Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/205

] that she would not countenance oppression by any, even though he were her own flesh and blood; whereupon his creditors threw him into prison. Soon after, his father's death opened the way to him for release, for now become the Earl of Clarendon, he was discharged from arrest and returned to England.

Lord Lovelace was appointed Cornbury's successor in the spring of 1708, but he did not reach New York till near the close of the year. His administration gave promise of being acceptable and serviceable to the province; it was, however, very brief; for early in the year 1709, Lovelace died, and Ingoldsby again had charge of public affairs. It was while Ingoldsby was acting governor that another fruitless expedition against Canada was made. Five hundred men were raised, and bills of credit were issued to pay the expense. New York showed herself equally zealous with her New England neighbors. Schuyler went to England with some of the Mohawk chiefs, and they were admitted to an audience with the queen. Aid was promised; but the reverses of war in Spain prevented at the time, and all this expense and preparation, which were beyond anything the colonies had yet made, proved of no avail. Had the plan been energetically carried out of a combined attack by land and sea, there can be hardly a doubt but that Canada would have fallen into the hands of the English.

The patent of Thomas Neal for "colonial posts having expired, an act of parliament extended the British post-office system to America. A chief office was established at New York, to which letters were to be conveyed by regular packets across the Atlantic. The same act regulated the rates of postage to be paid in the plantations, exempted the posts from ferriage, and enabled postmasters to recover their dues by summary process. A line of posts was presently established on Neal's old routes, north to the Piscataqua, and south to Philadelphia; irregularly extending, a few years after, to Williamsburg, in Virginia, the post leaving Philadelphia for the south as often as letters enough were lodged to pay the expense. The postal communication subsequently established with the Carolinas was still more irregular."

Robert Hunter, a Scotchman by birth, who had risen from an humble station to high military rank, was appointed Lovelace's successor in the gubernatorial chair. Three thousand Germans, who had been compelled by the ravages of war, to leave their homes on the banks of the Rhine, were sent out with the new governor to be settled on the banks of the Hudson. The experiment was not a successful one while they served under indentures to the queen, for their maintenance was a positive loss; but when they were allowed the privileges of free citizens, they soon became thriving and industrious denizens of the German Flats, on the upper waters of the Mohawk. A part of the same company settled in Pennsylvania, and another part in North Carolina. It is owing to