtedly be issued out against them It was yet further argued That if an Act of Parliament should have Reversed the Judgment against the Massachuset-Charter without a grant of some other Advantages the whole Territory had been on many Accounts very miserably Incommoded The Province of Main with Hampshire would have been taken from them and Plymouth would have been annexed unto New-York so that this Colony would have been squeezed into an Atom and not only have been render'd Insignificant in it's Trade but by having it's Militia also which was vested in the King taken away it's Insignificancies would have become out of measure humbling whereas now instead of seeing any Relief by Act of Parliament they would have been put under a Governour with a Commission whereby ill Men and the King 's and Country's Enemies might probably have crept into Opportunities to have done ten thousand ill Things and have treated the best Men in the Land after a very uncomfortable Manner It was lastly argued That by the New Charter very great Priviledges were granted unto New-England and in some respects greater than what they formerly enjoyed The Colony is now made a Province and their General Court has with the King's Approbation as much Power in New-England as the King and Parliament have in England They have all English Liberties and can be touched by no Law by no Tax but of their own making All the Liberties of their Holy Religion are for ever secured and their Titles to their Lands once for want of some Forms of legal Conveyance contested are now confirmed unto them If an ill Governour should happen to be imposed on them what Hurt could he do to them None except they themselves pleased for he cannot make one Counsellour or one Judge or one Justice or one Sheriff to serve his Turn Disadvantages enough one would think to discourage any ill Governour from desiring to be Stationed in those uneasie Regions The People have a Negative upon all the Executive Part of the Civil Government as well as the Legislative which is a vast Priviledge enjoyed by no other Plantation in America nor

came in and helped him and saved him and so by a rare Virtue he made his worst Adversaries the Captives of his Generosity One of the Ancients upon such an History cried out If Heathens can do thus much for the Glory of their Name what shall not Christians do for the Glory of Heaven And Sir William Phips did so much more than thus much that besides his meriting the Glory of such a Name as PHIPPIVS MAXIMVS he therein had upon him the Symptoms of a Title to the Glory of Heaven in the Seal of his own Pardon from God Nor was this Generosity in HIS EXCELLENCY the Governour of New-England unaccompanied with many other Excellencies whereof the Piety of his Carriage towards God is worthy to be first mentioned It is true He was very Zealous for all Men to enjoy such a Liberty of Conscience as he judged a Native Right of Mankind And he was extreamly Troubled at the over-boiling Zeal of some good Men who formerly took that wrong Way of reclaiming Hereticks by Persecution For this Generosity it may be some would have compared him unto Gallio the Governour of Achaia whom our Preachers perhaps with Mistake enough think to be condemned in the Scripture for his not appearing to be a Judge in Matters which indeed fell not under his Cognizance And I shall be content that he be compared unto that Gentleman for that Gallio was the Brother of Seneca who gives this Character of him That there was no Man who did not love him too little if he could Love him any more and That there was no Mortal so Dear to any as he was to all and That he hated all Vices but none more than Flattery But while the Generosity of Sir William caused him to desire a Liberty of Conscience his Piety would not allow a Liberty of Prophaneness either to himself or others He did not affect any mighty show of Devotion and when he saw any that were evidently careful to make a show and especially if at the same Time they were notoriously Defective in the Duties of Common Justice or Goodness or the Duties of the Relations wherein God had stationed them he had an extream Aversion for them Nevertheless he did show a Conscientious Desire to observe the Laws of the Lord Jesus Christ in his Conversation and he conscientiously attended upon the Exercises of Devotion in the Seasons thereof on Lectures as well as on Lords-Days and in the Daily-Sacrifice the Morning and Evening Service of his own Family yea and at the Private Meetings of the Devout People kept every Formight in the Neighbourhood Besides all this when he had great Works before him he would Invite good Men to come and Fast and Pray with him at his House for the Success thereof and when he had succeeded in what he had undertaken he would prevail with them to come and keep a Day of Solemn Thanksgiving with him His Love to Almighty God was indeed manifested by nothing more than his Love to those that had the Image of God upon them He Heartily and with a Real Honour for them Loved all Godly Men and in so doing he did not confine Godliness to this or that Party but wherever he saw the Fear of God in one of a Congregational or Presbyterian or Antipaedobaptist or Episcopalian Perswasion he did without any Difference express towards them a Reverent Affection But he made no Men more welcome than those Good Men whose Office 't is to promote and preserve Goodness in all other Men even the Ministers of the Gospel Especially when they were such as faithfully Discharged their Office And from these at any Time the least Admonition or Intimation of any good Thing to be done by him he entertained with a most obliging Alacrity His Religion in Truth was one Principle that added Virtue unto that vast Courage which was always in him to a Degree Heroical Those Terrible Nations which made their Descents from the Northern on the Southern Parts of Europe in those Elder Ages when so to swarm out was more frequent with them were inspired with a valiant Contempt of Life by the Opinion wherein their famous Odin instructed them That their Death was but an Entrance into another Life wherein they who Died in Warlike Actions were bravely feasted with the God of War for ever 'T is inexpressible How much the Courage of those fierce Mortals was fortified by that Opinion But when Sir William Phips was asked by some that observed his Valiant Contempt of Death What it was that made him so little afraid of Dying he gave a better grounded Account of it than those Pagans could his Answer was I do humbly believe That the Lord Jesus Christ shed his Precious Blood for me by His Death procuring my Peace with God and what should I now be afraid of Dying for But this Leads me to mention the Humble and Modest Carriage in him towards other Men which accompanied this his Piety There were certain Pomps belonging unto the several Places of Honour through which he passed Pomps that are very taking to Men of little Souls But although he rose from so little yet he discovered a marvellous Contempt of those Aiery Things and as far as he handsomely could he declined being ceremoniously or any otherwise than with a Dutch Modesty waited upon And it might more truly be said of him than it was of Aristides He was never seen the Prouder for any Honour that was done him from his Country-men Hence albeit I have read that complaint made by a worthy Man I have often observed and this not without some Blushing that even good People have had a kind of shame upon them to acknowledge their low beginning and used all Arts to hide it I could never observe the least of that Fault in this worthy Man but he would speak of his own low beginning with as much Freedom and Frequency as if he had been afraid of having it forgotten It was counted an Humility in King Agathocles the Son of a Potter to be served therefore in Earthen Vessels as Plutarch hath informed us It was counted an Humility in Arch-Bishop Willigis the Son of a Wheel-wright therefore to have Wheels hung about his Bed-Chamber with this Inscription Recole undè Veneris i. e. Remember thy Original But such was the Humility and Lowliness of this Rising Man Not only did he after his return to his Country in his Greatness one Day make a splendid Feast for the Ship Carpenters of Boston among whom he was willing at his Table to Commemorate the Mercy of God unto him who had once been a Ship Carpenter himself but he would on all occasions permit yea Study to have his Meannesses remembred Hence upon frequent occasions of Uneasiness in his Government he would chuse thus to express himself Gentlemen were it not that I am to do Service for the Publick I should be much easier in returning unto my Broad Ax again And hence according to

it is now time for us to return unto Sir William SECT 13. ALL this while CANAD A was as much written upon Sir William's Heart as CALLICE they said once was upon Queen Maries He needed not one to have been his daily Monitor about Canada It lay down with him it rose up with him it engrossed almost all his Thoughts he thought the subduing of Canada to be the greatest service that could be done for New-England or for the Crown of England in America In parsuance whereof after he had been but a few Weeks at Home he took another Voyage for England in the very depth of Winter when Satling was now dangerous conflicting with all the Difficulties of a tedious and a terrible Passage in a very little Vessel which indeed was like enough to have perished if it had not been for the help of his Generous Hand aboard and His Fortunes in the bottom Arriving per tot Discrimina at Bristol he hastned up to London and made his Applications to Their Majesties and the Principal Ministers of State for assistance to Renew an Expedition against Canada concluding his Representation to the King with such Words as these If Your Majesty shall graciously please to Commission and Assist me I am ready to venture my Life again in your Service And I doubt not but by the Blessing of God Canada may be added unto the rest of your Dominions which will all circumstances considered be of more advantage to the Crown of England than all the Territories in the West-Indies are The Reasons here subjoined are humbly Offered unto Your Majesties Consideration First The Success of this Design will greatly add to the Glory and Interest of the English Crown and Nation by the Addition of the Bever-Trade and securing the Hudson's Bay Company some of whose Factories have lately fallen into the Hands of the French and increase of English Shipping and Seamen by gaining the Fishery of Newfoundland and by consequence diminish the number of French Scamen and cut off a great Revenue from the French Crown Secondly The Cause of the English in New-England their failing in the late Attempt upon Canada was their waiting for a Supply of Ammunition from England until August their long Passage up that River the cold Season coming on and the Small-Pox and Fevers being in the Army and Fleet so that they could not stay fourteen days longer in which time probably they might have taken Quebeck yet if a few Frigats be speedily sent they doubt not of an happy Success the strength of the French being small and the Planters desirous to be under the English Government Thirdly The Jesuites endeavour to seduce the Maqua's and other Indians as is by them affirmed suggesting the Greatness of King Lewis and the inability of King William to do any thing against the French in those Parts thereby to Engage them in their Interests In which if they should succeed not only New-England but all our American Plantations would be endangered by the Great Increase of Shipping for the French built in New-England at easie Rates to the Infinite Dishonour and Prejudice of the English Nation But now for the Success of these Applications I must entreat the Patience of my Reader to wait until we have gone through a little more of our History SECT 14. THE Reverend INCREASE MATHER beholding his Country of New-England in a very Deplorable Condition under a Governour that acted by an Iilegal Arbitrary Treasonable Commission and Invaded Liberty and Property after such a manner as that no man could say any thing was his own he did with the Encouragement of the Principal Gentlemen in the Country but not without much Trouble and Hazard unto his own Person go over to White-Hall in the Summer of the Year 1688. and wait upon King James with a full Representation of their Miseries That King did give him Liberty of Access unto him whenever he desired it and with many Good Words promised him to Relieve the Oppressed People in many Instances that were proposed But when the Revolution had brought the Prince and Princess of Orange to the Throne Mr. Mather having the Honour divers Times to Wait upon the King he still prayed for no less a Favour to New-England than the full Restoration of their Charter-Priviledges And Sr. William Phips happening to be then in England very Generously joined with Mr. Mather in some of those Addresses Whereto his Majestie 's Answers were always very expressive of his Gracious Inclinations Mr. Mather herein assisted also by the Right Worshipful Sr Henry Ashurst a most Hearty Friend of all such Good Men as those that once filled New-England solicited the Leading Men of both Houses in the Convention-Parliament until a Bill for the Restoring of the Charters belonging to New-England was sully Passed by the Commons of England but that Parliament being Prorogu'd and then Dissolved all that Sisyphaean Labour came to nothing The Disappointments which afterwards most wonderfully Blasted all the hopes of the Petitioned Restoration obliged Mr. Mather not without the Concurrence of other Agents now also come from New-England unto that Method of Petitioning the King for a New Charter that should contain more than all the Priviledges of the Old and Sir William Phips now being again returned into England lent his utmost Assistance hereunto The King taking a Voyage for Holland before this Petition was answered Mr. Mather in the mean while not only waited upon the greatest part of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council offering them a Paper of Reasons for the Confirmation of the Charter-Priviledges granted unto the Massachuset Colony but also having the Honour to be Introduc'd unto the Queen he assured Her Majesty That there were none in the World better affected unto Their Majesties Government than the People of New-England who had indeed been exposed unto great Hardships for their being so and entreated That since the King had referred the New-English Affair unto the Two Lord Chief Justices with the Attorney and Solicitor General there might be granted unto us what They thought was Reasonable Whereto the Queen replied That the Request was Reasonable and that She had spoken divers times to the King on the behalf of New-England and that for Her own Part She desired that the People there might not meerly have Justice but Favour done to them When the King was returned Mr. Mather being by the Duke of Devonshire brought into the King's Presence on April 28. 1691. Humbly Pray'd His Majesties Favour to New-England urging That if their Old Charter-Priviledges might be restored unto them his Name would be Great in those Parts of the World as long as the World should stand adding Sir Your Subjects there have been willing to venture their Lives that they may enlarge Your Dominions The Expedition to Canada was a great and Noble Vndertaking May it Please Your Majesty In your great Wisdom also to consider the circumstances of that People as in Your Wisdom you