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ter granted, on condition the people paid to the king one fifth part of the gold and silver ore, which should be discovered.* Under this charter, which established the substance of the constitution they had formed for themselves, the people of Connecticut have lived secure and happy for almost two centuries. It has retained its force in periods of political fanaticism, and revolutionary madness; it has seen the constitutions of neighbouring States rise and fall like billows of the deep; itself, like a rock in the surge, unmoved and unhurt. Notwithstanding its strong democratic features, it is the pride of its subjects, and the boast of legislators.

The first settlers of Connecticut encountered serious difficulties, though not so great as their brethren of Massachusetts and Plymouth, nor perhaps so great as they themselves had experienced before, on their arrival. There is no account of such fatal sickness among them as the other colonies had suffered. Still had they full opportunity to exercise their self-denial and fortitude.

In November, two shallops, going with goods to Connecticut, were cast away in a north east storm on Brown's Island, near the Gurnet's Nose, and the men all drowned.

The same month, a pinnace returning from Connecticut, was cast away in Manemit Bay, the men, six in number, were saved, and wandered

* Governor TRUMBULL'S Letter.

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Sufferings of the Settlers.

ten days in extremely cold weather, and a deep snow, before they reached Plymouth, without meeting even an Indian. Soon after, ten men arrived in Massachusetts from Connecticut. They had been ten days on the journey, having lost one of their number, who fell through the ice and was drowned, and had they not found a friendly wigwam, all would have been starved.

The fifteenth of November, Connecticut river was frozen over. The people of Windsor, who removed their cattle, lost the greater part of them this winter; yet some, which came too late to be carried over the river, took good care of themselves, and looked well without hay. They lost £2000 worth of cattle, and were reduced themselves to great sufferings for want of food, being obliged to eat acorns, malt, and grains.*. The next fall, a bark sailing down the river, the people went on shore, and were assaulted by the Indians; one was killed, another made a prisoner, whose hands and feet they cut off, and tortured to death.

The following spring the Pequots, near Weathersfield, killed six men while at work in the field; three women also were killed, and two maids taken captive; at the same time they killed twenty cows and a horse.*

The first court held in Connecticut was at Weathersfield, April 26, 1636. The next year the colony carried war into the country of the Pequots.

WINTMROE.

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Arrival of Mr. Davenport and others. 131

Upon the forced surrender of the Plymouth Company's patent to the crown, in 1635, the whole territory of New England was regranted in large partitions, to a number of lords and proprietors. And among the rest, in 1635, were granted to the duke of Hamilton all the lands between Narraganset and Connecticut rivers, and back into the country indefinitely.

This covered a part of the Earl of Warwick's patent, and occasioned some disputes in the colony. There were several attempts to revive the Hamilton claim, but they were never prosecuted. The patent of Lord Say and Seal prevailed.

In consequence of the Pequot war, 1637, the English obtained the country east of the Dutch settlements, by right of conquest. The pursuit of the Indians led to an acquaintance with the lands on the sea coast, from Saybrook to Fairfield. It was reported to be a very fine country. Messrs. Eaton and Hopkins, two very respectable London merchants, and Mr. Davenport, a man of distinguished piety and abilities, with their company, who arrived this year (1637) from London, made choice of this part of the country as the place of their settlement. "Within the Earl of Warwick's patent, 1631, and under the patronage of Lord Say and Seal, to whom said patent had been assigned, and who held for the settlers both at Connecticut, Saybrook, Quinipioke, and Pequot, and under whom all held who settled within the limits of Lord Say and Seal's, originally the Ear

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The first Church gathered.

of Warwick's, patent; which, together with Massachusetts and Plymouth, which had passed from the Plymouth Company before 1630, as well as New Hampshire and Ferdinando Gorges' Province of Maine, were saved from the arbitrary absorption of the surrendry of 1635."* Their friends in Massachusetts, sorry to part with so valuable a company, dissuaded them from their purpose. Influenced, however, by the promising prospects which the country afforded, they determined to proceed. Accordingly, in the fall of 1637, they sent four men, who wintered at Quinipioke, and in March, 1638, a body sufficient for three towns removed from Boston, under the leading of Mr. Eaton, and settled at New Haven, and laid the foundation of a flourishing colony, of which Quinipicke, now New Haven, was the chief town. The first public worship in this new plantation was attended on Lord's day, April 18, 1638, under a large spreading oak. The Rev. Mr. Davenport preached from Matt. iii. 1. on the temptations of the wilderness. Both colonies, Connecticut and New Haven, formed themselves into distinct commonwealths, and remained so until their union, in 1665.

The first church was gathered in New Haven in 1639, and consisted of seven members. These were chosen by the settlers after Mr. Davenport had preached from the words of Solomon, "Wis dom hath builded her house, she hath hewed out her seven pillars." These men were indeed the

Sketch of Mr. Davenport's Life.

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pillars of the church, to whom the rest were added as they became qualified. They were also the court to try all civil actions.

Mr. Davenport, a father to this infant colony, was an eminent christian, a learned divine, and a great man. He was born at Coventry, in 1597, of respectable parents, and sent to college at Oxford before he was fourteen years old. Thence he was called to preach in London, at the age of nineteen, where his rare accomplishments, and his courage in visiting the sick in the time of a terrible plague, soon brought him into notice. his great industry and midnight studies, he became an universal scholar, and his sermons were distinguished by the labour with which they were prepared. In his delivery he had a gravity, an energy, a pleasantness and engaging eloquence not common among his brethren. His enemies allowed him to be an excellent preacher.

By

Finding himself obnoxious, and in danger from the ruling party in London, he convened the principal people of his charge, desiring their opinion and advice, acknowledging their right to him as their pastor, and declaring that no danger should drive him from any service for their benefit, which they should require or even expect. With a noble disinterestedness of soul, which did them honour, and demonstrated the tenderness of their affection, they relieved him from his scruples of conscience; they advised him to resign his office for his own safety. Instead of enjoying the

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