USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > East Granby > History of Newgate of Connecticut, at Simsbury, now East Granby: its insurrections and massacres, the imprisonment of the Tories in the Revolution, and the working of its mines. Also, some account of the state prison, at Wethersfield > Part 3
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" keep guard at Newgate. Nathan Phelps was also " asleep-wak'd but could do nothing, the prison- " ers having possession of the guard-house (a small
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" lad just fit to drive Plow with a very gentle " Team,) He went to Mr. Viets's and stayed till " morning (poor boy) ! Abagail, the wife of Jno. " Young, alias Mattick, says that the first night she " came to the prison, she gave to her husband 52 " silver dollars-her husband told her after he " came out that he had given Sergt. Lilly 50 of " them in order that he may suffer the prisoners to " escape-that he told her the Sergt. purposely left " the door of the south jail unlocked-that Sergt. " Lilly was not hurt-that she borrowed the money . " of a pedler-that she heard Lilly say, it was a "great pity such likely men should live and die " in that place."
Nov. 6th, 1782, the wooden buildings of the pri- son were again destroyed by fire, and doubtless by design, in order to aid the escape of the Tories in confinement. This was the third time the pri- son buildings had been burned in nine years, since its first inauguration, and more than one-half the whole number of convicts had escaped by various means. The authorities probably by this time began to change their opinion that "it " would be next to impossible for any person to es- " cape," and that as a Yankee once said, it was " dangerous being safe."
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The following is too rich in orthography to be omitted. It is recorded as written in 1783:
To the Hon. General assembly, The humble peti- shen of Able Davis-whare as at the honerable su- pene court houlden in Hartford in December last I was conficted of mis Deminer on the count of newgate being burnt as I had comand of said gard and was orded to bee confind 3 month and pay fourteen pounds for disabaing orders, I cant read riten, but I did all in my power to Distingus the flame, but being very much frited and not the faculty to doe as much in distress as I could an- other time and that is very smaul, what to do I thot it was best to let out the prisners that was in the botams as I had but just time to get the gates lifted before the hous was in flames, and the gard being frited it twant in my power to scape them. I now pray to be Deflehaned from further in pris- ment, and the coust of said sute as I hante abel to pay the coust, or give me the liberty of the yard as I am very unwell as your pitishner in Duty bound will for ever pray.
Abel Daveis.
Hartford Goal January 14th 1783.
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The struggles at this prison to subdue Toryism, were doubtless greater than at any other place in any of the Colonies. Many of those in confine- ment were men of talents, spirit, and wit; and they occasionally indulged their proclivities by making poetry in derision of the measures which were carried on by the patriots against England. The following are a part of some rhymes (refer- ring to the patriots) composed by them, and sent to their keeper :
" Many of them in halters will swing,
" Before John Hancock will ever be king."
John Hancock, being one of the most ardent friends of the Revolution, was particularly obnox- ious to the British, and a price was set on his head; this raised the spirit of the colonists, and they at once elected him President of Congress, which drew upon him the special odium of the Tories. -
The following is from the original now in the possession of the author :
" Mr. Viets : If you have any meet cooked, you " will much oblidge me by sending me a dinner, " for I suffer for want.
" Peter Sackett."
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This man was one of the thirty who were en- gaged in a bloody contest with the guard, and he made his escape at that time. The imprisoned Tories were not without sympathisers, and spiritual comforters. The Rev'd Roger Viets, an Episcopal clergyman, occasionally expounded the gospel to them, and taught them the gospel precept, Honor the King. His reverence was a noted good liver among the people, and besides what was given to him in donations, he received annually 40 pounds from the established Church of Eng- land. American liberty becoming at length so popular, and treason so opprobrious, he finally took sudden leave, and emigrated to the British dominions of Nova Scotia, where his descendants now reside in respectable circumstances.
A TORY CLERGYMAN IN NEWGATE.
The choicest specimen of black hearted treason under the cloak of priestly sanctity, was exhibited in the person of a Tory by the name of Simeon Baxter, who was confined in the caverns. From which of the thirteen colonies he was sent, is not ascertained, but he must have been regarded by the people as a real champion of Toryism. He preached a sermon to his companions in prison in 1781, which was printed in London soon
.
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after. A copy now extant has been furnished for this work by the kindness of George Brinley, Esq., of Hartford, and on account of its novelty of conception, acrimony of spirit, ability and pun- gency, it is here published entire, with its title in full, according to the print. It will be ob- served that the text, as he quotes it, varies from the precise phraseology of the scriptures; the words " having descended " being surreptitiously employed, probably because he considered them an improvement on the scriptures as applicable to his situation, he being compelled to descend into the caverns. Whatever may be thought of his sentiments, the ability with which the dis- course was written proves its author to have been a man of powerful intellect and of consi- derable research, zealously determined to incite his companions to deeds of blood. It is indeed wonderful that Gen. Washington or the Conti- nental Congress escaped assassination, when such vindictive characters boldly advised a resort. to the dagger in order to exterminate the friends of liberty.
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Tyrannicide proved Lawful, from the Practice and Writ- ings of Jews, Heathens and Christians : A Discourse, delivered in the Mines at Symsbury, in the Colony of Connecticut, to the Loyalists confined there by Order of the Congress, on September 19, 1781, by SIMEON BAXTER, a Licentiate in Divinity, and voluntary Chaplain to those Prisoners in the Apartment called Orcus :
Having descended, he preached to the Spirits in Prison .- 1st Peter, iii, 19. Regnabit sanguine multo-ad Regnum quisquis venit ab Exilo. Whoever comes to His kingdom from exile, he will rule with much blood .- Sue- tonius's life of Nero.
Printed in America; London, Reprinted for S. Bladon in Pater-Noster- Row, MDCCLXXXII.
To General Washington, and the Congress styling them- selves Governors and Protectors of Thirteen Colonies belonging to the Crown of England :
Gentlemen, That you may have the honour of dying for the people, instead of their dying for you and your allies, was the design I had in preaching and publishing this discourse; and should it produce the desired effect, I shall think myself paid for all my trouble and expence. If you can bestow one generous deed on your ruined country, adopt the act of Suicide to balance the evils of your lives, and save the virtuous citizens
7
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of America the glorious trouble of doing justice on you. 1
Remember Judas was not a patriot till he hanged himself for betraying his Saviour and his God. Go and do thou likewise and you will prove yourselves real Saviours of America, and like him, hold a place in the temple of everlasting Fame. Should your courage or your virtue fail in so meritorious a deed, sacred Religion stands on tiptoe to inspire all her children by some hidden thunder or some burnished weapon, to do it for you, and to save themselves from Nim- rod's paradise. When you are dead, your grateful countrymen will not let your Honours lie in dust, but will raise you to some airy tomb between the drooping clouds and parching sands : then your exaltation will make islands glad; Peace with new-fledged wings shall fly through every state, and echo happiness to weeping willows ; nay, the mourning doves shall forsake the wilderness to chant your praises ; and the mope-eyed owls, in open day, shall view with wonder your patriotic virtues.
The Author.
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To the Protestant Rebel Ministers of the Gospel in the Thirteen Confederated Colonies in America :
Gentlemen-The bloody part you have acted in obedience to your creditors, the merchant smug- glers, both in the pulpit and the field, with your spiritual and temporal swords, entitles you to the second class of patriots, who disgrace religion with hypocricy, and humanity with barbarity. Specta- tors with great justice have decided, that you are the successors of him who went to and fro seeking whom he might devour, and not of him who went about doing good. Inasmuch as you began rebel- lion because your King would not persecute, but tolerate his faithful catholic subjects in Canada, and to support your rebellion, you have since joined yourselves unto idols, and made alliance with the Papists of France to root up the protestant religion, for which our fathers bled and died, inasmuch as you have out-acted the Pope, discarded and abjured your rightful king, neglected to visit those in prison, and forbid the exercise of that charity to the miser- able, which hide a multitude of sins, I must take leave of you in the words spoken to your prede- cessors by the Savior of all penitent sinners, "Go your way for I know you not."
The Author.
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Sermon.
Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us ? and what is this that thou hast done unto us ? and he said unto them. As they did unto me, so have I done unto them .- Judges, xv, 11.
In the begining of this chapter we are told that the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, for which they were delivered into the hands of the Philistines forty years; a heavy judg- ment to fall under the power of any people without law, justice, or mercy ! yet God has considered® such calamity as due to idolaters, and the enemies of common sense. Whatever nation is govered by a set of men like the Philistines, without any fixed rules of right, is controlled by a set of beasts, with sharp horns, arrogance, and pride. Israel being thus in bondage, God raised up Samson to deliver them, who went down to Timnath, and took a wife of the Philistines, of whom he was unjustly robbed, without hopes of any legal redress. After this outrage, Samson had a just opportunity to make war upon them, which he did, though unassisted and opposed by his servile countrymen. The men of Judah, like modern politicians, were alarmed at the war which threatend them, and sought peace with Philistines by joining against
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their deliverer, and accosted him in the words of the text. "What is this that thou hast done unto us ?" Samson answered, and justified his conduct upon the law of nature : " As they have done unto me so have I done unto them,"-a good defence against the Philistines, who acted upon private principles, and trampled under foot the laws of God and civil society. Had the case been other- wise, Samson, who judged Israel twenty years, and whom the Lord blessed, would have sought justice from the decision of an impartial judge, instead of redressing himself by the natural law of retaliation. There are but two ways of deciding differences ; the one is by law, the other by force. The first is the rule of men formed into civil societies; the second of men and beasts in the state of nature.
Kings of civil societies, in a just war, have re- course to the state of nature, and use their last arguments, when justice cannot be had for injuries received. Cicero, one of the luminaries of the heathen world, asserts that "war is supported by "us against those of whom we can obtain no law." Grotius, the great oracle of Christians, saith, that "the law forbids me to pursue my right but by a " course of law." This is a good rule in civil society, where justice is administered according to
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the laws of right, where the innocent are protected against oppressors ; but in a state of nature, where no law but that of power doth exist, the maxim of Grotius is not applicable, unless the nature of law is to support the tyrants, and oppress the afflicted.
Moses, the legislator of the Jews, knowing that men were partial to themselves, unjust to others, and unfit to be their own judges, ordered contro- versies to be decided according to the law: but whilst Israel was in Egypt, law and justice had no place ; whereupon Moses, to point out the law of nature, set an example to be followed by all men on proper occasions; he saw his brethren oppressed, an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, and knowing he could obtain no legal satisfaction, erected an high court of justice, and smote the Egyptian, which proves we may revert to the law of nature, and repel force by force, and do justice for ourselves when no legal justice can be had. If this be not the case, law is a scourge to the op- pressed, and a protection to tyrants, which is con- trary to the spirit of all laws, which always provide remedies for slaves against their cruel masters. Since the law of God and man takes care for slaves, and protects them from the injuries of their masters, how unreasonable is it, that the free people of
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America, who have only God for their master, should find no redress against the oppressions of a barbarous set of usurpers and tyrants, who have laid waste our once happy country, and murdered our friends and relations before our eyes ; who, to calm our complaints of misery, either hang us upon trees, or cast us into some darksome prison, where their midnight assassins launch us out of time. Merciful God ! if our wives and children have the privilege of starving in the streets, we are taught to reverence the favour as an act of lenity in Congress and its associates !
Since we live in an evil time, when all laws of civil society are repealed, "the whole head sick " and the heart faint," the people crouching be- neath their burdens and crying " let us alone that " we may serve the Egyptians," while the Levites from their pulpits, like the men of Judah from the top of Etam, are proclaiming " know you not that " the congress are rulers over us ? and is it not " better to serve them than to die by the hand of "Saul or the bitter waters of Marah ?" Since this is not the voice of wisdom, but of Athalia, of Mat- tan and his priests who were slain at the horse gate and the altar, according to the law of retalia- tion, let us return to our natural right, and act
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the magistrate upon those usurpers who have shut up the course of justice. For our encouragement we have for our example the prophet Samuel, who performed justice upon Agag with his own hand, saying "as thy sword has made women childless, " so shall thy mother be childless among women," a very proper punishment for tyrants, who advance themselves above the reach of all justice, except the prayers of the people, and the dagger of an Ehud. Providence and Nature have ever united devotion and a javelin in the hands of a Judith, and a Jael, to bring down an Holofernes, and a Sisera ; because tyrants are such devils as cannot be cast out by prayer and fastings, unless aided by the workman's hammer. Those weapons unite Heaven and Earth to govern such men as will not be governed by civil laws, that every man might, agreeable to the Gospel, reap what he sows, and receive the same measure which he has meted out to others. We may complain with Jeremiah and say, "Why do the wicked prosper and the treacher- " ous wax fat? How long shall the land mourn, and
" the herbs of the field wither ?" We may add, that America resembles the state of the Jews upon the rivers of Babylon; for she has long hung her harps upon the willows, and forgot the mirth of
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Zion : " her children are gone forth, and are not ; "each one is crying, Woe is me, for I am hurt; "my wound is grievous, and I must bear it; her " pastors are brutish, their work is the work of " errors, the land is in mourning; her spoilers are " seated upon high places to keep peace from all " flesh ;" and no Moses, no Ehud, no Samuel, no Samson, no Jehoida, no Jael, nor Judith, hath ap- peared with a patriotic dagger, to do justice upon our tyrants, and save a sinking country ! Surely this is not for want of Patriots, but for the want of truly understanding the laws of God, nature, and civil society, which permit all men to kill theives, breaking up houses in the night, lest they should escape justice by the help of darkness. Tyrants are worse robbers than the midnight thieves, for they hold themselves above justice, and the laws of civil society, which renders it necessary to repel force by force, and restore perfect liberty, the genuine fruit of law. If this is not the case, if laws of society bind us to submit to usurpers act- ing opposite to law, a solitary life in the state of nature is preferable to civil society; but experience has taught the world, that there is no protection out of civil society, and in a state of nature we are all Ishmaels, whose hands are against one another.
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Men enter into civil societies, but not barely to exist, which they might do dispersed as other animals, but to live happy, and agreeable to the dignity of human nature. To effect this noble view, men agree to submit their passions and ap- petites to the laws of reason and justice ; and when- ever lust, avarice, and ambition, are not, and can not be regulated by the laws of the state, social liberty ceases, and natural liberty revives, wherein every man is a soldier, a Moses, a Samson, and may without incurring the guilt of murder, kill those uncircumcised Philistines with a javelin or any other weapon. By thus doing, men act upon the first law which is self-preservation, against thieves, tygers and beasts of prey, a law which is above all political precepts and rules, and superior to every opinion of the mind. Since it is lawful to use any means in destroying tyrants, let us act gloriously in so doing, and free our country of the noxious Congress, under whose usurpations thousands have been murdered, and tens of thousands have been plundered. Having thus briefly touched upon the laws of God, of nature, and of nations, respecting the freedom and the rights of men, I shall,
1st. Enquire whether Congress are usurpers and tyrants, or a legal body of men.
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2nd. Prove it the duty ofall Protestants to do justice on them as Samson did on the Philis- tines.
3d. Point out the benefit and necessity of so doing. As to the first head, we shall find congress may claim with great justice and little honour, the dignity of being both usurpers and tyrants. The civil law describes him to be an usurper who governs without any right; and the tyrant is he who governs contrary to the laws. My business is to show who have a right to govern, and what makes the power just. Fathers have a natural right to govern their wives and children, because they defend and support them; and in return the wives and children owe and pay subjection and obedience. Civil society is made up of several in- dependent families by general consent, or by the command of God. Nature and revelation point out the necessity of having some to rule, and others to obey the rules and laws appointed by God, or the people, who alone have the power to alter natural liberty, and establish civil societies. The rulers are to be obeyed so far as they command according to the laws, and no farther; and the great body of the people are the judges to determine when the rulers govern by the laws, and when they do not; for the people are the legislators, and subjects
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of their laws, and not subjects of their magistrates. Notwithstanding this, a servant by the laws of God may say, I will not be free, and can bind myself to serve forever. Ex. xxi, 5. And the same power is vested in every society, as appears from the history of Saul and David.
It is very true, that God appointed Saul to be king over the people, to punish them for their in- gratitude, which rendered Saul's power absolute, and passive obedience and non-resistance of divine authority ; but Samuel anointed David king, who, after Saul's death was confirmed by the elders of Israel at Hebron. 2 Sam. xi, 3. Those elders were the deputies of the people, authorised to limit David's kingly power ; for before his inauguration, they obliged him by compact to govern justly, i. e. to protect the good, and to execute wrath upon the evil. Thus David became a minister of God to rule for the good of his people. Hence it is plain that all just power of government originates from God or the people; therefore, all who arrogate to themselves the power of governing, and can not produce a commission from God or the people, are usurpers and tyrants, who may oppress but can not govern. To such a power, people may be subject for wrath, but not for conscience sake.
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After what has been suggested, have we not reason and a natural right to ask Congress, " who " made you rulers over us? If God, why have not " you published your commission ? If the people, " where was the place that we assembled ? when " did we give our consent ? who were our elders "to confirm your mighty power ?"*
Whenever Congress shall answer these import- ant and natural questions, and prove their authority to be from heaven or of men, I will gladly quit my
* True it is that near one hundred persons convened at Wethersfield, according to an advertisement signed by one Thomas Seymour, a lawyer, and chose a member to represent in Congress the County of Hart- ford, containing above sixty thousand souls. But it is pre- sumed that previous to the choice of members of Congress, the question whether there should be a Congress, ought to have been put to the vote. That however, was artfully evaded ; a vast majority of the people were thereby divested of their weight in the Colony, as it would have been in the highest
degree absurd and nugatory to have voted for members of a Congress which did not exist, and which they would not have suffered to exist, had a fair opportunity been given for their votes on that point. This was the case throughout most of the Colonies. The Congress once formed in that unfair manner, decreed that members in future should be elected only by the true friends of America; that is, such as should abjure their king and sign the league and covenant ; so that three fourths of the Colony of Con- necticut have never given a vote even for a Member.
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chains, and submit to their dominion. Until these questions are duly answered, I will view my dun- geon as my palace, and continued to say, Iff changing the government established by our an- cestors, without our consent, or that of the king, or the nation of which we are a part ; if dissolving charters, oaths, laws, and establishing iniquity by the bayonet ; if taking away men's lives, liberty and property, by Committees of Safety, the Inquisi- tion, and Star Chamber court in America ; if main- taining rebellion by force and fraud to the benefit of a junto, and to the destruction of the people of property ; if these things denote what is tyranny, Congress can not, with all its impudence, but own itself composed of the greatest tyrants that ever disgraced human nature. Congress having done all this, and commanded themselves to be prayed for as the supreme authority of America ; they have left us in the state either of David to pray for deliverance from cruel and unreasonable men, or to pray like the woman of Syracuse for Dionysius.
I shall now add some outward marks given of Ancient tyrants, to show the violence and deceit of Congress. "Tyrants" says Tacitus, " subvert laws "and government under colour of defending the " rights and liberties of the people ; and when they have got sufficient power, they rob the people of
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"all their rights." Plato says, " Tyrants practise " contrary to physicians, who purge us of our evil " humors, but they, of our purest blood." Ma- " chiavel says "Tyrants provide for ministers, when "they flatter and torture Scripture, to prove " usurpers lawful governors." Aristotle says, " The " most successful art of tyrants, is to pretend great " love for God and Religion." In these things we know Congress have excelled St. Oliver, and taught us that in godliness is great gain ; and that preach- ing and praying lead to other kingdoms besides that of heaven; we are also taught that its arms are not carnal, but protestant; for they have overcome the church in defiance of all her prayers and tears. Had not modern Christians preferred the honour of being governed by a Protestant Congress, they might have had preaching for their tenths, instead of paying life, liberty, and property. To their comfort be it spoken, Congress manages the spiritual and temporal sword with as much dexterity as the Pope of Rome. Further evidence need not be produced of the tyranny of Congress, unless to such men as have great faith and little understanding ; therefore since we both see and feel the merciless power of those beasts of prey, I shall proceed, secondly, to prove it the duty of all
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