USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement to the present time > Part 17
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1709.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
1
ter, ever led a band of Indians against a defenceless French village in the night, to burn, murder, and make captives, insulting or tomahawking those with whom they were at enmity ? This was what the French, and even their priests, often did, and excited the Indians to do. So long had the colo- nists suffered from injuries of this kind, that they thought themselves justifiable, in the sight of the God they served, in endeavours to check the power of their enemies by force. They did not attempt to make reprisals, nor take up arms in revenge : their principles would not allow them to take such a course ; and history proves how firmly they ad- hered to the rules of the Gospel. Consequently, while their descendants in the ancient frontier towns may trace the scenes of severe contests and dreadful sufferings, there is hardly to be found, on any part of the French frontier, a place spotted with the blood of innocent men, women, or children, wantonly shed by their hands.
CHAPTER XXX. 1709.
Application to the Queen for Aid against Canada, and a Prom- ise obtained .- Preparations made .- The Fleet arrives ill pre- pared, and with limited Instructions .- Port Royal captured .- General Nicholson makes a new Application to her Majesty. -Another Fleet arrives, but unprovided .- It is half destroyed by a Storm, on the way to attack the Enemy .- The Boundary of Connecticut and Massachusetts amicably settled by Com- missioners in 1713 .- The Rhode Island Boundary Line .- The Peace of Utrecht, in 1713, causes great Joy .- Population .- Finances .- Other Statistics.
NOTWITHSTANDING the failure of the expedition of 1609, the governors of the colonies agreed to X 2
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746
A NEW EXPEDITION.
[1710.
hold a meeting, to consult on another. They met at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in October, with several officers, and addressed the queen in a let- ter, which the Assembly of Connecticut approved ; and Governor Saltonstall was appointed to take a similar one to England. He, however, did not go : but General Nicholson sailed to request aid from her majesty ; while Colonel Schuyler, of Albany, in his zeal for another enterprise, took five In- dian chiefs from the Five Nations, and introduced them at court.
A promise was finally obtained ; and in July letters were sent, saying that Lord Shannon was coming with a fleet. In about a month, 300 men were on their march from Connecticut to Boston, where vessels and sailors were ready. On the 18th of December, 36 ships left Nantasket for Port Royal, nothing having been done or requi- red by England for a land army, as it appeared that nothing was designed against Canada, but only against the eastern French possessions. The troops landed at Port Royal on the 24th ; on the 21st of October they opened three batteries ; and the next day Subercase, the commander, surren- dered the fort. The Mary galley, one of the five transports hired by Connecticut, was lost, with 26 men; and the colony paid for it about £1000. The expedition then returned.
The result being very unsatisfactory, General Nicholson again applied in person to the queen, although the ministry was then Tory; and, con- trary to the expectations of the people, was suc- cessful.
A meeting of governors was held at New-Lon.
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1710.]
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
don in June; and, in a short time, the promised fleet arrived, but without provisions or pilots, which led to the conviction that the ministry did not aim at the reduction of Canada, but only at a limited enterprise, in which they rather desired failure and an occasion to cast blame on the colonies. How- ever, the colonies resolved to do their best; and, in little more than a month, the troops and pro- visions were ready. Connecticut raised 360 men, and sent them to Albany, with a vessel and four months' provision, and transmitted letters of thanks to the queen and General Nicholson. Everything was got ready with great despatch ; and the fleet sailed from Boston on the 30th of July. It con- sisted of 15 men-of-war, 40 transports, and 6 store- ships, with a train of artillery, stores, and 7 re- giments, or nearly 7000 men. Admiral Walker commanded the fleet, and Brigadier Ifill the land `forces. General Nicholson, a few days later, was at the head of 4000 men at Albany, intending to proceed to Canada by Lake Champlain. Con- necticut furnished to New-York 200 fat cattle and 600 sheep. All these preparations had been made in about five weeks.
But we have a sad tale to tell of the fleet. It was assailed by a terrible storm from the east- southeast on the 22d of August, after leaving the Bay of Gaspe, which the commanders endeavoured to weather by lying-to, but in vain. Being in deep water and a thick fog, they could not discov- er their exact situation until midnight, when they found themselves near the rocky shore. Eight or nine transports were destroyed. with about 1000 men : though not a man was lost from the prov-
248
MASSACHUSETTS BOUNDARY. [1713.
inces. Most of the remaining vessels being pre- vented for several days, by an east wind, from reaching the admiral's ship, which had gone on to Spanish River Bay, the officers concluded that they had not provisions enough to proceed ; and most of the ships returned to England. General Nichol- son, on hearing the news, marched his army back. Blame was cast on the colonies for delay : how unjustly it is easy to understand. It is certain that they had done their best ; and they were chagrined at the failure, and apprehensive of suffering worse than ever from their enemies, especially the Mar- quis de Vaudreuil, the governor of Canada, who had an army of 3000 men, which he had raised for defence, and might use for invasion.
The Assembly, in November, petitioned the queen for one more expedition against the enemy, and sent John Mayhew to London, the only Connecti- cut pilot who had been employed in the fleet, to testify concerning the causes of its failure : but no attention was paid to the subject.
In 1711 the Superior Court was ordered to sit twice a year in each county ; and the next year the judges were first allowed salaries, having be- fore received only fees.
The copper mine at Simsbury was opened about the year 1712, by William Partridge, of Newbury, and Jonathan Belcher, of Boston; and the miners were exempted from military duty for four years.
New-Milford was incorporated in 1712, and Coventry and Pomfret in 1713.
This year (1713) the long and lamentable con- troversy of the Massachusetts boundary was finally and amicably settled, after many vain attempts on
249
1713.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
the part of Connecticut. To avoid the expense and uncertainty of an appeal to England, where, since Sir Henry Ashurst's death, Connecticut had no able friend to oppose the intrigues of Governor Dudley, propositions were made to Massachusetts. That colony consented that the line should be run by commissioners appointed by both parties, and fully empowered ; that property should be secured to grantees, and the jurisdiction of towns retained by the colonies which had planted them ; and that, if it should on either side transcend the boundary, amends should be made by giving as much land elsewhere. If a tract of two miles in Suffield, which had been long claimed by Windsor, should fall south of the line, it was agreed that it should belong to Connecticut. The line was then run, and crossed Connecticut River 90 rods north of the northeast corner of Suffield, throwing into Con- necticut 107,793 acres which Massachusetts had encroached upon. That amount was consequently made up, and the exchanged land was afterward sold for £693 currency (or a little above one farthing per acre), and the money given to Yale College.
To settle the Rhode Island boundary, Connecti- cut, in 1702, had relinquished her claim to the Narraganset country, though she still believed it to be perfectly just. It would have been very ex- pensive to prosecute it in England; and the feel- ings of the court were known to be so unfavoura- ble to charter privileges, that little was to be hoped from the appeal. Besides, the land was then of but very little value ; and the loss of so much territory would have been fatal to Rhode Island. The As- sembly, therefore, being determined to comply with
250
[1713.
CONDITION OF THE COLONY.
Winthrop and Clark's agreement, and close the controversy, appointed a committee to settle it. In 1703 it was agreed, with the commissioners of Rhode Island, that the line should run along the middle of Pawcatuck River to the Ashaway, thence in a straight line to the southwest corner of Warwick grand purchase, and thence north to Massachusetts. Grants before made in Westerly were to be preserved, and property to be main- tained. This agreement, however, was disowned by Rhode Island about the year 1713, confirmed some years after by the king, and finally marked out in 1728.
Great joy was diffused in the colonies by the news of the peace of Utrecht, which was formally proclaimed by the governor and council on the 26th of August, 1713; and the people began to enjoy another respite from the sufferings and fears of war. Danger being now removed, the soldiers might return to their homes, and support them- selves by cultivating their land in security, while the colony might begin to relieve itself from debt. New settlements might be made, and persons who had fled from the frontiers might safely return. Providence had again mercifully protected Con- necticut from the enemy, as in the two preceding wars of William and Anne. Only one town had been destroyed in all the wars ; and that was Sims- bury, which was burned after it had been deserted by the inhabitants, who had buried their furniture and goods. This was probably in Philip's War. The colony, in Queen Anne's War, had paid 7d. and 8d. on the pound on the whole list, and issued bills of credit to the amount of £33,500 since
251
1713.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
June, 1709, which was to be called in within seven years.
The population of the colony was now about 17,000 ; the army nearly 4000; the grand list, £281,083; the taxable towns, 38; those sending deputies, 40 ; and the whole number of representa- tives, 80. The colony owned 2 brigantines, about 20 sloops, &c., and not above 120 seamen. Some tar, pitch, turpentine, and fur were sent to Eng- land : but most of the produce to Doston, New- York, and the West Indies. Suffield, Enfield, and Woodstock were within the territory, but governed by Massachusetts. The two former at first be- longed to Springfield, all of which town would have been in Connecticut if the line had been run accord- ing to the expectation of the planters.
Economy in government has always been a re- markable feature in Connecticut. The governor's salary was then £400, the deputy-governor's £50, and the whole expenses of government, including these, probably not over £500, or less than the common salary paid to a king's governor.
The first permanent printer came to Connecti- cut in 1713. He was Timothy Green, a descend- ant of Samuel Green, of Cambridge, Massachu- setts. He was induced to remove to New-Lon- don by an offer from the Assembly of £50 annu- ally for doing the public printing. His descend- ants long held the same office in that town.
252
COMMON SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED.
[1714.
CHAPTER XXXI. 1714.
The Origin of Yale College .- Sketch of its History .- Common Schools .- A College and Grammar School provided for in New-Haven .- Yale College first placed at Killingworth .- Re- moved to Saybrook .- Controversy arising out of a Proposal to remove it from Saybrook to New-Haven .- Established there .- Rector Cutler dismissed, and the Saybrook Confes- sion introduced .- Law of the Colony to prevent irregular Meetings on the Sabbath, and the Abuse of the Sacraments. -Mining Privileges granted to Mr. Winthrop .- Mines open- ed at Simsbury and Wallingford .- Newgate Prison .- First Counterfeiting in the Colony.
THE founders of Connecticut were among the most devoted friends of general education the world ever saw. They believed that the cultiva- tion of the mind was a duty incumbent on all, and required by the Word of God, whose book of rev- elation not only demands, but presupposes the in- struction of the intellect. They considered it a public benefit to educate every member of society, and required their magistrates to provide for this important object. As early as the year 1648, twelve years after the first settlement of the colo- ny, the Assembly passed a law providing for com- mon education. It has been affirmed that this was the first common school law ever made in the world. It required the establishment of a good school in every town containing 50 families, in which reading and writing should be not only taught, but "well taught." It also required that every county-town should have a good grammar- school. Not content with adopting the law, the
253
1713.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
Assembly, with their characteristic practical good sense, appropriated large tracts of land for the per- manent support of the schools through generations to come.
But even here was not the limit of the foresight of the government, and their wise provisions for the dissemination of learning. They gave the great and almost solitary example of family in- struction required by law. They directed the se- lectmen to see that the heads of families should teach their children and servants to read well, and to catechise them on religion once every week ; and on this point showed that they were in earnest, by fining every family 20 shillings which should neglect these duties. That there might be no ex- cuse for neglect, the selectmen were authorized to furnish Bibles and books to the destitute. The law farther required that the capital laws should be taught once a week in every family.
We have seen how annual contributions were made for a course of years towards the support of Cambridge College. Connecticut was all this time delaying to establish a college of her own, only un- til her resources should be adequate to the task. As early as 1654 an application was made to the New-Haven Assembly for a college ; and the next year New-Haven offered £300, and Milford £100 for its endowment. Mr. Davenport wrote to Mr. Hopkins, in London, in favour of the enterprise ; and New-Haven gave a considerable amount of land.
In 1659 that Assembly took a preparatory step, and founded a grammar-school in New.Haven, ap- propriating £100 for the purchase of books, and Y
254
YALE COLLEGE FOUNDED.
[1713.
£40 a year. In 1660 Mr. Davenport presented Mr. Hopkins's donation ; and the elders of the churches in that colony were appointed trustees. Both the college and the school, however, failed, in consequence of the insufficiency of funds, the dis- sensions with Connecticut, and the union of the colonies. At a later period the school was re-es- tablished, and endowed with all the funds.
In 1698 it was proposed by several ministers that a college should be founded in Connecticut, as it had long been found inconvenient to send young men to Massachusetts for their education. They considered the apostles and their successors as having set the example, by founding institutions for the education of ministers wherever the Gospel was introduced. Messrs. Pierpont, of New-Ha- ven, Andrew, of Milford, and Russell, of Branford, were leaders in the plan : so that Yale College, which was the result of it, appears to have owed its origin chiefly to the old New-Haven colony. In 1699 ten ministers were nominated as trustees, who met at New-Haven in 1700, and formed a so- ciety, with the addition of a rector to their number. They met afterward at Branford, where they found- ed the college, by a contribution of about 40 folio volumes : each saying, as he presented his books,
" I give these books for the founding of a college in this colony."
The trustees were Messrs. Noyes, of Stoning- ton, Chauncey, of Stratford, Buckingham, of Say- brook, Pierson, of Killingworth, Mather, of Wind- sor, Andrew, of Milford, Woodbridge, of Hartford, Pierpont, of New-Haven, Russell, of Middletown, and Webb, of Fairfield. Mr. Russell was appoint-
255
1713.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
ed librarian. Other donations having been made, they petitioned the Assembly for a charter, stating
" That, from a sincere regard to, and zeal for upholding the Protestant religion, by a succession of learned and orthodox men, they had proposed that a collegiate school should be erected in this colony, wherein youth should be instructed in all parts of learning, to qualify them in public em- ployments in church and state."
James Fitch, Esq., of Norwich, a member of the council, advocated the petition, and made a dona- tion of about 600 acres of land in Killingly, and promised to furnish the glass and nails " for a col- lege-house and hall." The Assembly, in 1701, granted the petition, limited the corporation to ministers, and the number of trustees to eleven, making a grant of £120, or about £60 ,sterling. In November the Rev. Abraham Pierson was cho- sen rector, and rules were adopted. These forbade instruction in any system of divinity except that ap- pointed ; and the pupils were to be "caused me- moriter to recite the Assembly's shorter catechism in Latin, and Dr. Ames's Theological Theses, of which, as also Ames's Cases of Conscience, he (the rector) shall cause to be made, from time to time, such explanations as may, through the blessing of God, be most conducive to their establishment in the principles of the Christian Protestant religion." The Scriptures were to be read daily by the pupils, at morning and evening prayer, except the Sabbath, when practical theology was to be expounded, and the non-graduated students were to repeat sermons.
The corporation agreed to open the college at Saybrook, although not satisfied that it ought to re.
H
256
REMOVED TO NEW-HAVEN.
[1714.
main there. The rector's congregation, however, were so unwilling to part with him, that he taught the pupils at Killingworth.
The college building was on Saybrook Point, on the north side of the street, nearly opposite the bury- ing-ground : but it was used only for a short time, as the place was thought to be inconvenient, and propositions were soon made for the choice of an- other situation. This caused dissatisfaction for some years among several clergymen, as well as laymen, which, however, at length subsided, after its establishment at New-Haven. Exertions were made to have it fixed at Hartford and Wethers- field. The largest amount of contributions being offered at New-Haven, and that place being con- sidered a more cheap and healthful residence, and one more accessible to students from other colonies, it was recommended by the Assembly, in 1717, that " the collegiate school" should be removed thither, and that they should finish the house which had been begun for its accommodation. The Assem- bly voted £100 to the instructers.
In 1714 Mr. Dummer collected a valuable libra- ry from friends in England. Forty of the volumes were given by Governor Yale ; who, in 1718, sent over £200 worth of goods from England, to be sold for the benefit of the college, with a picture of the king and his arms, and a promise of more pres- ents in future. Governor Saltonstall, and Mr. Ben- ton, of Providence, gave £50 a piece. The build- ing erected at New-Haven was of three stories, 170 feet by 22, with nearly 50 study rooms, a hall, library, and kitchen, and cost about £1000 ster- ling. The Commencement was held on the 12th
257
1719.]
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
of September. The institution this year received the name of Yale College, from gratitude to its principal benefactor. Governor Saltonstall pro- nounced a Latin oration ; and eight bachelors' and several masters' degrees were conferred. The Rev. Messrs. Woodbridge and Buckingham held a Commencement the same day at Wethersfield, and resistance was made at Saybrook to the re- moval of the books : but these lamentable proceed- ings were wisely passed over without public cen- sure, and the breach among the leading friends of education was soon healed. Mr. Woodbridge was made rector pro tempore. The Assembly gave the instructers £40 a year for seven years, and ordered £300 worth of new land to be sold.
In 1719, the Rev. Timothy Cutler, pastor of the church at Hartford, was chosen rector of Yale - College : but in 1722 he was found to be an Epis- copalian, and to have formed the intention of going to England to be ordained, with Mr. Brown, one of the tutors, Mr. Johnson, minister of West Ha- ven, and Mr. Wetmore, of North Haven. The trustees of the college and the people were sur- prised, having had no suspicion of such things. The rector was excused, after holding a public dis- cussion with Governor Saltonstall at Commence- ment. The trustees, in October, resolved that rec- tors and tutors should in future declare their assent to the Saybrook Confession, and give satisfaction of the soundness of their faith against Arminian and prelatical doctrines, &c.
The four gentlemen above mentioned were or. dained in England, where they were treated with great honour by the friends of the Established Y 2
258
[1726.
LAW RESTRICTING WORSHIP.
Church ; and three of them returned : Mr. Cutler as a missionary in Boston, Mr. Johnson at Strat- ford, and Mr. Wetmore at Rye. This was the first introduction of Episcopacy into the territory of Connecticut.
To supply the place of rector, the trustees of Yale College spent a month each in turn at New- Haven till 1726, when the Rev. Elisha Williams, minister at Newington, entered on the duties of that office. Newington, in compensation for the loss of its minister, was paid £100 by the As- sembly, and was released from taxes for several years. The manners and characters of the stu- dents rapidly improved under the direction of Rec- tor Williams; and improvements were made in the schools, as well as by the settlement of new towns ; and in other respects the colony flourished during the times of peace which continued to pre- vail.
In 1726 a law was passed laying a fine of twen- ty shillings on every person who should attend a meeting in a private house on the Sabbath, and neglect public worship, on conviction before any assistant or justice of the peace ; and ten pounds, and corporeal punishment not exceeding thirty lash- es, on any person, not a regularly ordained minis- ter, who should administer the sacraments, on con- viction before the county court. This law has of- ten been decried on account of its intolerance ; and it was doubtless highly objectionable, and much to be condemned. The intention of the As- sembly in making it, however, appears to have been not to prevent those sincerely holding religious opinions different from those of the people gener-
259
1726.]
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
ally from worshipping God in any proper manner. The only restraint laid upon such was this : they were required to ask permission, and it was grant- ed them. The preamble to the law we have men- tioned declares that, " notwithstanding the liberty allowed by law, both to ministers and people, to worship God according to their own consciences, there are some persons who, without qualifying themselves as the law directs for the enjoyment of such liberty," form separate meetings and neg- lect public worship ; and others, not ordained in any manner, have assembled " in a tumultuous manner, and abuse and profane the sacraments." Some of these, it appears, especially the Rogerenes, as they were called, set decency at defiance, by appearing in a riotous manner, nearly naked, in churches du- ring worship, insulting and interrupting courts, &c., so that they would have been punished in any civilized country. It seems plain, therefore, that the law was passed to suppress immorality, and by no means to abridge any right of conscience.
For some time after the first settlement of Con- necticut, it would seem, there were expectations entertained by some that great mineral treasures would be discovered. Probably this expectation was the greater, in consequence of the immense wealth yielded to the Spaniards by the mines of the South. Governor Winslow, it will be recol. lected, had explored the colony extensively in search of valuable minerals; and in 1712, Messrs. Partridge and Belcher had opened the copper mine in Simsbury. The heirs of the proprietor of the Wallingford mine, at the same time, undertook to work it in common : but, after six years, they had
260
FIRST COUNTERFEITING.
[1735.
involved themselves in such disputes and difficul- ties, that the Assembly passed an act in 1718, au- thorizing the proprietors of copper mines, or such of them as should choose to act in the case, to form an association, and conduct the business through a clerk, agents, &c., to refer disputes to three com- missioners appointed by the Assembly, with the power of appeal to that body. The Wallingford mine was worked a while, till the water prevented farther progress.
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