To the great joy of the People of Boston and Saybrook, Mr. Winthrop was appointed, by the Charter, Governor of all Connecticut. Their joy, however, sprung from different motives: Saybrook hoped for effectual protection from the insults of Hertford and the persecutions of Newhaven; and Boston expected to govern the Governor.
Mr. Winthrop settled at New-London, in the kingdom of Sassacus, or colony of Saybrook, where he purchased lands of the claimants under Lords Say and Brook. Wisdom and moderation guided Mr. Winthrop. He was annually elected Governor till his death, which happened in 1676.
Whether it were owing to the discovery of any defect in the title of the People of Connecticut to the soil, or of any undue arts practised in obtaining their charter, or whether it must be considered as an instance of Charles’s fickle or arbitrary disposition, that Monarch, in the short space of two years after granting that charter, comprized half Connecticut in another grant to his brother, the Duke of York, of the territory between the rivers Connecticut and Delaware, called by the Dutch New-Netherlands. This step excited much discontent in Connecticut, especially when an actual defalcation of its territory was discovered to be in agitation, after Colonel Nichols had succeeded in an enterprise he was sent upon against the Dutch at New-York. Commissioners were sent thither from Connecticut, the latter end of 1664, to defend the interests of the Colony; but, notwithstanding all the opposition they could make, they were constrained to yield up the whole of Long-Island and a strip of land on the east side of Hudson’s river. This dismemberment is not easily to be justified; but, probably, finding it necessary to the performance of a promise he had made the Dutch of the enjoyment of their possessions, Nichols might think himself at liberty of insisting upon it, furnished as he was with almost regal powers as the Duke of York’s deputy. In that capacity, he assumed the government of the conquered territory, but does not appear to have intermeddled further with that of Connecticut.
With Colonel Nichols were associated three other gentlemen, in a commission, empowering them to enquire into the state of the New-England provinces, to hear and redress complaints, settle differences, and check abuses of power: but the ill humour and obstinacy of those of Connecticut and Massachusets-Bay, in a great measure frustrated their endeavours.
By authority of the Charter, the freemen chuse annually, in May, a Governor, a Deputy-Governor, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and 12 Assistants, and, twice a year, two Representatives from each town. These, being met, constitute the General Assembly, which has power to make laws, provided they are not repugnant to the laws of England, and enforce them without the consent of the King.
The General Assembly meets in May and October without summoning. By it the colony has been divided into six counties, viz. Hertford, Newhaven, New-London, Fairfield, Windham, and Litchfield; and these subdivided into 73 townships and 300 parishes.
Each town has two or more justices of peace, who hear and determine, without a jury, all causes under 2l.
Each county has five judges, who try by a jury all causes above 2l.
Five judges preside over the superior court of the province, who hold two sessions in each county every year. To this court are brought appeals from the county courts when the verdict exceeds 10l. appeals from the courts of probate, writs of error, petitions for divorce, &c.
The General Assembly is a court of chancery, where the error or rigour of the judgments of the superior courts are corrected.
The General Assembly, and not the Governor, has the power of life and death.
The courts of probate are managed by a justice of peace appointed by the General Assembly.
Each county has its Sheriff, and each town its constables.
By charter the Governor is Captain-general of the militia. Fourteen Colonels, 14 Lieutenant-Colonels, and 14 Majors, are appointed by the General Assembly. The Captains and Subalterns are elected by the People, and commissioned by the Governor.
The ecclesiastical courts in Connecticut are: 1. The Minister and his Communicants; 2. The Association, which is composed of every minister and deacon in the county; 3. The Consociation, which consists of four ministers and their deacons, chosen from each Association; and always meets in May, at Hertford, with the General Assembly. An appeal from the Consociation will lie before the General Assembly; but the clergy have always been against it, though with less success than they wished.—The General Assembly declared “Sober Dissenters” to be the established religion of the province.
The laws of the colony enacted by the authority of the Charter are decent in comparison with the Blue Laws. They make one thin volume in folio. Yet exceptions may justly be made to many of them—equal liberty is not given to all parties—taxes are unfairly laid—the poor are oppressed.—One law is intolerable, viz. When a trespass is committed in the night, the injured person may recover damages of any-one he shall think proper to accuse, unless the accused can prove an alibi, or will clear himself by an oath; which oath, nevertheless, it is at the option of the justice either to administer or refuse. Queen Ann repealed the cruel laws respecting Quakers, Ranters, and Adamites; but the General Assembly, notwithstanding, continued the same in their law-book, maintaining that a law made in Connecticut could not be repealed by any authority but their own. It is a ruled case with them that no law or statute of England be in force in Connecticut till formally passed by the General Assembly and recorded by the Secretary.[25] Above 30 years ago, a negro castrated his master’s son, and was brought to trial for it before the Superior Court at Hertford. The Court could find no law to punish the negro. The lawyers quoted the English statute against maiming; the Court were of opinion that statute did not reach this colony, because it had not been passed in the General Assembly; and therefore were about to remand the negro to prison till the General Assembly should meet. But an ex-post-facto law was objected to as an infringement upon civil liberty. At length, however, the Court were released from their difficulty by having recourse to the vote of the first settlers at Newhaven, viz. That the Bible should be their law till they could make others more suitable to their circumstances. The court were of opinion that vote was in full force, as it had not been revoked; and thereupon tried the negro upon the Jewish law, viz. Eye for Eye, and Tooth for Tooth. He suffered accordingly.
The idea fostered by the colony of independence on Great Britain was not, as might be imagined, destroyed by the royal charter, but, on the contrary, was renewed and invigorated by it. Indeed, the charter is as much in favour of Connecticut, and unfavourable to England, as if it had been drawn up in Boston or Newhaven. Had it been granted jointly by the King, Lords, and Commons, and not by the King solus, no one could dispute the independence of Connecticut on England, any more than they could that of Holland on Spain. The people at large did not discriminate between an act of the King solus and an act of the King, Lords, and Commons, conjointly; and, to prevent any-one from shewing the difference, the General Assembly made a law that “whoever should attempt to destroy the constitution of this Colony as by charter established, should suffer death.” The power of a British King was held up by them much higher than the constitution allowed. The King had authority, they said, to form palatinate states without consent of Parliament. Accustomed to doctrines of this tendency, the multitude concluded the General Assembly of Connecticut to be equal to the British Parliament.
Notions of this kind did not prevail in Connecticut alone; Massachusets-Bay still more abounded with them, and Rhode Island was not uninfected. What was the consequence? Complaints against those governments poured into the British court. A reformation, therefore, became indispensable in New-England, and was begun by a disfranchisement of the Massachusets province. The death of Charles II. put a temporary stop to proceedings against the other colonies; but James II. soon found it expedient to renew them. In July, 1685, the following instances of mal-administration were formally exhibited against the Governor and Company of Connecticut, viz., “They have made laws contrary to the laws of England:—they impose fines upon the inhabitants, and convert them to their own use:—they enforce an oath of fidelity upon the inhabitants without administering the oath of supremacy and allegiance, as in their charter is directed:—they deny to the inhabitants the exercise of the religion of the church of England, arbitrarily fining those who refuse to come to their congregational Assemblies:—his Majesty’s subjects inhabiting there cannot obtain justice in the courts of that colony:—they discourage and exclude the government all gentlemen of known loyalty, and keep it in the hands of the independent party in the colony.” (New-Eng. Ent. vol. II. p. 241.) In consequence of this impeachment, James II. ordered a Quo Warranto to be issued against the Charter of Connecticut. The People perceived the King was in earnest; and their alarm manifested itself in humble sollicitations for favour: but, it being thought adviseable, on several accounts, particularly the extensive progress the French were making in Canada, to appoint one general Governor over New-England, the submissive applications of the Connecticut colonists could no further be regarded than in allowing them their choice, whether to be annexed to New-York or the Massachusets. They preferred the latter; and, accordingly, Sir Edmund Andros having been appointed Captain-general over all New-England, the charter of Connecticut was surrendered to him. It is very remarkable that Mr. Neal, Hutchinson, and other historians of New-England, have artfully passed over in silence this transaction of the surrender of Connecticut Charter to Sir Edmund Andros, the General Governor over New-England. They have represented the magistrates of Connecticut as not having resigned their charter, but by an erroneous construction put on their humble supplication to James II. by the Court of London; whereas the fact is, they resigned it, in propria forma, into the hands of Sir Edmund Andros, at Hertford, in October, 1687, and were annexed to the Massachusets-Bay colony, in preference to New-York, according to royal promise and their own petition.[26] But the very night of the surrender of it, Samuel Wadsworth, of Hertford, with the assistance of a mob, violently broke into the apartments of Sir Edmund, regained, carried off, and hid the charter in the hollow of an elm; and, in 1689, news arriving of an insurrection and overthrow of Andros at Boston, Robert Treat, who had been elected in 1687, was declared by the mob still to be Governor of Connecticut. He daringly summoned his old Assembly, who, being convened, voted the charter to be valid in law, and that it could not be vacated by any power without the consent of the General-Assembly[27] They then voted that Samuel Wadsworth should bring forth the charter; which he did in a solemn procession, attended by the High-sheriff, and delivered it to the Governor. The General Assembly voted their thanks to Wadsworth, and twenty shillings as a reward for stealing and hiding their charter in the elm. Thus Connecticut started from a dependent county into an independent province, in defiance of the authority that had lately been paid such humble submission. None should be surprized to find the People shewing more deference to Abimeleck, King of Mohegin, than to George, King of England; since a vote of men, whose legislative and even corporate capacity had been annihilated, has prevailed, for more than eighty years, over a just exertion of royal prerogative.[28] Nevertheless, this unconstitutional Assembly, whose authority under an assumed charter has been tacitly acknowledged by the British Parliament, have not at all times been unchecked by the Corporation of Yale College. That College, by a charter received from this self-erected Government, was enabled to give Bachelors and Masters degrees; but the Corporation have presumed to give Doctors degrees. When the General Assembly accused them of usurping a privilege not conferred by their charter, they retorted that “to usurp upon a charter was not so bad as to usurp a vacated charter.” The General Assembly were obliged to be content with this answer, as it contained much truth, and came from the clergy, whose ambition and power are not to be trifled with.
Whatever might be the reason of the English Government’s winking at the contempt shewn to their authority by the people of Connecticut, it certainly added to their ingratitude and bias to usurpation. Having been in possession of that country one-hundred and forty years, the General Assembly, though unsupported either by law or justice, resolved to take up and settle their lands west not only of Hudson but Susquehanna river, and extending to the South-Sea. In pursuance of this resolution, they with modesty passed over New-York, and the Jerseys, because they are possessed by Mynheers and fighting christians, and seized on Pensylvania, claimed by Quakers, who fight not for either wife or daughter. They filled up their fathers iniquities, by murdering the Quakers and Indians, and taking possession of their lands; and no doubt, in another century, they will produce deeds of sale from Sunksquaw, Uncas, or some other supposititious Sachem. This is a striking instance of the use I have said the Colony sometimes make of their charter, to countenance and support their adventurous spirit of enterprize. They plead that their charter bounds them on the west by the South-Sea; but they seem to have forgotten that their charter was surreptitiously obtained; and that the clause on which they dwell is rendered nugatory, by the petitioners having described their lands as lying upon Connecticut river, and obtained partly by purchase and partly by conquest. Now, it being a fact beyond all controversy, that they then had not conquered, nor even pretended to have purchased, any lands west of Hudson’s-River, it is evident that their westernmost boundary never did or ought to extend further than to that river. Not that Mr. Pen has any just title to those lands on Susquehanna river which are the bone of contention, and which lie north of his patent: they belong to the assigns of the Plymouth Company, or to the Crown of England.
Republicanism, schisms, and persecutions, have ever prevailed in this Colony.—The religion of “Sober Dissenters” having been established by the General Assembly, each sect claimed the establishment in its favour. The true Independents denied that the Assembly had any further power over Christ’s Church than to protect it. Few Magistrates of any religion are willing to yield their authority to Ecclesiastics; and few disciples of Luther or Calvin are willing to obey either civil or spiritual masters. In a Colony where the people are thus disposed, dominion will be religion, and faction conscience. Hence arose contentions between the Assembly and Independents; and both parties having been brought up under Cromwell, their battles were well fought. The independent Ministers published, from their pulpits, that the Assembly played off one sect against another; and that Civilians were equal enemies to all parties, and acted more for their own interest than the glory of God. Those spiritual warriors, by their Associations, fasting, and prayers, voted themselves the “Sober Dissenters,” and got the better of the General Assembly. Indeed, none disputed their vote with impunity. Whenever a Governor manifested an inclination to govern Christ’s Ministers, Christ’s Ministers were sure to instruct the freemen not to reëlect him. The Magistrates declared that they had rather be under Lords-Bishops than Lords-Associations. A Governor was appointed, who determined to reduce Christ’s Ministers under the Civil Power; and, accordingly, the Assembly sent their Sheriff to bring before them certain leading men among the Ministers, of whom they banished some, silenced others, and fined many, for preaching sedition. The Ministers told the Assembly that curst cows had short horns; and that “they were Priests for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” However, like good christians, they submitted to the sentence of the Assembly; went home, fasted, and prayed, until the Lord pointed out a perfect cure for all their sufferings. On the day of election, they told the freemen that the Lord’s cause required a man of Grace to stand at the head of the Colony, and with sure confidence recommended the Moderator of the Association to be their Governor; and the Moderator was chosen. This event greatly inflamed the lay-magistrates, who were further mortified to see Ministers among the Representatives; whereupon they cried out, “This is a presbyterian popedom.” Now Magistrates joined with other Churches which they had long persecuted; and the Connecticut Vine was rent more and more every day. The Ministers kept the power, but not always the office, of the Governor, whilst the weaker party paid the cost. One party was called Old Light, the other New Light: both aimed at power under pretence of religion; which-ever got the power, the other was persecuted. By this happy quarrel, the various sectarians were freed from their persecutions; because each contending party courted their votes and interest, to help to pull down its adversary. This has been the religious-political free system and practice of Connecticut since 1662.
In speaking of the religious phrenzies and persecutions in Connecticut under the sanction of the charter, I must notice the words of an eminent Quaker, who, as a blasphemer, had been whipped, branded, burnt in the tongue, set on the gallows, banished, and, upon return, sentenced to be hanged. “Dost thee not think,” said he to his Judges, “that the Jews, who crucified the Saviour of the World, had a Charter?”
Many have been the disputes between Connecticut and the neighbouring Colonies concerning their several boundaries, and much blood has been spilt on those occasions. On the north and east, where lie the Massachusets and Rhode-Island, Connecticut has, in some degree, been the gainer; but has lost considerably on the west and south, to the engendering violent animosity against the loyal New-Yorkers, to whom it will probably prove fatal in the end. The detail is briefly as follows:
The Dutch settlers on New-York Island, Hudson’s river, and the west end of Long Island, being subdued by Colonel Nichols in September, 1664, the royal Commissioners, after hearing the Deputies from Connecticut in support of the charter granted to that province against the Duke of York’s patent, ordered, in December following, that Long-Island should be annexed to the government of New-York, and that the West boundary of Connecticut should be a line drawn from the mouth of Mamaroneck river north-north-west to the line of the Massachusets. This settlement, although it infringed their charter, was peaceably acquiesced in by the people of Connecticut; and not complained of by those of New-York till 1683, when they set up a claim founded upon a Dutch grant, said to be made in 1621, of all the lands from Cape Cod to Cape Henlopen. In furtherance of their pretensions, they had recourse to invasion and slander. Of the latter Mr. Smith has given a specimen in his History of New-York, where he says that the agreement in 1664 “was founded in ignorance and fraud;” because, forsooth, “a north-north-west line from Mamaroneck would soon intersect Hudson’s river!” Could any one of common-sense suppose the Dutch on the banks of Hudson’s river, who no doubt were consulted upon the occasion, less acquainted with the course of it, than persons residing on the banks of the Connecticut? Extraordinarily absurd as such an insinuation might be, the people of Connecticut were aware of its probable weight with the Duke of York, whose patent grasped half their country; and therefore, knowing by whom a contest must be decided, they consented to give up twenty miles of their land east of Hudson’s river, hoping that would content a company of time-serving Jacobites and artful Dutchmen. But neither were they nor their Patron satisfied; and the agreement was suspended till 1700, when it was confirmed by William III. About twenty years afterwards, however, the New-Yorkers thought the times favourable to further encroachments; and at length, in 1731, they gained 60,000 acres more, called the Oblong, from Connecticut, purely because they had Dutch consciences, and for once reported in England what was true, that the New-England colonists hated Kings, whether natives or foreigners. Mr. Smith, indeed, p. 238, says, referring to Douglas’s[29] Plan of the British Dominions of New-England in support of his assertion, that “Connecticut ceeded these 60,000 acres to New-York, as an equivalent for lands near the Sound surrendered to Connecticut, by New-York.” Mr. Smith, and all the New-York cabal, know, that there never were any lands in the possession of the New-Yorkers surrendered to Connecticut: on the contrary, Connecticut was forced, by the partiality of sovereigns, to give up, not only Long-Island and the above-mentioned twenty miles east of Hudson’s river, but also the Oblong, without any equivalent. How New-York could surrender lands and tenements which they never had any right to or possession of, is only to be explained thus: whereas the people of New-York did not extend their eastern boundary to Connecticut river, they therefore surrendered to Connecticut what they never had; which is like a highwayman’s saying to a Gentleman, Give me ten guineas, and I will surrender to you your watch in your pocket.
Thus by degrees has Connecticut lost a tract of land sixty miles in length and above twenty in breadth, together with the whole of Long-Island; and this in the first place by a stretch of royal prerogative, and afterwards by the chicanery of their competitors, who have broken through all agreements as often as a temporising conduct seemed to promise them success. Whenever, therefore, a favourable opportunity presents itself, it is probable, that Messrs. Smith and Livingston, and other pateroons in New-York, will find the last determination also to have been “founded in ignorance and fraud,” and will be pushing their claim to all the lands west of Connecticut river; but the opportunity must be favourable indeed, that allows them to encroach one foot farther with impunity.
Another stroke the people of Connecticut received about 1753 has sorely galled them ever since, and contributed not a little to their thirst of revenge. The Governor of New-York was then appointed “Captain-General and Commander in Chief of the militia, and all the forces by sea and land, within the Colony of Connecticut, and of all the forts and places of strength within the same.” This violation of the Charter of Connecticut by George II. was very extraordinary, as the reins of Government were then in the hands of protestant dissenters, whose supposed veneration for the House of Hanover operated so powerfully, that the American protestant dissenting ministers were allowed to be installed teachers, and to hold synods, without taking the oath of allegiance to the English King, at the same time that papists, and even members of the Church of England, were not excused that obligation. The aggravating appointment above mentioned added no celebrity to the name of George II. in New-England; nor, however excusable it may appear in the eyes of those who with me question the colonial pretensions of the people of Connecticut, was it, upon the ground they have been allowed to stand by the English government, justifiable in point of right, nor yet in point of policy, were the true character of the New-Yorkers fully known. This argument may be used on more occasions than the present.
But Connecticut hath not been the only sufferer from the restless ambition of New-York. Twenty miles depth of land belonging to the Massachusets and Newhampshire provinces, which formerly claimed to Hudson’s river, were cut off by the line that deprived Connecticut of the same proportion of its western territory. With this acquisition, surely, the New-Yorkers might have been content; but very lately their wisdom, if not their “fraud,” has prevailed over the “ignorance” of Newhampshire; which has sustained another amputation of its territory, eighty miles in width and two hundred miles in length; viz. all the land between the above-mentioned twenty-mile line and Connecticut river. The particulars of this transaction are interesting. Benning Wentworth, Esq. Governor of Newhampshire, by order of his present Majesty, divided, in 1762, the vast tract of land just mentioned into about 360 townships, six miles square each. These townships he granted to proprietors belonging to the four provinces of New-England, one township to sixty proprietors; and took his fees for the same, according to royal appointment. Every township was, in twelve years time, to have sixty families residing in it. In 1769 there were settled on this piece of land 30,000 souls, at a very great expence; and many townships contained 100 families. The New-Yorkers found means to deceive the King, and obtained a decree that the East boundary of New-York, after passing Connecticut and Massachusets-Bay, should be Connecticut river.[30] This decree annexed to the jurisdiction of New-York the said 360 townships; but was quietly submitted to by the proprietors, since it was his Majesty’s will to put them under the jurisdiction of New-York, tho’ they found themselves 150 miles farther from their new capital New-York, than they were from Portsmouth, their old one. Had the New-Yorkers rested satisfied with the jurisdiction, which alone the King had given them, they might have enjoyed their acquisition in peace; and New-England would have thought they had possessed some justice, though destitute of religious zeal. But the Governor and General Assembly of New-York, finding their interest in Old-England stronger than the interest of the New-Englanders, determined at once, that, as the King had given them jurisdiction over those 360 townships, he had also given them the lands in fee simple. Sir Henry More, the Governor, therefore, in 1767, began the laudable work of regranting those townships to such people as lived in New-York, and were willing to pay him 600l. York currency for his valuable name to each patent. It is remarkable that Sir Harry made every lawyer in the whole province a patentee; but totally forgot the four public lots, viz. that for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, those for the church, the first clergyman, and school in each township, which had been reserved in Governor Wentworth’s grants. Death stopped his career; but Colden, the Lieutenant-Governor, filled up the measure of his iniquity, by granting all the rest on the same conditions. Sir Henry More had taken care to grant to his dear self one township, settled with above 80 families, before he died. Colden did the same for himself. The virtuous William Smith, Esq. of New York, had a township also; and Sir Henry More left him his executor to drive off the New-England settlers. This, however, he attempted in vain. The polite New-Yorkers, having the jurisdiction, betook themselves to law, to get possession of the lands in question, which they called their own; and sent the posse of Albany to eject the possessors; but this mighty power was answered by Ethan Allen, and the old proprietors under Governor Wentworth, who was a King’s Governor as well as Sir Henry More:—the Mynheers of Albany were glad to have liberty to return home alive.—See here the origin of Ethan Allen!—of the Verdmonts, and the Robbers of the Green Mountains; a compliment paid by the New-Yorkers to the settlers under Governor Wentworth;—who, on that amiable gentleman’s death, had no friend of note left in England, and were therefore under the necessity of defending themselves, or becoming tenants to a set of people who neither feared God nor honoured the King, but when they got something by it.—The New-Yorkers had the grace, after this, to outlaw Ethan Allen, which rendered him of consequence in New-England; and it would not surprise me to hear that New-York, Albany, and all that the Dutchmen possess in houses east of Hudson’s River, were consumed by fire, and the inhabitants sent to Heaven, in the style of Dr. Mather, by the way of Amsterdam. I must do the New-Englanders the justice to say, that, though they esteem not highly Kings or Lords, yet they never complained against his Majesty for what was done respecting Verdmont; on the contrary, they ever said the King would reverse the obnoxious decree, whenever he should be acquainted with the truth of the case, which the New-Yorkers artfully concealed from his knowledge.
There are in the four New-England provinces near 800,000 souls, and very few unconnected with the settlements on Verdmont; the property of which was duly vested in them by Wentworth, the King’s Governor, whose predecessors and himself had jurisdiction over it also for 106 years. They say, what is very legal and just, that his Majesty had a right to annex Verdmont to the government of New-York, but could not give the fee of the land, because he had before given it to the New-Englanders. It appears very unlikely that those hardy sons of Oliver will ever give up Verdmont to the New-Yorkers by the order of Sir Henry More, or any other Governor, till compelled by the point of the sword. The Mynheers have more to fear than the New-Englanders, who will never yield to Dutch virtue. Van Tromp was brave; Oliver was brave and successful too.
Mather, Neal, and Hutchinson, represent religion to have been the cause of the first settlement of New-England; and the love of gold as the stimulus of the Spaniards in settling their colonies in the southern parts of America; but, if we should credit the Spanish historians, we must believe that their countrymen were as much influenced by religion in their colonial pursuits as were our own. However, in general, it may be said, that the conduct of both parties towards the aborigines discovered no principles but what were disgraceful to human nature. Murder, plunder, and outrage, were the means made use of to convert the benighted savages of the wilderness to the system of Him “who went about doing good.” If we may depend on Abbé Nicolle, the Spaniards killed of the Aytis, or the savage nations, in the Island of Hispaniola, 3,000,000 in seventeen years; 600,000 in Porto Rico, and twenty times these numbers on the continent of South-America, in order to propagate the Gospel in a savage and howling wilderness! The English colonists have been as industrious in spreading the Gospel in the howling wilderness of North-America. Upwards of 180,000 Indians, at least, have been slaughtered in Massachusets-Bay and Connecticut,[31] to make way for the protestant religion; and, upon a moderate computation for the rest of the colonies, on the continent and West-India Islands, I think one may venture to assert, that nearly 2,000,000 savages have been dismissed from an unpleasant world to the world of spirits, for the honour of the protestant religion and English liberty. Nevertheless, having travelled over most parts of British America, I am able to declare, with great sincerity, that this mode of converting the native Indians is godlike in comparison with that adopted by the Africans.
These miserable people are first kidnapped, and then put under saws, harrows, and axes of iron, and forced through the brick-kiln to Molock.
Nearly half a million of them are doomed to hug their misery in ignorance, nakedness, and hunger, among their master’s upper servants in Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. The number of these wretches upon the Continent and Islands is scarce credible; about 100,000 in Jamaica alone; all toiling for the tyrant’s pleasure; none seeking other happiness, than to be screened from the torture rendered necessary by that curious American maxim, that men must be willing to die before they are fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. However, what Mussleman, African, or American, would not prefer the state of a christian master, who dreads death above all things, to the state of those christian converts? Christianity has been cursed, through the insincerity of its professors; even savages despise its precepts, because they have no influence on christians themselves. Whatever religious pretensions the Spanish, French, or English may plead for depopulating and repeopling America, it is pretty clear that the desire of gold and dominion was no impotent instigation with them to seek the western continent. The British leaders in the scheme of emigration had felt the humiliating effects of the feudal system; particularly the partial distributions of fortunes and honour among children of the same venter in the Mother Country. They had seen that this inequality produced insolence and oppression, which awakened the sentiments of independence and liberty, the instinct of every man. Nature then kindled war against the oppressors, and the oppressors appealed to prescription. The event was, infelicity began her reign. Both parties invoked religion, but prostrated themselves before the insidious shrine of Superstition, the life of civil government, and the sinews of war; that expiates crimes by prayers, uses ceremonies for good works, esteems devotion more than virtue, supports religion without probity, values honesty less than honour, generates happiness without morality, and is a glorious helmet to the ambitious.
They enlisted vassals with her bounty to fight, burn, and destroy one another, for the sake of religion. Behold the sequel! The vassals seemed more to themselves than the Egyptian masters and laws, both in the elder and younger brothers; yet, after all, Superstition told them they enjoyed liberty and the rights of human nature. Happy deception! The Spartan Magnates, tributary to the Turks, are jealous of their liberties; while the American Cansey, near Lake Superior, enjoy liberty complete without jealousy. Among the latter, the conscious independence of each individual warms his thoughts and guides his actions. He enters the sachemic dome with the same simple freedom as he enters the wigwam of his brother: neither dazzled at the splendour nor awed by the power of the possessor. Here is liberty in perfection! What christian would wish to travel 4000 miles to rob an unoffending savage of what he holds by the law of Nature? That is not the God or Dominion that any christian ever sought for. The first settlers of America had views very different from those of making it a christian country; their grand aim was to get free from the insolence of their elder brethren, and to aggrandise themselves in a new world at the expense of the life, liberty, and property of the savages. Had the invaders of New-England sown the seeds of christian benevolence, even after they had eradicated the savages and savage virtues, the world would not have reproached them for cherishing that all-grasping spirit to themselves, which in others had driven them from their parent country. But the feudal system, which they considered an abominable vice in England, became a shining virtue on the other side of the Atlantic, and would have prevailed there, had the people been as blind and tame in worldly as they were in spiritual concerns. But they had too long heard their leaders declaim against the monopoly of lands and titles, not to discover that they themselves were men, and entitled to the rights of that race of beings; and they proceeded upon the same maxims which they found also among the Indians, viz. that mankind are by nature upon an equality in point of rank and possession; that it is incompatible with freedom for any particular descriptions of men systematically to monopolise honours and property, to the exclusion of the rest; that it was a part despicable and unworthy of one freeman to stoop to the will and caprice of another on account of his wealth and titles, accruing not from his own, but from the heroism and virtue of his ancestors, &c., &c.
The vox populi established these maxims in New-England; and whoever did not, at least outwardly, conform to them, were not chosen into office. Nay, though not objectionable on that score, men very seldom met with reappointments, lest they should claim them by hereditary right. Thus, the levelling principle prevailing, equals were respected and superiors derided. Europeans, whose manners were haughty to inferiors and fawning to superiors, were neither loved nor esteemed. Hence an English traveller through Connecticut meets with supercilious treatment at taverns, as being too much addicted to the use of the imperative mood when speaking to the landlord. The answer is, “Command your own servants, and not me.” The traveller is not obeyed, which provokes him to some expressions, that are not legal in the Colony, about the impertinence of the landlord, who being commonly a Justice of the Peace, the delinquent is immediately ordered into custody, fined, and put in the stocks. However, after paying costs, and promising to behave well in future, he passes on with more attention to his “unruly member” than to his pleasures. Nevertheless, if a traveller softens his tone, and avoids the imperative mood, he will find every civility from those very people, whose natural temper are full of antipathy against all who affect superiority over them. This principle is, by long custom, blended with the religious doctrines of the province; and the people believe those to be heretics and Americans who assent not to their supremacy. Hence they consider the kingly Governors as the short-horns of Antichrist, and every Colony in a state of persecution which cannot choose its own Governor and magistrates.
Their aversion to New-York is inconceiveably great upon this account, as well as others I have mentioned. Their jealousies and fears of coming under its jurisdiction make them heroes in the cause of liberty, and great inquisitors into the characters and conduct of kingly Governors. They have selected Mr. Tryon as the only English Governor who has acted with justice and generosity in respect to the rights, liberties, and feelings of mankind, while, they say, avarice, plunder, and oppression have marked the footsteps of all the rest. This character Mr. Tryon possessed, even after he had subdued the regulators in North-Carolina, and was appointed Governor of New-York. Some persons assert, indeed, that he secured the good will of Connecticut by recommending, in England, the Livingstons, Schuylers, and Smiths, as the best subjects in New-York. However, Mr. Tryon was undoubtedly entitled to good report; he was humane and polite; to him the injured had access without a fee; he would hear the poor man’s complaint, though it wanted the aid of a polished lawyer. Besides, Mr. Tryon did not think it beneath him to speak to a peasant in the street, or to stop his coach to give the people an opportunity to let him pass. His object was not to make his fortune, nor did he neglect the interests of the people. He embellished not his language with oaths and curses, nor spent the Sabbath at taverns. ’Tis true, Mr. Tryon went not to meeting; but he was forgiven this offence because he went to church, the people of New-England having so much candour as to believe a man may be a good sort of man if he goes to church, and is exemplary in his words and deeds. I have not the honour of being known to Mr. Tryon, but from what I know of him, I must say, without meaning to offend any other, that he was the best Governor, and the most pleasing gentleman, that I ever saw in a civil capacity in America; and that I cannot name any Briton so well calculated to govern in Connecticut, with ease and safety to himself, as he is. One reason for this assertion is, that Mr. Tryon has a punctilious regard for his word: a quality which, though treachery is the staple commodity of the four New-England provinces, the people greatly admire in a Governor, and which, they say, they have seldom found in royal Governors in America.
Of the share Connecticut has taken, in common with her sister colonies, in co-operating with the Mother Country against her natural enemies, it is superfluous to say anything here, that being already sufficiently known.
I shall therefore proceed to a description of the country, its towns, productions, &c. together with the manners, customs, commerce, &c. of the inhabitants, interspersing such historical and biographical anecdotes as may occur to me in the relation, and having a tendency to elucidate matter of fact or characterize the people.
The dimensions of Connecticut, according to the present allowed extent, are from the Sound on the south to the Massachusets line on the north, about sixty miles; and from Biram River and New-York line, on the west, to Narraganset-Bay, Rhode-Island, and Massachusets-Bay on the east, upon an average about one hundred miles. It is computed to contain 5,000,000 acres.
Many creeks and inlets, bays and rivers, intersect the coast. Three of the last, dividing the colony into as many parts, I shall particularly notice. They all run from north to south.
The eastern river is called the Thames, as far as it is navigable, which is only to Norwich, fourteen miles from its mouth. Then dividing, the greatest branch, called Quinnibaug, rolls rapidly from its source 100 miles distant through many towns and villages, to their great pleasantness and profit. On it are many mills and iron-works, and in it various kinds of fish, but no salmon, for want of proper places to nourish their spawn.
The middle river is named Connecticut, after the great Sachem to whom that part of the province through which it runs belonged. This vast river is five hundred miles long, and four miles wide at its mouth; its channel, or inner banks, in general, half a mile wide. It takes its rise from the White Hills, in the north of New-England, where also springs the river Kennebec. About five hundred rivulets, which issue from lakes, ponds, and drowned lands, fall into it; many of them are larger than the Thames at London. In March, when the rains and sun melt the snow and ice, each stream is overcharged, and kindly hastens to this great river, to overflow, fertilize, and preserve its trembling meadows. They lift enormous cakes of ice, bursting from their frozen beds, with threatening intentions of ploughing up the frighted earth, and carry them rapidly down the falls, where they are dashed in pieces and rise in mist. Except at these falls, of which there are five the first sixty miles from its mouth, the river is navigable throughout. In its northern part are three great bendings, called Cohosses, about one hundred miles asunder. Two hundred miles from the Sound is a narrow of five yards only, formed by two shelving mountains of solid rock, whose tops intercept the clouds. Through this chasm are compelled to pass all the waters which, in the time of the floods, bury the northern country.
At the upper Cohos the river spreads twenty-four miles wide. For five or six weeks ships of war might sail over the lands that afterward produce the greatest crops of hay and grain in all America. People who can bear the sight, the groans, the tremblings, and surly motion of water, trees, and ice, through this awful passage, view with astonishment one of the greatest phenomenons in Nature. Here, water consolidated without frost, by pressure, by swiftness, between the pinching, sturdy rocks, to such a degree of induration that an iron crow cannot be forced into it; 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. The passage is about four hundred yards in length, and of a zigzag form, with obtuse corners.[32]
At high water are carried through this straight masts and other timber with incredible swiftness, and sometimes with safety; but when the water is too low, the masts, timber, and trees, strike on one side or the other, and, though of the largest size, are rent, in one moment, into shivers, and splintered like a broom, to the amazement of spectators. The meadows, for many miles below, are covered with immense quantities of wood thus torn in pieces, which compel the hardiest travellers to reflect, how feeble is man, and how great that Almighty who formed the lightnings, thunders, and the irresistible power and strength of waters!
No living creature was ever known to pass through this narrow, except an Indian woman, who was, in a canoe, attempting to cross the river above it, but carelessly suffered herself to fall within the power of the current. Perceiving her danger, she took a bottle of rum she had with her, and drank the whole of it; then lay down in her canoe, to meet her destiny. She marvellously went through safely, and was taken out of the canoe some miles below, quite intoxicated, by some Englishmen. Being asked how she could be so daringly imprudent as to drink such a quantity of rum with the prospect of instant death before her, the squaw, as well as her condition would let her, replied, “Yes, it was too much rum for once, to be sure; but I was not willing to lose a drop of it: so I drank it, and you see I have saved all.”
Some persons assert that salmon have been caught above this narrow, while others deny it. Many have observed salmon attempt to pass in the time of floods, which certainly is the best and likeliest time, as, from the height of the water, and the shelving of the rocks, the passage is then broader; but they were always thrown back, and generally killed. It is not to be supposed that any fish could pass with the stream alive. Above this narrow there is plenty of fish both in summer and winter, which belong to the lakes or ponds that communicate with the river: below it are the greatest abundance and variety caught or known in North-America. No salmon are found in any river to the westward of this.
Except the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, the Connecticut is the largest river belonging to the English plantations in the New World. On each shore of it are two great roads leading from the mouth 200 miles up the country, lined on both sides with the best-built houses in America, if not in the world. It is computed, that the country on each bank of this river, to a depth of six miles, and a length of 300, is sufficient for the maintenance of an army of 100,000 men. In short, the neighbouring spacious and fertile meadow, arable, and other lands, combined with this noble river, are at once the beauty and main support of all New-England.
The western river is navigable and called Stratford only for ten miles, where Derby stands; and then takes the name of Osootonoc. It is 50 miles west from Connecticut River, and half a mile wide. It rises in the Verdmonts, above 200 miles from the sea, and travels 300 miles through many pleasant towns and villages. The adjacent meadows are narrow, and the country in general very hilly. With some expence it might be made navigable above 100 miles. It furnishes fish of various kinds, and serves many mills and iron-works.
Two principal bays, named Sassacus or New-London, and Quinnipiog or Newhaven, run five or six miles into the country, and are met by rivers which formerly bore the Sachems names.
It has already been observed, that Connecticut was settled under three distinct independent Governors; and that each Dominion, since their union in 1664, has been divided into two counties.
The Kingdom of Sassacus, Sachem of the Pequods, a warlike nation, forms the counties of New-London and Windham, which contain about 10,000 houses, and 60,000 inhabitants. Sassacus was brave by nature. The sound of his coming would subdue nations, at the same time that Justice would unbend his bow, and Honour calm the thunder of his tongue. Dr. Mather, Mr. Neal, and others, have endeavoured to blast his fame by proving him to have been the aggressor in the bloody wars which ended in his ruin. They have instanced the murder of Captain Stone and others, to justify this war, but carefully concealed the assassination of Quinnipiog, the treachery of Mr. Elliot (the Massachusets-Bay Apostle of the Indians), and the infamous villainy of Hooker, who spread death upon the leaves of his Bible, and struck Connecticote mad with disease. They also conceal another important truth, that the English had taken possession of lands belonging to Sassacus, without purchase or his consent. Besides, Sassacus had too much sagacity to let christian spies, under the appellation of gospel missionaries, pass through his country. He had seen the consequences of admitting such ministers of christianity from Boston, Hertford, &c. among his neighbouring nations, and generously warned them to keep their gospel of peace from his dominions. The invaders of this howling wilderness, finding their savage love detected, and that the Pequods were not likely to fall a sacrifice to their hypocrisy, proclaimed open war with sword and gun. The unfortunate Sassacus met his fate. Alas! he died, not like Connecticote, nor Quinnipiog, but in the field of battle; and the freedom of his country expired with his final groan. This mighty conquest was achieved by the colonists of Connecticut, without the aid of the Massachusets; nevertheless, Mr. Neal and others have ascribed the honour of it to the latter, with a view of magnifying their consequence—ever Mr. Neal’s grand object.
The country of New-London abounds chiefly with wool, butter, cheese, and Indian-corn; and contains eight towns, all which I shall describe.
New-London has the river Thames on the east, and the bay of its own name on the south, and resembles Islington. Its port and harbour are the best in the colony. The church, the meeting, and court-house, are not to be boasted of; the fort is trifling. The houses in this, as in all the towns in the province, are insulated, at the distance of three, four, or five yards one from the other, to prevent the ravages of fire. That of John Winthrop, Esq. is the best in the province. The township is ten miles square, and comprizes five parishes, one of which is episcopal. Abimeleck, a descendant of the first English-made king of Mohegin, resides with his small party in this township. He is a king to whom the people pay some respect,—because they made him so.
The people of this town have the credit of inventing tar and feathers as a proper punishment for heresy. They first inflicted it on quakers and anabaptists.
New-London has a printing press, much exercised in the business of pamphlets, sermons, and newspapers. It is employed by the Governor and Company, and is the oldest and best in the colony. Newhaven, Hertford, and Norwich, also, have each a printing press; so that the people are plentifully supplied with news, politics, and polemical divinity.——A very extraordinary circumstance happened here in 1740. Mr. George Whitefield paid them a visit, and preached of righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come, which roused them into the belief of an heaven and an hell. They became as children weaned and pliable as melted wax, and with great eagerness cried out, What shall we do to be saved? The preacher, then in the pulpit, thus answered them, “Repent—do violence to no man—part with your self-righteousness, your silk gowns, and laced petticoats—burn your ruffles, necklaces, jewels, rings, tinselled waistcoats, your morality and bishops books, this very night, or damnation will be your portion before the morning-dawn.” The people, rather thro’ fear than faith, instantly went out on the common, and prepared for heaven, by burning all the above enumerated goods, excepting that of self-righteousness, which was exchanged for the preacher’s velvet breeches.—Vide Dr. Chancy.[33]
Groton, across the bay from New-London, resembles Battersea. The township is ten miles square, and forms four parishes, one of which is episcopal. This town was the residence of the valiant Sassacus, Sachem of the Pequod nation.
Stonington lies on Narraganset-Bay, is the east corner of Connecticut, and consists of three parishes. The township is 8 miles square.
Preston, on Quinnibaug river, forms three parishes, one of which is episcopal. The township is 8 miles square.
Norwich, on the Thames, 14 miles from the sea, is an half-shire with New-London. The town stands on a plain, one mile from Chelsea, or the Landing. Its best street is two miles long, and has good houses on both sides, five yards asunder from each other. In the centre is a common, of the size of Bloomsbury Square, in which stand a beautiful court-house, and a famous meeting with clocks, bells, and steeples. The township is fifteen miles square, and forms 13 parishes, one episcopal. Chelsea, or the Landing, resembles Dover. [Here land is sold at fifteen shillings sterling by the square foot.]—This town is famous for its trade; for iron-works, grist, paper, linseed, spinning and fulling mills; also for a furnace that makes stone ware.——Some peculiarities and curiosities here attract the notice of Europeans:—1, a bridge over Quinnibaug, 60 yards long, butted on two rocks, and geometrically supported; under which pass ships with all their sails standing:—2, the steeple of the grand meeting-house stands at the east end:—3, the inhabitants bury the dead with their feet to the west.—The following couplet was written by a traveller, on the steeple: