» * 
 
 1* 
 
 in 
 
^ 
 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 
 
 DELIVERED BY REQUEST 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 CITIZENS OF NEW HAVEN, 
 
 APRIL 25, 1838, 
 
 THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 or 
 THE FIRST SETTLEMENT 
 
 TOWN AND COLONY. 
 
 BY JAMES L . KINCSLEY. 
 
 NEW HAVEN: 
 B. & W. NO YES 
 
 1838. 
 
l'rintod by B. L. Hamlen 
 
The author was invited, March 20th, 1838, by a joint 
 committee of the Connecticut Academy, of the Mayor and 
 Aldermen of the City, and of the Selectmen of the Town, of 
 New Haven, to prepare a discourse for the Second Centen- 
 nial Anniversary of the founding of the Colony. He subse- 
 quently received the following communication. 
 
 Professor James L. Kingsley, 
 
 Sir — The Committees appointed to conduct the Cele- 
 bration of the Second Centennial Anniversary of the settle- 
 ment of the Colony of New Haven, respectfully request that 
 you will furnish them for publication, a copy of the very 
 able Historical Discourse, which on that occasion you ad- 
 dressed to one of the most numerous and enlightened assem- 
 blies, ever convened in this city. 
 With the highest regard, 
 
 Your friends and fellow citizens, 
 
 Benjamin Silliman, 
 
 Thomas Hubbard, 
 
 Jonathan Knight, 
 
 Leonard Bacon, 
 
 Theodore D. Woolsey, 
 
 Edward C. Herrick, 
 
 Henry C. Flagg, 
 Benjamin Beecher, 
 Caleb Brintnall, 
 John B. Robertson, 
 Solomon Collis, 
 
 Levi Gilbert, 2d. 
 Marcus Merriman, Junr. y lectmen of the Town. 
 New Haven, Thursday, April 26, 1838. 
 
 > 
 
 V 
 
 Committee of the 
 Connecticut Acade- 
 my of Arts and 
 
 Sciences. 
 
 Committee of the 
 Mayor, Aldermen 
 and Common Coun- 
 cil of the City. 
 
 ~) Committee of the Se- 
 
 
 N 
 
 1 «r 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 16, line 8, for June 3, read June 26. 
 " 89, " 18, " January, 1647, read January, 1646. 
 " 92, « 9, « Hodgson, read Hodshon. 
 
 U^Some passages of the following Discourse, 
 to avoid trespassing too much on the patience of 
 the audience, were omitted in the delivery. 
 
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 We are assembled, fellow citizens, to commemo- 
 rate the close of the second century from the first 
 planting of the town and colony of New Haven. 
 This act of respect and pious gratitude to the foun- 
 ders of our city, we have been led to perform, less, 
 it is believed, by the influence of custom, than by 
 a strong conviction of the importance of the event 
 which we celebrate, and a wish to impress on our 
 own minds, and on the minds of those who shall 
 come after us, the great truths which it is so well 
 fitted to teach. 
 
 Hardly any feeling arises more spontaneously in 
 the human breast, than that which prompts us to 
 recur to times which are past, to review the events 
 of former years, and especially to inquire into the 
 characters and fortunes of those, whose actions in 
 the order of providence have a near connection 
 with our own allotment. It affords us a melan- 
 choly pleasure, unless a false philosophy has dead- 
 ened our sensibilities, to visit the places of the bu- 
 rial of such men, to inspect their monuments, to 
 traverse the ground which has been the scene of 
 their exploits, and to mark by some appropriate ob- 
 servances, the times, which in their progress through 
 life, have been especially signalized by disaster or 
 success. Nor are such reminiscences without their 
 
6 
 
 use. They bring to our view, more distinctly and 
 with deeper conviction, the influence of man upon 
 man, the connection of one generation and of one 
 age with those which follow; enlarge our know- 
 ledge of the human character and of human inter- 
 ests, and at the same time quicken the most gen- 
 erous feelings of the heart. Our duties are made 
 more clear, and our resolution to perform them 
 strengthened and confirmed. 
 
 To indulge in reflections on the past, we are this 
 day invited by numerous circumstances of deep and 
 affecting interest. We are entering on the third 
 century from the time, when civilization and Chris- 
 tianity were first introduced into this part of New 
 England. It is the same season of the year, the 
 sun is moving in the same circle of the heavens, as 
 on that day, when the original settlers of this town, 
 first assembled after their arrival, to offer up, in the 
 open air, their prayers and praises to that Being, 
 who had conducted them in safety to this spot, and 
 on whose almighty aid they relied for continued 
 support. We now behold around us the same hills, 
 the same plains, the same waters in the distance, as 
 then greeted their eyes ; and we see, what they were 
 able to discern only in the dim future, and in the vis- 
 ions of hope, a cultivated region and a populous city, 
 enjoying the advantages of literature and religion, 
 and enlivened by the pursuits of agriculture, com- 
 merce and the arts. Let us, then, yielding to the 
 dictates of our understandings, as well as of our 
 feelings, briefly review the early history of New 
 Haven; without stopping to apologize to those, 
 who would deride the observance of such an anni- 
 
versary as mere idle parade, or the lingering of pu- 
 ritanical prejudice. 
 
 The great cause, which led to the first coloni- 
 zation of New England, is well known to you all. 
 But though the subject is trite, a reference to a few 
 facts seems necessary, fully to illustrate the main 
 topic now to be considered. The separation of the 
 English church from the church of Rome was at 
 first rather political than religious ; it was rather 
 resistance on the part of Henry VIII. to the power 
 and authority of the pope, than a change in doc- 
 trines, or in the general rules of ecclesiastical dis- 
 cipline. That the rise of Protestantism should be 
 gradual, was a matter of course. Individuals, much 
 more large bodies of men, seldom renounce old opin- 
 ions suddenly ; especially opinions so fondly cher- 
 ished and so strongly fortified by early associations, 
 the influence of authority, and the powerful feelings 
 of hope and fear, as those of religion. The right 
 and obligation of the monarch to enforce uniformity 
 in religious belief and worship, w 7 as at the begin- 
 ning of the reformation, hardly questioned by any 
 one ; the only debate was, whether in particular 
 cases he had determined correctly. His authority, 
 therefore, was opposed by men, who, if they could 
 have attained their object, would have persuaded 
 him, not to give up the power of legislating in mat- 
 ters of religion, but so to exercise it as to support 
 opinions, which they themselves had adopted. 
 
 At first the number of individuals who withstood 
 the will of the sovereign, however capricious, was in- 
 considerable. The belief in the infallibility of those, 
 who controlled the civil and ecclesiastical affairs 
 
8 
 
 of the nation, and the dread of pains and penalties, 
 seem for a time to have entirely subdued in the hu- 
 man mind all independent thought. But in a pe- 
 riod of so much mental agitation, as that from the 
 commencement of the reformation in the reign of 
 Henry VIII. to the time of James I., it was impos- 
 sible that this intellectual slavery should remain 
 undisturbed. To believe, according to act of par- 
 liament, a doctrine to be at one time essential truth, 
 at another the most fatal heresy, and at another a 
 matter of indifference, at length exceeded the pow- 
 ers of a few ; and the spell being once broken, diver- 
 sity of religious faith was increased and strength- 
 ened. The art of printing had made books more 
 accessible, the clergy as a body were more learned, 
 men's minds were sharpened by controversy, and 
 no human power could stop the progress of dis- 
 sent. The puritans, as they were called, wished for 
 greater changes in the church, especially in its dis- 
 cipline, than met the views of their civil and eccle- 
 siastical superiors; and in consequence they were 
 exposed to severe sufferings. 
 
 To these men of ardent minds and tender con- 
 sciences, and goaded on by intolerance in some 
 instances without doubt to extremes, submission to 
 government against their own belief and sense of 
 duty, appeared to be the greatest of crimes. With 
 their convictions, they could neither comply with 
 the ceremonies of the church as by law established, 
 nor cease to worship after their own manner. But 
 in neither of these respects could they find indul- 
 gence. The struggle which in consequence they 
 endeavored to maintain with the power of the state 
 
was unequal ; and they soon began to look about 
 them for the means of relief. To quit their coun- 
 try was a severe sacrifice ; but this they were ready 
 to make, if necessary to the free exercise of their 
 religion. 
 
 Many of these oppressed individuals fled to the 
 continent; in some parts of which, greater freedom 
 of opinion was allowed than in England. But here 
 they were under many severe restraints; and the 
 great object for which they left their homes, the 
 free exercise of religion, with the prospect of trans- 
 mitting their own views of faith and manners to 
 their posterity, was in danger of being defeated. 
 As a last resource, they resolved to take refuge on 
 the shores of North America. The boldness of 
 this determination will not be sufficiently manifest, 
 without looking at some of the circumstances in 
 which it was formed. At the time, when the first 
 company of puritans sailed from Europe for Amer- 
 ica, very little was known of that part of the conti- 
 nent, which was called New England. A few mar- 
 iners had descried here and there a bay and a prom- 
 ontory, and had landed at some points on the coast ; 
 but they had furnished very slight information, 
 where the shores could be with safety approached, 
 or where were the most favorable places for estab- 
 lishing a colony. As to the nature of the soil and 
 its productions, the number and character of the 
 native inhabitants, their means of annoyance, and 
 the best mode of conciliating their favor ; and as to 
 the climate, the possibility of obtaining a livelihood 
 by agriculture or commerce, and the most favora- 
 ble season for beginning a colonial establishment, 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 there was no distinct and credible account. That 
 there was here a wide country, unoccupied, except 
 by savages, is all that was certain. But what was 
 still more discouraging than venturing to cast their 
 lot in an unexplored region, was the utter uncer- 
 tainty, whether the same oppressive bigotry, which 
 had driven them from their homes, would not pur- 
 sue them in their distant retreat. 
 
 Such were some of the difficulties and discour- 
 agements attending the planting of the first colony 
 at Plymouth, in December, 1620. The news like- 
 wise, which the earliest pilgrims to America sent 
 to their brethren whom they had left behind, must 
 have been peculiarly afflictive and disheartening. 
 It was a story of suffering and loss, of a severe cli- 
 mate, of an unpromising soil, of a savage popula- 
 tion, of sickness and of death. Still there were 
 found those, who were willing to join this uninviting 
 settlement; and its numbers gradually increased. 
 As information respecting this new country was 
 more widely diffused, multitudes were found willing 
 to forego their enjoyments in England, connected 
 as they were with religious intolerance; and to 
 transport themselves into a wilderness with its ac- 
 companying privations and sufferings, as some pros- 
 pect was here held out to them of instituting com- 
 munities, in conformity with their own notions of 
 civil and religious polity. Accordingly projects of 
 more extensive establishments on the American 
 coast, were soon favored by persons of higher rank, 
 and larger fortunes. An expedition originating in 
 this way, sailed from England in 1628, and com- 
 menced the town of Salem in Massachusetts. An- 
 
11 
 
 other expedition still larger, in the year 1630, 
 landed at Charlestown, and began the settlement 
 of Boston. 
 
 Encouraged by the partial success of these early 
 adventurers, a new company for emigration was 
 formed in England in the year 1636, chiefly through 
 the efforts of Theophilus Eaton, John Davenport 
 and Edward Hopkins. The first of this number, 
 Theophilus Eaton, was born about the year 1590, 
 in Stony-Stratford in Oxfordshire ; where, says 
 Mather,* his father was a " faithful and famous 
 minister." He received his education in Coven- 
 try, to which place his father had removed. At 
 school, he formed an intimate acquaintance with 
 John Davenport, a son of the mayor of the city, 
 and with whom he was afterwards connected in 
 leading a colony to America. The parents of Ea- 
 ton were desirous, that he should follow the profes- 
 sion of his father ; but his own inclinations led him 
 to engage in commerce. Accordingly he was made 
 a "freeman of London," entered into what was 
 called the " east-country trade,"f that is, with na- 
 tions on the shores of the Baltic, was chosen dep- 
 uty-governor of the company of merchants, to which 
 he belonged, and prosecuted his business with great 
 success and reputation. In the course of his com- 
 mercial transactions, he visited the northern coun- 
 tries of Europe, was the agent of the king of Eng- 
 land at the court of Denmark; and the concerns of 
 the company were so prosperous under his manage- 
 ment, that he received from his associates distin- 
 
 * Magnal. Book II. 26. • t Note A. 
 
12 
 
 guished marks of their approbation. " He arrived," 
 says Mather, " unto a fair estate," was connected 
 by a second marriage with a daughter of the bishop 
 of Chester, and "spent many years," according to 
 the same author, " a merchant of great credit and 
 fashion in the city of London." In religion he was 
 a zealous and active puritan. That he took an 
 early interest in the emigrations to America, ap- 
 pears from the fact, that he was one of the paten- 
 tees of Massachusetts ; though probably, at first, he 
 had himself no intention of leaving his country. 
 
 John Davenport was born in the year 1597, and 
 was educated at the university of Oxford ; where 
 he received the degrees of Master of Arts, and 
 Bachelor of Divinity. He took orders in the church 
 at the age of nineteen, and was a minister of the 
 establishment, in St. Stephen's Church, Colman 
 street, London. His early friend Eaton was one 
 of his parishioners. How soon he began to favor 
 the doctrines of the puritans cannot now be as- 
 certained; but in 1626, he with others, was con- 
 cerned in purchasing lay impropriations in the 
 church, which proceeding was pronounced, in the 
 Exchequer chamber, through the agency of Laud, 
 illegal, and the property thus acquired was confis- 
 cated to the use of the king. Mr. Davenport con- 
 tributed his aid towards procuring the patent of 
 Massachusetts; though from the fear of creating 
 opposition, he did not allow his name to appear 
 among the patentees. " Yet his purse," says Ma- 
 ther,* " was in it, his time was in it, and he con- 
 
 * Magna]. Book III. 53. 
 
13 
 
 tributed unto it all manner of assistances." Before 
 this he had been induced to inquire into the rea- 
 sons, why a man of the eminence of John Cotton 
 should deliberate on leaving his country ; and in this 
 way probably became acquainted with the plans, 
 which were in progress for colonizing New Eng- 
 land. By such a course of conduct, Mr. Daven- 
 port could not fail to come under the censure of his 
 diocesan ; and to avoid the penalties, to which he 
 might be subjected, he assembled the principal 
 members of his parish, and obtained their consent, 
 that he should retire to Holland. After a residence 
 in that country of about three years, he returned to 
 London to unite with his early friend Eaton in re- 
 moving to America. 
 
 Edward Hopkins, the remaining individual of 
 those just mentioned, as taking a principal part in 
 preparing for this new expedition, was a native of 
 Shrewsbury, and born about the year 1600. He 
 was step-son to Mr. Eaton, like him had acquired 
 wealth by commerce, and was not less deeply im- 
 bued with the principles and feelings of the puri- 
 tans. By the efforts chiefly of these three men, a 
 company was formed of persons of standing and 
 property, who for the sake of religious liberty, were 
 willing to forego their ease and affluence, and en- 
 counter the hardships and dangers of the wilderness. 
 
 Let us here stop, and look for a moment at the 
 nature of the enterprise, in which this company 
 was about to engage. The knowledge of the coast 
 of New England had been somewhat extended, 
 since the first settlements were begun; but it was 
 still too imperfect to guide to any important prac- 
 
14 
 
 tical determinations. The colonies of Plymouth, 
 of Salem and of Boston, had suffered greatly by 
 sickness ; the prospect of a profitable commerce, or 
 even of obtaining a comfortable subsistence, was 
 distant and faint ; and the danger from the native 
 inhabitants was neither unreal, nor considered of 
 little importance. These obstacles, however, had 
 in part lain in the way of the previous adventurers. 
 But another of a different character had arisen, 
 which gave to the enterprise now contemplated the 
 aspect of peculiar hazard ; and which would have 
 deterred men of less determined minds from taking 
 any part in it; even if all discouragements before 
 existing could have been removed. 
 
 The early colonists had hoped to retire beyond 
 the reach, or to escape the notice, of their oppres- 
 sors; but this expectation, faint at first, seemed 
 now to have vanished. In April, of the year 1634, 
 less than four years after the settlement of Boston, 
 the king, Charles I, by a " commission for regula- 
 ting plantations," gave archbishop Laud and oth- 
 ers, what is denominated, " power of protection and 
 government" over the " English colonies already 
 planted," as well as over such as should be planted 
 afterwards ; and authorized them, for the " ease and 
 tranquillity" of the colonists, "to make laws, ordi- 
 nances and constitutions, concerning either the 
 state public of the said colonies, or utility of pri- 
 vate persons, and their lands, goods, debts, and suc- 
 cession;" and " for relief and support of the clergy, 
 and the rule and cure of the souls of our people liv- 
 ing in those parts, and for consigning of convenient 
 maintenance unto them by tythes, oblations, and 
 
15 
 
 other profits accruing, according to your good dis- 
 cretion, with the advice of two or three of our bish- 
 ops, whom you shall think fit to call unto your con- 
 sultations, touching the distributions of such main- 
 tenance unto the clergy, and all other matters eccle- 
 siastical; and to inflict punishment upon all offen- 
 ders or violators of the constitutions and ordinances, 
 either by imprisonment or other restraint, or by loss 
 of life or member, according as the quality of the 
 offense shall require."* The prospect, therefore 
 was, that if they should establish themselves on the 
 remote shores of America at whatever hazard and 
 sacrifice, they would be invaded in their retreat, 
 by the very power, from which they had endeavored 
 to escape; and particularly, that they would be 
 brought under the same religious restraints, as 
 they had before suffered, or even those of still 
 greater rigor. They had full knowledge of the 
 disposition of archbishop Laud towards dissenters 
 from the established religion; nor could they doubt 
 what was to be expected from commissioners of 
 whom he was the head, armed with power to inflict 
 on non-conformists in the colonies " loss of life or 
 member," according to their discretion. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding this additional cause of ap- 
 prehension, a large company, under the direction 
 of the men just mentioned, associated for removal 
 to New England. These new adventurers were 
 chiefly Londoners ; men for the most part, whose 
 business had been commerce, and who hoped to 
 establish themselves in the same employment in 
 
 * 1 Hazard, 344. Hubbard, 264. 
 
16 
 
 America. They appear to have determined, be- 
 fore leaving England, on no particular place for 
 settlement; but sailed for Massachusetts, reserving 
 the selection of a place of abode, till after their ar- 
 rival. The company embarked in two ships, taking 
 with them a large amount of property, and a num- 
 ber of persons in the capacity of servants ; and 
 arrived at the place of their destination, June 3d, 
 1637. They were very favorably received by their 
 brethren, who had gone to America before them. 
 Inducements were held out to the company to fix 
 their residence in Boston; and likewise, to unite 
 with the original colony at Plymouth; but they 
 most probably entertained from the first, a wish to 
 begin, if possible, a new settlement. Perhaps they 
 were not altogether pleased with the state of things 
 in either of the colonies already planted ; and it is 
 certain, that such accommodations as they looked 
 for, in prosecuting their plans of trade, could not 
 be easily found. They early wrote to their friends 
 in Hartford, to purchase of the natives an exten- 
 sive tract of country, between the rivers Connec- 
 ticut and Hudson; but I find no evidence, that any 
 purchase of this kind was completed. After visit- 
 ing various places on the coast, in the neighbor- 
 hood of Boston and Plymouth, Mr. Eaton, in Au- 
 gust after his arrival, in company with several oth- 
 ers, made a journey to the westward, for the pur- 
 pose of exploring the country between Connecticut 
 river and the Manhadoes, now New York. In his 
 tour, he came to this place, then known by the 
 name of Quinnipiac; and was so favorably impres- 
 sed by its appearance, especially as a site for a 
 
17 
 
 commercial town, that he seems to have soon de- 
 termined on establishing here a new and distinct 
 colony. Accordingly he left a few men on this spot 
 for the winter, probably to make preparation for re- 
 ceiving the whole company, the following spring. 
 
 On the 30th of March, 1638, Mr. Eaton, and 
 Mr. Davenport, with their associates, sailed from 
 Boston for Quinnipiac, and in about a fortnight 
 arrived here in safety. Of the particulars of this 
 voyage no memorial remains. The length of time 
 which it occupied, is easily accounted for, from the 
 necessity of caution in sailing on a coast, which 
 had been so little explored. The first sabbath after 
 their landing, which on highly probable grounds, 
 is supposed to have been the fifteenth of April,* old 
 style, corresponding, according to our present mode 
 of reckoning time, to the twenty fifth of the same 
 month, was celebrated under a large oak, near 
 where College and George streets now intersect 
 each other ; and here this assembly of exiles, about 
 to establish themselves in what they considered 
 and called the " ends of the earth," was addressed 
 by their pastor on the " temptations of the wilder- 
 ness." At the present time, familiar as we are 
 with the scenes which surround us, it is difficult, 
 perhaps impossible, to enter fully into the circum- 
 stances of this little band; and to sympathize with 
 them in their joys and sorrows, their hopes and 
 fears. Imagine yourselves transported to some dis- 
 tant region on the North-West coast of this conti- 
 nent, or on the shores of New Holland, ignorant in 
 
 * Note B, 
 
18 
 
 a great degree of the country, surrounded by sav- 
 ages of doubtful friendship, with no sure prospect of 
 long obtaining the means of support, and the gov- 
 ernment of your native country apparently resolved 
 on defeating the very object, for which, with so 
 many sacrifices, you had abandoned your homes ; 
 what, in such a case, would be your anxieties, your 
 apprehensions, and your efforts ? Or, to take an- 
 other view of this subject, — what would induce you 
 to enter on so bold and so desperate an adventure ? 
 Would any prospect of gain, or of reputation? 
 Nothing within the range of probability would draw 
 you to encounter such peril as is here presented, ex- 
 cept that ardent religious zeal which actuated and 
 supported the early colonists of New England. 
 
 The first subject which engaged the attention of 
 these exiles on their arrival, was the instituting of 
 a government to regulate their concerns. The col- 
 ony at Plymouth, in organizing their civil state, ac- 
 knowledged themselves the subjects of king James. 
 The government of Massachusetts acted under the 
 authority of a royal charter. The first emigrants 
 to Connecticut considered themselves under the 
 jurisdiction of Massachusetts ; till after the settle- 
 ment of three towns, they formed themselves into 
 an independent body politic. The first planters of 
 New Haven, recognized in their acts no human 
 authority foreign to themselves. They appear to 
 have studiously avoided any mention of their native 
 country ; or any allusion to the question of allegi- 
 ance to the king of England. This matter they 
 left to be determined afterwards as circumstances 
 should render a decision expedient or necessary. 
 
19 
 
 As they were beyond the limits of the Massachu- 
 setts patent, no reason existed for placing them- 
 selves under the jurisdiction of that colony. They 
 were, therefore, according to their own view, in 
 many important respects, in what philosophers have 
 called a state of nature, independent individuals, 
 subject to no authority, but such as they should 
 create by voluntary compact. Accordingly, soon 
 after their arrival at Quinnipiac, at the close of a 
 " day of fasting and prayer," they formed and sub- 
 scribed what they denominated a " plantation cove- 
 nant." By this instrument they engaged, "that as 
 in matters that concern the gathering and ordering 
 of a church, so also in all public offices, which con- 
 cern civil order, as choice of magistrates, and offi- 
 cers, making and repealing laws, dividing allotments 
 of inheritance, and all things of like nature, they 
 would all of them be ordered by the rules, which 
 the scripture held forth to them."* This may be 
 considered the original civil constitution of the New 
 Haven colony. It was brief but comprehensive, 
 embracing what the state of the colonists imme- 
 diately required; and in its terms and provisions 
 must have been well understood, by each individual 
 concerned in its formation. 
 
 Here we cannot but remark the entirely prac- 
 tical character, which the whole of this transaction 
 wears. No attempt is here made to frame specific 
 regulations to meet the circumstances of a com- 
 munity so new, and the exigencies of which they 
 were so little able to foresee ; nor is there for their 
 
 * Col. Records. 
 
20 
 
 general direction in deciding such controversies as 
 might arise, reference to a code of laws of which 
 they were ignorant, or with which they were im- 
 perfectly acquainted. It was the intention of the 
 leaders of the colony, without doubt from the first, 
 to make the bible the ground-work of their legisla- 
 tion; but in the temper and feeling with which 
 these emigrants had left their native country, they 
 might also have apprehended, that any recognition 
 of the laws of England, however qualified, would 
 lead to the introduction of English supremacy, and 
 their own ultimate subjection to the very tyranny 
 from which they had fled. To the scriptures, as a 
 general guide in the administration of justice, there 
 could be, in their minds, no such objection. No 
 one would fear danger under a polity where every 
 controversy was to be determined by rules easily 
 accessible ; and which all believed themselves able 
 to comprehend and apply. The government thus 
 instituted, was, in fact, a pure democracy, profes- 
 sedly controlled by the great principles of justice 
 and equity ; as these principles are illustrated in 
 the book of revelation. The ready adoption, there- 
 fore, of such a plan of government as this, by an 
 assemblage of individuals, with the opinions, and 
 in the situation of the first New Haven colonists, 
 was a matter of course. 
 
 What magistrates were appointed under this 
 early regimen, we have no means of determining. 
 Any civil organization at this period must have 
 been of the most primitive kind; and all questions 
 of importance were probably settled in a general 
 meeting of the planters. The first great measure 
 
21 
 
 for consideration must have been the acquisition of 
 a proper title to the land which they wished to oc- 
 cupy. The actual possessors of the soil, though 
 holding it only as a place of occasional hunting and 
 fishing, they considered its rightful owners ; and of 
 these they made a fair purchase of as much land as 
 they needed at the outset. In November, after the 
 arrival of the colony, the chiefs of the native tribe 
 dwelling on this ground, conveyed to Theophilus 
 Eaton, John Davenport and others, their heirs and 
 assigns forever, the plain west of the river Q,uin- 
 nipiac. For this the colonists gave what both par- 
 ties undoubtedly considered a fair equivalent, in 
 clothing, and in agricultural and domestic utensils; 
 the Indians stipulating for the privilege of retiring 
 within the English lines, if attacked by their ene- 
 mies, and retaining the right of hunting and fishing 
 as before. No calculation which either party could 
 make at the time, would put upon the land a higher 
 value, than the actual estimate. It is as much as 
 we should be willing to give for an equal territory, 
 perhaps it is even more, if we were now in like cir- 
 cumstances on the shores of New Zealand. Simi- 
 lar purchases were subsequently made, and there 
 is abundant record evidence, that all the lands of 
 the colony were purchased on just and equitable 
 conditions; and it does not appear, that any impor- 
 tant controversy with the Indians, on this subject, 
 ever existed. We must come to later times, and 
 extend our inquiries to other parts of the country, 
 if we would find instances of overreaching and 
 fraud, in transactions for lands with the native in- 
 habitants. It deserves also to be here distinctly 
 
22 
 
 stated, that though there may have been some 
 slight disagreements between the new settlers and 
 the original occupants of the soil, and the latter 
 may have in a few instances manifested a hostile 
 disposition, yet there never was an open war be- 
 tween the native Indians and the English in the 
 New Haven colony ; which fact Hubbard ascribes 
 to a " due carefulness," on the part of the colonists, 
 " in doing justice to them upon all occasions."* 
 The treatment of the savages of Pennsylvania by 
 William Penn, was not a whit more equitable or 
 kind, than that showed the native inhabitants of 
 this spot. The distinguishing policy of Penn, in 
 his intercourse with the Indians, consisted in this, 
 that he allowed no lands to be purchased of them, 
 except on account of the government; the very 
 course pursued here.t 
 
 The laying out of the town, and preparing means 
 of defense against any attack from the savages, 
 must have early commanded the attention of the 
 colonists. As to the plan which was adopted for 
 streets, for a public square, convenient access to 
 the harbor, and communication with the surround- 
 ing country, the sound judgment exercised is every 
 where visible ; nor, do I suppose, that any import- 
 ant change, in these respects, would be made, if 
 after the experience of two centuries, we could di- 
 rect what the original design should have been.J As 
 to defense against the native tribes, if they should 
 prove hostile; some protection, for checking any 
 sudden aggression on their part, and giving confi- 
 
 * 322. t Note C. t Note D. 
 
23 
 
 dence to the new settlers, was indispensable. It 
 does not appear, that the tribes of Indians, dwell- 
 ing in the vicinity, showed any jealousy of the col- 
 onists, or were more than usually irritable or war- 
 like ; on the contrary, they were evidently a people 
 of mild and gentle disposition, altogether inclined 
 to afford the strangers a friendly reception, and 
 looking to them as allies, rather than as enemies. 
 But the friendly feelings of uncivilized nations, 
 however strongly manifested, are to be relied upon 
 with caution. To guard, therefore, against sur- 
 prise or sudden attack, the town was surrounded 
 with palisades; and strong gates were made at 
 the entrances of the place, which were guarded 
 every night with great strictness. 
 
 We may suppose, that the planters of our town, 
 in addition to instituting a government of the sim- 
 plest form, obtaining a title to their lands, and in- 
 closing themselves by a rude fortification, passed 
 the first summer in erecting a few buildings which 
 might afford a shelter from the approaching win- 
 ter, and making a beginning in cultivating the 
 ground. Having thus brought their affairs into a 
 state of comparative order and comfort, in June of 
 the following year, they entered upon the subject 
 of reorganizing their civil state ; or what in modern 
 language would be called, forming a new constitu- 
 tion. From our relation to the men engaged in 
 this transaction, and as the business of making 
 constitutions of government, was, at that time, a 
 novelty in the world, it may not be uninteresting 
 to look, with some particularity, at the mode of 
 proceeding then adopted, as well as at what was 
 
24 
 
 done, in laying the foundations of a commonwealth. 
 The meeting for this purpose was in a new barn 
 built by Mr. Newman, one of the principal colo- 
 nists. To this council, the decisions of which were 
 to be so important to the new community, all the 
 free planters were admitted. Here then, at the 
 outset, was a practical recognition of the principle, 
 that the true foundation of government is in the 
 consent of the governed. 
 
 No reference direct or indirect, was made by those 
 concerned in this transaction, to their native coun- 
 try. As at the time the colonists signed their plan- 
 tation covenant, so now, they seem to have sup- 
 posed, that since they were in fact beyond the ac- 
 tual control of any existing sovereignty, they had 
 a perfect right to institute a government for them- 
 selves. The business of the meeting, in conform- 
 ity to the views of those assembled, and to the pro- 
 priety of the case, was introduced by prayer ; and 
 Mr. Davenport proposed various queries to the 
 planters, and urged them " to consider seriously in 
 the presence and fear of God, the weight of the bu- 
 siness they met about, and not to be rash or slight 
 in giving their votes to things they understood not,* 
 but to digest fully and thoroughly what should be 
 propounded to them, and without respect to men, 
 as they should be satisfied and persuaded in their 
 own minds, to give their answers in such sort, as 
 they should be willing should stand upon record for 
 posterity." They then unanimously assented to the 
 proposition, "that the scriptures do hold forth a 
 perfect rule for the direction and government of all 
 men in all duties, which they are to perform to God 
 
25 
 
 and men, as well in families and commonwealth, as 
 in matters of the church." After this, they renewed 
 their assent to their plantation covenant ; and 
 among other fundamental regulations adopted this, 
 which was by far the most important, " that church 
 members only shall be free burgesses, and that they 
 only shall choose magistrates and officers among 
 themselves, to have power of transacting all the 
 public civil affairs of the plantation ; of making 
 and repealing laws, dividing inheritances, deciding 
 differences that may arise, and " doing all things 
 and businesses of like nature." This article of the 
 new constitution was objected to by one individual; 
 who, however, after some explanations by Mr. Ea- 
 ton and others, withdrew his opposition, and, per- 
 haps, united with the rest of the assembly, in admit- 
 ting this provision as a part of their political system. 
 The limitation of the right of voting and of hold- 
 ing public offices to church members, was obviously 
 a favorite measure with Mr. Eaton, Mr. Davenport 
 and other leading men of the colony; and what they 
 designed from the first to make the foundation of 
 their civil polity. The same regulation had before 
 been adopted in Massachusetts; and it was, in fact, 
 the same in principle as the English law, which 
 has been repealed within a few years only, by 
 which receiving the sacrament, in the established 
 church, was a necessary qualification for holding 
 any office under government. The planters were 
 persuaded that a christian community ought to be 
 governed on christian principles; and to secure 
 this important object, they believed it necessary to 
 confine all participation in public transactions to 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 those, who had expressly recognized those princi- 
 ples, and professed to make them the rule of their 
 lives. 
 
 Mr. Davenport,* however, was far from adopting 
 the opinion, that church members, as citizens, 
 should be invested by law with exclusive privileges. 
 On the contrary, he fully maintained, that none 
 should be excluded " from any civil right or liberty, 
 that is due to them as inhabitants and planters," 
 and that all should have "the benefit of justice un- 
 der the government where they live." To make 
 distinctions here, he said, " were, indeed, to have 
 the commonwealth swallowed up of the church." 
 He held likewise, that there is a great difference 
 " between a commonwealth already settled, and a 
 commonwealth yet to be settled, and wherein men 
 are free to choose what form they shall judge best." 
 In the latter case, he would limit political rights to 
 church members, if possible ; but that a majority 
 should control in settling the qualifications of vo- 
 ters, he readily admitted. Whoever affirmed the 
 contrary, and defended the inherent right of the 
 church to exercise the powers of government, was, 
 according to John Davenport, a more fit subject 
 for physic than for argument. 
 
 What the planters had in view, may be appro- 
 ved, without admitting the propriety of the means 
 adopted for accomplishing their purpose. They 
 wished to secure honesty and integrity in the pub- 
 lic service; to bring the best men into office; those 
 who would well understand the public good, and 
 
 Note E. 
 
27 
 
 undeviatingly pursue it. That so desirable an end 
 could be attained without some limitation on the 
 right of suffrage, they did not believe. All restric- 
 tions on this right, whether of age, residence, prop- 
 erty or rank, are defensible only as they afford se- 
 curities for an intelligent and honest exercise of so 
 important a privilege. If such restrictions fail 
 here, they are unjust and oppressive. The colo- 
 nists, like other founders of states, aimed to ascer- 
 tain the character of those, who were to vote for 
 public functionaries. They were aware, that such 
 as are the electors, such ultimately will be those 
 who are elected, to administer the government. 
 Hence the solicitude so strongly manifested by the 
 first colonists of New Haven in executing what 
 they denominated their " foundation work." If this 
 should be firm, they had little apprehension about 
 the superstructure. 
 
 The opinion of the planters as to the correspond- 
 ence between the character of laws, and the char- 
 acter of those who make them, was obviously the 
 same as that of the founder of Pennsylvania. " Gov- 
 ernments," says William Penn, " rather depend 
 upon men, then men upon governments. Let men 
 be good, and the government cannot be bad ; if it 
 be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the 
 government be never so good, they will endeavor 
 to warp and spoil it to their turn. I know some 
 say, let us have good laws, and no matter for the 
 men that execute them : but let them consider, that 
 though good laws do well, good men do better ; for 
 good laws may want good men, and be abolished 
 or evaded by ill men; but good men never want 
 
28 
 
 good laws, nor suffer ill ones. It is true, good laws 
 have some awe upon ill ministers, but that is where 
 they have not power to escape or abolish them, and 
 the people are generally wise and good; but a loose 
 and depraved people love laws and an administra- 
 tion like themselves."* It was from a firm belief 
 of truths like these, that the puritans of Massachu- 
 setts and New Haven determined to confine the 
 privilege of voting and of holding civil office to 
 church members. 
 
 There was undoubtedly, in the peculiar danger 
 to which the colony was exposed, an additional rea- 
 son for limiting political privileges. Religious im- 
 munities, such as the colonists possessed, and which 
 had been acquired by so great sacrifices, were con- 
 sidered as claiming the highest consideration, or 
 rather as involving every other interest; and it was 
 not unnatural in these circumstances, that some 
 way should be sought after, which might exclude 
 from direct participation in the government all 
 who might be supposed to favor the ecclesiastical 
 domination of the parent country. For this end, 
 no plan probably appeared to the planters more 
 effectual, than to confine the right of voting and of 
 holding office to individuals of their own commun- 
 ion. They were founding what they designed to be 
 a strictly christian commonwealth, and took what 
 appeared to them the surest means of guarding it 
 from declension. Such an enterprise they thought 
 it possible to achieve ; or, at least, they were will- 
 ing to try the experiment. As they were finally 
 
 * Proud'a Hist, of Pennsylvania, Vol. II. Append. II. 
 
29 
 
 unanimous in admitting the provision in question 
 into their constitution, there was no one of that gen- 
 eration, who could reasonably complain. 
 
 But with the more full opportunity which we 
 have had of observing the operation of popular gov- 
 ernments, there is no difficulty in seeing, that the 
 colonists, however correct may have been their in- 
 tentions, adopted a rule for determining the quali- 
 fications of voters, which, as a permanent measure, 
 was likely to promote neither their civil nor eccle- 
 siastical interests. The test promised much more 
 than it could accomplish. Hardly any truth has 
 been more fully confirmed by the experience of 
 mankind, than that religious professions, like pro- 
 fessions of patriotism, may be the loudest, where 
 there is the least of the principle from which they 
 can honestly proceed. Mere declarations, when 
 employed as a check upon avarice and ambition, 
 are of little worth. They serve often to embarrass 
 the fair-minded and sincere; while they afford a 
 convenient cloak for the designing. This abridg- 
 ment of the right of suffrage was continued till the 
 dissolution of the colony. It became, however, 
 more and more the subject of complaint and con- 
 troversy ; and would probably have been abrogated 
 within a few years, if it had not ceased to exist by 
 the union of New Haven with Connecticut. 
 
 After the completion of the fundamental agree- 
 ment, the organization of the government followed. 
 The mode of proceeding in this important part of 
 the civil arrangements of the planters, is so char- 
 acteristic of the individuals concerned, and seems 
 so well to illustrate the principles by which they 
 
30 
 
 were guided, that, on an occasion like this, it merits 
 our particular attention. For the purpose of se- 
 lecting fit members for the beginning of a church 
 and of a civil state, the town was divided into dis- 
 tricts. In each of these districts, one who was con- 
 sidered the most suitable person to belong to the 
 church, which was to be constituted, was selected 
 and nominated for this purpose. The individuals 
 thus named in these private assemblies, were au- 
 thorized to meet and reduce their number to twelve; 
 and these again from their body to choose seven, 
 who were to stand as the original church members. 
 These district assemblies were accordingly held, 
 prayers were offered, the christian character of 
 candidates was investigated, and seven individuals 
 having passed this ordeal, were nominated as the 
 constituent members of the first church.* With 
 these men, therefore, was placed, by the voluntary 
 act of the planters, all the civil and ecclesiastical 
 power of the new commonwealth. Others they ad- 
 mitted to their franchise, or excluded from it, as 
 they judged them qualified for admission to the 
 privileges of the church. Property was not requi- 
 red to constitute a voter. Personal character, as 
 developed in the attainment of church-membership, 
 was the only ground on which any individual was 
 admitted to the exercise of political power. Such 
 was the first fully organized government of the 
 town of New Haven. 
 
 But though this constitutional act, or, as it was 
 called, " fundamental agreement," was adopted in 
 
 * Note F. 
 
31 
 
 June, 1639, the first election under its provisions 
 was not held till the 25th of October of the same 
 year. At this time Theophilus Eaton was chosen 
 magistrate, and four other persons were chosen 
 deputies. To these were added a public notary 
 and a marshal; all being elected for one year. 
 This was the entire civil establishment. Among 
 the first acts of the new government, was an order, 
 " that a meeting-house be built forthwith," and 
 " that the carpenters fell timber where they can 
 find it." A committee was appointed " to have the 
 disposing of all the house-lots yet undisposed of;" 
 and " that none shall come to dwell as planters 
 here without their consent and allowance." Vig- 
 orous measures were taken for arming the planters 
 for defense against any attack by the savages. It 
 was likewise " ordered, that no planter or planters 
 shall make purchase of any lands or plantations 
 from the Indians or others, for their own private 
 use or advantage, but in the name and for the use 
 of the whole plantation." 
 
 As to the division of lands, it was ordered, after 
 each of the planters had made a representation of 
 his property, that " every planter in the town shall 
 have a proportion of land, according to the propor- 
 tion of estate which he hath given in, and number 
 of heads in his family." The advance, which might 
 be made by retailers on " commodities bought in 
 England," or introduced into the colony from "Vir- 
 ginia, the Bay, or Connecticut," and the price at 
 which venison should be sold, was regulated by a 
 public order. The price of labor of all kinds was 
 likewise fixed by law. A watch was kept every 
 
32 
 
 night with great strictness, and an order was issued, 
 " that every man appointed to watch, whether mas- 
 ters or servants, shall come every Lord's day to the 
 meeting completely armed, and all others also are 
 to bring their swords ; no man exempted, save Mr. 
 Eaton, the pastor, [Mr. Davenport,] Mr. James, Mr. 
 Samuel Eaton, [who were also ministers,] and two 
 deacons." Various other similar regulations were 
 adopted, originating in the peculiar circumstances 
 of the colony, and illustrative of the condition of an 
 infant settlement in the wilderness, and surrounded 
 by savages. In September of the year 1640, the 
 town was first called New Haven. 
 
 Within a few years, several other towns in the 
 neighborhood, in which settlements had been begun, 
 as Milford, Guilford, Branford, Stamford, and South- 
 hold on Long Island, united with New Haven, and 
 adopted the fundamental principle of the govern- 
 ment. Their magistrates and deputies, with those 
 of New Haveiij formed the General Court of the col- 
 ony. In each town, certain " fit and able men" were 
 declared to be the ordinary judges, who with the ma- 
 gistrates held what was called a plantation court, in 
 which civil causes might be tried, when the sum in 
 controversy did not exceed twenty shillings; and all 
 criminal cases, when the punishment " according to 
 the mind of God revealed in his word," did not ex- 
 ceed " stocking and whipping ;" or if the fine was 
 pecuniary, that it " exceed not five pounds." Ap- 
 peals might be made from the plantation courts, to 
 the court of magistrates of the whole jurisdiction. 
 The general interests of the colony were superin- 
 tended and provided for by the General Court or 
 
33 
 
 legislature. On the union of these towns in 1643, 
 Mr. Eaton was first designated by the title of gov- 
 ernor. As no detailed plan for constituting the 
 magistracy was to be found in the "fundamental 
 agreement," changes were made in the organiza- 
 tion of the government by the General Court, when- 
 ever they were judged necessary ; but there seems 
 never to have been any reference to the planters in 
 the several towns, or to a convention, to sanction 
 these alterations. The wishes of the people as made 
 known through their representatives, and their sub- 
 sequent acquiescence, were probably thought a suf- 
 ficient confirmation of what was done. 
 
 The course of legal proceedings in the New Ha- 
 ven colony was peculiar ; especially as the courts 
 conducted all trials without a jury. We are told 
 by Hubbard, in his history of New England, that 
 this exclusion of juries was a measure urged by 
 Governor Eaton, whom he calls " a great reader 
 and traveller."* It is probable, that this gentle- 
 man, during his residence in the north of Europe, 
 where the institution of juries is unknown, formed 
 a favorable opinion of the courts of those coun- 
 tries ; and as New Haven was, in some respects, 
 an experimental colony, he wished to conform the 
 courts in this new settlement, so far at least as a 
 jury was concerned, to a favorite model. Legal 
 proceedings were almost entirely free from forms 
 and technicalities ; the parties told their own sto- 
 ries, with very little check from the court ; intro- 
 duced such evidence, for the most part, as they 
 
 320. 
 
34 
 
 pleased; argued with the judges; and decisions 
 were given according to what appeared to be the 
 equity of the case. Full records of trials, both 
 civil and criminal, which took place at this period, 
 are preserved, which furnish a very distinct and 
 graphic view of the state of the colony, and the 
 character of the inhabitants. 
 
 Under this simple form of government, the col- 
 ony continued till 1655; very few laws having 
 been enacted, and the courts being guided in their 
 decisions by the general principles of justice and 
 equity, with such illustrations as could be drawn 
 from the scriptures. In 1655, Governor Eaton was 
 requested by the General Court to compile a code 
 of laws for the colony ; and that he might the bet- 
 ter accomplish this undertaking, the court recom- 
 mended, that he should consult Mr. Cotton's Dis- 
 course on civil government in a new plantation, 
 and the laws of Massachusetts. Whether any dis- 
 satisfaction had been expressed by the people, that 
 the courts were left so much to their own discre- 
 tion, or whether it was their wish only, as in some 
 other cases, to conform more exactly to the exam- 
 ple of Massachusetts, is a matter of conjecture. 
 The expediency, however, of such a code cannot be 
 doubted. The work having been completed, it was 
 first examined and approved by the elders of the 
 jurisdiction, and afterwards accepted by the Gen- 
 eral Court. It was printed in England under the 
 inspection of Governor Hopkins, and in 1656, dis- 
 tributed through the colony. 
 
 These laws, in connection with the recorded de- 
 cisions of the courts, of which I have just spoken, 
 
35 
 
 have been a fruitful topic of remark by two classes 
 of persons ; those who have wished to represent the 
 puritans in the most forbidding and even odious 
 character, and those who have considered them 
 the proper subjects of satire and ridicule. What- 
 ever is absurd or frivolous, or thought to be ultra-pu- 
 ritanical in government, has been most liberally 
 charged upon the New Haven legislation; and 
 thousands have believed implicitly in the existence 
 of the " blue laws," who could scarcely be said to 
 have any other article of faith.* To much of this 
 calumny and vulgar wit, it would, perhaps, be suffi- 
 cient to reply in the language of the defenders of 
 New England in 1642. " Some," say they, " have 
 been punished for their delinquencies, or restrained 
 for their exorbitancies, or discountenanced for their 
 ill opinions, and not suffered to vent their stuff; 
 and hence being displeased, take revenge by slan- 
 derous report."t But on an occasion like the pres- 
 ent, when the proceedings and characters of the 
 founders of this colony are brought directly under 
 review ; it may not be improper, — it is rather an 
 incumbent duty, — to inquire a little more particu- 
 larly, into the provisions of this early code, that we 
 may see, whether here, or any where else, there is 
 proper ground for a very common impression on 
 this subject. 
 
 The "fundamental agreement" of June, 1639, 
 contained little more, than a determination of the 
 question, to what class of persons the right of vo- 
 ting and of holding any office in the colony should 
 
 * Note G. t 1 Mass. Hist. Col. 250. 
 
36 
 
 appertain. What had been enacted, from time to 
 time, by the General Court for instituting the ma- 
 gistracy, and the courts of justice, and for fixing the 
 times of electing public officers, and which had 
 been found, on trial, to be expedient, was now estab- 
 lished, " as a foundation for government, though it 
 was foreseen and agreed, that the circumstantials 
 
 therein might after be considered, continued and 
 
 altered, as might best suit the course of justice and 
 the conveniency of the plantations." The whole 
 system was highly democratical; and its perma- 
 nency was based on the character of the people, 
 and on annual elections. It was made the duty of 
 the legislature, among other things, " to provide for 
 the maintenance of the purity of religion, and sup- 
 press the contrary," " to require an oath from all 
 the magistrates," " to call them to an account for 
 the breach of any laws established, or for other mis- 
 demeanors in their places," to impose an oath of 
 fidelity on all "freemen, planters, and inhabitants, 
 fit to take an oath," to order " such works and for- 
 tifications, as they conceived might tend to the bet- 
 ter defense of the colony," "to regulate trade," to 
 lay taxes, and to hear and determine causes, civil 
 or criminal in the last resort. 
 
 On examining the more particular laws, one of 
 the first things which strikes us, is a general enact- 
 ment, intended, without doubt, as a concise decla- 
 ration of the object and character of the whole sys- 
 tem. It is in these words. " It is ordered by this 
 court and the authority thereof, that no man's life 
 shall be taken away, no man's honor or good name 
 shall be stained, no man's person shall be impris- 
 
37 
 
 oned, banished or otherwise punished, no man shall 
 be deprived of his wife or children, no man's goods 
 or estate shall be taken from him, under color of 
 law or countenance of authority, unless it be by 
 virtue or equity of some express law of this juris- 
 diction, established by the General Court, and suf- 
 ficiently published ; or for want of a law in any par- 
 ticular case, by the word of God." Is there here 
 any thing ridiculous ? any* thing whimsical ? any 
 thing opposed to the dictates of common sense? 
 On the contrary, do we not recognize in this pre- 
 fatory statute of the New Haven code, the great 
 principles of free government, expressed in lan- 
 guage full and explicit? principles, which have been 
 constantly kept in view from the first settlement of 
 this state. Just that prominency and emphasis are 
 here given to security of person and property, which 
 might be expected. It was a matter of course, 
 that men who had suffered so greatly as the first 
 colonists of New England, from arbitrary impris- 
 onments, exactions and forfeitures, should, in estab- 
 lishing a government for themselves, guard their 
 privileges with especial care. This they did ; and 
 the statute now recited, which was copied from the 
 laws of Massachusetts, and which was also prefixed 
 to the Connecticut code of 1650, the General Court 
 of New Haven adopted as a fit introduction to their 
 legislative acts. It was contained, with little va- 
 riation, in every edition of the laws of Connecticut 
 till 1817, and is substantially incorporated into the 
 present constitution of the state. We have here 
 a proof, how well the principles of civil liberty were 
 comprehended by our ancestors, and of their deter- 
 mination to maintain them. 
 
38 
 
 It will not be expected, that every law of this 
 early code, should now pass under review. A con- 
 sideration of a few of its provisions, is all which the 
 time allows, or the occasion demands. From the 
 leading features of this specimen of early legisla- 
 tion, its general character can be easily discerned. 
 
 If there is any thing in the institutions of a free 
 state, which shows the character of its founders, 
 it is the regard paid to the education of youth. 
 Religion, morals, enterprise, whatever benefits or 
 adorns society, rest here on their surest foundation ; 
 and where effectual provision is made in the in- 
 fancy of a community for general instruction, other 
 salutary regulations may be expected to accom- 
 pany them. Take from our commonwealth the 
 universal education of our citizens, and our social 
 system is at an end. The forms might continue for 
 a time; but its spirit would have fled. To suppose, 
 that pure religion, pure morals, an upright admin- 
 istration of government, and a peaceable, orderly, 
 and agreeable intercourse in the domestic and social 
 relations of life can exist, where the people as a 
 body are ignorant of letters, is an egregious sole- 
 cism. I do not say, that education is all that is 
 needed; but without knowledge generally diffused, 
 other means of improving human society, are com- 
 paratively weak and unavailing. This truth the 
 first planters of New Haven strongly felt ; and the 
 record of their acts furnishes most honorable proof, 
 that the course of their legislation was in conform- 
 ity with their convictions. 
 
 Among the early proceedings of the General 
 Court, while its jurisdiction was confined within 
 
39 
 
 the limits of Quinnipiac, we find that an order was 
 given to establish a public school for the instruction 
 of youth, and a committee was appointed to con- 
 sider " what yearly allowance is meet to be given 
 to it out of the common stock of the town." This 
 order was made at the same time in which the plan- 
 ters were taxing themselves very heavily for the 
 erection of bridges. The very year in which the 
 " fundamental agreement" was entered into, we find 
 a record, that Thomas Fugill is required to keep 
 Charles Iligginson, an indented apprentice, " at 
 school one year ; or else to advantage him as much 
 in his education, as a year's learning comes to." 
 Charles Higginson was probably the first appren- 
 tice indented in the colony, and this condition of his 
 apprenticeship was recorded, undoubtedly as an 
 example of privileges to be granted to all in the 
 same circumstances. Here is a proceeding, which 
 marks as distinctly as any measure could, the views 
 entertained by the leaders of the colony, of the 
 value of education, the protection which ought to 
 be extended to the indigent, and their regard for 
 popular rights. If any one hereafter shall wish to 
 inspect the early colonial records of New Haven, 
 to find subjects of reproach or merriment, let him 
 be referred to the entry of the indentures of Charles 
 Higginson. If all the ridiculous and absurd re- 
 ports which have been circulated about the New 
 Haven laws were founded in fact, this single record, 
 in the opinion of the intelligent and unprejudiced, 
 would throw them at once into the shade. Such 
 a course of policy as is here unfolded, such charity 
 for a class of the community, at that time, and still, 
 
40 
 
 under every European government but little re- 
 garded, would cover a multitude of sins. No sug- 
 gestion for the adoption of a rule by which an ele- 
 mentary education was secured to apprentices, 
 could have been received from any law of the pa- 
 rent country. No act of parliament, it is believed, 
 embracing such a provision, exists in England, with 
 all its improvement and wealth, to the present day. 
 But not only were the advantages of a common 
 school education immediately secured to all, but 
 with a wise reference to what is essential to the full 
 success of common schools themselves, provision 
 was very early made for the higher branches of 
 instruction, and a grammar school was established. 
 As early as 1654, when the colony was suffering 
 from the failure of their commercial projects, and 
 when the estates of individuals were greatly dimin- 
 ished, and even doubts were entertained by some, 
 whether it was expedient to struggle any longer 
 against disaster; Mr. Davenport gave a strong 
 proof of his confidence in the stability of the set- 
 tlement, and its ultimate prosperity, by the efforts 
 which he made for the beginning of a college. He 
 brought forward before the General Court a plan 
 for such an institution ; and the town of New Ha- 
 ven, notwithstanding its depressed state, made a 
 donation in land for its encouragement. The pro- 
 ject was, indeed, premature, and on further consid- 
 eration was properly deferred to a later period; 
 but it shows not less clearly, than if it had been put 
 into immediate operation, the enlarged views of 
 the projector, and the principles by which he was 
 guided. The foundations of the colony he wished 
 
41 
 
 to lay deep and firm ; and the intelligence of the 
 people was that, on which he chiefly relied, to give 
 strength and durability to the political edifice. 
 
 It may not be irrelevant to the subject to remark 
 here, that neither the system of common schools, nor 
 of those of a higher class, originated in any strong 
 expression of public opinion; but was devised and 
 carried forward by such men as John Davenport. 
 A glance at the course of legislation on this sub- 
 ject, is sufficient to establish this truth beyond 
 doubt. Schools were at first instituted by a gen- 
 eral law, without any penalty to secure its execu- 
 tion; but this proved insufficient. Another law, 
 therefore, respecting children's education, was in- 
 troduced into the New Haven code of 1656, which 
 was very explicit, and guarded by abundant sanc- 
 tions. The deputies, constables, and other officers 
 in public trust, are required " to have a vigilant 
 eye over their brethren and neighbors," and to take 
 care "that all their children and apprentices, as 
 they grow capable, may through God's blessing, 
 attain at least so much, as to be able duly to read 
 the scriptures, and other good and profitable printed 
 books in the English tongue, being their native lan- 
 guage, and in some competent measure to under- 
 stand the main grounds and principles of the chris- 
 tian religion necessary to salvation; and to give an 
 answer to such plain and ordinary questions, as 
 may by the said deputies, officer or officers, be pro- 
 pounded concerning the same." Delinquents un- 
 der this law were first warned ; if they continued 
 in fault, they were fined ; if no reformation followed, 
 the fine was doubled ; if it still appeared, that the 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 children or servants of any family were " in clan* 
 ger to grow barbarous, rude and stubborn through 
 ignorance," the court of magistrates is authorized 
 " to proceed as they find cause, either to a greater 
 fine, taking security for due conformity to the scope 
 and intent of this law, or may take such children 
 or apprentices from such parents or masters, and 
 place them for years, — boys till they come to the 
 age of one and twenty, and girls till they come to 
 the age of eighteen years, — with such others, who 
 shall better educate and govern them, both for pub- 
 lic convenience, and for the particular good of the 
 said children or apprentices." 
 
 The course of legislation in Connecticut, and in 
 the united colony after 1665, shows conclusively, 
 that neither the prospect of advantage from educa- 
 tion, nor the dread of penalties, was sufficient to 
 secure the proper execution of the laws respecting 
 schools. Accordingly, the select-men of every town 
 were required to see that none " suffer so much bar- 
 barism in any of their families," as not to "teach 
 their children and apprentices so much learning, 
 as may enable them perfectly to read the English 
 tongue;" and by a subsequent statute, it was made 
 the duty of the grand-jurymen in each town, once a 
 a year, at least, " to visit suspected families and 
 satisfy themselves, whether all children under age 
 and servants in such suspected families, can read 
 the English tongue, or be in a good procedure to 
 learn the same." Still later it was enacted, that 
 " if any be unable to do so much," that is, to teach 
 their children and apprentices to read the English 
 tongue, " that then at the least, they procure such 
 
43 
 
 children and apprentices to learn some short ortho- 
 dox catechism, without book, that they may be able 
 to answer to the questions that shall be propounded 
 to them out of such catechism, by their parents, or 
 masters, or ministers, when they shall call them to 
 an account of what they have learned in that kind ;" 
 and all who were found delinquent were subjected 
 to heavy penalties. These are specimens of the 
 early laws of New Haven and Connecticut on the 
 subject of schools. From this detail it is manifest, 
 that the introduction of the common school system 
 was a work of time, and of unwearied effort. By 
 perseverance, however, the benefits of education 
 were finally perceived and acknowledged by all ; 
 a school was brought to every man's door ; the 
 poor, and even the slave, were within the reach of 
 instruction; and hence, for nearly a century and a 
 half, a native of Connecticut of mature age, unable 
 to " read the English tongue," has been looked upon 
 as a prodigy. 
 
 It has been a matter of some curiosity to ascer- 
 tain, to what man, or class of men, the honor of 
 having originated our system of schools, belongs. 
 A distinguished citizen of Connecticut remarked 
 more than forty years ago : " Did I know the name 
 of the legislator, who first conceived, and suggested 
 the idea, [of common schools,] I should pay to his 
 memory, the highest tribute of reverence and re- 
 gard. I should feel for him, a much higher venera- 
 tion and respect, than I do for Lycurgus and Solon, 
 the celebrated legislators of Sparta and Athens. I 
 should revere him as the greatest benefactor of the 
 human race ; because he has been the author of a 
 
44 
 
 provision, which, if it should be adopted in every 
 country, would produce a happier and more import- 
 ant influence on the human character, than any 
 institution which the wisdom of man has devised."* 
 
 Perhaps the honor of devising the scheme of pop- 
 ular education, which has prevailed in New Eng- 
 land, belongs exclusively to no individual. It ori- 
 ginated rather in the general wish to bring all di- 
 rectly to the scriptures for religious knowledge, 
 and in a regard for popular rights, both of which 
 were distinguishing traits of puritanism, than in the 
 sagacity and benevolent efforts of any one man. 
 But if the inquiry should be, to whom is to be as- 
 cribed the honor of establishing the school-system 
 of the New Haven colony, the question is easily 
 answered. It is the just due of Theophilus Eaton 
 and John Davenport ; or if a distinction must be 
 made here, abundant evidence exists in the colony 
 records, that the preeminence belongs to the lat- 
 ter.t In John Davenport was that deep conviction 
 of the value of general intelligence, especially, in 
 his view of the subject, as the means of diffusing 
 sound religious instruction, that energy and that 
 resolution, which are essential to the successful 
 introduction into a community of a practical com- 
 mon school system ; and it is to men like him, that 
 the credit should be given, of having by their influ- 
 ence carried this system forward, to its full ex- 
 ecution. 
 
 The extension of common schools, and their effect 
 on the general interests of society, have been far 
 
 * 1 Swift's System, 159. « Note H. 
 
45 
 
 greater, than could have been anticipated by those, 
 who in the infancy of New England, introduced 
 and nurtured them, with such exemplary perse- 
 verance. They have increased not only in num- 
 bers, but in strength ; and their hold on the affec- 
 tions of the people, has, with the progress of years, 
 been more and more firm. The numerous emi- 
 grants from those states, where common schools 
 were first established, have, in their wide disper- 
 sion, carried the system with them. A school they 
 have considered as next in necessity to a shelter 
 from the elements ; and as the forests disappear at 
 the west, one of the first structures in a New Eng- 
 land settlement, which greets the eye, is the school- 
 house. Those parts of New England, which were 
 originally settled without the school-system, have 
 from a view of its advantages, for the most part 
 adopted it ; the northern and western parts of the 
 United States, where the influence of New Eng- 
 land emigrants has been most felt, have adopted it; 
 the same system is viewed with increasing favor, 
 where its establishment is yet but partial; and the 
 time may be reasonably anticipated as not far dis- 
 tant, in which its prevalence will be co-extensive 
 with the population of the Union. The source of 
 the wide-spread and incalculable benefits of popu- 
 lar education in America, may be traced, without 
 danger of error, to a few of the leading puritans ; 
 and among these, the founders of the little colony 
 of New Haven, deserve a most honorable place. 
 Hubbard says, — " They," the people of New Ha- 
 ven, " made many attempts, all along from the first 
 to the last of their being a distinct colony, — even 
 
46 
 
 such as were above their strength, — to promote 
 learning by public schools."* To the vigorous and 
 patient efforts of these men, we are indebted for this 
 effectual mode of really benefitting the many ; and 
 it may not be too much to say, that if the early pil- 
 grims, more particularly of Massachusetts and Con- 
 necticut, had not struggled and toiled for this great 
 object, and if they had not been immediately suc- 
 ceeded by men who had imbibed a large portion of 
 the same spirit, the school-system of New England 
 would not now exist. 
 
 On examining further Governor Eaton's code, 
 and the recorded proceedings of the government, 
 we find that provision was made in the colony by 
 law, for the support of religion. The same reg- 
 ulation was adopted in the colony of Connecticut, 
 and was continued after the union in 1665. This 
 measure has called forth commendation from some, 
 while with others it has been a subject of censure 
 and reproach. But it should be recollected, that 
 the great object of the establishment of the colony, 
 was religion. Placing this out of view, perhaps not 
 an individual of the settlement would have ever re- 
 moved to America. Religion, therefore, with the 
 first inhabitants, was, in the highest sense, a matter 
 of public interest. It was the subject of all others 
 nearest their hearts ; and the last which they would 
 allow to be dependent on charity. The first clergy 
 in the New Haven colony, as in the other colonies 
 of New England, were men of learning as well as 
 of talents ; they had, most of them, received their 
 
 324. 
 
47 
 
 education in the English universities, and had en- 
 joyed all the advantages in preparing themselves for 
 their profession, which England afforded. What- 
 ever may be true now, to support at that time, in a 
 few feeble and dispersed settlements, such men, 
 with a prospect that they would be succeeded by 
 others worthy of their places, was impossible with- 
 out public aid. 
 
 The ministers also in the several congregations, 
 had the principal part in forming the character of 
 the new communities. The whole subject of edu- 
 cation was one, which fell principally to their 
 charge. If a legal maintenance had not been se- 
 cured to them, devoted as the people at first were 
 to religion, there is no reason to believe from any 
 facts recorded, that the country in a few genera- 
 tions, would not have been overrun by ignorance 
 and fanaticism. If we are now secure against these 
 evils, it is to be attributed principally to the general 
 education which prevails ; which these men, more 
 than any others, were active in promoting. Be- 
 sides, there is no evidence, that for the first hundred 
 years after the settlement of the colony, the support 
 of the pastors of the churches by law, was a subject 
 of complaint; and for fifty years more, complaints, 
 if they existed, were confined to a very small num- 
 ber. The first colonists had been accustomed to pay 
 tithes in their native country. Here they adopted 
 a system far less onerous, and contributed to sup- 
 port those, who were pastors by popular choice, 
 and the objects of their respect and reverence. Ac- 
 cording to the law of the New Haven colony, cer- 
 tain magistrates in each town called on all the in- 
 
48 
 
 habitants and desired every one " to set down the 
 proportion he was willing and able to allow yearly, 
 while God continued his estate, towards the main- 
 tenance of the ministry ;" and if any one refused or 
 delayed, or set down " an unmeet proportion," the 
 magistrates were authorized, " to assess every such 
 person, according to his visible estate, with due 
 moderation, and in equal proportion with his neigh- 
 bors." Those who maintain, that the course adop- 
 ted was wrong, must still admit, that it was far less 
 objectionable, than that, to which the colonists had 
 been used in England. 
 
 But, it is said, that laws were enacted both in 
 New Haven and Connecticut, requiring attendance 
 on religious worship ; and that these laws are evi- 
 dence of the over rigid and oppressive spirit of the 
 puritans. But before we decide positively on this 
 subject, we ought to inquire, whether this legal re- 
 quirement to be present at the public services of 
 religion, was exclusively a puritanical measure. 
 What then was the law of England respecting this 
 same subject? If we turn to the act of the 35th of 
 Elizabeth, entitled an act u to retain the Queen's 
 Majesty's subjects in their due obedience," — we 
 shall find, that "any person or persons, above the 
 age of sixteen years, which shall obstinately refuse 
 to repair to some church, chapel, or usual place of 
 common prayer, to hear divine service established 
 by her Majesty's laws and statutes in that behalf 
 made," — "or shall advisedly or maliciously move 
 or persuade any other person whatsoever to forbear 
 or abstain from coming to church to hear divine 
 service, or to receive the communion according to 
 
49 
 
 her Majesty's laws and statutes" — " or be present 
 at any unlawful assemblies, conventicles, or meet- 
 ings, under color or pretence of any exercise of re- 
 ligion contrary to her Majesty's said laws and stat- 
 utes," and being thereof lawfully convicted, " shall 
 be committed to prison, there to remain without 
 bail or mainprize, until they shall conform and yield 
 themselves, to come to some church, chapel, or 
 usual place of common prayer, and hear divine ser- 
 vice according to her Majesty's laws and statutes 
 aforesaid." The offender not conforming, he was 
 obliged "to abjure the realm," and "if he return," 
 it is added, "without her Majesty's special license 
 in that behalf," — " the person so offending shall be 
 adjudged a felon, and shall suffer, as in case of fel- 
 ony, without benefit of clergy." What law, in any 
 part of New England relating to religious worship, 
 can be compared in severity to this ? Here is one 
 of the laws, from which the puritans fled ; and the 
 corresponding laws enacted in New Haven and 
 Connecticut, though all would now condemn them 
 as unnecessarily rigid, and in cases which might 
 occur, encroaching on the rights of conscience, yet 
 compared with the law just recited, and this is the 
 only proper mode of judging concerning them, 
 they are forbearing, lenient, mild. The laws of 
 Virginia, likewise, which were enacted in the in- 
 fancy of that colony, to compel every person to go 
 to church, on Sundays and holydays, were far more 
 severe, than those of any part of New England. 
 
 It should also be recollected, that the early laws 
 of Connecticut enforcing attendance on public wor- 
 ship, concerned congregationalists alone; as none 
 
 7 
 
50 
 
 other than congregationalists were in the colony. 
 In the year 1665, when the king's commissioners 
 visited New England, they reported, that the people 
 of Connecticut "will not hinder any from enjoying 
 the sacraments, and using the common prayer book, 
 provided that they hinder not the maintenance of 
 the public minister 5"* — as high a religious privi- 
 lege, as any enjoyed by dissenters in England at 
 the present day. When, after an interval of more 
 than half a century, religious societies were formed 
 in Connecticut, which adopted the ritual of the 
 church of England, not only were these societies al- 
 lowed, but all belonging to them, as soon as it could 
 be conveniently done, were released from contribu- 
 ting to the support of the congregational ministers. 
 The same liberty was allowed to those who adopted 
 other forms of worship; nor is there reason to be- 
 lieve, that these changes in the original enactments 
 were made, without the concurrence of a large ma- 
 jority of the congregational clergy. What then is 
 the amount of the objections against the laws which 
 have been considered? When all the inhabitants 
 of the New Haven and Connecticut colonies enter- 
 tained the same views of religion, all by law con- 
 tributed to its support, were required to attend on 
 the religious instruction thus provided, and were 
 satisfied, that it should be so. As a diversity of re- 
 ligious opinions was introduced, the laws were ac- 
 commodated to this new state of the community. 
 Douglass, who had little sympathy with the puri- 
 tans, said in 1753, " I never heard of any persecu- 
 
 * Hutch. Col. 412. 
 
51 
 
 ting spirit in Connecticut ; in this they are egre- 
 giously aspersed."* This is true ; and the aspersions 
 referred to by this author have not been discontin- 
 ued. But it may be said without fear of contradic- 
 tion, from any one who knows whereof he affirms, 
 that no example can be produced in the whole his- 
 tory of christian nations, where a community unan- 
 imous in their religion, and urged by so many in- 
 ducements to maintain it, have changed their laws, 
 and made every concession desired, more promptly, 
 fully, and cheerfully, than the people of Connec- 
 ticut.f 
 
 It has been likewise objected to the New Haven 
 code, that it contained a severe law against lying; 
 against "wittingly and willingly" making and pub- 
 lishing " any lie, tending to the damage or injury 
 of any particular person, or with intent to deceive 
 and abuse the people with false news or reports." 
 This law has been supposed to contain the very 
 essence of puritanism. Horrible tyranny ! that a 
 whole community should, in their communications 
 with each other, when professing to speak the truth, 
 be confined to plain matter of fact; and that indi- 
 viduals should be so far abridged of their liberty, 
 as not to be able, at will, " to deceive and abuse the 
 people with false news or reports." But the pu- 
 ritans did not originate this law. Moses long ago 
 said, "thou shalt not raise a false report ;"J and if 
 we look back into the code of the good king Alfred, 
 the wise sovereign of our Saxon ancestors, the sub- 
 ject of unceasing and unbounded panegyric, we 
 
 * Summary, Vol. II. 135. t Note I. i Ex. 23 : 1. 
 
52 
 
 shall find a similar law ; not guarded, like our New 
 Haven statute, by the sanctions of a fine, the stocks, 
 and the whipping-post ; but whoever was found 
 guilty in the premises, was doomed to have his 
 tongue cut out. What a tongueless nation should 
 we be in danger of becoming, under the operation 
 of such a law as this ! But the puritans of New 
 England, were not in their own times, singular in 
 their laws against lying. Similar laws existed in 
 the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania, the Catholic 
 colony of Maryland, and the Episcopal colony of 
 Virginia.* 
 
 But it is said, that there was a law in the New 
 Haven code, against heretics ; and that persons 
 were tried in New Haven for witchcraft. As to 
 heresy, there were one or two instances in the 
 New Haven colony, where punishment was inflicted 
 for this crime. In March, 1658, Humphrey Nor- 
 ton, a quaker, who had a short time before made 
 himself notorious in Plymouth, uttered what were 
 considered heretical opinions, and in a disorderly 
 manner, interrupted public worship, at Southhold, 
 on Long Island. For this conduct he was arrested, 
 and sent to New Haven for trial ; where, on a 
 charge of heresy and of disturbing the public peace, 
 he was convicted, and sentenced to be whipped and 
 branded. But the quakers, who came into New 
 England, at that time, were boisterous, turbulent 
 and seditious, and the individual above named ex- 
 hibited, on his trial, in a high degree, the usual 
 characteristics of that portion of the sect. These 
 
 * Chal. 341, 352. 
 
53 
 
 circumstances, however, by no means justify the 
 proceedings in his case. A milder course would 
 have equally restrained disorder, and had a greater 
 tendency to convince the offender of error. But 
 the severity against this quaker was small, com- 
 pared with what took place in other parts of New 
 England, and especially in the parent country.* 
 As to witchcraft, trials of persons charged with 
 this crime, were held in New Haven, but I do not 
 find, that any one was convicted, much less, con- 
 demned to death.f The court, on all occasions of 
 this kind, acted as if they had approached the conclu- 
 sion, long after commended by Blackstone, " that in 
 general, there has been such a thing as witchcraft, 
 though one cannot give credit to any particular 
 modern instance of it. "J It is a great mistake also 
 to suppose, that arraigning, trying and hanging 
 witches, had any necessary connection with puri- 
 tanism. The learned and profound Cudworth,§ one 
 of the brightest ornaments of the English church, 
 declared in 1678, that disbelievers in the existence 
 of witchcraft, " can hardly escape the suspicion 
 of having some hankering towards atheism j" and 
 more than half a century after the colony of New 
 Haven ceased to be a distinct jurisdiction, witches 
 were by the English courts condemned to the gal- 
 lows. The laws against witchcraft in England 
 were not repealed, till the ninth year of George II. ; 
 that is, till about a century after the settlement of 
 New Haven. But we are told by Douglass, that 
 
 * Note K. t Note L. t Comm. Book IV. C. 4. 
 
 § Intellect. Syst. Book I. Ch. 4. 
 
54 
 
 " these puritans were pious, honest, well meaning 
 people ; but too contracted, rigid, and singular in 
 their discipline and practice of devotion."* This 
 must be admitted to be, to some extent, true. I am 
 far from thinking the puritans to have been fault- 
 less. Rigid they most certainly were; and their 
 severity, in cases of immorality, was too often ex- 
 treme. Their piety also had the appearance, at 
 times, of austerity and asceticism; and here, we 
 are to look for their chief failings. But though hard- 
 favored and unaccommodating, and somewhat con- 
 fined in their views on certain points, they were not 
 in the proper sense -bigoted; if by bigotry, we are 
 to understand an obstinate and blind attachment to 
 their own particular creed. What was the lan- 
 guage of Robinson to the first church at Plym- 
 outh ? Though vfjell known, it will bear repetition. 
 " If God reveal any thing to you," says this puri- 
 tan divine, " be as ready to receive it by any other 
 instrument of his, as ever you were to receive any 
 truth from my ministry. — I beseech you remember, 
 it is an article of your church covenant, that you 
 be ready to receive, whatever truths shall be made 
 known to you from the written word of God."f 
 Look at the language used to their brethren of the 
 church of England, by the first emigrants to Mas- 
 sachusetts. " We are not of those," say they, " that 
 dream of perfection in this world; yet we desire, 
 that you would be pleased to take notice of the prin- 
 cipals and body of our company, as those who es- 
 teem it our honor to call the church of England, 
 
 * Summary, Vol. I. 371. t Morton's Memorial, by Davis, 20. 
 
55 
 
 from whence we rise, our dear mother ; and cannot 
 part from our native country, where she especially 
 resideth, without much sadness of heart, and many 
 tears in our eyes, ever acknowledging, that such 
 part as we have obtained in the common salvation, 
 we have received in her bosom." " We shall al- 
 ways rejoice in her good, and unfeignedly grieve for 
 any sorrow that shall ever betide her, and while 
 we have breath sincerely desire and endeavor the 
 continuance and abundance of her welfare, with 
 the enlargement of her bounds in the kingdom of 
 Christ Jesus."* And when the excellent Higgin- 
 son of Salem saw the shores of his native country 
 sinking in the distance, he called his children 
 around him on the deck of the ship, and said, "We 
 will not say, as the separatists were wont to say, at 
 their leaving England, Farewell Babylon ! Fare- 
 well Rome ! — But we will say, farewell dear Eng- 
 land ! Farewell the church of God in England, and 
 all the christian friends there."f This was the lan- 
 guage of most of the puritans, who first came to 
 America. Their opposition to the church of Eng- 
 land was chiefly political, and limited in a great 
 measure to discipline. J If there are any, therefore, 
 among their descendants, who are unwilling to re- 
 ceive truth from whatever quarter it comes; or if 
 there are any, who do not feel a reverence for the 
 church of England, and pray for its prosperity, 
 they neither hold the opinions, nor cherish the 
 spirit, of their fathers. 
 
 Most of the leading laws, therefore, of the New 
 Haven colony, may be pronounced to have been wise 
 
 * 1 Hutch. 487. t Mather's Magnal. Book III. 74. t Note M. 
 
56 
 
 and salutary, and well suited to the circumstances of 
 the people for whom they were framed. That some 
 enactments were of a questionable character, and a 
 few plainly injudicious, no one will deny. But it 
 will be asked ; was there not a collection of laws, 
 which was never published, relating more partic- 
 ularly to the domestic and private concerns of in- 
 dividuals? laws so frivolous and absurd, as to have 
 been long a favorite topic of sport and ridicule ? 
 To this I can say only, that of such an unpublished 
 code, I have never seen any trace. No allusion to 
 such laws can be found, it is believed, in the re- 
 cords of the colony. That in the early periods of 
 the settlement, the conduct of individuals was sub- 
 jected to a more strict supervision, than would be 
 tolerated in a larger community, is undoubtedly 
 true. From this circumstance, various distorted 
 representations of the early laws of New Haven 
 have been industriously circulated, false in fact, 
 and injurious to the character of the first planters. 
 As in Massachusetts, so in New Haven, the proceed- 
 ings of the courts seem to have been adapted in 
 many cases " to the circumstances of a large fam- 
 ily of children and servants."* The application 
 also of the " general rules of righteousness," was 
 often made with excessive rigor, and in a way to 
 harden, rather than to reclaim, offenders ; but that 
 there were any sumptuary laws, laws regulating 
 dress, or encroaching on the prerogative of fashion, 
 I have never discovered the slightest evidence.f 
 
 As to the general history of the colony of New 
 Haven, a few particulars only can be mentioned. 
 
 * 1 Hutch. 43.",. t Note N. 
 
57 
 
 In 1643, Mr. Eaton and Mr. Gregson were ap- 
 pointed commissioners, to meet others from Mas- 
 sachusetts, Plymouth and Connecticut, to consult 
 for the common interest; and in consequence the 
 four colonies formed a league offensive and defen- 
 sive. At the subsequent meetings of the commis- 
 sioners during the life of Gov. Eaton, it is believed, 
 that he always appeared as one of the delegates of 
 New Haven, and several times presided over the 
 deliberations of this first American congress. 
 
 It has been already stated, that it was the ori- 
 ginal plan of Mr. Eaton and his company to build 
 up here a commercial town. The colony was com- 
 posed chiefly of persons, who had spent their lives 
 in trade, and who were but poorly fitted for any 
 other employment. The project of an establish- 
 ment more strictly mercantile, than any which had 
 been before begun, was not wholly visionary. The 
 coast of America with its rivers and harbors, had, 
 indeed, been but partially explored, and the resour- 
 ces of the country for a profitable trade, must have 
 been, in a great degree, a matter of conjecture; yet 
 it was by no means irrational in the emigrants to 
 infer, that, on their arrival in New England, a 
 place could be found convenient in all respects, for 
 their purposes. That the colony, which they suc- 
 ceeded in planting, was at first unsuccessful as a 
 trading community, we know; but with the limited 
 knowledge which they possessed of the country, and 
 the misfortunes to which they were subjected, they 
 can hardly be charged with a want of vigor or 
 prudent forecast. When they arrived at Boston, 
 the Narragansett Bay and Connecticut river were 
 
 8 
 
58 
 
 in possession of earlier English colonists, or the 
 Dutch ; and the Dutch had also formed a settle- 
 ment at Manhadoes. It was a favorite object of 
 Mr. Eaton and Mr. Davenport, and with the views 
 entertained by them, not an unwise one, to begin a 
 colony without the limits of any existing patent. 
 Accordingly they fixed upon Quinnipiac. Their 
 expectation was, to carry on a commerce with the 
 other New England colonies and the Dutch ; and 
 by an establishment at the mouth of the Delaware 
 river, to barter with the native inhabitants for bea- 
 ver, in such articles as they should receive from Eu- 
 rope. The scheme was plausible ; but the Dutch 
 disputed with them the right to their land ; the tra- 
 ding house which they built at the Delaware, was 
 destroyed by the Swedes; and the ship, which they 
 built, as a last resource, for a voyage to Europe, 
 was lost at sea. The property of the principal in- 
 habitants, in consequence of these disappointments 
 and disasters, was greatly reduced, their plans of 
 wealth were defeated ; some returned to Europe, 
 and a proposition was made the colony by Cromwell, 
 to remove to the Island of Jamaica, or to Ireland. 
 But they had now formed an attachment to their 
 new residence. The entire freedom from foreign 
 control which was here enjoyed, would give, we 
 may reasonably conjecture, to any project of re- 
 moval, in the view of the planters, the appearance 
 of doubtful expediency; while the loss of their 
 wealth opposed a serious obstacle to any new en- 
 terprise, which would necessarily involve very large 
 expense. Their determination was to continue, 
 where they were ; and in consequence they be- 
 
59 
 
 came, instead of a commercial, chiefly, for a time, 
 an agricultural community. Still they carried on 
 a trade with the other towns on the coast, and with 
 Barbadoes, and perhaps other islands in the West 
 Indies. The West India trade was begun by the 
 first planters, and has probably never been inter- 
 rupted, except by war. As it was the earliest, so 
 it has continued to be the latest, foreign commerce, 
 in which the New Haven merchants have engaged.* 
 The first colonists here suffered likewise from sick- 
 ness, which seems to have been much aggravated 
 at times by the want of competent physicians. But 
 on this subject, little information can be obtained.t 
 It ought not to be passed over in silence, that 
 the first inhabitants manifested a desire to orna- 
 ment their town, and to make it a pleasant resi- 
 dence. Hubbard intimates, that they expended 
 their property profusely for this object. His lan- 
 guage is, "they laid out too much of their stocks 
 and estates in building of fair and stately houses, 
 wherein, they at the first out-did the rest of the 
 country ."t However this may be, there is no doubt, 
 that New Haven from the first, has been noted for 
 neatness and simple elegance; and for this, it is 
 largely indebted to the taste and liberal expendi- 
 tures of the original settlers. They set an exam- 
 ple, which their descendants have worthily followed. 
 Chalmers, who disliked the Americans, and took 
 every opportunity to depreciate their merits, sums 
 up the history of the New Haven colonists, in these 
 words: "they for eight and twenty years enjoyed 
 
 * Note O. - t Note P. f 334. 
 
60 
 
 the delights of independent insignificance;"* — as 
 if dependent insignificance would have been any 
 better. 
 
 Before leaving the colonial history of New Ha- 
 ven, it seems proper to take a somewhat nearer view 
 of the character of the two principal leaders of the 
 settlement, Eaton and Davenport. These two men, 
 in the language of Mather, were " the Moses and 
 Aaron 1 ' of this new settlement; and whatever there 
 was of good or evil, of wisdom or folly, in laying the 
 foundations of civilized society in this part of New 
 England, must be ascribed in a great measure to 
 them. Though the government, which was estab- 
 lished, was extremely popular in its form, these men 
 without doubt, were looked up to for devising and 
 executing the most important measures. Their 
 "company," as it was called, appear to have had 
 entire confidence in their sound judgment, ability 
 and integrity; and they did nothing to forfeit the 
 good opinion of their followers. Their influence in 
 all the concerns of the colony, especially in what 
 respected the form of government, the means of ed- 
 ucation, and the institutions of religion, must have 
 been constant and commanding. Gov. Eaton, from 
 his course of life before embarking in this underta- 
 king, was prepared, in many important respects, to 
 act in it with vigor and discretion. From his ar- 
 rival to manhood, he had passed his time in active 
 employments. His commercial transactions, which 
 were conducted on no inferior scale, had brought 
 him into connection with various classes of men, 
 
 291. 
 
61 
 
 and qualified him to manage extensive and compli- 
 cated concerns. His residence in the north of Eu- 
 rope, without doubt, contributed largely to fit him 
 for the expedition in which he afterwards engaged. 
 As the leading object of his coming to America 
 was to enjoy unrestrained his own religious views, 
 his union with Mr. Davenport in this enterprise, 
 was well judged, and fortunate for them both. They 
 had been intimate from early life, their religious 
 opinions must have been substantially the same, 
 and their general notions of government, and of 
 the kind of institutions proper for an infant society, 
 could not have been very dissimilar. Though the 
 colony failed to become as important a commercial 
 establishment, as was hoped, yet Gov. Eaton seems 
 not to have lost, in any degree, the respect and con- 
 fidence of the planters. He was chargeable with 
 no fault, and was the subject of no blame. Though 
 from his standing and property, he was one, to 
 whom all others engaged in this project of coloni- 
 zation, would look to for advice and direction, yet 
 there is no evidence, that he at any time manifested 
 a disposition to elevate himself, or to exercise any 
 authority which was not voluntarily conferred. 
 Prudence and firmness were his most obvious char- 
 acteristics; and so high an opinion was entertained 
 in the colony of his sincerity and integrity, that his 
 simple declaration was always received with impli- 
 cit confidence. His estate must have been greatly 
 diminished by his removal to America; and the 
 loss of numerous enjoyments to which he had been 
 accustomed, must have been severely felt ; yet, says 
 Gov. Hopkins, "I have heard him say, that he 
 
62 
 
 never had a repenting or repining thought about 
 his removing to New England." " Surely," adds 
 Gov. Hopkins, " in this matter he hath a grace far 
 out-shining mine."* This feeling he seems to have 
 cherished to the last; since, the evening before his 
 death, on his wife's proposing to him to return to 
 their native country, he replied emphatically, " I 
 shall die here." The loss of Gov. Eaton was greatly 
 lamented. From the length of time he had pre- 
 sided over the colony, he had become identified 
 with all its interests. 
 
 John Davenport was a man of more native ar- 
 dor than his associate, and possessed that fixedness 
 of principle and firmness of resolve, which fitted 
 him to encounter opposition, and to embark in dif- 
 ficult and dangerous enterprises. The opinions of 
 of the puritans he adopted in their full extent; and 
 persecution, as usually happens in the case of men 
 of ardent temperament, instead of breaking his 
 spirit, forced him to the extremes of his system. 
 He thought, that reformers were prone to linger, 
 and even to halt, in their course ; and that after 
 they had made a certain progress, their further 
 improvement was hopeless. It was a saying of 
 his, that as "easily might the ark have been re- 
 moved from the mountains of Ararat, where it first 
 grounded, as a people get any ground in reforma- 
 tion, after and beyond the first remove of the re- 
 formers."t He was roused, therefore, as we are 
 told by Mather, "to embark in a design of refor- 
 mation, wherein he might have opportunity to drive 
 
 * Mather's Magnal. B. II. 24. t Mather's Magnal. B. III. 53. 
 
63 
 
 things, in their first essay, as near to the precept 
 and pattern of scripture, as they could be driven." 
 With these views and feelings he came to New 
 England. If a part of his plan of a commonwealth 
 proved to be impracticable, a part has stood the se- 
 vere trial of time ; and his success has been greater, 
 than that of most theorists in government. 
 
 I am aware, that there has been an impression 
 among some in this community, that Mr. Daven- 
 port was fond of power ; that he was overbearing 
 and arbitrary, and exercised a kind of dictatorship 
 in the colony. On what just foundation such an 
 opinion rests, I have never been able to discover. 
 That he had an extensive and commanding influ- 
 ence in all the colonial transactions; that he pos- 
 sessed those qualities of mind, which fitted him to 
 become a leader of others, and insensibly to mould 
 them to his views, there can be no doubt ; but there 
 is no evidence, that this ascendency was ever sought 
 by him, or when possessed, was employed for un- 
 worthy purposes. Whatever preeminence he at- 
 tained, was voluntarily conceded to long tried and 
 acknowledged intelligence, integrity and wisdom. 
 
 If he had been influenced by a thirst for power, 
 we might expect to find traces of it in the colony 
 laws ; some valuable immunities of the clergy, some 
 share granted them in the legislative or judicial de- 
 partments of the government. But nothing of this 
 character is to be found there. On the contrary, 
 by the New Haven code, the clergy, so far from 
 having any civil power, could not even perform the 
 marriage ceremony ; this being placed exclusively 
 in the hands of the magistrates. The church which 
 
64 
 
 was formed under his advice and superintendence, 
 was organized on principles strictly independent; 
 a sort of spiritual democracy, in which, if there 
 were any lords, they were " lords brethren." But 
 what must place the question out of all doubt, 
 whether Mr. Davenport assumed improper power 
 in the colony, is the single fact, that when he was 
 invited to Boston in 1668, his removal was univer- 
 sally opposed by the people of the town. As he 
 was determined to leave them, they appear to have 
 silently acquiesced in the measure; but never to 
 have given it their formal assent. This is not the 
 mode, in which mankind act, when about to be re- 
 lieved from even a moderately exercised tyranny. 
 As to the estimation in which the other principal 
 men of New Haven were held in New England, I 
 can only refer to Hubbard, who in characterizing 
 the colony, speaks of the " eminency of sundry per- 
 sons, suited for civil offices, and capable to manage 
 those of a much vaster territory, than this was, or 
 was ever like to be."* 
 
 In 1662, John Winthrop, Governor of Connec- 
 ticut, obtained a charter for that colony from the 
 king, Charles II., "as amply privileged a charter," 
 says Mather, " as was ever enjoyed perhaps by 
 any people, under the cope of heaven."! In this 
 charter, the colony of New Haven was included. 
 The people of this colony, generally, had no ex- 
 pectation of such an event ; and when the news 
 first arrived of their union with Connecticut, they 
 were thrown into a violent ferment. Governor 
 
 ■ 318. t B. I. 24. 
 
65 
 
 Winthrop, however, would not have acted in so im- 
 portant an affair without advice ; and according to 
 Hubbard,* Gov. Leete recommended the measure. 
 But it must have been done secretly. After much 
 opposition, New Haven finally yielded; and in 
 1665, the union with Connecticut was formed. This 
 connection proved highly salutary ; and that New 
 Haven was ever a separate jurisdiction, was soon 
 forgotten, or remembered only as matter of history .f 
 After the union, the separate history of New 
 Haven, is not easy to be ascertained. In an an- 
 swer to inquiries by the lords of the committee 
 of colonies, by the government of Connecticut, in 
 1680, forty two years after the planting of New 
 Haven, it is stated, that the militia of the county 
 of New Haven were six hundred and twenty three, 
 being about a fourth of the colony. They say, that 
 they have in the whole colony " about twenty petty 
 merchants, some trade to Boston, some to the In- 
 dies and other colonies." New Haven, from its 
 situation, must have shared largely in this trade; 
 though it appears from the report, that it was infe- 
 rior to New London as a place of commerce. They 
 make a very unfavorable representation of the coun- 
 try. It is, they say, " mountainous, full of rocks, 
 swamps, hills, and vales." " What land is fit, is 
 taken up ; what remains, must be gained out of the 
 fire by hard blows and small recompense." " The 
 value of our annual imports probably amounts to 
 £9000." " The property of the whole corporation 
 doth not amount to £110,788 sterling." " Twenty 
 
 * 311. t Note d. 
 
66 
 
 four small vessels belong to the colony." In this 
 account of their " poor colony," as they call it, they 
 add, " there are no duties on goods exported or im- 
 ported, except on wines and liquors; which though 
 inconsiderable, are appropriated to maintain free 
 schools."* 
 
 In 1/00, the first successful efforts were made 
 for the founding of a college in Connecticut ; which 
 in 1716 was established permanently in New Ha- 
 ven. On its history, and on the character and ser- 
 vices of the men who have been concerned in its 
 government and instruction, I have no time to en- 
 large. I omit also to notice the ecclesiastical con- 
 cerns of the town, as full justice will be done this 
 part of the subject by another.f 
 
 In 1724, the number of dwelling houses in New 
 Haven was about one hundred and sixty three; and 
 the number of inhabitants may be estimated at that 
 time at not far from one thousand. The first exact 
 census of the town is believed to have been taken 
 in 1787, when the population was found to be three 
 thousand five hundred and forty, including one 
 hundred and seventy six students of Yale College. 
 The number of dwelling houses was four hundred 
 and sixty six. 
 
 The earliest account of the commerce of New 
 Haven, which is definite in its details, is contained 
 in a report from Col. Wooster to Gov. Trumbull in 
 1774. " The trade of this part of the colony," says 
 Col. Wooster, "is entirely to the West India islands; 
 and the exports are horses, oxen, pork, beef, tallow, 
 
 Chalm. 310. t Rev. Leonard Bacon. 
 
67 
 
 and lumber, and the imports West India produce. 
 The shipping belonging to this port, are one hun- 
 dred and eight vessels, consisting of brigantines, 
 sloops and schooners, amounting to seven thousand, 
 one hundred and seventy tons, carpenter's measure. 
 The number of sea-faring men is seven hundred 
 and fifty six."* 
 
 In the revolutionary war, the town suffered se- 
 verely ; its shipping was almost entirely destroyed, 
 and its business greatly interrupted. For several 
 years after the peace of 1783, New Haven had its 
 full share of the evils of an inefficient general gov- 
 ernment; and was relieved only by the successful 
 operation of the federal constitution of the United 
 States. The new government infused vigor into 
 every department of society ; and from 1789 to the 
 present time, with the exception of occasional re- 
 verses, the town has advanced regularly in num- 
 bers and wealth. 
 
 In looking back upon those periods of the history 
 of New England and of the United States, when 
 any of the great interests of the country were es- 
 pecially endangered, it is gratifying to see, — and it 
 deserves at this time to be commemorated, — that 
 New Haven has furnished men, who have worthily 
 acted their part, and left bright examples for the 
 imitation of posterity. No military expedition ever 
 excited such efforts in New England, or was at- 
 tended with such strong hopes mingled with well 
 grounded fears, as that sent against Louisbourg in 
 1745. On the capture of that fortress, the security 
 
 * 2 Mass. Hist. Coll. 218.— Sec. Series. 
 
68 
 
 of the country from French ascendency, and its 
 consequent freedom, were justly supposed to de- 
 pend. Of the several colonies invited to engage in 
 this great enterprise, those of New England alone 
 had the honor of achieving the conquest. The 
 commander of the Connecticut sloop of war em- 
 ployed in conveying the troops of this colony to the 
 scene of action, was David Wooster, of New Ha- 
 ven. By his skill and intrepidity, both on the pas- 
 sage, and after his arrival, he acquired great rep- 
 utation, and gave an earnest of his subsequent em- 
 inence. In the northern campaign of 1755, and 
 of several succeeding years, he distinguished him- 
 self as a military commander; and in the war of 
 the revolution, he fell in battle, fighting for the lib- 
 erties of his country. 
 
 Nathan Whiting of New Haven, in the cam- 
 paign of 1755, led a regiment enlisted in this town 
 and vicinity, to the Canadian frontier. He was in 
 the detachment sent from fort Edward, by Sir Wil- 
 liam Johnson, against Baron Dieskau. In the un- 
 fortunate rencontre which followed, Col. Whiting, 
 after the fall of Col. Williams his superior officer, 
 took the command of the troops, now thrown into 
 disorder ; and by his skill and intrepidity effected 
 a most difficult and successful retreat. In the cam- 
 paigns of several succeeding years, he was esteemed, 
 both by the British and Americans, an officer of 
 uncommon merit. In Connecticut he acquired 
 great popularity ; and among other honorable 
 marks of respect, he received the thanks of the le- 
 gislature for his numerous and faithful services. 
 
69 
 
 When the dispute between Great Britain and 
 the colonies, was about coming to an open rupture, 
 and the first continental congress assembled in Phil- 
 adelphia, Roger Sherman, of New Haven, was de- 
 puted by the legislature of Connecticut, to be a 
 member of that body. Among other proofs of the 
 estimation in which he was held by that assembly 
 of statesmen and patriots, this may be mentioned, 
 that he was appointed on the committee to prepare 
 the celebrated declaration of independence. He 
 was one of the convention, which formed the con- 
 stitution of the United States ; was a member of the 
 first house of representatives, and afterwards was 
 elected to the senate ; and thus bore an important 
 part in organizing the government. No man in 
 Connecticut, ever enjoyed the confidence of the 
 people of the state more entirely, or for a longer 
 period, than Roger Sherman. Where he doubted, 
 who ventured to be positive? where he saw his 
 way clear, who hesitated to follow ? In the whole 
 course of his public life, Roger Sherman never 
 failed to leave in those with whom he had inter- 
 course, an impression of deep sagacity, and stern in- 
 tegrity ; and he bequeathed, as a public man, to 
 those who should come after him, the character of 
 a great, and what is much more rare, of an honest, 
 politician. 
 
 If we look likewise to the commercial and eco- 
 nomical interests of our own, and of other countries, 
 who stands higher as a public benefactor, than our 
 late fellow citizen, Eli Whitney ? How large a part 
 of the United States is indebted for all its prosper- 
 ity, to his inventive genius ? The commerce, the 
 
70 
 
 business of the world, has been essentially modified 
 and increased through the operation of his princi- 
 pal invention, the cotton-gin ; and the substantial 
 convenience and enjoyment of mankind have, by 
 the same means, been extended and are extending, 
 to a degree, which no man can calculate. 
 
 Another of our citizens, lately removed from us, 
 and who by a long course of eminent public ser- 
 vices, proved himself one of the benefactors of his 
 age and country, deserves an honorable mention 
 on the present occasion. You have, no doubt, all 
 anticipated me in the name of James Hillhouse. 
 Where have we seen more energy of action than in 
 that man ? more public spirit, or a greater readi- 
 ness on any emergency, to make personal sacri- 
 fices ? To pass by his various praise-worthy efforts 
 of a more public and general character ; the name 
 of James Hillhouse, in what he accomplished for 
 the ornament, the convenience, and the solid pros- 
 perity of our town, in all its departments, can never 
 be separated from that of New Haven. 
 
 Perhaps it will be said, on this general review of 
 the history of our city for the last two centuries, 
 that our predecessors, in many of their plans and 
 endeavors, are indeed deserving of praise ; and that 
 even the first colonists, in some respects, did well ; 
 but that we could have done better. The faults of 
 the puritans, some may say, we could certainly 
 have avoided ; and their good deeds were so obvi- 
 ously according to the dictates of common sense, 
 so clearly expedient, proper and right, that the au- 
 thors of them are scarcely entitled to much credit ; 
 and that, in fact, their most commendable proceed- 
 
71 
 
 ings are so counterbalanced by those of a question- 
 able character, or which plainly deserve censure, 
 that we shall, upon the whole, treat them most equi- 
 tably and kindly, by suffering them to pass silently 
 into forgetfulness. 
 
 It has been no part of my object, on this occa- 
 sion, to hold up the first settlers of New Haven, and 
 of New England, as spotless characters, and the 
 proper subjects of indiscriminate commendation. 
 The great outlines of their proceedings I have en- 
 deavored to draw truly and distinctly, that you may 
 yourselves judge of their deserts, rather than to 
 forestall opinion by general and unqualified pane- 
 gyric. The puritans of New England laid the 
 foundations of free communities, free in a sense, 
 which the world had never known, or even ima- 
 gined to be possible. Can any one deny this ? or 
 granting it, withhold the meed of applause ? They 
 devised and executed a plan of universal education, 
 suited to their circumstances, and essential to the 
 support of their social, civil, and religious institu- 
 tions. Is there here any room for doubt ? and if 
 not, who can resist their claim to the gratitude of 
 their posterity ? They, from the first, both by pre- 
 cept and example, taught their descendants to be 
 jealous of their rights, to guard their privileges 
 with ever wakeful solicitude, and to maintain 
 those principles in religion, government and mor- 
 als, which form the only sure foundation of public 
 prosperity. On what page of their history, do we 
 find reason to question this ? And if allowed, who 
 will assert, that the memory of such men should be 
 suffered to pass into oblivion ? or be retained only 
 
72 
 
 with cold indifference ? Admit that they were too 
 exclusive in their religion, that they were believers 
 in witchcraft, and that their laws, were in some 
 cases too severe and even sanguinary ; it is still 
 true, that they were in advance of their age ; and, if 
 their conduct is brought to the standard of their 
 own time, that they must be acquitted. It will be 
 urged, perhaps, that they were fanatics. But when, 
 or where, did their fanaticism show itself? Do we 
 ever find them relying on dreams, or immediate rev- 
 elations ? or appealing to an internal light, which 
 afforded no external indications of wisdom ? Of all 
 men, they were the most remote from such vagaries. 
 But grant, that we could now do better than our 
 pilgrim fathers, — and with their conduct for our 
 guide, we ought certainly to do as well, — we have 
 full opportunity still to show our ability and our 
 benevolence, in providing for the good of those 
 who shall come after us. Our country is yet in its 
 infancy. America is still emphatically the new 
 world. The present population of these United 
 States is very inconsiderable, compared with that 
 towards which it is rapidly approaching. Those, 
 who one hundred years from this day, shall assem- 
 ble here, for the same purpose for which we have 
 come together, will find in what is now the terri- 
 tory of this Union, more than two hundred mil- 
 lions of inhabitants. They will look upon our pres- 
 ent number, as we look upon the early colonists, as 
 the mere germ of a future nation. What, I would 
 ask, is to be the condition of our country, when 
 every hill and valley, from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
 cific, shall be covered with a dense population? 
 
73 
 
 What new and clashing interests will exist ? What 
 new causes of harmony, union and peace? or of 
 jealousy, discord and war ? Who, in these respects, 
 can predict the future fortunes of our country? 
 Who can descry with distinctness, the condition of 
 even the next generation ? The elements of that 
 political, commercial, physical and moral influence, 
 which is operating so widely and powerfully for 
 weal or woe, are too numerous and complicated to 
 admit of being easily or satisfactorily combined, in 
 calculating our national progress and destiny. We 
 sometimes wonder, that the early emigrants to 
 New England, appear to have conceived so imper- 
 fectly of the magnitude of the work, which they had 
 begun ; and that the future, to so great a degree, 
 was veiled from their eyes. Perhaps, notwithstand- 
 ing our greater proneness to speculate on the causes 
 of national changes, and our efforts to scrutinize 
 the designs of providence, we are groping in still 
 thicker darkness ; and the events of the two next 
 centuries may be far more remote from our ken, 
 than were those of the two last centuries from the 
 view of our fathers. 
 
 But far from this occasion be all anticipations of 
 evil. Our country has hitherto risen above dis- 
 aster ; and when most exposed to hazard, and ap- 
 parently on the verge of ruin, it has seemed to defy 
 danger, and triumph in success. We all have it in 
 our power to contribute to its prosperity in times 
 long after us. Never was a wider field open for 
 human effort, in laying a broad and firm foundation 
 for an immense civil and moral superstructure. 
 Let all, who would improve on the system of our 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 ancestors, enter on their work. In the meantime, 
 those who prefer the old paths, may continue to 
 favor universal education ; to diffuse among all 
 classes of the community a knowledge of their 
 rights and privileges, and cherish a disposition to 
 defend them; to strengthen the feeling of obliga- 
 tion in all to perform their duties to God and man ; 
 and then leave the event to Him, who sees the end 
 from the beginning, and who orders all things 
 right. 
 
NOTES 
 
 Note A. 
 
 Dr. Trumbull states incorrectly, that Gov. Eaton " was educated 
 an East India merchant, and was sometime deputy governor of the 
 company trading to the East Indies."* The true reason without 
 doubt, of his mistake, has been pointed out by Mr. Savage, in his 
 very valuable edition of Gov. Winthrop's Journal. He says, this 
 " error arose probably from the appellation of East country, used 
 by Mather, from the universal custom of England, for the regions 
 bordering on the Baltic"! This editor is less successful in an at- 
 tempt, on the same page, to correct what he supposes to be a mis- 
 take of Dr. Trumbull respecting the Rev. Samuel Eaton, brother of 
 the Governor. Gov. Winthrop has recorded, that " another min- 
 ister" besides Mr. Davenport, came to New England with Mr. Ea- 
 ton and Mr. Hopkins. This other minister, according to Dr. Trum- 
 bull, was the Rev. Samuel Eaton. On this Mr. Savage remarks: 
 " The author [Dr. Trumbull] might have read in Mather, that Sam- 
 uel Eaton died 9th January, 1CC5, at Denton in Lancashire." But 
 there is no inconsistency in the fact, that Samuel Eaton died in Eng- 
 land in 1665, and the fact, that he came to America in 1637. In- 
 deed, Mather mentions his residence in this country 4 The Rev. 
 Samuel Eaton signed the New Haven " fundamental agreement ;" 
 and Gov. Eaton, in his will, refers to his " brother, Mr. Samuel Ea- 
 ton, while he was resident in New England." 
 
 A few additional notices of Gov. Eaton, and his family, may not 
 be out of place here. Gov. Eaton was twice married. His second 
 wife was the widow of David Yale, Esq. and daughter of Dr. Thomas 
 Morton, bishop of Chester. At the time of this marriage, Mrs. Ea- 
 ton had three children, David Yale, Thomas Yale, and Ann Yale; 
 to whom, says Mather, Mr. Eaton " became a most exemplary, liv- 
 
 * Hist, of Connect. Vol. I. Chap. xi. t Vol. I. 223. 
 
 % Magnal. Book III. 213. 
 
76 
 
 ing, [loving] and faithful father."* Edward Hopkins married Ann, 
 and the three children came to New England with their mother. On 
 the death of Gov. Eaton, his widow returned to England ; and her two 
 sons David and Thomas Yale, and her daughter, Hannah Eaton, 
 returned with her. Gov. Hopkins and his wife had gone to Eng- 
 land some time before. Elihu Yale, afterwards Governor of fort St. 
 George in the East Indies, and Governor of the East India company, 
 and from whom Yale College has its name, was about ten years old, 
 when, with his father Thomas Yale, he left New Haven. A second 
 Thomas Yale, most probably a son of the first Thomas Yale, re- 
 mained in New Haven, where he died in 1683. From him, those 
 of the name of Yale in New Haven and in other parts of the coun- 
 try, are supposed to be descended. 
 
 Gov. Eaton, in his will, names three children only ; all without 
 doubt, who were then living.t These three were Theophilus, Mary, 
 and Hannah. Theophilus, a son by his first marriage, came to 
 New England, but returned, and lived in Dublin. Mary was mar- 
 ried to Valentine Hill, and removed to Piscataqua in New Hamp- 
 shire. Hannah went to England, as above stated. Ann Eaton, 
 widow of Gov. Eaton, died in London, 1659. Her daughter, Han- 
 nah Eaton, married William Jones, Esq. an English lawyer; and 
 with her husband came to New Haven in 1660, where they occu- 
 pied the former residence of Gov. Eaton. They sailed from Eng- 
 land in the same ship with the regicides, Col Whalley and Col. 
 Goffe ; which circumstance probably had some influence in bringing 
 the regicides to New Haven. Mr. Jones was chosen a magistrate 
 in New Haven, in 1662, and Lieutenant Governor in 1664. He 
 was afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut ; and acquired 
 great respectability and influence, both in the town and colony. 
 
 * Magnal. Book II. 27. 
 
 t Of Gov. Eaton's children, who died before him, his son Samuel was the 
 most distinguished. He was born in London, 1620, and was graduated at 
 Harvard College in 1649. In April, 1654, the people of New T Haven were 
 thrown into great agitation on hearing " that Mr. Samuel Eaton, son of our 
 governor, is now sent for into the Bay, which if attended to, they feared 
 they may be deprived, not only for the present, but for the future, of the 
 helpfulness which they have hoped for from him; and considering the small 
 Dumber of first able helps here for the work of magistracy for the present, 
 who also by age are wearing away," they offered him the place of magis- 
 trate ; and to this station he was elected in May of the same year. lie and 
 his wife, died within two days of each other, June, 1655. 
 
77 
 
 Governor Eaton died in New Haven, January 7th, 1658,* in the 
 67th year of his age. At the first General Court after his death, 
 May 26th, 1658, it was voted to erect a monument to his memory. 
 The record is in the following words. " This court calling to mind 
 the good service done to this colony by our late Honorable Gover- 
 nor, did order, that a comely tomb, such as we are capable of, shall 
 be made over his grave." The monument was a sandstone table, 
 on which was this inscription : — 
 
 " Theophilus Eaton, Esq. Gov. 
 Deceased Jan. 7th, 1657. [8] 
 
 Eaton so fam'd, so wise, so meek, so just, 
 The Phoenix of our world, here hides his dust, 
 This name forget New England never must." 
 
 Gov. Jones died in New Haven, 17th October, 1706, aged 82, 
 and Hannah Jones, 1st May, 1707, aged 74. They were buried, 
 one on the right, and the other on the left, of Gov. Eaton ; and to the 
 former inscription, the following was added : — 
 
 " T' attend you, Sir, under these framed stones, 
 Are come your honor'd son and daughter Jones, 
 On each hand to repose their wearied bones." 
 
 This notable triplet, as Dr. Dwight once told me, was the produc- 
 tion of the Rev. James Pierpont. The lines on Gov. Eaton must 
 have come under the inspection of Mr. Davenport; but whether he 
 was the author of them, can be conjectured only. The stone has 
 been removed to the new burying ground, and the old inscriptions 
 erased, to the regret of the lovers of genuine antiquity. The inscrip- 
 tion on Gov. Eaton has been re-engraved. The descendants of Gov. 
 Jones are numerous. 
 
 Note B. 
 
 It is recorded in Gov. Winthrop's Journal, that on the 30th of 
 March, 1638, the colony for Quinnipiac left Boston. This date is 
 given without any qualification ; and no reason appears for question- 
 ing its correctness. Dr. Trumbull, in his history of Connecticut, 
 
 * According to the old mode of dating, this was in 1657, and Dr. Trumbull 
 has so stated it ; probably taking the year from the inscription on the monu- 
 ment. The time of his death is plain from the records. He held several 
 courts in 1657 ; the last, in October of that year. 
 
78 
 
 says, that " on the 30th of March, 1638, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Prudden, 
 Mr. Samuel Eaton, and Theophilus Eaton, Esq., with the people of 
 their company, sailed from Boston for Quinnipiac. In about a fort- 
 night, they arrived at their desired port. On the 18th of April, they 
 kept their first sabbath in the place. The people assembled under 
 a large spreading oak, and Mr. Davenport preached to them from 
 Matthew vi. 1. He insisted on the temptations of the wilderness, 
 made such observations, and gave such directions and exhortations 
 as were pertinent to the then present state of his hearers. He left 
 this remark, that he " enjoyed a good day."* 
 
 On what authority Dr. Trumbull gave this account, except as to 
 the day when the expedition left Boston, does not appear. The day 
 of sailing may have been taken from Winthrop. But there is noth- 
 ing in the colony records, Winthrop's Journal, Morton's Memorial, 
 Hubbard's History of New England, or any similar work which I 
 have examined, respecting the duration of the voyage, or the time of 
 the arrival of the colonists at their place of destination. That Dr. 
 Trumbull relied in this part of his narrative on some written docu- 
 ment, may be inferred from its particularity, as it is too minute in 
 its statements for mere tradition, and from what he says of Mr. Dav- 
 enport, that " he left the remark, that he enjoyed a good day." The 
 words " he left the remark," indicate that it was in some diary, or 
 memorandum. Dr. Trumbull collected most of the materials for the 
 first volume of his history, as early as 1/74, and was much aided in 
 his undertaking by the first Gov. Trumbull, who possessed numerous 
 documents to illustrate the early history of Connecticut. There is 
 no improbability, therefore, in the supposition, that Dr. Trumbull 
 had means of exact information on this subject, which are now un- 
 known. He says likewise, in the preface to his history, " that very 
 little has been taken on tradition ;" and wherever he relates any 
 thing on the ground of tradition, he appears careful to state the fact. 
 But on whatever authority Dr. Trumbull relied, it cannot be true, 
 that the colonists, as he says, " kept their first sabbath," in Quin- 
 nipiac on the 18th of April ; as the 18th of April, 1038, was Wednes- 
 day. If they were about a fortnight on the voyage, this " first sab- 
 bath" must have been either the 15th or the 22d day of the month. 
 If a memorandum of the day was made at the time, as is not improb- 
 able, in transcribing, 15 might easily be mistaken for 18, much more 
 
 * Hist, of Connect. Vol. I. Chap. vi. 
 
79 
 
 easily than 22 would be mistaken for this number ; and the same is 
 true, if the information came down by tradition. Another solution 
 of this difficulty is, and perhaps as probable as any, that 18 is a typo- 
 graphical error for 15. But that the 15th was really the day, is 
 pretty plainly indicated by the language, that the colonists were 
 "about a fortnight" on their voyage. The 30th of March, 1638, 
 was Friday; a fortnight from this time was the 13th of April. If 
 the expedition arrived on the 12th, 13th, or 14th of the month, the 
 phrase " about a fortnight," as commonly used, would be very natu- 
 rally employed to designate the time. If the arrival was so late as 
 the next week, in marking the time, instead of " about a fortnight," 
 it would rather be said, that they were more than a fortnight, or 
 nearly three weeks, on their passage. These considerations do not 
 lead to an infallible conclusion, but the balance of probabilities 
 clearly inclines to the 15th of April, 1638, as the " first sabbath" 
 kept in this town by the original settlers. As it appears about 
 equally probable, that the colony arrived on the 12th, 13th, or 14th 
 of the month, it was impossible to select the day of arrival, as the 
 time to celebrate the planting of the colony. The assembling on 
 the 15th, it was thought might be taken without much chance of 
 error, as the first act of the whole body of the colonists, and the time, 
 in which European civilization commenced in Quinnipiac. 
 
 As ten days are allowed for the difference of style in the seven- 
 teenth century, the 15th of April, 1638, corresponds to the 25th of 
 the same month, according to our present mode of reckoning. 
 
 There is a common error in changing dates of the seventeenth 
 century to the mode of reckoning now in use. Thus, in fixing the 
 day, in some places, for celebrating the second centennial anniver- 
 sary, eleven days, and in other places, twelve days have been added 
 to the old date. No one, who will look at the reason of the thing, 
 can doubt, that ten days is the real difference. The ground of this 
 conclusion, may be exhibited in the following popular manner. The 
 year of the seasons may be taken at 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 
 50 seconds. This multiplied by 200, gives 73048 days, leaving out 
 the fraction of a day. From the 15th of April, 1638, to the 15th 
 of April, 1838, 200 years of 365 days, 6 hours have been reckoned; 
 that is, 73050, except, that in 1752, when the style was altered, 
 eleven days were omitted ; and in 1800 one day was omitted, ac- 
 cording to the rule now observed. The actual time, therefore, al- 
 lowed from April 15th, 1638, to April 15th, 1838, is 73038 days. 
 
80 
 
 But this is ten days less than 200 years, as appears above. Adding, 
 therefore, ten days to the 15th of April, 1838, the day of the close of 
 the two hundredth year from the 15th of April, old style, 1638, is 
 obtained. 
 
 As the year of the seasons is less, than the common civil year, or 
 365 days, 6 hours, it is obvious, that the farther we go back, the 
 less difference there will be in the two modes of computing time ; 
 till we arrive at the time of the Council of Nice, when the two 
 modes will coincide, or no addition will be required to be made to 
 old style. Or, if the present rule of regulating the calendar had been 
 adopted at the time of the Council of Nice, what was called the 
 15th of April, 1638, would have been the 25th of the same month 
 and year. 
 
 There appears to be another error in the extract above from Dr. 
 Trumbull, which is probably typographical ; and which may not im- 
 properly be noticed here. He says that Mr. Davenport preached 
 from Matthew vi. 1, and " insisted on the temptations of the wilder- 
 ness." The verse referred to is, " Take heed, that you do not your 
 alms before men, to be seen of them ; otherwise ye have no reward 
 of your father, which is in heaven." But how this should lead to a 
 discourse on the temptations of the wilderness, is not obvious. The 
 probability is, that instead of vi. we should read iv. ; and Matt. iv. 1, 
 is, " Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be 
 tempted of the devil." The object of the preacher might be to show, 
 that though his hearers were in the wilderness of America, tempta- 
 tions still beset them. Others say, that the text of Mr. Davenport 
 was Matt. iii. 1, which is, "In those days came John the Baptist, 
 preaching in the wilderness of Judea." "We have here, indeed, a 
 wilderness, but there is no distinct reference to temptation. 
 
 Note C. 
 
 The only authority, which, it is believed, can be found, on which 
 a charge of injustice towards the Indians in the New Haven colony, 
 can be founded, is " The General History of Connecticut," by Dr. 
 Samuel Peters. This author says — "Exact in tything mint and 
 anise, the furies of New Haven for once affected the weightier mat- 
 ters of justice. They had no title to the land : they applied to Quin- 
 nipiog, the sachem, for a deed or grant of it. The sachem refused 
 to give the lands of his ancestors to strangers. The settlers had 
 
81 
 
 teeming inventions, and immediately voted themselves to be the 
 children of God, and that the wilderness in the utmost parts of the 
 earth, was given to them. This vote became a law forever after. It 
 is true, Davenport endeavored to christianize Quinnipiog, but in 
 vain : however, he converted Sunksquaw, one of his subjects, by pres- 
 ents and great promises; and then Sunksquaw betrayed his mas- 
 ter, and the settlers killed him. This assassination of Quinnipiog 
 brought on a war between the English and Indians, which never 
 ended by treaty of peace. The Indians, having only bows and ar- 
 rows, were driven back into the woods ; whilst the English with 
 their swords and guns, kept possession of the country. But con- 
 scious of their want of title to it, they voted Sunksquaw to be Sachem, 
 and that whoever disputed his authority should suffer death. Sunk- 
 squaw, in return, assigned to the English those lands, of which they 
 had made him Sachem. Lo! here is all the title the settlers of the 
 Dominion of New Haven, ever obtained."* The only apology for 
 quoting this passage, and others like it, from such an author, is, that 
 his representations seem to have gained, in some instances, a partial 
 credit. But the story here told is an entire fabrication ; there being 
 no foundation whatever for it in fact. The Indian deed to the Eng- 
 lish, of the territory of Quinnipiac, is on record ; and the convey- 
 ance was made by eight Sachems, one of whom was a female. No 
 mention is made in the records, or in any other writings, before this 
 History by Peters was published, of any such Sachem as Quinnipiog, 
 or Sunksquaw, or of any contest with the Indians. All the records, 
 traditions, and the accounts published in the other colonies, which 
 have any relation to the transactions of the first settlers of New Ha- 
 ven with the natives, are irreconcilable with this story. It is the 
 sheer production of malice and resentment, and made up in utter 
 disregard of truth. The same author says, that Mr. Davenport and 
 others set up a " heavenly title" to the lands of the Indians; and 
 thus " syllogistically stated it" — " The Heathen are driven out, and 
 ice have their lands in possession ; they were numerous, and we but a 
 few; therefore the Lord hath done this great tcork, to give his be- 
 loved 'rest.' 'f This again has not the slightest support from fact. 
 That Mr. Davenport, and the other early puritan ministers in Con- 
 necticut and New Haven, considered the Indians the rightful owners 
 of the soil, and maintained that lands should be bought of them by 
 
 * 65. t 4G. 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 fair purchase, is proved by all the evidence which the case admits of, 
 or requires. Peters likewise makes Mr. Davenport's " tyrannical 
 conduct"* one of the causes of the war with the Pequods, and the 
 destruction of Sassacus. The Pequod war, however, was nearly 
 terminated, before Mr. Davenport arrived in America; and ended 
 the summer before he came to Q,uinnipiac. All the other represen- 
 tations, by the same writer, respecting the treatment of the Indians 
 by the English, are equally destitute of truth. Another statement of 
 Peters, connected in some measure with the foregoing, is the follow- 
 ing. ' The first colonizers of Connecticut — by their iniquitous art 
 of making Sachems, have entailed law-suits without end on their pos- 
 terity ; for there is not one foot of land in the whole province, which 
 is not covered by ten deeds granted by ten different nominal Sachems 
 to ten different persons; and what aggravates the misfortune, the 
 courts of justice differ every session concerning the true Sachem ; so 
 that what the plaintiff recovers at a hearing before one jury, he loses 
 upon a re-hearing before another. "t 
 
 Perhaps, if the whole Union were examined for this purpose, no 
 state would be found where so little litigation has existed respecting 
 original land-titles, as in Connecticut. No individual could purchase 
 land of the Indians without permission of the magistrates. Deeds 
 also were always recorded in public offices, where they were open to 
 the inspection of every one. No such fraudulent conveyances as de- 
 scribed above, could have existed. This whole representation is a 
 fiction of the historian. J 
 
 Note D. 
 
 In the harbor of New Haven, great alterations have been produ- 
 ced by the accumulation of earth in the inlets, chiefly by the action 
 of the small streams. The low grounds at the southwest of George 
 street, two hundred years ago, were covered so deep with water, that 
 such vessels as were used for transporting the colony, lay there with- 
 out difficulty ; and even within eighty years, where the canal now 
 passes towards the harbor, large sail-boats came with ease, as high 
 as Chapel street. But these obstructions to a ready access from 
 
 * 55. 1 43. 
 
 t The quotations from this author air made from the edition of his History, 
 published in New Haven in 1829. For the general character of the work, 
 sec Note G. 
 
83 
 
 the town to navigable water, which have been gradually formed, 
 though to be regretted, have yet left the actual site of the town the 
 most eligible, which could be chosen on the shores of the New Ha- 
 ven bay. 
 
 Note E. 
 
 Reference is here made to a treatise by Mr. Davenport, entitled, 
 "A discourse about civil government in a new plantation, whose de- 
 sign is religion" — " in the title page whereof," says Mather,* " the 
 name of Mr. Cotton, is, by mistake, put for that of Mr. Davenport." 
 The copy of this curious and valuable pamphlet, which I have had 
 the opportunity of consulting, belongs to the library of the Massachu- 
 setts Historical Society, Boston. 
 
 Note F. 
 
 The names of the seven men, who have been usually called the 
 " seven pillars," are placed in the colony records in the following 
 order : " Mr. Theophilus Eaton, Mr. John Davenport, Mr. Robert 
 Newman, Mr. Matthew Gilbert, Thomas Fugill, John Punderson 
 and Jeremy Dixon." 
 
 Note G. 
 
 The work, which more than any other, has given currency to va- 
 rious misrepresentations respecting the New Haven colony, is that 
 commonly known as " Peters's History of Connecticut." The au- 
 thor, Dr. Samuel Peters, at the commencement of the revolutionary 
 war, was an episcopal missionary at Hebron in Connecticut. As he 
 was very active in asserting the royal claims, he became obnoxious 
 to the patriots of the day. He was threatened by a mob ; though 
 it is believed, no personal violence was done him. About 1774 he 
 went to England, highly exasperated against his country, and espe- 
 cially against his native state, Connecticut. He employed himself, 
 while the war continued, in reviling the colonists; and in 1781 pub- 
 lished in London without his name, what he called " A general His- 
 tory of Connecticut, from its first settlement under George Fenwick 
 Esq., to its latest period of amity with Great Britain; including a 
 
 * Book III. 56. 
 
84 
 
 description of the country, and many curious and interesting anec- 
 dotes." When this work first appeared, its extravagances and false- 
 hoods v/ere so apparent and gross, that any attempt to contradict or 
 expose them, was considered unnecessary and superfluous. The 
 work was evidently designed chiefly, to render the people of Con- 
 necticut odious and despicable abroad ; — but its abuse was so outrage- 
 ous, and its statements so opposed to the most notorious facts, that 
 even with respect to foreigners, it was thought to need no refutation. 
 There were, however, in Connecticut, at the time this pretended 
 History appeared, individuals who sympathized strongly with its au- 
 thor. They had cherished the same antipathies and resentments as 
 Peters himself; and as the English interest declined in the United 
 States, they were glad to seize even upon such support, as this mis- 
 erable farrago afforded them. Its stories were to their taste ; and 
 they repeated them so often, as apparently to create in themselves a 
 sort of belief in the truth of some of them. The credit, however, 
 acquired by this work was never extensive ; and its real character 
 has been generally too well understood to call for direct animadver- 
 sion. Dr. Trumbull once told me, in reply to the question, why in 
 his History of Connecticut, he had made no allusion to this work of 
 Dr. Peters, — that he had considered a reference to it as wholly unne- 
 cessary ; since any one, on very slight examination, would see that it 
 was refuted in so many of its statements by indubitable public doc- 
 uments, that it could gain no credit. He said, that he had been well 
 acquainted with Dr. Peters from very early life,* that they were con- 
 temporary in college,! and that an occasional intercourse between 
 them had been maintained, till Dr. Peters went to England in 1774. 
 He added, that of all men, with whom he had ever been acquainted, 
 Dr. Peters, he had thought, from his first knowledge of him, the least 
 to be depended upon as to any matter of fact ; especially " in story-tell- 
 ing." A more particular notice of this " History of Connecticut" 
 might perhaps be omitted here ; but it has been thought best to point 
 out a few of its errors ; as by the progress of time, the real charac- 
 ter of the work is now less perfectly understood, than when it was 
 first published. 
 
 The account which the author gives of the first settlement of Con- 
 necticut, is filled with mistakes. He says, that " in 1G34, the first 
 
 * I think In- stated that they were both natives of Hebron. 
 
 t Dr. Peters graduated at Yale College in 1757, Dr. Trumbull in 1759., 
 
85 
 
 part of English adventurers arrived in Connecticut from England, 
 under the conduct of George Fenwick, Esq., and the Rev. Thomas 
 Peters, and established themselves at the mouth of the river Connec- 
 ticut ; where they built a town which they called Saybrook, a church 
 and a fort."* The foft at Saybrook, however, was begun near the 
 close of the year 1635, under the direction of John Winthrop, Esq. 
 George Fenwick first arrived in America in 1C39, and the Rev. 
 Thomas Peters with him. Peters staid but about three years in the 
 country, and much of this time he spent at Pequod, or New London. 
 It is related likewise in this history, that " Thomas Peters establish- 
 ed a school in Saybrook, which his children had the satisfaction to 
 see become a college, denominated Yale College." — " At his death, 
 which did not happen till after the restoration of Charles II, he be- 
 queathed his library to the school above mentioned."! There is not 
 the slightest evidence, that there was any early school in Saybrook, 
 higher than a common school ; or any school whatever, to which 
 the Rev. Thomas Peters left a library. As to Yale College, it was 
 founded and incorporated without any reference to Saybrook ; and 
 it owed its origin in no sense, to any school before existing there, 
 or any where else. This story was probably told to give in England 
 the credit of beginning the college to one of the name of Peters. 
 This same author says, that Connecticut on the arrival of the Eng- 
 lish, had " three kings, viz. Connecticote, Quinnipiog and Sassa- 
 cus, of whom Connecticote was Emperor, or king of kings. "J It 
 has been stated above in Note C, that no such Sachem as Quinni- 
 piog ever existed. As little evidence is there, that there ever was 
 any such " king of kings" as Connecticote. Peters adds, — " The 
 religious institutions of Hooker at Hartford, .... extended to the 
 great Connecticote himself. The Sachem did not like his new neigh- 
 bors ; he refused to give or sell any land to them ; but told them, that 
 as they came to trade, and to spread the christian religion among his 
 subjects, which Mr. Hooker defined to consist only in peace, love and 
 justice, he had no objection to their building wigwams, planting corn, 
 and hunting on his lands. The wisdom and steady temper of this great 
 Sachem, and the vast number of subjects at his command, made 
 Haynes and Hooker cautious in their conduct." " Having converted 
 over to the christian faith some few Indians, among whom was 
 Joshua, an ambitious captain under the great Sachem Connecticote, 
 
 * 31. t 57. t 45. 
 
86 
 
 Hooker, Huet, Smith and others, hereby found means to spread the 
 gospel into every Indian town, and, to the eternal infamy of chris- 
 tian policy, those renowned, pious fathers of this new colony, with 
 the gospel, spread the small pox. This distemper raged in every cor- 
 ner ; it swept away the great Sachem Connecticote, and laid waste 
 his ancient kingdom. Hereupon, Haynes and his assembly pro- 
 claimed Joshua, Sachem; and such as did not acknowledge his 
 Sachemic power, were compelled to suffer death, or fly the dominion. 
 Thus in three years time, by the gospel and fanatic policy, was de- 
 stroyed Connecticote, and laid waste his ancient kingdom."* All 
 this is gross and palpable falsehood. There is no evidence, from any 
 record or history preceding this work of Peters, that any part of this 
 story is true. On the contrary, all existing records and early histo- 
 ries of the transactions of Gov. Haynes and Mr. Hooker with the 
 Indians, are wholly inconsistent with this representation. 
 
 An author who could coolly fabricate such slander, has no claim 
 to be believed in any statements, on any subject. A farther notice 
 of the work, therefore, might be dispensed with ; but a reference to 
 a few more passages will satisfy, it is believed, the most incredulous, 
 that no injustice has been done Dr. Peters, in what has now been 
 said of his history. His description of the country, and anecdotes 
 of towns and individuals, are as extravagant as they are absurd and 
 silly. Thus, in his account of Connecticut river, he says, that about 
 two hundred miles from the Sound, the water passes through a 
 chasm, formed by "two shelving mountains of solid rock," and "is 
 consolidated, without frost, by pressure, by swiftness, between the 
 pinching sturdy rocks, to such a degree of induration, that an iron 
 crow floats smoothly down its current; here iron, lead, and cork, 
 have one common weight : here, steady as time, and harder than 
 marble, the stream passes irresistible, if not swift as lightning: — the 
 electric fire rends trees in pieces with no greater ease, than does 
 this mighty water."t Yet on this water, " harder than marble," a 
 squaw, he informs his readers, passed through this chasm, in a ca- 
 noe. The author describes a pond in the town of Windham, as 
 "three miles square;" which, in fact, is about half a mile in length, 
 and varying in breadth, from ten to fifty or sixty rods. New Haven, 
 he says, is built on a plain, which is " divided into three hundred 
 squares, of the size of Bloomsbury-square, with streets twenty yards 
 
 * 59. t 110. 
 
87 
 
 wide between each division. Forty of these squares are already 
 built upon, having houses of brick and stone on each front, above 
 five yards asunder : every house with a garden, that produces vege- 
 tables sufficient for the family. Two hundred houses are annually 
 erected."* New Haven, at the time this was written, had probably 
 not more than four hundred and twenty houses, ten or twelve of 
 which may have been of brick or stone. 
 
 One great object of this history is, to detail the sufferings of the 
 episcopal missionaries, which, as the author represents, they endured 
 for their loyalty. One story of this kind is the following. 
 
 "In July, 1776, the congress having declared the independency 
 of America, and ordered the commonwealth to be prayed for, in- 
 stead of the king and royal family, all the loyal episcopal churches 
 north of the Delaware, were shut up ; except those immediately un- 
 der the protection of the British army, and one at Newtown in Con- 
 necticut, of which last the Rev. Mr. John Beach was the Rector; 
 whose gray hairs adorned with loyal and christian virtues, overcame 
 even the madness of the Sober Dissenters. This faithful disciple 
 disregarded the congressional mandate, and praying for the king as 
 usual, they pulled him out of his desk, put a rope about his neck, 
 and drew him across Osootonoc river, at the tail of a boat, to cool his 
 loyal zeal, as they called it ; after which the old Confessor was per- 
 mitted to depart, though not without a prohibition to pray longer for 
 the king. But his loyal zeal was insuperable. He went to church, 
 and prayed again for the king ; upon which the Sober Dissenters 
 again seized him, and resolved upon cutting out his tongue ; when 
 the heroic veteran said, if my blood must be shed, let it not be done 
 in the house of God. The pious mob then dragged him out of the 
 church, laid his neck on a block, and swore they would cut off his 
 head," &.c.f This whole story is without any foundation in truth. 
 No such treatment of Mr. Beach ever occurred. The episcopal cler- 
 gy in Connecticut, in the revolution, were believed to be honest in 
 their loyalty ; and where they took no active part in resisting the 
 popular measures, they were not molested. If such men as Mr. 
 Beach, Dr. Mansfield, Mr. Learning, and others mentioned by Pe- 
 ters, had suffered abuse, the most zealous patriots would have acted 
 in their defense. 
 
 There is one more story, which, from its relation to New Haven, 
 may be thought to merit some attention. It is this. " An English 
 
 * 147. t 300. 
 
88 
 
 gentleman," says Peters, " of the name of Grigson, coming in his 
 travels to New Haven, about the year 1644, was greatly pleased with 
 its pleasant situation ; and after purchasing a large settlement, sent 
 to London for his wife and family. But before their arrival, he found 
 that a charming situation, without the blessing of civil and religious 
 liberty, would not render him and his family happy : he resolved, 
 therefore, to quit the country, and return to England, as soon as his 
 family should arrive, and accordingly advertised his property for sale ; 
 when lo ! agreeable to one of the Blue Laws, no one would buy, be- 
 cause he had not, and could not, obtain liberty of the select-men to 
 sell it. The patriotic virtue of the select-men thus becoming an in- 
 surmountable bar to the sale of his New Haven estate, Mr. Grigson 
 made his will, and bequeathed part of his lands towards the support 
 of an episcopal clergyman, who should reside in that town, and the 
 residue to his own heirs. Having deposited his will in the hands of 
 a friend, he set sail with his family for England, but died on the pas- 
 sage. This friend proved the will, and had it recorded, but died also 
 soon after. The record was dexterously concealed by glueing two 
 leaves together ; and, after some years, the select-men sold the whole 
 estate to pay taxes ; though the rent of Mr. Grigson's house alone, in 
 one year, would pay the taxes for ten. Some persons, hardy enough 
 to exclaim against this glaring injustice, were soon silenced, and ex- 
 pelled the town. In 1750, an episcopal clergyman was settled in 
 New Haven ; and having been informed of Grigson's will, applied to 
 the town clerk for a copy, who told him, there was no such will on 
 record, and withal refused him the liberty of searching. In 1768, 
 Peter Harrison, Esq. from Nottinghamshire, in England, the King's 
 collector of New Haven, claimed his right of searching public rec- 
 ords ; and being a stranger, and not supposed to have any knowledge 
 of Grigson's will, obtained his demand. The alphabet contained 
 Grigson's name, and referred to a page, which was not to be found 
 in the book. Mr. Harrison supposed it to have been torn out ; but, 
 on closer examination, discovered one leaf much thicker than the 
 others. He put a corner of the thick leaf in his mouth, and soon 
 found it was composed of two leaves, which with much difficulty 
 having separated, he found Grigson's will ! To make sure of the 
 work, he took a copy of it himself, and then called the clerk to 
 draw and attest another, which was done. Thus furnished, Mr. 
 Harrison instantly applied to the select-men, and demanded a sur- 
 render of the land, which belonged to the church, but which they as 
 
89 
 
 promptly refused ; whereupon Mr. Harrison took out writs of eject- 
 ment against the possessors. As might he expected, Mr. Harrison, 
 from a good man, became in ten days the worst man in the world ; 
 but, being a generous and brave Englishman, he valued not their 
 clamors and curses, though they terrified the gentlemen of the law. 
 Harrison was obliged to be his own lawyer, and boldly declared he 
 expected to lose his cause in New England ; but after that, he would 
 appeal, and try it at his own expense in England, where justice 
 reigned. The good people, knowing Harrison did not get his bread 
 by their votes, and that they could not baffle him, resigned the lands 
 to the church, on that gentleman's own terms."* 
 
 Now for the facts. Thomas Gregson was one of the company of 
 Mr. Eaton and Mr. Davenport, and came with them to America in 
 1637. He was among the first planters in New Haven in 1638, was 
 very early elected a magistrate ; and what shows the estimation in 
 which he was held, he was appointed to act with Gov. Eaton as a 
 commissioner in 1643, in forming: a union of the New England col- 
 onies. In January, 1647, Mr. Gregson sailed for England; not 
 leaving New Haven in disgust, but with a commission to procure a 
 charter for the colony, if possible, and " from the parliament." That 
 such a man, who was one of the leading puritans in New England, 
 should have left behind him a will, by which part of his property was 
 to be applied, in the manner stated by Peters, is a story which, on 
 the face of it, is utterly incredible. The same thing might as easily 
 be believed of Gov. Eaton, or Mr. Davenport. But no such will was 
 left; and of course it was never concealed, or found. If the holders 
 of the property were ejected in 1768, the records of some court ought 
 to show the fact. But no such record exists ; and the whole story, 
 so circumstantially told, is a gratuitous falsehood. 
 
 It seemed the more necessary to remark on the subject of this 
 will, as in the New Haven edition of Peters's History, published in 
 1829, the editor says in the preface, " It certainly contains some 
 facts, such as the history of Grigson's will and some others, which 
 cannot be gainsaid ; as they have happened within the recollection 
 of many persons now living." Who was the author of this preface, 
 I know not. That Dr. Peters himself, who was in New Haven a 
 few years before it appeared, left this declaration as his last legacy 
 to posterity, is one among several conjectures on this subject, which 
 
 * 150. 
 12 
 
90 
 
 might be made. But the assertion, that there were many persons 
 living in New Haven, in 1829, within whose recollection it hap- 
 pened, — a recollection extending through one hundred and eighty five 
 years, — that Thomas Gregson made a will soon after 1644, and that 
 he left it with a friend, when there is no record evidence that such a 
 will was ever made or left ; that he should have been induced to make 
 this will by the tyrannical conduct of the select-men of New Haven, 
 when there is the best historical proof, that no such functionaries as 
 select-men existed in the colony ; that this will should have been 
 found in 176S, and the property resigned to the church, when there 
 is no record that any such will ever was found, or that the property 
 is, or ever was, held by any person or persons, under such will, is in 
 admirable keeping with the history which it precedes. 
 
 The Rev. Jonathan Arnold, of New Haven, episcopal missionary, 
 brought from London a deed, dated March 26th, 1736, executed by 
 William Gregson, who describes himself as great grandson of Thomas 
 Gregson ; by which instrument, the said William Gregson conveyed 
 all his interest in a lot of land, which belonged to his ancestor, to 
 Mr. Arnold in trust, for the use, on certain conditions, of an epis- 
 copal society, which should be formed in New Haven. But the land 
 was never held by this deed. Though this conveyance by William 
 Gregson is not alluded to by Peters, it may be proper to add, that 
 the pages of the public records, where the deed may be found,* have 
 [June 6th, 1838] as little the appearance, as any other part of the 
 volume, of ever having had any adhesive substance applied to them. 
 
 On examining the more prominent statements of Peters, not one 
 has been found, which is not either false, or so deformed by exag- 
 gerations and perversions, as to be essentially erroneous. To prove 
 a truth upon the leading portions of his history, would be, it is be- 
 lieved, an impossible task. 
 
 Note H. 
 
 Mr. Davenport's efforts in favor of education in New Haven, ap- 
 pear throughout the colonial records. His design was, to have first, 
 common schools, then, grammar schools, and finally a college. 
 Common schools were immediately begun. By a donation of Gov. 
 Hopkins, obtained chiefly through the influence of Mr. Davenport, 
 
 * Vol. X. 520. 
 
91 
 
 a grammar school was established ; and a foundation for a college 
 was hid by a grant from the town of New Haven. No improvement 
 has been made on this original plan by Mr. Davenport ; and to this 
 day, it has never, so far as it respects grammar schools, been fully 
 executed. As a specimen of the early proceedings on this subject, 
 an extract follows from the record of " a town meeting, held in New 
 Haven, February 7th, 1667" [8]. 
 
 "Mr. John Davenport, senior, came into the meeting, and desired 
 to speak something concerning the school ; and first propounded to 
 the town, whether they would send their children to the school, to 
 be taught for the fitting them for the service of God, in church and 
 commonwealth. If they would, then, he said, that the grant of that 
 part of Mr. Hopkins his estate, formerly made to this town, stands 
 good ; but if not, then it is void ; because it attains not the end of 
 the donor. Therefore, he desired they would express themselves. 
 Upon which Roger Ailing declared his purpose of bringing up one 
 of his sons to learning; also Henry Glover one of Mr. William 
 Russell's, John Winston, Mr. Hodshon, Thomas Trowbridge, David 
 Atwater, Thomas Meeks [Mix] ; and Mr. Augur said that he in- 
 tended to send for a kinsman from England. Mr. Samuel Street 
 declared, that there were eight at present in Latin, and three more 
 would come in summer, and two more before next winter. Upon 
 which Mr. Davenport seemed to be satisfied; but yet declared, that 
 he must always reserve a negative voice, that nothing be done con- 
 trary to the true intent of the donor, and it [the donation] be im* 
 proved only for that use, and, therefore, while it can be so improved 
 here, it shall be settled here. But if New Haven will neglect their 
 own good herein, he must improve it otherwhere, unto that end it 
 may answer the will of the dead. His desire was, that a farm may 
 be purchased, that the revenues of it may ease the town ; and there- 
 fore propounded, that if any knew of any farm to be purchased, they 
 would acquaint the committee with it; and then desired to know, 
 whether the town would grant this to be recorded, with this condi- 
 tion. The town fell into some debate about it, and so nothing was 
 done further at this time." 
 
 What was accomplished at this town meeting went beyond mere 
 declarations. There was action as well as profession. James Ai- 
 ling, son of Roger Ailing, was graduated at Harvard College, 1679. 
 James Ailing was a congregational minister in Salisbury, Massachu- 
 setts. His father, Roger Ailing, was one of the signers of the " fun- 
 damental agreement." 
 
92 
 
 Noadiah Russell, who was graduated at Harvard College in 1681, 
 was son of William Russell, and grandson of James Russell, one of 
 the first planters. Mr. Glover was named guardian of Noadiah Rus- 
 sell, in the will of his father, William Russell. Noadiah Russell 
 was minister of Middletown, and was a man of great respectability 
 and influence. 
 
 Nathaniel Hodson, whose name appears in the Harvard Cata- 
 logue, as one of the class of 1693, was the son of John Hodson or 
 Hodgson, merchant, of New Haven. The will of John Hodson is 
 dated July, 1690, and in it, provision is made for the college expenses 
 of his son Nathaniel. Of the subsequent history of Nathaniel Hod- 
 son, I am ignorant. 
 
 Stephen Mix, minister of Wethersfield, Connecticut, was gradu- 
 ated at Harvard College, 1690, and was son of Thomas Mix of New 
 Haven. The Rev. Stephen Mix was one of the most able of the 
 Congregational ministers of his time. 
 
 The advantage to the colony from this single effort in favor of lib- 
 eral education, cannot easily be estimated. The reason that so many 
 belonging to New Haven, were educated at Harvard before the year 
 1700, is found chiefly in the zeal and widely extended influence of 
 Mr. Davenport. To make a complete catalogue of these students 
 is difficult ; most of their names however are probably contained in 
 the following list. Besides the four just mentioned, and Samuel Ea- 
 ton referred to in Note A, who was of the class of 1649, Isaac Aller- 
 ton, a graduate of 1650, was the son of Isaac Allerton of New Ha- 
 ven. Isaac Allerton, senior, came to Plymouth in the May-Flower 
 in 1620. He removed to New Haven soon after the planting of the 
 colony, where he continued till his death, which took place early in 
 the year 1659. He names his son Isaac in his will. That this Isaac 
 Allerton of New Haven is the same who was at Plymouth, is evident 
 from the circumstance, that in his will, he refers to his brother Brews- 
 ter ; and it appears from Morton's Memorial, that Isaac Allerton 
 of Plymouth married a daughter of Elder Brewster.* 
 
 Michael Wi^glesworth, of the class of 1651, and minister of Mai- 
 den, Massachusetts, was son of Edward Wigglesworth, one of the 
 company of Gov. Eaton and Mr. Davenport. Edward Wiggles- 
 worth died in New Haven, 1654. In his will, mention is made of 
 his son Michael. 
 
 * iMorton by Davis, 52*21. 
 
93 
 
 John Glover of the class of 1651, was probably the son of Henry 
 Glover, mentioned above, as the guardian of Noadiah Russell. 
 
 Samuel Cheever, a graduate of the class of 1659, was son of Eze- 
 kiel Cheever of New Haven. Ezekiel Cheever was one of those 
 who signed the " fundamental agreement" in 1639. He was the 
 New Haven school-master, till about the year 1650, when he removed 
 to Massachusetts. His son, Samuel Cheever, was minister at Mar- 
 blehead, where he died 1724, aged 85. 
 
 Compensantius [Recompense] Osborn, of the class of 1661, was 
 probably the son of Thomas Osborn, one of the original New Ha- 
 ven planters. The son taught a school in New Haven the year af- 
 ter he graduated. Thomas Osborn and this son removed to East 
 Hampton, Long Inland. 
 
 Samuel Street of the class of 1664 was son of the Rev. Nicholas 
 Street, teacher of the church of New Haven. Samuel Street was 
 minister at Wallingford. 
 
 John Harriman, who was graduated 1667, was the son of John 
 Harriman of New Haven. He taught for several years the Hopkins 
 Grammar School in New Haven, and was the first minister of Eliz- 
 abethtown, New Jersey. 
 
 John Davenport, of the class of 1687, was a grandson of John 
 Davenport of New Haven. His father's name was John, and he was 
 born about the time the family removed to Boston. He taught in 
 the Grammar School in New Haven several years after his gradua- 
 tion, and was minister at Stamford. 
 
 Samuel Mansfield, who was graduated at Harvard College in 1690, 
 was son of Moses Mansfield of New Haven. He taught in the 
 Hopkins Grammar School several years, and then went into the West 
 India trade. He died in 1701. 
 
 Joseph Moss, a graduate of Harvard, 1699, was grandson of John 
 Moss, one of the first planters of New Haven. Joseph Moss was 
 likewise an instructor in the Grammar School, and afterwards min- 
 ister of Derby. No clergyman in his time had a higher reputation 
 in Connecticut, than Mr. Moss. 
 
 Of the graduates of Harvard College, from its foundation to the 
 year 1700, as many as one in thirty, at least, were from the town of 
 New Haven. When it is considered, that so late as the year 1700, 
 the number of inhabitants in New Haven, could have very little, if 
 at all, exceeded five hundred, this fact deserves notice. The expla- 
 nation is found in the exertions of Mr. Davenport, which continued 
 
94 
 
 to produce their effect long after his death. Indeed, his influence in 
 favor of liberal education has never ceased ; but commencing in the 
 infancy of the colony, has with the progress of time, and the increase 
 of population, been more and more strengthened, and more widely 
 diffused. 
 
 In confirmation of the statement on page 43, as to the extent to 
 which common schoool education has been carried in Connecticut, I 
 would add, that a gentleman, who for half a century, has been as ex- 
 tensively conversant in the courts of the State, and in the business of 
 public offices, as any other, lately informed me, that he had never 
 met in the course of his business, with a native of Connecticut, who 
 could not read ; and with but two, who could not write. The late 
 Judge Reeve of Litchfield, after forty years' experience in the courts 
 of Connecticut, remarked, that in his business, he had met with three 
 natives of the State who could not write ; but with no one who could 
 not read. 
 
 Note I. 
 
 As at the time of the planting of the Connecticut and New Haven 
 colonies, all were in religious profession, congregational ists; there 
 was no reference in the laws for the support of ministers, to those 
 who should dissent from the common faith. When the commission- 
 ers of Charles II., visited Connecticut in 16G5, they say in their nar- 
 rative, that the colony of Connecticut " will not hinder any from en- 
 joying the sacraments and using the common prayer book, provided 
 that they hinder not the maintenance of the public minister."* 
 They could not mean by this, that there was any direct provision in 
 the laws of Connecticut, at that time, to this effect; but the commis- 
 sioners were probably assured, that, whenever any in the. colony 
 should desire to adopt in their worship, the ritual of the English 
 church, they would not be disturbed ; and that the laws would be 
 changed in conformity with such a new state of things. There was 
 no Episcopal church erected in Connecticut till about the year 1723, 
 in Stratford ; though divine service had been occasionally performed, 
 according to the forms of the Church of England, in the same town, 
 for several years before. 
 
 In 1727 it was enacted, that " if it so happen, that there be a soci- 
 ety of the church of England, where there is a person in orders ao 
 
 K Hutch. Coll. 412. 
 
95 
 
 cording to the canons of the church of England, settled and abi- 
 ding among them, and performing divine service, so near to any per- 
 son that hath declared himself of the church of England, that he 
 can conveniently, and doth attend the public worship there," what- 
 ever tax he shall pay for the support of religion shall be delivered " unto 
 the minister of the church of England," etc. Those who conformed 
 to the church of England were at the same time authorized to tax 
 themselves for the support of their clergy, and were "excused from 
 paying any taxes for building meeting houses," etc. In 1729, the Qua- 
 kers, a very few of which sect lived on the borders of Rhode Island, 
 were exempted, on certain conditions, from paying taxes for the sup- 
 port of the congregational ministers, and for building meeting hous- 
 es ; and the same year, the Baptists, who had two small congrega- 
 tions in the county of New London, received the same indulgence. 
 At this time there were in Connecticut, but two or three congrega- 
 tions of Episcopalians, and two of Baptists, all of which were small, 
 and no congregation of Quakers. All the liberty was granted them, 
 which, it was supposed they needed, or which was thought consistent 
 with the legal support of the congregational clergy. That this relax- 
 ation in the laws should have been made, so soon after their dissent 
 assumed a regular form, and probably on their first application to the 
 legislature for relief, has not been a very common occurrence in re- 
 ligious establishments ; and is proof that there prevailed in Connecti- 
 cut at the time, no disposition to persecute or oppress the new sects. 
 It is true, that the Episcopal missionaries complained, that they were 
 not in every case very cordially received ; and that the Congrega- 
 tional ministers warned the people against attending on their minis- 
 trations ; all which is without doubt true. That these ministers did not 
 show on all occasions the meekness, which became them; that they 
 did not take the missionaries by the hand, and aid them in their la- 
 bors ; that laymen, from over-heated zeal, were sometimes chargea- 
 ble with indiscretions, especially as the missionaries themselves did 
 not always use the most guarded language, can be admitted on slight 
 proof. But the real sense of the community, on this subject, is not 
 to be collected from the proceedings of individuals, acting under 
 strong excitement, or misapprehension, but from the laws; and these 
 as generally executed. 
 
 What the Congregational ministers and churches most complained 
 of, was, that New England was represented in the parent country, 
 as destitute to a great extent of religious instruction ; whereas they 
 
96 
 
 maintained, that no part of the empire was better supplied with com- 
 petent religious teachers. They affirmed, that from the first settle- 
 ment of the country, the greatest efforts had been made to secure a 
 well informed clergy ; and that what the king's commissioners report- 
 ed in 16C5, that, in Connecticut, the people had " a scholar to their 
 minister in every town or village," was, in far the greater part of 
 New England, still true. That a clergy more devoted to their proper 
 duties, was any where to be found, they were slow to admit. 
 
 A source of ill feeling, on both sides, existed in the difficulty, 
 which sometimes occurred, in collecting ecclesiastical taxes. A 
 meeting house was to be built, or other unusual expense was incur- 
 red by a Congregational society ; and some, who were opposed to the 
 proceeding, would declare themselves Episcopalians or Baptists ; 
 and claim, that they ought to be exempted from paying the new tax. 
 On the other hand, it was maintained, that these dissidents should 
 pay all dues to the time of their conversion to the new faith. The 
 Episcopalian would plead unwillingness, and the Baptist conscience; 
 but the money was collected according to law, and this was called 
 persecution. It is from cases of this kind, which were never very 
 numerous, that reports of religious oppression in Connecticut have 
 arisen. The law of 1727 was modified by several successive acts of 
 the legislature ; every change being intended to make a separation 
 from the Congregational churches more easy to those, who wished 
 to leave them. 
 
 These dissensions, if they may be called such, affected but a 
 small part of the community ; and were of short continuance in 
 any one place. The congregational and episcopal clergy, from the 
 first, often maintained a familiar intercourse with each other, and 
 showed on various occasions, a mutual respect. A large portion of 
 the state knew little or nothing of any controversy of different sects. 
 At the beginning of the revolution, the baptists had but few congre- 
 gations, and those mostly in one county. The episcopal churches 
 were chiefly in the counties of Fairfield and New Haven. All who 
 had separated from the congregationalists, were, at that time, but a 
 small fraction of the whole population. 
 
 When the subject of dissent first assumed any practical import- 
 ance in Connecticut, there were two opinions entertained as to the 
 true course to be adopted. Some were for supporting a proper eccle- 
 siastical establishment. They did not object to the establishment in 
 England ; and, as all there paid for the support of the national 
 
97 
 
 church, but dissenters were allowed a free toleration ; so here, they 
 urged that all should be taxed for the maintenance of the congre- 
 gational clergy; but that whenever any dissented from the common 
 faith, they should be allowed to worship as they pleased. But the 
 number of those who adopted this opinion was always small. A great 
 majority held from the first, that all should be taxed for the main- 
 tenance of religious worship, but that each individual should control 
 the application of his own money. Whatever difficulties occurred, 
 were such as arose from the execution of such a system. 
 
 In the year 1742, at a period of great religious agitation, laws 
 were enacted, which bore with severity upon a part of the congrega- 
 tional clergy ; but affected not other denominations. These laws 
 continued in force, a few years only. The great body of the con- 
 gregational ministers, without doubt, approved of the laws, which 
 had been passed in favor of dissent ; though individuals considered 
 them as unwise, and threatening the destruction of the congrega- 
 tional system. The feeling of the clergy on the subject of religious 
 liberty, in 1773, was fully expressed at the General Convention at 
 Stamford. In a paper laid before that body, and which appears to 
 have met with their approbation, it is said, " We have, indeed, a reli- 
 gious establishment; but it is of such a kind, and with such universal 
 toleration, that the consciences of other sects cannot be affected or 
 wounded by it, while every one is at perfect liberty to worship God, 
 in such way as is most agreeable to his own mind. Whatever op- 
 pressive measures have been heretofore adopted, we recollect with 
 regret and disapprobation. We rejoice that these have ceased ; and 
 that there is such freedom of religious inquiry and worship, that no 
 man need be in bondage. We desire not the aid of other sects to 
 maintain our churches; and while we stand fast in the constitution 
 we have chosen, and think it in doctrine and discipline most agreea- 
 ble to the scripture, the unerring standard of faith and worship, we 
 would not oppress others, nor be oppressed ourselves, but exercise 
 good will and charity, to our brethren of other denominations, with 
 fervent prayers, that peace and holiness, liberty, truth and purity, 
 may be established more and more among those that name the name 
 of Christ, and be universally diffused among mankind." This, it 
 will be observed, was three years before the declaration of indepen- 
 dence. What is here called an establishment, and which was then 
 one in name only, was, within a few years, abolished ; and from 
 that time, all- sects were nominally as well as really, on an equality 
 
 13 
 
98 
 
 as to legal privileges. Mr. Bancroft, who in his history of the Uni- 
 ted States, has arrived at more just conclusions respecting reli- 
 gious liberty in Connecticut, than any one out of this state, who 
 has preceded him, is full in acquitting this commonwealth of the 
 charge of intolerance.* If this historian had found it consistent 
 with the plan of his work, to enter more into detail on this sub- 
 ject, he could have shown, that his opinions rest on indubitable 
 facts. Douglass remarks in his Summary ,t "I never heard of any 
 persecuting spirit in Connecticut ; in this they are egregiously as- 
 persed. It is true, that a few years since, they made some acts 
 against some frantic preachers and exhorters, called Methodists, in- 
 truding, without consent, into the pulpits of the established minis- 
 ters." Those, whom this writer calls Methodists, were known at 
 the time, by the name of " New Lights." — Of the measures of the 
 legislature referred to, though unnecessarily severe, yet as the times 
 were, a too unqualified condemnation, perhaps, has sometimes been 
 pronounced. Dr. Trumbull, one of the most honest of historians as 
 to facts, has shown in his narrative of the transactions of this period, 
 in the opinion of some, a little of the spirit of a partizan. He took 
 a strong personal interest in some of the events which he narrates; 
 and those, who had an opportunity of conversing with him in his old 
 age, on the topics in question, must have noticed, that he retained 
 in their entire strength, all his youthful impressions. His conjec- 
 tures respecting the transactions of the Guilford Consociation in 
 1741,| are not entirely correct; as appears from the minutes of the 
 proceedings of that body; which Dr. Trumbull could not find, but 
 which have been discovered since. 
 
 No one, it is hoped, will suppose, that in referring to the former 
 ecclesiastical affairs of Connecticut, there has been any other ob- 
 ject in view, than to clear this part of our history from some misap- 
 prehensions. But a much more extended view would be necessary 
 to do this subject full justice. It is an obvious remark, that many of 
 the relations of different sects to each other in former times, have 
 ceased to exist; and that the faults of none, originating in causes, 
 which no longer operate, should be considered the inheritance of the 
 present generation. All have now full opportunity to show the ex- 
 cellencies of their respective systems, unincumbered with the past. 
 
 Hist, of the U. States, Vol. II. 57. t Vol. I. 135. t Vol. II. 165. 
 
90 
 
 Note K. 
 
 At Plymouth, October Gth, 1657, Humphrey Norton, a quaker, 
 was arraigned before the court, and "found guilty of diverse horrid 
 errors, and was sentenced speedily to depart the government."* He 
 was delivered over to the under-marshall, who was " required to ac- 
 company him as far as Asonett, towards Rhode Island." He soon 
 after appeared on Long Island, at Southhold, and for his conduct 
 there, was sent to New Haven for trial. He was brought before the 
 court, March 10th, 1658 ; and being asked, " what call he had to 
 make disturbance at Southhold, going into the meeting-house on the 
 Lord's day, and there speaking in public, witnessing against Mr. 
 Young, the pastor of that church, etc. ; he would give no answer, 
 but desired his charges might be read." — Various charges were then 
 produced, respecting his deportment at Southhold, among which, 
 besides uttering heretical opinions, it was alledged, that " he hath 
 endeavored to vilify, or nullify, the just authority of the magistracy 
 and government here settled," and that " in all these miscarriages 
 he hath endeavored to disturb the peace of this jurisdiction." There 
 seems to have been no difficulty in establishing the truth of the alle- 
 gations. The proceedings are quite characteristic on both sides. 
 When Mr. Davenport, who was summoned as a witness, appeared in 
 court, "the said Humphrey was so unruly with his tongue, making 
 disturbance, as it was much hindrance to Mr. Davenport in speak- 
 ing; and though he was often by the court commanded silence, and 
 to speak in an orderly way, yet he would not attend it, but would go 
 on in a boisterous, bold, manner of speaking, uttering many words 
 full of error and reproach." The spirit, however, was not uniform 
 in its movements; for afterwards " he was told he might have liberty 
 to speak what he had to say, and some questions were propounded 
 unto him, but he would not answer." On the second day of the trial 
 the court "proceeded to sentence," and say, that "they are willing 
 to go in the lowest way the case will bear, so as they may but dis- 
 charge a good conscience towards God with reference to such an 
 offender. But the thing being of such a nature, and carried with 
 such a high hand, both before he came hither, and since also, they 
 can do no less, than order and declare, that he be severely whipped ; 
 
 * Hazard, Vol. II. 552. 
 
100 
 
 and branded on the hand with the letter H, for spreading his heret- 
 ical opinions." He was excluded from the jurisdiction, and forbid- 
 den to return under heavy penalties. He was likewise fined ten 
 pounds, as "the jurisdiction hath been put to much trouble and 
 charge about him." The fine, one third being deducted, was paid 
 in wampum, by a Dutchman from Manhadoes, of the name of Yoss. 
 Norton appeared again at Plymouth, in June of the same year, and 
 was again whipped there. 
 
 A letter from "the government of Rhode Island" — "to the Gen- 
 eral Court of Massachusetts," dated October, 1657, contains senti- 
 ments so correct, and statements, which show so clearly the char- 
 acter of the quakers, who at that time came into New England, that 
 an extract is here given. They say, " Concerning these quakers, so 
 called, which are now among us, we have no law among us, whereby 
 to punish any for only declaring by words, &c, their minds and un- 
 derstandings concerning the things and ways of God, as to salvation 
 and an eternal condition. And we, moreover, find, that in those 
 places, where these people aforesaid, in this colony, are most of all 
 suffered to declare themselves freely, and are only opposed by argu- 
 ments in discourse, there they least of all desire to come ; and we 
 are informed, that they begin to loath this place, for that they are 
 not opposed by the civil authority, but with all patience and meek- 
 ness are suffered to say over their pretended revelations and admo- 
 nitions; nor are they like or able to gain many here to their way. 
 Surely we find that they delight to be persecuted by civil powers ; 
 and when they are so, they are like to gain more adherents by the 
 conceit of their patient sufferings, than by consent to their pernicious 
 sayings. And yet we conceive, that their doctrines tend to very ab- 
 solute cutting down and overturning relations and civil government 
 among men, if generally received."* 
 
 Note L. 
 
 There were several trials in New Haven, while a distinct colony, 
 in which witchcraft was a subject of inquiry indirectly. Thus at a 
 court of magistrates, August 4th, 1053, " Mrs. Elizabeth Godman 
 charged Goodwife Livermore, that one time, when she saw her come 
 in at Goodman WhitnePs, she said, so soon as she saw her, she 
 
 * Hazard. Vol. II. 552.— Hutch. Vol. I. 5'26. 
 
101 
 
 thought of a witch : Goodwife Livermore said, lhat at one time, she 
 had spoken to that purpose, &c." and then undertook to prove, that 
 there was ground for her suspicions. Much ridiculous testimony 
 was introduced. The decision of the court was, that Mrs. Godman's 
 "carriage doth justly render her suspicious of witchcraft, which she 
 herself in so many words confesseth : therefore, the court wisheth her 
 to look to her carriage hereafter ; for if further proof come, these pas- 
 sages will not be forgotten, and therefore gave her charge not to go 
 in an offensive way to folks' houses, in a railing manner, as it seems 
 she hath done; but that she keep her place and meddle with her 
 own business." This, it is believed, is as strong a case of witchcraft 
 as any which ever came before the New Haven courts. 
 
 Dr. Trumbull, in the preface to his History, speaks of " an ob- 
 scure tradition, that one or two persons were executed at Stratford" 
 for witchcraft, but that he could find nothing recorded on the sub- 
 ject. There is in the New Haven records, indirect evidence on 
 the subject, which is thought to be decisive. Roger Ludlow, who 
 had acted a distinguished part in the colony of Connecticut, and 
 had resided for some time in Fairfield, which belonged to that col- 
 ony, in the year 1G54 removed to Virginia. At a court of magis- 
 trates in New Haven, May 29th, of the same year, Thomas Sta- 
 plies brought an action of defamation against Mr. Ludlow for saying, 
 that his (Thomas Staplies's) wife, "had caused Knapp's wife to be 
 new searched, after she was hanged, and when she saw the tcatcs, 
 said, if the\ were the marks of a witch, then she was one, or she had 
 such marks ; secondly, Mr. Ludlow said Knapp's wife told him, that 
 Goodwife Staplies was a witch," etc. Mr. Davenport was an im- 
 portant witness in this case, and testified, " that Mr. Ludlow sitting 
 with him and his wife alone, and discoursing of the passages con- 
 cerning Knapp's wife, the witch, and her execution," etc. A great 
 number of witnesses imply fully in their testimony, that Knapp's wife 
 was condemned and executed as a witch. It is implied also in 
 testirqpny given at the same trial, that there had been an execution 
 of a Goodwife Bassett at Stratford. " Knapp's wife," it is clear, had 
 been tried by jury at Fairfield ; and it is probable, that Goodwife 
 Bassett had her trial at the same place; since Stratford was in Con- 
 necticut, and Fairfield was the place where courts were held. 
 
 Mr. Ludlow is known to have carried with him to Virginia, the re- 
 cords of Fairfield ; and these records were never recovered. This 
 may be one reason of the uncertainty which has existed respecting 
 
102 
 
 the fact of these executions. Dr. Trumbull examined the volume in 
 which this trial for defamation is contained, as he has made extracts 
 from other parts of it. He probably saw, that there was a record of 
 a case of slander; but did not look far enough to ascertain what 
 the slander was. If he had read the record, he would certainly have 
 stated the facts as they there appear. How it happened, that this 
 trial for defamation was in New Haven, is not explained. 
 
 After the union of New Haven with Connecticut, there was one 
 trial for witchcraft ; but the case was referred to the Court of Assis- 
 tants at Hartford, where the accused was acquitted. 
 
 It may not be out of place here to add, that on reviewing the his- 
 tory of witchcraft, as it existed, not in Connecticut only, where prob- 
 ably but two executions occurred, but in other parts of New Eng- 
 land, where the delusion respecting it was much more extensive, and 
 likewise in Virginia, the ground of surprise is not, that so many, but 
 that so few persons were condemned to death for this crime. On the 
 continent of Europe, as well as in England, the number who suffered 
 for witchcraft is vastly greater in proportion, and at a later period, 
 than of those who were executed in the English colonies.* 
 
 Note M. 
 
 It has been said, that the declarations of the puritans in favor of 
 the church of England, were insincere. But there is nothing in the 
 spirit of them, to which, I suppose, the present congregational 
 churches of New England would object, or in the language, so far 
 as it is applicable to present circumstances, which they would refuse 
 to adopt. 
 
 I do not recollect seeing it stated in any of our early histories, 
 that the family of the Rev. Francis Higginson of Salem, removed 
 to New Haven after his death. Mrs. Higginson, his widow, died here 
 early in the year 1G40. Her estate was the first which came before 
 the court of magistrates for settlement, after the planting of trie col- 
 ony. As the court was guided in their decisions in this case, solely 
 by what they were accustomed to call, the " general rules of right- 
 eousness," it may interest some to see a copy of the record. The 
 orthography is not followed. The court was held Feb. 25, 1640. 
 
 * See Scott's Demonology. and Encycl. Anicr. Article Witch. 
 
103 
 
 " Mrs. Higginson, late planter of Quinnipiac, dying without ma- 
 king her will, and leaving behind her eight children, an inventory of 
 her estate being taken, the court disposed of her estate and children 
 as followeth, with consent and approbation of Mr. John Higginson, 
 her eldest son. 
 
 The said John Hiowinson, the charges of his education consid- 
 ered, is only to have his father's books, together with the value of five 
 pounds in bedding for his portion. 
 
 Francis Higginson, the second son, and Timothy, the third son, 
 their education also considered, are to have each of them twenty 
 pounds for their portions. 
 
 Theophilus Higginson, though well educated, yet in regard of his 
 helpfulness to his mother and her estate, is to have forty pounds for 
 his portion. 
 
 Samuel Higginson, is also to have forty pounds for his portion, and 
 to be with Mr. Eaton as his servant, for the full term of two years 
 from the first of March next ensuing. 
 
 Theophilus and Samuel are to have the lot, with all the accommo- 
 dations belonging thereunto, equally to be divided betwixt them, for 
 fifty pounds of their portions. 
 
 Ann Higginson, her daughter, is to have forty pounds for her por- 
 tion, and her mother's old clothes, together with the remainder of the 
 estate, when the debts and other portions are paid. 
 
 Charles Higginson is to have forty pounds to his portion, and to be 
 with Thomas Fugill, as his apprentice, unto the full end and term of 
 nine years, from the first of March next ensuing the date hereof; 
 and the said Thomas Fuo-ill is to find him what is convenient for him 
 as a servant, and to keep him at school one year, or else to advantage 
 him as much in his education as a year's learning comes to ; and he 
 is to have the benefit of the use of his portion till the said term be 
 expired, and at the end thereof, to pay it to the said Charles Hig- 
 ginson, if he live till the said nine years be expired, but if he die be- 
 fore, then the said Thomas Fugill is to pay the said portion to the 
 rest of his brothers, that are alive at the end of said nine years. 
 
 Neophytus Higginson being with Mr. Hough in the Bay of Mas- 
 sachusetts, is to remain with him, and to be brought up by him, till 
 he attain the full age of twenty one years, and in the mean time Mr. 
 Hough is to have forty pounds of the estate, which he is to pay to the 
 said Neophytus, at the end of the said term, as his portion. When 
 the farm at Saugus is sold, it is to be equally divided among the 
 brothers." 
 
104 
 
 Note N. 
 
 Where, and how, the story of the New Haven Blue Latcs, ori- 
 ginated, is a matter of some curiosity. According to Dr. Peters, 
 whose authority as a historian, it is not necessary again to consider, 
 the epithet blue, was applied to the laws of New Haven by the neigh- 
 boring colonies, because these laws were thought peculiarly san- 
 guinary : and he says, that blue is here equivalent to bloody. It is a 
 sufficient refutation of this account of the matter, to say, that if there 
 was any distinction between the colony of New Haven, and the other 
 united colonies of New England, in the severity of their punish- 
 ments, New Haven was the last of the number to gain this bad pre- 
 eminence. Others have said, that certain laws of New Haven, of 
 a more private and domestic kind, were bound in a blue cover; and 
 hence the name. This explanation has as little probability as the 
 preceding, for its support. It is well known, that on the restoration 
 of Charles II., the puritans became the subject of every kind of 
 reproach and contumely. Not only what was deserving of censure 
 in their deportment, but their morality was especially held up to 
 scorn. The epithet blue was applied to any one, who looked with 
 disapprobation on the licentiousness of the times. The presbyte- 
 rians, under which name all dissenters were often included, as 
 they still dared to be the advocates of decency, were more par- 
 ticularly designated by this term ; their religion and their morality 
 being marked by it as mean, and contemptible. Thus Butler, 
 
 " For his religion, it was fit 
 To match his learning and Lis wit ; 
 'Twas Presbyterian true blue." 
 
 Hudib. Cuiil. 1. 
 
 That this epithet of derision should find its way to the colonies 
 was a matter of course. It was here applied not only to persons, 
 but to the customs, institutions, and laws of the puritans, by those 
 who wished to render the prevailing system ridiculous. Hence prob- 
 ably a belief with some, that a distinct system of laws, known as 
 the ' blue laws,' must have had somewhere, a local habitation. It 
 seems that the impression, that these laws had been embodied more 
 especially in New Haven, had become quite common, as early at 
 least as 1 767. In the continuation of Smith's History of New York, 
 
105 
 
 published in the fourth volume of the Collections of the New York 
 Historical Society, the author states, that being in New Haven, he 
 examined the early records of the colony. He subjoins the follow- 
 ing. " A note ought not to be suppressed respecting these records, 
 to correct a voice of misplaced ridicule. Few there are, who speak 
 of the blue laws, (a title, of the origin of which, the author was igno- 
 rant,) who do not imagine they form a code of rules for future con- 
 duct, drawn up by an enthusiastic, precise set of religionists ; and if 
 the inventions of wits, humorists, and buffoons were to be credited, 
 they must consist of many large volumes. The author had the curi- 
 osity to resort to them, when the Commissaries met at New Haven, 
 for adjusting a partition line between New York and the Massachu- 
 setts in 1767 ; and a parchment covered book of demi-royal paper 
 was handed him for the laws asked for, as the only volume in the 
 office passing under this odd title. It contains the memorials of the 
 first establishment of the colony, which consisted of persons, who 
 had wandered beyond the limits of the old charter of the Massachu- 
 setts Bay, and who, as yet unauthorized by the crown to set up any 
 civil government in due form of law, resolved to conduct themselves 
 by the Bible. As a necessary consequence, the judges they chose, 
 took up an authority similar to that, which every religious man exer- 
 cises over his own children and domestics. Hence their attention 
 to the morals of the people, in instances with which the civil magis- 
 trate can never intermeddle, under a regular well-policied institution ; 
 because, to preserve liberty, they are cognizable only by parental 
 authority. The select-man, under the blue laws, found it his duty to 
 punish every contravention to the decorum enjoined by the broad 
 commandments of heaven. The good-men and good-wives of the 
 new society were admonished and fined for liberties daily corrected, 
 but never made criminal by the laws of large and well-poised com- 
 munities ; and so far is the common idea of the blue laws beinsr a 
 collection of rules from being true, that they are only records of con- 
 victions, consonant, in the judgment of the magistrates, to the word 
 of God, and dictates of reason. The prophet, priest, and king of 
 this infant colony, was that Davenport, who was in such consideration 
 as to be sent for to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, in set- 
 tling the religion of the English and Scotch nations. These remarks 
 were, by the author, communicated to Mr. Hutchinson of Boston, 
 then one of the Commissaries, and to other gentlemen of eminence 
 in the colony and of the very town of New Haven, who heard them 
 
 14 
 
106 
 
 Ss novelties; nor would the former adopt them, till he had recourse, 
 the next day, to the records themselves."* 
 
 The volume, examined by Judge Smith and Gov. Hutchinson, was 
 evidently the first volume of the colonial records. The author is 
 correct in saying, that this volume contains no code of laws; and 
 there is nothing corresponding to what are called the blue laws, 
 to be found in any other volume. He might have added, that the 
 decisions of the magistrates to which he refers, though sometimes re- 
 lating to matters of decorum, contain no references to any code of 
 laws, or imply any such regulations as most of those, which Peters 
 reports as the blue laws of New Haven. No proceedings before the 
 magistrates, it is believed, are recorded, which imply, that the dress 
 of the inhabitants was, in any degree, a matter of their cognizance; 
 much less that such rules were enforced, as many of those mentioned 
 by Peters. This author affirms, that among the blue laws, never suf- 
 fered to be printed, were such laws as these, — "no one shall travel, 
 cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair, or shave, on the sab- 
 bath day." " No woman shall kiss her child on the sabbath or fasting 
 
 * Judge Smith saw in the colony records, accounts of the efforts made by 
 Mr. Davenport to establish a college in New Haven, and supposes errone- 
 ously that Yale College had this early origin. This mistake is the more re- 
 markable, as the author himself was educated at Yale College, where? he 
 received his Bachelor's degree in 1745. " It was from this seminary," [Yale 
 College] he adds, truly, " that many of the western churches in New York and 
 New Jersey, were afterwards furnished with their English clergymen. Mr. 
 Smith, who was a tutor, and declined the Rector's chair of Yale College, va- 
 cant by the removal of Dr. Cutler, was the first lay character of it belonging 
 to the colony of New York. Their numbers multiplied some years after- 
 wards, and, especially, when at his instance, Mr. Philip Livingston, the 
 second proprietor of the manor of that name, encouraged that academy, by 
 sending several of his sons to it for their education. To the disgrace of our 
 first planters, who beyond comparison surpassed their eastern neighbors in 
 opulence, Mr. Delancey, a graduate of the University of Cambridge, and 
 Mr. Smith, were, for many years, the only academics in this province, ex- 
 cept such as were in holy orders ; and so late as the period we are now exam- 
 ining, [1746-47] the author did not recollect above thirteen more." Of these 
 thirteen, whose names are given by the author, twelve were graduated at 
 Yale College. The William Smith mentioned above, who was a tutor of the 
 college, was graduated 1719, and was the father of the author, Chief Justice 
 Smith. That Mr. Smith was offered the Rector's chair, as above stated, 
 must be received on such authority, as true ; but the offer was probably 
 made in an informal way, as the fact does not appear on the college records. 
 
107 
 
 day." " No one shall read Common Prayer, keep Christmas, or 
 Saints' days, make mince pies, dance, play cards, or play on any in- 
 strument of music, except the drum, trumpet and jews-harp." ' Ev- 
 ery male shall have his hair cut round according to a cap :" and 
 many others like these, of which there is no trace, it is believed, on 
 the records ; unless perhaps, playing cards would have come under 
 censure. 
 
 Peters places to the account of New Haven, laws of other juris- 
 dictions, but which New Haven knew nothing of. For instance, he 
 says, there was a blue law, that " no priest shall abide in this domin- 
 ion ; he shall be banished, and suffer death on his return." There 
 was a law against priests and Jesuits in Massachusetts, and in New 
 York, and they were to suffer death in certain cases; but there was 
 no such law in New Haven. He mentions also a few laws, which 
 may be found substantially, in the New Haven code. Thus, he 
 enumerates among the blue laws, this against lying. " Whoever 
 publishes a lie to the prejudice of his neighbor, shall sit in the stocks 
 or be whipped fifteen stripes." The New Haven code, as before 
 stated, contained a law against lying ; but it is not here correctly rep- 
 resented ; though it is a little remarkable, that the author in this in- 
 stance, swerves less from the fact, than perhaps in the case of any 
 other law in his whole list. He must have felt a peculiar horror of 
 this ordinance ; which circumstance probably fixed the terms of it 
 more exactly in his mind. Gov. Hutchinson, in his history of Ma- 
 ssachusetts, and Dr. Belknap, in his history of New Hampshire, enu- 
 merate laws in other colonies, which approach much nearer the 
 character of the code described by Peters, than any thing, which 
 ever was enjoined in the colony of New Haven. 
 
 Hubbard says,* " they," the colonists of New Haven, " were very 
 vigorous in the execution of justice, and especially the punishment 
 of offenders." This account is fully confirmed by the colony records. 
 Their laws were not a dead letter; and the rigid execution of them 
 may have given New Haven very early, the reputation of legislating 
 in minute particulars, beyond what was fact. It is a little singular, 
 that this colony should have had so extensively the name of regu- 
 lating the cut of the hair, and the fashion of the dress of the inhab- 
 itants, when of the United Colonies, it was the only one which ab- 
 stained from all laws of this description. Even the law respecting 
 
 * 323. 
 
108 
 
 tobacco in New Haven, went no farther than to forbid smoking, 
 where buildings might be endangered. 
 
 It may be important here to add, that the New Haven Colonial 
 records, including the records of the General Court, the court of 
 magistrates, town meetings, and the settlement of estates, are nearly 
 or quite entire; and in good preservation. It is most evident, from 
 a very slight inspection of these volumes, that nothing of any impor- 
 tance was transacted in the colony, which was not recorded at the 
 time, and with a detail of particulars, which precludes the possibility 
 of there having been rules of conduct enforced by any public author- 
 ity, which are not there mentioned. 
 
 Note O. 
 
 The evidence of the early existence of the West India trade in 
 New Haven, is found in the records of the settlement of the estates of 
 some of the first planters. Thus, Isaac Allerton, who had been exten- 
 tensively engaged in commerce at Plymouth, continued in the same 
 business at New Haven ; and it appears from the Probate Records, 
 that at the time of his death in 1659, he had business connections, 
 among other places, at Barbadocs. The existence at New Haven 
 of the same trade, though not its amount, may be traced in the 
 Probate Records, from the time of the original colonists, to the es- 
 tablishment of a Custom House ; when the evidence becomes direct. 
 
 Note P. 
 
 According to Hubbard,* the first planters of New Haven, and of 
 the other towns of the colony, were " several seasons sorely afflicted 
 with diseases, especially fevers." He relates, that, some years, " an 
 ao-ue and fever hath been almost universal upon the plantations, yet 
 little mortality; at other times it hath been very mortal in a planta- 
 tion or two, when others, that have had as many sick, have scarcely 
 made one grave." — " At one time or other every plantation, within 
 less than these forty years, hath had its turn of heavy mortality, and 
 some twice or thrice over." He adds, " setting aside the effects of 
 this disease, those places have been generally very healthy, and, that 
 notwithstanding, have been all along, and arc at this day, in a very 
 
 *324. 
 
109 
 
 increasing way ; growing numerous, over-stocked, and ready to look 
 out for new plantations almost every where." 
 
 The early physicians in New Haven seem not to have been men of 
 much eminence in their profession ; at least, the people of the town, 
 had not, apparently, much confidence in their ability. Several at- 
 tempts were made to procure physicians of more knowledge, and of 
 larger experience. " At a General Court for New Haven, the 14th 
 of November, 1651, the Governor acquainted the Court, that there 
 is a physician come to the town ; who, he thinks, is willing to stay 
 here, if he may have encouragement. He is a Frenchman, but hath 
 lived in England, and in Holland, a great while ; and hath good tes- 
 timonials from both places, and from the University of Franeker, 
 where he hath approved himself in his disputations, able in under- 
 standing in that art: and Mr. Davenport saith, he finds in discourse 
 with him, that his abilities answer the testimony given. Now the 
 town may consider what they will do in the case ; for it is not good 
 to neglect such providences of God, when they are offered. The 
 Court after consideration desired the former committee to speak with 
 him, and desire his settling amongst us; and that he may have a 
 house provided ; and encouraged in provisions, and what also is ne- 
 cessary, to the value of ten pounds." On the 17th of the same 
 month, the committee reported, " that they had spoke with the 
 French Doctor, and find his wants so many, that ten pounds will go 
 but a little way, in providing for him." Arrangements were how- 
 ever made for procuring a house for his use, and furnishing it. A 
 house was obtained by the committee, and furniture was loaned by 
 various individuals. Among other reasons for their efforts, this is as- 
 signed, that the doctor " may be of good use, particularly in respect 
 to Mrs. Davenport's case." The 9th of February following, " the 
 magistrates and elders were desired to speak with the doctor, and 
 see, if they cannot settle a more moderate price for his visiting of 
 sick folks, than he hath yet taken." " The doctor," for he seems 
 to have been always so called by way of eminence, was immovable 
 on the point of compensation ; and, on his application, the town vo- 
 ted, in December, 1652, that " he shall have liberty to go, as he sees 
 he hath opportunity." The name of this physician was Chats. A 
 history of the medical profession in New Haven, from the settle- 
 ment of the town, is a desideratum. 
 
no 
 
 Note Q. 
 
 There is nothing on the colony records, which is inconsistent 
 with the fact stated by Hubbard. Gov. Leete appears on all occa- 
 sions, after the arrival of the charter, to have withheld his opinion on 
 the course which it was proper to pursue. At " a meeting of the 
 freemen of New Haven colony at New Haven, November 4th, 1662," 
 Governor Leete desired the assembly " to speak their minds freely, 
 for he designed, that the freemen themselves would give the sub- 
 stance of the answer [to Connecticut] voluntarily." " The gover- 
 nor further said, that for his part, he should not be forward to lead 
 them in this case, lest any should think him ambitious of the place." 
 This extraordinary modesty proceeded in part, without doubt, from 
 his differing in opinion on the point at issue, from the great majority 
 of the meeting. His opinion was, that the two colonies ought to be 
 united under the new charter; and in this he was unquestionably 
 right. The worthy governor seems to have thought it expedient to 
 temporize a little ; but there is no evidence, that he did any thing 
 in violation of truth or integrity. Governor Leete retained fully the 
 confidence of the people. He was continued governor of New Ha- 
 ven till the union. In 1 670, he was elected Deputy Governor of 
 Connecticut; and on the death of Gov. Winthrop in 1676, Gov. 
 Leete was chosen to succeed him ; and was governor of Connecti- 
 cut, by annual election, till his death in 1683. Mather says of him, 
 "in his whole government, he gave continual demonstrations of an 
 excellent spirit, especially in that part of it, when the reconciliation 
 and the coalition of the spirits of the people under it was to be ac- 
 complished."* Dr. Trumbull remarks of Gov. Leete, " In both col- 
 onies, he presided in times of the greatest difficulty, yet always con- 
 ducted himself with such integrity and wisdom, as to meet the pub- 
 lic approbation. "t 
 
 * Magnal. Book II, 30. t Hist, of Connect. Vol. I, Chap. xv. 
 
CELEBRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SECOND CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PLANTING OF NEW HAVEN 
 
 APRIL 25, 1838. 
 
 Arrangements having been made by a joint committee of the 
 Connecticut Academy, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council 
 of the city, and the Select-men of the town of New Haven, for the cel- 
 ebration of this anniversary, at about half past eight o'clock, in the 
 morning, the citizens began to assemble near the southern portico of 
 the State House. Scholars of both sexes, of the several schools of 
 the city, under the superintendence of their respective instructors, 
 were arranged on the public square, from fifteen hundred to two thou- 
 sand in number. The military escort consisted of the Artillery, under 
 the command of Capt. Morris Tyler, and the Greys, under the com- 
 mand of Capt. Elijah Thompson. The procession was formed under 
 the superintendence of Charles Robinson, Esq., Marshall of the day, 
 assisted by several others. From the State House, the procession, 
 comprising the various classes of citizens, and strangers, proceeded 
 to Temple street, up Chapel street to College street, through Col- 
 lege street to its intersection with George street; at which place un- 
 der a spreading oak, Mr. Davenport preached his first sermon just 
 two hundred years before. Here the procession halted, for religious 
 
112 
 
 exercises. Not only the streets were filled, but the roofs of the 
 neighboring houses were partly covered, and some persons had taken 
 their stations in the trees. The number here assembled was vari- 
 ously estimated from four to five thousand. The exercises of this 
 place were commenced by singing four stanzas of the 80th Psalm, 
 in the version of Sternhold and Hopkins. Tune, St. Martins. 
 
 O take us Lord unto thy grace, 
 
 convert our mindes to thee ; 
 Shew forth to us thy joyfull face 
 
 and we full safe shall be. 
 
 From Egypt, where it grew not well, 
 
 thou brought'st a vine full deare; 
 The heathen folke thou didst expell, 
 
 and thou didst plant it there. 
 
 Thou didst prepare for it a place, 
 
 and set her rootes full fast ; 
 That it did grow, and spring apace, 
 
 and fill'd the land at last. 
 
 O Lord of Hoasts through thy good grace, 
 
 convert us unto thee ; 
 Behold us with a pleasant face, 
 
 and then full safe are wee. 
 
 Near the spot where the oak tree is supposed to have stood, a stage 
 was erected, on which the Rev. Frederick W. Hotchkiss, of Saybrook, 
 attended by the Rev. L. Bacon, offered prayer. Mr. Hotchkiss is a 
 native of New Haven. His mother was a direct descendant of Gov. 
 Jones, and thus connected with the family of Gov. Eaton. Mr. 
 Hotchkiss was distinctly heard by the whole assembly, and the prayer 
 was peculiarly appropriate, solemn and impressive. After the reli- 
 gious exercises were closed, the procession was again formed, and 
 moved down George street to State street, up State street to Elm 
 street, up Elm street, by the place where the houses of Gov. Eaton 
 and Mr. Davenport formerly stood, till it reached Temple street, and 
 then down Temple street to the first Congregational Church, where 
 
113 
 
 the society, whose first pastor was Mr. Davenport, worship ; and near 
 which spot, the first house of worship was erected. At church, the 
 following exercises were performed. The music was by a full choir, 
 under the direction of Mr. Ailing Brown. 
 
 1. Hymn. By William T. Bacon, a. b. 
 
 Lo ! we are gathering here 
 Now in the young green year, 
 
 And welcoming 
 Th' days which the ocean o'er 
 Did, to New England's shore, 
 Those noble souls of yore, 
 
 Our fathers, bring. 
 
 Here where now temples rise, 
 Knelt they 'neath these same skies, 
 
 The woods among; 
 And to the murmuring sea, 
 And to the forest free, 
 The home of liberty, 
 
 Echo'd their song. 
 
 Lives not then in our veins — 
 Speak not our battle plains — 
 
 A blood like theirs? 
 Aye ! and from this same sod, 
 Fearing no tyrant's rod, 
 To the same Father, God, 
 
 Ascend our prayers. 
 
 Make theirs, O Goo, our fame; 
 Worthy to bear their name ; 
 
 O may we ever be ; 
 Thus, while each gladsome spring 
 Comes with its blossoming, 
 Loud shall our anthems ring 
 
 For them and thee ! 
 
 15 
 
114 
 
 Theirs was tlie godlike part — 
 Theirs were the hand and heart — 
 
 Trust-tried, though few : 
 Grant that our souls be led, 
 Thinking of our great dead, 
 And by their spirit fed, 
 
 To deeds as true. 
 
 So doth the eaglet, nurs'd 
 High where the thunders burst, 
 
 Gaze with fix'd eye, 
 Till, gain'd its parent's form, 
 With the same instinct warm, 
 It breasts the same loud storm, 
 
 And cleaves the sky. 
 
 2. Reading of Isaiah xxxv. By Rev. Lorenzo T. Bennett, 
 
 Assistant minister of Trinity Church. 
 
 3. Prayer. By Rev. Leonard Bacon, Pastor of the first Con- 
 gregational Church. 
 
 4. Anthem, from Isaiah xxxiv. 17, and xxxv. 1, 2. Words se- 
 lected by Rev. L. Bacon. Music composed by Rev. Prof. Fitch. 
 
 The Lord, He hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath di- 
 vided it unto them by line ; they shall possess it forever. From gen- 
 eration unto generation they shall dwell therein. 
 
 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them ; the 
 desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 
 
 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and sing- 
 ing. The nations they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the ex- 
 cellency of our God. 
 
 5. Historical Discourse. By Prof. Kingsley. 
 
 0. Prayer. By Rev. Edwin E. Griswold, Minister of the Meth- 
 odist Church. 
 
 7. Hymn. By Rev. L. Bacon. 
 
 The Sabbath morn was bright and calm 
 
 Upon the hills, the woods, the sea, 
 When here the prayer and choral psalm, 
 
 First rose, our fathers' God, to thee. 
 
115 
 
 Thou heard'st, well-pleased, the song, the pray'r ; 
 
 Thy blessing came ; and still its power 
 Goes onward, through all time to bear 
 
 The mem'ry of that holy hour. 
 
 What change ! Through pathless woods, no more 
 The fierce and naked savage roams ; 
 
 Sweet praise, along the cultur'd shore, 
 Breaks from a thousand happy homes. 
 
 Law, freedom, truth, and faith in Gon, 
 Came with those exiles o'er the waves ; 
 
 And where their pilgrim feet have trod, 
 The God they trusted guards their graves. 
 
 Here peace, beneath thy wings, and truth 
 And law-girt freedom still shall dwell ; 
 
 And rev'rend age to manly youth 
 His treasured stores of wisdom tell. 
 
 And here thy name, O God of love, 
 Successive thousands shall adore, 
 
 Till these eternal hills remove, 
 
 And spring adorns the earth no more. 
 
 8. Benediction. By. Rev. L. T. Bennett. 
 
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