Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/403

* HUTCHINSON. 349 HUTCHINSON. Stamford, Conn., which was then Dutch terri- tory, and there in September, 1643, she and her whole family of fifteen persons were taken pris- oners by the Indians, and all but one daughter murdered. Consult: her life in Sparks's Library of American Biography, vol. xvi.; Adams, Three Episodes in Massachusetts History (Boston, 1893;. HUTCHINSON, John (1615-64). An Eng- lish regicide, born in Nottingham, and educated at Cambridge. After a sliort study of the law at Lincoln's Inn, he identified himself with the rarliamentary side in the struggle against the King, became a member of the committee for Not- tingliamshire, and throughout 1644 and 1645 acted as Governor of both Nottingham and Not- tingham Castle, successfully holding them against repeated Koyalist attacks, attempted briber}', and internal dissensions. In 1646 he succeeded his father. Sir Thomas Hutchinson, as a member of the Long Parliament, and two years afterwards he sat as one of the King's judges, and signed the royal death-warrant. He served under Cromwell in the Council of State until 1653, when he retired from politics, and refused further office under the Protector. He seems to have worked for a restoration of the Long Par- liament, and during its short .session, from May to October, 1659, he returned to his seat. He was a member from Nottingham to the Conven- tion Parliament in 1660, but was immediately expelled as a regicide, though his life wa.s spared through the intercession of relatives. In 1663 he was arrested as an accessory to the Yorkshire Plot, and, despite meagreness of evidence against him, was imprisoned in the Tower. In May, 1664, he was removed to Sandown Castle in Kent, where he died from fever in the following Sep- tember. His wife Lucy ( 1620-C.1680). was very influential in saving his life when the Restora- tion took place, and after his death wrote a Life of Colonel Hutchinson (first published in 1806). HUTCHINSON, John (1674-1737). An English theological writer. He was born at Spen- nithorne, near Middleham. in Yorkshire. For some time he was steward of the household of the Duke of Somerset, and left his service to de- vote himself to religious studies, the Duke pro- curing for him a sinecure appointment from the Government. In 1724 he published the first part of a work called Moses' Principia, in which he defended what he regarded as the Jlosaic cos- mogony, and assailed Newton's theory of gravi- tation. He continued to publish a succession of works till his death, in London. August 28. 1737. The leading principle of his religious system is that the Holy Scriptures contain the elements not only of true religion, but of all rational phi- losophy, which, however, was to be derived only from the original unpointed Hebrew: and for that purpose, it was subjected to strange critical or rather fanciful processes. His works at one time exercised a considerable influence, and his followers, called 'Hutehinsonians.' included some persons of considerable learning and celebritv. His works appeared in 12 volumes (London. 1748), with life by Spearman in supplement (ib., 1765). HUTCHINSON, Thomas (1711-80). An American loyalist, the last royal Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He was born ill Boston, where his father, the great-grand- son of Anne Hutchinson (q.v.), was a wealthy merchant and ship-owner. He graduated at Har- vard in 1727, entered his fathers counting-room, early showed remarkable aptitude for business, and by the time he was twenty-four had accumu- lated considerable property in trading ventures on his own account. The social prominence of his family, as well as his own position in the busi- ness world, made him, while still a young man, a person of considerable importance in the com- munity. In 1737 he was elected a member of the Boston Board of Selectmen. Later in the same year he was chosen a representative to the Gen- eral Court of the Colony, and at once took a strong stand in opposition to the views of the majority with regard to a proper currency. His proposal to borrow silver in England to "redeem the outstanding bills of credit, and his opposi- tion to the revival of the Land Bank, made him unpopular with the people, and impelled his con- stituents in town meeting to draw up 'instruc- tions,' disregard of which led to his retirement in 1740. In that year he went to England as a commissioner to represent Massachusetts in a boundary dispute with New Hampshire. In 1742 he was reelected to the General Court, and was thereafter chosen annually until 1749, ser'ing as Speaker from 1746 to 1^49. He continued his advocacy of a sound currency, and when the British Parliament reimbursed Massachusetts in 1749 for the expenses incurred in the Louisburg expedition, he proposed the abolition of the bills of credit, and the utilization of the Parliamen- tary repayment as the basis for a new colonial currency. The proposal was finally adopted by the Assembly, and its good effect oii the trade of the Colony at once established Hutchinson's repu- tation as a financier. On leaving the General Court he was appointed at once to the Governor's Council; in 1750 he was chairman of a commis- sion to arrange a treaty with the Indians in the District of JIaine; and he served on boundary commissions to settle disputes with Connecticut and Rhode Island, In 1752 he was appointed judge of probate, and a justice of the Common Pleas. In 1754 as a delegate from Massachusetts to the Albany Convention (q.v.) he took a lead- ing part in the discussions, and favored Frank- lin's plan for colonial union, although doubting its practicability. In 1758 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor, and in 1760 Chief Justice of the Province. In the following year, by issuing writs of assistance (q.v.), he brouglit upon him- self a storm of protest and criticism. His distrust of popular government as exempli- fied in the New England town meeting increased. Although he oppo.sed the principle of the Stamj) Act (q.v.), considered it imiKiIitic, and later advised its repeal, he accepted its legality, and as a result of his stand, liis city house was sacked by a mob in ."Kii-nist. 1765, and his valuable col- lection of hooks and manuscripts destroyed. In 1769, upon the resignation of Governor Bernard, he became Acting Governor, serving in that ca- pacityat the time of the 'Boston Massacre' (q.v.), March 5, 1770. when popular clamor compelled him to order the removal of the troops from the city. In March. 1771, he received his connnission as Governor, His administration, controIle<l com- pletely by the British Ministry-, increased the friction with the patriots. The publication, in 1773, of some letters on colonial affairs written by Hutchinson, and obtained bv Franklin m