condemned to marry her; which, however, he probably never did. At the next General Court, four months afterwards, it was ordered that Mary Holt herself be whipped for misconduct with a fourth paramour, and be banished from the jurisdiction; not that she was good enough for Boston, but that Boston, perhaps, could better manage her. But offences of this kind-of the frequency and often most revolting character of which, notwithstanding the severity of the laws of the Puritans, there is abundant evidence in the early records of all the colonies were by no means the only ones which the magistrates undertook at once to expose and to punish. Unseasonable and immoderate drinking, or even the suspicion of it; any violence of language or of conduct; reflections upon the actions of the General Court; "the sin of lying which," says the record (1640), "begins to be practised by many persons in this Commonwealth;" extravagance in the fashion of apparel, "that divers persons of several ranks are observed to exceed in ;" the selling of goods beyond reasonable prices; "a stubborn or rebellious carriage against parents or governors; these and other offences of a like character, which in older societies. are usually left to the control of private conscience, or judgment, or influence, were subjects of legislation, and brought upon the perpetrators prompt and severe penalties.1 Beneficent In other respects, however, the welfare of the community was as carefully looked after as it was in these guarded against real or fancied injuries. The rate of wages and the length of a working-dayeleven hours in summer-time and nine in winter of actual legislation. labor were soon regulated by law, that no advantage should be taken of the necessities of new settlers or of the scarcity of laborers. Any possible want of food was provided for by making it the duty of magistrates to ascertain the probable demand and to meet it with a sufficient supply. Idleness was made inexcusable, and agricultu encouraged by allotments of lands and their compulsory cultivation; and titles were made unquestionable by a register which the law required should be kept in every town. That timber should not be wasted, none could be cut or exported except by special license from the Court, and no trees were permitted to be felled except after the fall of the leaf. In 1640 it was enacted that each family should sow at least one spoonful of English hempseed and cultivate it "in husbanly manner" for a supply of seed the next year. The importation of cotton, which they could not raise, was provided for at the public expense to find its way to the domestic spinning-wheels; but the cultivation of tobacco, which it was soon found would grow so well in the rich bottom-lands of the Connecticut, was encouraged by a decree 1 Colonial Records of Connecticut. that whoever should after September, 1641, "drinke [smoke] any other tobacco but such as is, or shall be, planted within these liberties,' should suffer the heavy penalty of a fine of five shillings for every pound. Such laws foreshadowed some of the important industries and future wealth of the State of Connecticut. The supremacy obtained over the Indians by arms was confirmed by law over those who survived the Pequot war. It was a penal act to sell them arms, or even to mend those of which they were already in possession. Theft, and intimidation for the sake of theft, the crimes to which the savages were most inclined, were severely punished. If they could not be made good citizens, and that was hardly attempted, it was hoped, at least, that as vagabonds they might be rendered harmless. The dealings of the colonists with them were so far just that they paid for the lands they wanted, and permitted the Indians to retain those the English did not want, provided they were peaceful and kept within their own bounds. When these conditions were not observed a raid upon their cornfields and wigwams renewed the lesson of the war. Whoever recognized the higher duty of attempting to lead them to a knowledge of Christianity was quite free to do so without interference from the State; but their most efficient teachers were the lives the Christians led, and the examples they followed were naturally those which were most evil. Settlement Haven While the Pequot war was in progress a fresh colony from England arrived in Boston and was looking for a place of settlement. Edward Hopkins, who soon after went to Hartford, was in of New this company; John Davenport, a clergyman of some note from London, was their pastor, and the leading man among them was Theophilus Eaton, a merchant of reputation and of affluence. It was a company of wealth and respectability, and the magistrates of Massachusetts would have gladly retained them within their jurisdiction. But there were two reasons, imperative with the new-comers, for seeking a place for their future home without the bounds of Massachusetts: there was too much theological controversy and not sufficient harbor accommodation about the Bay. The banishment of Mrs. Hutchinson was not the extirpation of heresy, and Mr. Davenport, it is said, was fearful lest his flock should be led astray by the fatal doctrines of the Antinomians. Whatever other dangers might lurk in the wilderness, the Indians would not, at least, unsettle men's minds as to sanctification and justification. The other point was equally clear: the farming lands near all the good harbors about the Bay were already occupied. Agriculture must, of course, be their immediate reliance; but they hoped to found a commercial colony, and therefore sought for a commodious port where trade would grow, while lands not too far off to be conveniently cultivated should yield John Davenport. them a subsistence. Anoth er reason given was that they wished to put themselves beyond the reach of a general governor, should one be appointed for all New England; but as this had ceased to be probable, the alleged fear of it could only have been a thin disguise for a more substantial purpose a wish to escape the jurisdiction of Massachusetts and have an independent government of their own. In the spring of 1638, the whole company sailed from Boston for Quinnipiack, now New Haven, purchased the preceding autumn from Momauguin, the Indian sachem, for twelve coats of English cloth, twelve alchemy spoons, twelve hatchets, twelve hoes, two dozen knives, twelve porringers and four cases of French knives and scissors. Several of their number had held possession through the winter, but the first solemn and formal act of occupation was on the 18th of April, the Sunday after their arrival. Then this new band of Pilgrim Fathers assembled beneath the spreading branches of a giant oak, and the pastor, Davenport, preached to them from the text, Matthew iv. 1: "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." He had a good day," he said afterwards; and doubtless his hearers, who all looked up to him with great reverence, were as much edified with his expounding of the temptations that were to The first 66 Momauguin's Signature. beset them in the wilderness, as he was satisfied with his own performance. Their undertaking was sanctified not long after by a day of fasting and prayer, when they entered into a covenant that in all things, whether in Church or in State, they would be guided by the rules 1 "Quinnepaca or Quinnepange rather," Niles's History of Indian and French Wars. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Third series, vol. vi. 2 New Haven Records in Trumbull's History of Connecticut. |