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PAP E E S

OF THE

NEW HAVEN COLONY 7fr

HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

VOL. L

NEW HAVEN:

PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY.

1865.

At a meeting of the New Haven Colony Historical Society
held Monday Evening, January 10, 1865, Hexry BROxsoosr, James
M. WoonwAKD and Horace Day, were appointed a committee
to superintend the publication of the papers read before the
Society.

THOMAS J. STAFFORD, PRINTER.

* • \

COnXTTEISrTS-

»♦»

ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY, i

OFFICERS, xi

LIFE AND ANNUAL MEMBERS, .--..-•. xiii

THE NEW HAVEN COLONY, BY HENRY WHITE, - - 1

OIVIL GOVERNMENT IN NEW HAVEN COLONY, BY LEONARD

BACON, . - . - 11

HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT, BY HENRY WHITE, - - 29

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH, NEW HAVEN, BY FREDERICK

CROSWELL, 47

HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN. BY THOMAS R.

TROWBRIDGE, - - 83

THE PARSONAGE OF "THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE," BY

E. EDWARDS BEARDSLEY, - - 105

THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT, BY ELISHA L. CLEAVELAND, 121

NOTICE OF THE EARLY POMOLOGISTS IN NEW HAVEN, BY

NATHANIEL A. BACON, - - 139

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PRESIDENT JEFFERSON AND

ABRAHAM BISHOP, - - 143

BISHOP BERKELEY'S GIFTS TO YALE COLLEGE, BY DANIEL

C. GILMxYN, .-.-..-...- 147

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, <fec., BY

HENRY BRONSON, 171

EECOED OF THE ORGANIZATION

NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

At a meeting of the Court of Comraon Council of the city of
New Haven, lield at the City Hall, Monday evening, October Gth,
1862, the following memorial was presented :

" The subscribers, citizens of New Haven, respectfully repre-
sent, that in none of the towns within the limits of the ancient
New Haven Colony does there exist any organization for the col-
lection and preservation of books, maps, newspapers, pamphlets or
other documents, or relics illustrating its past or its current
history.

"Associations of this nature are common in other cities, and
often subserve important public ends by the facilities they present
for the determination of questions connected with boundaries,
wat^r courses, highways, municipal domain, &c., with the pub-
lic health, with the increase of population, and with other subjects
of importance to the general welfare. They further tend to cul-
tivate a laudable spirit of attachment to the places of our birth or
residence.

"An Association for such objects, open to all who may wish to
unite with it, is proposed by a number of our citizens, on condition

RECOKD OF TnE ORGANIZATION

that a room suitable for its purposes can be obtained in the new-
City [lall.

"The design of the Association is to vest in the city tlie ulti-
mate ownership of such books, papers, &c., as they may collect ;
and they respectfully request the cooperation of the City and
Town Authorities in the furtherance of this useful public project,
by appropriating a suitable room in the City Hall for the use of
the Association, when duly formed.

Thoin<is R. Trowbridge,
v. S. Charnlej',
Chas. Atwater, Jr.,
P. S. Galpin,
J. S. Griflang,
Frederick Croswell,
H. M. Welch,
Lucius G. Peck,

George H. Watrous,
E. T. Foote,
Horace Day,
T. B. Townsend,
E. K Foster,
J. T. Colli8,
G. H. Scranton,
Francis Wnyland,

James M. Woodward,
Morris Tyler,
William Downes,
Chas. W. AUen,
A. McAlister,
E. S. Quintard,
Henry E. Pardee.

" On motion of Councilman Watrous, the foregoing Memorial
was referred to the Mayor and Aldermen, to confer with the Board
of Selectmen of the Town, with power to grant the prayer of the
petitioners, if, upon such conference, it should be deemed ad-
visable."

Attested by William Downes, City Clerh, in the Common
Coimcil Records, Vol. VIII., p. 307.

Saturday Evening, October 11th, 1862.

" At a meeting of the Mayor and Aldermen of the City, and the
Selectmen of the Town, held at the Mayor's office, to consider the
petition of Thomas R. Trowbridge and others for the use of a
room in the City Hall for the New Haven Historical Association,
it was voted to grant the use of the room and vault on the third
floor of the building, the same being over the Collector's office,
for such use and purpose, so long as said City and Town have no

OF THE NEW HAVEN' COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIET\. 3

occasion to occupy the same ; it being understood that the City
and Town shall be at no expense in fitting up said rooms."

Attested by Mayor II. M. Welch, as one of the Committee, in
Vol. I., p. 13, of the Records of the Mayor and Aldermen,

Tuesday Evening, October 21st, 1862.

At an informal meeting of signers to the foregoing memorial,
held at No. 11, Leffingwell Building, Frederick Croswell, Esq., was
appointed Chairman, and Horace Day, Esq., Secretary. On motion
of James M. Woodward, Esq., the Chairman and Secretary were
appointed a Committee to take such measures as may seem neces-
sary, preliminary to a public meeting for the organization of a
New Haven Colony Historical Society.

In accordance with such appointment, the Committee made
arrangements for a meeting of gentlemen known to be interested
in the formation of a Historical Society, to be held Monday
Evening, October 27th, 1862.

Monday Evening, October 27th, 1862.

The following named gentlemen met, by invitation, at the house
of Wm. A. Reynolds, Esq., No. 20 Elm street. (The house
stands on the home-lot and is built on the cellar of the dwelling of
John Davenport, the first minister of New Haven.)

Wm. A. Reynolds, E. Edwards Beardsley, Pierrepont B. Foster,

Chas. Atwater, Jr., Henry Bronson, Charles R. IngersoU,

Leonard Bacon, Frederick Croswell, Samuel Punderson,

John "W. Barber, Horace Day, Leonard I. Sanford.
Timothy Bishop,

Mr. Reynolds was requested to preside. After a free inter-
change of views on the subject which had called them together, a
Committee, consisting of Henry White, Esq., Leonard Bacon, D. D.,
Horace Day, Esq., Frederick Croswell, Esq., and Henry Bron-
Bon, M. D., were appointed to propose a plan for the organization

4 RECORD OF THE ORGANIZATION

of a Historical Society, and to call a public meeting of citizens, to
whom such plan should be submitted for approval.

Friday Afternoon, November Vth, 1862.

The Committee above named met at the office of Henry White,
Esq., and having agreed upon Articles of Association, pro}»er to
be presented to the consideration of their fellow-citizens, issued
through the several daily uewsjiapers of the City the following
call for a public meeting :

"NEW HAVEN HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

" At a meeting of gentlemen assembled at the house of Wm. A.
Reynolds, Esq., the undersigned were appointed a Committee to
prepare a plan for the organization of a Historical Society for the
ancient Colony of New Haven, and to call a public meeting of
citizens interested in the preservation of our local records and
traditions to whom such plan should be submitted.

" In accordance Avith this aj^pointmeut, the Committee give
notice that such public meeting will be held this (Friday) eve-
ning, at 1^ o'clock, at the office of the Mayor, to which all who
are interested in the formation of the proposed Association are
respectfully invited."

(Signed) Henry White,

Leonard Bacon,
Horace Day,
Frederick Croswell,
Henry Bronson.
Aew Haven, Nov. 14t/i, 18G2.

OF THE NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 5 '

Fkiday Evening, Nov. 14th, 1862.

At a meeting of citizens called at the office of the Mayor, for
the formation of a Historical Society, there were present

Harmanus M. Welch, Mayor, Charles L. Chaplain, Luzon B. Morris,

James F. Babcock, William S. Charnley, Frederick W. Northrop,

Leonard Bacon, Horace Day, William S. Porter,

E. Edwards Beardsley, William Downes, Samuel Punderson,

Sylvanus Butler, Elial T. Foote, William A. Reynolds,

Samuel C. Blackman, William Goodwin, William E. Sanford,

Fisk Parsons Brewer, John C. Hollister, Alfred Walker,

Henry Bronson, Charles R. Ingersoll, George H. Watrous,

Elisha Lord Cleaveland, Henry C. Kingsley, Henry White.

The meeting was called to order by Henry White, Esq. Mayor
Welch was appointed Chairman, and Horace Day, Esq., Secretary.
Mr. White stated the object for which the meeting had been called,
and that the plan proposed by the Committee for the organization
of a Historical Society was in the hands of the Secretary. It was
ordered to be read, and was then taken up, article by article,
and after amendments and additions, was adopted, as follows :

CONSTITUTION.

Article 1. This association shall be known as the New Haven
Colony Historical Society.

Article 2. The object of the Society shall be to collect and pre-
serve such books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, maps, plans,
charts, paintings, engravings, lithographs, and other pictorial rep-
resentations ; manuscripts, autograph letters, curiosities and anti-
quities of every kind as may be connected with or may illustrate
the local history of the towns included within the ancient New
Haven Colony ; to preserve such traditions as now exist only in the
memories of aged persons ; to encourage historical and antiqua-
rian investigation and to disseminate historical information.

Article 3. A President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer

6 RECORD OF THE ORGANIZATION.

and an Advisory Committee of not less than ten members, shall be
annually chosen on the last Monday of November.

Article 4. These officers shall together constitute a Board of
Directors, Avho shall have charge of the collections made by the
Society, shall provide regulations for their safety and proper use,
and shall prepare business for the regular meetings of the Society.

Article 5. Any person may become a life member of the
Society by the payment of twenty-five dollars ; or an annual mem-
ber by the payment of one dollar.

Article 6. The Mayor of the City of New Haven, the Presi-
dent of Yale College, and the Town Clerk of New Haven, shall
be ex-officio members of the Advisory Committee ; and the Alder-
men of the City, and the Selectmen of the Town of New Haven,
shall be ex-officio members of the Society.

Article 7. The Society shall hold its meetings on the last Mon-
day evening of each alternate month, and at such other times as
the Directors may appoint.

Article 8. The Collections made by the Society shall never be
broken uj3 by sale nor by division among its members, nor shall
they ever be removed from New Haven ; nor shall any article be
exchanged or disposed of except by the unanimous vote of the
Directors or by the consent of the donors.

Article 9. This Constitution, with the exception of the eighth
Article, (which is of the nature of a contract,) may be altered or
amended by a two-third vote of the members present at any
annual meeting ; provided, that notice of such amendment shall
have been given at some meeting at least one mouth previous.

Monday Evening, December 29th, 1862.

The following By-Laws, proposed by a Committee consisting of
Rev. Dr. Beardsley, Henry White, Esq., and Charles R. Ingersoll,
Esq., and recommended by the Directors, were unanimously
adopted :

OF THE NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 7

MEMBERS AND OFFICERS.

I. Life-members, wherever resident, and annual members re-
siding within the limits of the ancient Colony, or the present
County of New Haven, shall alone be entitled to vote in the meet-
ings of the Society; and the term of all annual memberships
shall exj:)ire with the Annual Meeting next after subscriptions are
paid.

II. Honorary members may be chosen by ballot at a regular
meeting of the Society, at which not less than ten members are
present, upon nomination of the Directors ; provided, such nomi-
nations shall have been made at a previous regular meeting.
They shall consist of persons residing out of the Colony and
County of New Haven, Avho may be distinguished for important
public service to the cause of historic investigation and general
literature.

III. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Society
and of the Directors ; shall call, by himself or the Secretary, special
meetings, when required by five members, and shall deliver or
make provision for an address at the Annual Meeting.

IV. The Secretary shall have custody of the files, records and
seal of the Society, and shall keep an accurate journal of its pro-
ceedings, and also of the proceedings of the Directors.

V. The first elected member of the Advisory Committee shall
conduct the correspondence of the Society.

VI. The Treasurer shall receive all fees for membership, and all
other moneys due, and all donations or bequests of money made
to the Society ; shall .pay upon the order of the President such
accounts as may be approved by the Directors or the Society, and
shall, at the Annual Meeting, render a minute statement of his re-
ceipts and disbursements, and of the property and debts of the
Society, which statement shall be examined and audited by a Com-
mittee appointed at such meeting for that purpose.

VII. The Directors may appoint a Librarian and Curator, who

8 KECOKD OF THE ORGANIZATION

sliall, uiulev tlicir supervision, arrange, protect and catalogue all
books, pamphlets, manuscripts and other articles deposited in the
rooms of the Society ; and shall, before every Annual Meeting,
make a full report to the Board of the condition of the library
and collections.

YIII. The Directors shall provide for the reading of one or
more papers upon historical subjects at each regular meeting of
the Society ; or for the delivery of a historical lecture — the manu-
scripts of which, with the consent of the authors, shall be owned
and preserved by the Society.

IX. Committees on the various departments of the action of
the Society may be appointed by the Directors to report, as the
Board from time to time may prescribe.

MEETINGS.

X. The Directors shall meet on the last Monday evening of each
alternate month, and at such other times as the President may
specify ; and five shall constitute a quorum.

XI. Notice of the Annual Meeting of the Society shall be given
in one or more public prints ; and in all meetings duly called and
notified, ten members shall be a quorum for the transaction of any
business.

XII The order of proceedings at the meetings of the Society
shall be as follows :

1. To read the minutes of the preceding meeting.

2. To report donations.

3. To read letters received in corresj^ondence.
4 To attend to unfinished business.

5. To receive written communications or lectures.

6. To receive verbal communications.

7. To transact miscellaneous business.

DONATIONS AND DEPOSITS.
XIII. All donations to the Society and deposits with the same,
shall be entered in a book kept for that purpose, and reported to

OF THE NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 9

the next regular meeting of the Society, and proper written
acknowledgments shall be made therefor.

XIV. Any alteration of these By-Laws may be made at a regu-
lar meeting of the Society, such alterations having been proposed
at a previous meeting or by the Directors.

At a meeting of the Society, held March 30th, 1863, on motion
of Hon. William W. Boardman, the officers were requested to take
measures for obtaining a Charter for the Society, from the Legis-
lature of the State. Henry White, Esq., and Charles R. Inger-
soll, Esq., Avere appointed a Committee for this purpose, who sub-
sequently j^resented the following Charter, as having been granted
by the Legislature. It was accepted by a unanimous vote of the
Society, at its Annual Meeting, November 30th, 1863.

CHARTER.

General Assembly of the State of Connecticut )
May Session, 1863. ' )

Upon the petition of Henry White and others, showing that they,
with sundry other persons, have formed a Society called The
New Haven Colony Historical Society, for the collection, preser-
vation, and publication of historical and genealogical matter re-
lating to the early settlement and subsequent history, especially
of New Haven and its vicinity, and incidentally of other por-
tions of the United States ; which object is deemed to be of
piiblic interest and utility ; and praying for an act of incorpora-
tion for these purposes : —

Mesolved hy this Assembly, That Henry White, E. Edwards
Beardsley, Leonard Bacon, Henry Bronson, William A. Reynolds,
Thomas R. Trowbridge, Samuel Punderson, Frederick Croswell,
Horace Day, Elial T. Foote, Henry C. Kingsley, Charles L.
English, Elisha L. Cleaveland, Charles R. Ingersoll, and their asso-
ciates, the present members of said Society, and their successors,
be, and they hereby are constituted, a body corporate by the name

10 RECOKD OF THE ORGANIZATION.

of "The New Haven Colony Historical Society," and by that
name shall have perpetual succession, shall be capable of suing
and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, and also of pur-
chasing, receiving, holding and conveying any estate, real or per-
sonal ; may have a common seal, and the same may change at
pleasure ; may establish such rules and by-laws, not contrary to
the charter or the laws of this State, as they may from time to
time deem necessary or convenient, relating to the qualifications
and admission of members, the times and places of meetings, the
election of officers, and all other matters connected with the
objects, membership, and government, of said corporation : pro-
vided hoicever, that said corporation shall not hold, at any one
time, real estate, the annual income of which shall exceed five
thousand dollars.

And be it farther resolved. That the President of Yale College,
the Mayor of the City of New Haven, and the Town Clerk of the
Town of New Haven, shall be, ex-officio, members of said corpora-
tion.

And he it further resolved, That said corporation shall meet
once in each year for the election of a President, Secretary,
Treasurer, and such other officers as may be designated, from time
to time, by the rules and by-laws of said corporation : provided
however, that in case of a failure to hold an annual meeting, or
elect its officers, said corporation shall not thereby be dissolved ;
but the officers of said corporation may and shall continue to
exercise the powers and duties of their several offices, until others
shall be duly appointed in their stead.

A7id be it further resolved, Thn*. the first meeting of said corpo-
ration shall be held in the City Hall, in New Haven, at such time
as shall be designated by Horace Day, notice thereof being pre-
viously given in one or more newspapers printed in said New
Haven: provided hoioever, that this act shall be subject to be re-
vok d or altered, at the pleasure of the General Assembly.

Approved, June 17th, 1863.

THE NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

ELECTED NOVEMBER 28th, A. D. 1864.

President,

HENRY WHITE.

Vice-President,

E. EDWARDS BEARDSLET.

Secretary,

HORACE DAY.

Treasurer,

NATHAN PECK.

IDIIiECTOIiS.

Leonard Bacon,
Henry Bronson,
Thomas R. Trowbridge,
Elial T. Foote,
Charles L. English,
Charles R. Ingersoll,
James M. Woodward,

Curator and Librarian

William A. Reynolds,
Samuel Punderson,
Henry C. Kingsley,
Elisha L. Cleaveland,
John W. Barber,
Henry Button,
Nathaniel A. Bacon.

-John T. Collis.

ornoEEs or the society eeom its orqanization.

President,
Henry White,

1862.

Vice President,
E. Edwards Beardsley, 1862.

Horace Day,

Secretary,

1862.

Treasurer,
William S. Charnley, 1862-1863.
Nath.vn Peck, 1863.

IDIIIECXOIIS.

Leonard Bacon, 1862.

♦Frederick Croswell, 1862-1863.

Henry Bronson, 1862.

Elial T. Foote, 1862.

William A. Reynolds, 1862.

Henry C. Kingsley, 1862.

Thomas R. Trowbridge, 1862.

Charles L. English, 1862.

_^ Samuel Punderson, 1862.

Elisha L. Cleaveland, 1862.

Charles R. Ingersoll, 1862.
Edward H. Leffingwell, 1863-1864.

John W. Barber, 1864.

James M. Woodward, 1864.

Henry Button, 1864.

Nathaniel A. Bacon, 1864.

Curator and Librarian — John T. Collis, 1863.

• Deceased.

LIST OF MEMBERS

NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

FROM ITS ORGANIZA:TION to may, 1865.

LIFE MEMBERS.

Henry White, 18C2

Thomas R. Trowbridge, "

Charles L. English "

Henry Bronson, "

Leveret t Cimdee,* "

Eli Whitney, "

James Brewster, "

Joseph E. Sheffield, "

Nathan Beck, "

Wm. W. Boardman, "

Ilenrj' Trowbridge, "

Hervey San ford "

Augustus R. Street "

Pelatiah Perit,f "

John A. Davenport,^ 1862

Roger S. Baldwin, § "

James M. Townsend, "

Henry Hotcldiiss "

Erastus C. Scran ton, "

Cornelius S. Bushnell, "

Miiry L. Hillhouse, "

James E. English, "

Lucius Hotchkiss, "

Ezra C. I!ead, 1863

Richard S. Fellowes "

Nathan Beers Ives "

William B. Goodyear, 1^64

ANNUAL MEMBERS.

Luzon B. Morris From 1862

Harmanus M. Welch, "

Elial T. Konte, "

James F. Babenck, "

AVilliam Slater Charnley "

Leonard Bacon From 1862

Jiimes Mont. Woodward, "

William A. Reynolds "

William Goodwin, "

Samuel C. Blackman,| "

Deceased, 1865. f Ibid., 1864. % Ibid., 1864. § Ibid., 1863. J| Ibid., 1864.

MEMBEKS OF THE SOCIFITT.

C. G. Bcntcl 1862

AVillinni K. Sniifoid "

Richaid M. Clarke "

Chai-h-sR. Iiii^crsoll, "

Wilson II. Clark "

Horace Day "

E. Edwards Beardsley, "

Jolin W. BarbiT "

William S. Porter, "

William Dowiiefi, "

Alfred Walker '•

Charles Atwater, Jr "

Elisha L. Cleaveland "

Frederick Croswell * "

Leonard J. Sanford, "

Miiiott A. Oshorn, "

William li. Baldwin, "

Edwin A. Tucker, "

W. II. H. Blrtckman "

George B. Brt>sett, "

James Gall.igher "

Co'in RI. Intiersoli "

An^^ustiis Lilies "

Henrj- S. Johnson, "

Amos Townsend, "

Henry C. Kingsley, "

Isaae Thomson "

Raymond A. White, "

Walter Osborn, "

Levi B. Bradley "

Henry D White, "

Francis Wayland, Jr., "

Austin A. Hill "

John S. Graves '•

Ralph I. Intfersoll "

Ezekiel H. Trowbridge, "

Giisiavns R. Elliot "

Alexander McAlister, "

Samuel Punderson "

Phillips. Galpin, "

Pierrepnnt B. Foster, "

Benjamin Noyes, "

John B. Carrington "

Charles Peterson "

Jon ithan Knight. •)• "

Tilton E. Doolitllo "

Charles S. A. Davis, "

Marcus Meriiman,^ "

Will),ir F. Day "

Nathaniel A. Bacon "

George II. Walrous, "

Sidnt-y M. Stone "

Henry Diitton, "

E. Hayes Trowbridge, "

James M. Whiton "

TTenrj' B. Flarison 1862

Frederick W.J. Sizer, "

Henry 15. Smith "

William Fitch, "

Henry Peek • • "

Philemon Hoadley.^ "

Eiihu Yale .' "

Uhanncoy Goodrich "

Sidney A. Thomas, J "

Theodore D. Wnolsey, - "

Ilenry E. Pardee, "

Georjge •*. Fisher, "

John B Robertson, "

John T. Collis "

isriiel llarri-=on *•

Andrew L. Kidston "

Benjamin Silliman, Jr. '*

Lemuel S. Pimderson, "

Howard Sherman, "

Charles N. Johnson "

George C. Dickeiinan, "

David L Ogden.f "

David W. Buckingham "

Daniel Trowbridge "

Susan Trowbridge "

Worthington Hooker, "

Sherman W. Knevals,** "

Daniel C. Gihnan, "■

William T. Eustis, Jr., "

William C. Fowler "

Alfred S. Moueon, "

William Johnson, "

Stephen D. J'ardee "

Leonard Bradley, "

Noah Porter "

Edward E. Salisbury, "

Philos Blake ' "

Charles Tliompson "

James M. Mason, "

William W. Prescott, "

(^harles Fabriqne, "

William W. Rodman, "

J. dm Ritter "

Nathan H. Sanford, "

Samuel W. S. Diitton, "

Edward E. Atwater "

Henry T. Blake, "

Gardner Morse, "

Benjamin Siliiman,f f "

H. Odenkirehen "

Andrew W. PeForest, "

Nathan Smith "

Charles Hooker, J J "

Samuel Hayes, "

S. J. Hayes, "

* Deceased, 1863. f ^^'^(f; 1864. :f Ibid, 1864. § Jbid.,l8&S. |1 Md., 18&5.
Tl Ibid, 1863. •• Ibid., 1863. ff Ibid., 1S64. XX -^t'<^-. 1863.

MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

Eleazer T. Fitch 18G2

Martha D. W. Reynolds, "

Harry I'rescott, "

Edwin Harwood "

William L. Kinj^sley, "

Thomas H. Pease, "

Samuel Noyes, "

Lucius Gilbert "

Spencer T. Pai melee "

Amos F. Barnes,.., "

Edward H. Townsend, "

Charles A. Lind-lcy, "

Edward 11. Leffingwell "

John P. Atwater "

Samuel P. Bowles, "

John H. Benham, "

W. R. II. Trowbridge "

Edwin Marble "

Lucien W. Sperry, *'

Charles H. Bimce, "

David J. Peck "

Henry B. Oatman "

Nathaniel F. Thompson, "

Benjamin F. Mansfield, "

E. Iluggins Bishop "

William B. DeForest, "

Patrick Morrissy, "

Thomas N. DeBowes, "

William B. Bristol "

Louis H. Bi istol, "

Simeon E. Baldwin, "

Elam Hull, Jr. "

Ruel P. Cowles, "

Elias Pierpont '•

Henry Trowbridge, 2d, "

John E. Earle, "

Morris Tyler , "

S. Dryden Phelps "

David A. Tyler "

Norton J. Buel,* ; "

Joseph Sheldon, "

Amos Gilbert "

George H. Scranton, "

John S. Beach, "

Edward I. Sanford "

Samuel Rowland "

Sidney M. Stone "

Robert H. Osborn "

Frederick P. Gorham 1862

James AVinship, "

Henry 0. Hotchkiss, 1863

Thomas II. Totten, "

John M. Garfield, "

WyllysPeek, "

Fisk P. Brewer "

Edward C. Beecher "

Arthur I). Osborne, "

t'aleb Mix, "

S. Brvan Jerome,. "

E. Whitney Blake "

Fordyce Beals, "

Beriiih Bradley, "

Nathaniel Jocelyn, 1864

William C. Deforest "

Eli S. Quintard,. . . ., "

Charles Peck, "

Daniel G. Phipps, "

Charles W. Allen, "

Henry O. Beach "

Milton S. Leonard, •'

VV illiam R. Shelton "

Jonathan W. Pond "

Gideon 0. Hotchkiss, "

Noyes C. Mix, "

Atwater Treat, "

Edward Downes, "

Robert Bhiir "

Horace C. Peck "

Charle.f NicoU "

Henry Champion, "

Samuel Mallett, "

Ralph D Smith "

Daniel W. Lathrop "

Henry Wadsworth, "

Ira Merwin, "

Levi Ives, "

James N. Palmer "

David T. Hotchkisss, "

Char!e-> Robinson, "

James W. Goodrich, '*

E. Peck "

George Gill, "

Willis M. Anthony, "

Alfred Daggett, "

Hiram Stevens "

• Deceased, 1864.

THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

By henry white, Esq.,

PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY.

The ancient Colony of New Haven is the special, althongh
not the only field of labor of this Historical Society. In
consequence of the early absorption of the Colony into Con-
necticut, and the obliteration of much of its boundary line,
there is an indistinctness in the conceptions even of many in-
telligent persons, in relation to its peculiar characteristics as a
colony, as well as to its geographical limits. It may be that some
who live on its soil, and are colony horn and lineal descendants
of its ancient worthies, are ignorant that there ever existed
such an independent government. For the purpose of re-
moving some of this indistinctness of conception, it is proposed
in this paper to give a brief account of the origin of the Colony,
its organization, and the arrangement and limits of its territory.

In all these respects, the New Haven Colony differed some-
what from the other three New England colonies with which it
was confederated. It was the youngest sister of this first
Anglo-American family of States, In its origin it had no or-
ganized connection with any chartered company or commercial
association in England, nor with any earlier colony in America.

2 XnE NE^V HAVEN COLONY.

In its construction it was not coeval with the settlement of its
territory ; and its constituent parts were not the products of
the growth and development of the primary settlement, but were,
for the most part, separate organized bodies called plantations,
which by their combination constituted the Colony. In tlie ar-
rangement of its territory it was not compact ; but was com-
posed of three dis(!onnected tracts, separated from each other by
intervening portions of another colony, or b}' a wide body of
water. The similarity of their plantation organizations, and
the identity of their views of the most desirable pattern for
ofovernment in church and state, rendered the fusion of these
scattered settlements into one colony, under the pressure of
outward danger, easy and for a time perfect. Until just before
its dissolution, there were no symptoms of any want of strength
or vigor in its government. It compelled as entire obedience
to all its laws at home, and moved as promptly and efficiently
in all its external relations, as any of its sister colonies. But
the secession of some of these plantations, which, under the
management of their neighbor of Connecticut, preceded and
made inevitable the dissolution of the Colony, was probably ef-
fected more easily by reason of these peculiarities in its forma-
tion and territory. Three of these plantations, New Haven,
Milford and Guilford, were undoubtedly the result of a united
simultaneous effort in England, for the common objects of a
united emigration and of a contiguous settlement. The agri-
cultural portion of these emigrants came mostly from the three
English counties of Yorkshire, Hertfordshire and Kent. It is
not an improbable conjecture that before they left England they
were arranged by these affinities into three companies — tlie
Yorkshire men, for the most part, uniting with the London mer-
chants and tradesmen who settled J^Tew Haven — the Hertford-
shire men forming the bulk of the company which settled Mil-
ford — and the Kentish men going in a body to Guilford. The
careful reader of the early records of the colony will find many
things which favor this hypothesis.

The Colony of New Eaven, or the New Haven Jurisdiction,
as it was more frequently called, was composed of six distinct
plantations, combined in one jurisdiction or government,

THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 3

namely, New Haven, Milfoi'tl 5 Guilford, Stamford, Sonthold(L.
I.) and Branford. Five of these plantations were settled before
the body politic, called the colony, was formed. A brief sketch
of the formation of each of these six plantations will throw
light upon the character of the colony which was formed by
their combination.

The main body of the settlers arrived in the harbor of New
Haven in April, 1038, and remained about fifteen months with-
out af formal civil or ecclesiastical organization. They had
recognized and solemnly affirmed certain general principles
which were to govern their political and ecclesiastical institu-
tions, and they entered into covenant with each other, that
their organizations when formed should conform to these princi-
ples. The Guilford company joined them in the spring of 1639.
During this long interval, the chrysalis period of their life as a
church and state, they accomplished the selection and purchase
from the Indian tribes of the territory which they needed for
their habitation. In these transactions each company acted
separately, although sojourning together. The Indian deed of
New Haven, at first called Quinnipiac, was made to Theophilus
Eaton, John Davenport, and others, November 24, 1638, and
a second deed of a tract on the north of the first purchase, was
made to the same persons December 11, 1638. The Indian
deed of Milford, at first called Wepowauge, was made to Wil-
liam Fowler, Edmond Tapp, Zechariah "Whitman, and others,
February 12, 1639. The Indian deed of Guilford, at first
called Menunkatuck, was made to Henry Whitefield, Robert
Kitchell, William Leete, and others, September 29, 1639.

The title to the territory being accpiired, the next step was
to organize these three companies as political and ecclesiastical
bodies. The New Haven company was the first to move. The
preliminary meeting was held in June, 1639. The organiza-
tion of the church, according to a tradition preserved in Trum-
bull's History of Connecticut, was completed August 22, 1639.
The organized action of the civil community commenced Octo-
ber 25, 1639. In all these proceedings of the New Haven
company, the members of the Milford and Guilford companies
took no part, although they were then residing in New Haven.

4 TnE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

TJie XTiiiltbrd company removed to their purchase in August,
1639, and the Milford company to theirs in November, 1639,
and each company, immediately on entering on the occupation
of its territory, commenced its distinct and independent organ-
ized action. Thus at the close of the year 1639, three inde-
pendent civil and ecclesiastical communities had begun to live
and grow on the north shore of Long Island Sound — alike in
the fundamental, political and religious principles on which
their organizations rested, and alike in the methods by which
they were expecting to strengthen and f)uild upon these founda-
tions.

The fourth plantation of the combination was Stamford, at
first called Rippowams. It commenced its life as an organized
connnunity in the spring of 1641. Its territory was purchased
from the Indian claimants by the planters of the New Haven
plantation, in July, 1640; and in October, 1640, M^as sold by
them to a company composed principally of dissatisfied mem-
bers of the Wethersfield church, who removed to Stamford
early in 1641. At first they were a constituent part of the
New Haven plantation. Such planters as were qualified, were
admitted as freemen of the New Haven plantation, and voted
in New Haven whenever they were able to be present at the
elections. The magistrates and other civil ofiicers of Stamford
were chosen at tlie elections in New Haven, or appointed by
the courts there. The church at Stamford was, however, en-
tirely distinct from the church in New Haven.

Greenwich was an appendage to Stamford. Its territory
was purchased from the Indians by Robert Feake and Captain
Patrick, in 1640, with the intent, as was claimed by the people
of New Haven, of annexing it to New Haven. But the first
planters, under the guidance of Capt. Patrick, endeavored, in
1642, to put themselves under the jurisdiction of the adjacent
Dutch government of New Amsterdam. In 1650 the territory
was ceded by the Dutch to the New Haven Colony. Its in-
habitants at first refused submission ; but in 1656 they ac-
knowledged the authority of the New Haven Jurisdiction, and
became a part of the plantation of Stamford.

The fifth plantation was Southold, on Long Island, at first

THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 5

called yennicock. This place came into notice as a civil (commu-
nity in April, 1642. Its territory was purchased from the In-
dian tribes in the summer of 1640, by the New Haven planta-
tion, and was settled by a company from Hingham, in the
county of Norfolk, in Old England. Like Stamford, it was for
a time a constituent part of the New Haven plantation. The
inconvenience of attending tlie general courts in New Haven
from Southold, was no greater than from Stamford. The title
to its territory M'as not formally conveyed to the planters of
Southold until the 25th of June, 1649.

These live plantations. New Haven, Milford, Guilford, Stam-
ford and Southold, were the original, component parts of the
New Haven Colony. Branford, at first called Totokett, the
sixth plantation of the combination, was not organized as a
civil community until 1644, the year after the Colony com-
menced its political existence. The territory of Branford was
for the most part included in the second purchase made by the
New Haven planters from the Indians, in December, 1638.
Tliere was an abortive attempt in 1640 to establish a settle-
ment there, by Rev. Samuel Eaton, a brother of Theophilus
Eaton. After its failure, the territory of Totokett was again
sold by the New HaVen planters to William Swaine and others,
from Wethersfield, who, in consequence of the continued diffi-
culties in the church there, had determined to seek anew home.
They were joined in 1644 by the church of Southampton, on
Long Island, under the guidance of Rev. Abraham Pierson.
Upon the union with Connecticut, this church, with its pastor,
removed again, to Newark, in New Jersey, for the same reasons
which had led to their former removal to Branford. They
wished to be free to carry out their cherished plan of a pure
church and a godly government, in the ways they judged best
adapted to that end — and one of their ways, not the least in
importance in their judgment, was, to restrict all political
power to members of the church. Connecticut would receive
no such plant among her vines. It was in truth an exotic in
our fallen world ; and when transplanted again, found the soil
of New Jersey not a whit more favorable to its growth and de-
velopment than that of Connecticut.

b THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

From tliis account of the ori<j::iii of the six plantations which
composed the Colony of New Haven, it ajipears that no one of
them can be considered as properly an off-shoot or growth from
tlie New Haven plantation. The territory of the last tliree
was indeed purchased by the New Haven plantation, and no
doubt for the express purpose of promoting the settlement of
planters of like principles with themselves in church and state ;
but in every instance the planters who formed the settlements
were not, in any appreciable number, colonists from the New
Plaven company. They were bodies of men already associated,
to some extent, before they came into the neighborhood of New
Haven. Only one colony, strictly so called, was attempted by
the New Haven people. This enterprise was in 1641, at Dela-
ware Bay, Land was purchased from the Indians on both
sides of the Delaware river, and a settlement commenced on
the east side, at a place now called Salem, in the southern part
of the State of New Jersey. A number of families removed
thither from New Haven. A few months, however, after they
landed, they were dispersed and compelled to abandon the set-
tlement by a combined force of the Dutch and Swedes, both of
whom chiimed the territory. The parent plantation at New
Haven was too distant to give them timely support, and the
two colonies of the Dutch and Swedes, although jealous of
each other, were more jealous of these enterprising English
settlers. This first disaster occurred in 1642, About two years
afterward, a second attempt was made. A vessel was sent from
Ne^v Haven with anotlier colony, destined for the same place ;
hnt on its way thither, incautiously entering the port of New
Amsterdam, for the purpose of completing its outfit, it was
seized by the Dutch government of that colony as soon as its
destination was discovered, and was compelled to return to
New Haven, with considerable loss of property. Ten years
alter this, in 1654, a movement was again made in New Haven
to fit out another expedition to the same place, with a third
colony, and leave M'as given to the Deputy Governor and one
of tlie military officers of the place to go with them ; hut the
report of a considerable addition to the numbers and strength
of the Swedish colony on the Delaware, discouraged the ad-

THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 7

venturers, and the scheme was then finally abandoned. The
first colony, in 1641, did not remain long enough to be organ-
ized as a distinct plantation, or even to acquire a distinctive
name. Its only appellation was, " The settlement at Delaware,"
or " at Delaware Bay."

The combination of the six plantations into the New Haven
Colony or Jurisdiction occurred in the same year with the Con-
federation of the four New England Colonies of Plymouth,
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Haven, and was brought
about by the pressure of the same danger from without. The re-
port of combinations among the Indian tribes for the purpose of
destrovingi; the English settlements had occasioned great alarm,
which was increased by the suspicion that the French were in-
stigating these movements. To meet this danger, the Confede-
ration of the four colonies was formed May 19. 1643. The
combination of the plantations around New Haven commenced
about April, 1643, and was completed in October of the same
year.

The first allusion on our record to such an union is on the 6th
of April, 1643, when Mr. Eaton and Mr. Gregson M'ere appointed
by the General Court of the New Haven Plantation, commis-
sioners for the Jurisdiction of New Haven, to go to Massachusetts
to treat about the Confederation. The word jurisdiction in this
record describes what was expected rather than what was ac-
complished. The New Haven plantation, with its dependencies
of Stamford and Southold, miglit, with some propriety, assume
this name ; but it is altogether proljable that there was already
an understanding among the leading men in the independent
plantations adjacent to New Haven that this union was to take
place. Without such an understanding, the New Haven plan-
tation could not have expected to be admitted even as a
contracting party in the Confederation, much less to have had
an equal voice with Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth
in the great questions of making war, raising armies, and nego-
tiating treaties, which were expected to form no inconsiderable
part of the business of the alliance. In July, 1643, Guilford
became formally a member of the New Haven Jurisdiction, and
about the same time, probably a little earlier, Stamford and

8 THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

Sontlioid ceased to be constituent parts of the New Haven plan-
tation, and took the position of distinct plantations and mem-
bers of the Jurisdiction. But the completion of the'combina-
tion was delayed until October by a difficulty with Milford,
which had not built its little State squarely on the foundation
which the other plantations deemed so essential, and which was
supposed to have been secured by their preliminary covenants.
Milford had conferred the privilege of voting and holding office
on a few wlio were not in church fellowsliip. A compromise
was however eifected, by which the freemen already admitted
in Milford, in deviation from this fundamental rule, were to con-
tinue to vote in all meetings within that plantation on matters
relating solely to that plantation, but were excluded from vo-
ting on matters pertaining to the Jurisdiction, and from holding
any public trust for the Jurisdiction ; and no one was thereafter
to be admitted a freeman except in conformity with the fun-
damental rule.

On the 27th of October, 1643, the constitution of the New
Haven Colony M^as formally settled and adopted by the five
plantations then existing. A few months later, in 1044, Bran-
ford, which was then first organized as a plantation, was added
to the number, and completed the Colony. The inchoate state
of the Colony in May, 1643, when the articles of confederation
of the four colonies were signed, is recognized in the language
used in the caption of those articles to describe the contracting
parties. The colony of Massachusetts was styled " Plantations
under the government of Massachusetts," and so Connecticut and
Plymouth were respectively described ; while New Haven is
called the Government of New Haven, with the Plantations in
combination with it. But after October, 1643, the New Haven
Colony could have been appropriately described in the same
terms as the others, viz., as Plantations under the government
of the New Haven Jurisdiction.

As thus completed the New Haven Colony remained an in-
dependent and efficient body politic, not behind its sister colo-
nies in influence and importance, or in the worth and ability of
its public men, until its forced dissolution on the 13th of
December, 1664.

THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 9

The exact limits of the Colony cannot now be easily deter-
mined, in consequence of the changes which have occurred from
time to time in the boundary lines of the towns in our State,
An approximation can however be made.

The territory of the Colony was composed of a central and prin-
cipal portion, and of two outlying tracts on the east, and on
the west, nearly equi-distant from the central portion, and sepa-
rated from it, the one on the east, by the waters of Long Island
Sound, and the one on the west, by an intervening portion of the
colony of Connecticut.

The central and largest portion comprised the principal part
of the present county of New Haven, but did not extend as far
northward. The following towns of the county of New Haven
were not within the limits of the colony : — Southbury, Middle-
bury, "Waterbury, Wolcott and Meriden. A portion of the fol-
lowing towns of the county were outside of the limits of the
colony : Oxford, Naugatuck, Prospect and Cheshire. The south
west part of Durham, now in the county of Middlesex, was in-
cluded in the colony of New Haven.

The present townships of New Haven County, which were
within the bounds of the New Haven Colony, may be arranged
in three tiers — the southern on the shore of the Sound, the
central and the northern. Beginning at the west side of the
county and proceeding eastward, the southern tier includes
Milford, Orange, New Haven, East Haven, Branford, Guilford
and Madison.

The central tier includes Derby, Seymour, Woodbridge,
Bethany, Hamden, North Haven and North Branford.

The northern tier includes part of Oxford, part of Nauga-
tuck, part of Prospect, the largest part of Cheshire, the whole
of Wallingford and a small part of Durham.

The western outlying territory comprises the present town-
ships of Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, and the west part of
New Canaan.

The eastern outlying territory on Long Island comprises the
present townships of Southold and Riverhead, except the islands
of Plum Island, the Gulls and Fishers Island, which now be-

10 THE KEW HAVEN COLONY.

lonf; to the town of Soutliold, but were not included in the
Colony.

Such, in its origin, in its organization and in its territory, was
the old Colony of New Haven ; whose work in helping to lay
broad and deep the foundations of our free and beloved coun-
try we honor, and the memorials of whose departed w^orthies
we gather and with pious care preserve.

Read December 29, 1862.

CIVIL GOVERHENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

By Rev. LEONARD BACON, D. D.

READ JANUARY 26, 1863.

We commonly date the commencement of the New Haven
Colony in the month of April, 1638, — the 15th day of that
month (in the old style) being identiried as the first Christian
Sabbath kept here by a worshiping assembly. The company
of emigrants who kept that Sabbath on a little knoll close by
the creek, in what is now George street, had sailed from Bos-
ton on the 30th of March, the most of them having arrived at
that port in two ships, (one of them the Hector,) probably char-
tered by themselves, on tlie 26th of June, 1637. They had
emigrated from England not as individuals and families look-
ing for new homes, but in a body, and with the purpose of estab-
lishing a community by themselves. England had become an
uncomfortable residence for men of their opinions on the reli-
gious, ecclesiastical, and political questions of the times ; and
impelled by the same motives which brought over to this coun-
try more than twenty thousand English emigrants in the twelve
years from 1628 to 1640, they had undertaken to do their part
towards making a new and better England on this side of the
Atlantic. Not acting under any commission or charter from
the English crown, or from any other human authority, they
considered themselves at liberty to institute for themselves, by
mutual agreement and compact, such government as should be
in their judgment best suited to the ends for which they had
emigrated from their native country.

12 CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

Our President, in the valuable paper which he read to us a
month ago, gave us all the information that can now be had
concerning the arrangements under which the founding of this
new Colony was attempted. That paper suggests the correction
of an error into which the historians have naturally fallen.*
In a meeting of the free planters, on the 4th of June, 1639, for
tiie purpose of founding the civil and ecclesiastical institutions
of their Colony, reference was made, (as the record incidentally
shows,) to a provisional arrangement under which they had
previously acted. The words of the record are, '' Whereas
there was a covenant solemnly made by the whole assembly of
free planters of this plantation, the first day of extraordinary
humiliation which we had after we came together," &c. After-
wards, it is said, " this covenant was called a plantation cove-
nant, to distinguish it from a church covenant, which could not
at that time be made, a church not being then gathered." It
has been inadvertently assumed that the phrase " after we came
together " has the same meaning as if it had been " after we
came to this place." The agreement or formal contract, what-
ever it was called, under which they enlisted in their enter-
prise, must have been made before they sailed from London.
Having neither charter nor commission from any superior au-
thority, and acting simply as a voluntary association or copart-
nership, they must have had articles of agreement — something
in the nature of a constitution and by-laws for the transaction
of their business as a company. Their mutual contract, bind-
ing them to what they knew would be a costly and hazardous
undertaking, must have had some provision for obtaining the
necessary capital, and must have defined the rights and powers
both of the company and of the several stockholders or adven-
turers. It must have defined the method in which the business
of the partnership should be conducted, who should be trustees
or managers, and what should be the form and manner of their
responsibility to the company. If their compact contemplated
originally the i)ossibility of their planting themselves on terri-
tory not covered by the chartered government of Massachu-

* Trumbull, I., 97.

CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 13

setts, it must have included some plan for at least a provisional
government of their Colony in that contingency. Business
men of large experience, like Eaton, Gregson, Goodyear, and
others, would hardly have engaged in an enterprise requiring
a capital of £36,000 — certainly they would not have hazarded
in it all their dearest earthly hopes — without some well-con-
sidered and definite contract among the partners.

The " plantation covenant " mentioned in the record to which
I have referred, seems to have been a religious agreement addi-
tional to their original compact as a business copartnership.
It may have been made after the company, with the reinforce-
ments which it gathered in Massachusetts, had actually "come
together" for their migration to this place. In such circum-
stances, they would of course find a scriptural precedent for a
" day of extraordinary humiliation " before their embarkation.
The example of Ezra was before them — the same example
which John Robinson and the pilgrimsofLeyden had imitated
before the embarkation on the Speedwell at Delft-Haven, when
Robinson preached from the words, (Ezra viii. 21,) "Then I
proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might
afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for
us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance." It is a
curious coincidence, and perhaps not absolutely undesigned,
that as Ezra (viii. 31) and his company " departed from the
river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go
unto Jerusalem ;" so the farewell letter to the government of
Massachusetts, subscribed by Davenport and Eaton, in behalf
of their associates, is dated " the 12th day of the first month."
Among the solemnities of their " day of extraordinary humilia-
tion," wherever it may have been kept, was an act of religious
covenanting. That act was in some sort a substitute for the
formal covenant by which a Congregational church is consti-
tuted, and which every member takes upon himself at his ad-
mission to full communion. For reasons Mdiicli to them seemed
conclusive, but which are unknown to us, a church could not
be constituted at that time. In some instances a company of
emigrants became a church, in the Congregational v^ay, before
leaving England, and came across the Atlantic with their ec-

14: CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

clesiastieal institutions already organized.* This was done by
the company who settled the town of Windsor : — they formed
their church at Plymouth, in England, the place of their ren-
dezvous and embarkation, on a day set apart for fasting and
prayer, (which they doubtless would have described as " the
first day of extraordinary humiliation which we had after we
came together ; ") and as a church, with pastor and teacher, they
came first to Dorchester, in Massachusetts, in 1630, and five
years afterwai'ds removed to Windsor. But for some reason
"the free planters" of Eaton's company judged it impractica-
ble for them to constitute a church " the first day of extraordi-
nary humiliation which they had after they came together,"
(whether in England or in Massachusetts;) and therefore, as
Christian men, the}' formed, with religious solemnities, a sacred
compact, which " was called a plantation covenant to distin-
guish it from a church covenant which could not at that time
be made."

The purport of the plantation covenant — though not a for-
mal copy of it — is distinctly given in the record. It is in these
words : " That as in matters that concern the gathering and
ordering of a church, so likewise in all public ofiices which
concern civil order, as choice of magistrates and officers, making
and repealing of laws, dividing of allotments of inheritance,
and all things of like nature, we would all of us be ordered by
those rules which the Scripture holds forth to us." Obviously,
this is more like a provisional church covenant, than it is like
a provisional arrangement for the civil government of their
Colony. It is nothing else than a religious bond, by which
the}'^ promised each other, with solemn vows to God, that in
the work before them of founding a church and a state, they
would be guided by the rules of duty given in what they unan-
imously recognized as the word of God. As Christian men,
holding in the memorable words of Stillingfleet, that " the
Bible alone is the religion of Protestants," they were to be
governed by the Bible, both " in matters that concern the gath-
ering and ordering of a church," and "likewise in all public
offices [duties] which concern civil order." They made a sol-

* Contributions to Ecclesiastical History of Conn ,511.

CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY, 15

emn covenant witli each other and with God, that in choosing
their magistrates and officers, in making and repealing laws for
the government of their civil commonwealth, and in the parti-
tion and tenure of real estate, (which I understand to be the
meaning of tlie phrase " dividing allotments of inheritance,
and all things of like nature,") they would, individually, [" all
of us,"] be governed — not merely by religious motives and im-
pulses— but by such "rules" as were given to them in the
Bible, which was their religion. How far they understood,
and in what respects they misunderstood the Bible as a rule of
duty, it would be aside from my present purpose to inquire.
But I may say that when they covenanted to govern them-
selves in all their work of founding a Christian church and a
Christian state by those rules of duty which they should find
in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, they only
professed distinctly and explicitly what all Christian men pro-
fess implicitly. Our age is doubtless much more enlightened
than theirs ; but even in this age the man who would profess
that his religion is purely ecclesiastical, and has no control over
his conduct as a member of society and an elector in a self-gov-
erned connnon wealth, would be regarded infill churches of all
denominations as a very scurvy Christian at the best.

The provisional government, then, under which the Colony
continued for more than a year after the landing in April,
1638, was not constituted by the "plantation covenant," but
ranst have been arranged in the original agreement, or articles
of copartnership under which the " free planters" associated in
England. So flir as I am informed, only two documents are
now in existence from which we can make any inference con-
cerning that provisional government. The first is the farewell
letter, already referred to, which was addressed to the govern-
ment of Massachusetts eighteen da_ys before the company set
sail from Boston for " the parts about Quillypieck," and which
being evidently, though not formally, written in the name of
the company, is subscribed by John Davenport and Theophi-
lus Eaton, as if they had authority to speak for the rest.* The

* Savage's Winthrop, I., App. G, p. 48-i.

16 CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

other is the deed — or ratlier two deeds — by wliich the Indians
of thisphice and its vicinity ceded their ownership of tlie soil,
(whatever it may have been.) One of those deeds is entitled,
" Articles of agreement between Theophilus Eaton and John
Davenport and others, English planters at Qninopiocke, on the
one party," and a certain "Indian Sachem of Qninopiocke"
and his counselors (whose names are of little consequence to
us) "on the other party." The other is in like manner entitled
" Articles of agreement betwixt Theophilus Eaton, John Da-
venport, and sundry other English planters at Quinnypiork, on
the one part," and a native chief on the other part.* It seems
then that the power of speaking in behalf of " the free plant-
ers" as a company, and of purchasing land for them and enter-
ing into stipulations and contracts with the natives, was chiefly
in the hands of those two men. In all respects Eaton was the
natural and proper leader of the enterprise, considered as a com-
mercial adventure or as a political experiment. His eminence as
a London merchant, his public service as representative of King
Charles I., at the court of Denmark, and his former relation to
the Massachusetts Colony as one of the Assistants or Directors
before the charter of the corporation was brought over from
England to this country, made him, in all commercial and civil
respects, the most conspicuous man in the company. His share
in the capital of the company was three times greater than that
of any other partner, being £3,000, or one-twelfth of the whole,
Davenport was one of the nine whose shares in the capital of
the company were each £1,000 ; and his superiority of learning
and talents, as well as his conspicuousness as vicar of a metro-
politan parish, and as a leader of the Puritan party in the
Church of England, made him as naturally and fitly the eccle-
siastical leader of the enterprise. The power of acting for the
company, and probably of directing their aifairs, seems to have
been chiefly in the hands of these two men — though limited,
DO doubt, by the articles of agreement, and limited, of course,
by the necessity of constant consultation with their associates.
We cannot presume that the general meeting of the freeplant-

* Col. Rec, I., 1-7.

CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 17

ers, on the fourth of June, 1639, was tlie first meeting of the
kind.

But whatever that provisional government was, the free
phmters seem to have been in no haste to get rid it. It was
not till the 25tli of October, 1689, when the planters had oc-
cupied their purchased territory more than eighteen months,
that the new civil government was completely instituted and
formall}'- installed. The meeting of June 4th, (commonly
spoken of as the meeting in Mr. ^Newman's barn,) was "a
meeting to consult about settling civil government according
to God, and about the nomination of persons that might be
found by consent of all fittest for the foundation work of a
church." As we read the record of that meeting, so carefully
and clearly written, whatever may be "Our disposition to find
fault, we cannot but admire the distinctness, the deliberateness,
and the unanimity of the proceedings. The result may be
summed up tlius : First, the free planters, without a dissenting
vote, though not without discussion, adopted what was after-
wards called the Fundamental Agreement, — " namely, that
church members only shall be free burgesses, — and they only
shall choose among themselves magistrates and officers to have
the power of transacting all public civil afi'airs of this planta-
tion, of making and repealing laws, dividing inheritances, de-
ciding of differences that may arise, and doing all things and
businesses of like nature." Secondly, twelve men (or, as their
names are given on the record, eleven) were chosen to designate
from among themselves, or from among others whom they
should publicly nominate as candidates for that trust, the seven
founders of the church and of the state. The act of those
seven in founding the church, was to make them free burgesses
in the commonwealth ; and they were to choose other free bur-
gesses " out of the like estate of church fellowship."

On the 25th of October " those seven only who were in the
foundation of the church, namely, Mr, Theoph. Eaton, Mr.
John Davenport, Mr, Robt. Newman, Mr. Math. Gilbert, Tho.
Fugill, John Punderson, and Jeremy Dixon," assembled to in-
stitute the new and permanent government of the civil com-
monwealth. The title " Court " is given to that assembly of

18 CIVIL GOVEKNISIENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

seven — tlie Septemvirs or Septemviri, as tliey would have been
called at Rome. " The Court being settled according to the
fundamental agreement," " after solemn prayer unto God, did
proceed as followeth.*

" First, all former power or trust for managing any public
affairs in this plantation, into whose hands soever formerly
committed, M^as now abrogated and from lience forward utterly
to cease.

" Secondly, all those that have been received into the fellow-
ship of this church since the first gathering of it, or wlio, being
members of other approved churches, offered themselves, were
admitted as members of this court.*' Three members of this
church and six of other approved churches were thus admitted,
making the entire number of free burgesses sixteen.

A " cliarge," in the nature of an oath of fidelity, was given
to the new burgesses and accepted by them ; and in that charge
or oath of allegiance to " the civil government here settled,"
there was no implication of allegiance due to tlie King of
England, or to any other government under lieaven.

After these preliminary transactions, "the court proceeded
to the choice of a Magistrate and four Deputies to assist in the
public affairs of the plantation." The election, however, was
not made till Mr. Davenport had first expounded two texts of
Scripture, " wherein a magistrate according to God's mind is
described." Dent. i. 18. "Take ye wise men, and under-
standing, and known among your tribes, and 1 will make tliem
rulers over you." Exod. xviii. 21. " Moreover tliou shalt pro-
vide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of
truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them," &c. In
conformity with these principles, " Mr. Theoph. Eaton, a mem-
ber of this church, a man well known and approved by the
court as fitly qualified for that ofiice according to the said de-
scription, was by full consent chosen Magistrate for the term of
one whole year." Tlie elected Magistrate was inducted into
office by a solemn charge founded on the charge which Moses
gave to those whom he appointed rulers in Israel. Deut. i. 10,

* Col. Rec, 20.

CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 19

17. Then " Mr. Kobert Newman, Mr. Matthew Gilbert, Mr.
Nathaniel Turner, and The. Fugill, were chosen Deputies to as-
sist the Magistrate in all courts called by him for the occasions
of the plantation for the same term of one whole year ;" and
by the formality of a similar charge they in their turn were
inducted into office.

At the same time " Tho. Fugill was chosen Public Notary,"
his duty being " to keep a faithful record of all passages and
conclusions of the court," and of anything else which the court
might require to be recorded. In like manner, "Kobert Seely
was chosen Marshall," and it was made his duty " to warn
courts according to the direction of the magistrate, to serve
and execute warrants, to attend the court at all times and to
be ready and diligent in his person or by his deputy to execute
the sentences of the court, and in all other occasions to attend '
the service of the plantation in all things apertaining to his
office."

" It was further agreed " that there should be a yearly
election of all officers " at a General Court to be held for this
plantation the last week in October."

Thus tlie organization of their government was completed.
But where were their laws? Were the laws of England in
force here — whether acts of parliament or common law? No.
They had not come three thousand miles away from England
to be governed by what were then, or by what were soon likely
to be, the laws of that country. What then ? Were they to
establish here the Roman or civil law, which was the basis of
all the jurisprudence of continental Europe? No. Should
they leave their clearings, their buildings, their various labors
connected with the beginning of civilization here, to frame a
code for themselves. No, they were far too wise for that.
Should they simply direct the Magistrate and Deputies to ad-
minister justice at their own discretion ? No, that would be
to establish a despotism. Wluit then ? An entire body of
laws was summed up in the simple enactment *•' that the word
of God shall be the only rule to be attended imto in ordering
the affairs of government in this plantation." With this enact-
ment the record of that Urst session of "the court," October

20 CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

25tli, lfi39, is closed. All other systems of jurisprudence — the
canon law, the civil law, and even the common and statute
law of England — were expressly excluded from tliis Colony.
Instead of the English maxim that Christianity is " part and
parcel " of the law of the land, it was established that here
tlie rules of civil justice given in the Holy Scriptures should be
the only law. In another record not long afterwards, the
fundamental agreement, made and publislied by full and gen-
eral consent when the plantation began and government was
settled,'' is said to liave been " that the judicial law of God
given by Moses and expounded in other parts of Scripture, so
far as it is a hedge and a fence to the moral law, and neither
ceremonial nor typical, nor had any reference to Canaan, hath
an everlasting equity in it and should be the rule of their
proceedings."

It is hardly necessary to say that in these proceedings the
founders of the colony made a virtual declaration of independ-
ence. The record implies no profession of allegiance to the
king of England whose subjects they had been, no pretense of
exercising authority in his name, and no allusion to the pro-
tection which they might expect from their sovereign ; but
instead of all this we find a distinct abjuration of all the laws
to which they had been subjected in their native countr3^ A
new government with a new system of jurisprudence was to
be established here.

The " plantation," as they called it, of New Haven had at
first no higher officer than rhe single " Magistrate " w'ho was
chosen to his office for one year, and who was assisted by four
" Deputies." At the second election, October 29, IT40, " Mr.
Eaton [was] chosen Magistrate again ;" and " Mr, Robert
Newman, Mr. Gregson, Mr. Gilbert, and Captain Turner
[were] chosen Deputies." At the third election, October 27,
1641, two Magistrates were chosen, Mr. Eaton and Mr. Good-
year ; and at the same time Mr. Gregson, Mr. Robert New-
man, Mr. Gilbert, and Mr. Wakeman, were chosen " Deputies
for this lilantationP At the fourth election, October 26, 1642,
Mr. Eaton and Mr. Goodyear were chosen " Magistrates for
this town this ensuing year;" and "Mr. Malbon, Mr. Gregson,

CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 21

Mr. Gilbert, and Mr. Wakeman [were] chosen Deputies for this
ensuing year, to assist in the courts hy way of advice, hut not
to have any power hy way of sentence.'''' Just as another year
was closing, October 23, 1643, a combination was effected be-
tween New Haven with its outlying plantations, and the inde-
pendent towns of Guilford and Milford ; and three days after-
ward there was a " General Court of Elections held at New
Haven for this Jurisdiction." Then, for the first time, Mr.
Eaton was chosen Governor; and Mr. Gregson, Deputy-Gov-
ernor. Magistrates were also chosen additional to the Gover-
nor and Deputy-Governor, one for New Haven, two for Mil-
ford, and one for Stamford. In the same Conrt of " Elections "
" Deputies for the Court of Combination " were chosen,
namely, Captain Turner and Mr. Lamberton, — " the Court of
Combination " beino- a congress of Commissioners from the
four United Colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut,
and New Haven. The union of the four colonies for mutual
defense and support had just been instituted ; and, for the
sake of coming into that federal union on equal terms with
the older colonies, the " New Haven Jurisdiction " was consti-
tuted, and the previously independent colonies of Milford,
and Guilford united with New Haven and its plantations in
what was thenceforth commonly called the New Haven
Colony.

On the day following that first General Court of Elections
for the Jurisdiction, namely, on the 27th of October, 1643,
there was " a General Court held at New Haven for the Juris-
diction." The Court consisted of the Governor, Deputy-Gov-
ernor, and three other Magistrates, with Deputies from New
Haven, Milford, Guilford, and Stamford ; and its first business
was to make a form of government, or, as we should say, a Con-
stitution for the Colony. Doubtless all that was essential in that
Constitution, or " Fundamental Agreement," as it is called
in the record, had been settled beforehand in the nego-
tiations and arrangements which resulted in the union of
Milford and Guilford with New Haven, and under which
the General Court for the Jurisdiction had assembled. But
the modern distinction between a convention or constituent

22 CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

Assembly meeting to form a constitution and a Legislature
acting under the constitution, had not then been invented ; and
therefore the fundamental agreement appears on the record
as settled and established by the General Court. A revised
copy, enlarged by the addition of some details and explana-
tions, and modified by some unimportant changes, is found in
the printed laws of the New Haven Colony.

The system of government established by the "Funda-
mental Agreement," even with the details Avhich were intro-
duced into the revised and printed copy, is very simple, and
yet is in most points strikingly similar to the more complicated
constitution under which we are governed to-day. Without
pretending to be democratic, it establishes a pure republic,
with no hereditary privileges, and with no distinctions of
honor or power for birth or blood. A brief but careful sum-
mary of the " Fundamental Agreement " will complete the
design of this paper. Taking the revised copy, we have the
several articles of the constitution arranged distinctly in the
following order.

I. SUFFEAGE AND ELIGIBILITY TO OFFICE.

The theory is held by some that the right of voting in
political elections is among the universal and inalienable rights
of human nature. But, as a matter of fact, there is probably
no democracy in the world which does not assign some limit
to the right of suftrage, the principle of the limitation being
always that political power should be entrusted to those most
likely to use it for the connnon welfare. For example, under
the present constitution of this State, there are several limita-
tions on the right of suffrage. Not only are women excluded,
and children, and every young man under twenty-one years of
age, however well educated, or however qualified for military
service, but also every man who cannot read in the English
language, and every nuin who has been convicted of a sei'ious
crime, and every man who is not technically white.

In the Fundamental Agreement, which was the written con-
stitution of the New IJaven Colony, admission to the right of
suffrage was dependent on two conditions. First, the man

CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 2o

(for women liad never been tlionglit of in sncli a connection)
must be a "planter," one who had personally engaged in the
enterprise of planting the colony. Thus all transient persons
or temporary residents were excluded — all the indented or
hired servants whom the planters had brought with them — all
who had no permanent interest in the community. Secondly,
the man must be, at the time of his admission, a " member of
some one or other of the approved Churches of New England."
It was presumed that such persons would vote conscientiously
and intelligently, and would carefully guard those religious
and ecclesiastical institutions for which the "planters" of the
colony had migrated into this wilderness.

Men thus qualified, having been once admitted to the right
of suffrage, were thenceforward " free burgesses ;" nor does
it appear tliat, by any ecclesiastical process, thej could be
divested of their political power. Still less could tl)ey in that
way be divested, as in England, of civil rights, for while it
was ordained that only the " free burgesses" should have any
vote in elections, or should be eligible to any office, it was ex-
pressly provided that " all others admitted to be planters have
right to their proper inheritance, and do and shall enjoy all
other civil liberties and privileges, according to all laws,
orders, or grants, which are, or hereafter shall be made for this
Colony." The authors of the Fundamental Agreement iiad
not left their native country without having had occasion to
consider seriously what disabilities, both civil and political,
were, by the common law of England, consequent upon an
ecclesiastical sentence of excommunication from the Church of
England.

IT. ELECTIONS.

The general election for the Colony was held annually at
JSTew Haven, on the last Wednesday in May, — though at lirst,
for a few years, the election was on the last Wednesday in
October. On the appointed day for the election, all the "free
burgesses," or "freemen of the jurisdiction," were to "attend
that service," either in person or by proxy, without any sum-
mons ; and, " accordino; to their best lio;ht from the word of

24: CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

God," they were to " vote in the election of Governor,
Deputy-Governor, Magistrates, Commissioners for the United
Colonies, Treasurer, Secretary, Marshall, or any other officer
then chosen for the Jurisdiction." Voting by proxy at the
general election, was provided for by the regulation "that
when any of them [the 'free burgesses'] cannot conven-
iently come, they may send their votes, either written or in
some other way, sealed up in the presence of the rest of the
freemen in the plantation where they dwell, or the greater
part of them." Some further regulations were made for the
sending of votes in exceptional cases, " that so the liberty of
the freemen may be preserved, they may have means to attend
their duty, and their votes may be directed according to their
particular light." One of the regulations was that in voting
for and against a candidate for office, " an Indian corn " might
be put in for an affirmative vote, and " a bean " for a negative
vote.

III. THE GENERAL COURT FOR THE JURISDICTION.

The General Court for the Jurisdiction was to consist of the
Governor, Deputy-Governor, all the Magistrates, and two
Deputies for each recognized plantation or town. The Depu-
ties were to be chosen " either yearly, or against the approach
of any such General Court ;" and they were strictly repre-
sentatives, " as having the power and voices of all the said
freemen derived to them." All the members of the Court
were to sit in one House ; but it was provided tliat " nothing
shall be concluded, and pass as an act of the General Court,
(unless in cases expressly excepted,) but by the consent and
vote of the major part of the Magistrates, together with the
consent and vote of the greater part of the Deputies."

At least one session of the General Court was to be held
annually, and always at New Haven, unless the major part of
the court see cause for a time to alter the place. That regu-
lar session was to be on the last Wednesday in May, " first to
carry on the elections, and after to consider and order all such
other affairs of the Jurisdiction as fall within their cognizance,
trust and power." Special sessions might be held at the call of

CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 25

the Governor, or, in his absence, of the Deputy-Governor, or,
in their absence, of any two Magistrates.

The powers and duties of the General Conrt, were,

1. " To provide for the maintenance of the purity of re-
ligion, and suppress the contrary, according to their best light
and directions from the word of God."

2. " To declare, publish, and establish, for the plantations
within their jurisdiction, the laws " " for holiness and righteous-
ness " which God hath " made and given us in the Scriptures,
which in matters moral, or of moral equit}^, may not be altered
by human power or authorit}","" and also " to make and repeal
orders for smaller matters not particularly determined in the
Scriptures, according to the more general rules of righteous-
ness, and while they stand in force, to require due execution of
them."

3. " To require an oath from all the Magistrates, Deputies,
or Assistants, &c., in every court of judicature, for the faithful
discharge of the trust committed to them ;" — also " to call them
to account for the breach of any laws established, or for other
misdemeanors in their places, and to censure them as the
quality of the offense may require.'"

4. "To impose an oath of fidelity and due subjection to the
just laws standing in force, upon all the freemen, planters, and
inhabitants fit to take an oath, with due penalty for obstinate
refusal."

5. To provide for the military defense of the Colony,
" whether against Indians or other enemies ;" and, under the
Articles of Confederation, " to order all aflairs of war and
peace, levying of men, &c."

6. To regulate trade " with Indians and others," '• and to
settle and levy rates, contributions, and impositions upon all
sorts of persons, lands and goods, within this Jurisdiction, as
the public service and occasions of church or commonwealth
may from time to time require."

7. To act as a court of appeals in civil and criminal causes,
from all inferior tribunals.

26 CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NP:W HAVEN COLONY.

IV. THE COURT OF MAGISTRATES.

All the Magistrates (of whom it was intended that there
should be one or more in every town) were to "meet and sit
at New Haven, at least twice a year," namely, on the Monday
before the Conrt of Elections in May, and on the third Wed-
nesday in October. This Court of Magistrates was a judicial
court, '' to hear, examine and determine all weighty and
capital causes, civil and criminal, above those limited to Plan-
tation Courts, and to receive and try all appeals duly brought
to them from Plantation Courts," and also to call all persons
to account " for breach of any laws or orders established, or
for other misdemeanors, and to censure them as the quality of
the offense may require." Less than four were not to be a
quorum ; and in case of an equal division among the mem-
bers of the court, the vote of the Governor, or, in his absence,
of the Deputy-Governor, was to be the casting vote.

V. Tl^E PLANTATION COURTS.

"For the ease of the inhabitants," there were to be " Plan-
tation Courts to hear and determine inferior causes." These
courts were of two sorts.

1. In every plantation, or town, where there was a Magis-
trate, one or more, the " freemen " were to choose at least two
Deputies, and might choose three or four at their discretion.
These Deputies, by the way, are not the same with the Depu-
ties or Representatives in the General Court, but were only to
represent the " freemen" in the Plantation Court, and to assist
the Magistrate or Magistrates there. " Any civil cause, be-
twixt party and party, in value not exceeding twenty pounds,"
might be tried and determined in that court ; " and any
criminal cause, when the punishment by Scripture light exceeds
not stocking and whipping, and if the fine be pecuniary, when
the fine exceeds not five pounds."

2. By calling in two other Magistrates from neighboring
plantations, the Plantation Court might become competent to
try " any civil cause, though of the highest value, and any

CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE NEW HAVEN COLONY. 27

criminal cause, provided it be not capital, extending to the life
of the offender.

From the Plantation Courts, of both sorts, appeals and com-
plaints might be brought to the Court of Magistrates.

Such, without any material change, was the constitution of
civil government in the Kew Haven Colony, from 1643, when
the several plantations were united under a common juris-
diction, to 1664, when the people submitted, reluctantly, to the
charter government of Connecticut.

HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT,

corner of chapel and church streets, new haven.
By HENKY white, Esq.,

PRESIDENT OP THE SOCIETY.
READ DECEMBER 2 9, 186 2.

The history of the Cutler Corner has been selected as the
subject of this paper, because it affords both a convenient ve-
hicle for introducing some notices of our earliest institutions,
and an illustration of the great amount of local history and
biography which lies wrapped up in our early records, waiting
for the patient hand and loving eye which shall unroll and read
it in a connected and intelligible story.

There is no reason to suppose that this corner is richer in
such materials than many other lots within the nine scpiares of
our city. But it has at this time a prominence arising from its
central position and aspiring building which will justify the
selection. It is the lot along whose two fronts the greatest
number of feet is daily treading, and on Mdiich towers the
loftiest private building yet erected in our city.

This history will consist chiefly of notices of its successive
owners, following a brief description of the lot and an account
of the buildings which have stood on it prior to 1776.

The Cutler lot is so named from Richard Cutler, its proprietor
for the longest period, who held it forty-six years. As owned
by him, it was much larger than the present small corner lot
bearing his name. It was identical with the original lot located

30 HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT.

on tills corner in tlie first division of lots made in 1639, with
tlie exception of a small notch on the southwest corner, about
sixty-six feet square, which had been sold to Trlnit)- Church
before Eichard Cutler became the owner. The original lot, as
laid out in 1639, had a front on Church street of about one
liundred and thirty-nine feet, and on Chapel street of about
two hundred and thirty-five feet. It extended therefore from
the corner, southward on Church street to the north line of
Boardman's Building, and eastward on Chapel street to the west
line of Mitchell's building.

SUCCESSION OF OWNERS. Title.

William Jeanes 9 years, 1639 to 1648. Allotment.

John Meggs, 10 years, 1648 to 1658. Deed.

Town 1658 to 1658. Cession.

JervisBoykin, 2 years, 1658 to 1660. Grant.

Isabel Boykin, 13 years, 1660 to 1673. Will.

Nathaniel Boykin, 32 years, 1673 to 1705. Will.

James Denison, 3 years, 1705 to 1 708. Will.

Samuel Mix, Sen., 22 years, 1708 to 1730. Deed.

Samuel Mix, Jun., 27 years, 1730 to 1757. Will.

Children of Samuel Mix 2 years, 1757 to 1759. Inheritance.

Rebecca Abigail Mix, wife of

Richard Woodhull, 5 years, 1769 to 1764. Division.

Richard Cutler, 46 years, 1764 to 1810. Deed.

BUILDINGS.

Wm. Jeanes, the first owner, built a dwelling house on the
lot and lived in it. This building probably fronted on Church
street, and was occupied by John Meggs, the next owner, and
by the Boykin family, who succeeded Meggs. After the pur-
chase of the lot by Samuel Mix, who succeeded the Bo^'kin
family in 1708, this building was probably taken down, for no
mention is made of any building on the lot until after it was
purcliased by Hichard Cutler, in 1764:. He erected two dwelling
houses — one on the corner, in which he lived, and which
remained until it was destroyed by fire within the last three
years ; the other on the east end of the lot, fronting on Chapel
street, which he sold in 1782 to Dr. Ilez. Beardslee, from Hart-
ford, who occupied it, and after his death it was sold, in 1792, to
Dr. Obadiah Ilotchkiss, who lived in it until his decease.

In 1752, Samuel Mix sold to the Episcopal Church a small

HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT. 31

piece of land, between sixty and seventy feet wide in front, on
which was erected, in 1Y52, their first honse of worship. It was
taken from the southwest corner of the original lot, and was
occupied for this nse until 1S18, when the lot was sold to John
Scott, and by him to Asahel Tuttle, and tJie building was pulled
down.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE OWNERS.

William Jeanes.

William Jeanes, tlie first owner, was one of the first set-
tlers, possessing a moderate estate, and one of the signers of
the Fundamental Agreement.

Tlie Fundamental Agreement, as it is called in our records,
was the constitution of civil government for the town, adopted
by the first settlers at their meeting in Mr. Newman's barn in
June, 1639 ; and in accordance witli which, in the October fol-
lowing, the organization of the community was completed by
the enactment of laws and the election of oflicers.

The intervening montlis between June and October were
probably busily occupied in gathering the harvests, and in sur-
veying and dividing the land among the planters. This Funda-
mental Agreement was the constitution, as we should now^ call
it, under which the settlers of New Haven conducted their af-
fairs as a separate and independent community for three years,
until 1643. It was then enlarged in its provisions so as to
adapt it to the Colony or Jurisdiction of New Haven, which
was then organized b}' the combination, with the settlement of
New Haven, of the adjoining independent communities of Mil-
ford and Guilford. These had been previously organized on
foundations very similar to those of New Haven.

The term Governor was not used as a name of ofiice until af-
ter this combination. For three years, Theophilus Eaton, either
alone or in conjunction with Stephen Goodyear, was annually
elected in October, Magistrate, not Governor. In the spring of
1643, and annually afterwards in every spring, he was elected
Governor of the Jurisdiction until his death.

The names of all the planters present at the meeting in Mr.
Newman's barn, and assenting to its proceedings, were ap-

32 HISTOKY OF THE CUTLER LOT.

pended to this fundamental agreement by tlie Secretary. Oth-
ers who were accidentally absent from the meeting, subscribed
it afterwards with their own hands. We have by this means
the autograph signatures of thirty-five of the first settlers —
among wliicli is that of William Jeanes.

William Jeanes, although he came with the first settlers, was
not admitted as a freeman until May, 164S. Before that time
he was a free planter — then he became a free burgher and
member of the general court — or, as it was afterwards more
commonly called, a freeman.

The name of freeman or free burgher was borrowed from the
nomenclature of the trading corporations or guilds and subordi-
nate municipalities of the old world, where at first these terms
denoted merely the nature of the tenure and service by which
the land and buildings in the city or borough were held of the
feudal lord. But for some time before the settlement of this
country, the political privileges which the cities and boroughs
had won by force, or purchased by money from the feudal aris-
tocracy, began to give an important political significance to
these terms ; and to be a free burgher in a city or borougli,gave
not only the right to hold land and to exercise one's trade or
calling within its limits, but also a voice in the government
and legislation of the country. The tradesman or mechanic,
who was a free burgher in a borough, had his representative in
Parliament, as truly as the county family, whose ancestors had
come in with the Conqueror, and whose names were found in
Domesday book.

Most of the early settlements in this country were connected
more or less closel}^ with trading corporations in England, and
were planted under their auspices. But the first government of
Kew Haven, although it borrowed the names of its ofhcersand
members from corporations of this class, had no connection
with any of them; nor does it appear to have been organized
as a corporation until the meeting in June, 1639. The first
settlers, or adventurers, as they were sometimes called, had some
articles of association, by which certain powers of managing
the joint property of the association were delegated to specified
individuals, but the details of this arrangement have not been

HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT. 33

preserved. It was probably entered inta before tliey left Eng-
land, as in their negotiations with the Massachusetts people for
a place to settle, they spoke of those who were still in England
for whom they were acting, and who expected to form one com-
munity with them. The objects of this preliminary association
were to explore and occupy a site in the new world which
should furnish a home and a country for themselves and their
]iosterity. They had expected to find it within the limits of
Massacliusetts, where their association would still hold them as
one community, until they could organize a government. Dis-
covering, however, on their arrival at Boston, that they would
be obliged to locate in townships separated from each other by
towns already settled, and would thus lose their individuality
as a community, they concluded to seek a location beyond tlie
limits of any colony then existing. They therefore sought
to find a new and fair haven, where the merchant and trader,
as well as the husbandman, would find scope and facilities for
their respective pursuits ; and having found it in this spot, tliey
asked no leave of the Plymouth or Virginia companies, or of
the Lord Say and Seal, or of the Lord Brooke, or of any but of
the Lord their God, and of the Indian tribes whom God liad
led here before them, and who had by his gift the only prior
right which they cared to acquire. At this famous meeting in
Mr. Newman's barn, whatever powers and trusts, under their
old articles of association, had been vested in any persons, were
expressly surrendered and abrogated ; and by the adoption of
this fundamental agreement the political state sprang at once
into being,- out of the members of the old association, by the
free action of all, after a deliberation and discussion, the like
of which is not found in history.

One feature of this political community is worthy of notice.
No one was debarred from the highest political privileges and
honors which the State had in its gift, by reason of his poverty
or of his humble calling. Here was an association composed
of men of a great variety of grades as to propei'ty and rank in
the old world, men of large means, and men of no means ex-
cept their hands or heads or growing families. In such an
association, those who fnrnished the capital, and gave their

34r HISTOET OF THE CDTLEK LOT.

personal labor and skill to its management, must necessarily
have had the major vote in its plans and measures, and could
easily have retained the legal riglit to tlie control. But by this
fundamental agreement, Theophilus Eaton, who liad invested
£3,000, and Stephen Goodyear and George Lamberton, who
had invested each £1,000, were placed on a level as to privi-
leges and legal power of control, with William Peck, the hus-
bandman, who had put in only £12, and wlio was much strait-
ened by having only half of a small lot for his house lot, and
with John Brocket, the carpenter, wlio had put in but £15,
and witli Master Ezekiel Cheevers, who had put in but £20.
Whomsoever else they sought to bar out, it was not the poor
laborer, or poor mechanic, or poor schoolmaster, because they
were poor and humble.

The free burghers or free men of this new State, among whom
William Jeanes was admitted in 1()48, were such of the free
planters, as by the provisions of the fundamental agreement
\vere intrusted with the right of voting in the enactment of
laws and in the electioTi of officers, and with the power of hold-
ing office. The most important qualification was, as is well
known, membership in the church.

Beginning with seven who were first selected, not as pillars,
but in the more appropriate language of the record, "for the
foundation work," nine were added at their first meeting in Oc-
tober, 1639. Three more freemen were added during the re-
mainder of the year, 1639, and by the end of the year 164.5 the
number was increased to 70.

William Jeanes, by becoming a freeman in 1648, did not there-
by cease to be a free planter. The free planters, as distinguish-
ed from the freemen, were all those wlio were members of the
preliminary association of which mention has been made, and
who by virtue of this membership were entitled to a share in
the lands which were purchased and made valuable by the joint
property, efi'orts and industry of the association. Their nuni-
l)cr at first was about 120, and the amount of capital invested
was about £36,000, subscribed in sums varying from £10 to
£3,000. Most of them had joined the company in England,
probably in London, and had come over together in the ship

HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT. 35

Hector ; others who had already settled in Massachusetts, but
who were valued for their skill as mechanics, or their experi-
ence as soldiers, were induced to join the company while they
tarried in Massachusetts. Others had joined the company in
England and had contributed to its funds but were detained at
home for various reasons, and never became domiciled here.

After the government was organized, no one was allowed to
purchase lands of the planters, or of the Indians, unless he was
already a free planter, or unless he furnished satisfactory evi-
dence that he would become a desirable acquisition to the settle-
ment, and was thereupon admitted to be a free planter. The
necessity which hence arose that every sale of lands should be
reported to the court for the purpose of approval or disappro-
val, led early to the plan of having a book in which all con-
veyances of land should be entered — a system of registration
which has proved of signal advantage to the community. The
original object of the record here, was not so much to guard the
purchaser against fraud as the public against an undesirable
inhabitant.

The original free planters, as well as all those who were af-
terward admitted as such by virtue of their purchase of lands
and approval by the court, were required to subscribe their as-
sent to the fundamental agreement, and also, with other class
es, to take the oath of fidelity to the government. They and
their children were the stock from which the body of freemen
or free burghers or members of the court were from time to time
replenished. The descendants of these free planters and of
those who had purchased rights of them, formed in later years
the quasi-corporate body of proprietors of common and undi-
vided lands, to whom belonged the fee of all undivided lands
within the township, and who from time to time within the
first 120 years held meetings and divided among themselves
by lot large tracts successively of their fair inheritance until
the estate has become so reduced that a committee of five pro-
prietors, authorized by the legislature to act for the whole, are
deemed suflicient to take care of and manage what little remains
to be cared for.

The free planters and their families did not, however, consti-

36 HISTOKY OF THE CUTLEK LOT.

tiite the whole body of inhabitants. There were also temporary
residents, not free planters, whose number was small. Some
of these resided here for tlie purpose of trade. The advanta-
ges for trade and commerce which the situation of the town
and the enterprise and capital of its first settlers gave to New
Haven over most of the other settlements in New England, at-
tracted merchants from other colonies, both English and Dutch.
The residence of such merchants and tradesmen was favored, al-
though they were not allowed to hold lands or to participate in
any political rights, and were required to take the oath of fidel-
ity to the government so long as they continued residents.
They were at first exempted from taxation. After a few years,
however, when the expenses of the colonial and town govern-
ments liad become large and were increasing, and the burden
of taxes on the owners of land had become heavy, the thought
naturally occurred to them that a government wliich cost
so much to maintain, was worth something to all who en-
joyed its protection. This idea was after a little time ma-
tured and embodied in the following ordinance, passed in
1645. " For that some of considerable estates and tradins; do
live in the town, and have hitherto enjoyed comfortable fruit
of civil administrations and charges, themselves, in the mean
time, having small or no rates, it is ordered that henceforward
all such shall be rated, from time to time, as this court shall
judge meet." In immediate application of the law it was or-
dered at the same court that for the present Mrs. Stolion
should pay after the rate of 20 shillings a year to the treasurer,
Mr. Godfrey 20 shillings and Mr. Leach 40 shillings a year.
These were at that time the most ])rominent of the resident tra-
ders. This was not a lieavy tax, as compared with that which
many of the free planters had to pay. Gov, Eaton's yearly
tax was about £10-10, Gov. Goodyear's £10, Captain Lamber-
ton's £4, Kobert Newman's £2-10, and there were 50 others of the
free planters whose yearly tax ranged from £3 to about £1.

In this class of temporary residents may be properly included
those who came as stewards or ajxents of those members of the
association who for various reasons had not come over to this
country. These stewards were men of good character, most of

HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT. 37

whom eventually became themselves free planters. Richard
Mansfield, the ancestor of all the Mansfields of this vicinity,
was one of this class. He was steward of Mr. Marshall. An-
other portion of the temporary residents were the additional
laborers required at times by the enterprises of manufacturing
or navigation which were undertaken for the sake of promoting
the growth of the town. The iron works in East Haven and
at Stony Creek, and the building of vessels from time to time,
required more labor than could be furnished by the planters or
their families. These transient laborers were a constant source
of trouble. For the most part they had no sympathy witii
either the religious or political views of the planters. They
came only for the wages they received, and were endured onl}'
because their labor was indispensable. Many of them were ig-
norant and vicious, and all the preaching which they were
obliged weekly to attend, and the admonitions of the magistrate
before whom they were in almost as constant attendance, failed
to transform them into the likeness of their employers. Few
became permanent inhabitants. Tiie more common termina-
tion of their residence, if tliey lingered beyond the time for
which they were hired, was a whipping and sending out of the
colony.

With these transient laborers must not be confounded those
who were technically called servants, who were bound to labor
on farms or otherwise for a term of years. These servants usu-
ally formed a part of the families of their masters and were more
accessible to their influence. When they were turbulent and
mischiev^ous they were punished by the master, not arbitrarily,
but with the advice and under the direction of the court.
Many of them became permanent and useful inhabitants after
their term of service expired. There was a law forbidding
the sale of these servants out of the confederate colonies of New
England, without a special license from the government of the
colony to which tliey belonged.

To return to William Jeanes, the first owner of the Cutler
lot. He was employed in 1651 as a teacher of the common
school for the town, at a salary of £10 a year from the town, the
rest of his compensation to be made up by the parents ; and

88 HISTOKY OF THE CUTLER LOT.

siicli was his abilit}' that in 1^552 ho received a call to "Weth-
erstield to teach the scliool there, which call he obtained leave
of the town to acce])t, but returned to Xew Haven the follow-
ing year. About the year 1655 he removed to Northampton,
in Massachusetts, where he was a school teacher and recorder
of lands or town clerk for 20 years. In that new settlement
he frequently conducted religious worship on the sabbath.
This service was frequently rendered by school masters in the
absence or illness of a settled pastor. Our Ezekiel Cheevers,
of academic notoriety, sometimes performed this duty in ]^ew
Haven, and the magistrate took care that his ministrations were
properly ap])reciated — for among sundry gross miscarriages
which brought a severe whipping, under the advice of the
court, upon one of those servants to whom we have alluded,
was " scoffing at the word of God which was preached by
Mr. Cheevers."

It is reported of Mr. Jeanes that at the first settlement of
JSorthfield, Mass., a town on the Connecticut river above
Northampton, lie preached to the people their first sermon
under an oak tree ; but, tliis settlement having been soon
broken up by the Indians, he returned to Northampton, where
he died, in 1690. He liad a wife and several children while he
lived in New Haven, and several more children after his re-
moval to Massachusetts. None of them returned to New
Haven, and the name was not knoM'n among us for many
years. His descendants are numerous in Massachusetts, spell-
ing their name without the first e, which their ancestor used in
his signature on our records.

John Meigs.

The second owner was John Meggs, who acquired his title
to the lot by ]>urchase and conveyance from William Jeanes,
the first owner. The conveyance is on record, and readeth on
this wise : '' Wm. Jeanes passeth over to John Meggs his
house and house lot, lying at the corner over against Mr.
Gregson's, betw-i.xt the house lot of John Budd and the high-
way." John ]\reggs or Meigs was the son of Vincent Meigs ;
and is said to have come from Wevmouth or Rehoboth, in

HISTORY OF THE OTTTLER LOT. 39

Massachusetts, to New Haven. He was not one of tlie first
settlers. He took the oath of fidelity here in 1044, and in tlie
same year was admitted a freeman.

He was a tanner and currier by trade, and being active in
business gathered property ; but he fell under the displeasure
of the town for the quality of his leather and of the slioes
iTiade from it, " in a single pair of which," the court say,
"several evils appear, such as contempt of court, continued
unrighteousness, (he liaving been before the court for the same
trouble once before,) and other similar evils, and how many
shoes he had made and sold of such faulty materials and so
loaded with evils, the court say they know not." Dissatified
with so much strictness about leather, and with the fines which
attended his want of care in the matter, he seems to have sur-
rendered or sold this lot to the town, who were probably will-
ing to facilitate his departure, and about the year 1658 he re-
moved with his father to Guilford. There, wlien the troubles
with Connecticut arose, he took an active part on the side of
the Connecticut usurpation, as was to be expected from one
who had enjoyed his experience of the New Haven govern -
mejit.

He accepted the appointment of constable for Guilford from
the Connecticut authorities, in defiance of the New Haven
jurisdiction. In 1662 he was an inhabitant of Killingwoi'th,
where he died in 1672, leaving a large estate. He had a wife
while living in New Haven, and he left one son and four
daughters. The son was an ancestor of Colonel Return Jona-
than Meigs of Connecticut, one of the heroes of the Eevo-
lution, whose expedition to Long Island was one of the most
brilliant achievements of that war. The son of Colonel
Meigs, of the same name, was in later times Governor of
Ohio, and Postmaster General of the United States.

The pleasant story of the origin of the name Return Jona-
than, from the earnest outcry of the maiden fearing that by
her want of decision she had lost her lover, must, I fear, ]>e
given up, as the Christian name of Return, without the Jona-
than appended, is found belonging to the grandfather of the
first Return Jonathan, as well as to others of the family. The

40 HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT.

name in its orii^in liad probably more to do with a return to
the love of God than to an earthly love.

Gervase Boykin.

The third owner was Gervase Boykin, who acquired his
title in ir>58, by grant from the town, after the surrender of
John Meigs. Gervase or Jarvis Boykin was one of the first
settlers, and was present and assenting at the forming of the
fundamental agreement. He was a carpenter by trade and
came from Charington, in the county of Kent, in England, to
Charlestown in Massachusetts, in 1635, and was probably soli-
cited, while there, to join the New Haven enterprise, from their
need of his skill. His estate at first was small, but he was use-
ful and trustM'orthy in his calling. In building the first meet-
ing house, and in the repairs which were made on it from time
to time, his advice was alwaj^s sought. There was full occupa-
tion for one of his trade for some years, for New Haven had
at first a larger number of good substantial houses than any
other town, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants. In
order to encourage the erection of dwelling houses, they were
exempted from taxation during the first ten years of the settle-
ment of the town.

In the latter part of his life he had accumulated some
property, and he was employed as an agent for managing
property by several who had removed from New Haven.

He had a gift for public service which the town used, making
him one of the Selectmen or Townsmen, as thej were at first
called, at the first election ever held in the town for that office,
which was in 1651, and he served again in 1657 and 1658.

In the military line he went through the grades of corporal
and sergeant, relatively as honorable, and giving as much in-
fluence and importance then, as the rank of major and lieuten-
ant-colonel of the militia does now. He died in 1660, leaving
a comfortable estate to his wife Isabel.

His family, at his first coming, consisted only of himself and
wife ; at his death he left three children, viz. : Nathaniel,
Bethiah, who married James Denison, and Sarah, who married
Samuel Edwards of Northampton, Mass.

HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT. 41

This Cutler lot was not his first home lot. He removed to
it and lived on it two or three years only before his death.

Isabel Boykin.

The fourth owner was Isabel Boykin, the widow of Jervis
Boykin, who in 1660 acquired title to the lot, and probably by
the will of her husband, although the will is not now extant.
She survived her husband thirteen years, during which time
she lived upon the lot, and dying in 1673, left it by her will to
her son Nathaniel. Her name and that of her husband
(Isabel and Gervase) have more of a Norman sound tlian
was common among the first settlers. His name was, however,
soon flattened down to Jarvis.

Nathaniel Boykin.

The fifth owner was Nathaniel Boykin, son of Gervase and
Isabel Boykin. He was born before 16i0, as he took the oath
of fidelity in 1660. He died in 1705, without wife or children.
He is called a husbandman, which designation is equivalent to
that of farmer at the present day, and he probably lived on
this lot. With his death the name of Boykin disappears from
our records.

James Denison.

The sixth owner was James Denison, who, in 1705, acquired
title to the lot by the will of his brother-in-law, Nathaniel
Boykin. He also was a farmer, and first appears in New
Haven in 1662, when he was twenty-one years old, on the
occasion of his marriage with Bethiah Boykin, daughter of
Gervase Boykin. There were families of the name of Deni-
son in the neighborhood of Boston, and also at Stonington, in
Connecticut. From what place he came has not been ascer-
tained. Soon after his marriage he purchased a share in the
South-end neck, a large tract of good land in East Haven, on
the shore of the Sound. He became a resident and wealthy
land owner in that village in 16b3, ranking on the assess-
ment list among the largest of the proprietors. He died in
J719, atthe age of seventy-eight, having had eight children.

42 HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT.

iive of wlioni lived to adult age. He probably never lived on
the Cutler lot. From liis youngest son, James, were descended,
in the third generation, four brothers, citizens of New Haven,
Austin Denison, Abel Denison, Charles Denison and Henry
Denison, whose worth of character and success and useful-
ness in their various occupations, as merchant, shipmaster,
lawyer and banker, have made the name of Denison honored
and beloved in this community.

Samuel Mix.

The seventh owner was Samuel Mix, who, in 1708, acquired
the lot by purchase and conveyance from James Denison,
Samuel Mix was a younger son of Thomas Mix and Kebecca
(Turner) Mix. Thomas Mix, though not among the first
comers, was here early, and though in his youth wayward and
requiring some regulation, he became ultimately a substantial
and wealthy inhabitant. At his death, in 1692, he divided his
large estate among ten children, all of whom became heads of
families, and the sons persons of repute. Samuel was a farm-
er, or, more properly, a landholder, and left his estate to his
children, larger than he received it. He married Eebecca,
daughter of George Pardee, July 26th, 1699, and died in
1730, having had three children, Samuel, George and Stephen.
Stephen died young. Samuel and George survived their father,
and divided his estate. George Mix settled in North Haven,
bavins: received most of his portion in land in that village.
Samuel remained in New Haven. Samuel Mix, the father,
never lived on this lot. It was during his ownership, or that
of his predecessor, James Denison, that the original dwelling
house was removed.

For many years after 1772 tliere was but one house on the
south side of Chapel street, along the whole line from Church
street to State street, and that one was very near to State
street. On the north side of Chapel street, between the same
limits, there were but two, or, at the most, three houses.
Chapel street was then comparatively of little importance.
The stream of travel inland, from the water and from State
street, instead of surging through Chapel street to Church

HISTORY OF THE CUTLER LOT. 43

street, as now, then glided easily along George street to the
south end of Church street, and through Church to the Meet-
ing House on the Green, and thence to the few farmers who
lived north and west of the central square or market place.
Few ventured through the lonely lane that seemed to have
been left open from State street to the southeast corner of the
central square, more from a regard to the symmetry of the
town plot than for any important use. It could hardly then be
said to have been of common convenience and necessity. In-
deed the adventurous man who first built for his own resi-
dence a house on this part of the street was commemorated, by
having his name associated with it, in common parlance, and
even in the public records, where we find the street called,
" The lane leading to Zuriel Kimberly's house."

Samuel Mix.

The eighth owner was Samuel Mix, Junior, son of the former
Samuel Mix, who acquired title to this lot in 1730, by the
will of his father. Samuel Mix, the son, was an inn-keeper,
whose house of entertainment was on the corner of Elm and
College streets, near the site of the Divinity College. He
never lived on the Cutler lot. He sold to Trinity Church the
southwest corner of the lot, where they erected their first house
of worship. He was born in 1700— was married January 1,
1728, to Mrs. Abigail Cutler, and died in 1757. Of eight
children only two daughters survived him and inherited his
estate. He increased by the profits of his business the large
estate in lands received from his father, so that these two
daughters were esteemed heiresses, and did in truth make
their husbands wealthy. One married Richard Woodhull,
and the other, in 1706, became the second wife of Jonathan
Fitch, son of Gov. Thomas Fitch of Norwalk, and for many
years steward of Yale College. The widow of Samuel Mix
married William Greenough, a man of some importance, who
gave his name to his wife's house and lot, on the corner of
Elm and College streets, which for a long time was called the
Greenoush house.

44 history of the cutler lot.

Kkbecca Abigail "VYoodhull.

The ninth owner was Eebecca Abigail Mix, daughter of Sam-
uel Mix, who soon after her father's death married Richard Wood-
hull, May 2, 1762, For two years she was tenant in common
with her mother and sister, of this lot. By a division of the
estate made in 1759, she became sole owner of the Cutler lot.

Richard Woodhull, her husband, was descended from Rich-
ard WoodhuU of Brookhaven, Long Island, one of the first
settlers of that town, then under the jurisdiction of Connec-
ticut. Tlie Richard Woodhull of New Haven was a younger
brother of Gen. Nathanial Woodhull, a revolutionary officer of
some note and usefulness, who died of wounds received in a
disastrous battle on Long Island. Richard graduated at Yale
College in 1752, was tutor four years, nntil 1761, then settled
in New Haven, and was admitted to the bar in November,
1762, and practiced law here. His residence was on the
corner of Elm and Church street, now occupied by Austin &
Gilbert, and which for many years was called the Wood-
hull corner. He died in 1779, leaving only one child, a
daughter, who became the wife of Jehu Brainard, former
sheriff of the county.

Richard Cutler.

The tenth owner was Richard Cutler, who acquired title to
the lot by purchase and deed from Mrs. Woodhull, in 1764:,
soon after her marriage. Richard Cutler was from Fairfield —
was born in 1736, came to New Haven about 1760, married
Hannah Flowell, daughter of Deacon Thomas Howell and Mary
(White) Howell. He was a goldsmith — an active man of
business, accumulated a fair estate, built the house on the
corner, which was lately destroyed by fire — made it his resi-
dence and died therein 1810, aged 73. His descendants of his
own name and of other names are still found in New Haven.
Before his death he had sold, in 1782, to Dr. HezekiahBeardslee,
a physician from Hartford, fifty -three feet in front of the east
part of the lot, which afterwards became the property and resi-
dence of Dr. Obadiah Hotchkiss. After the death of Richard

HISTORY OF THE CTTTLER LOT. 45

Cutler, in 1810, the remainder of the Cutler lot was divided
into seven lots and distributed among his children. To follow
the history of these seven portions would be passing from the
domain of the historian into that of the conveyancer, whose du-
ties require him to range over the last fifty years of our records
to gather its treasures for the private use of his clients. One
fact, however, connected with the modern ownership of this
lot may be mentioned here, which is interesting because so
uncommon in these days of change — two of these seven portions,
one of which is the corner itself, have belonged to the sanje
family for more than a century — being still for the most part
the property of the descendants of Richard Cutler.

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH, NEW HAVEN,

By FREDERICK CROSWELL, Esq *

READ MARCH 30, ] S63.

In the year 1781, before the close of the Revolutionary War,
a book was published in London, witli the following title: "A
General History of Connecticut, from its lirst settlement under
Geo r ore Fen wick, Esq., to its Latest Period of Amity with
Great Britain," etc., " By a Gentleman of the Province." Its
authorship has, by common consent, been attributed to the
Rev. Samuel A. Peters, a native of Hebron, in Connecticut, a
clergyman of the Church of England, and a zealous loyalist.
He fled from Hebron and went to England in the year 1774, to
escape the annoyances and persecutions to which he had sub-
jected himself, by the too free expression of his unpopular po-
litical sentiments. {Political Magazine^ Vol. II., page G, etc.,
&c.) He, however, never acknowledged the work to be his.
As. a history, it has never been regarded as reliable — but its
sarcastic style and satirical spirit, together with the malicious

* Judge Croswell died July 11, 1803, aged 60 years.

At a meeting of the Dii'ectors of the Historical Society, held August 31st, 1863,
the following resolution, presented by Thomas R. Trowbridge, Esq., was unani-
mously adopted :

" Frederick Croswell, Esq., one of the projectors, and an officer of this Society,
having deceased since the last meeting of this Board, his associates unanimously
direct the Secretary to enter on the Records of the Society, this expression of
their respect for the purity of his private and the unsullied probity of his public
character, for his wide sympathy with the unfortunate and unhappy, and for the
active interest he ever felt in whatever was connected with the past history, the
present improvement, and the future prosperity of New Haven."

48 HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

raillery with wliicli it abounds, have conil)ined to (^ive it a
wider reputation than it would ever have attained, had it been
limited to the statement of simple truths. An edition was re-
published in New Haven some thirty years since, notwith-
standini^ which it has become very rare, which fact constitutes
its chief value.

The main object of the author i)robably was to aveiige him-
self for some of the indignities that had been inflicted upon
him in Connecticut, by holding up those at whose hands he had
suffered to the ridicule of the people, and especially of the to-
nes of England. If such was his purpose, it appears to have
been successfully achieved. The " Political Magazine," a very
ardent tory publication of that day, made copious extracts from
it — one of which, as it seems to be an appropriate introduction
to the subject of this paper — is here quoted. The mode of its
presentation, it will be j)erceived, is very similar to that adopt-
ed by the newspapers in our own day, in calling attention to
"sensation paragraphs" and "astounding developments" — to
wit:

A CURIOUS DISCOVERY OF CONNECTICUT VIRTUE AND HONESTY,
BY MR. HARRISON, LATE COLLECTOR OF THE CUSTOMS AT NEW
HAVEN, IN THAT COLONY.

" The true character of Davenport and Eaton, the leaders of the first settlers
of New Haven, may be learnt from the following fact: — An English gentleman,
by the name of Grigson, coming on his travels to New Haven, about ihe year
1644, was greatly pleased with its pleasant situation; and after purchasing a
large settlement, sent to London for his wife and family. But before their arrival,
ho found a charming situation, without the blessing of religious and civil liberty,
would not render him and his family happy; lie resolved, therefore, to quit the
country and return to England, as soon as his family should arrive, and accord,
ingly advertised his property' for sale ; when lo ! agreeable to one of the Blue Laws,
no one would buy, because he had not, and could not, obtain liberty of the Se-
lectmen to sell it. The patriotic virtue of the Selectmen thus becoming an un-
surmountable bar to the sale of his New Haven estate, Mr. Grigson made his
will, and bequeathed part of his lands toward the support of an Episcopal cler-
gyman, who should reside in that town, and the residue to his own heirs. Having
deposited his will in the hands of a friend, he set sail with his family for Eng-
land, but died on his pa.ssage. This friend proved the will, but died also soon
after. The record was dexterously concealed by glueing two leaves together ;
and after some years, the Selectmen sold the whole estate to pay taxes, thongli
the rent of Mr. Grigson's house alone in one year would pay the taxes for ten.

HISTORY OF TEINITY CHURCH. i9

Some persons, hardy enough to exclaim against this glaring injustice, were soon
silenced, and expelled the town. In 1750 an Episcopal clergyman was settled in
New Haven ; and, having been informed of Mr. Grigson's will, applied to the
town clerk for a copy, who told him there was no such will on record, and withal
refused him the liberty of searching. In 1768, Peter Harrison, Esq., from Not-
tinghamshire, in England, the King's collector at the port of New Haven, claimed
his right of searching the public records ; and, being a stranger, and not supposed
to have any knowledge of Grigson's will, obtained his demand. The alphabet
contained Grigson's name, and referred to a page which was not to be found in
the book. Mr. Harrison at first supposed it to have been torn out ; but, on a
closer examination, discovered one leaf much thicker than the others. He put a
corner of the thick leaf into his mouth, and soon found it was composed of two
leaves, which with much difficulty having separated, he found Grigson's will ! To
make sure work, he took a copy of it himself, and then called the clerk to draw
and attest another, which was done. Thus furnished, Mr. Harrison instantly ap-
plied to the Selectmen, and demanded a surrender of the land which belonged to
the church, but which they as promptly refused ; whereupon Mr. Harrison took
out writs of ejectment against the possessors. As might be expected, Mr. Harri-
son from a good man, became, in ten days, the worst man in the world ; but,
being a generous and brave Englishman, he valued not their clamors and curses,
though they terrified the gentlemen of the law. Harrison was obliged to be his
own lawyer, and boldly declared he expected to lose his cause in New England;
but after that he would appeal and try it, at his own expense, in old England,
wherejustice reigned. The good people knowing Harrison did not get his bread
by their votes, and that they could not baftle him, resigned the lands to the church
on that gentleman's own terms ; which in a very few years will support a cler-
gyman in a very genteel manner. The honest Selectmen yet possess the other
lands, though report says Mr. Grigson has an heir of his own name, residing near
Holborn, in London, who inherits the virtues of his ancestor, and ought to in-
herit his estate."

No member of this Society, probably, needs to be assured
that this absurd story, so discreditable to the good faith and
honesty of our ancestors, is utterly false and without founda-
tion. Xo formal attempt has ever been made to vindicate the
character of the public authorities of New Haven from the
preposterous charges of this veracious "historian." For, taken
in connection with the other extravagancies of the volume,
they luive ever been regarded here, where the proofs of their
falsity are at hand, as too monstrously absurd to require either
notice or denial. But as a certain learned Irish gentleman
thought Gulliver's Travels true in the main, although contain-
ing " some things w^hich he could not prevail upon himself to
believe," so this book numbers several believers in whole or in

50 HISTORY OF TRINITY CnURCII.

part, and is probably tlie source of most of the erroneous preju-
dices tliat prevail amongst the ignorant and vulgar concerning
the early history of the Colony, and the manners and morals
of the people of Connecticut — and there are many, neither ig-
norant nor vulgar, who have been impressed by this particular
story, with the idea that the public officials of New Haven did,
at some time or other, and in some way or other, attempt to
defraud the Episcopal Church of property to which it was just-
ly entitled. But the most rigid examination of the public
records aflbrds the clearest proof of the entire groundlessness
of the injurious imputation,

Thomas Gresrson was one of the earliest settlers of T^ew Ha-
ven, and one of the most prominent men in the Colony, where
he w^as elected to several important offices. Although he was
not one of the "seven pillars" of the New Haven Church, he
was a zealous member of it, and an ardent believer in Daven-
port's doctrines. Episcopacy, of course, had no attractions for
him, and he prol)ably would have looked upon the advent of a
" surpliced priest " in the Colony

" with as favorable eyes,
As Gabriel on the devil iu Paradise."

He, with Captain Turner, and several other of the principal
men in the Colony, embarked on board Captain Lamberton's
vessel, which sailed on its ill-starred voyage in the montli of
January, 1646. Neither ship, passengers nor crew were ever
afterwards seen or heard from ; but an apparition of a sliip,
which was supposed to be the same, was seen in the air by
many persons in New Haven, in the month of June following.
On the 2d day of November, 1647, an inventory of his estate
was exhibited to the Court of Probate and recorded, {see Pro-
hate Jiecords, Vol. /., Part /., pp. 12, 13, 14,) but nothing fur-
ther was done in the way of the settlement of his estate until
several years afterwards. He left no will, but died intestate, —
and was the only man by the name of Gregson that ever lived
in the Colony. He had several daughters, but left only one
son surviving him, and he went to England and died there.
In the final settlement and distribution of Tliomas Greo;son's

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH. 51

estate, -u'liicli did not take place until April 3, 1715, there was
set, with other property, to " The heirs of Kichard, the oldest
and only son of the deceased, 1 acres f and 24 rods of the
Home lot, north part," {^Probate Eecords, Vol. 1 V., pp. 397-8,)
and this is the land, the greater part of which was afterwards
owned by Trinity Church, and known as the Glebe.

On the 520th page of the 10th volume of the l^ew Haven
Land Records, is the record of a conveyance from William
Grigson, of the City of London, Gent., to the Rev. Jonathan
Arnold, of the land described above, in trust, " for the purpose
of building and erecting a church thereupon, for the worship
and service of Almighty God, according to the practice of the
Church of England, and a parsonage or dwelling house for the
incumbent of the said intended church for the time being, and
also for a church yard to be taken tiiereout for the poor, and
the residue thereof to be esteemed and used as Glebe Land by
the minister of the said intended church for the time beins:
forever." It is dated March 6, 1736, and is recorded in the
neat calligraphy of Samuel Bishop, Clerk, and like all the pub-
lic records of New Haven, is, and has alwaj's been, open for
the inspection of all. There is a complete transcript of this
deed appended to these pages, for the accommodation of those
who may desire to read it entire. (Appendix B.) ♦

Considered as a conveyance, this deed was of little if any
value. The grantor was not only not in possession of the land
described in the deed at the time of its execution, but other
parties had been in possession of it for many years — besides
which, the instrument was deficient in the acknowledgment
of the grantor, which was necessary to render it valid.* The
title under which Trinity Church afterwards held the Glebe
Land was derived from an entirely different source — and no
claim was ever made to that valuable property by the Church
under this deed — which, nevertheless, is interesting as an
liistorical document. From it we learn the genealogical fact
that the grantor was the grandson and heir of Richard Grig-
son, who was the son of Thomas Grigson, of New Haven —
and that he was also a zealous member of tlie Church of Ens:-

* See Statutes of Connecticut, Revision of 1808, p. 653 and foot notes.

52 HISTORY OF TRINITY CIIUKCH.

laud, and was desirous of promoting the interests of that Church
in Connecticut. It furthermore sets forth the interesting his-
torical fact that tlie Rev. Jonathan Arnold was then in London
soliciting subscriptions for the purpose of building a Church
and Parsonage in ISTew Haven, and that he was a missionary
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts.

Mr. Arnold, tlie grantor and trustee named in the deed in
question, was a graduate of Yale College of the Class of 1723,
and succeeded the Rev. Samuel Johnson as minister of the
Congreo-ational Church in West Haven. He conformed to the
Episcopal Church in 1734, and was ordained in England in
1736, and was appointed a missionary of the Propagation So-
ciety for West Haven, Derby and Waterbury. Pie is said to
have subsequently sailed again for England, and to have been
lost on the voyage thither. Doubts, however, are entertained
as to the truth of this tradition.

At this time the members of the Church of England were
very few in New Haven. According to the best information
that can be obtained, there was then but one churchman in the
town, and he was a man in the humble walks of life. {Church-
man's Magazine^ Vol. I., p. 261.)

It cannt)t therefore be a matter of surprise if the people of
New Haven should have regarded with suspicion and dislike
any attempt on the part of Mr. Arnold to introduce amongst
them a form of religion against which they entertained the
most iiiveterate prejudices, which they had not only inherited,
but which had been carefully fostered and intensified by their
education. Nor could they reasonably have been expected to
view with inditl'erence any effort to divert the fairest portion
of the possessions of one of the original founders of the Colo-
ny, to purposes so foreign to his intentions and their own con-
victions, as those contemplated by William Grigson's deed.
Yet there is nothing in the public records of New Haven to
show either that Mr. Arnold ever attempted to obtain posses-
sion of the property described in the deed, or that any means
were ever taken to prevent him from doing so, and until a re-
cent period it has been generally believed tiiat no such events
ever occurred.

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH. 53

Disputed titles to land often lead to disorders and bloodshed,
especially in newly settled countries, and few things are more
difficult to be quietly accomplished than the dispossession of
the actual occupant of laud, howsoever slight his legal title to
it may be.

In Chapin's review of HalFs " Puritans," &c., it is stated
that very soon after the distribution of Thomas Gregson's es-
tate in 1716, the part set to the heirs of Richard Grigson was
taken possession of by Daniel Thompson and Joseph Whiting,
who occupied it for many years. And furthermore, that when
William Grigson executed the deed, "Mr. Arnold was also au-
thorized and empowered to settle the whole matter, and fur-
nished with the requisite proof and papers. After Mr. A's
return to America, Whiting contrived to obtain clandestine
possession of Mr. Arnold's papers, which were never returned,
and he was not allowed to search the records for other proof in
regard to it. He applied to the public authorities for redress,
but could procure no aid." The authority for these statements
is not given. Allowing them to be correct, it appears that Mr.
Arnold was prevented from getting possession of the property
in question by the cupidity and dishonesty of Joseph Whiting,
wlio was one of the descendants of Thomas Gregson, and had
been in possession of it for many years, and for whose miscon-
duct the public autliorities were not responsible. If it is true
that Mr. Arnold was not allowed to search the records by those
in whose custody they were, nothing can be said in justiiication
of the fact. But in order to entitle it to credit, it should be
established by the clearest proof.

An extract has been recently published from a letter wn-itten
to the Secretary of the Propagation Society from Fairfield,
dated March 21), 1739, in which Mr. Arnold's case is stated as
follows: " William Grigson, of London, Esq., made a donation
of a piece of land in New Haven to him, as trustee for the
Church of England, to build a church on, and when he w^ent
to take possession, and make improvement of said land by
ploughing the same, he was opposed by a great number of
people being resolute that no church should be built there, who
in a riotous and tumultuous manner, being (as we have good

54 HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

reason to believe) put upon it bj sonic in authority, and of the
cliief men in the town, beat his cattle and abused his servants,
threatening l)oth his and their lives to that degree, that he was
obliged to quit the field. And though he made presentments
against sundry of them for breach of the peace to the civil au-
thority, yet they refused to take cognizance of it, and so he
could obtain no relief." This is signed by Samuel Seabury,
(tlie father of the Bishop,) Ebenezer Punderson, Jonathan Ar-
nold, Samuel Johnson, J. Wetmore, Henry Caner and John
Beach, who, it is believed, were the only Episcopal clergymen
then in the Colony. {See Documentary History of the Epis-
copal Church in the United States, Vol. Z, p. 169.)

The testimony of such witnesses is certainly not to be called
in question. And considering that the land was already in
the possession of other parties, and that Mr. Arnold's title was
of a very doubtful character at best, it can readily be believed
that any attempt on his part to take possession of the property
would be resisted by those who were in actual possession, and
claimed it as their own — and that he would be considered and
treated by them as a trespasser. The contest appears to have
been between private individuals, in which the public authori-
ties were not necessarily involved. Similar occurrences are not
nnusual even at the present day. This question cannot be sat-
isfactorily determined, however, without a thorough examina-
tion of the whole correspondence of the Society on the subject,
and that cannot be immediately obtained. But measures have
been taken for procuring it, which, if successful, will aflbrd
further opportunities for investigation and the establishment of
the truth.

The exact time of the organizati(in of the Parish of Trinity
Church has not been ascertained. But the Churchmen of ]S^ew
Haven had become sufficiently numerous, in 1 752, to contem-
plate at that time the building of a house of worship. On the
28th day of July of that year, Samuel Mix executed a deed,
conveying, for the consideration of £200 old tenor, to Enos
Ailing and Isaac Doolittle, " for the building of a house of pub-
lic worship, agreeable and according to the establishment of the
Church of England," a certain piece of land containing twenty

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH. 55

square rods — being four rods wide, fronting westerly on what
is now called Church street, and being five rods deep. {^New
Haven Land Records^ Vol. XX, p. 210.) (Appendix D.)

Thus far a remarkable fatality seems to have attended the
conveyances of land for the benefit of the Episcopal Cliurch.
This deed, like that of William Grigson, was not acknowledged
by the grantor, who died shortly after its execution. But upon
the petition of the grantees to the General Assembly, at the
October session of 1756, that body confirmed their title to the
land by a Resolve, "That the petitioners have liberty to record
said deed in the Records of the town of New Haven, and the
same being so recorded, shall and may be used and improved
as the deed of said Mix for the passing the estate in said lands
as fully and efi'ectuall}' to all intents and purposes as if the
same had been acknowledged by the said Mix." {New Haven
Land Records, Vol. XX, pp. 210 and 211.) The land con-
veyed by this deed is that upon which the first house of wor-
ship of Trinity Church was built. It was completed in 1753.
Stiles mentions it in his " Itinerary," and states its dimensions
as being 58 by 38 feet, according to the measurement made by
him in 1760. {Vol. /., p. 21.) From the same source it ap-
pears that the Churchmen then residing in N^ew Haven had in-
creased to the number of twenty-four families, comprising
eighty-sev^en souls. (P. 7.) The land upon which it stood has
recently been purchased by Hon. James E. English.

In Mr. Chapin's centennial discourse, it is stated that a
Church (parish?) was formed in ]S"ew Haven in 1755. (P. 11.)
This statement is probably correct, and is made on the author-
ity of D wight's Statistical Account of New Haven, (p. 43,) al-
though no evidence of the fact appears in any otficial record.

The first minister of the Episcopal Church in New Haveu
was the Rev. Ebenezer Punderson. This gentleman graduated
in Yale College in the year 1726. He was settled over the
Second Congregational Church in Groton as pastor from Jan-
uary, 1728, to February, 1734, when he conformed to the
Church of England, and became an itinerant Missionary in
Connecticut of the Propagation Society. He was afterwards,
(in 1753,) at his own request, appointed a Misssionary to the

56 HISTORY OF TKINITY CHURCH.

Church in New Haven. He removed to Rye in 17G2. Dr.
Dwight says tliat lie died there at an advanced age — (p. 45) —
and Mr. Chapin repeats the same statement, on liis authority,
(p. 13.) That Mr. Punderson did not die at a very "advanced
age," is evident from the inscription upon a monumental stone
erected to his memory in Rye, a copy of which has been kindly
furnished by one of his collateral descendants, and which shows
that he died " Sept. 22d, 1764, at 60 years of age."

Mr. Punderson was succeeded in New Haven by Rev. Solo-
mon Palmer, in 1763, who remained until 1766. He removed
to Litchfield, where he soon after died. {Dwighfs Statistics,
p. 45.) He graduated at Yale College in 1729, and was set-
tled over a Congregational Church in Cornwall until 1754 — at
that time he conformed to the Episcopal Church and went to
England for Orders, He probably died at Litchfield in 1770.
{See C/iaprn, p. 13.)

The first recorded evidence of the existence of the parish of
Trinity Church, as an organized society, is contained in the
J}^ew Haven Zand Records, Volume XJl VII., p. 369, where
is recorded the deed of Enos Ailing to " Timothy Bonticou
and Isaac Doolittle, Chiirch Wardens, and Christopher Kilby
and Stephen Mansfield, Vestrymen of Trinity Church, in [New
Haven, and y*^ rest of y<^ members of y^ s<i Episcopal Church."
This instrument conveys to the grantees and their successors a
certain piece or parcel of land, containing one acre and a half,
more or less, situated and lying at a place called Crigson's cor-
ner, on the Town plat in said New Haven — bounded northerly
on the Market Place or highway — easterly on highway or
Town street — southerly by land in possession of Samuel Cook,
and wcstwardly by land in possession of Ralph Isaacs, together
with the dwelling house, barn and other buildings thereon."*
This is the deed under which Trinity Church acquired a law-
ful title to the Glebe Land, and it is dated Oct. 31, 1765. It
is not necessary to explain here how Enos Ailing l)ecame pos-
sessed of this property. A reference to the public records of
the town will show that he obtained his title by legitimate pur-

* Appendix E.

HISTOKY OF TRINITY CHUECH, 57

chase from those who had lawfully derived theirs from the heirs
of Thomas Grigsoii, the original proprietor.* A quit-claim
deed, properly executed and acknoiohdged, was obtained from
"William Grigson, of Exeter, England, (the great-grandson of
Eichard,) dated Oct. 26, 1768, which extinguished any possible
title that tlie heirs of Richard Grigson may have had to the
property in question, and confirmed that of Trinity Chnrch,
which, however, without it was sufficiently perfect. {New
Haven Land Records, Vol. XL V., p. 519.)t

Up to this period no light is thrown npon the history of
Trinity Church from its own records, of which there are none
in existence previous to the commencement of the ministry of
Rev. Bela Hubbard, in 1767. The fiicts concerning the con-
templated building of the first Church, the organization of the
Parish, and the purchase of the Glebe, have been mostly de-
rived from the records of the town, wdiile the scanty memorials
of the two earliest Missionaries of Kew Haven have been sup-
plied from such sources as have been attainable, and which
have been carefully designated. The Parochial Register and
the Parish Records will constitute the authority upon which
the succeeding statements concerning the history of the Church
will be made.

A brief notice of the " Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts," which has been so frequently alluded
to, and which has exercised so important an agency in the
foundation of the Episcopal Church in this country, cannot be
considered out of place here. It is probably the oldest Protes-
tant Missionary Society in the world. It was incorporated in
the year 1701, during the reign of William III. Through its
means the Gospel has been carried to various and remote parts
of the world, wherever British arms and British commerce
have established a knowledge of the English tongue. By it
the Episcopal Church was planted and carefully nourished in
America until it was able to tiike care of itself, and to repay
its obligations, in part, by sending forth missionaries in the same
cause to other regions destitute as our own then were. This

* Appendix F. f Appendix C.

58 HISTOEY OF TRINITY CIIUrcCH.

truly venerable society is flourishing at the present day with
nndiniinished vigor, and its eftbrts are attended with a degree
of success unsurpassed by that of any similar institution.

The E,ev. Bela riubl)c)rd commenced his labors as a mission-
ary of the Society to New Haven in the year 1767, at which
time the Church had been built and the Paiish organized. In
the Register kept by him is written upon the first page, by his
own hand, ''Trinity Church, New Haven, Notitia Parochialis,
A. D. 1767. Bela Hubbard, Missionary." There is little of
general interest in this volume, its contents consisting mainly
of the records of marriages, baptisms and funerals, from which
he made his periodical reports to the Society. The Parish of
Christ Cliurch, in West Haven, enjoyed a stated portion of his
services, — but it appears from his " Notitia" that his field of
labor was very extensive, and was not confined to the limits of
either parish. Here are recorded services performed in Amity,
Bethany, Branford, East Haven, Fairfield, Farmington, Foxon,
Guilford, Hamden, Killingworth, Milford, New Haven, North
Guilford, Stratford, Saybrook, Stratfield, Woodbury and West
Haven.

The first record of the choice of oflicers of the Parish is
contained in this volume, and is in the following words :

"At a meeting of Vestry of Trinity Church, New Haven, on Easter Monday
April 16th, 1770,

Cliosen Mr. Isaac Doolittle, ) ^,, -^ ,

and t^Capt. Stephen Mansfield, ^ '• "

Mr. Enos Alling, Clerk.

Capt. Christopher Kilby, i

Ciipt. Abiathan Camp, >- Vestrymen.

Mr. John Miles, )

James Powers, Sexton.

The same book contains records of the annual election of
Wardens, Vestrymen, &c., on Easter Monday of each succeed-
ing year until 1777, but has no account of their proceedings,
or those of the Parish. The ofiicers once elected were sel-
dom changed. Potation in office has been little practised in
the Parish, and consequently much discord has been avoided,
and harmony and good will have generally prevailed among
its members and in its councils.

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH. 59

Under the date of August 28th, 1772, is the record of the
baptism of "Moses Paul," an adult Indian of the Mohegan
tribe, in the Jail House, a little before his execution for the
murder of Cook, of Waterbury." {See Dwighfs Sta-
tistics, p. 36.)

Another entry records the burial of Peter Harrison, Esq.,
Collector of His Majesty's Customs of tlie Port of New Ha-
ven, May 7, 1775. Mr. Harrison was the gentleman through
whose heroic exertions, according to the " historian " before
quoted. Trinity Church obtained possession of tlie estate devised
to it by Thomas Gregson, in his fabulous will.

The first record of the Parish as a Society is dated Ea'^ter
Monday, March 31, 1777, and is commenced in these words:

"The Parishioners of Trinity Church convened at the usual place and chose
Enos Ailing, Esq., and Mr. Isaac Doolittle, Church Wardens for the year ensu
ing; Messrs. Charles Prindle, Benjamin Sanford, Daniel Bonticou, Ebenezer Chit-
tenden and Samuel Nesbit, Vestrymen."

The annual meetings of the Parish have always been held
on Easter Monday in each year. The " usual place" of hold-
ing them was the Church. At these meetings Rev. Mr. Hub-
bard was almost invariably present during the whole period of
his rectorship — and after the election of Wardens and Yestry-
men, he appointed a Clerk. The clerks of his appointment,
however, appear to have had nothing to do with the records of
the Parish. Their principal duty was to lead the responses of
the congregation during public worship, and to designate the
psalms and hymns to be sung. The office has now become ex-
tinct, it is believed, in all tlie parishes in New England.

The Wardens and Yestrymen generally held a meeting very
soon after the parish meeting, at the residence of some one of
their number, for the purpose of organization, when they made
choice of a " Clerk of the Yestry " from their own members.
His duty was to keep the records of the Parish meetings, and
of the Yestry meetings, which in those days were not very
frequent.

At a meeting of the Wardens and Yestry, held Sept. 11,
1777, a committee was appointed to dispose of the school
money belonging to the Church, and to engage a woman to

60 HISTOKY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

teach such a number of small children belono-ino- to the Parish
as may be sent to her for so long a time as the money shall
last." In those days the school money was divided amonij:; the
various ecclesiastical societies, in proportion to their numbers,
and the children belonging to them were instructed in paro-
chial schools. In view of the character of the instruction dis-
pensed in our public schools under the present system, it is
hoped that the suggestion will not be considered obtrusive, that
a return to the old plan might be attended with very beneficial
results,

At a meeting of the Wardens and Yestry, March 3d, 1777,
''they agreed," in the words of the record, "to purchase a
proper book for the purpose of recording all the votes and
doings of the Vestry this year and hereafter ; and to leave a
sufficient number of leaves at the beginning to transcribe the
old one," &c. A book was accordingly purchased, in which all
the records of the Parish and Yestry meetings have been kept
from Easter Monday, 1777, until Dec. 12, 1853. Although
several leaves were left " at the beginning of the book," the
old one was never transcribed, and it is supposed to be irre-
coverabl}^ lost.

Enos Ailing died Sept. 11, 1779. He had been re-elected
Warden at the annual meeting of the Parish in that year, —
had been appointed Parish Clerk by Mr. Hubbard, and had
also been elected Treasurer by the Wardens and Yestry. At a
meeting of the surviving Warden and the Yestry, held on the
14th of October, in the same year, Ebenezer Chittenden was
chosen Warden [from their own number] to supply the vacancy
caused by the death of Mr. Ailing.

It is the occasion of much regret that so little has been pre-
served concerning the personal history of Enos Ailing, whose
zeal in the cause of the Episcopal Church obtained for him,
among his coniemi)oraries, the honorary title of *' Bishop " Ai-
ling, by which name he is better remembered, and is more fre-
quently mentioned, even now, than by his baptismal one. He
left no lineal descendants, which may perhaps account for the
absence of more perfect memorials of him than can now be ob-

HI8T0KY OF TRINITY CHURCH. 61

tained.* He graduated at Yale College in 17-10, in the same
class with President Stiles, and afterwards became engaged
successfully in commercial pursuits. He was a member of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in the operations of
which he was deeply interested. He enjoyed the reputation,
during his life, of being a man of honor and integrity, and died
at the age of 61 years.

At the time of Mr. Alling's decease, Mr. Hubbard was resi-
ding in his house. In the month of October following, he re-
moved to the dwelling that had formerly belonged to Abiathar
Camp," which stood on the ground now occupied by the Chapel
Street Church, wdiere he resided for several years.

At the annual Parish meeting, March 27, 1780, it was voted
" that each member, whether Wardens or Yestrymen, who shall
neglect to attend an evening meeting, when properly adjourn-
ed, shall pay one shilling in hard money for the benefit of the
parish poor, unless he can shew a reason that is satisfactory."
This incentive to punctuality did not prove to be efficient, for
at the next adjourned meeting of April 12th, there was no busi-
ness done, " for want of members," as the record significantly
sets forth.

An organ had been purchased and set up in the Church in
the year 1784, and at a Yestry meeting held Dec. 29, in that
year, it was voted " that those persons who have been benefac-
tors to the Church, by contributing for an organ, should, as a
tribute of gratitude for their liberality, have their names, with
the respective sums of their siibscrij)tions, recorded in this
book." " The following, therefore, is the subscription at length :
Whereas, there having been former subscriptions signed by
sundry persons in town, it is agreed by the Church Wardens
and Yestry of said Church, that they be not holden to any but
the present. We whose names are subscribed do engage to pay

* Enos Alling's widow was the daughter of Capt. Samuel Miles. Some time af-
ter the death of Mr. Ailing, she became the wife of Hon. Jared Ingersoll. She
died Dec. 3, 17 8G, in the 54th year of her age, the wife of Captain Joseph Brad-
ley, to whom she had been married the previous April. — Conn. Journal for Dec.
6, 1786.

62 niSTORY OF TKINITT CIinRCH.

unto the Rev. B. ITnbbard, Mr. Ricliard Tritton, Col. Joseph
Drake, Mr. Elias Shipman, Mr. Isaac Beers and Mr. William
P«\vell, the committee appointed to collect the money and pur-
chase the sd or<!;an, the several sums affixed to our names.
New Haven, 12th Jan. 1784."

At the annual Parish meeting, Easter Monday, March 28,
1785, it was " Voted, That the Wardens and Vestry are the
Society's Committee accoi'ding to law" — and as such they have
been held and regarded ever since — their powers and functions
being the same as those of such committees of the other eccle-
siastical societies. It was also voted, "• That there be no fur-
ther burials under the body of the Church, except those fami-
lies some members of which have already been buried there,
by which is understood the heads of those families and their
children — only excepting any person leaving a legacy of thirty
pounds, and particularly desiring that liberty."

At a Parish meeting held Oct. 5, 1785, it was voted, "That
Pev. Mr. IIul)bard is allowed the deficiency of salary he re-
ceived from England, until Easter next, as Missionary." Al-
though the language of this vote is not very" clear, the proba-
bility is that Mr. Hubbard about this time ceased to be the
Missionary of the Propagation Society.* There is a memoran-
dum in his "register," under date of May 9, 1785, in these
M'ords : " Wrote to the Secretary of the Society in England,
Dr. Morice." There is no intimation as to the subject of his
communication, but it doubtless had refei'ence to his resigna-
tion of his mission. The meaning of the vote seems to be that
Mr. Hubbard should receive from the Parish for salary, at the
following Easter, an amount equal to what he would have re-
ceived from the Society, had he continued in its service.

At the same meeting it was voted, "That the sum often
pounds be paid unto the Right Rev. Samuel Seabury, Bishop
of this State."

As this is the first mention that is made of Bishop Seabury
in the Records, it seems to be an appropriate })lace for the in-

* A salary of £60 was voted to Mr. Hubbard at the annual meeting of 1784,
at whicb time he probably became the Rector.

HISTORY OF TEINITY CHUECH. 63

troduction of a very brief notice of some of tlie leading inci-
dents of his life. He was a native of Groton, in this State,
and was a graduate of Yale College of the Class of 1748. He
was consecrated Bishop of Connecticut on the 14th day of No-
vember, 1784, at Aberdeen, in Scotland, by the Primus and
two other of the non-juring Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal
Church, under circumstances that are generally too well known
to require repetition. On the day subsequent to his consecra-
tion, a Concordat was signed by the consecrating Bishops and
the new Bishop of Connecticut. In the fifth article of this in-
strument, it is declared that " as the celebration of the holy
eucharist, or the administration of the body and blood of
Christ, is the principal bond of union among Christians,
as well as the most solemn act of worship in the Christian
Church, the Bishops aforesaid agree in desiring that there may
be as little variation here as possible" — and it was agreed be-
tween them that Bishop Seabury should, "by gentle methods
of argument and persuasion, endeavor to introduce by degrees
into practice" the communion office of the Scottish Church, if
upon examination he should find it " agreeable to the genuine
standards of antiquity." The Bishop of Connecticut was faith-
ful to his covenant. He was a member of the General Con-
vention of the American Episcopal Church, held in 1789, at
which the Book of Common Prayer now in use was set forth
and established. In this book the order for the administration
of the Lord's Supper differs from that in the Liturgy of the
Church of England by certain additions, by which it is made
to conform more closely to the Scottish form, and particularly
to the " genuine standards of antiquity " — which will be ap-
parent to those who may be sufficiently interested to examine
it, and compare it with the most ancient liturgies that have
been preserved. This important reform is attributed to the in-
fluence which was exerted upon that occasion by Bishop Sea-
bury.

At the regular annual meeting in 1787, Moses Bates was ap-
pointed organist, and was allowed to occupy the house in which
he then lived without being required to pay rent, as a compen-
sation for his services.

64 IIISTOEY OF TRINITY CHUECH.

At a Yestry meeting, Sept. ITtli, in the same year, £10
lawful money was directed by vote to be paid to Bishop Sea-
bury ; but the vote contained the proviso that this donation
should not be considered as a precedent for any future claims
upon the Church by the Bishop.

At a special Parish meetino;, Jan. 14, 1788, Doct. Samuel
Nesbitt was appointed a delegate from the Parish to the Con-
vention of the representatives of the other churches in the
Diocese, to be held in Waterbury on the 13th of the following
February, to devise ways and means for obtaining the salary
of Bishoj) Seaburj, and he was furnished with a certified copy
of the tax list of the Society.

At the annual meeting in 1788, it is recorded that Dr. Nes-
bitt made a report of the doings of tlie Convention at Water-
bury, wliicli he had attended as delegate. There is no record
of the report, but its substance is sufficiently apparent from
the vote that was passed in reference to it, by wliich tlie doings
of the Convention were approved, and that agreeably to the
recommendation of the Convention, the Parish should raise a
sum equal to a half penny on the pound, on the amount of the
tax list, for the support of the Bishop, M'hich sum was to be
raised by quarterly collections in the Clmrcli, and that if a
sufficient amount sliould not be obtained by that method, the
deficiency should be made up from the Treasury.

Dr. Nesbitt was again appointed to represent the Parish in
the Diocesan Convention to be held at Wallingford, on the
7th of May following, "to ratify or amend the doings of the
former Convention at Waterbury."

A vote was passed authorizing Mr. Hubbard to officiate in
West Haven " four or more Sundays," and authorizing thi
Vestry to fix the sum to be paid into the treasury by the
Church in West Haven for Mr. IIul)bard's services.

At the Yestry meeting March 31, 1788, Moses Bates was re-
appointed organist, with the additional office of Sexton^ and
for his services was to have his house rent free, as before.

At the same meeting it was also voted " that for the con-
veniency of describing the lots and boundaries of the church
lands, that the street beginning in Chapel street, between the

HISTOKT OF TRINirY CHUKCH. 65

houses of Eobert Fairchild and Abel Buel, be called and
known by the name of Gregson street, and that the street be-
ginning in Clnirch street, running between the liouse of Levi
Hubbard and the house at present leased to Moses Bates,
westerly until it meets Grigson street, be called and known by
the name of School Alley." Also, " that a new lane, twelve
feet in width, be laid out between Grigson street and Church
street, from Chapel street to School Alley." Whether or not
this last vote was ever carried into effect, does not appear.

There is an entry in Mr. Hubbard's "Notitia," in the follow-
ing words: "July 8, 1788. Buried Mary Chatterton, aged 19,
who was killed with lightning at the house of Mr. Stephen
Ball, July 8, in y^ evening." This is believed to be the only
instance of death caused by lightning that has ever occurred
in New Haven.

At a special Parish meeting IS'ov. 17, 1788, Dr. Nesbitt,
who had then received floly Orders, resigned the office of
Senior Warden, to which he had been elected at the previous
annual meeting.

At the same meeting a proposition was received from Messrs.
Wm. McCrackan and Josiah Burr to build an addition of
twenty feet to the rear of the Church, and to make such alter-
ations in the position of the pulpit, reading-desk and chancel,
as the proposed addition might make proper, and to have the
whole finished in two years, without expense to the Church,
provided the Parish would secure to them and their heirs the
possession of all the new pews in the space created by the pro-
posed addition and alterations, to be built and placed under
the direction of a committee to be appointed by the Parish for
the purpose. This offer was accepted by the Parish, and a
committee was appointed " to negotiate an exchange with
Richard Cutler for land on the east end of the Church (lot) be-
lontring to him, for so much of land on the north side of said
Church (lot) as may be necessary for extending the rear of the
Church twenty feet."

At a special Parish meeting called by Rev. Mr. Hubbard, at
the request of the Yestry, Feb. 9, 1789, to take into considera-
tion the propriety of building a Yestry Room, the proposition

66 niSTOEY OF TKINITT CHURCH.

was rejected nnanimously. " The general opinion was (in the
words of the record) that the finances of the Churcli would
not at that time admit of it."

At the annual meeting April 13, 1789, Jonathan Ingersoll,
Esq., was appointed a delegate to tlie Convention of tlie Dio-
cese, to be lield in Middletown, to deliberate upon the proprie-
ty of sending a delegate at large from this Diocese to the pro-
posed " General Convention to beheld at Annapolis, said to be
for the uniform discipline of the American Episcopal Churches
and other purposes."

A special Parish meeting was held Oct. 1, 1789, "for the
purpose of taking into consideration a draft (probably of a
form) for the consecration of our Church by our Diocesan
Bishop." At an adjourned meeting, held on the 5th of tlie
same month, it was " agreed to suspend the consideration of
the deed of dedication recommended by Rev. Mr. Hubbard,"
because the General Convention was then in session in Phila-
delphia, and their doings might require some alterations to be
made in the instrument. A further adjournment was made to
the 14th, and finally to the 22d of the same month. As there
is no record at tlie last named date, nor at any subsequent pe-
riod, of the consecration of the Church, the presumption is,
that for some reason now unknown, the solemn act was never
performed.

As an evidence of the great scai'city of money at this time,
at a Vestry meeting held on the 15tli of February, 1790, the
collector of the rates or ecclesiastical tax was authorized to
take other property in the place of money in payment.

The Church appears to have been a good deal embarrassed
by debt for some years, and at the annual meeting in 1790 it
was voted that a subscription should be opened by the "War-
dens and Vestry for raising the sum of £150 to be applied to
the extinguishment of the demands against the Parish. Be-
sides it had been found necessary, or at least convenient, for
the purpose of saving expense, to employ the Rector but three-
quarters of the time, at a reduced salary. A proposal was
made to him, by the Wardens and Vestry, in 1791, to serve the
Parish three-fourths of the time for £100, Mr. Hubbard ac-

HISTOKY OF TRINITY CIIUKCH. 67

cepted the proposition on condition that he should be at liberty
to leave the Parish at his pleasure.

At the annual meeting in 1792, the same provision was
made for Mr. Hubbard as in the year before. Col. Drake and
Mr. Isaac Beers were appointed a committee to confer with
similar committees of the other societies in relation to tlie sub-
ject of the erection of a fence around the burying ground.
Upon their report to tlie special meeting convened for the pur-
pose of hearing and acting upon it, a tax of l^d. on the pound
was laid to procure means for the expense, and the same com-
mittee were appointed to superintend the building of the fence
on the part of the Parisli, and to spend the balance of the
money, if there should be any, in setting out trees in the bury-
ing ground.

It was about this time that measures were begun f ir laying
out a new cemetery, which project was afterwards completed
in a manner most creditable to all the parties concerned in it,
and which it is only necessary to allude to here. At the same
meeting it was voted " that the committee confer with the
committees of the other societies concerning some convenient
place for another burying ground, and ascertain the price for
which the same may be purchased, and make a report of the
same to the Society."

At the annual meeting April 1st, 1793, Mr. Christian Han-
son and Mr. Asa Austin were, by vote, " requested to attend
in the galleries on Sundays, to prevent the disturbances of the
boys." And a similar vote was passed at every succeeding an-
nual meeting, as long as the old church continued to be used as a
place of worship. A traditional anecdote has been preserved,
which may be appropriately introduced here, as showing the ne-
cessity for this action on the part of the Parish, and as exhibit-
ing a whimsical metliod of imparting sound doctrine, and of il-
lustrating a distinction with a difference. One Sunday, during
service, a great disturbance was made in the gallery, by the
irreverent conduct of one of tliat class of mischievous boys for
which Church street lias been for many years distinguished,
and which is far troni being extinct in that locality at the pres-
ent day. A gentleman among the worshipers, who was pos-

68 niSTOEY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

sessed of a reall)' devotional spirit, but had at the same time a
very dioleric temper, submitted to the annoyance until his pa-
tience was quite exhausted, when he seized the boy b}' the col-
lar and rushed with him into the porch. There, shaking the
culprit almost to dislocation, he roared in a voice ot thunder,

" You little rascal, how dare you behave so in a Church f

You thought you was in a Presbyterian meeting-house, didn't
you — hey ?"

Some time during this year a bell was procured and hung in
the belfry. It was probably cast by Isaac Doolittle, but this is
a surmise merely, as there is nothing on tlie records to show
where it was obtained. Among the proceedings of the Yestry,
at a meeting on the 26tli of Sept., 1793, is the following
record :

" It being reported that, without any order or direction of the Wardens and
Vestry of said Church, the bell has been rung on the two preceding Saturday
nights, by some person unknown, therefore,

" Voted, That in our opinion. the ringing of the bell at the above mentioned
time was very improper and irregular, and that we do not countenance the same;
and that no person in future be permitted to ring the said bell on Saturday or
any other nights, unless ordered by the Society at large."

At the annual meeting April 20, 1794, the Wardens were
authorized to have the Church painted, and to borrow a sum
not exceeding £50 to pay for it. And at a Yestry meeting in
the same year, " Mr. Salter, an organist from England," was
engaged to plav the organ for six months, to be paid at the
rate of twenty guineas per annum. Mr. Salter remained for
many years in the situation to which he was at this time ap-
pointed. There are yet members of the Parish living who re-
member the exquisite performances with which he used to de-
light them. lie lived to quite an advanced age, and became
wholly blind before he died. By the exercise of his talents he
supported his family in a respectable manner ; and it is no dis-
paragement to his successors to say that none of tliem have
surpassed him in skillful execution and tasteful performance
upon an instrument which is better adapted than any other to
the purposes of public worship.

At the annual meeting in 1795, a committee w^as raised to

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH. 69

enquire into the expediency and probable cost of building a
gallery in the Church, but as the estimated cost was over £100,
the consideration of the subject was postponed, for the reason
that the town had been put to great expense in consequence of
the sickness that had prevailed tlie previous 3^ear.

In 1796, Mr. Hubbard was again employed for the whole
year at a salary of £140, from which it is inferred that the
finances of the Parish were in an improved condition. At a
Yestry meeting, April 30, 1790, in the words of the record,
" 'twas also agreed at this meeting tluit the First Society have
liberty to make use of the cliurch bell for all purposes they
need until theirs can be run over anew." It is not probable
that the First Society availed itself of this courteous offer, as
the profiered privilege would be about as valuable as that of
borrowing a neighbor's knocker. But it is agreeable to find
such an evidence of good will from the one society to the oth-
er on record, and it was unquestionably fully appreciated by
the party in behalf of which it was exhibited.

In 1797, Mr. Hubbard's salary was raised to £155. He was
to have the privilege of officiating at West ETaven seven Sun-
days in the course of the .year, but in case he did so, the parish
there was required to pay Trinity Church $50 for his services ;
and this arrangement was renewed annually until 1S02.

A vote was passed at the annual meeting in 1797, "that ten
dollars be paid out of the Society's treasury towards the pub-
lic wells and pumps in this city.

Bishop Seabury had died suddenly in New London on the
25th of February, 3 796, and the Rev. Abraham Jarvis had
been elected to succeed him. At a special Parish meeting,
Oct. 2, 1797, Capt, Joseph Bradley and Col. Joseph Drake
were " chosen delegates to attend at the consecration of the
Bishop elect in New Haven." In the volume containing Mr,
Hubbard's " JSTotitia," is the certificate of the consecration of
Bishop Jarvis in Trinity Church, dated Oct. 18, 1797, and
signed by the consecrators. Bishops White, Provost and Bass,

At a Parish meeting, Nov. 27, 1797, it was voted, "That
there be a contribution every Sabbath after church at night for
the benefit of the poor of the Parish, The contributions to

70 HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

continue throngli the M'inter." Tlie custom begun at this time
has been continued in Trinity Church to this day ; but the col-
lections in late years have been made monthly during the win-
ter, instead of weekly, as then.

At a Vestry meeting, Dec. 23, 1797, certain persons, being
poor members of the Parish, were designated as suitable re-
cipients of the money collected in pursuance of the last men-
tioned vote ; and a committee was appointed " to confer with
the committee of the other ecclesiastical societies about assist-
ing a certain class of poor inhabitants, not members of either
society."

In the course of this year, (1797,) after various conferences,
estimates and votes on the subject, a contract was made for
building side galleries in the Church, and the Wardens and
Vestry authorized to borrow six hundred dollars on the credit
of the Parish to meet the expense.

At a Parish meeting, Oct. '22d, Messrs. Joseph Bradley, Rich-
ard Cutler and John Barker were " appointed agents to make
application to the General Assembly for the formation of the
Parish into a School Society according to law."

In the volume of "Notitia" is a record of the death of Isaac
Doolittle, Feb. 13th, 1800, jE 78. Mr. Doolittle was an enter-
prising citizen of New Haven. He was a nativ^e of Walling-
ford, but came here to reside at a very early age. The Church,
of which he was so long a member, was the object of his
warm, zealous and earnest attachment. His contribution of
the means necessary for building the lirst house of worship
were more liberal than those of any of his cotemporaries. He
was one of the earliest wardens whose name appears upon
record. His business pursuits were various. He was a man-
ufacturer of brass clocks, of the kind that used to stand in a
solemn looking case, in a dark corner, greeting each visitor in
the same language that Doctor Blimbers addressed to little
Paul Dombey. There are some few still remaining with his
name upon their faces, one of which it is hoped may yet be
found in the possession of this Society, as an interesting relic
of the past. He was also engaged in the business of casting
bells. His foundry was on the south side of Chapel street,

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHUKCH. 71

above York, in the place wliere the house stands tliat was
erected by the late John "W. Fitch. During the Revolutionary
war, he, in company with Jeremiah Atwater and Elijah
Thompson, made large quantities of gunpowder at their mills
in Westville. This business was continued there until the be-
ginning of the present century.

At a Vestry meeting, Dec. 9, 1801, it is recorded that " a
letter from Mr. Ashbel Baldwin was laid before us requesting
a payment of $25yVo ^J the 1st January, 1801, as our propor-
tion of a tax laid by the General Convention for the use
of the Academy at Cheshire. The Yestry requested Mr.
Hubbard to write to Mr. Baldwin to forward the vote of the
Convention, that the Church here may be satisfied of the ob-
ject contemplated by the money.'"' And further, January 31,
1801, that "The vote of the Episcopal Convention was laid
before them about raising out of this Parish the sum of $25j-Vo
for the benefit of the Academy at Cheshire. Voted, That a
subscription be set on foot immediately for the above purpose,
and that Stephen Atwater carry round the subscription."

In a short memoir of Bishop Seabury, it is said that " he fully
appreciated the value of sound learning as the handmaid of
religion, and was the projector of a Church college in Connecti-
cut, of which Cheshire Academy was the first fruit." This
institution is deserving of something more than a mere episodi-
cal notice in a paper like this. It has exercised a very impor-
tant influence in the history of the Church, especially in this
Diocese. It has been a nursery for the ministry, and many
of the ablest and most useful Episcopal clergymen of Con-
necticut in the past generation were educated there. One of
its former principals or rectors is now a resident of New Ha-
ven, the respected pastor of a flourishing church, and a promi-
nent officer of this Society. Let us cherish the hope that at no
distant day he will find sufficient leisure to favor us with a his-
tory of that valuable institution.

In 1803 Mr. Hubbard's salary was fixed at $520 for the
year. He was to have the liberty of preaching in West Ha-
ven seven Sundays in the year, for which the parish there was

72 HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

to pay to Trinity Cluircli tliesutn of ^60. A similar arrange-
ment was made each succeeding year nntil 1806.

At the annual meeting in 1804, "a committee was appointed
to conFider the propriety of enlarging the Church, repairing or
taking down the steeple and huilding a cupola, and any other
repairs necessary to be made in the Church." Nothing further
appears to have been done this year in the matter.

In 1806 Mr. Hubbard's salary was fixed at $650, and his
services engaged for the whole year.

At a Yestry meeting, Oct. 20, there was a vote authorizing
the erection of a stove in the Church, under the direction of
the Wardens and Vestry, provided it should be done free of
expense to the Society.

In the course of 1807 the old steeple was taken down and a
cupola built in its stead, and the Church generally put in re-
pair and painted. Mr. Hubbard's salary for this year was
fixed at $700.

In 1808 Dr. Hubbard's salary was reduced to $650, which
sum was appropriated for that purpose annually thereafter,
during his life.

In the course of this year, at the request of Dr. Hubbard,
the Parish engaged the services of the Rev. Salmon Wheaton
as an assistant minister to the rector. His engagement ended
about Oct. 2()th, 1810, and he was paid for his services at the
rate of $200 a year. Overtures were then made to the Rev.
S. r. Jarvis to supply the place that Mr. Wheaton had filled,
for the term of six months, at the same salary that had been
paid to the former. It is recorded that, at a special parish
meeting held Dec. 8, 1810, it was stated to the meeting that it
was M'ell ascertained that the sum proposed to be offered to
Mr. Jarvis would not be considered by him as adequate to a
Bupi)ort, it was therefore " Voted, That the Society do nothing
on the subject."

It was at the annual meeting in this year (1810) that the sub-
ject of building a new church was first discussed, " and Elias
Shipman, John H. Jacocks and John Hunt, Jr., were a])point-
ed a committee " to set a subscription on foot to ascertain the
minds of the members of the Society."

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHUKCH. 73

The Rector yet reiiiained without an assistant. A special
Parish meeting was convened June 9, 1811, when the Wardens
and Vestry, as the Society's Committee, were anthorized to ex-
tend a call to the liev. Henry Whitlock, of Norwalk, to be the
assistant minister of the Parish, with a salary of $800 a year.
The call was accepted, and Mr. Whitlock commenced his du-
ties shortly afterwards.

In the " register " is recorded the deatli of Ebenezer Chit-
tenden, May 11, 1812, at the age of 86. Mr. Chittenden had
been one of the earliest wardens of the Chuich, having been
first cliosen in 1779, to supply the vacancy caused by the death
of Enos Ailing. He was also appointed Parish Clerk by Mr.
Hubbard, in 1791, which office he continued to hold until the
time of his death, and which expired with him.

This 3'ear (1812) was also made memorable in the annals of
Trinity Church, by the decease of its Pector. The faithful
missionary, the pious priest, the watchful pastor, after a life
spent in the service of his Master, was called to his reward on
the 6th day of December, 1812, in the seventy-third year of his
age, and the fort_y-hfth of his ministry, as Missionary to and
Rector of the Church. His memory is yet green among the chil-
dren and children's children of those who knew and loved him,
and enjoyed his ministrations, and his name is never men-
tioned by them but with affection and veneration.

When this task was first undertaken, it was with the expec-
tation that the narrative of events illustrating the history of
Trinity Church would be extended to a more recent period.
But the materials have been so much more abundant than was
anticipated, that notwithstanding the care that has been taken
to exclude all irrelevant matter, and to condense the facts into
the smallest compass consistent with intelligibility, the limits
that were at first prescribed for the purpose have been already
transcended. It has been thought advisable, therefore, to pro-
ceed no further at present, but to resume the subject upon
some future occasion, should it be considered desirable.

In whatever has been herein written, every endeavor has
been made to render justice to all parties concerned. And al-
though a jealous regard for the reputation of the original set-

74 HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

tiers of New Haven and of tlieir descendants is freely con-
fessed, it lias not been attempted, consciously, either to jus-
tify or palliate any willful misconduct of theirs, or to witlihold,
disiruise or distort the truth. The Puritan founders of the
Colony were men who sincerely believed in their own princi-
ples, and made many and great sacrifices in support ot* them,
and they endeavored to act consistently with them. It is
true that they shared in the common inheritance of hu-
man corruption, and sometimes the old Adam would show that
he was not quite dead M^ithin them. So far as the conflicts of
their descendants with the Episcopal Church are concerned,
the worst that can be said of them is that they conducted
themselves very much as other men of equally earnest convic-
tions and violent prejudices would have done, under similar
circumstances.

The late Rev. Dr. Croswell, in ] 856, began the preparation of
a collection of facts, which w^as intended for future publica-
tion, if circumstances should warrant it, under the title of
" Annals of my Parish." The narrative commenced with the
incumbency of Dr. Hubbard, and can be continued to the
latest period of the life of the author, from the pai:)ers that he
prepared and arranged with reference to the subject. Yery
little use, however, has been made of these annals in this sketch,
as they could not well be made available for the purpose ; but
most of the facts contained herein have been derived directly
from tlie original sources.

Henry White, Esq., has kindly furnished several memoran-
da, which have saved me much time and trouble, by indicating
the particular volumes of the public records in which are to be
found the various deeds and conveyances of property in which
Trinity Church has been concerned.

The Rev. Dr. Beardsley and the Rev. Wm. L. Kingsley
have also loaned various valuable documents, which have been
of great service in the preparation of this outline, especially of
that part of it which relates to the earliest days of the Church
in !New Haven.

a.i^pe:ni:)IX.

A LIST OF THE WARDENS, VESTRY, AND OTHER OFFICERS OF
TRINITY CHURCH, FROM 1765 TO 1812.

Wardens.

Timothy Bonticoii, 1Y65 ; Capt. Stephen Mansfield, lYYO to 1774 ; Isaac Doolit-
tle, 1765, and 1770 to 1777, and 1783 to 1785; Abiathar Camp, 1775, 1776; Enos
Ailing, 1777 to 1779; Joseph Browne, 1778 to 1787 ; Ebenezer Chittenden, 1779
tol78'2; Samuel Nesbit, 1786 to 1788; William McCrackan, 1788 lo 1809; Jo-
seph Bradle}-, 1791 to 1798, and 1800 to 1809; Jonathan IngersoU, 1799, and
1810 to 1812; William Walter, 1810 to 1812.

Vestrymen.

Stephen Mansfield, 1765; Christopher Kilby, 1765, and 1770 to 1772, and 1774;
Abiathar Camp, 1770 to 1772, and 1774 ; John Miles, 1770 to 1772, and 1774 to
1775, and 1781 to 1784; Dr. Daniel Bontieou, 1774,1775, 1777, 1778; Ambrose
Ward, 1774 to 1776, and 1778 to 1780; Charles Prindle, 1775 to 1782 ; Ebenezer
Chittenden, 1774, 1775, and 1777 to 1779; Thomas Davis, 1775; Benjamin San-
ford, 1775 to 1783 ; Dr. Samuel Nesbit, 1777 to 1782; Elias Shipman, 1778 to
1782, and 1793 to 1812 ; Capt. Thomas Rice, 1780 to 1784 ; Richard Cutler, 1780
to 1782, and 1785; William McCrackan, 1780, and 1782 to 1787; Joseph Brad-
ley, 1781, 1782, and 1791 to 1793; Anthony I'erit, 1781, 1782; Elijah Forbes,
17sl to 1783; Isaac Beers, 1782, and 1792 to 1810; Russell Clark, 1784,1785;
Zina Denison, 1784, and 1786, 1787 ; Joseph Drake, 1786 to 1790 ; Josiah Burr, 1788
to 1791; William Powell, 1788, 1789; Samuel Humiston, 1788; Jonathan Inger-
soU, 1789 to 1798, and 1800 to 1809; John Heyligcr, 1790; Jared Mansfield,
1790 to 1794; John Nicoll, 1794 to 1796; John Barker, 1795 to 1812; Frederick
Hunt, 1797 to 1809; Timothy Phelps, 1799; Nathan Smith, 1805 to 1812; Chas.
Denison, 1808 to 1812 ; John H. Jacocks, 1808 to 1812 ; Elijah Thompson, 1809;
Samuel Hughes, 1809 to 1812; John Hunt, Jr., 1810 to 1812; Ward Atwater,
1810 to 1812 ; Andrew Kidston, 1810 to 1812 ; William McCrackan, Jr., 1810 to
1812; Alexander Langmuir, 1811; Solomon Collis, 1812.

76 HISTOKY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

Delegatks to Diocksan Convention.

Dr. Samuel Ncsbit, 1787, 1788; Jonathan Ingersoll. 1789 to 1793; "William

McCrackan, 1794; Joseph Bradley, 1795 to 1797; Thomas Green, 1799, 1800,

and 1802 ; John Barker, 1798 and 1801 ; Stephen Atwater, 1803 to 1805 ; Joseph

Drake, 1806; Charles Denison, 1807; John II. Jacocks, 1808 to 1810; Nathan

mith, 1812.

Clerks of the Vestry.

Daniel Bonticou, 1777, 1778; Elias Shipman, 1779; Samuel Nesbit, 1779 to
1782; John Miles, Jr., 1783; Jared Mansfield, 1784. 1780,1787, 1791 to 1794;
Thaddcus Perit, 1785 ; William Powell, 1788 to 1789 ; John Barker, 1795 to 1809.

Parish Clerks appointed by Ret. Dr. Hubdbaru.

Enos Ailing, 1778, 1779; Joseph Brown, (sub-clerk,) 1778, and 1780 to 1785;
Levi Hubbard, 1784; Isaac Beers, 1785 ; Jared Mansfield, 1786 ; Joseph Browne,
1787 to 1789; Ebenezer Chittenden, 1791 to 1800, and 1809 to 1812 ; William
Kilby, (sub-clerk,) probably 1800 to 1812.

Organists.

Moses Bates, 1787, 1788; Daniel Salter, 1794 to 1797, and 1799, 1800, 1803 to
1812; John Ives, Jr., 1798, 1801.

COPY OF WILLIAM GRIGSON'S DEED TO JONATHAN ARNOLD.
From the New Haven Land Records, Vol X., p. 520.

This indenture, made the twenty-sixth day of March, in the ninth year of the
reiijn of our Sovereign Lord, George the second, by i\\c, Grace of God, of Great
Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, <fec., and in the j'ear of
our Lord one thousand seven hundred thirty and six, between William Grigson,
of the City of London, Gent: son and heir of William Grigson, late of the same
place, Gent: deceased, wlio was the only surviving son and heir of Richard Grig-
son, formerly of New Haven, in New England, but lately of the City of Bristol,
deceased, which said Richard Grigson was the only son and heir of Thomas Grig-
son, late of New Haven aforesaid, deceased, of the one part, and the Reverend
Jonathan Arnold, of New Haven aforesaid, in the Colony of Connecticut, in New
England aforesaid, Clerk, of the other part. Whereas, the said William Grigson
is seized in fee simple to the use of him and his heirs amongst other lands of and
in one acre and three-quarters of an acre of land or thereabouts, be the same
more or less, situated and being in the town and county aforesaid, abutting on
the common land or land not taken uj) or apj)ropriated on the North, on the com-
mon highway leading from the common land to the water side on the East, to
land now in possession of John Thompson on the South, to the estate of one Mr.

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH. . 77

Atwater, lately deceased, on the West ; and ■whereas the said William Giigson, out
of his piety towards God, and out of his zeal for the protestant religion and the
Church of England, as by law established, hath of his own free will resolved to
give and grant the same premises to the said Jonathan Arnold and his heirs in
trust, nevertheless, for the building and erecting a Church thereupon for the wor-
ship and service of Almighty God accoi-ding to the practice of the Church of
England, and a parsonage or dwelling house for the incumbent of the said in-
tended Church for the time being, and also for a (Church Yard to be taken there-
out for the burial of the poor, and the residue thereof to be esteemed and used
as Glebe Land by the minister of the said intended Church for the time being for
ever; and whereas the said Jonathan Arnold being a minister of the Church of
England, a missionary from the Honorable Society in England for propagating
the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and a gentleman who is at great charge, trouble and
expense in soliciting a subscription for and towards the building and erecting the
said intended Church and parsonage h(a»se aforesaid, he, the said William Grig-
son, hath therefore made choice of the said Jonathan Arnold, his heirs and as-
signs, to be trustees for the end and purpose aforesaid, and is desirous as far as
in him lies that the said Jonathan Arnold, and such son or sons as shall be edu-
cated and qualified for the same, may be presented after the decease of the said
Jonathan Arnold, and for the want of such son or sons so qualified, then 6ui.h per-
son or persons as shall be nominated and sent over from time to time as mission-
aries from the Honorable Society aforesaid. Now this indenture witnesseth that
the sai'l William Grigson, upon the consideration aforesaid, and of five shillings
of lawful money to him in hand paid by the said Jonathan Arnold before the ex-
ecuting heieof, the receipt whereof is herebj- acknowledged, hath given, granted,
released and confiinied, and doth by these presents give, grant, release and con-
firm unto the said Jonathan Arnold, in his actual possession, now being by virtue
of a bargain and sale to him thereof, made by the said William Grigson for one
whole year, by indenture dated the day before the date hereof, and by force of
the statute for transferring uses into possession, and his heirs and assigns, all
that the aforesaid one acre and three-quarters of an acre of land, be the same
more or less, in New Haven aforesaid, with all and singular the rights, members
and appurtenances thereof, and the reversion and reversions, remainder and re-
mainders, rents and profits thereof. To have and to hold the said one acre and
three-quarters of an acre of land, and all other the premises hereby granted, or
intended to be, with appurtenances, unto the said Jonathan Arnold, his heirs and
assigns, for ever to the uses, intents and purposes hereinbefore recited and men-
tioned concerning the same, and to no other uses, intei'est or purposes whatsoever.
In witness whereof, the parties aforesaid to ihese present indentures have here-
unto interchangeably set their hands and seals the day and year first above
written. WM. [Seal] GRIGSON.

Sealed and delivered, being first duly stampt, in jDresence of
Henry Caner,
Wm. Lathrop.

The above is a true copy of the original deed, September 6th, I'JSS.

p. Saml. Bishop, Clerk.

78 HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

COPY OF WM. CxREGSON'S DEED TO TIMOTHY BONTICOU, &c.
Zand Records, Vol. XLV., p, 519.

To all people to whom these presents shall come — Greeting:

Know ye that I, Will"" Greg-son, of the City of Exeter, in the Kingdom of
Great Britain, Gentleman, in consideration of five shillings money received to
my full satisfaction of Timothy Bonticou and Isaac Doolittle, Church Wardens,
and Christopher Kilby i>.id Stephen Mansfield, Vestrymen of Trinity Church, in
New Haven, in the County of New Haven, in the Colony of Connecticut, and the
rest of the members of the s"^ Episcopal Church, do remise, release, and forever
quit claim unto them, the said Timothy Bonticou, Isaac Doolittle, and the rest of
the professors of the Church of England, and members of the said Trinity
Church for the time being, and to their successors, all my right, title, interest,
claim, challenge and demand whatsoever in and unto a certain piece or parcel of
land, containing in quantity one acre and half, be the same more or less, situate,
lying and being at a certain place call'd Gregson's corner, in the Town plot in
said New Haven, bounded Northwardly on the Market place or highway. Easter-
ly on highway or Town street. Southerly bj' lands in possession of Samuel Cook,
and Westerly on land in possession of Ralph Isaacs, together with the dwelling
house, barn and other buildings thereon. To have and to hold the said remised
and released premises, with all and singular the appurtenaneesunto them, the said
releasees and their successors and assigns forever, to their own proper use, sup-
port and maintenance of the said Church. And I, the said Will™ Gregson, do
for myself, mj' heirs. Ex''' and Adra'"', by these presents, covenant to and with
the said releasees, their successors and assigns, that I shall not, nor will, nor shall
my heirs or assigns, or any of them, ever have, challenge or claim any right, title
or interest in or to the same, or any part thereof, and therefrom shall and will be
ever barred and secluded by these presents. In witness whereof, I have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this 26th day of October, A. I). 1768.

WILLIAM GREGSON. [Seal.]

Sealed and delivered in presence of (Ex.)

Sim Gandy, )
John Dane. \

City of Exeter, on the day and date above written, personally appeared Will™
Gregson, signer and sealer of the foregoing instrument and ackn'' the same to be
his free act and deed.

Before me, Philip Dacie, Maj-or, and one of His Majesty's Justices of the
Peace for the City and County.

Received for Record Sept. 4, 1782.

HISTORY OF TEINITY CHURCH. 79

COPY OF SAMUEL MIX'S DEED TO ENDS ALLING AND ISAAC

DOOLITTLE.

To all people to whom these presents shall come — Greeting :

Know ye y' I, Sam' Mix, of New Haven, in ye county of New Haven, in ye
Colony of Connecticut, in New England, for the consideration of Two Hundred
pounds money, old ten"', rec<^ to my full satisfaction of Enos Ailing and Isaac Doo-
little, of s<^Town, County and Colony above s'*, do give,.i5rant, bargain, sell and
confirm unto ye a"^ Enos Ailing and Isaac Doolittle, for the building of house for
public worship, agreeable and according to the establishment of ye Church of
England, one certain piece of land, being the south west corner of my lot, which
lot lies at the south east corner of the Market place, opposite to the corner known
by the name of Gixson's corner, which piece of land is to contain in quantity
twenty square rods of land, bounded as follows : East and North by the above
mentioned Sam' Mix his lot, West by a highway, and Southerly by John White's
home lot, which land is to lie four rods by the highway west, and is to run five
rods deep from the s"* highway, parralel to the above mentioned John White his
lot, <fec. To have and to hold s'' above granted and bargained premises, with the
appurtenances thereof, unto them, ye s'^ Enos Ailing and Isaac Doolittle, their
heirs and assigns for ever, for the use aforesaid, and also I, the s"* Sam* Mix, do for
myself, my heirs, Ex^* and Adm''*, covenant with the s"^ Enos Ailing and Isaac
Doolittle, their heirs and assigns, that at and until the ensealing of these presents
I am well seized of the premises as a good, indefeasible estate in fee simple, and
have good right to bargain and sell the same in manner and form as is above
written, and that the same is free of all incumbrances whatsoever, and further-
more I, the said Sam' Mix do by these presents bind myself, my heirs, for ever to
warrant and defend the above granted and bargained premises to them, the s^
Enos Ailing and Isaac Doolittle, their heirs and assigns, against all claims and
demands whatsoever. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this 28th day of July, in the 26 year of His Majesties reign, A. D. 1752.

SAMUEL MIX. [Seal.]
Signed, sealed and del^"* in presence of
Moses Mansfield,
Elisha Whittlesey.
iVeto ffaven Land Records, Vol. XX., p. 210.

COPY OF ENOS ALLING'S DEED TO TRINITY CHURCH.

To all people to whom these presents shall come — Greeting:

Know ye that I, Enos Ailing, of New Haven, Town and County and Colony of
Connecticut, for the consideration of two hundred and seventy-one pounds five

80 HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH.

shillings lawful money, rec"^ to my full satisfaction of Timothy Bonticou and
Isaac Doolittle, Cluirch Wardens, and Christopher Kilby and Stephen Mansfield,
Vestrymen of Trinity Church, in s"^ New Haven, and ye rest of ye members of
j-e s"* Episcopal Church, do give, grant, bargain, sell and confirm unto ye s'' Tim-
othy Bonticou, Isaac Doolittle, and ye rest of ye Professors of ye Church of Eng-
land and members of s** Trinity Church, for ye time being and to their successors,
a certain piece or parcel of land, containing one acre and a half, more or less, sit-
uate and lying at a place called Gregson's corner, in ye town plat, in s** New
Haven, bounded Northerly on the Market Place or highway. Easterly on high-
waj' or Town street. Southerly by land in possession of Sam' Cook, and West-
wardly by land in possession of Ralph Isaacs, together with ye dwelling house,
barn, and other buildings thereon. To have and to hold ye s"* bargained and
granted premises, with all and singular the appurtenances unto them, ye s"*
grantees, and their successors and assigns, forever to their own proper use, for
the support and maintenance of s"* Church, and I, ye s"^ Enos Ailing, do for my-
self and my heirs, Ex''» and Adm", covenant with ye s* grantees, their succes-
sors and assigns, that I shall not nor will, nor shall my heirs or assigns, or any
of them, ever have, challenge or claim any right, title or interest in or to ye
same, or any part thei'eof, but thereof and therefrom shall and will be ever barred
and secluded by these presents. In witness whereof, I have hereof set my hand
and seal, this 31st day of October, 1765.

ENOS ALLING. [Seal.]
Signed, sealed and delivered in j^resence of

Jereu Townsend, Jr.,

Robert Brown.
JVew Haven Lmid Records, Vol. XXVII. , p. 369.

THE TITLE OF TRINITY CHURCH TO THE GLEBE LAND, TRACED
AND DEFINED IN THE FOLLOWING ABSTRACT.

Copied from a document furnished me by Henry White, Esq.

The title of Trinity Church to the Glebe Lot, so called, is derived through two
deeds.

Vol.

369

319

jls
l2c

1st. A quit claim deed from Enos Ailing, dated Oct. 31, 1765.

2d. A quit claim deed from Wm. Gregson, dated Oct. 26, 1768.

Hnos Ailing' 8 Title.
27 3G8 Warranty deed from Sarah Ilumpherville, Adrn* of

Benj. Ilumpherville, Sept. 12, 1765.

27 369 Quit claim deed of dower from Sarah Humpherville, . .Sept. 12, 1765.
Benj. Humberfield's Title.

Warranty deed from Timothy Ailing, 1752.

" " " Asd Morris 1758.

131

144

Vol.

260

261

HISTORY OF TRINITY CHURCH. 81

Timothy Ailing' a Title.

Warranty deed from Abraham Thompson 1751.

" " " " 1748.

Abraham Tho?np.-io7i's Title.

13 84 Warranty deed from David Atwater, 1748.

David Atwater' s Title.

12 91 Warranty deed from Jonathan Atwater, 1743.

Jonathan Atvatcr's Title.

11 529 Warranty deed from John Tliompson, 1742.

John Thompson's Title.

Quit claim deed from David Thompson, 1743.

Daniel Thompson was the great grandson of Thomas Gregson,
the first owner, and, with his father, had been in possession
more than 40 years, claiming exclusive ownership.
Asa Morris' Title.

21 210 Warranty deed from James Thompson, 1757.

21 91 " " " Israel Dorman.

James Thompson's Title.

Warranty deed from Daniel Thompson, 1756.

Israel Dorman s Title.

21 90 Warranty deed from Wm. Denslee, 1758.

Wm. Denslee's Title.
20 425 Warranty deed from James Thomas 1757.

HISTORY OF LONG WHAEF IN NEW HAVEN.

By THOMAS E. TKOWBEIDGE, Esq.

READ MAY 25, 1863.

From the earliest history of our town, the Wharf has been
one of its institutions, and one of no secondary importance.
New Haven having been founded by commercial men, their
attention was early given to whatever would facilitate business.
Wharf accommodations were of paramount importance ;
hence, early legislation to promote the building of wharves
was seen to be indispensable. At first several small private
wharves were contemplated, but it was soon evident that com-
bined eflbrts in this as in all great undertakings were essential
to success; consequently the inhabitants individually, and I
may say unitedly, combined their efforts in tlie construction of
one great wharf, that should accommodate the town as it then
existed, and as it might thereafter need.

Long Wharf was therefore laid out on a grand scale, too
great, as it has always proved, for the profit of its owners, but
not too extensive for the prosperity of the colony or town.
As a pecuniary speculation it was a great failure, or rather a
constant succession of failures; but stimulated by the need of a
wharf for the business of the place, public spirited men w^ere
successively engaged in the enterprise, and after many failures
in the expected revenues to be derived therefrom, the work
made progress. But it was not until 1811, that it approached

84: HISTORY OF LONG WHAEF IN NEW HAVEN,

its coinpletlon, and it is only recently that it may be said to
liavc been finished as on'o-inally contemplated.

In all the long period that has elapsed since the first
" conscription^^'' as it may be called, when " every male inhab-
itant of the town between the ages of sixteen and sixty years "
was to give four days work towards building a wharf, the in-
terest of the town in the success of wharves may be considered
as being of the greatest importance. The inhabitants of the
town, as well as the State of Connecticut, have uniformly and
without exception always granted all the legidatvoe aid needed,
and probably no enterprise has so constantly been regarded
with undiminished favor as the well being of Long Wharf.
It has always needed the fostering care of the town, for as a
source of profit to its owners it has never equaled their just
expectations. Exposed to the " winds and waves," the own-
ers have often seen their expected revenues swept away, yet
the work has been sustained, and I hazard nothing in saying
that as a commercial city, New Haven owes its chief import-
ance to the great Wharf. Unlike most other seaports, our
harbor is very shallow, and but for this wharf vessels would
have avoided the place, as from the distance to be lightered,
and the few hours that would permit even hoats to approach
the shore, the delay attending landing goods by lighters would
have been very tedious, so that transacting shipping business
would have bee?i well nigh impossible. Now vessels draw-
ing fifteen or sixteen feet of water can readily approach the
wharf, and discharge their cargoes with a despatch unusual in
other places.

The cost of building the wharf it is impossible to ascertain.
Thousands upon thousands of dollars have been lost in the
enterprise. Since the abandonment of the work by all former
companies, the present owners have expended upwards of
eighty thousand dollars in the undertaking.

In the year 1801, the crisis which had been feared, (and in
fact foreseen,) came. So much money had been already sunk
that many of the owners declined investing more, while those
that were not deterred by the already heavy losses, were
equally inclined, and detekminfd to go on with the work.

HISTORY OF LONG WHARF EST NEW HAVEN. 85

Tliese, with a few other public spirited citizens, took hold
anew, advancing $14,000, which, in 1810, they had expended,
with $7,000 additional, yet the work was not nearly completed.
Thereupon other public spirited men, not wharf merchants
alone, but men of all professions and occupations in other
parts of the town, came forward to its assistance, and advanced
$36,000 more, until, in 1812, the wharf was extended nearly to
its present termination, the final termination, however, not
being reached until 1855. The landing places at the earliest
settlement of the Colony were on the creek west of Meadow
and George streets. It is well known that the founders of
our Colony landed far up the stream, near the junction of
College and George streets. That was called the uiyper land-
ing. A much more important one on this stream was near, or
at the place where AVhiting street crosses the creek. Indeed,
there was quite a large Bay^ if I may so express it, extending
up to this point. The writer has heard his father say that
when ho was a boy the place was pointed out to him by one
of the old men of the town, where he had seen a vessel from
Bristol in old England discharge^ her ballast on to a small
wharf, at the place where Mr. LeGrand Cannon's garden now
is, at the junction of Whiting street and the creek.

The earliest records that I find relating to wharves in our
town, refer to the necessity for them for the landing of goods
from the old country, fi'om the Barhadoes and from Boston.

"On the 5th August, 1644, Mr. Malbon, Mr. Lamberton and Mr. Evance,
having seriously considered the great damage which tliis towne doth suffer many
ways, by reason of the flatts which hinders vessels and boates from coming neare
tlie towne when tlie tyde is anytliing low, did propound to the Court, that if
they will grant them Four days worke for every man in the towne fro sixteen
to sixty years old towards the digging of a channell and let them have the benefit
of a Wharfe, and Ware house, (which they will build) upon such terms as shall
be agreed betwixt themselves, and a committee, whom they desired the Court
then to chuse to treat with them about it, they will dig a channell which shall
bring boates (at least) to the end of the street beside Will Preston's house, at
any time of the tyde, except they meet with some invincible difficulty which may
hinder their digging the channell so deep."

This proposal designed to make the landing places on the west
bank of the creek which ran between Fleet and State streets on

S6 HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN.

the west, and Union street on the east. Will Preston's house
was on the corner of State and Chapel streets.*

To this proposition theConrt ordered, "that they shall have
the help propounded by them, viz. : four days' work of every
male in the town from sixteen years old to sixty, those that
cannot worke to liyre others to work in their stead, and those
that can to work in their own persons." A committee of eight
were appointed, " with the advice of the Governor and magis-
trates to treate with the said undertakers, and agree upon such
tearmes as may be equal and for the public good, setting down
in writing what is done and expected on either part."

This project seemed in truth to have been a commercial
necessity which called for such a conscription.

On the 22d of October, 1645, "Mr. Lamberton propounded
that he might have a piece of ground near his house to sett a
a ware house by the creek, and for a wharf also, and he will
give the towne soe much as it is worth." This wharf was to be
near Cherry and State streets. Mr. Laml^erton was lost in the
great ship in 1646, and of course had not completed his wharf.

On the 3Uth of October, 164:8, "Mr. Evance propounded to
the Court that he might have liberty to make a wharfe about the
point against Phillip Leakes, and a bridge over the creeks mouth
there, so as they might come to unload a boat at half tyde."

This wharf was also to be built on the same creek, near the
lower ends of Union and Fleet streets. " It was also pro-
pounded tliat a sluice might be made at the creek's mouth to
keep up the water, that it might wear a channell, and a wharf
built there to unload goods upon, dry at any time of tyde."
This sluice was to be made from Fleet to Union street, where
East Water street now crosses these streets, — the place where
" Sabin's dyke " was subsequently made.

On the 14th of May, 1649, " The committee formerly chosen to
consider about making the wharves and a bridge over the

* Since this paper was written, Ralph I. Ingersoll, Esq., informed the writer
that about sixty-five years since the widow of General Wooster was visiting at
Governor Ingersoll's, and upon her going home just at dusk, his motlier sent liim
to see that Mrs. Wooster, being an old lady of about eighty years of age, reached
home in safety. In passing where Chapel street railroad bridge now is, Mrs.
Wooster informed him that she had seen a vessel in the creek at that place, and
wished him to remember that fact.

HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN. 87

month of the creek were desired to issue it, and it was referred
to them to order some course to be taken for clearing the flatts
of some logs, and pyles, and stones which the Court w^as in-
formed 13'e up and down, whereby vessels that come in ar in
danger of being hurt."

It was soon perceived that the place for wharves was m the
harbor^ to accommodate vessels^ as well as boats and lighters, for
in 1663, November 23d, Mr. Samuel Bache had a grant (for a
warehouse) " about fifty or sixty feet and as far down into the
flats as he should see cause to build 'a wharf or dock.' " This
was at the water side at the lower end of Fleet street. This place
eventually came into the possession of Mr. Jonathan Atwater,
and may be considered as the fii'st wharf built in the harbor,
and this with the succeeding grant to Mr. Thomas Trowbridge
may be regarded as the commencement of Long Wharf.

In January, 1682, " Mr. Thomas Trowbridge requested a
grant of land by the water side for a warehouse and wharf.
The town granted twenty-two feet in width and thirty feet from
high water mark upwards, and two or three rods into the flats,
the town ordering that it should be free for any of the town to
land upon, and not pay for it, provided that it do not hinder Mr.
Trowbridge's own occasions." This wharf was located at the
foot of Fleet street, eastward and adjoining J!/a62!erBache's grant,
and all subsequent grants for wharves commence from this and
Master Bache's grant.

On the 25th of December, 1710, " The townsmen returned
report to the town that they had set out to Mr. Jonathan
Atwater, according to Bache's grant, sixteen feet at the east
side of the house called Bache's warehouse, and thirteen and a
half feet on the west side, running parallel into the flats, ac-
cording to the town grant made to Mr. Bache, which is fifty
feet in breadth."

On the 30th of April, 1717 " Mr. Jonathan Atwater, Mr.
John Woodward, Capt. Joseph Whiting, Sergeant Munson,
Mr. John Mix, and Mr. Joseph Mix, made application for a
grant for a wharf at the foot of the street that goeth down to
the water by Mr. Front's. "

Mr. Prout resided in a spacious brick mansion built by his
father-in-law, Mr. Henry Rutherford, whose widow afterwards

88 HISTORY OF LONG WHAEF IN NEW HAVEN.

married Governor Leete of Gniltbrd. This house is said to
have been the lirst brick house built in the town, and stood
where Mr. Massena Clarke's store now stands, and will be
remembered by some now present as the ".Brick Fort," so
called, from the fact of its having been occupied during the
late war with Great Britain as barracks for soldiers, and from
its antiquated appearance and very small windows, which
resembled " port holes." Mr. Rutherford had his warehouse
directly opposite, which some years ago was occupied by Mr.
James Townsend as a " barber's shop." It is still standing and
is one of the oldest buildings, arid probably the very oldest in
New Haven. The frame is substantial, and it will doubtless
stand for many years to come. The application that was
made for this Wharf by Mr. Atwater and others was "for
eight rods wide, and in length to the channel, beginning
at and including Mr. Trowbridge's and Mr. Atwater's grants."
It was made on the 13th of May, 1717, and is described as
" commencing at the southeast corner of Mr. Trowbridge's
warehouse, a line extending south thirty-seven degrees east, to
the channel, but the Wharf is to be sufficiently high to keep
things dry at high water."

December 27th, 1731, it was "Voted, that so many of the
proprietors of the town as incline so to do, shall have free
liberty to give what money they please, so far as shall be needed
towards the building of the wharf, to the extent of three,
four, or live hundred pounds." And I conclude from these
donations, and from the former grants which seem to be
embraced within this later grant, that the Wharf had now
become a fixed fact, and had taken the name of Union Wharf.

In 1736, however, but little liad been done towards building
the wharf, for I find that Mr. Atwater sold nine-tenths of the
grant to Isaac Gorham, Francis Browne, Hannah Hall, Wm,
Greenough, Joseph Miles, Samuel Cooke, Samuel Miles, and
John Bradley, Jr., for £10.

These new proprietors commenced their work with energy,
and now it appears for the first time to have been called Long
Wharf, to distinguish it from the small wharves in the creek,
and from the smaller wharves, that may have been built on

HISTORY OF LONG WHAKF IN NEW HAVEN. 89

the shores. So much was expended within tlie succeeding two
years that on the lltli of November, 1738, the Wharf extended
into the harbor about twenty-six rods. At this time Mr.
William Greenough, "the ship carpenter," sold one undivided
twentieth part, being one half of his interest, for £26 10s.
current money, (or at the rate of £530 for the whole wharf.)
Mr. Greenough's ship yard was at the foot of Meadow street,
where he built several vessels. He was a prominent man
in the town. His home lot was where our late highly es-
teemed fellow citizen, Capt. Gilbert Totten, had his resi-
dence, Greenough's Point, one of the old local land-marks,
was at the junction of the harbor with the bay previously
alluded to back of Meadow street. His sliip yard was located
there on account of the depth of water at that point. It is
within the remembrance of the writer, that sloops of consider-
able size, say of sixty or eighty tons, were laid on the shore
directly at the foot of Meadow street for the purpose of caulk-
ing and graving. Tradition informs us that Captain Kidd
sailed up tliat bay, and buried his treasures in the bank of the
stream near Silver street. Within the present century persons
have been engaged in digging for these coveted treasures in
the bank at tlie junction of Silver and Hill streets. At the time
that Trowbridge's Dyke was built, the only way to get on to
the land opposite Greenough's Point was over the bridge on what
is now Congress Avenue. That fact shows the importance ot
this inlet from the harbor, a branch of which also extended south-
easterly nearly to Howard Avenue. I will here mention that
notwithstanding the greater depth of the water in the West
Creeh, the stores seem to Inive been built mostly on Fleet and
State streets, consequently the landing places were mostly
located on the East Creek in front of these stores. I think
the exposure to severe southerl}^ storms was greater in the
bay west of Greenough's Point, than farther eastwardly.

Although the popular name of the wharf was Long Wharf,
being then about five hundred feet in length, yet its proper
name was Union Wharf, for the first regular record that I
find on the "books" of the company, is under date of the first
Tuesday in February, 1744-5, when a meeting of the propri-

90 HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN.

etors of tlie Union Wharf was called at tlie house of Mr.
James Peck, Jr., (at the head of the wharf,) formerly Mr.
Atwater's. " Yoted, that the. committee agree with and employ
some suitable person either by the month or otherwise, as
they shall think best, to provide proper materials and to build
and carry on said Wharf with the utmost expedition." The
work was now hurried forward with great energy, for in
1746-7 it had become a great work, and " a committee con-
sisting of Mr. John White, Wm. Greenough, Colonel David
Wooster, Captain Joseph Trowbridge, and Samuel Miles were
appointed to consider what sums shall be taken for the wharf-
age of ye Union Wharf." It had become important to regu-
late that matter, for the Wharf was progressing so rapidly that
in 1748, the proprietors were made glad by the income for
that year, being £181 14s. Id,, (accurate men in accounts in
those days.) The whole of this income was expended in re-
pairs and the extension of the Wharf. In 1749 the Wharf was
let for the year to Mr. Chauncey Whittelsey for £81 old tenor ^
" and if the receipts do not amount to said sum and pay for
care and trouble then said sum was to be abated." Evidently
Mr. Whittelsey was satisfied with his bargain, and required
no abatement, for in 1750, it was put up at public vendue and
again let to Mr. Whittelsey for £105. No dividends were
made, but all the net income was expended in carrying for-
ward the great enterprise. Its value consequently in a pecu-
niary view was uncertain, for in 1752 Mr. Gorliam offered to
the other proprietors one-half of a right, being one-twentieth
part of the whole, for £20, " but they did not incline to buy it."
At a meeting in 1752, it was voted " that all the income
be laid out in repairing the Wharf, together with all the
monies and debts that now belong to the Wharf." In 1753
the income was $160 17^. 11^., of which had been expended for
repairs during the year, £91 10«., allowed wharfinger for his
trouble £30; leaving the net income but £39 7^. Wd. This
seemed but a poor return for all the cost and trouble, and it
was voted " that the Treasurer be desired and he is hereby
desired and directed, to deliver the notes for the monies now
due for wharfage, &c., speedily, into the care of Mr. Jared

HISTORY OF LONG WnA.RF IN NEW HAVEN. 91

Ino-ersoll, that tlioy may be put in suit and the monies recov-
ered. From this time, 1753, the enterprise seemed to flag.
Great trouble and expenditure (with no dividends) discour-
aged many of the proprietors, as was expressed in a petition
by some of the more spirited and hopeful of them, to the
General Assembly of the State in 1760. " The owners had
become numerous, and no systematic efforts seemed to be
adopted, some lost faith in the success of the enterprise, some
had died, and their interest going to heirs, some were careless
about the Wharf." These petitioners felt desirous that the
Wharf should be supported, and on their representation a
charter was granted May 22d, 1760, under the name of the
" Union Wharf Company."

The proprietors assembled February 9th, 1761, at the house
of Mr. Daniel Lyman, but hearing that a number of vessels
belonging to New Haven were taken and carried into Martin-
ique, adjourned without doing any business. This was during
the war between Great Britain and France, while we were
colonists of the mother country.

On the 21st of August, 1762, Joseph Trowbridge, Enos
Ailing, Thomas Howell, Jacob and Solomon Pinto, Michael
and Eli Todd, represented that they had expended for repairs,
since 1760, £212 Us. 8d., and "that they were willing to
further repair the Wharf and keep it in repair, provided they
may be entitled to the avails of wharfage, 'till they are also
paid for past and future advances." This proposition was satis-
factory to the company.

March 12th, 1770, "several gentlemen proposed to subscribe
considerable sums towards building a ' Pier,' on the Union
Wharf grant, by the side of the channel, thereby " Voted to
set about it as soon as materials, and proper persons to do the
work could be had," and on the 23d of March, it was " Voted
to provide the materials and build a wharf, beginning at the
channel." This was ^Hke Pier^'' eighty feet square, built for
the use of large vessels, where they might lie in safety. It
was substantially built, though not filled up in the middle
for many years. As an example of the favor which was ex-
tended by the inhabitants of the town towards this grand

92 HISTORY OF LONG WHAEF IN NEW HAVEN.

enterprise, then in great need of assistance, I mention a few
of the subscriptions that were made in 1771 towards the com-
pletion of this pier. Everything, almost, (except money,)
was subscribed. We must remember that this was just before
the Kevolution, when money was scarce, and harter was the
order of the day. Of these subscriptions Mr. Jesse Leaven-
worth gave 100 bushels of salt, on demand ; David Gilbert £1
in shoes ; Daniel Old 40^. " in his way ;" Capt. Joseph Trow-
bridge 2 anchors of brandy " when he returns," (he was prob-
ably going to sea;) Capt. "Wells 110 gallons of molasses; Mr.
Austin 22s. in a castor hat ; Mr. Ezekiel Hayes £2 " in black-
smitliing work," (a good payment, as tlie stone work was to be
doweled ;) Capt. Daniel Forbes a barrel of molasses ; Mr.
Thomas Howell £15 in "West India goods; Edward Meloy
£10 in rum ; Isaac and Elias Beers £6 in English goods, on
demand; Jonathan Osborne £2 in labor; Isaac Whitney 15
bushels salt, on demand ; Robert Fairchild £1 in labor; Adam
Babcock £10 in shoes; Abiather Camp 40 bushels salt, and
20s. in cash, (marked paid ;) Jabez Colt 30s. in axes or work ;
James Blakeslee 30s. in pressing of hay ; David Atwater, Jr.,
£4 10s. in rum, on demand ; Joseph Adams £1 " in ray way ;"
Wm. McCracken £2 in English goods, on demand ; Enos
Ailing 100 bushels salt ; Stephen Ailing 4 hogsheads ; John
McCleave £5 in West India goods, and £3 in a boat, (marked
paid ;) Wm. Lyon 10s. in brazier's work ; Jacob Thompson 4
pairs shoes, (marked paid ;) Joseph Bradley £3 in freight to
New York ; Samuel Howell £5 in beef. The farmers in the
vicinity gave liberally of loads of timber ; Mr. Davis, a schoon-
er load of stone ; Stephen Peck 30s. in work, and promised 30s.
more, (marked paid.)

These are but a part of sixty recorded donations. It is
probably one of the most extraordinary subscriptions on
record, as a public spirited offering from a community inter-
ested in the welfare of a great public enterprise. Mr. Michael
Todd was also a liberal contributor.

The labor on this '• Pier " was very great, for it was building
on soft mud ; the proprietors, however, persevered, and finally
the pier was completed, but it had well nigh discouraged the

HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN. 93

people, the expense and trouble being so great and the means
so limited. At tliis time the wharf extended as far as Mr.
Ezra Hotchkiss' store, near the intersection of Canal Basin
Wharf with Long Wharf. In 1772 the proprietors were
desirous of connecting tlie pier with the wharf, nearly one-
third of a mile apart. They petitioned the General Assembly
for liberty to set up a lottery to raise £1,500 lawful money to
be laid out on Union Wharf.

The General Assembly, friendly as it always had been, made
the grant for the purpose of extending the wharf to the
pier, allowing one or more lotteries, to raise £1,000, and no
more ; and providing " That the managers, Enos Ailing,
Thomas Howell, Adam Babcock, David Wooster, Nathan
Beers, Jonathan Fitch, Benjamin Douglass, and Michael
Todd, were to be sworn to a faithful discharge of their trust,
and if the tickets cannot be sold, the managers shall return to
the adventurers the money paid for the tickets." I do not
think that this plan was successful, for I cannot find in the
accounts any receipt of proceeds. The Company, however,
voted in 1774, " to build a strong bridge of chestnut timber,
from the end of the present Wharf to the new piece designed
to be built, the bridge to be twenty feet long." This is the
famous "First draw," as it was called within the recollection
of those who a few years ago were boys, when tins swimming
place was so much frequented.

This place was a sort of '•'"neutral groxind^'^ where, laying
aside the usual " noli me tangere " look, the '■'■ downioww boys
and up town boys " would socially intermingle. The students,
however, generally went down for the purpose of bathing to
the " first and second rails " on the shore. I suppose that
they wei'e not 'very good swimmers, as it w-as necessary to be
adepts in the art, to venture in the deep water at the wharf.
This separation of students from toion hoys was beneficial, as
many " fights" were thus prevented.

From the appearance of things about this time, I conclude
that the prospects were looking rather unfavorable for the
Wharf, for on the 22d of February, 1774, a committee was
appointed to inspect and audit the accounts of the Wharf since

94 niSTORT OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN.

17G0, the time of tlie formation of the new company. We
must bear in mind that no dividends had yet been paid, and
money was running low, and, like prudent people, they were
looking to see where it all was.

In 1T82 things were looking badly for the Wharf. What
little revenue was received was expended on repairs, and
on the 8th of July, Mr. James Kice made an oifer to collect
the wharfage for the current year, gratis. Mr. Joseph Howell
made the same oifer for the next year, Mr. Michael Todd for
the third year, and Capt. Josepli Munson for the fourtli year.

In this year it was " Voted, that any of the inhabitants that
will give fifty shillings to repair the 'Pier,' shall be proprietors
of the Wharf, and the proprietors will thankfully accept the
donations that have been made, or shall he, for repairing the
Wharf."

In 1784, the General Assembly again extended its aid, by
passing an act "that no vessel shall in future be cleared out of
the harbor of Kew Haven, by the naval officer, until he shall
receive a certificate in writing from the wharfinger, that the
customary wharfage is paid, or that none is due. This was a
new evidence of the interest felt by the people of the State in
the welfare of the Wharf in New Haven.

The commerce of the town had suffered during the revo-
lutionary war to such extent, that the income for 1785 was let
at public vendue for £102 lawful money.

In 1789, a petition was presented to the Congress of the
United States representing the importance for trade and com-
merce, that the Pier in New Haven Harbor sliould be main-
tained and kept in good order, and proposing to give it to the
United States, provided that the}'- would keep it in repair, and
that vessels belonging to this port may use it free, and no
additional taxes be laid on them for the use that they make of
the Pier. The negotiation, howev^er, was unsuccessful. In
later years, the Government was glad to avail itself of this
Pier to erect a light house thereon.

In 1790, all private measures towards raising money to com-
plete the wharf seemed exhausted. Accordingly the pi'oprie-
tors again went to the General Assembly for authority to set

HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN. 95

up a new lottery to raise £3,000. The grant was obtained
without opposition, but New York having prohibited the
sale of foreign tickets in tliat State, the proprietors petitioned
for permission to sell tlieir tickets in the City of New York,
representing " that the lottery was to raise money to repair
and extend the wharf, which was of vast importance to
the trade and commerce of New York, as well as of New
Haven." They also represented that onr people were adven-
turers daily in New York lotteries, but it was of no avail,
"Dutch obstinacy prevailed over the lamb-like meekness
of the Yankees," and the petition was denied. The lottery
speculation was not successful, for in 1799 the managers
had realized but £9S 2^., of which sum £39 lis. was paid to
Col. Drake for money he had expended on the wharf in
repairs, and the balance was ordered to be laid out in addi-
tional repairs,

I cannot find that up to this time (in 1799) any dividends
had ever been paid to the owners of the wharf. Every dollar
of its earnings had been expended towards repairing the wharf
and in its extension.

It M'as now only too evident that the final crisis, long fore-
seen, was at hand. These public spirited men had expended
large sums on an immense work, for which the times were not
auspicious. The long war of the Revolution had ruined the
foreign and domestic trade, the work they had undertaken was
of vast expense, time after time the sea had swept away its
income, and all its revenues had been required to keep in
repair what had already been built. The propritors saw that
their exertions were about to fail, still for two years more they
hoped and struggled on, but struggled in vain.

On the 16th day of February, 1802, the crisis arrived, and
the old company that had existed in fact almost from the first
settlement of the town, saw that they could go no farther, and
that under a neiv organization their long cherished plans must
be completed. Time after time the inhabitants had shown
tlieir interest in the great enterprise by contributing largely
and freely, but there was a limit to these applications, although
they had always been generously met. To show the interest

IIISTOKT OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN.

that this entire community felt in the work, which they jnstly
regarded as of immense importance to the prosperity of the
town, the following list is given. I mention but a part of the
Jiost of contributors on record :

Ralph Isaacs, £12 OOs. OOJ.

Isaac Beers, 9 16

Elias Beers, 9 10

Daniel Lj'inan, 10

Wni. Douglas, 10

Jesse Leavenworth, l(i 10

Enos Ailing, '. 60

JabezColt, 4 12 6

Col. Nathan Whiting, 6

Jonathan IngersoU, 2 10

David Austin, Esq., 10

Anthony Perit, 6

Adam Babcock, 16

Richard Cutler, 20

Samuel Howell, 5

Benjamin Brown,. .. , 2 10

Nathan Beers, 15

Jacob Tliompson, 3 19

Caleb Trowbridge, 15

Daniel Trowbridge, 7 10

John Hall, Wallingford, ... 210
Eliakim Hall, " 2 10

Thomas Howell, £40 00s. 00 J.

Daniel Forbes, 3 18

Col. Leverett Hubbard,. . 12

Abiather Camp, 10 10

Gad Wells, 21

Elias Shipman, 10

Benedict Arnold, 10

Jarcd IngersoU, 8

Edward Meloy, 19

Samuel Miles, 10

John White 5

Jonathan Atwater, . .... 5

Joseph Trowbridge, 10

Jonathan Atwater, Jr., . . 5

Frances Browne, 8 13 6

Benjamin English 2 10

David Atwater, Jr., 13

Hezekiah Sabin, 12 10

Samuel Chew, 10 11

Thomas Rice, 12

Abraham Bradley, 2d, . . 4
Ebenezer Beck 3

The list embraces but a small number of those who contrib-
uted to the work. The vast majority of these contributors
generously relinquished all rights in the wharf which they might
have acquired by donations.

This new organization was accordingly made by another
company being formed of contractors to extend and complete
the M'ork, which they agreed to do. They fui'ther agreed to
furnish fourteen thousand dollars towards maintaining and
extending the wharf. The new company, however, embraced
many of the original owners, in fact all M-ho were willing to
advance more money, (as several of them did.) The two com-
panies— the old company and the '"Contractors,^^ as they called
themselves, — acting together harmoniously, the contractors
taking a lien upon the property of the old company until reim-
bursed for their expenditures. The work 7iow went forward
with great energy. At this time the wharf was made of tim-

HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN. 97

ber and bi-idges from i\\Q first bridge to Capt. Forbes' store or
second draw, making its whole length about two thousand feet.
The work was done under the superintendence of Mr. Samuel
Punderson, who was also tlie contractor for the principal part
of it. His energy and skill greatly contributed to the early
completion of that part extending to the second bridge, and to
the very extensive repairs to the old wharf and pier, wiiich
required thorougli rebuilding. Mr. Punderson entered into
the spirit of his work as one of the old " town horn'''' should
have done.

The wharf, by this additional element infused into the enter-
prise, was now thoroughly repaired and put in first rate condi-
tion. Money was expended freely ; and business, again stimu-
lated by good wharf accomodations, was prosperous. An
assessment was laid to the amount of $7,000 additional capital,
to be furnished by these contractors, to be expended on extend-
ing and repairing the wharf, the amount first agreed upon
being found entirely inadequate to do what was contemplated
by the old company.

In the period between 1802 and 1810, the enterj^rise was
deemed so important tliat these contractors raised $3G,000 more,
and in 1810 were incorporated by the name of " Contractors to
rebuild and support Union Wharf and Pier in Kew Haven,"
the old company preserving their original name of " Union
Wharf Company," both companies acting harmoniously in all
cases for the general welfare of the wharf, and for the interests
of the town.

The extension of the wharf to the "Pier" was now deter-
mined on, and the old proprietors were at length to see the
completion of their long cherished plans. A contract was
made on the 28tli of July, 1810, to build the wharf solid from
the second bridge to the pier, a distance of 1,350 feet, and the
whole wharf to be raised above high tides.

Of this company of contractors in 1802, of whom there were
thirty-three, not one is now living. Of the company of sixty-
five contractors that were incorporated in 1810, only live are
now living, viz : Mr. Truman Woodward,* Mr. Ezra Hotchkiss,

* Since deceased.

98 niSTOKY OF LONG WIIAEF IN NEW HAVEN.

Mr. Elias Ilotclikiss, Mr. Henry ITiiggins, and Mr. Timotliy
Bishop. Of these, Mr. Bishop and Mr. Elias Ilotchkiss are
the only orio;inal sliare holders at jjresent owning shares in the
Wharf, Mr. Bishop being the venerable President of the
Company. He is also one of its Directors, and has been
such for a period of fifty-two years, and for the whole
time a devoted friend to the wharf. Mr. Elias Hotchkiss is
also a Director of the Company. The old Company still main-
tains its organization and transacts its regular annual busi-
ness, &c.

The length of the wharf is 3,480 feet, and is the longest
wharf in the United States. A gentleman traveling last year
in the State of Iowa, while stopping at a hotel in one of the
interior towns of that State, casually heard some one speaking of
New Haven and of its institutions. He mentioned LongAVharf,
saying, "it is the longest wharf in the world, that it exceeded
five miles in length and was built by a negro; that many
had attempted to build it, but being constructed on soft mud,
it could not be made to stand and was abandoned ; that this
negro then contracted to build it, merely to show what a Hack
iiian was capable of doing, and that he succeeded." I do not
know where the man obtained his information ; probably, from
his conceit of New Haven, he was a descendant of the ^Hown
horny But it is a fact that nearly 1,500 feet of this wharf
was built in 1810 and 1811 by a colored man named William
Lanson.

Mr. Lanson, for he was thus known in his hetter days,
deserves a passing notice for his enterprise in connection with
this contract. He quarried the stone at East Rock, built a
wharf to load them from into scows, and thus carried them to
the wharf. He was respected as a man of energy and skill,
and was a useful citizen. Becoming involved in his latter days,
he fell into bad repute, but even then was a man receiving
considerable respect for his previous worth. He was capable
of great things.

The history of Long Wharf is certainly very remarkable.
At the present day it would be considered a great undertaking
to construct such a wharf, but at the time of its commencement

HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN. 99

and for many years subsequently, with tlie limited means of
its projectors, it was one of the great enterprises of the age.
The sul)scriptions made from time to time show the scarcity of
money during its progress.

This wharf was the pride and boast of the "Hoimi horn^'' a
walk to the end of it on holidays being very customary both
with men and boys. Great sport it was for the boys to go on
the wharf, on the arrival of vessels from the West Indies,
when oranges and cocoanuts were gratuitously distributed,
when long rows of hogsheads of sugar and molasses yielded
their sweets freely to the boys. What " ^oi^?i Joy" who was
not acquainted with the names of all the vessels and of the cap-
tains and sailors ! Who has not heard of " Captain Brown,"
such an idolizer of the ^Hown horn,'''' and who had such an aver-
sion to all " interlopers," who, when on one of his numerous
voyages at sea, his vessel in imminent peril of sinking, and it
becoming necessary to throw the cargo overboard to lighten the
ship, to save the lives of the crew and for the safety of the
vessel, directed the goods belonging to the '"'' interlopers'''' to be
thrown over, and to save those belonging to the '"''town hornV
Who has not heard of " Wharf Law," by which, when any
offense was committed on the wharf that required attention,
and for which " up town " would have caused the incarceration
of the offender, the wharf merchants, in contempt of snch
imprisonment, took the law into their own hands, and meeted
out due punishment on tlie spot, and let the culprit go ? If de-
serving of more severe discipline than the more ordinary one
of corporal punishment, they condemned him to " run the
gauntlet" as far as the stores extended, and this with a prom-
ise to leave town, generally ended the matter and answered the
purpose. The wharf had a law of its own, judge and jury,
but no lawyers, for the men were such that confidence was felt
that they would do right, and every indulgence was shown to
its merchants.

In the year 1779 the stores on the wharf were burned by
the British troops. In 1820 nearly all the stores on the wharf
were consumed in the great conflagration which destroyed over
a quarter of a million of dollars worth of property.

100 HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN.

To have lived in the days when ^' Merchant Princes" con-
gregated on the wharf in business, was a time well worth
living in. In old titnes, on rainy days, called ^^rat days,'^ from
the immense quantity of tliese animals that were drowned out
of their holes by the hiyh tides that generally swept over
the wharf, it was a common thing for the merchants to assem-
ble at the Tavern at the head of the wharf for a good time,
where, discussing the state of the West India trade, the state
of the country, and affairs generally, with their " howl of
punc/i'^ or " half and half'' of the genuine " Grenada or An-
tigua," of their own importation, they would pledge to the suc-
cess of the "Army of the Revolution." It was on a day of
this description, when nearly all were assembled, that the as-
tounding news was received of the treachery of their old friend
and fellow West India merchant, Benedict Arnold. They
could not believe that one who in 1775 was with the foremost
to march in defense of his country, could ever betray it ; but
when the evidence was past controverting, they consoled them-
selves with the reflection that Arnold ^2J^\\Qi a " Long Wharf
merchant ; " had he been located on that venerable wliarf, he
would never have been a traitor.

Long Wharf has produced such men as Elias Shipman, Hen-
ry Daggett, Ward Atwater, Thomas and Henry Ward, Solo-
mon Collis, Benjamin Prescott, James Henry, Roger Sherman,
Samuel A. Foot, Jehiel Forbes, Wm. J. Forbes, Lockwood De-
Forest, Russell Hotchkiss, Henry Tiowljridge, Timothy Bish-
op, Andrew Kidston, Elnathan Atwater, Joseph N. Clark,
Richard M. Clarke, Ezra Hotchkiss, Elias Hotchkiss, Enos A.
Prescott, Justus Hotchkiss, Laban Smith, Walter Budington,
Justus Harrison, Elijah Austin, not to mention hosts of others,
men of mark. And in this connection the name of Roger
Sherman, son of the signer of the Declaration of Independ-
ence and a framer of the Constitution, should receive more than
a passing remark. Mr. Sherman was connected with Long
Wharf, as one of its truest friends, for more than half a century.
In its darkest and most perilous days he was ready with his
counsel and hie open purse, was a sound and able adviser, and
no man ever did more for its prosperty than Mr. Sherman.
An officer of the company from 1810 to 1S47, he was always

HISTJRY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN. 101

its strong friend ; long prior to tliat period he was a chief pro-
moter of the enterprise, and lived to see the completion of the
work for which he had done so much. My friends will pardon
me if I also mention the name of mj honored father, as one
who was ever devoted to the interest and welfare of the Wharf.

I trust that it will not be considered out of place if I here
pay a passing tribute to the memory of some of the New Ha-
ven shipmasters of the olden time. Among hosts of those no-
ble men were Capts. Daniel Greene, Wm. Howell, Caleb Brit-
nall, Caleb Trow^bridge, Joseph Trowbridge, Capt. Brown,
("the town born,") Capt. Phipps, James Goodrich, John T.
Trowbridge, Gad Peck, Thos. Painter, Thomas Ward, Henry
Ward, Henry Denison, Daniel Truman, John Davis, Nathaniel
F. Clarke, Roswell Trowbridge, James Hunt, Elias Trowbridge,
Frederick Hunt, Elnathan Atwater, Alva Granniss, AVilliara
Sheffield, (J\^m. Moulthrop^. Simeon Hoadley, Joseph Thomp-
son, Gilbert Totten, Kichard M. Chrke, Samuel Jas. Clarke,
Ichabod Smith, Samuel Chew, John Hood, John Bradley,
John B. Hotchkiss. This list could be extended to include
hundreds of worthy men.

Commodore Hull, prior to commanding the glorious old Iron-
sides, had commanded a West Indiaraan from this port, and mul-
titudes of others could have been found here in New Haven
well worthy to uphold the honor of the " Stars and Stripes."

The world has never produced a more intelligent set of mer-
chant captains than those who have commanded New Haven
vessels ; men not only capable, thorough bred seaman, but
men able to transact the whole business of their voyages, sell-
ing their cargoes abroad and purchasing return cargoes. Some
of the most lucrative East India voyages, combined with seal-
ing voyages in the Pacific, were made from this port by our
New Haven captains. The profits on some of these voyages
were almost fabulous, and at the present day, in many of our
houses, any c|uantity of China loare may be found, that was
brought home by our townsmen from their China voyages.

The West India voyages also were often very remunerative.
On this subject I propose hereafter to write another paper.

102 HISTORY OF LONG WHARF IN NEW HAVEN.

Custom House Square, at the head of the Wharf, was origi-
nally huilt upon, very closely. There were three entrances to
Long Wharf from Fleet street. In 1S18 this Square was open-
ed by the removal of the buildings, through the combined aid of
the General Government, the Town, and the Wharf. It was
originally the intention to extend Union street to the wharf,
and arrangements were made for this purpose, but in some
way through a misunderstanding, it was not accomplished.

In 1822 an addition was made to the wharf, by the exten-
sion, a distance of one hundred and five feet down the channel,
of a wharf thirty feet wide.

In 182G the Farmington Canal Company received permission
from the Wharf Company to connect their Basin Wharf to
Long Wharf. In 1848 the New York and New Haven Eail-
road Company had permission to cross the wharf by their rail-
road. In 1 852 the Railroad Company had permission to fill up
the Canal Basin, for work-shops, car houses, &c., &c.

Witliin the last ten years additions and improvements have
been made to the Wharf at an expense exceeding $10,000.
In its structure will be found parts of the Island of Malta,
stones from the Rock of Gibralter, ballast from Sicily, gravel
from the harbor of Dublin, stones from Bristol in England,
rocks from the Gulf of Para, and from the Islands of St. Domin-
go, Porto Pico, Gaudaloupe, Martinico, Trinidad, Antigua, St.
Vincents, St. Lucia, St. Parts, St. Eustatia, St. Kitts, St. Croix,
in fact from almost every island in the West Indies. An ex-
cavation for a building often exposes some of these contribu-
tions from foreign countries, and wherever New Haven vessels
have prosecuted their voyages, -almost every port visited has
contributed materials that have been used in the construction
of this wharf; and probably, by excavating, a greater collec-
tion of foreign minerals could be made from this wharf than
from any other spot in the United States.

This brings down the history of Long Wharf to the present
time. I feel that so much detail must have tired the patience
of the Societ}'-, and that I have not done justice to this great
enterprise, which has been in existence nearly as long as our

HISTORY OF LONG WHAEF IN NEW HAVEN. 103

town, an enterprise that was projected and conducted by the
best men of New Haven, and one tliat has been of vast im-
portance in promoting the growth of our city as a commercial
place. I trust that at some future time some one more able
than myself to do justice to the Wharf, may prepare a better
history. I am certain, however, that no one will ever be found
who has a more profound respect and esteem for its found-
ers, and for Long Wharf itself, than the writer.

I necessarily reserve the history of the "Wharf Merchants,"
and of the " We&t India Trade," for a future evening.

THE PARSONA&E OF THE " BLUE MEETIN& HOUSE;

the site of the present st. thomas church.
By E. E. BEARDSLEY, D. D.

READ SEPTEMBER 28, 1863.

DiEDRicH Knickeebockek Legiiis his wonderful history of
New York with a description of the world, its form and features,
its cosmogony or creation, and the theories of sundry sages and
philosophers concerning its texture and planetary movements.
In like manner, I open my subject this evening, " The Parson-
age OF THE Blue Meeting House," with a description of New
Haven, its lands and lots, its primitive rules and regulations,
and its early outward appearance and internal improvements.

If we step back into the history of the past two hundred
and twenty-five years, we find a colony of adventurous planters
preparing to enter upon the possession of the territory now oc-
cupied by the site of this goodly city. It was a rude region
then, where the Indian roamed and had his hunting grounds.

" No spire, no mast, no mansion rose ;
Smokes, here and tliere, from out the screen,
Denoted still an Indian scene."*

Five years before, the settlement of Connecticut had been
commenced on the banks of the river which gives name to the
State, and following the trail of the Pequot warriors, the white
men had explored the coast, with its inlets and bays, from
the mouth of the Thames to Unquowa, beyond the mouth of

* Hillhouse — " Sachem's Wood."

106 THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETmG HOUSE.

the Ilousatoiiic. Their glowing account of the beautj and fer-
tility of the lands, and perhaps the suggestion of Capt. Stough-
ton, that they were too good for Dutchmen to seize and pos-
sess, arrested the attention of John Davenport and his asso-
ciates, then recently arrived at Boston, and waiting, to use his
own words, for "the eye of God's Providence " to "guide us
to a place convenient for our families and for our friends."
Many inducements were offered them to remain in Massachu-
setts, and blend their influence and their wealth with the ear-
lier emigrants, but these inducements were quite unavailing,
for along with the desire to secure a goodly heritage, seems to
have been the determination to plant a distinct colony that
might frame its own laws and owe no allegiance to a General
Governor. An exploring party, therefore, composed of Eaton
and a few of his friends, in the autumn of 1637, selected Quin-
nipiack, the Indian name of this place, as the seat of the new
Colony, and early in the spring of the succeeding year, the
whole company sailed from Boston, and, in due time, anchored
their ships in Quinnipiack harbor. Religious exercises very
appropriately followed their disembarkment, and a plantation
covenant followed their settlement, —

" For they, in Newman's barn, laid down
Scripture foundations for the town."

The New Haven Colonists respected the rights of the In-
dians, and purchased their lands of Momaugin, sole Sachem of
Quinnipiack, his council and company, for a consideration.
Protection and friendship were mutually pledged, and there is
no record that any conflict afterwards sprung up between the
settlers and the natives about the right of occupancy or pos-
session. Prof. Kingsley, a fair liistorian, who probed the mo-
tives and the acts of these London adventurers, says : " The
treatment of the savages of Pennsylvania by William Penn,
was not a Mdiit more equitable or kind, than that showed the
native inhabitants of this spot. The distinguisliing policy of
Penn, in his intercourse with the Indians, consisted in this, that
he allowed no lands to be purchased of them except on account
of the government; — the very course pursued here."

THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE. 107

It is a fact worthy to be noted, that the Indians of Quinni-
piack were a fading tribe wlien the English sought to pur-
chase their lands. Powerful enemies — especially the Pequots
and the Mohawks — had reduced their numbers, so that of
" men or youtli grown to stature fit for service," less than fifty
are counted in the original deed signed by the chief sachem
and his council. Their weakness, therefore, must have made
them in a measure submissive. They were not equal to an
open conflict with their new neighbors, if they had a cause,
and they could not take them by surprise,

" Since our good sires, in their old hall,
Met armed for combat, prayer and all !"

The lands purchased of the Indians were disposed of by lot.
Every planter, after paying his portion of the expenses arising
from laying out and settling the plantation, drew a lot or lots
of land in proportion to his estate, or rather to the amount
which he had expended in the general purchase, and to the
nundjer of heads in his family.

To Jaspee Crane was so allotted the land — an acre and a
half — now covered by the buildings extending on Elm street,
from the first house in Sheffield's block to Orange street, and
on Orange street to the lot held by the trustees of the Hop-
kins Grammar School. His neighbor on the east was John
Davenport, and on the south a lot appears to have been assign-
ed at first to Owen Rowe, a tradesman in London, who forfeited
his proprietorsiiip here by not joining the Colonists. He chose
to remain in England, where he became a Colonel in the great
civil war, and one of the Regicides who affixed their seals to
the warrant for executing the King. His sorrow for that deed
after the Restoration, and his joy with all his countrymen at
the incoming of Charles II., together with his willingness to
accept the mercy of the sovereign, saved him from the inflic-
tion of the Royal sentence, and he died in the Tower of Lon-
don on Christmas day, 1661.* The occupancy of his town lot

* See note in Savage's edition of Winthrop's History of New England, Vol. I.
p. 475.

108

THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE.

in New Haven is marked by a peculiar record. At a General
Court, held the 1st of September, 1640, it was ordered that
" when Mr, Rowe's lot shall be fenced in, onr Pastor shall have
a way or passage left eight foot broad betwixt it and Mr.
Crane's lot, that he may go ont of his own garden to tlie Meet-
ing House." That private path entered Church street on the
north side of the building in which we are assembled, and over
it, or over the public one leading by the front of his mansion,
Davenport serenely walked, little dreaming that two centuries
onward an enduring sanctuary would rise, casting its shadows
upon these paths, and within whose portals doctrines and worship
would be maintained identical with those which he had himself
accepted and taught, when Yicar of St. Stephen's Churcli, in
Coleman street. If tlie child had not been born and named
before it was known where its residence would be, there had
been some historic propriety in taking the name of the first
Christian martyr as the designation of St. Tliomas Churcli,

Jasper Crane built a house and "resided for a time on the
eastern part of his lot. On the 7th of January, 1650, he
"passed over to Christopher Todd his home lot and housing
upon it, and all the accommodations belonging to him here at
the town ; Christopher Todd accepted it." He was from the
first concerned in the settlement at East Haven, to which place
he removed ; thence to Branford, and finally to Newark, N. J.,
where he died at an advanced age in 1681. He was a promi-
nent man in the councils of the New Haven Colony, and one
of its magistrates and deputies to the General Court, both
before and after the union with Connecticut. Being a sur-
veyor, he laid out much of the town plot, located grants, and
settled division lines and disputed titles. Two grants of land
were made him in East Haven, one "in the fresh meadow, to-
wards Totoket," and the other of upland. He built a house
there on the east side of the green, where he lived and traded a
couple of years, and there his son Jasper was born. Accord-
ing to Dodd,* lie was an overseer and agent in the Iron Works,
(the well-known bog-ore furnace,) which had the en(;ourage-
ment of the town, and was probably the first establishment of

* " East Haven Register," p. 21.

THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE. 109

the kind within the present limits of Connecticut. Not pleased,
perhaps, with his location and business as a merchant, he sold
his home lot, his farm of sixteen acres, to Matthew Moulthrop,
Sept. T, 1652, and established himself in Totoket or Branford,
removing thither with his family, and joining the settlers from
Wethersfield and Southampton, L. I. He was a guiding light
in the deliberations of that town, and its first deputy to the
General Court having jurisdiction in this Colony. After the
union of New Haven and Connecticut, he still represented its
interests ; but the people of Branford becoming dissatisfied
with the union, particularly with the feature allowing the right
of sufi"rage to such as were not members of the Church, pro-
jected a new settlement, and sent agents to examine certain
lands in New Jersey, near the mouth of the Passaic river.
Their report was so favorable that Mr. Pierson,the minister at
Branford, with a part of his congregation, resolved to begin im-
mediately the settlement at Newark, Though Jasper Crane
was one of the twenty-three persons who signed the first com-
pact in 1665 to remove, yet he lingered behind and continued to
direct the affairs of Branford, heading the list of signers to a
church covenant formed for those who remained. But in
1668 he disposed of his property and joined his associates at
Newark, carrying with him the same energy, enterprise, pru-
dence and piety which had marked his whole course here from
the planting of the Colony. He was a deputy and magistrate
at Newark, and one of the purchasers of tlie Kingsland farm,
now known as Belville. His children were John, born before
the father emigrated to this country ; Hannah, wdio married
Thomas Huntington ; Deliverance, baptized at New Haven,
1642; AzAKiAH and Jasper. Azariah became a deacon in the
Presbyterian church, at Newark, and married Mary, daughter
of Kobert Treat, then a resident of the place. Mr. Treat subse-
quently returned to Connecticut and was made Lieutenant
Governor in 1676. Nearly all the Cranes of New Jersey — a
worthy and respectable family — can trace their pedigree to
Jasper, the elder. Whether he has any descendants in this
region, I know not, but he will never be forgotten, so long as
Crane's bar, receiving its name from him, continues to be
washed by the tides in our harbor.

110 THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE.

Christopher Todd, the next owner of the Parsonage lot,
was one of tlie original planters, whose autograph signature is
upon the records of the Colony. He was a fanner and a
miller. The town erected a grist mill where Whitney's Gun
Factory now stands, which he rented and afterwards purchased.
He lived in the house on the eastern part of his Elm street lot
and possessed lands remote from his residence. He had three
sons and three daughters, John, Samuel, Mary, Grace,
Michael and Mercy. He died in 1686, leaving a will, in
wliicli he named all his surviving children. Grace Todd, his
daughter, a child of thirteen, appears upon the records of the
General Court as an offender " for concealing from her master
and mistress" some indelicate liberty which an Indian luid
taken with her, and for this, and because she " afterwards spoke
of it to boys and girls in a jesting way," she was sentenced to
be '' whipped." Slie was married five years later to Richard
Mattocks, who deserted her, and her father in his will provided
for her support, speaking of her as one who was incompetent
to take care of herself or of any estate. The residence of
Christopher fell, in the division of the estate under the will, to
his eldest son, John, wlio married for his first wife Sarah,
daughter of Matthew Gilbert, one of the seven pillars of the
New Haven Church. She lived but a short time and
died childless. He married again and had sons and daugli-

ters. The eldest of his sons (John) married Hannah ,

and died before his father, (with whom he appears to have
lived,) leaving three children, John, Josepli and Tiumkful.
To these children, " for divers good causes and considerations
thereunto moving him — but more especially for the love, good
will and natural affection, which he had and did bear to tliem,"
the grandfather gave, Feb. 22, 172f , to " be equally divided
between them, the house, barn and liomestead where Jiis son
John lived and [wliich he] died possessed of" The widowed
mother of these children married Caleb Tuttle, and in 1733
she and her second husband became owners of two-tliirds of
the property by deed from her sons John and Joseph Todd.
Thankful Todd, who married David Punderson, held the
remainder. No subsequent conveyances were made until 1748,

THE PAKSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE. Ill

and thus the property continued in the riglit of the Todd fam-
ily and its connections for nearly a century, (ninety-eight years.)
The Todds are numerous and respectable in this vicinity and
in towns included Avithin the limits of the ancient Colony of
New Haven. What proportion of those who bear the name in
other parts of the country has sprung from Christopher, can-
not well be traced. It is certain the Church and State have
alike been honored by their talents and their services.

In the last days of the year 1741, thirty-eight men^ who, to
quote their own phrase, " had by long and sorrowful experience
found tlie preaching and conduct of Rev. Mr. Noyes in a great
measure unprofitable," addressed a memorial to the First
Ecclesiastical Society of New Haven, asking permission to
withdraw in charity and establish a Separate Society. Among
these signers were Caleb Tuttle, David Punderson and Joseph
Burroughs. The prayer of the memorial was not granted, —
but div^ers causes, and especially the "Great awakening"
throughout the churches in New England, helped on by Whit-
field and preachers of his class, emboldened the disaffected
members to proceed, and availing themselves of the Act of
Toleration, they united in an association and directed their
efi'orts to provide immediately a house of worship. Having
been denied the privilege of placing it on the public square,
they purchased of Mr. Burroughs the lot on the southeast cor-
ner of Elm and Church streets, now occupied by St. John
block, and prepared to build. " The alienation and hostility,"
says Dr. Dutton,* " which had grown up between the two
churches, and the excitement which agitated the community,
when it was known that the new meeting house was to be
raised, have no parallel in these times. The First Society sent
a Committee to remonstrate against the raising of the house,
declaring it very hurtful to their Society and 2i public nuisance^
and desiring those engaged in it forthwith to desist." Other
steps, even that of appealing to the General Assembly, were
taken to hinder its erection. A remonstrance read while the
builders were in the act of raising a part of the frame, diverted

* History of the North Church in New Haven, p. 49.

112 THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE.

their attention to such a degree that it fell Avith a tremendous
crash ; whereupon, the Old Lights, as the adherents of Mr. Nojes
were termed, cried out that Providence was evidently against
the enterprise. The long sticks of timber were stealthily cut
in the night season, but being replaced by others, over which a
guard was set, the building was finally raised and completed.
Yarious artifices were resorted to and great pains used to keep
up the interest in the new organization and gather members.
In 1753 the Committee for the time being " had pov/er there-
after to call a meeting by sending a drum about the First So-
ciety in New Haven, to make proclamation at the corners, at the
least of the middle square, that the members of the Tolerated
Society were desired to meet." This, as we now view things
in the Church militant, does not appear to have been exactly
respectful to the Old Lights, nor a very genteel method of
warning a Society's meeting. The preaching of the New
Light ministers, too, was so much more attractive than the dry,
trenchant logic of Mr. Noyes, that the worshipers, though
paying taxes to the First Society till 1757,* rapidly increased,

* Some of the remarks made when the reading of the paper was finished,
were reported in the New Haven Daily Register as follows :

The members were obliged to pay taxes for the support of the First Society
until 1757, when they were set off by an act of the Legislature. The manner in
which this was brought about was explained in a conversation at the end of the
reading. It seems that a sharp contest was kept up for many j'ears between the
old and new lights. The Legislature, being of the "old light" persuasion, stead- •
ily refused to relieve the " new lights " of the burden of sustaining the first
Church. Finally, on the occasion of a Society meeting at the first Church, the
" new li"-hts" rallied in their strength and outnumbered their opponents. They
proceeded to execute a coup d'etat which settled the case for all time. They
voted to accept the " Blue Meeting House " as the Church, voted a salary to their
minister, Ac. — in fact voted themselves in, and the rest out. Next year they
rallied again, and voted that as the minister of the first Church (who had, of
course, refused to go to the "New Light" meeting house) had steadily neglected
to attend public worship, he was not entitled to a salary, and they stopjjed it !
This brought matters to a crisis, and though Mr. Noyes succeeded afterwards in
collecting his salary by a suit at law, the "old lights" found they had got an
elephant on their hands, and gladly consented to a division of the parish and a
remission of the taxes to escape worse troubles. This is believed to have been
the orio'in, in New England, of poll parishes — i. e., two or more societies having
a common geographical existence. So bitter did the controversy between these
two churches become, that, about a hundred years ago, a deacon of the " new

THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE. 113

and the meeting house was afterwards enlarged for their
accommodation. It was not owing to any peculiar cast of
theology that it was called the "Blue Meeting House," but in
1761 considerable coloring seems to have been needed, for
the Society voted that " the Meeting House wanted coloring^
and the pulpit to be finished and colored^ and the breastwork
of the galleries and pillars to be colored^'' and probably Mue
was the tint then given to the exterior and preserved in a
measure till the edifice was removed.* After a checkered
history of light and shade, the Society was at length dissolved
and merged into what is now the "North Church," and its
property sold. The bell which rung the zealous worshipers
together at the hour of prayer, hangs in the tower of the Epis
copal Church at Cheshire, and when suspended in the old
church there, at a different elevation, it was said to have been
heard in more towns than any other bell in the county.

The movement to erect a Meeting House was followed by
another to secure a parsonage. In 1748, the Society employed
Mr. John Curtiss to preach for them, and Caleb Tuttle and
David Punderson, with their wives, conveyed to him one half
acre and seventeen rods of the western part of their lot, run-
ning one hundred feet on Elm street. The Society had stipu-
lated for this ground and built on it the house for a minister.
After two years Mr. Curtiss left and the parsonage was returned
and conveyed to David Austin and John Woodin. They,
calling it in the instrument of conveyance, " one certain
messuage and tenement," deeded it in 1751 to Rev. Mr. Samuel
Bird, who had been chosen Pastor of the Separate Society, — it
being the Society's gift to him on condition that he paid for
what had been laid out upon it after Mr. Curtiss' departure,
amounting to a thousand pounds, old tenor. Mr. Bird resided

light" church, liaving invited his father, who was a deacon in the "old light"
church, to attend the funeral of his child, the "old light" deacon refused in a
written note, declaring that he would not enter into a "new light" church to
attend the funeral of his son's ciiild.

* Lampblack is said to have been mixed with the paint to make it durable,
and thus the blue tinge was produced.

Dr. Samuel Pundeeson, on the authority of the late E. C. Herrick, Esq.

114 THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE.

here until his deatli, and willed his homestead to his children,
Samuel, Thomas, Sybil, Margaret and Mabel Sarah. By sub-
sequent conveyances and descents, it became the property of
Rodolphus E. IS^orthrop, son of Dr. Joel Northrop, who mar-
ried Mabel Sarah Bird. Mr. Northrop narrowed the dimen-
sions of the original parsonage grounds by selling the garden
in the rear to Titus Street, — eight feet on the eastern side to
Abraham Bradley, and reserving for himself twelve feet on the
western, which he added to a strip that he had previously pur-
chased. The lot, therefore, on which the Parsonage of the
Blue Meeting House stood, was reduced to eighty feet front by
one hundred and fifty feet deep, and this was bought in Jan-
uary, 1849, by St. Thomas Parish, for $4,300 — having been in
possession of the Bird family just as long as it was held by the
Todd family, that is, ninety-eight years. I trust the present
ownership is fixed for more than another century.

Before I proceed farther, a word should be said about the
eastern part of the original lot. It was sold in 1751 to Lieut.
Nathan Whiting, afterwards Col. Whiting, in the array of the
old French war. He died in 1771, and before a score of years
had elapsed, his heirs sold it to Pierpont Edwards, after Orange
street had been opened. The names of several owners appear
between that time and the present, — but they need not be
traced here. If the history should ever be pursued, it will
probably be mentioned, that when the chimney of the old
mansion was removed to make room for the house in which I
now reside, a pot of gold was discovered secreted therein,
supposed to have been too carefully " laid up " b}'' Colonel
Whiting ! ! The number enriched by it was never publicly
announced and the story lacks confirmation.

The Rev. Samuel Bird came to New Haven from Dunsta-
ble, in the province of New Hampshire, where he was invited
to become a pastor of the church and to " settle himself, July
6, 1747.*' He w-as the son of Benjamin Bird, Esq., by his wife
Joanna, was born at Dorchester, Mass., March 17, 172f , and
entered Harvard College in 1740. About two months before
his class graduated (May 12, 1744) he w^as expelled from college
for his course in advocating the New Light Theology — then

THE TAESONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE, 1 1 5

spreading with its attendant excitements through the land.
He was fined twelve shillings for seventeen days' absence from
College, without leave, in the autumn of 1743 — and the con-
jecture is that these days were spent in mingling with the
followers of Whitfield and promoting their cause. His enthusi-
asm led him to oppose the regularly settled clergy, and
in his prayers and intercourse with people he used language
derogatory to the piety of Jonathan Bowman, at that time
the minister of his native place, and one of the overseers
of the College. Being of an arbitrary disposition and in-
dignant at the young enthusiast for not showing him more
respect both as a minister and an oflicer of the Institution,
Bowman brought the matter before the Facultv and sought
his punishment. Much excitement ensued, partaking of the
spirit of the times and high words and some insults passed
between the parties. The College authorities, feeling the
abuse heaped upon them by the New Lights, favored the
complaint of the overseer, — a thing which would hardly
be done now in a similar case, and the result was the ex-
pulsion of Bird for his religious enthusiasm and the evils
which grew out of it.* He married Mabel, daughter of Hon.
Thomas Jenner of Charlestown, Mass., who died early, leav-
ing one child — a son. He married for his second wife, Sarah,
daughter of John Prout, Esq. of New Haven, by whom he
had twelve children, five of whom only survived him, two sons
and three daughters. His eldest son, Samuel, graduated at
Yale College, in 1776, and the father directed in his will that his
education and what he had done for him was not to be charged
to him in the distribution of his estate — these being his
" acknowledgment that he was his eldest son." He also in his
will "authorized his executors to sell his negro girl (Lille Pink)
if they judged best, with the full consent of his wife, the
money to be put to use or as should be judged best for the
benefit of his heirs."

Mr. Bird was a man for the times and for his people. It
does not become me to enter into the religious history of that

* MS. Letter from John Langdon Sibley, 1863.

116 THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE.

critical period ; but the part which he bore in the contro-
versy, carried on for nearly a score of years between the First
and Separate Societies, shows him to have been possessed of
energy, influence and intellectual strength. " His form and
manner," we are told, " were commanding, his voice powerful,
his elocution handsome and impressive, his sentiments evan-
gelical." At the age of forty-four, in the vigor of liis man-
hood, he requested a dismission from his charge, giving as the
reason, " the habitual state of his blood and the frequent returns
of nervous disorders whicli the prosecution of the work of the
ministry tended to increase." His request was granted in
January, 1768, with a recognition of his " great and emi-
nent services," and a gratuity of " ten pounds over and above
his salary " for the preceding year. He continued to occupy
the Parsonage, which was now his private property, and
turned his study into a store and carried on a general mercan-
tile business. He was an intense patriot in the war of the
revolution, and when the British came to New Haven, he
fled to Hamden, taking with him his family, and the cow
that furnished them milk. The barn where his heavier
goods were stored was entered by the enemy, and so also was his
house, and wanton destruction followed. In the inventory of
his real estate, there is put down the allowance for losses sus-
tained from the British, entitling him to one hundred and
thirty-one acres of land in the Connecticut Reserve. He
received of his customers and redeemed for the poorer people
largely of the Continental currency, and of course lost largely.
He bought or inherited through his wife lands enough to
have made him very wealthy, if they had then possessed a
fraction of their present value. He died in 1784, at the age
of sixty, from inoculation for the small-pox, and was buried
at midnight. Dr. Stiles in his Literary Diary, notes his
death, with this brief eulogy : " He was a man of religion."

Saimiel JJlrd^ the eldest son, married a daughter of Capt.
David Phipps of New Haven, and moved toBirdville, Georgia.
After her death he married a lady in that State.

T/iomas, the other son, married for his first wife, Nancy Still-
well, lived to be upwards of forty, and left at his death two or
three children.

THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE. 117

Daniel S., the youngest of his two sons by his first wife,
and the onl_y Bird in this region tliat has flown from tlie nest
in the Parsonage of tlie Bhie Meeting House, resides at
present in New Hartford, and has frequently been a Lay-
delegate from the parish there to the convention of the Pro-
testant Episcopal Church in the diocese of Connecticut.

JIahel 8arah^ the eldest daughter, was married to Dr. Joel
Northrop of New Milford, May 15, 1TY7. He gradnated at
Yale College in the same class with her brother Samuel,
studied medicine and practised his profession in this city and
vicinity, besides having a store and carrying on the drug busi-
ness. He built the stone house just out of the city on the
Derby turnpike, which now stands a deserted ruin. Dr.
Northrop died February 9, 1807, and his widow survived
him just twenty-eight years. Their children were a daughter
and six sons. The daughter was married to Elihu Ives, of
this city, and lived but a few months.

One of his sons was lost at sea, and another died in the
dew of his youth.

John Prout^ his eldest, born in 177S, married Lydia Camp,
of Litchfield, by whom he had several children. He died six
years ago in P)er]in, "Wisconsin. One of his daughters, a
handsome girl, tnarried against her father's will, John Ridge,
the Indian Chief of the Cherokee nation, and several years
afterwards, he was killed in bed at the side of his wife by his
own people, from supposed complicity with the course pursued
by the General Oovernment in regard to their removal and the
payment for their lands. Kidge was a member of the Foreign
Mission School, at Cornwall, in this State.

Amos^ the third son of Dr. Northrop, graduated at Yale
College, in 1804; went to Charleston, South Carolina, where
he studied law, married a Miss Bellinger, and died in 1812,
leaving two sons and a daughter. One of the sons adopted
the profession of his father, and the other, a graduate of West
Point, was a captain in the United States army, and resigned
upon the outbreak of the present civil war.

Samuel Bird, another son of Dr. Northrop, was also a
graduate of Yale and a captain in the United States navy.

118 THE PAKSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEKTING HODSE.

He married a lady of Charleston, where he had his residence, but
died childless in 1826.

Rodolphus E.^ the sixth and last who held any title to the
Parsonage property, resided in this city, and was a carpenter
and carver by trade. He died in 1860.

Deacon Levi Ives married, for his second wife, Margaret^
the daughter of Rev. Samuel Bii-d, named in his will, by
whom he had three children, two sons and a daughter.

It is curions to note how families die out in a place or lose
their male representatives. John Front, the father of Mrs.
Bird, was for many years Treasurer of Yale College, one of its
earliest graduates, and, as the inscription upon his tomb-stone
reads, a "gentleman of established character for probity, and
for seriousness." He died in 1776, and left no male issue, — his
son John having died in his youth in 1732, four years after his
graduation from College. And so the name of a family, promi-
nent and influential in the first century of the Colony's history,
is lost in the next, except that it continues to designate a
narrow alley between Fleet and Meadow streets, sometimes
called Feggy's Elbow.

The Parsonage of the Blue Meeting House is still standing
and habitable, No edifice that has been occupied continu-
ously for a hundred years can fail to have varied associations,
and \his, surely, if it could speak, would have some strange
tales to relate. In one of its chambers, Whitfield lodged as
he passed in his later years over the great stage road between
Boston and Philadelphia ; for the early espousal of his cause,
which cost Bird his college honors, ripened into a warm per-
sonal friendship, interrupted only by death. Within this house,
we may suppose, were concocted the principal schemes to keep
alive the spirit of the Separate Society and encourage its doubly-
taxed members to wait patiently for a day of deliverance. If
nothino; was done without conference with the minister, we
may believe that its threshold was frequently crossed by
grave Deacons and earnest Committees, seeking the light of
his wisdom to guide them in any new perplexities. We may
believe, also, that the Parson was sometimes in joy at the
success of his party and the advancement of his Church, that,

THE PARSONAGE OF THE BLUE MEETING HOUSE. 119

to use the words of quaint George Herbert, " lie sometimes
refreshed himself, as knowing that nature will not bear ever-
lasting droopings, and that pleasantness of disposition is a
great key to do good ; not only because all men shun the
company of pei'petual severity, but also for that, when they
are in company, instructions seasoned with pleasantness, both
enter sooner, and root deeper." In this mansion, we know, the
road to heaven and the road to earthly gains were both studied,
for here, high Christian hopes were fostered, and mercantile
plans diligently prosecuted. Plere, many things were iceighed^
from the ponderous theology of Mr. ISI'oyes down to a chest of
tea and a pound of sugar.

I have said that the Parsonage of the Blue Meeting House
is still standing and habitable. When the lot, with its build-
ings, was purchased by St. Thomas Parish, steps were taken at
once to erect upon it a convenient Chapel for temporary use.
The old mansion, which, in its better days, had sheltered so
many Birds, was sold for one hundred dollars, and removed
to Ashmnn street, near the entrance into York Square, where
it was refitted and repaired without changing its essential
features. It is now occupied by sundry families of Hibernian
descent — thus furnishing another verification of the Scripture
proverb, " He that buildeth the house hath more honor than
the house."

THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT,

ON THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF CHURCH AND CHAPEL STREETS.

By E. L. CLEAYELAND, D. D.

READ MAT 3 0, 186 4.

After the organization of civil government by tlie colonists
of New Haven, and the laying out of tlie town plot in nine
squares, the first step was to assign, by allotment, to each
proprietor of the association, and to each head of a family, a
house-lot on, or adjacent to the nine squares, together with
out-lands lying beyond the nine squares, and within two
miles of the center. The amount of land assigned to each
was determined partly by the property invested in the enter-
prise, and partly by the size of tJie family. But the grouping
of the various neighborhoods seems to have been regulated by
no regard to this, nor to social position, nor official rank ; but
rather, so far as can be discovered, on some principle of elective
affinity, following the law of earlier associations in the old
world. It was cpiite natural that those who came from York-
shire, and had been acquaintances and friends there, having
known and become attached to each other by the endearing
experience of common sufferings for a common faith, should
have preferred to form one neighborhood in their New Haven
home. The same was doubtless true of those who came from
Hertfordshire. The Londoners, more numerous still, would
form other neighborhoods. These groups, called quarters.

122 THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT.

seem to have formed sub-communities, with certain officers
and committees to take care of tlieir out-lands; and some-
times the inhabitants held meetings among themselves in re-
lation to their common interests. Tiiese quarters were gener-
ally distinguished b3' the names of leading individuals residing
within their respective limits, — such as the Governor's quar-
ter— Mr. Davenport's quarter — Mr. Newman's quarter — and
sometimes, in case of death or removal, the name of some
other prominent surviving individual was substituted. While
the people from Hertfordshire settled on the northeast corner
of George and York streets, and the Yorkshire colonists settled
the northeast corner of Chapel and York streets, the quarters
of the London emigrants were in the more central parts of the
town, or what are now, at least, more central. The squares
bounded by Church, Chapel, State and Elm, and also by State,
George, Churcli and Chapel, were chiefly occupied by London-
ers, and perhaps the more wealthy of the colonists.

The first named of these two squares, was the Davenport
quarter, and was divided into ten distinct allotments. One of
these, the lot of Matthew Gilbert, forms the subject of the
present paper. This lot was on the southwest corner of the
square. It extended on Chapel street as far as the lot origi-
nally assigned to John Chapman, now the site of Henry N.
Whittlesey's store. On Church street it reached to the north
line of the lot now occupied by the Third Congregational
Church.

The lot extending from the nortli line of Mr. Gilbert's
oriffinal assignment, to the north line of the lot on which the
City Hall now stands, was assigned to Mr. Owen Rowe. Mr.
Rowe was one of the wealthiest men connected with this colo-
nial enterprise; being rated at £1,000. But he probably
never came over here to receive his share of the land. In
1639, Mr. Crane, the rear of whose lot on Elm street joined
the rear of tliis lot on Church street, and who probably had
occupied the latter, was ordered by the town to pay Mr.
Rowe's rates. And it was voted, that if the original proprie-
tor did not come the next year, the land should be at the pub-
lic disposal. In September, 1640, the town gave Mr, Daven-

THE GOVERNOR GILBER* LOT. 123

port a passage way, eight feet wide, across the north side of
this lot, thus enabling him to go directly from his own garden
to the meeting lionse. In April, 1643, the town, by vote,
assigned one third of the Rowe allotment to Matthew Gill^ert,
to whose premises it was contiguous, — one-third, or the north
part, to Mr. Davenport, and the other third, or middle portion, to
Thomas Munson, on condition that he would build a suitable
house on it, and devote himself to making wheels and ploughs
for the good of the colony. He, however, failing to com]:)ly
with these conditions, this third of the Rowe lot was set off to
Mr. Davenport. The third, assigned to Matthew Gilbert,
extended to Court street, and enlarged his original allotment
to about two acres. Matthew Gilbert was one of the foremost
men in the settlement. He is supposed to have come from
London, but of his birth, parentage, or previous history, noth-
ing is now known. From the confidence reposed in hiui, and
the services required of liim, it may be presumed that he was
in the prime of life and the maturity of his powers, when he
emigrated with this colony. He was one of the two wdio, in
J 639, were chosen the earliest deacons of the first church in
this city, which office he held until 1658, when he voluntarily
resigned. He was one of the seven pillars selected to bear up
both Church and State. From an early. period, and for a long
term of years, he was, in civil affairs, second onl}^ to Governor
Eaton. On his broad shoulders were laid the burdens of
magistracy ; and in those days the office was no sinecure. He
was first deputy magistrate, and after Milford and Guilford
were comprehended in the Jurisdiction, he was Deputy Gov-
ernor ; a change of name only, not of office. To this honora-
ble position he was reelected by the colonists.

No name, except that of Governor Eaton, appears more fre-
quently in the records, in connection with important public
business, and high and difficult trusts, than that of Mattliew
Gilbert. It is impossible to resist the conviction that he was
a man, in whose integrity, piety, strong common sense, and
large capacity for public affairs, his fellow-citizens reposed
entire confidence, and with perfect safety — a confidence that
was never abused, and never shaken. His property was rated

124

THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT.

at £600. Mr. Gilbert died inlCSO; and from him are de-
scended the numerous families of Gilberts in this town and
vicinity. The mysterious letters " M. G.," chiseled on the
rude grave stone near the Centre Church, which the fertile
imagination of Dr. Stiles translated into William Goffe, (sup-
posing the M. to be an inverted W.,) and wdiich somewhat
violent theory has caused multitudes to dilate over those
rough memorials, with admiration for the renowned regicide,
there is now little reason to doubt, were the modest epitaph of
the first Deputy Governor of New Haven Colony. And it is
a striking evidence, either of the poverty of the times, or of
the slight importance attached to mere monumental inscrip-
tions, or of both, that a man, who for forty years had filled so
large a space in the public eye, and whose hand, like that of a
wise master-builder, had wrought so skillfully and ably on the
foundations of the infant Church and State, should have left
nothing to mark his final resting place but unshapely blocks of
stone, with the simple initials of his name. But what cared
these men for such things, since " their record was on high,"
and " their names were written in the Lamb's book of life?"
Expecting themselves to be monumental "pillars in the temple
of God, to go no more out," they were the less concerned that
their memories should be perpetuated on earth by pretentious
marble. Yet all the more incumbent is it upon us to see to it
that some appropriate column or tablet, breaking the silence of
two centuries, deciphering the obscure initials of the rude
head stone, shall henceforth hold up to the love and admira-
tion of posterity the honored name of Matthew Gilbert.

The ownership of the first proprietor of the lot now in
question, commenced in 1639, and terminated with his death
in 1680, a period of forty-one years. For more than ten
years before this, he was the only one of the original proprie-
tors living on this square. Many changes had transpired.
Mr. Davenport had removed to Boston ; Governor Eaton had
been dead many years, — nearly all the leading colonists who
came with Governor Gilbert from England, and with whom he
had been so happily associated in laying the foundations, had
now passed away. lie was one of the few original pioneers

THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT. 125

who were spared to see the goodly vine which he had assisted
to transplant and nourish in this new world, growing strong
and health}^, putting forth new branches and spreading itself
through the land, until it had become interlocked with other
vines, springing from other but kindred roots, and forming with
them a consolidated union, civil and ecclesiastical.

Governor Gilbert left two sons, Matthew and Samuel, be-
tween whom the home lot was divided, Samuel taking the
south side on Chapel street, and Matthew taking the north
side, fronting on Church street, being the Gilbert portion of
the Rowe lot. On this northern part Governor Gilbert, before
his death, had erected a dwelling house for his son Matthew.

Samuel Gilbert died in 1721, and w^as succeeded by his son
Samuel Gilbert, 2d. His father, however, before his death,
had sold to John Gilbert, his nephew, a small piece on the
northwest corner of the original Gilbert allotment, to be used
as a " Sabbath day house." This Sabbath day lot, (two rods
square,) passed by will and deed from Samuel Gilbert, Senior,
to his nephew, John Gilbert, from him to Aaron and Joseph,
sons of John, and from them, in 1770, to John Danielson.

After the death of Matthew Gilbert, son of the Governor,
the date of which I do not know, his part of the old home-
stead, on the north side, was sold by his widow and children to
William Lyon, a tailor by trade. This was the first "William
Jjjou who came to Kew Haven. His wife w^as Experience
Hayward or Howard. They had two children, William and
Experience. This second William Lyon was the father of
Colonel William Lyon, the well known President of New
Haven Bank.

William Lyon, the tailor and purchaser of the Gilbert place,
died before the year 1743. His purchase must have been as
early as 1735. His house stood near the site of Mr. Henry 0.
Hotchkiss' house.

After the death of William Lyon in 1743, his widow and
children remained in the house on Church street. In 1749,
they sold it to their aunt Silence Hayward, but probably con-
tinued to live there. In 1752, Silence Hayward sold the north
half of the lot extending to Court street to Yale Bishop, the

126 THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT.

husband of Sibyl Gilbert. In 1754, she sold the sontli half to
John Brainerd of Perth Amboy. And in 1758, John Brain-
erd, then of Newark, sold his lot to Timothy Ailing, John
Braincrd's interest in this lot was natural and legitimate. In
1752, he had married Experience, only daughter of William
and Experience Lyon ; and he was therefore buying back his
wife's former ownership in the estate. And this fact connects
the subject of the present paper with one of the most memora-
ble names in the religions history of the country, and one of
the most interesting enterprises in the rise and progress of
modern Christian missions. John Brainerd was a younger
brother of David Brainerd, that burning and shining light,
whose short, brilliant career guided so many of the aborigines
of this land from paganism to Christ, — whose glorious example
quickened our churches to a more positive missionar}' spirit, —
in later times kindled the ardent soul of Henry Martin with
the like holy zeal for the salvation of the heathen, — and in all
times will stimulate kindred spirits to noblest deeds of piety
and benevolence. John Brainerd was the seventh child of
Hon. Hezekiah Brainerd and Dorathy Mason, his wife. He
was born at Haddam, February 28th, 1720, and graduated at
Yale College in the class of 1746. If he entered College at
the beginning of the Freshman year, lie must have suffered the
sharp trial of witnessing the proceedings which resulted in the
expulsion of his brother David. But although he must have
felt it to be an unrighteous thing to punish M-ith such relent-
less severity a fault for which humble £8Snd ample confession
was promptly offered, yet he continued with his class until
regularly graduated. The interest pertaining to John Brain-
erd, arises not much, if at all, from his being the brother of
David, but rather from the fact that he was a man of the same
type of character, the same deep toned piety, the same mission-
ary spirit, and especially to the fact that he entered into his
brother's labors among the Indians, and devoted his life to
their spiritual welfare. He was not thought equal to David
in intellectual ability, but in regard to personal piety, he stood
as high as his brotlier.

Directly after leaving college, he entered on the theological

THE GOVEKNOR GILBERT LOT. 127"

studies preparatory to the Christian ministry, and was soon
authorized to preacli. Simultaneously with this, he was re-
quested by tlie correspondents of the society for promoting
Christian knowledge in foreign parts, to take his brother Da-
vid's place, who was obliged to journey to New England for
the benefit of his health, then rapidly failing. In April, 1747,
he repaired to the Indian settlements in New Jersey, where
David, since 1743, had prosecuted his labors. His brother
never returned, but closed his saintly life at Northampton in
the autumn of that year, In consequence of this event, John
Brainerd, having been ordained in February, 1748, took sole
charge of the field where David had labored with such remark-
able success. His ministry was attended wnth the same kind
of results, though not to the same degree, as his brother's. He
remained continnously at his work until 1755, when, owing to
various disturbing causes, one of which was the French war,
the settlement was broken up, and he withdrew from it for a
season. Soon after, receiving a call to settle in Newark, he
moved there with his family, and continued until June, 1756.
The managers of the missionary society, howev^er, supposing
they had then a prospect of securing the lands on which the
Indians were then living, desired him to resume his mission.
To this he consented; and giving up his Newark call, moved
with his family to Brunswick, as being the most convenient
point from which they could reach the Indians as then situated.
Here he remained until September, 1757, more than a year,
when the project of gaining the land falling through, he was
again dismissed from the service. The church at Newark still
remaining without a pastor, they renewed their call, which he
accepted, and entered immediately on the duties of the pasto-
rate. In less than two years he was again solicited in behalf
of the Indians, for whom land had at length been secured by
governmental treaty. At the solicitation of the Governor of
the Colony, and by advice of the Presbytery, he resigned his
charge in Newark, and resumed his labors once more among
his beloved Indians. About this time he seems to have enter-
ed the army for a brief period, probably as a temporary chap-
lain, Tiie Indians, too, of his congregation, during every year

128 THE GOVEENOE GILBEET LOT.

of the war, had enlisted into the King's service far beyond
their proportion — and in every campaign more or less of them
had died. In 1757 tliey lost nearly twenty of their men, taken
prisoners at Fort William Plenry. These causes had greatly
reduced their numbers at the mission, and checked their work.
He continued in this mission, laboring much also as a home
missionary among feeble churches, and white communities des-
titute of the means of grace, performing occasional services for
the College at Princeton, of which he was twentj^-six years a
trustee, until he finally withdrew from New Jersey and re-
moved to Deerfield, in Massachusetts, in 1777, where he
preached for the remainder of his life. His death took place
March 18th, 1781, at the age of sixty-one, and his remains re-
pose beneath the floor of the Congregational Church in Deer-
field. In 1757, Mr. Brainerd lost his wife — an affliction of
which he speaks in the strongest terms of grief. Within a few
months afterwards, two of his three children were taken from
him, leaving only his daughter Mary, who became the wife of
Dr. Ross, of New Jersey. Mr. Brainerd married for his second
wife, Mrs. Experience Price, who died without issue in 1793.

It is a pleasant thought that in the humble dwelling of Wil-
liam Lyon, standing on this honored site, consecrated to Christ
by Pilgrim piety, the spirit of modern missions breathed its
earliest and purest aspirations from the loving hearts of John
and Experience Brainerd. Here they walked with God — here
they planned and prayed for the conversion of the heathen —
here they sometimes met, on their visits home, circles of Chris-
tian friends, and reported the wonderful things God had
wrought through their instrumentality among the Indians. It
is no exaggeration to say, that from this spot a holy influence has
radiated, in beams of light and love, throughout the wide world
of missionary enterprise, and that it will continue to be felt
until the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters fill the sea.

Peturning to the succession of ownership, we find that in
17(51 Timotliy Ailing had sold the north part of the lot now
covered by the Tontine block to Joshua Chandler, and the
south part to Medad Lyman. In 1765, Joshua Chandler's title

THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT. 129

passed over to I^aphtili (Hartineyer,) and in 1779 Charles
Chauncey became its owner, and from his heirs, I believe, it was
purchased by the association known as the Tontine.

Medad Lyman, who bought the south part of Timothy Al-
ling's lot, joining the north line of the present church lot, sold
out, in 1773, to Jonathan Fitch. Fitch sold it in 1785 to Jo-
seph Pynchon. In 1789 it was bought by William Joseph
Whiting, whose wife was a Lytnan. Mr. W. died early, leav-
ing a family of young children, which his widow heroically
brought up on narrow means, without soliciting aid of any one.
To do this, however, she was obliged to sell her house, and re-
move to a smaller one in a remote part of the town. She was
the mother of George I. Whiting, and grandmother of Dr.
Wm. J. Whiting, of this city. She sold the place in 1806 to
Nathaniel Rossiter, better known as Sheriff Rossi ter. The
next owner was Addin Lewis, M'ho was succeeded by Harvey
Hoadley — he was followed by H. Lee Scranton, who sold it to
the present owner, Henry O. Hotchkiss.

We now come back to the north half of the original Gilbert
lot, covered at present by the Third Congregational Church.
The succession of proprietorship here runs down from Gov.
Gilbert through Samuel 1st, 1679— Samuel 2d, 1721— Samuel
3d, 1741 — John Danielson, 1766. At this point, after a cen-
tury and a quarter of ownership and actual residence, the
name and blood of the Gilbert family disappeared. In 1774
John Danielson sold his title to Charles Chauncey, whose name,
more than that of any other, is identified with the place, in
the recollections of the present generation.

Charles Chauncey was son of Elihu Chauncey, Esq., of Dur-
ham, grandson of the Rev. ^Nathaniel Chauncey, of Durham,
great grandson of Rev. Nathaniel Chauncey, of Hatfield, Mass.,
and great great grandson of President Chauncey, of Harvard
College, who was the emigrant ancestor of all the Chaunceys in
this country ; and he proved himself worthy of this excellent
and honorable descent. He was born at Durham, May 30,
1747. In consequence of feeble health in the youthful period
of his life, he did not receive a collegiate education. But such
were the strength and quickness of his mind, such his zeal and

130 THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT.

dili2;ence in study, and so rapid and extensive his acquisitions
in learning, that tliis defect in Jiis early training was fully sup-
plied to him. lie studied law with James Abraham Hillhouse,
Esq., and was admitted to the bar in November, 1768. He at
once took a prominent position in his profession, and steadily
rose to eminence as an advocate. His wife was Abigail Dar-
ling, daughter of Deacon Thomas Darling, of New Haven ;
and the first home to which he introduced his young bride, was
the house he had just bought of John Danielson. It was a
small building when Mr. Chauncey purchased it, but it grad-
ually increased by successive additions on every side except the
front. Here Charles and Abigail Chauncey, — he twenty-seven,
and she twenty-six years of age, — commenced housekeep'ing ;
and here they I'emained almost fifty years, and both of them
died in the home where all their children were born. Mr.
Chauncey 's success at the bar, secured for him, in 1776, the ap-
pointment of Attorney for the State of Connecticut ; and in
17S9 he was elevated to the bench of the Superior Court. Both
of these positions, so diverse in character, lie filled with marked
ability. In 1793 he resigned the judgeship, and retired from
the practice of law. Soon after this he opened a private law
school, to which he delivered a course of lectures. In this em-
ployment he continued for many years; and such was his skill
and success in preparing candidates for the bar, that many of
the finest young men in the country were drawn to his instruc-
tions, and not a few of the most eminent lawyers of the past
generation received their legal training from his hand.

In 1777, Yale College gave public testimony of his talents,
scholarship and services, by conferring upon him the degree of
Master of Arts; and in 1811, Middlebury College honored hira
with the degree of Doctor of Laws. After retiring from the
bench and from the business of the courts, he gave much of
his time to reading, study, and superintending the education
of his children. His thirst for knowledge was intense ; he
needed not the spur of ambition, or the pressure of ofiicial
duty, or the necessity of subsistence, to urge him into the paths
of literature and science. He loved study for its OM-n sake.
His reading was on the most extensive scale, and hisinvestiga-

THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT. 131

tions, of the most thorough and exlianstive cliaracter, especially
in the department of law. Descended from a long line of emi-
nent ministers of the gospel, famous and mighty in their day,
he had a peculiar fondness for theological researches, which he
prosecuted with such zeal and success, that he became one of
the most intelligent theologians of his time. Endowed with
a mind so vigorous, active and fertile, so highly cultured by
discipline, and so richly stored with well digested and classified
learning, we are not surprised that he was held in higli respect
by educated men ; we can understand why President Dwight
spent much time in his society, and can believe the tradition
that the President sometimes, before committing to the press,
read his manuscripts to the Judge for his criticism.

Judge Chauncey made a profession of liis faith in Christ, at
an early period of his life, and was a member of the First
Churcli in this city. He served at one time as a deacon of
this church, I have been credibly informed, though his name
does not appear in the publislied catalogue of officers. He
often represented the church in ecclesiastical councils, and was
for a long time one of its most prominent members. His
familiarity with theology and church polity drew to him many
applicants for advice in religious matters, and he was often
employed as counsel in ecclesiastical trials.

"When the Rev. Moses Stuart succeeded the Rev. Dr. Dana
in the pastorate of tlie First Chin-ch, Judge Chauncey did not
sympathize in the religious change that followed. He was a
friend of Dr. Dana, of Dr. Dana's way of preaching, and of
the type of theology of which Dr. Dana was one of the last
and ablest representatives. Taking exception to some senti-
ment advanced by Mr. Stuart in tlie pulpit, the judge with-
drew from attendance on his ministry. This occasioned some
inquiry and agitation in the cliurch, but the matter was ulti-
mately dropped, leaving Judge Chauncey in regular standing.
He did not resume his attendance, however, even after the set-
tlement of Dr. Taylor, with whom he was on terms of personal
friendsliip ; but it appeared that this continued absence was
caused by phj-sical infirmity which disabled him from attend-
ing through an entire service.

132 THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT.

In a eulogy pronounced at his funeral, President Day speaks
of Judge Chauncey's religious character in terms of unqualified
confidence. He describes his declining years as hallowed by
religious faith, and cheered by Christian hope. And he speaks
of his closing hours, as blest with the peace of God. From
another source, I learn that in his last sickness he sent for the
deacons of the church and conversed with them in a kind and
Christian spirit concerning his relations to the church, and
explained to them, as above stated, the reason which for sev-
eral years had detained him from the house of God.

Judge Chauncey was sensitive, over sensitive perhaps, to
slights or wn'ongs, whether real or imaginary ; yet in his family
and among the friends in whom he confided, he was affection-
ate and genial, and happy in the love of others. His house
was the home of all the domestic virtues and graces, — the true,
the pure and the beautiful, — where intelligence and refinement
shed their clearest and softest light, and where over all, religion
spread her sacred mantle. Of this lovely circle Judge Chauncey
was the honored head and center — loved and revered by all.

In height he was nearly six feet, stoutly built and corpulent.
His features were strong and massive, the brow heavily over-
hanging his blue eyes, and the whole head and figure expres-
sive of dignity and force. His death occurred April 28, 1823.
His wife died Dec. 24. 1818. Their children were Charles,
Eliliu, Sarah, Abigail and Nathaniel. They Avere all born on
this spot — all carefully trained by the skillful hand of their
parents. All the sons were educated at our college. Of the
entire number, Nathaniel is the only survivor. Never had
parents more reason to be satisfied with the results of their
home culture than Judge Chauncey and his excellent wife.

Their oldest son, Charles, was examined and accepted for
admission to Yale College at the age often, but was kept back
a year, and then entered, and graduated at fifteen — one of the
youngest graduates of the college. Young as he was, he stood
high in his class for scholarship, and higher still for loveliness
of character. His appointment at Commencement was a Greek
dialogue, in which, I may be excused for saying, that Solomon
Williams, son of Wm. Williams, of Lebanon, was his asso-

THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT. 133

elate, — a youth nearly if not quite as young, wlio, like liiinself,
Lad passed an acceptable examination for the Freshman Class,
at the early age of ten years, — a bosom friend of Chauncey,
whose home while in college was at Judge Chauncey 's house,
and who had the same I'anltless amiability, the same exquisite
refinement of character, as his young friend. Five years ago,
I heard Judge Boardinan,'-'" of Xew Milford,- now, I believe,
ninety-six years of age, repeat from memory, after the lapse of
more than half a century, the first sentence of that Greek
dialogue.

Charles Chauncey, Jr., after studying law five years with his
father, removed to Philadelphia, where, after considerable delay,
he was admraitted to that bar. — then thought by Chief Justice
Ellsworth and others the ablest in the country, — and com-
menced that high and ascending career which in the course of
a few 3'ears placed him among the first of American jurists.
A purer, more honorable or loftier character never adorned
the legal profession. It was formed after the highest models
of gentlemanly grace, and Christian integrity and refinement.
The limits of this paper will not allow of any extended notice
of his life, nor is it needful. Few have forgotten the burst of
sorrow and exalted enlogy, that from the press, the bar and
the pulpit, found eloquent utterance at the intelligence of
his death. He died Aug. 30, ISiO.

Elihu Chauncey graduated four years after Charles, and fol-
lowed him to Philadelphia, where he entered the legal profes-
sion, lie was every way worthy of his family and of the
noble brother by whose side he steadily rose to honorable dis-
tinction. Turning aside from the law, he became first a jour-
nalist, at the head of the United States Gazette. Subsequently
he became distinguished as one of the ablest of financiers, and
achieved brilliant success in the inception and completion of
important works of public improvement. Tie died April 8,
IS-iT, lamented by state and cliurch as only a great and good
man can be lamented.

Sarah Chauncey, third child of Judge Chauncey, of jS'ew
Haven, married, in 1814, William Walton Woolsey, and thus

* Since deceased.
10

134: THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT.

became the step-niotlier of President Woolsej. Slie died Feb.
8, 1856.

Abigail Chauncey, the fourth child of Judge Chauncey, died
unmarried, June 11, 1814.

Natlianiel Cliauncey, the fifth and youngest cliild, still resides
in Philadelphia. The old homestead continued in the family
several years after Judge Cliauncey's decease, sometimes occu-
pied by private families, but more generally used as a boarding
house. It was at length purchased by the late Harvey Hoad-
ley, who removed the old mansion, intending to erect a large
hotel in its place. But the sudden and lamented death of that
energetic and public spirited citizen, frustrated his plans. The
place was then sold to Henry (). Ilotchkiss and William Forbes;
and in the Spring of 1855 it was purchased from them by the
Third Congregational Society. The church edifice which now
stands upon it, was commenced in July of that year, and com-
pleted in August of the year following.

The writer has been often amused at the perplexity of the
public, and particularly of the press, as to a convenient popu-
lar designation for this church. Sometimes it is called the
" Church Street Church," which, besides its unpleasant allitera-
tion, is objectionable as confounding it with a church of some-
what different creed further down the street. Sometimes it is
called by the name of the pastor, whi(;h is not very respectful
to the ecclesiastical organization that owns and worships in it.
Since the legal title of Third Congregational Church seems to
be generally declined, it might relieve the editorial fraternity
of their embarrassment, to substitute as more appropriate and
euphonious than either of the foregoing, the name of the
Chauncey Place Church.

On the corner of Church and Court streets stood at the
commencement of this century, and how much earlier I do
not know, the house now occupied by E,ev. Dr. Bacon. Here,
for a long series of years, was kept the principal tavern of the
city. It stood back three or four rods from Church street, and
was precisely the same size as at present. This tavern was
kept by a Mrs. Smith, a widow from the eastern part of the
state, whose family were refined and courteous. She was suc-
ceeded in the establishment by her daughter, Miss Nancy

THE GOYERNOK GILBERT LOT. 135

Smith, a lad}' of great urbanity and excellence. And after-
wards another daughter became mistress of the house, viz. :
Mrs. Prentice, wife of Col. Prentice, who was an officer in the
Revolutionary array. It was' subsequently occupied by Gov.
Foote, and by a Mr. Lewis, but whether as a tavern or not I am
uninformed. About the year 1809 Jacob Ogden commenced
tavern-keeping there. It was then known as the Coffee House.
Mr. Ogden had formerly been a resident of Hartford, and in
wealthy circumstances. A reverse of fortune constrained him
to engage in the business of keeping a public house. He is
well remembered by the present generation for his genial and
even jolly good humor, the cheery welcome, the kindly sym-
pathy, and facetious pleasantry with which he received and
entertained his guests, — the generous table he spread, the
famous coffee he made, and the excellent care he took of all
who came under his roof. He used to say, that having spent
his principal at Hartford, he had now come to New Haven to
live on the interest. He was accustomed to signify his readi-
ness to serve a friend, by the formidable declaration, "I'll fight
for you, I'll ffght for you." That this did not always have the
desired effect, he discovered, in one instance at least, when two
clergymen drove up to his door, and seeing a large number of
military in the yard and house, hesitated about stopping. Mr.
Ogden came out and ur«i;ed them to come in. Findino- them
still undecided, he resorted to his favorite expression, "111 fight
for you, my friends, 111 fight for you." This brought the rev-
erend gentlemen to the point at once, who immediately whipped
up, to find a tavern wliere there was no occasion for any one
to " fight for them," A farmer who had sold him some hay,
and concealed himself in the load while it was on the scales,
thus adding two hundred pounds to the weight, was surprised
to find his trick discovered, by Mr. Ogden's gravely claiming
him as a part of his purchase. Mr. Ogden continued the
coffee house until 1824, when he retired, and soon after the
property passed into the hands of the Tontine association, who
the next year erected the present hotel block. Tliis large
establishment has been kept, first by Drake and Andrews, then
by Andrews alone, then by Jones and Allis, then by S. "W.

136 THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT.

AUis alone, and then by II. Lee Scranton, and tlien by tlie
present landlord, Israel 11. Ross.

It now remains to speak of the chan2:es on the sonth part of
Governor Gilbert's lot on the corner of Church and Chapel
streets, covered by the Exchange building, and running down
to Henry N. Whittlesey's store. I have already stated that
this fell to the share of Samuel Gilbert, son of the Governor.
At his death, in 17*21, the property descended to his son, Sam-
uel Gilbert, 2d. who died in 1730, leaving it ti his son, Sam-
uel 3d, and his daughter Sibyl. Samuel took the western or
corner lot, and Sibyl the eastern part fronting entirely on
Chapel street. Sibyl Gilbert married Yale Bishop. In 1760,
Samuel Gilbert, 3d, sold out his interest in the old homestead
to John Beecher, and in 1766, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop sold their
portion to Timothy Bonticou, who resold that same year a
part of his purchase to John Miles. John Beecher M-as snc-
ceeded in the corner lot by his son, Thaddeus Beecher, well
remembered b}- a few of our elder citizens. Thaddeus Beecher
had a store on the corner of Church and Chapel, and a dwell-
ing house adjoining. He is spoken of by those who remember
him, in terms of high respect, as a most worthy and substantial
citizen. His business was conducted in the most honorable
and thorough manner. Every resident of New Haven, who
desired to procure the choicest groceries, or liquors of the
finest brands, knew that they were to be had, if anywhere, at
Thaddeus Beecher's. After his death, the place was sold,
January 3d, 1824, to the Eagle Bank. Thaddeus Beecher's
house was then moved off from the premises, and transferred
to the south side of West Chaiiel street, between York and
Park streets. The kitchen, however, was moved a few rods to
the west of its old position, and is now in the rear of the store
occupied l\y Benjamin Beecher.

The Directors of the Eagle Bank laid the foundation of a
banking house on or near the site of Thaddeus Beecher's store
and had carried up the walls several feet above the groundi
when the work was arrested by the failure of the Bank,— a
catastrophe that shook the city like an earthquake, and sent
distress and dismay into many families. The walls remained

THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT. 137

several years as they were left by the blow that struck clown
the institution, a monument to the thousands who passed tliem
from time to time, of the folly that " begins to build, but is
not able to finish." In 1831, December 8th, the creditors and
assignees of the Eagle Bank sold the property to Jehiel
Forbes & Son, who proceeded immediately to erect upon it the
large and iihposing structure which now adorns it.

The property occupied by the two brick buildings next to
the Exchange, on the east, was sold by the heirs of Thaddeus
Beecher to Eli B. Austin, in 1823. Here Mr. Austin kept a
grocery many years. He, however, sold the eastern part of the
lot to Mr. Lum ; the next OM'ner was Seymour Bradley, and the
next and present owner is Mrs. Emily Dwight, daughter of
Giles Mansfield. The lot and store occupied by Benjamin
Beecher, is still the property of Eli B. Austin's widow.

The lono- wooden buildino- reachinor from Mrs. Dvvight's
brick store to the gangway leading to Brockett's stable, is the
property of the descendants of John Miles. This is the iden-
tical estate purchased by John Miles of Timothy Bonticou, in
1766, so that the property has remained in the family nearly
one hundred years. On this place, and as I suppose in this
very building, John Miles kept tavern at the time of the Revo-
lutionary war. And, in after years, Mrs. Miles used to tell her
children how, when the war was over, officers of the army, re-
turning from active service, used to assemble at this house, and
how, as they took final leave of each other, to seek their vari-
ous homes, those browned, scarred, war-worn veterans would
fall on each other's necks and weep like women. Mr. Miles
was a tailor by trade, and had his shr>p in the western half of
the present building. Isaac and Kneeland Townsend learned
their trade of him. He denounced the sharp pointed shoe of
his day, made for either foot, and long before rights and lefts
were known, insisted with prescient wisdom that the sole of a
shoe should be cut by the shape of the foot. He was a comical
character, something of an original, and passed under the
soubriquet of " host Miles." He had a son, Mark, who kept
tavern here after his father's death. About 1818, the old house
again became a public house, and was known as Buck's tav-

138 THE GOVERNOR GILBERT LOT.

ern, and so continued until 1833. The timbers of tlie old floor
may still be seen in Mr. Pease's bookstore, two or three feet
above the present floor. This is the tavern where a certain
man, well known, came so often for his favorite drink, that he
wore a hole through the floor on the spot where he rested his
cane.

The lot east of the gangway, occupied by the store of
Charles Winship, had passed to Thaddeus Beecher, probably
from the hands of Timothy Bonticou, Thaddeus was suc-
ceeded by his nephew, John Beecher; and froiri the last
named Beecher it descended to the late John D. Beecher,
whose widow now ownes it. The lot next east of Charles
Winship's store, also became Thaddeus Beecher's, from whom
it descended to his nephew, Jacob Brown, who sold it to John
S. Graves, the present proprietor.

This completes the circuit, bringing us to the western wall
of Henry N. Whittlesey's store, the eastern boundary of Gov-
ernor Gilbert's lot.

SOME NOTICE OF THE

PIOMEES IN POIOLO&Y ffl NEf HAVEN.

By NATHANIEL A. BACON, Esq.

READ JANUARY, 1S6 5.

Benjamin Douglass, by profession a law^'er, is the lirst
man in New Haven whom the writer learns of as a propagator
of choice fruits. In the year 1775, he planted an orchard of
sixty -four cherry trees, just out of the Xew Haven town limits,
near East Rock, all of grafted trees, and died (of erysipelas)
within one week thereafter. Among them were White Ox
Heart, Black Ox Heart, Honey Heart and May Duke. His
successor and son-in-law, Wm. G. Hubbard, now deceased, left
memoranda that he had gathered and sold busliels of May
Dnke cherries from these trees as early in the season as the
loth of June, some two weeks earlier than at present.

Jonah Hotchkiss, by trade a house joiner, M'hen a soldier in
the Revolutionary Army, brought from Red Hook, Long Is-
land, N. Y., soon after the year 1780, grafts from the Delancey
pear, also grafts from a tree bearing large red sweet apples.
These grafts were distributed, and the true name of the pear
being then unknown, it took the local name of Jonah, froui its
introducer, which it retains to this day. The tree bearing the
original graft is now standing on a lot on the north side of
Chapel street, between High and York streets, and produces
fruit annually. The apple is still in existence, but without a
specific name. He died in 1811.

Nathan Beers, Senior, was killed at New Haven, by the
British, in 1779. He was a nurseryman, and cultivated the

140 PIONEERS IX POMOLOGY IN NE^' RAVEX.

finest of fruits. lie introduced tlie Catharine, Jargonelle,
Warden, St. Micliaels, Beroaniot, and many other varieties of
pears. He introduced elioice varieties of apples, and was a
successful cultivator of the foreign grape.

Nathan Beers, Junior, followed the occupation of his fa-
ther, and disseminated many new and choice varieties of fruit.
lie died in 1849, aged 97 years.

Timothy Dwight, D. D., Piesident of Yale College, culti-
vated the largest garden in the city witli his own hands, and
produced the best culinary plants and the finest fruits in the
city. He introduced the Chili strawberry, and was the first to
successfully cultivate the strawberry as a garden fruit in JSTew
Haven. His peaches are said to have been of the choicest
kinds, and very abundant — so abundant that they were re-
moved from his grounds by the cart load. He died in 1817.

Daniel Punderson, a nurseryman, cultivated the &tra\vl>erry
for niarket, and among many seedling pears raised by him was
the " Punderson," said to be a seedling from the Jonah. He
died in 1829.

James Hillhouse, by profession a lawyer, cultivated exten-
sively the apple, the pear, and the peach. A quantity of apple
and pear scions from the King's garden, in France, having been
received by him, and finding no per.-on to cultivate them, he,
with the assistance of a fiiend, in one evening by candle light,
set one hundred and fifty scions into small stocks. This col-
lection contained about forty varieties of pears. Among his
peaches were the Early Ann, Nutmeg, Ped Rareripe, Yellow
Pareripe, and White and Ped Clingstone. His assortment was
so arranged as to have rifie fruit from the beginning to the end
of the season. To him the public are indebted for the beauti-
ful elms which adorn our streets. He died in 1832.

Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, was a cultivator
of the choicest varieties of apples. He died in 1825.

Henry W, Edwards, by profession a lawyer, at one time
Governor of Connecticut, commenced planting j^ear seeds in
the years 1817 and 1818. He succeeded in introducing some
sixty new varieties of pears, some of them of decided merit.
Among them were the Button Ball, Edwards, Citron, Frances,

PIONEERS ry POMOLOGY IN NEW HATEN. 141

John, Henrietta, William, Emil.y, Elizabeth, Calhoun, Dallas,
Van Buren, Jackson, Black Hawk, Spice, Humbug, Clay,
Meadow and Cluster. He also raised quinces and apples from
the seed. He died in 1847.

Noyes Darling, educated as a clergyman, was a successful
cultivator of choice fruits in all their varieties, and furnished
strawberries and other fruits for market. He paid much at-
tention to the formation and habits of the various insects, so
destructive to fruits and vegetables. The result of his re-
searches, in part, is embodied in an address delivered by him
before the Xew Haven Horticultural Society in October, 1845.
He died in 1846.

Vircril M. Dow, M. D., was an enthusiastic cultivator of new
and choice varieties of fruit, devoting much time and attention
thereto. This community is indebted to him for many varie-
ties not before known to them. He died in 1851.

Eli Ives, M. D., probably paid more attention to the produc-
tion of new varieties of many kinds of fruit, and to the cultiva-
tion of those that were known, than any other of our citizens.
He paid much attention to the grape ; raised from the seed
raspberries, strawberries, among them the Ives seedling, and
pears in great numbers, including the Yale, Dow and Ives Ber-
gamot. He died in 18f>l.

At a meeting of fruit growers in Xew Haven, held October
21st, 1844, "The Pomological Society" was formed, and the
following officers chosen, viz. :

HENRY W. EDWARDS, Presideiit.
ELI lYES, Vice Prenidtnt.
VIRGIL jr. DOW, Secretary.
CHARLES NICOLL, Treasurei:

The members admitted into the Society have been:

In 1841. — Henry W. Edwards, (since dead.) Eli Ives, (since dead,) Yirgil M.
Dow, (since dead.) Chailes >'icoll, James T. Gerry, (lost at sea,) Noye.s Darling,
(since dead.) Charles B. Lines, .James Goodrich, (since dead.) Philos Blake, .John
Augustus Totten, (since dead,) Henry Whitney, (since dead,) Aaron X. Skinner,
(since dead,) Alfred S. Monson.

In 1845. — Ezra C. Read, George Gabriel, Nathaniel F. Thompson, Abraham C.
Baldwin, Eleazar T. Fitch, .James Harrison, (since dead,) Stephen D. Pardee.

In 1846. — Silas I. Baldwin, Charles Robinson, Ebenezer H. Bishop.

142 PIONEERS IN POMOLOGY IN NEW HAVEN.

In 1847. — John Bromham, (since dead,) Nathan B. Ives, Benjamin Silliraan, Jr.

In 1848.— Thomas R. Button.

In 1849. — John P. Norton, (since dead,) Creighton Whitmore, (since dead,)
Elizur E. Clarke.

In 18.50. — William Wadsworth, (since dead,) William Johnson, John J. Walter,
(since dead.)

In 1851.— William S. Charnley, Oliver F. Winchester, Charles W. Elliott,
Charles L. Chaplain, Nathaniel A. Bacon.

In 1852. — Thomas H. Totten, Charles Beers, Jonathan Stoddard, (since dead,)
John C. Hollister.

In 1853. — Charles Dickerman.

In 1854. — Alfred P. Monson, Harmanus M. Welch, John E. AVj'lie, John Peck.

In 1855. — Worthington Hooker, Samuel Peck, Samuel E. Foote, (since dead,)
Solomon Mead, Pierrepont B. Foster, Nelson Hotchkiss.

In 1856 — Henry Austin, Oliver E. Maltby, Caleb S Maltby, Isaac Anderson,
Nathan F. Hall, Samuel Rowland.

In 1857. — Theodore Newell, Frederick J. Betts,

In 1858.— John A. Blake.

In 1859. — John S. Beach, William I. Beers.

In 1860. — Randolph Linslej-, (Meriden.)

In 1863. — William Parmelee, Henry A. Warner,

In 1864.— William W. Wincheater.

In 1865. — Charles P. Augur, (Hamden.)

The Officers of the Society chosen in October, 1864, are:

SILAS I. BALDWIN, President.
NELSON HOTCHKISS, Vice President.
NATHANIEL A. BACON, Secretary and Treasurer.

COEKESPONDEN CE

BETWEEN

PRESIDENT JEFFERSON AND ABRAHAM BISHOP,

COLLECTOR OF THE PORT OF NEW HAVEN.
From original papers in the possession of the New Haven Colony Historical Society.

Washington Nov. 13. 08.
Sir

Not knowing whether Col«. Humphreys would be at
present at or in the neighborhood of New Haven, or in Boston,
I take the liberty of addressing a request to yourself. Home-
spun is become the spirit of the times : I think it an useful one
and therefore that i t is a duty to encourage it by example. The
best fine cloth made in the U. S. is, I am told, at the manufac-
ture of Colo, Humphreys in your neighborhood. Could I get
the favor of you to procure me there as much of his best as
would make me a coat? I should prefer a deep blue, but, if
not to be had, then a black. Some person coming on in the
stage can perhaps be found who would do me the favor of
taking charge of it. The amount shall be remitted you the
moment you shall be so kind as to notify it to me, or paid to
any member of the legislature here ; whom yourself or Colonel
Humphrey's agent shall indicate. Having so little acquaint-
ance in or near New-Haven I hope you will j)ardon the liberty
I take in proposing this trouble to you, towards which the
general motive will perhaps avail something. I salute you
with esteem and respect.

TH: JEFFERSON
Mr Abraham Bishop

144 COERESPONDENCE.

New Havej^ Nov. 30. 1S08.
Sir,

Since the receipt of your favor of 13. iiist, I liave
waited for the return of Col. Humphreys from Phihidelpliia,
upon the sui^^gestion of his agent, that the Col. would be am-
bitious to select, personally, such cloth, as might do justice to
his factory and your expectations.

The colonel returned this evening and says that four weeks at
least will be necessary for furnishing a piece of superior
quality, which is in hand.

As soon as it shall be received I will have the satisfaction
of forwarding it according to your request

I have tlie honor to be,

Witli the greatest respect
Sir, y. obt Servt

ABR" BISHOP

President Jefferson

Washington, Dec. S, 08.
Si?'

Your favor of Nov. 30. is duly received, & I thank you
for your kind attention to the little commission respecting the
cloth. I shall be glad to receive it whenever it can come, but
a great desideratum will be lost if not received in time to be
made up for our new year's day exhibition when we expect every
one will endeavor to be in homespun, and I should be sorry to
be marked as being in default. I would sacrifice much in the
quality to this circumstance of time : however I leave it to the
kindness of Colo. Humphreys and yourself. I presume that if
put into a very light box, no larger than to hold the cloth
closely pressed in & addressed to me it may come safely
by tlie stage or even by the mail, if that be necessary, to save

CORRESPOXDENCE. 145

our distance. Accept 1113' salutation & assurances of esteem
and respect.

TH: JEFFERS0:N"
Mr. Bishop.

N. H. 14. Dec. 1S08

accordg to yr request, under date of S inst you will
receive by the mail which conveys this, 5^ yfls narrow superf.
cloth, from Col. Humphreys factory, being of fth merino wool,
price 4.50 per yard. Mr E. Bacon of the house of rep. will do
me the favor to receive from you the amt. cx])ressed in the
inclosed receipt.

The Col. laments that it is not in his power to furnish you
at this time, with cloth of a superior quality,

I have the honor to be
With gt resp.
Sir
T. m^. ob Serv.

ABRM BISHOP
Pre, Jefferson

"Washington, Jan. 20. 09.
Sir

This is the first moment I have been able to make the
acknowledgment of the receipt of the cloth you were so kind
as to procure me in good condition. The cost was paid to mr.
Bacon according to your perinission, and I pray you to ac-
cept my thanks for the trouble of this commission, M'ith the
assurances of my esteem and respect.

THO JEFFEPvSON
Mr. Bishop.

146 CORRESPONDENCE.

" J. Humphreys Jr. Rect for President Jefferson's clotli

pd 1808"

President Jefferson D^

To 5i yds cloth Bot of
Col Humphreys at $4-50 $24-75

Reed payment in full of Abraham Bishop Esqr for
Col Humphreys

JOHIS" HUMPHREYS Jun'-
New Haven Dec 26th ISOS.

BISHOP BERKELEY'S dlf TS TO YALE COLLEGE ;

A COLLECTION OF

DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF "THE DEAN'S BOUNTY."

By DANIEL C. OILMAN,

UBBARIAN or VALE COLLEGE.

PRESENTED TO THE SOCIETY, MARCH, 1865.

I. INTRODUCTORY. OUTLINE OF BERKELEY 8 LIFE.

The name of Bishop Berkeley will always be Jield in
gruteful remembrance by the graduates and friends of Yale
College, as that of one of the earliest, M'isest and most dis-
tinguished benefactors of the institution.

An extended memoir of this eminent philosopher and pre-
late is still to be desired. The announcement tliat such a
biography is already in preparation under favorable auspices,
has led to the collection and publication of the documents
which follow. They all pertain more or less directly to his
successive donations to Yale College, and they help to illus-
trate one of the most interesting chapters of his life, — the
American episode.

Before presenting these papers, we shall give, for conven-
ience of reference, a brief sketch of the Bishop's life.

George Berkeley, D. D., Dean of Derry, and afterward
Bishop of Cloyne, in Ireland, was born at Kilerin, near Thorn-

148 BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to yale college.

astown, Killconiiy County, Ireland, March ]2tli, 1GS4, and
died in Oxford, Eno;land, January 14tli, 1753.

After having been educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he
became a Fellow in that College, June 9th, 1707. In 171'3 he
accompanied the Earl of Peterborough on his Embassy to the
King of Sicily and the Italian states. He soon afterwards
jnade a second visit to the Continent. In 1724 he was made
Dean of Derry, and about the same time formed a plan for
establishing a College in the Bermudas for the purpose of edu-
cating the aboriginal Americans, and of training ministers of
the Church of England for labor in the new Avorld. Having
obtained a charter for the proposed 'institution and the promise
of a grant of £20,000, for an endowment, Berkeley set sail
from the old world, September 17th, 1728, and arrived in New-
port, Rhode Island, January 23d, 1729. The latter place he
had chosen as a convenient centre for correspondence and
inquiry while he was waiting to receive the promised grant.
Here he purchased a farm which he called " Whitehall,"
erected upon it a small house, preached often in Newport, com-
posed his "Alciph)-on or the Minute Philosopher," and made
acquaintances among the clergymen and other prominent men
of New England.

At length, persuaded that his expectations of an endow-
ment were doomed to disappointment, Berkeley retni-ned to
England, embarking at Boston in September, 1731. He soon
sent over to Yale College a fine collection of books, and also a
deed of his Newport Farm. It is to perpetuate the grateful
reniembran(;e of these benefactions, that the following illus-
trative documents have been brought together.

In 1734, Dr. Berkeley M'as appointed Bishop of Cloyne, and
in 1745, the See of Clogher was oti'ered to him and declined.
In 1752, his health Jiaving become impaired, he removed with
his family to Oxford, (intending to superintend the education
of his son,) and there soon afterward he died.

The various philosophical writings of Bishop Berkeley are
so well known, and the dignity and excellence of his character
have been so frequently referred to, not only by hiscotempora-
ries but bv more recent writers, that there seems to be no

BISHOP BERKELEy''s GIFTS TO YALE COLLEGE. 149

occasion here to dwell upon the tlieme. Nearly all that
follows has, tin recently, been hidden in manuscript.

II, HOW THE dean's BOUNTY WAS SECURED.

When Dean Berkeley determined to return to England, he
is said to have divided his private library between Harvard
College and Yale College. Soon after reaching home he sent
over to Yale College a much more extensive collection of
books, selected for the College Libiarv, and also a deed of the
" Whitehall" Farm, near Newport, on which he had resided.

The following extract from the mannscript autobiography of
Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, narrates the circumstances which
led to this special interest in Yale College. The Society is in-
debted to the Rev. Dr. Beardsley for this transcript.

Dr. Johnson, it will be rcinembei'ed, graduated at Yale Col-
lege in 1714:, and was afterwards a Tutor from 1716 to 1719.
He subsequently received Episcopal ordination, and became a
Missionary of the Church of England, stationed at Stratford,
Connecticut.

"In the year 1729, in February, came that very extraordinary
genius, Bishop Berkeley, then Dean of Derry, into America, and
resided two years and a half at Rhode Island. He was a gentle-
man of vast learning and eqnal benevolence, and came hither with
the most extensively benevolent intention of promoting both reli-
gion and learning throughout America, among the heathen as well
as Christians. The sale of the land in St. Christophers, which
belonged to England by the peace after Queen Anne's wars,
amounted to 80,000 pounds, and had been designed by her to be a
fund for the support of four bishops in America; but that desio-n
being neglected in the two following reigns, Dean Berkeley, by
dint of his importunity and his mighty eloquence, and in spite of
Sir Robert Walpole's reluctance, (who was then Chief Minister,)
procured a grant of £20,000 of that money towards establishino- a
college at Bermuda, in prosecution of his noble design, and a
patent for the presidency of it, and he came over to Rhode Island
with a view at settling a correspondence there for suppl3ino- his
college with provisions. Bermuda lies in a spot surrounded with
the whole continent of English America; the Dean was therefore

150 BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to tale college.

made to believe that the most suitable place to answer hia inten-
tion with regard to the whole, but in this lie was misled, as he
was soon convinced when he came to Rhode Island. He there-
fore Avrote to his friends to do their utmost to get the patent
altered for some place (which probably would have been New
York) on the continent, but they could never gain the poiut. Sir
Robert told them any such attempt would be taken for a forfeit-
ure, and indeed they had other uses for their money, said he, than
building colleges in America. So the good Dean was obliged to
return re infecta., and to make some atonement for his great trouble
and disappointment he was soon after made Bishop of Cloyne in
Ireland, and the whole £80,000 Avas made a complement of to the
Princess Anne upon her marriage to the Prince of Orange.

"Mr. Johnson had read his Principles of Human Knowledge,
from Avhich he had conceived a great opinion of him, and it was
not long before he made him a visit, that he might converse with
so extraordinary a genius and so groat a scholar. He was intro-
duced by his friend, Mr. Honeyman, (Avith whom he corresponded,)
the worthy minister of that church, and received by the Dean
with much kindness and condescension, and gladly put himself
under his instruction. He was admitted to converse freely on the
subject of his philosophical works, and presented with the rest
which he had not seen, and to an E{)istolary Correspondence upon
them and any other parts of learning. In consequence of which
he wrote many letters, which were very kindly answered, and
made him several visits, and on each, spent as much time witli him
at his house as could possibly be spared from home. This was of
vast use to Mr. Johnson and cleared up many difficulties in his
mind, both philosophical and theological, as he found the Dean's
way of thinking and explaining things utterly precluded skepti-
cism and left no room for endless doubts and uncertainties. His
denying matter at first seemed shocking, but it was only for want
of giving a thorough attention to his meaning. It was only the
unintelligible scholastic notion of matter he disputed, nnd not
anything either sensible, imnginable or intelligible; and it was
attended with this vast advantage, that it not only gave new
incontestible jiroofs of a Deity, but moreover the most striking
api)rehensions of His constant presence with us ai;d inspection
over us and of our entire dependence on Him and infinite obliga-
tions to His most wise and Almighty Benevolence. On these

BISHOP Berkeley's giets to yale college. 151

accounts, (as well as to inure one to a close and eachway of think-
ing,) Mr. Johnson wished his works might be thoroughly studied
and well considered, especially his wonderfully ingenious Theories
of Vision, as well as his Princii)les and Dialogues, in which he has
plainly outdone both Mr. Locke and Sir Isaac in some particulars.
While the Dean was at Rhode Island he composed his Minute
Philosopher, wherein he elegantly and powerfully confutes the
infidels in every shape, under feigned names, in several beautiful
and genteel dialogues after the manner of Plato. He had, as he
told Mr. Johnson, been several times in their clubs in quality of
a learner, and so perfectly knew their manner; and he was thereby
the better qualified to write such an admirable confutation of
them On one of those occasions (as he told Mr. Johnson) he
heard Collins declare that he had found a demonstration against
the Being of a God, which he soon after published, in a pretended
demonstration that all is Fate and Necessity, which among other
things is here briefly but excellently confuted, as it had been more
largely by Clarke and Jackson.

"The Dean being about to leave America, Mr Johnson made him
his last visit, on which occasion he expressed a real friendship and
gave him many very valuable books, and they parted very aftec-
tionately, and he consented to hold a kind correspondence as long
as he lived. He left Boston in September, 1731. Mr. Johnson had
retained a great kindness for Yale College, the place of his educa-
tion, and was frequently there, and to all appearance was respect-
fully treated by Mr. Williams, then Rector, though he knew him
to be a zealous dissenter, a great enemy to the church and of a
very insidious temper. But out of his aflectiou to the college he
had bespoke the Dean's regard to it, not having any further view
than to hope he might perhaps send it some good books. But
Bishop Berkeley, assisted by several gentlemen who had been
liberal subscribers to his own intended college, sent a noble collec-
tion of books to the value of (I think) about 500 pounds sterling
for Yale College, and transmitted to Mr. Johnson a deed in which
he gives a fiirm he had at Rhode Island of about a 100 acres of land,
worth a 100 pounds sterling, the annual income of which was to
be divided between three of those who upon examination by
the Rector Avith a minister of the Church of England should be
found the best classic scholars in Latin and Greek, towards their
support at college during the three years between their Bache-

152 BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to yale college.

lor's and Master's Degrees, in the fnrtlier prosecution of their
studies ; and the forfeitures to be divided in premiums of books to
be given to those that performed the best exercises. This was
indeed a noble donation, but the Trustees, though they made an
apppearance of mucli thankfulness, were almost afraid to accept
of it. But behold the gratitude of dissenters ! Mr. Williams at
the very next Commencement (as appeared afterwards) contrived
with the Hampshire ministers, (his father at the head of them,) in
a letter to the Bishop of London, through Dr. Coleman's hands,
full of abusive and groundless complaints, to get all the people
of the church here, of which there were now live, six or seven
congregations, deprived of tlieir ministers, and they of their sala-
ries. They were desired by the Society to produce evidence of
their accusations, Avhich they attempted to do but could make
nothing of it. This was about the year 1734."

President Stiles, in liis Diary, gives the following slightly
different account of tlie Dean's donation to Yale College. In
paying a tribute to the nieniory of Dr. Johnson, he remarks as
follows :

Dr. Johnson "was an excellent classical scholar, even a good
critic, in Latin, Greek and IlebreAV. Li 1729 to 1732 he was
occasionally acquainted with Dean Berkeley, then living on
Hhode Island. He persuaded the Dean to believe that Yale
College would soon become Episcopal, and that they had
received his immaterial philosophy. This or some other mo-
tive influenced the Dean to make a donation of liis Rhode
Island Farm, ninety-six acres, with a library of about a thou-
sand volumes, to Yale College, in 1733. This donation was
certainly procured very much through the instrumentality of
Rev. Dr. Jared Eliot and Rev. Dr. Johnson. Tlie latter, in
conversation with ine, 1753, when I made a funeral oration
on Bishop Berkeley, told me he himself procured it ; lie
assumed the whole gh)ry to himself. Col. Updike, of New
York, an Episeoj^alian, intimately acquainted with the trans-
action, told me the Bishop's motive was the greater ])rospect
that Yale College Avould become Episcopal than Harvard."

It has often been surmised that Beikeley had peculiarly good
opportunities for personal observations in this country. This

BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to yale college. 153

inference has been made from the sermon whicli he preaclied
before the Society for tlie Propaojation of the Gospel, — but a
curious contradiction of this inference appears in a pamphlet
of that day.

Rev. Noah Ilobart, Pastor of a Church of Christ in Fair-
field, makes the following- statement respectino; Bishop Berke-
ley's acquaintance in New England. See his " Second Ad-
dress to the Meml)ers of the Episcopal Separation," &c.
Boston, 1751, p. 145.

" 'Tis likewise true that ' Bishop Barkley, a member of that
venerable Body, resided in New England for some time ;' and that
'upon his Return he preached the annual Sermon, and gave an ac-
count of the religious State of the Country :' But whether he was
'personally acquainted with ' any number of 'the most eminent of
our Ministers,' I confess I do not know. In the general it is well
enough known, that ' this great and good man,' as Mr. Beach very
justly stiles him, partly thro' Indisposition, and partly thro' a close
application to his beloved Studies, lived a very retired Life while
in this Country. He saw very little of New England, was hardly
ever off Rhode Island ; never in Connecticut ; nor at Boston till
he went thither to take Passage for London. Accordingly the
Bishop confines the account in his Sermon almost wholly to Rhode
Island, and I think he describes it very justly. He does indeed
say that some Part of his Description may possibly be found to
extend to other Colonies ; but which Part, or what other Colonies
he does not say ; and that, I suppose, because he was sensible he
had not a sufficient acquaintance with the other Colonies to de-
scribe them particularly: And it is not to be wondered at, if he
thought them more like Rhode Island in Point of Religion, than
they really are. And further, he supposes the Society informed of
the State and Progress of Religion in this Part of the World, by
their Correspondencies with the Clergy upon their Mission."

III. conveyance of the WHITEHALL FARM TO YALE COLLKGE.

In the archives of Yale College two instruments are pre-
served conveying the Dean's Farm to the College. Some
slight changes in the prescribed terms, mntnally agreed upon,
led to the repetition of the deed. The second deed is here
given, dated August 17th, 1733. The earlier deed was dated
July 26, 1732.

154 BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to yale college.

"This Indenture made the sevcnteentli day of August in the
Seventh year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Sec-
ond, by the Grace of God King of Great Britain, France and Ire-
land, Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord One
Thousand Seven Hundred Thii'ty Three, between George Berkeley,
Doctor of Divinity, Dean of Derry in the Kingdom of Ireland, on
the one part, and the Reverend Mr. Elisha Williams, President or
Rector with the rest of the Corporation or incorporate Society of
Yale College in New Haven in the Province of Connecticut, on
the other, witnesseth that for and in consideration of the sum of
Five Shillings of Lawful Money of Great Britain to the said
George Berkeley by the said Corporation, in hand paid at or before
the ensealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt where-
of is hereby acknowledged, and for divers other good causes and
considerations, he the said George Berkeley hath granted, bar-
gained, sold, and by these presents doth grant, bargain and sell
unto the said Corporation and their successors, all that messuage
tenement or dwelling house, stable and crib, and a certain tract
of land to the same adjoining and belonging, containing about
Ninety Six Acres (be the same more or less) and consisting of one
orchard and the rest arable pasture, meadow and wood land, sit-
uate, lying and being in Newport, in the Colony of Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations, and bounded northerly partly on land
now or late of James Barker, and partly on School lands, easterly
by a highway, and partly by a small piece of land of about half
a quarter of an acre with a house thereon, southerly by a high-
way, and westerly by land now or late in the possession of the
Widow Turner, together with all rights, profits, privileges and
appurtenances thereunto belonging or appertaining, and the rever-
sion and reversions, remainder and remainders thereof, and all the
estate, right, title, property, claim and demand whatsoever of
him the said George Berkeley of in and unto the said premises and
every part and parcell thereof.

"To have and to hold the said dwelling-house, stable, tract of
land, and premises hereby granted, bargained and sold, with their
and every of their appurtenances, unto the said corporation or in-
corporate society and their successors, for ever, under, and sub-
ject to the conditions, provisoes and powers, and under the rules
and orders hereinafter mentioned, expressed and declared of and
concerning the same ; — that is to say, that they the said corpora-

BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to tale college. 155

tion or incorporate society, and their successors do and shall, for-
ever hereafter, pay and apply the clear yearly rents and profits of
the said premises from time to time, as the same shall become due
aud payable, and as they shall receive the same, (they the said
corporation or incorporate society, and their successors respective-
ly, first deducting thereout, all such reasonable costs and charges
as they, or any of them shall, from time to time, and at any time
hereafter incur, sustain, or be put unto, in the execution of the
trust hereby in them reposed) to three students of the said col-
lege, towards their miintenance and subsistence during the time
between their first and second degree; such students being to be
called scholars of the house, and, during that space of time, being
hereby obliged to reside, at lea^t three quarters of each year, be-
tween their first and second degree, in the said college : and that the
said students or scholars of the house, be elected on the sixth day
of May, (if not on a Sunday) but if it shall happen on a Sunday,
then the election to be on the day following, such election to be
performed by the President or head of the college, for the time
being, jointly with the senior episcopal missionary of that colony
or province of Conneeticut, for the time being, that is to say, he
who hath been longest upon the mission in the said colony, the
candidates to be publicly examined by the said President or Rec-
tor and senior missionary, two hours in the morning, in Greek,
and in the afternoon, two hours in Latin, on the day of election, —
all persons having free access to hear the said examination : — and it
is hereby declared and intended, and it is the true intent and mean-
ing of the said George Berkeley, that those who appear to be the
best scholars on said examination, be, without ftivour or affection,
elected ; — and in case of a division of sentiment in the electors, the
election to be determined by lot: — and if the senior episcopal cler-
gyman shall not attend, then any other episcopal clergyman of said
colony be intituled to elect, in course of seniority : — and if none of
the episcopal clergy shall attend, then, and in such case, the elec-
tion to be performed by the President or Rector of the said col-
lege for the time being: — Provided always, that whatever surplus
of money shall arise during the vacancies of the said scholarships,
the same to be laid out for Greek and Latin books, to be disposed
of by the said electors on the said day of election to such of the
underirraduate students as shall shew themselves most deserving

156 BISHOP berkkley's gifts to tale college.

by their compositions in the Latin tongue on a moral subject or
theme proposed by the electors.

"Provided also that if at any time or times hereafter any diffi-
culty, dispute or difference shall happen to arise concerning the
due Election of the said three Scholars of the House, or any of
them in manner aforesaid, that then and in every such case the
power of explaining such difficulty, dispute or difference is hereby
referred to the said George Berkeley : Provided always, and it is
hereby declared to be the true intent and meaning of these pres-
ents and the parties thereto, that in case the said rules and orders
concerning the said election and the application of the rents and
profits of the said premisses be not from time observecl, that then
and in that case the grant of the said premisses to the said Corpo-
ration of Yale College hereby made shall cease, determine and be
void.

"GEORGE BERKELEY.
"Signed, Sealed and Delivered

(being first duly Stampt) the

day and Year above written,

the words (or Rector) being

first interlin'd in the 25th and

30th Lines, in the presence

of us,

"Isaac Bkowne,
John Pierson,
Henry Newman."

IV. RECIPIENTS OF " THE DEAN's BOUNTY."

The Yale Literary Magazine for 1852, presents a list of the
" Scholars of the House," with an explanatory note, from
which an extract is here made :

" The subjoined list of those who have been ' Scholars of the
House,' under the 'Dean's Bounty,' may serve to show how far
the result of this beneficence has fulfilled the design of the pious
founder ; and it is a fact of no slight significance, taken in connec-
tion with the original purpose of Bishop Berkeley, that of this list
nearly one hundred are marked as ministers of the gosj)el, fore-
most among whom is President Wheelock, who founded an In-
dian school, the germ of Dartmouth College; wliile hundreds

BISHOP BEKKELEY S GIFTS TO YALE COLLEGE.

157

more of the same callintj, not here enumerated, have been recipi-
ents of this bounty, in the shape of the smaller premiums, among
whom may be named David Bkainekd, the ' Apostle to the In-
dians.'

"This list is believed to be complete from 1733 to 1V95. Presi-
dent Stiles's diary affords a complete list during his presidency, to
1795. During the period of President D wight's administration,
from 1795 to 1817, the list is imperfect. We depend hereupon
the statement of the ' scholars ' themselves, or upon the recol-
lections of others acquainted with facts, verified by cotemi)orane-
ous written evidence Very extensive inquiry has been made in
regard to the ' scholars ' of this period, both of the instructors
and members of the respective classes; and it is believed that the
list is nearly complete. Where there was no examination, we
have so stated. In the years marked interrogatively (?) it might
safely be affirmed, perhaps, that there were no examinations, as
that is the result of our inquiries; but we leave the matter open,
to elicit further information."

The list from 1818 is made up from the college records.

LIST OF THE BEKKELEIAN " SCIIOLAES OF THE IIOCSE.

1733. Rev. Benjamin Pomeroy, D. D.
Rev. Eleazer Wheelook, D. D.,

Pre.t. Dart. Coll.

1734. Beniiimin Nicoll.

Wil'liani VVolcott, Tutor Yale Col.

1735. Rev. Aaron Burr, Frex. College

of New Jersei/.
Rev. James Lock wood, Tutor Y.C.
EHslia Williams.
Samuel Williams.

1736. Rev. Nathan Birdseye.
Rev. Silas Leonard.

1737. Rev. Mark Leavenworth.
Rev. Gideon Mills.

1738. Hon. Piiineas Lyman. Tut. Y. C.
Rev. Chauncey Whittelsey, Tttt. Y.

Coll.

1739. Solomon Welles.
William Williams.

1740. Rev. Jacob Jolinson.

Hon. John Woi'thington, LL. D.,
Tutor Yale Coll.

1741. Rev. Richard Mansfinld. D. D.
Rev. Noah Welles, D. D., Tut. Y.C.

1742. Jared Ingersoll.

1743. Rev. Thomas Arthur.

1744. Hon. VVm. Sam'l Johnson, LL. D.,

Judge Sup. Ct. of Conn., Rep.

and Sen. U. S. Cong., Pres. Col-
Coll.

1745. Rev. Warham Williams, Tut. Y.C.
Rev. Jonathan Colton.

1746. J'elatiah Webster.

1747. Rev. Aaron Hutchinson.

1748. Rev. Napihali Daggett, Y).T>.,PreK.

Yale Colt.
Rev. William Johnson.

1749. Hon. James A. Hillhouse, Tutor

Yale Coll.

1750. Elilui Tudor, M. D.

1751. Rev. Juchih Champion.

1752. Henry Babcock.
Gurdon Saltonstall.

1753. Rev. Seth Pomeroj-, Tut. Yale C.
Jacob Usher.

1754. Rev. John Devotion.
Rev. Justus Forwaid.

1755. Rev. Luke Babcock.
Moses Bliss.

Rev. Nehemiah Strong, Tutor and
Prof. Yale Coll.

1756. Robert Breck.

Hon. Simeon Strong, LL.D., Judge
Sup. Ct., iVaxs.

1757. Hoti. Edmund Fanning, LL. D.,

Gov. Pr. Edw. Is.

158

BISHOP BKRKELEY 6 GIFTS TO YALE COLLEGE.

1757. Hon. Titus Ilosmer, licp. U. S. 1769

Con (J. I

Rev. Noah Willwton. 11770,

1758. Rev. Betijamiii Boardman, Tutor

Yale Coll.
Hon. Silas Deane, Rep. U.S. Cong.

Jli'nister to Frnnce.
Rev. Roger Viets. 1771

1759. Rev. Enoeli Huntington.
Alexiiiuler King.

Jesse Leaven wurtl). 1772,

Rev. Matthew Jlei-riam.

1760. Rev. Levi Hart, D. D.
Woodhiidgd Little.
Rev. Etienezer RusstU 'Wiiite, Tii-

tor Yale Coll. 1773

1761. Hadloelx Marey.

1762. Rev. Theodore Hinsdale.
Rev. Jos. Huntington, D. D.
William Jone-^. 1774.

1763. Rev. Ebenezer Baldwin, Tm^. Y.C.
Amos Botsford. Tutor Yale Coll.
Hon. Stephen Mix Mitchell, LL.D. 1775.

Tat. Y. C. Rep. and Sen. U. S.
Cong., Ch. Judge Sup. Court of
Coim.

1764. Rev. Samuel Camp. 1776.
Rev. Diodiite Jc.hnson, Tut. Y. C.
Chauncev Whittelsey.

1765. Roswell Grant.
Rev. Joseph Howe, Tutor Y. C.

1766. Hon. Jonathan Ingersoll, LL. D., 177'

Judge Sup. Court and Lt. Gov. 1778.
of Conn.

1767. Rev. Joseph Lvman, D. D.
Hon. John Tread well, LL. D., 1779.

Gov. of Conn.
Hon.Joiin Trumbull, LL. D.. Tut.

Y. C, Judqe Sap. Court, Conn.
Rev. Samuel' Wales, D. I)., Tutor

and Prof. Yale Coll.

1768. Rev. Amz'i Lewis. 17i
Josiah Norton.

Rev. Elijah Parsons. 1 1781.

Rev. Beth Sage.
Buckingham St. John, Tutor Y. C. 1782.*

1769. Rev. Timothy Dwight, D. I).. LL. 1783. f

D., Tutor, Prof and Prcs. Y. C.

Rev. John Keep.

Rev. William Seward.

Rev. Joseph Buekminister, D. D.,

Tutor Yale Coll.
Hon. John Davenport, 7'M<or Yale

Coll., Rep. U. S. Cong.
Rev. Solomon Williams, Tut.Y.C.
Jolin Halt.
Sylvester Mnirson.
Joseph Wood bridge.
Hon. Abraham Baldwin, Tut. Y.C,

Pres. Univ. Geo., Rep. and Sin.

U. S. Cong.
Thomas Caiitield.
Rev. Joseph Strong, D. D.
Roger Alden.
Rev. William Robinson, Tut. Yale

Coll.

Rev. Ezra Sampson.

Amos Benedict.

Jai-ed Bostwiek.

Rev. Reuben Holoomb.

Hon. Samuel Whittlesey Dana,

Rep. and Sen. U. S. Cong.
Rev. Solomon Reed.
Renjamin Welles.
Hon. Chauneey Goodrich, Tutor

Yale Coll., Rep. and Sen. U. S.

Cong., Lt. Gov. of Conn.
Daniel Lyn)an.
William Andrew Russell.
William Hillh.nise.
Abraham Bishop.
Ebenezer Dagg(;tt.
Rev. Frederick Wdliam Hotchkiss.
Hon. Jeremiah Gates Brainard,

Judge Sup. Cl. of Conn.
Hon. Elizur Goodrich, LL. D.. Tu-
tor and Prof. Yale Coll., Rep.

U. S. Cong.
Rev. Zebuhm Ely, Tutor Yale C.
Oliver Lewis.
Rev. John Robinson.
Rev. Henry Channing, Tut. Y. C.
Enoch Perkins, Tutor Yale Coll.
{None.)
Rev. Samuel Austin, D. 1)., Pres.

Univ., Vt.

* "May 6, 17S3. The day of beginning of vacation, and also of Dean's examination, but no
candidates offtrcd. The only instance of omission since the foundation in 1733."— Prest. Stiles's
MS. Diary.

t It is obvious that if the term of residence had been complied with, in every instance, there
could have been but a single scholar for each class: but in consequence of frequent failures in
this respect, the accumulated fund was still available. Hence in many years we find several schol-
ars, who were allowed the emolument, in case of residence, sometimes in the order of merit, some-
times by lot, so far as the funds were sufficient. See President Stiles's MS. Diary. "May 6,
1783. Dean's examination. Four senior sophisters offered themselves and were publicly exam-
ined. They were so nearly equal that I directed them to decide by lots. The lots fell in the fol-
lowing order, Austin, Holmes, fuller, White."

Bisnop Berkeley's gifts to yale college.

159

1783. Rev. Jonnthnn Fuller.

Rev. Ahiel Holmes, D. D., Tutor

Ya'e Coll.^
Chillies VVliite.

1784. Ral|)h Isnncs.

1785. Eiiocli Iliiniington.

Hon. Barnabas Bidwell, LL. D.,

Tatar.
En 09 Cook.
Roger Newton, Tutor.
Samuel Perkins.

1786. Rev. Jotin Elliott, D. D.

Hon. Thomas Ruggles Gold, Rep.

U. S. Covrj.
Hon. Stanle}' Griswold, Senator

U. S. Cong.
Rev. Rfuhen Hitchcock.
Rev. William Stone.

1787. RoswellJiidson.
1?88. Zaeliarihh Tonilinson.

Hon. John VVoodworth, I L. D.
Judqe Sup. Ct. of New York.

1789. Rev. D.in Bradley.
Rev. William Brown.

Jonn. Waiter Ed-vards, Tut. Y. C.

1790. Thomas Mumford.

1791. Barzill.ii Slosson.
Hon. Josiah Stebbins, Tut. Y. Col.

1792. Rev. Timothy Matlier L'ooley,D.D.
Rev. IsMac Jones.
Nathanit-l King.

1793. Rev. Jeiemiah Atwater, D. D.,

Tut. Y.C., Pres. Mid. ,i: Dick. C.

1794. Stephen Mix Mitchell.

1795. Ebenezer Grunt Marsh, 7\it. and

Hchr. lH.'<t. Y. C.

1796. iiVone.)

1797. Rev. Ira Hart.

Rev. James Murdock. D. D., Prof.
Univ. Vt. <jc And. Theol. Sem.

1798. James I'urret.
Daniel Fuller.

1799. Benjamin Woolsey Dwight.
Rev. Ezekiel J. Chapman.

1800. Samuel Gray Huntington.
Abirani Stoddard.
Chaunccy Wliittelsey.

1801. Isaac Baldwin alias Evelyn Plart.

1802. Hon. Jesup Nash Couch, Judge

Sup. Ct. Ohio.
Rev. William Lightbourn Strong.

1803. Rev. Sereno Edwar()s Dwight, D.

D., Tut. Y. C. Pres. Ham. Coll.
Rev. Noah Porter, D. D.
Rev. Henry Sherman.
Rev. Hosea Becklcv.

1804. Rev. John Marsh. D. D.

1805. Ziba Foot.
1800. Alfred Hennen.

180G. Hon. Henry Strong, LL. D., Tut.
Y. C.
Rev. Ilezekiah Gold Ufford.
1807. {None.)

1808.
1809.

1810. "
1811.
1812.

1813. Rev. William Theodore Dwight,
D. D., Tut. Yale C.

1814. Rev. John Dickson.

Rev. Joshua Leavitt, D. D.

1815. (None.)

1816. George Hill.
Charles Olcott.
Rev. James A. Fox.
Charles John Jolinson.

1817. Hon. Joel Jones, LL. D., Pres.

Gir. Coll.
David Nevins Lord.

1818. Hon. Francis Hiram Cone, Judge

Sup. Ct. Geo.
Horatio Huhbell.
Hon. Thomas Clap Perkins.

1819. Jonathan Humphrey Bissell.
Hon. Asaliel Huntington.

1820. Horace Foote.

Alexander Catlin Twining, 2'utor

Y. C, Prof. Mid. Coll.
John Pavson Williston.

1821. Henrv White, Tut. Yale C.

1822. Rev. Edward Reecher. D. D., Tut.

Y. Coll., Pres. III. Coll.
Rev. Henry Her rick.

1823. Rev. Norman Pinney, Prof. Trin.

Coll.

1824. AVilliam Moseley Holland, Tut. Y.

C, Prof Trin. Coll.
Hon. Ashbel Smith, M. D.

1825. Josiah Barnes, M. D.

Hon. Thomas Slidell, Judge Sup.
Ct. of La.

1826. Rev. John Phelps Cowles.

1827. Sidney Law Johnson, Tut. Y. C.
18'28. (N.ne.)

1829. George Champlin Tenney.

1830. Hon.Edmund Smith Rhett.
Henry Rogers Wiuthrop.

1831. (None.)
1832.

1833.

1834. Hon. Henry William Ellsworth.
Henry Coit Kingsley, Treas, Y. C.

1835. Chailes Alonzo Gager, Tut. Y. O.

1836. {None.)

1837. Rev. William Russell.

1838. {None.)

1839. Charles Astor Bristed.

IGO BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to yale college.

1852. "William A. Reynolds.

Fisk P. IJrewef, Tutor Yale Coll.

1853. Rev. Tlioiniis F. Davies.

1854. Samuel Walker.

1855. William Wheeler.
N. Willis Buiiislead.

1856. James L. Whitney.

1857. Levi llolbrook.

1858. Rev. Daniel A. Miles.
Robert C. Haskell.

1839. Augustus Rodney MacDonough.

1840. (A^oM<?.)
1841.
184'2. William Davison Hennen.

1843. Rev. Cyrus Huntingt'in.
liueius Fratiklin Robinson.
Fratikliii Taylor.

1844. Willi im Few Smith.

1845. William Gustitie Conner.
Robert Rati kin.

1846. {None.) !l859. Eugene Sehuvler, Ph. Dr.

1847. Henry Hamilton Hadley, 7M/or,ji860. William JI. Dale, Ph. Dr.

Prof. Y. a. Otlmiel C. Marsh.

Francis Lewis Hodges, Tat. Y. C. 1861. Simeon E. Baldwin.

1848. Rev, Henry Maityn Colton. 1862. Arthur Goodenough.
18411. Rev. Henj.i'min Talbot. 1863. (AV)»/e.)

1850. Clinton Camp. 1S64. Charles G. Roekwood.

1851. AVilliain Woolsey Winthrop. 1865. Robert P. Keep.

V. Berkeley's improvements on the farm at newpokt.

In the Gentleman's Magazine for 17 r5, (Yol. 45,) a curious
notice of Berkeiej' may be found. The writer is remarking on
a book just published, entitled " Travels through the Middle
Settlements in JSorth America in the years 1759 and 17t»0.
Bj Andrew Burnabj, M. A., Vicar of Greenwich." 4°. pp. 106.

From this book the following extract is given :

"At Newport, about tliree miles from town, is an indiftereiit
wooden house, built by Dean Berkeley, when lie was in these parts.
The situation is low, but commands a fine view of the ocean, and
of some wihl rugged rocks that are on the left hand of it. They
relate here several strange stories of the Dean, which, as they are
characteristic of that extraordinary man, deserve to be taken
notice of One, in ])articular, I must beg the reader's indulgence
to allow me to repeat to him. The Dean had formed the ))lau of
building a town upon the rocks which I have just now taken
notice of, and of cutting a road through a sandy beach, which lies
a little below it, (the rocks,) in order that ships might come up
and be sheltered in bad weather. He was so full of this project,
as one day to say to one Smibert, a designer, whom he had brought
over with him from Europe, on the hitter's asking some ludicrous
question concerning the future importance of the place, 'Truly,
you liave very little foresight ; for, in fifty years time, every foot
of land in this place will be as valuable as the land in Cheapside.'
The Dean's house, notwithstanding his prediction, is at present
nothing better than a form-house, and his library is converted into

BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to yale coLLEaE. 161

the dairy. When he left America, he gave it to the College at
New Haven, in Connecticut, who have let it to a farmer on a long
lease. His books he divided between this College and that in
Massachusetts. The Dean is said to have written in this place
The Minute Philosopher."

The reviewer, who appears to be an intimate acquaintance
of Berkeley, and may possibly be liis son, makes tiie following
criticisms on this extract :

" Several mistakes in this strange story Ave have a particular
pleasure in being able to correct, injustice to a man who, though
extraordinary, was also excellent, and whose zeal, however misuc-
cessful, in the best of causes, entitles him to much better epithets
than wild and chimerical. Far from projecting a town, etc., the
building, and the only building, which Dean Bei-keley had planned,
was a tea-room and a kitchen, not even a bed-chamber. For Avhat
he said to his designer, (or rather painter,) Smibert, a painter
without imagination, as to the probable value of that ground,
there is not the least foundation. Possibly the proprietor of it
might conceive that there Avas some latent scheme in contempla-
tion, Avhich might eventually increase the value ; and certain it is,
that, influenced by this notion, he demanded a greater i)rice than
the Dean chose to give, and therefore declined the purchase. The
prediction not having been made, it is no Avonder that what Avas
given to a College as a farm should be used as such. This, indeed,
Avas not only foreseen, but intended ; and surely, such a donation
from a Church of England man to a society of Congregationalists,
might have been mentioned Avith some encomium, by a man of
a liberal spirit. Had Mr. Burnaby been so disposed, Rhode
Island Avould have furnished him Avith some traits of Dean
Berkeley as a philanthropist, &c., more pleasing and more true."

VI. INVOICE OF THE BOOKS PRESENTED TO YALE COLLEGE.

As the collection of books sent over to Yale College Avas re-
garded by Rector Clap as the finest which had then been
brought to this conntry, it is thought that many Avill be in-
terested in the folloAving copy of the original invoice, not-
Avitlistanding its obvious bibliographical imperfections. The
books were formerly kept by themselves in one part of the
library ; but for many years this arrangement has not been
practical.

162

Bisiior Berkeley's gifts to yale college.

A CATALOGUE OP BOOKS FOR YALE COLLEGE, AT NEW HAVEN, IN
CONNECTICUT, NEAV ENGLAND, MARKT AS IN THE Jf ARGENT, CON-
SIGN'd to MR. ANDREW BELCHER AT BOSTON, BY CAPT. ALDEN,
MASTER OF THE DOLPHIN.

H. N. Folio. No,

No. 1 — Philonis Judaei Opera, Paris,

1G4().
Josoj)!)! Opera, per Hudson. 2 vol.
CoteleriijPatres Apostolici. 2 vol.
Justin Martyr. Athenaj^oras, Ta-

tian, Ilei'mias and Tlieoph.

Anlioch.
Iienaei Opera, per Grabo.
Clemens Alexandrinus, p. Potter
TertuUian Pamelii et Rigaltii,

2 vol.
Ilippulyd Opera p. Fabriciura.
Origenis Conuneutaiii. p. Hue-

tium. 2 vol.
Ilexapla. p. Montfaucon.

2 vol.
S. (/yprian, p. Fell and Dodwell.
Cliarta Magna.
Gregorius Thanmaturgus, Maca-

riiis and Hasil Selenciaj.
S. Cyril. i Ilierosol^-n). Opera.

p. Milles.
Montfaucon Nova Colicctio Pa-

trum (irEeeoruin. 2 vol.
Athanasii Opera. 2 vol. Cologn.
S. Hilaiii 'Jpera. p. Monaclios

Benedictinos.
Optati Opera, p. Dupin.
Ephraiin Syrus. Greek. Oxon.
Basilii Magni Opera. 2 vol.
Gregorii Nazianzeni Opera . 2vol.
Grcgorii Nysseni Opera. 3 vol.
Maxiini Opera, p. (Jombefis. 2

vol.

Ambrosii Opera. 2 vol. Paris,
16H'.>.

Epiplianii Opera, p. Petavium.
2 vol. Paris.

S. Clirysostonii Opera, p. Fronto
Ducjcnin. lo vols.

S. Hieronymi Opera. '6 vol. Pa-
ris, Itioi).

S. Augiistini Opera 11 Tomis.
7 vol Paris, 1G:J7.

Synesii Opera. \). Petavlum.

Quarto.
Origan de Oratione, p. Reading.
'' contra Celsuin, Spenceri.

1 — Origen contra Marcionitas.
Arnobiustis Variorum.

Octavo, d'c.

Grabe Spicilegium Patrum. 2
vol.

Fabricii Codex Veteris and Novi
Test 6 vol.

Minucius Felix Davisii.

Novatiani Opera, j). Jackson.

Lactantius. p. Spa ke.

Faustinas adveraus Arrianos.

Nectarius. p. Allix.

Prudeutius, Heinsii, apud Elze-
vir.

Sulpicius Severus, Hornii.

Paiilus Orosius adver?us Paganos.

Folio.
Eusebius et alii Historifc Ecclesi-

aslicie Scriptores. p. Valesium.

3 vol.
Nicephori Historia Ecclesiastica.

2 vol Paris.

No. 2 — Ampliilochii et Methodii Opera.
Hippocrates Foesii.
Freind, Opera Medica.
Dienierbrocck, Anatome et alia

Opera.
Riverii Opera Medica.
Rail Historia Plaiitarum. 3 vol.
John>toni Historia Naturalis. 2

vol.
Miller's Gardener's Dictionary-.

Quarto.

Acta Frnditonini, ab anno 1682,
ad annum 1700, cum !;^upple-
mentis and Indicibus. 3u vol.

Willisii Opel a Medica.

Bellini de Urinis et Pulsibus.
" Opuscula.

Baglivi Opera.

Tournefort Instituliones Rei Her-
bnriae. 3 vol.

Shaw's Abridgement of Boyle.
3 vol.

Low thorp and Mottes Abridge-
ment. 5 vol.

BISHOP BERKELEY S GIFTS TO TALE COLLEGE.

163

No. 2 — Pomett's History of Drugs.

Octavo. I

Celsus. p. Almeloveen. 2 vol.
Sydeiilinnii Opera. j

Mortoiii Opera. ]

Harris, Dissertationes Medicae. j

" deMorbi.s Infantum.
Arbutlinot on Aliments.
Clicyne on Healtli.
Clieyne on English Malady.
Quince's Sanctorius.

" Di-pen.«atory.
Robinson's Animal Oeconomy.
f I ale's Vegetable Staticks.
Mortimer's Husbandry.
Shaw's rractice of Physick. 2

vol.
Wiseman's Surgery. 2 vol.
Dionis's Surgei-y.
Turner's Surgery. 2 vol.
Diake's Anatomj-. 2 vol.

Folio, &.C
No. 3 — Harduini Collectio Conciliorum.
12 vol.
Ernsmi Opera. 11vol.
Corpus Juris Civilis. 2 vol. Elze-
vir.
Grotius de Jure Belli. 2 vol. 8=".

No. 4 — Baronii Annals. 12 vol.
Vossii Opeta. 6 vol.
Grotii Opera. 4 vol.
PufFendorff de Natura Gentium.

4°.
Cumberland de Legibus. 8°.

No 6 — C. Horace.
6. Virgil.
6. Terence.
6. Ovid Metam.
G. Juvenal. |

6. Martial. J

6. Virgil.
6. Terence.
6. Juvenal.
«. Martial.
6. Tully de Oratore.
12. " Select Orations.
12. " de OflScus.
12. Sallust.
12. Caj^ar.
12. Q. Curtiu.s.
12. Livii Oraliones.
6. Cole's Latin Dictionary.
Quintus Curiius, Delph.
Suetonius, O.xon.
Florus Delph.

Delphini.

iNo. 5 — Qnintilian.

I C. Nepos, Delph.

I Sallust, Delph.

V. Paterciilus varior.
j Diciis Crrtensis, Delph.

] V. Maxinuis, vaiior.

J Entro})ius, varior.

Augustre Scriptores, var.
Tacitus, var. 2 vol.
Pliny. 5 vol. var.
Aulus Gellius, var.
Seneca, var. 2 vol.
Justin Delph.
Clark's Caesar.
Ben. Jonson. 6 vol.
Shakcspear. 9 vol.
Steele's Plays.
Rowe's Plays. 2 vol.
Dryden's Virgil. 3 vol.
" Fables.
" Juvenal.

Pope's Homer's Iliad. 6 vol.
" Miscellanies. 2 vol.
" Dunciad.
Gay's Fiible.

•' Miscellanies. 2 vol.
Peniberton's Newton.
Paradise Lost and Regain'd.

vol.
Addison's "Works. 2 vol.
Blackmore's Creation.
Cowle}-. 2 vol.
Ci'cech's Horace,
Desham.
Hudibras.

Steele's Miscellanies,
Waller.

Lord Lansdown.
Oldham. 2 vol.
Garth's Ovid and Disjjensary.

vol.
Bp. Williams, )
Bp. Gastrell,
Bp. Blockhall,
S. Clark,
Whiston,
Dei ham, 2 vol. i
Bp. Leng, J

Bp. Chandler against Collins. 2

vol.
Bj). Sherlock's Prophecys. Tracts.

2 vol,
Rapin's Critical Works. 2 vol.
Clarendon. 6 vol.
Burnet's Theory. 2 vol.
Whiston's Theory.
Puffendorf's Introduct.
Builder's Dictionary.
Plutarch's Lives — Morals. 13 vol.

Sermons at
Boj-le'.s
Lecture.

164

BISHOP BERKELEY 8 GIFTS TO YALE COLLEGE.

No. 5 — Pi'idenux's Connect. 4 vol. — and
Lite Mahomet.
Spectntor . 8 vol.
Guiirdians. 2 vol.
Cliri-tiii:) Iloro.

Daniel's llUtory of France. 5 vol
Newton's Opticks ; Optical Lec-

tUl'CS.

Newton's Algebra.

Prin. Pliilos. 2 vol.

Newton's Systemate de Mundi.

Grave-sand's Introdiict. 2 vol.

Ozaniini's Matliem. 6 vol.

TVtty's Aritlirnetick.

Daveiiiint's Tracts. G vol.

Dialogues Dead, by Bp Cambray.

Fontanell's Dialogues.

Brnyere. 2 vol.

Bp. (iibson's Pastoral Letters.

Dii ton's Fluxions.

Keil's .Astronomy.

Religions Philosopher. 3 vol.

Weil's ilathem. ;i vol.

Plautus, var.

Phoedius, var.

Apuleius.

Minute Philosopher. 2 vol.

Wycherley.

No. 6 — 6. Horace

(5. Ovid Metam.

12. Fh.rus.

Corpus Poetar. 2 vol.

AnimiMnus Marcelliuus.

Aurelius Victor.

Cicero. 2 vol.

Livv.

Otway. 1 vol.

Rowe's Lucm. 2 vol.
. Pope's Udysse. 5 vol.

Spencer, (i vol.

Swifi's Miscellanies. 4 vol.

Don Quixote. 4 vol.

Prior. 2 vol.

]5p. yli' rloek's Sermons.

Montfiiucon. 7 vol.

Kennet's History of England. 3
v.l.

]?urntt's Reform. 3 vol.

Bacon's Works. 4 vol.

Raleigh.

]<urnet's Archrool.

Locke. 3 v<d.

T. inple. 2 vol.

S|)Otswo()d.

^lalellranchc.

Basnage.

'J'atlers. 4 vol.

Muchiuvel.

NV 6— Dechales— Euclid.

Barrow's Ai>iiollonius.
Stone on Math. Instruments.
Palladio.

Religion of Nature.
Catndfn's Britannia. 2 vol.
Grant's Tracts.
Teleniachus. 2 vol.
Kersey's Algebra.
Wallis's Algebra.
Hayes's Fluxions.
Desagulier's Experiments.
Colleclion of Voyages.
Plato. Ficinus.
Demosthenes.

Xo. 7-8— Biblia Polyglotta et Castelli
Lexicon. 8 vol. fol.
6. Ilomeri Bias. 8°.
0. Hederici Lexicon. 4°.
Dmuci's Dictionary. 4°.
Holyoaki-'s Dictionary, fol.
Cooperi Thesaurus, fol.
Geieral Atlas.
Wells' Mapps Sewed.
Collier's Dictionary. foL
6. Bennet'sHebr. Grammar.
4. Buxtorfi Lexicon.
Grabii Septuagint 8°.
Test. Gipccuni Millii. ]i. Kuster.
Kettlcweli's Works, fol.
M-av's Works. 3 vol. fol.
Cudworth's Intellectual System.

fol.
Cave's Prim. Christianity. 8°.
12 Test. Q:tv. Millii. 12°.
Ilebraica BiMia. Atthias. 8".
Leusdeni Clavis Hebr. 4°.

Ileb. Psaiter. 12°.
Critic! Sacri. 9 vol. fol.
Patrick's Comment. 2 vol. fol.
llrt'iimondon New Testam'. fol.
Whitby on do. fol.
Bulli Opera.

Kp scopii Inst. Theo. fol.
Scott's Works. 2 vol. fol.
Wil kins' Natural Re'igion.
Hooker's Polity.
Chiilingsworth's Works, fol.
Biirron's Works, fol.
Tillotson's do. 8°.
Spratt's Sern)ons. 8°.
Smallbridge's do. fol.
Saunderson's do. fol.
Sonth's do. G vol. fol.
Attei biiry's do. 2 vol. fol.
Sharp's do. 4 vol. fol.
Clark's Sermons. 10 vol. 8vo.
Dupin's Ecclesl. Canons.

BISnOP BERKELEY S GIFTS TO YALE COLLEGE.

165

No. 7-8 — Duty <>f man's Works, fol.
Jackson's Works, fol.
JiiiiinliiiU's do. fol.
Hevliu's Cosiiiogi'apliy. fol.
" History of tlie Refor-
mation.
Stillinjjflcei's Work.". 6 vol. fol.
llvcaut's History of the Turks

■3 vol. fol.
Stilliiiiiflet't's Works, C vol. fol.
Thorndike's de Controv. fol.
" Epiloiiue. fol.

*' of Ilfiigious Assem-

blies.
" Just Weights and

Measures
nonierns Schrivelii et Dydimi.
J'oetae Minnres.
Miisa?us. Moselnis and Bion.
Tlu'ocritus. 8*.
Orpheus. Greek and Ltitin. Es-

clieiiliacli.
PalEBj hntus Antoninus, p. Gale,
^siipi Ffibulffi.

PlialnriJis Kpistoloe, p. Boyle,
ri'.dar. fol. Oxon.
Sophocles. H. Stejjh. 4°.
Euripides p. Barnes, fol.
Aristophaiies Biseti.
ilerodiitus (ireek and Latin, fol.
do. Gion.curaCebet. Tab. 8°.
Thucydides. p. Hu<lson.
Deceiu Oratores Attici. Heb.

ft.l.
Iso<"riite=. p. Batcio,
Denii sthenes, Gr. and Lat. fol.
Plato Ficini. fol. Gr. Lat.
Xenophon ajnul H. Step!), fol.
Aiistotel.s. Dii Val. Gr. Lat. fol.
Calbn achus Fabri.
Atheuaius. Casaubnn'. 2 vol. fol.
Epig: Grsec. p. Brodasum.

No. 7-8 — I'olybius Variorum. 3 vol. Rvo.
Diodorus SicuUis. fol. apud H.

Steph.
Pion. Halicar. p. Sylbergium.

fol.
Gataker'.s Antoninus. 4*.
Maximus Tyrius Davisii.
Plotinus. ]). Ficiiium. fol.
Alcinous. Gr. Lat,
Alexander Aphrodis. Gr. and

Lat. 12^.
Pori)hyrius and Arrianus. 8*.
Aristides Canteri. 2 vol 8°.
Longiiius. p. Pt-arce.
Demetrius, p. Gale,
Julius Pollux. 2 vol. fol.
Suidae Lexicon Gr. Aldus.
Hesychii do. 4**.
I'liilostratus Olearii. fol.
Strabonis Geograjib. ft)l.
Geo^, V.^t. Scrip. Min. 4 vol. 8".
Dion. Chrysostonii Orat. Gr. et

Lat.
Dion. Cas-ius.
Plutarchi Opera. 2 vol, fol.
Appiau. 2 vol. 8vo.
Ptolomrei Greg.
Pausaniiis. p. Kuhnium. fol.
Scxius Etii|iiiicus. p. Fabricium.
Diogeijes Laeitius. 2 vol. 4°.
Oppian. 8**.

yElianus Peuzhonii. 2 vol. 8".
Janiblicus. p. (iales. fol.
Eu.sebii Chronicon. fol.
Zosinii Hist. Gr. and Lat.
Herodian. 8°. Gr. and Lat.
Helios orns. p. Bourdclet.
Staboei Oiiera fol.
Photii Biblioth. Gr. Lat. fol.
36 vol of itespub. Elz.
Lueian. ]). Bourdelet. fol.
6 Leedes, Lueian.

Shipp'd 30th of May, 1733, by order of the Rev. Mr. Dean Berkeley, at
London.

(Signed,)

HENRY NEWMAN.

VII. — BISnOP BERKELEY S LETTERS TO RECTOR CLAP.

Two antogi'apli letters fi*om Bisliop Berkeley are preserved
in the archives of Yale ColIe<]je. They are believed to be the
only examples of his handwriting in possession of the college,
with the exception of the two signatures to the deeds. Both
letters are addressed to Rector Clap.

The first is as follows:

166 . BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to yale college.

Rev. Sir,

Mr. Bourk, a passenger from New Haven hath lately put
into my hands the letter you favored me with, and at the same
time, the agreeable specimens of learning which it enclosed, for
which you have ray sincere thanks. By them I find a consider-
able progress made in astronomy and other academical studies in
your college in the welfare and prosperity whereof, I sincerely
interest myself, and recommending you to God's good providence, I
conclude with my prayers and best wishes for your society.

Rev. Sir,

Your faithful humble servant,
July 17. 1750. G. CLOYNE.

The specimens of learning here mentioned, as evincing " a
considerable progress made in astronomy," are supposed to be
certain calculations by Berkeleian scholars, which Rector Clap
sent to the Bishop ; — " one, of the comet at the time of the
flood, which appeared 1680, liaving a periodical revolution
of 575|- years, which Mr. Winston supposes to have been the
cause of the deluge; and another, of the remarkable eclipse of
tlie sun in the lOtli year of Jelioiakim, mentioned in Herod-
otus, Lib. 1, cap. 74, and in Usher's Annals."

The second letter is as follows : —

Cloyne, July 25, 1751.
Reverend Sir :

The daily increase of learning and religion in your seminary
of Yale College give me very sensible pleasure, and an ample
recompense for my poor endeavors to fuither those good ends.

May God's Providence continue to prosper and cherish the rudi-
ments of good education which liave hitherto taken root and thrive
so well under your auspicious care and government.

I snatch this opportunity given me by Mr. Hall to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter which he put into my hands, — together
with the learned specimens that accompanied it and to assure you
that I am

Very sincerely. Rev. Sir,

Your faithful well wisher and humble
servant, G. CLOYNE.
P. S. — The letter which you mention as written two months
before your last never came to my hand.

BISHOP BEKKELEy's GIFTS TO YALE COLLEGE. 167

Sonic of Berkeley's letters to Dr. Johnson arc given at
the close of Chandler's Life of Johnson. It seems highly
probable that other letters of the Bishop pertaining to his
American residence and possibly to his gifts to Yale College,
are still in existence. If so, their publication will be of great
interest.

VIII. CORRESPONDENCE OF THE WIDOW AND SON OF BISHOP BERKE-
LEY WITH THE FAMELY OF DR. JOHNSON.

In the archives of Yale College are preserved several letters
addressed by the widow and son of Bishop Berkeley to
members of the tamily of Dr. Johnson. Mrs. Berkeley's let-
ters accompany very voluminous extracts from the writings of
Fcnelon, Mad. Gnyon, Mr. Tooke, and others with whose reli-
gious opinions she seems to have been in sympathy. We ap-
pend as an example of the familiar tone of the correspondence,
a letter from Rev. George Berkeley, the son of the Bishop,
to Kev. Dr. Samuel Johnson.

Christ Church, Oxford,

Thursday 25th May 175G.
Dear and much respected Sir.

I return you many thanks for introducing me to the ac-
quaintance of your excellent Son and his Companion, whoso stay
at this University I endeavoured to render as agreable as I could.

I am sorry to find from Mr. Johnson that you had not received
(when he left America) a Packet containing some New Pamphlets
on Theological Subjects, W":"" I sent thro' the Hands of Dr. Bear-
croft on yo 7th of April 1755.

As to the establishment of the Xtian Church in America there
is little hope at present. The ABp. of Canterbury being much
in the Interest of Schismatics and having lately preferred two
notorious Avians — or as an Apostle calleth them — Atheists. The
L^ Chancellor is also apprehended to be strongly attached to the
schismatical Interest and I grieve that I can say little very little
in praise of y» present Sett of Bishops on This Head : The Bishopa
of London, Oxford, Exeter, Corke, & Cloyne excepted.

168 BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to yale college.

Many of my friends wlio linve had tlic pleasure of conversing with
Mr. Jolmson & Co. join Avith nie in lamentnig tlmt Mr. Harrison
&c. were not empowered to receive Benefactions for y Infant
Seminary. If ever any person shall be so empowered I shall (w'*"
many more friends to the Xtian Church in this i)lace) use our
utmost endeavours to forward so excellent, so GODlikc a Work.

heartily rejoyce to hear that Mr. Hutchinson's invaluable
WM-itings are read in America, and do fervently pray to GOD our
Saviour for his Blessing on your endeavours to make them well
understood in y' College. These Books are held in high esteem
by every truely good Divine in this University, except three or
four who do not understand much of Hebrew. The opposition made
to them is from two sorts of people ; 1 »', Those who hold not y" Faith
once delivered to the Saints — 2<"7 Those who have rebelled against
the Great Bishop of our Souls, by tearing asunder the Episcopal
Church — out of wch he hath not promised Salvation. The latter
are very bitter against the readers of Mr. Hutchinson because of
their attachment (w*'' in Oxford is universal) to the Interest of
the Xtian Church. I am heartily afflicted to find that the So-
cinian & Erastian writings of Tillotson have prevailed much even
amongst serious persons in America — But I hope that the
like Book of remarks on Dr. Birchs' life of that Deluded, Delud-
ing, Traytor to Xtianity, will open their eyes. This Dr. Birch teas
a quaker (as I am well informed) & I know him to be a rank
Hodleian at present.

The prospect of our Church is so very gloomy that I can-
not bear to dwell on it ; but I humbly trust that the prayers
of her true sons, oifered up in the Name oftheGODman Mill i)rc-
vail for her preservation still longer. I pi-o])Ose offering myself a
Candidate for the Holy Order of Deacons at the next Ordination
at our Church on Trinity Sunday ; & I beg your Prayers, D'. S'.
that I may be a Faithfull and Zealous servant to our Redeeming
God. ]My Mother has been settled w"" my Brother k Sister for a
year & half past in Dublin, Avhere I paid them a visit of about 3
months last Summer and intend, GOD willing, to s])end half a
year Avith them as soon as I h.ave kept next Term. My poor
Sister has been for .above a year in a very bad State of Health, &
subject to violent fitts av''' have reduced her much & made my
Mothers life very unpleasant, that is as unpleasant as outward cir-

BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to tale college. 169

cnmst.inces can render the life of a Sincere Xtian, Avet I Bless
GOD She is.

I have deferred Avriting to you till this Evening & really am so
affected at having taken leave of my new tho' dear friends that I
am much more unfit for wi'iting than I Avas aware of. But tho'
I should nevei" have the Happiness of seeing them again in this
World yet I humbly trust that [through] y" attoneraent w*!" GOD
hath made for [us (by] liisDeath) we may all meet never to part.

My Dear Sir, be assured that you or yours [will] never be forgot
in the prayers of

Y' most respectfnll & affectionate
friend in Jesus Xst.

GEO. BERKELEY.

IX. — HONORS TO BISHOP BERKELEY 8 MEMORY.

In the extract from Dr. Johnson's memoirs, quoted above,
it is intimated that the college did not appreciate the gener-
osity of Berkeley, — but this statement is not authorized. On
the contrary, the Corporation records, during the Bishop's life-
time, contain repeated and hearty expressions of thanks for
his liberality. When the news of his death was received, one
of the Tutors, Mr. Ezra Stiles, afterwards President of the Col-
lege, was appointed to deliver a Latin oration on his life and
character in tlie presence of the assembled college. A copy
of this address is preserved among his papers. At a later
day one of the college buildings occupied by the students'
chambers was denominated Berkeley Hall. The announce-
ment of the themes for Latin compositions, to be offered for the
Berkeley prize, has, until recently, been formally made each
year in a Latin notice posted on the college bulletin, and the
books which have been bestowed as prizes have borne appro-
priate inscriptions in Latin indicating the origin of the gift.

The generous donations of the learned Bishop are not likely
to be forgotten so long as Yale College lives, and their special
value in promoting the study of the Greek and Latin tongues
deserves the lasting recognition of the friends of classical
culture.

170 BISHOP Berkeley's gifts to tale college.

The college is fortunate in tlie possession of an oil painting
by Smybert, the companion of Berkeley on his voyage to this
country, representing the Bishop, his wife and child, and
Beveral persons who came with them on their American visit.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

COfflECTICUT CURRENCY, CONTINENTAL MONEY,

AND TUE

FINANCES OF THE REVOLUTION.

BY HENRY BRONSON, M. D.

Read Xovembcr 30th, iS63, and after\vard.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, April twenty-first, 1865,
BY IIEXRY BRONSON,
la the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut.

PREF^OJK.

I undertook to write a history of the currency of Connecticut.
As introductory to my m:iin design, it seemed ncce-isary to take
a general view of the early currency of New England, and par-
ticularly of Massachusetts. When I reached the period of the
Revolution, my subject became so interwoven with the continen-
tal paper money policy, and the financial measures of the war,
that I was tempted to enlarge my plan, and for the sake of com-
pleteness, to embrace these latter topics. That the historical truths
presented might be duly appreciated, I have occasionally paused
to set forth some of the principles of fin.ancial science — to explain
briefly the nature and uses of money, and to show the bearing of
the facts stated. This has been done for the benefit of those un-
accustomed to inquiries of this kind. History has no significance
except so far as it establishes or illustrates useful principles, and
furnishes rules for the guidance of human conduct.

My task has been a difticult one. The public must judge of the
manner in which the work has been accomplished. At the least,
I flatter myself that I have gathered materials which will be use-
ful to some one who shall undertake to write a worthy and dura-
ble history of this State.

I have received favors from those connected with the Library of
Yale College, and from the ofl^icers having in charge the state
archives in Hartford, which I desire here to acknowledge. I am
particularly indebted to Mr. Charles J. Hoadley, State Librarian,
who has given me the benefit of his familiarity with the colonial
and state records, and put into my hands copious extracts which he
had made for his own use. At my request, he has looked over
these sheets as they were passing through the press, and suggested
such improvements and corrections as occurred to him.

c o ]sr T E ISI T s.

■»>»

CHAPTER I.

Principles Stated, Early Currency of New England 1

CHAPTER II.

The Massachusetts Coinage of 1G52, and the Changes which it
wrought. First Bills of Credit ] 3

CHAPTER III.

Connecticut Bills of Credit — Old Tenor Emissions 29

CHAPTER IV.

New Tenor Emissions, Great Depreciation 56

CHAPTER V.
Downfall of Paper Money. The Specie Standard resumed.. , 66

CHAPTER VI.

Paper Money of the Revolution, Connecticut and Continen-
tal Emissions 84

CHAPTER VII.

Methods adopted by Congress to supply the Treasury, and
repair the Finances 103

IV PREFACE.

CHAPTER Ylll.

More Paper Money, and tlie final Overthrow of the System.
How Connecticut Supported the War 120

CHAPTER IX.

The Confederation of the States gives no Financial Strength.
Bank of North America 138

CHAPTER X.

Was Independence won by Paper Money ? Errors Exposed... 146

CHAPTER XI.

Connecticut Finances at the Close of the War 157

CHAPTER XII.

Cost of the War, Financial Embarrassments. The Articles
of Confederation need Mending 1G2

CHAPTER XIII.

First United States Coinage, t'onnecticut Coppers 175

CHAPTER XIV.

The Constitution and Paper Money. The Public Debt
Funded : Banks Chartered 1 82

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

CHAPTEK I.

PRINCIPLES STATED— EARLY CURRENCY OF NEW ENGLAND.

Trade, or the exchange of commodities and labor, is neces-
sary to the well being of every community. No matter liow
destitute of the arts of civilization a people may be, they find
it convenient to establish commercial relations, each one ex-
changing, so far as he can, that which he needs less for some-
thing he wants more. The love of trade is indeed almost an
instinct, and boys just" entering upon existence find pleasure or
advantage in exchanging toys. Older boys swap jack-knives
and jackets, the sharper sort, it is said, with a profit on both
sides !

To facilitate the operations of trade, even rude people have
devised some medium of exchange — have adopted some com-
modity or thing as a standard or measure of value. Witli this
standard commodity, which is the product of labor, and is sup-
posed, on tliat account, to have a definite and certain value, all
other commodities are compared — measured as with a yard stick.
Into this, if it is a good medium, they may be converted with
little loss. This conversion once made, the trader is in posses-
sion of a commodity or tiling which may be exchanged, at
pleasure, for any other which is ofiered for sale. Thus a man
who has gathered a busliel of nuts, by giving which he would
obtain something else, first converts the nuts into the accepted

1 CONNECTICUT CURKENCY, ETC.

medium, tuid then with this purchases tliat wliich he desires,
being careful in each transaction, to get as much in Labor's
worth as he gives. This middle commodity, (which differs not
from other commodities except in the singular use that is made
of it,) which acts as the medium in the exchange of products,
and as a measure of value, is called currency or money.

Different nations, and the same nation in different ages,
have used different articles as currency. And the progress of
a people, in its civil and political life, may be, to a cei'tain ex-
tent, measured by the perfection it has attained in its circu-
lating medium, and its adaptation to the wants of commerce.
Sometimes a people is l)etter than its currency, sometimes
worse ; but notwithstanding this there is a very interesting
relation between the two. A community must suffer in its
material interests when a good currency is exchanged for a
poor one. And when men thus suffer, they must deteriorate —
go backward — in all that distinguishes civilized life.

In the case of barter, the reason why one commodity ex-
changes for another, a coat for a violin, for instance, or a pair
of shoes for a hat, is to be found in the fact that the things
exchanged represent an equal amount of labor. They are com-
mercial equivalents. And the principle is the same when one
of the commodities has been adopted as a currency. It is still
a product of labor, and the cost of production governs its ex-
changeable value. If it requires as much labor to raise and
bring to market a bushel of wheat, as it does to produce and
bring to the same market an ounce of silver, one will exchange
for the other. In other words, a coin weighing one ounce will
be the price of a bushel of wheat. In truth every exchange of
commodities is but the exchange of equivalents ; and it matters
not though one of these be desired as a means of obtaining
something else, and is called money.

These remarks apply to those articles M'hich may be increased
to an equal extent by equal additions of labor, but do not ap-
ply, except with qualification, to monopolies. Nor do I forget
that profit is a constituent of price in all those things which
require capital for their j^roduction. Strictly speaking, to the
wages of labor must be added the profits of capital before we

CONNECTICUT CURKENCY, ETC. 3

can know the natural exchangeable value of a commodity.
But as a general rule, profit is only a small item in the cost of
products, and to simplify the matter, I have left it out of the
account. I shall hereafter adopt this course, unless some error
of principle is involved in the omission.

The early colonists of tliis country, coming from England,
would naturally use the Englisii currency. Values were reck-
oned and accounts kept in pounds, shillings and pence.
Whatever substance was employed, as a medium of exchange
and substitute for coin, its intrinsic value in Englislx money
was ascertained before it could itself be used as a standard and
measure of value.

In tlie time of William the Conqueror, a pound of silver,
Troy weight, of standard fineness, was coined into twenty
shillings, so that a pound in English money contained a pound
of the metal. But by successive reductions of the weight of
the coins, and t])e assiduous practice of king-craft, a pound of
silver came at last to be represented by sixty-two shillings. In
other words, the shilling which in 1066 weighed two hundred
and eiffhty-eisht o-rains, standard silver, had so shrunk in 1600
that it weighed scarcely ninety -three grains. During the period
which followed and down to the present time, with a slight ex-
ception, tlie standard of weight and fineness has not been
changed.

At the time of the settlement of New England by the Eng-
lish, there was a currency in use among the aboriginal popula-
tion called wampum, wampum-peage, or peage. The primitive
wampum consisted of small spiral shells, a quarter or an eighth
of an inch in length, which were perforated in their longest
diameter and arranged upon strings, or woven into various
forms. By the disposition of different colors, curious and
highly ornamental aiticles were produced, which were worn as
belts and bracelets.

Roger Williams, writing of the Indian currenc}^, tluis de-
scribes it, (I quote from Felt's Massachusetts Currency): —

Their own [money] is of two sorts, one white, which they make of the stem
or stock of the periwinkle, when all the shell is broken off; and of this sort, six
of their small beads, which they make with holes to string their bracelets, are
current with the English for a penny. The second is black, inclining to blue,

4: CONNECTICUT CDRRENCY, ETC.

which is made of the shell of a fish, which some English call hens-poqiiahock ;
and of this sort, three make an English penny. One fathom of this, their stringed
money, is worth five shillings.

Tlie different colonial governments recognized the shell cur-
rency, so called, in their dealings with the Indians, and adopted
it, to a certain extent, among themselves. From time to time,
as the supply varied, they endeavored to fix its exchangeable
value. In September, 1G40, the General Court of Connecti-cut
repealed its " late order consarneing wampum at sixe a penny,"
and established the former rate of •' fower a penny." Five
years later, it was ordered in the New Haven colony, " that
Indian wampom shall passe, tlie white at 6 a penny, and the
blacke at 3 a penny. And some men being at present loath to
receive the blacke, it is ordered that in any payment vnder
20s. halfe white and halfe blacke shall be accounted current
pa}^ only if a question arise about the goodness of the wampo,
whether white or blacke, Mr. Goodyeare, if the parties repaire
to him, is intreated to judge therein."* But at length, the
Englisli demand for wampum brought upon the market a coun-
terfeit or inferior article. The Indians, according to the re-
cord, " abused the English," and supplied them with dyed
peage, or peage " made of stone or other vnalowed mater."
They also offered it in an unfinished state, or untastefully ar-
ranged. The Commissioners of the United Coloniesf took ac-
tion upon the subject, and recommended to the separate gov-
ernments to attempt a reform. In accordance with the sug-
gestion, the General Court of Connecticut, in 16-18, ordered
" that no peage, white or black, bee paid or received, but what
is strung, and in some measure strung sutably, and not small
and great vncomely and disorderly mixt, as formerly it hath
beene." The Massachusetts Colony passed a similar order.

Wampum was employed by the colonists for many years as
a part of tlieir currency. As late as 1704, (and probably later,)
the strung beads were in common use for small change.

A new settlement, far removed from the old civilizations
and the centers of wealth, is almost necessarily poor — poor in

* N. II. Col. Records, I. 211. f Hazard, II. 1.24

CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC.

labor, as compared with the work to be done, and poor in
capital, which is the support of labor. Houses are to be built,
lands to be cleared and subdued, and the soil to be cultivated ;
while a sufficient stock of clothing, husbandry and other tools,
provisions, and certain domestic animals for draft or burden,
must be supplied. However well the original settlers might
have been provided with these things, in the commencement,
thej^ were sure to be, in a little time, comparatively destitute.
In such a country as New England, with a soil that requires
a large outlay to give it productive energy, it would be impos-
sible for a single veneration to furnish the surplus labor and
capital required for an advanced civilization. Consequently,
the early colonists were, for a long time, behind hand in their
worldly affairs, and generally poor. The utmost they could
do was to lay the foundations for a better order of things.
They toiled laboriously and husbanded their resources, lor the
benefit of their children. So far as thej^ could, they econo-
mized capital (which is but hoarded labor) in all its applica-
tions. They exchanged their surplus products with each
other in the way of barter, and contrived in this way to save
(as the}" supposed) the expense of a circulating medium. To
remove some of the inconveniences of barter and to facilitate
trade, they selected certain of the products of their own indus-
try, and endowed these, by legal enactment, with some of
the properties of mone}-. The articles chosen for this pur-
pose, and which they judged best fitted for the office, were
beaver skins, wheat, rye, oats, Indian corn, peas, flax, wool,
beef, pork, live stock, bullets, codfish, &c. The prices of these
were fixed, from time to time, by the general courts ; and colo-
nial, town and society taxes, as well as private debts, were
paid in them. These prices were considerably higher than
the money prices, perhaps onedialf. Store-houses were main-
tained in which the tax-gatherers deposited the public prop-
erty till it should be wanted, or could be sold or exchanged.
The colonial government of Connecticut continued to receive
taxes in farm products, till bills of credit were emitted, and
occasionally, in way of experiment, afterwards. The towns con-
tinued the practice much longer, and the ecclesiastical socie-

b CONNECTICUT CURRICNCY, ETC.

ties longer still. The liii>liway tax was, in the conntrj towns,
collected in lal)or when the writer was a young man ; and he
has himself, for himself, " worked out" the tax — as boys are
wont to work. The minister was expected to take an)'thing
for pay which his people had for disposal. "Were a liouse to
be furnished him, they provided the materials, and built it
with their own hands. They su])plied him with rye, corn,
meat, butter, flax, fuel, hay for his horse, and homespun for
his family. They planted and gathered the crops which
grew on the parsonage, and their contributions were credited
to them on the minister's rate. About " New Year's," when
sledding was good, they gave him a grand " wood-spell," and
had " a donation party" at his house, in the evening, making
the rafters ring with good cheer. I suppose the annual wood-
spell is still an institution in many of our old agricultural
towns.

Sometimes the towns were taxed by a demand on them to
furnisli each certain articles in a given quantit}', without ex-
press reference to the price. In May, 1G37, the General
Court at Hartford declared " offensive war " against the Pe-
quots, and "ordered that AVindsor shall p''uide 60 bushels of
corne, 50 pieces of pork, 30 lb. rice, [ ! ] 4 cheeses ; Hartford,
84 bushells of corn, 2 firkins of Butter, 3 firkins of suet,
4 bushells of oatemeale, 2 bushells of pease, 2 bushells of
salt, 500 fish ; Wethersfield, 36 bushells of corne, 1 bushell of
Indian beanes."*

The colonial government, from time to time, prescril)ed the
terms on which men might have dealings M'ith each other, and
named the articles with which debts might be discharged,
sometimes without a due respect for the obligation of con-
tracts. In June ? 1641, the General Court of New Haven or-
dered that "all eomodityes bought and sold among the planters,
and all work, wages and labor (henceforward, till some other
course be settled by order) to be payd for either in corne, as
the price goeth in the plantatio, or in worke, as [at ?] the rates
settled by the Court, or in cattell of any sort as they shall be

* Printed Colouial Records.

CONNIXTTCTJT CURRENCY, ETC. i

indifferently prized, or in good march'able bever according to
the goodness."* In November of the same year, tlie General
Court of Connecticut repealed a regulation of the preceding
year, providing that debts thereafter made might be paid in
merchantable Indian corn at three and four pence a bushel,
and ordered, in consequence of the scarcity of money, and the
" very cheap rats " at which goods taken on execution had
been sold, that " whatsoever execution shall be graunted vpon
any debts made after the publishing of this order, the creditor
shall make choj'se of one p''ty, the debtor of a second, and the
Court of a third, who shall pryse the goods so taken vpon ex-
ecution aforesaid and deliver the to the creditor." A similar
law had been passed in Massachusetts, the previous year, which
was retrospective in its operation. The officer was to "take
land, houses, corn, cattle, fish, or other commodities, and de-
liver the same in full satisfaction to the creditor," the same to
be appraised, as in the other case.f Connecticut was always
imitating Massachusetts in her enactments, " trotting after the
Bay-horse," as some one says ; but in questionable legislation
she usually stopped short, or kept a long way in the rear, as we
shall see more fully, by-and-by. I can find nothing in her
early records, nor in those of the New Haven Colony before
the Union, which impaired previous contracts.

Of all the articles — the products of the country — which our
fathers used as currency, that which was most available and
convenient was the skin of the beaver. Furs were in de-
mand in Europe, and could always, without much loss, be con-
verted into coin or its equivalent.

The early colonists were not in advance of the countries
they left in a true knowledge of civil government, or in just
ideas of civil liberty", to say nothing of the rights of con-
science. Nothing better illustrates this than their laws in-
tended to control industry, commercial intercourse, and the
prices of commodities. The general courts weie absolute,

* N. H. Colonial Record, I. 55-6.

f An Historical Account of Massachusetts Currency. By Joseph B. Felt.
Boston : 1839. Page 23.

» CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

and tliey attemj^ted to order and regulate nearly everything
relating to hnniau conduct. For instance, the Court at Hart-
ford, in February 1640, conceiving '' tliat much ground
w"Mn these liberties maybe well improved " for raising hemp
and flax, and that they "myght in tyme liaue [a] supply of
lynnen cloth ;" therefore, they ordered, for the more speedy
procuring of hemp seed, ''that every p'"ticular family \\*Mn
these Plantations shall p'cure and plant this p''sent yeare at
lest on spoonfull of English hempseed, in some frutfull soyle,
at lest a foote distant betwixt eu"" seed, and the same so plant-
ed shall p'^searue and keep in [a] husbandly manner for [the]
supply of seed for another year." In the second year, every
family that kept a team of two or three draft cattle was to
sow at least a rood of hemp-or flax. Every person that kept
cows, heifers or steers, was to sow twenty perches, and every
family having no cattle was to sow ten perches. The tending
was in all cases to be of a husbandly sort, and whoever was in
default was to undergo the censure of the Court. The govern-
ment of New Haven established a tariff of prices for " wares
and worke," in June, 1641. Seven hours, diligently improv-
ed, were to be accounted a day's work of a team ; and nine
pence a day was to be paid tor a steer, twelve pence for a
grown ox or bull, sixteen pence for a horse or mare, and six
pence for a cart, furniture and man. Master carpenters,
plasterers, bricklayers, mowers, thatchers, rivers of clapboards,
shingles, lathes, &c., were to have two shillings in summer
and twenty pence in winter. Those not " allowed master
workmen " got but eighteen pence for summer and fourteen
pence for winter. If men sawed by the day, the top man,
who was supposed to guide the work and find the tools, was to
be paid as a master workman, the pit man as those not
master workmen; but if their skill were equal, they received,
each, twenty-two pence in summer and eighteen pence in
wintei'. '' Dyett " for a laboring man with lodging and
washing was fixed at four and six pence a week. Fat venison
might be sold for not over two and a half pence per pound,
lean, for two pence, and so on. These prices were to be paid
in corne, work, cattle, beaver, etc. In May, 1676, the Con-

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. V

nectlcnt Court ordered tliat the prices of provisions should be
set at each session of the General Court, " accoi-ding to true
intelligence from Boston ;" and to prevent " oppression," mer-
chants or traders were forbidden to take more than two pence
in the shilling for " profit, charge and venture " for goods
bought with " ready money " in Boston, or other like market, the
penalty being treble the amount of the oppressive exaction.*
At the same session it was ordered, " that what person soever
shall wear gold or siluer lace, or gold or siluer buttons, silk
ribbons, or other costly or superfluous trimmings, or any bone
lace aboue three shillings per yard, or silk scarfes," the person
so offending was to be assessed and put in the list at one
hundred and fifty pounds for the indulgence ; but the law was
not to extend to a magistrate or a like public oflicer, or to his
wife or children, or to ''such whose quality and estate haue
been aboue the ordinary degree, though now decayed." And
no person was allowed to " make, ware or buy any apparell
exceeding the quality and condition of their persons and
estate, or beyond the necessary end of apparell for covering or
comelyness," on penalty of ten shillings for each oficnse.
This law is similar to one which was enacted twenty-five
years earlier in Massachusetts, the General Court declaring its
" utter detestation and dislike that men or women of mean
condition should take upon them the garb of gentlemen, by
wearing gold or silver lace or buttons, or points at their knees,
or to walk in great boots, [' leather being so scarce,'] or
women of the same rank to wear silk hoods or scarfs, which,
though allowable to persons of greater estates, or more liberal
education, we judge intolerable in persons of such like condi-
tion," ifecf These specimens, taken almost at random, exhibit
but confused notions of the proper objects and ends of legisla-
tion, or of the methods of procedure when reforms are to be
introduced.

The attempt of our forefathers to get along without the cur-

* Manuscript copy of the laws in Yale College Library. A like copy will be
found in the State Library, in Hartford. The act quoted from above is not ia
the printed records.

•j- Massachusetts Record, Vol. IV., Part I , p. 60. (Printed.)

10 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

reiR'V of tlie old world, was unwise and unprofitable. The un-
wieldy and inconvenient substitutes the}' adopted were prac-
tically expensiv^e, costings more, there is reason to believe, than
good hard money. By fixing the prices of the selected com-
modities very much above the specie rates, they made them,
as far as could be done by legislation, the exclusive currency,
threw out of use the coin in the country, destroyed the market
for it among themselves, and drove it to other lands. Gold
and silver, like other articles, go where there is a demand for
them, shunning the places where they are not in request, or
are undervalued. If it is alleged that the people were poor
and had no surplus products to give in exchange for the pre-
cious metals, it may be replied that, in that case, they did not
require a currency. They were poor, indeed ; their surplus
eai'uings were small ; but they had a surplus, neverthe-
less ; hence their need of money. They had, all along,
a trade (quite limited for the first few years) with En-
gland, Manhadoes (New York,) and the West Indies. At
first they shipped peltry, fish and lumber; and afterwards,
pipe-staves, hoops, beef, pork, peas, fat cattle, horses, &c. ; and
brought back manufactured goods, sugar, molasses, cotton
wool, bills of exchange, silver and rum.* They would have
brought more silver and less rum and other merchandise, had
the first been in greater request at home. Merchants import
tliose articles for which there is an active demand, and refuse
those which are out of use. Had the colonists withlield oppo-
sing legislation, and rejected sul)stitutes, commerce would have
su]q)lied them with all the coin they needed, (which was but
little,) in spite of themselves. It is true, the precious metals
absorb capital, but so do those commodities which were used
in their stead. It requires as much capital to effect the
exchanges of a countr}^, when Indian corn is the medium
enq)loyed, as when silver or gold is used ; while there is the
greatest difference in the ease and perfection with which the
work is done. At this day, no competent person doubts that

* Trumbull's History of Connecticut, I. 478. Palfrey's History of New
Eiiirlaiul, T. 383.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 11

the costly metals make the best currency yet discovered. They
are not only more convenient, but more economical than any
other, and the remark applies to every people, rich or poor.
The fact that the early colonists were in straitened circum-
stances is the very reason why they should have preferred them
as a circulating medium.

Having removed coin from its rightful place by bad laws,
and thus secured its exjDulsion from the country, our fathers
complained, absurdly enough, that foreign traders gathered it
all up and carried it to other lands. Thus the people were
left destitute of a currency, and were compelled to resort to
clumsy expedients. And this is the acconnt which histo-
rians, past and present, give of the matter. Not one of tliem,
which I have consulted, seems to comprehend the difficulty.

It is a mistake to suppose that the efficiency or sufficiency
of a cii'cnlating medium depends on its quantity. One ounce
of silver, provided it cost as much — provided it represent the
same amount of labor — will go as far as ten or one hundred
ounces. Its adequacy to perform a certain amount of service
is determined by its exchangeable value, which again is deter-
mined by the labor it contains, and not by its weight. Gold
is more efficient than an equal quantity of silver, or silver than
an equal quantity of copper, because it costs more and repre-
sents more.

You may remove any proportion of the coin of a country,
one-half, three-fourths, or nine-tenths, at the same time in-
creasing, in an equal ratio, the difficulty and expense of restoring
the loss, and the remainder will perform the business of ex-
changing commodities quite as well as the whole did before.
It will d(^ this, because the exchangeable value of the currency
has not been diminished. I will go further. Had seven-eighths
of the specie which our ancestors brought with them in con-
siderable quantities from Europe, been returned within a 3^ear,
and could no more have been obtained at any cost, the re-
maining portion would have sufficed for all their needs till it
was worn out. In that case, specie would have borne a mo-
nopoly price. The exchangeable value of a given quantity
would have been augmented in proportion as it became scarce.

12 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

When, then, our fathers complained of their destitution in
regard to money, it is to be understood that it was not money
they lacked, but capital. They confounded the two, as nine-
tenths of the world do at the present day. If the currency
was bad, it was because they made it so by injudicious inter-
ference. They needed capital distressingly ; they needed wis-
dom ; and they did 7iot need so frequent sessions of the Gene-
ral Court. With capital, they could have had whatever is
desirable. Without it, and without the power of exchange,
the gold product of California would not have enriched them.
The wealth of a people is never increased by the money it
keeps, but by the goods or services which it gets in parting
W'ith it.

In a new country, not itself a producer of the precious met-
als, the money price of home products must be low, or, in
other words, a little money will buy much goods and labor.
This arises not so much from the poverty of the people, as
from the fact that the exchange of surplus exportable commod-
ities is made at great expense. Agricultural i^roducts, which
are the first which a new settlement has to spare, are heavy or
bulky, and of costly transportation. These must bear their
own cliarge to market, and the coin i-eceived for them must
represent the accumulated expense, such as land-carriage,
freight, insurance, port charges, custom-house duties, commis-
sions, &c., together with the profits of capital. Thus the
money, by the time it comes into the j^ossession of the new
settlers, will represent much labor. Its entire content in toil
and sweat will be manifest in its high exchangeable value, and
in the low prices of the home-produced commodities which are
bought witli it. The same causes will aflTect the prices of im-
ported goods. They will be high because obtained at great
cost. But it will make no difl'erence with a people what their
money may cost them. That is, it is not material whether an
English shilling is the representative of a day's or a week's work :
for the higher the cost, the higher will be its exchangeable value,
and the greater its exchangeable value, the less of it will be
required. From our present point of view, all that is neces-
sary in a product used as a medium of exchange, is that it

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC, 13

should contain the requisite amount of labor, and have a cost
value equal to the work to be performed, and to the commod-
ities for which it is to be exchanged. In an old country, with
an industrious population, and abounding in light exportable
goods, money will be cheap and agricultural products high.

CHAPTER II.

THE MASSACHUSETTS COINAGE OF 1652, AND THE CHANGES
WHICH IT WROUGHT. FIRST BILLS OF CREDIT.

The money which the early colonists brought with them
from Europe constituted the first metallic currency of this
country. The English coins then in use were crowns, valued at
five shillings sterling each, half crowns, shillings, sixpences and
smaller pieces, all in silver. There were also copper coins,
pennies, half pennies and farthings. Gold, which by a law
of England was a legal tender till 16^4, and again after 1717,
was usually undervalued, and did not circulate. This small
stock of specie, to which additions were made, from time to
time, by the new-comers, came at length, by means of trade,
to be much diminished. In the absence of an active home de-
mand for it, and for the want of surplus exportable commodi-
ties, it was sent to Europe in payment for imported goods.
Returning immigrants, also, took it away with them. To stop
the last of these leaks, the magistrates of Massachusetts, in
1632, forbade any planter, going to England, to take away
either coin or beaver, under pain of forfeiture.* Ere long, a
trade sprung up with the Dutch plantation on Manhattan
Island, which was, at length, after many discouragements, ex-

* Felt, 16.

14 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

tended to the AVest Indies and tlie " Wine Islands."* Along
with this trade, several foreign coins were introduced. The
most common of these were the duccatoon of Holland, valued
at three guilders; the rix dollar, at two and a half guilders;
aiul the " ryal-of-eight." These, the Massachusetts Court
made lawful money, in 1642, the first to pass at six shillings,
the last two at five shillings each.f Connecticut, in 1643,
made the same regulation regarding " good rialls of | and
reix dollars ;" except they M'ere to be lawful money only for
debts contracted after the order.:}: A portion of the bullion
which the buccaneers, or pirates of that day, took from the
Spaniards, also found its way to New England. In conse-
quence of this influx of silver, and the circulation of "light
Spanish coyne, whereby many people were cousened," Massa-
chusetts undertook to have a mint of her own. By coining
their own money, they thought they should foil the European
merchants, keep the silver in the country, and thus get rich.
They were encouraged in tliis undertaking by the confusion
into which affairs had fallen in England. They respected the
prerogative of Cromwell's government about as much as he
did that of Charles. Their course having been determined,
the necessary legislation was soon forthcoming. May 31st,
1652, a " mint bowse " was "appointed" in Boston, and all per-
sons had liberty to bring to it " all bullyon, plate or Spanish
coyne, there to be melted and brought to the allay of sterling
silver by John Hull, master of the said mint, and his sworn
officers, and by him to be coyned into twelve penny, six
penny and three penny peeces, which shall be for forme, flatt
and square on the sides, and stamped on the one side with
N. E., and on the other side, with the figure XII, YI, and III,
according to the valew of each peece, together M'ith a privy
marke," &c. The new money w^as to be according to the
En<rlish standard in fineness ; the mint master " for valew to
stampe two pence in a shilling of less valew than the present
English coyne," &c., " every shilling to weigh three penny

* The History of Massachusetts, by Thomas Ilutehinson, Esq., I. ^)0, 3d ed.
f Felt, p. 26. X Col. Record, I. 86.

CONNECTICDT CURRENCY, ETC. 15

Troy weight, and lesser pieces proportionably."* " For their
paynes and labour, the mint-master, for himselfe and officers,"
was allowed to take one shilling out of every twenty, or five
per cent. (The United States Mint, I believe, charges one
half of one per cent, for coinage.) The products of the mint,
together with English money, were "appointed" as the only
lawful currency of the Commonwealth after the ensuing first day
of September (1652.) In the following October, it was found
that the excessive plainness of the coin exposed it to washing
and clipping. For the prevention of the same, it was ordered
that " henceforth all peices of money cojned as aforesajd shall
have a double ring on either side, with this inscription, Massa-
chusetts, and a tree in the center on the one side, and New
England and the yeere of our Lord on the other side, accord-
ing to this draught heere in the margent."t The tree on these
coins having a fancied resemblance to the pine tree, has given
tliem the name of the pine tree currency. In 1662, two
penny pieces were struck off by authority of the Court.
These all had the date of that year. The others, throughout
the whole period the mint was in operation, nearly thirty-four
years, bore the date of L652. One penny pieces were also
authorized, but it is believed that none was ever minted.:};
The coins of that day were all hammered, and shaped by tlie
eye. Consequently, they were irregular in form, and much
exposed to clipping. The most perfect of the shilling pieces
now in existence weigh from sixty-four to seventy-one grains.
John Hull, mint-master, did his work faithfully. His
"•mint-drops" were fully up to the required standard, nine
hundred and twenty-five thousandths fine. But the weight of
the coins, as ordered by the General Court, was shamefully de-
ficient. The discreditable practice, which had been abandoned
in Eno-land, of desrradins; the standard, and issuino- lio-ht
pieces, was resorted to, and this without the poor apology of

* Felt, 31.

f Mass. Col. Record, p. lOi. A rough draught is given in the margin, witli a
tree in the centre.

Ij. Dickeson's Numismatic Manual.

16 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

state necessity.* The new shilling was to weigh three penny-
weights, or seventy-two grains, twenty-two and a half per
cent., or twenty one grains less than the English shilling.
Thus the standard of all values was altered, arbitrarily.
Creditors and salaried men were defrauded out of that which
was their own, to the extent of nearly one-quarter. Those who
had agreed to pay ninety- three grains of silver were, by law,
discharged by the payment of seventy- two. And yet, that law,
so flagrantly unjust, has not, on that account, received the
censure of any historian that I have consulted. Even Hutch-
inson, usually sound on currency questions, has no w^ord of
condemnation.

There has been some misunderstanding about the time and
manner of introduction of the " New England currency," so
called. Its origin may be clearly traced to the action of
Massachusetts, in 1652. It was that action which gave a new
meaning to the terms, pounds, shillings and pence — which made
New England money worth but three quarters as mucli as
sterling money. It was that which made the piece-of-eight
and the Spanish dollar equal to six shillings, instead of four
and six pence, and the £ equal to three dollars and thirty-three
hundredths, instead of four dollars and forty-four hundredths.
The issue of paper money, thirty eight years later, had nothing
to do with this change of currency and the altered standard
of value, loose statements to the contrar}^ notwithstanding.

John Hull, mint-master, it seems, got fat on his contract, as
he well might. The General Court, finding it too lucrative,
offered him a sum of money as an inducement to relinquish it.
He very naturally refused. The consequence was, he became
very rich, as contractors are wont to do. He gave, it is said,
thirty thousand pounds, in his own shillings, to his only
daughter, as her marriage portion, and left, at his death, one
of the largest estates of the Colony.f

* I do not understand Mr. Bancroft when he say* in his History of the United
States, (Vol. III., p. 104,) that "the necessities oi the Colonies had led them to
depreciate their currency." So far as the act of Massachusetts, in making light
coins, is concerned, there is no foundation for the statement.

f Hutchinson,!. 1G5. The story about the £30,000 has been doubted

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC, 17

The Massachusetts people established their mint for their
own benefit. It was for them a great institution — the philoso-
pher's stone, which was destined to make them all rich. Like
the rest of mankind, they were benighted as to the nature of
money, and supposed that a community was rich in proportion
to its gold and silv^er. Having these, they considered themselves
in the possession of everything desirable. To increase the
supply was the prime object of statesmanship. They thought
that the wild scramble among the nations of that day for the.
specie of the world was a struggle for the substance and con-
centrated essence of o-ood. Though their legislation drove
away the precious metals, this they refused to understand.
Impressed with tlic popular idea, the General Court took
measures to confine the products of their mint to the Common-
wealth. With about as much wisdom as was current with the
governments of that day, an order was passed in May, 1662, for-
bidding any person, " by sea or land," to take the colony coin
out of the country, in any sum exceeding twenty shillings for
necessary expenses. Searchers were appointed in the different
towns, whose duty it was to see that no part of the precious
treasure escaped. The portmanteaus, bags, cloaks and pockets
of ]3ersons " departing tlie jurisdiction on horseback " were
overhauled, at the ]3lace of starting. If a man was caught
violating the law, the money was seized, and " all his visible
estate confiscated."* These proliibitory measures were of
course ineft'ectual. The pine-tree coins reached Connecticut,
and became the common currency of New England, beyond
which they did not circulate as money. They were taken to
foreign countries, and made their appearance in England, but
only as bullion, worth seventj^-five per cent, of their face.f

* Printed Statutes, edition of 1672.

f The English shilling weighed 93 grs. nearlj' ; but to show its true value, the
charge for coining it, or seigniorage, must be added. This amounted to about
3^ per centum, which added to the weight would make the piece the equivalent
of about 96 grs. of standard silver. The Massachusetts shilling, arriving in Eng-
land, ceased to be money. Its value as merchandise, as compared with the
English coin of the same name, was in the proportion of 72 to 96, or 3 to 4. To
convert the money of one country into that of another, involves the expense of

18 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

The lightness of a coin will not prevent its exportation, in the
way of trade, after the heavier and more valuable pieces, hav-
ing the same nominal value, have disappeared, or have come to
bear a premium. In 1672, the Massachusetts Court, finding
that ])ieces-of-eight were " of more value to awrj out of the
country than they will yield to mint into coyne," ordered that
those of full weight should pass for six shillings each. This
measure failing to prevent exportation, their legal value was
again raised, in 1682, from six shillings to six and eight pence,
provided the piece should weigh one ounce, Troy.* But this
law overvalued the coin, and in 1697, the previous regulation
was restored. t

The Boston mint w\as condemned by the friends of the Eng-
lish government. No American colony had before ventured to
coin money. None had presumed so much on the forbearance of
their masters. And yet, no notice was taken of the unauthor-
ized institution either by Cromwell or Parliament. They had
too much on their hands to be looking after the short comings
of an obscure people three thousand miles from home. After
the death of Cromwell, the enemies of the colonists multiplied.
The good natured Charles, wdio was crow^ned in 1660, was
offended because his royal prerogative had been invaded.
The offenders were called traitorous and disloyal ; were charg-
ed with seeking independence. A commission was sent
over to look into their affairs. They gave the colonial govern-
ment some wholesome advice, and, among other things, re-
quired them to stop coining money. They did not stop ; but,
desirous to appease the wrath of Charles, and save their

two coinages, a domestic and a foreign. The Boston shilling, for home cir-
culation, was worth, say, 72 grains of standard silver, plus the five per cent, paid
John Hull for minting. For exportation to England, it was worth, when of
full weight, 72 grains, minus the 3J per cent, demanded by John Bull for a sim-
ilar service.

There has been no seigniorage on the coinage of gold in England since 166G.
See M'Culloch's Commercial Dictionary, Article, Coins.

* The piece-of-eight was estimated, in 1704, at the English mint, to weigh
four hundred and twenty grains, sixty grains less than one ounce.

f Felt, 41, 44, 55.

CONNECTICUT CUKRENOY, ETC. 19

charter, they sent to London, in 1666, at great expense, "two
very hirge masts," for his majesty's navy, and soon after, a
ship load of smaller spars. Still later, they plied hira with
" tenn barrels of cranberryes, two hogsheads of special good
sampe, and three thousand codfish."* Last of all, they tend-
ered twenty or thirty beaver skins, " as an annual acknowl-
edgment of allegiance and humble thankfullness for his ma-
jesty's gracious clemency," but with no effect. The king re-
mained obdurate, and the charter was vacated early in 16S5.
The coining of money was only one of the alleged reasons of
this procedure, and Hutchinson says no great stress was laid
upon it ; but it is evident that it had considerable influence.
The mint continued its operations a few months after the
charter had expired, when it too died, much to the grief of
Massachusetts. Its coinage was in circulation down to the
Ke volution of 1T76.

It is uncertain at what time the " Bay shillings " became a
common currency, and the standard of value in Connecticut.
But as there was considerable trade with Boston, the supplies
of foreign goods being purchased there, the new money must
have been known in the Colony at an early period. It appears,
however, not to have been formally recognized for several
years. I find, on examining the inventories on record in the
Probate Office in JS^ew Haven, that in 1668 "plate" was val-
ued at five shilling per ounce, indicating that the English coin
was then the standard. In " March, 167|," and in " Febru-
ary, 1677," I notice instances in which the same article was
appraised at six shillings per ounce, this fact showing that a
change of custom had, to a certain extent, taken place. In
1681, I observe that certain silver spoons are set down at their
value in " New England money." The General Court allow-
ed Massachusetts shillings to circulate, but in pursuance of
their habitually cautious policy, declined to give them their
official sanction long after they had become, practically, the
standard of value. This circumstance is not the less remarkable
from the fact that they did not neglect, for so long a period, to

* Dickeson's Numismatic Manual.

20 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

establish the value of foreipjn coins, on the pine-tree basis. In
-May, 1683, the Court, "being willing to encourage the bring-
ing in money and the increase of trade," ordered "that for
the future, all peices of eight, Mexicoe, pillor and Civill
peices," should pass at six shillings each, and " all good peices
of Perue are to pass at live shillings, in lieu of New England
money,"* fractional coins in proportion. In October of the
next year, however, this law was repealed ; but a similar and
more comprehensive one was afterwards enacted, which recog-
nized an existing fact, and made the coins named, lawful
money. It is found in the code of 1702, and reads as follows :

Whereas, for many years past, the money coined in tlie late Massachusetts
Colony hath passed currant at the rate or value it was stampt for; and good
Sevil pillar, or Mexico pieces-of-eight, of full seventeen penny weight, have also
passed currant at six shillings per piece, and half pieces of proportionable
weight, at three shillings per piece, quarter pieces of the same coynes, at sixteen
pence per piece, and reals of the same coyne at eight pence per piece —

Be it therefore enacted, * * * That all and every the coynes before men-
tioned, shall still be and continue currant money within this Colony, and shall
be accepted, taken and received at the respective values aforesaid, according as
hath hitlierto been accustomed — Provided always, Tiiat such of the said coynes as
pass b^' tale, be not diminished by washing, clipping, rounding, filing or scaling. f

This law, it will be observed, makes each of the foreign
coins named, weighing seventeen pennyweights, the equivalent
of six Massachusetts shillings, which should have weighed
eighteen pennyweights. Doubtless, the size of the latter had
been gradually reduced by wear and roguery, (chiefly the
latter,) so that their real did not exceed their estimated value.
Had they been worth more than the estimate, they would have
been withdrawn from circulation to be hoarded, melted or ex-
ported. In truth, both the domestic and foreign coins current
in the country, in the last years of the seventeenth century,
were much reduced in weight by washing, filing, paring with
shears, <kc. The S])anisli eight-real-pieces, which, in the mid-
dle of the century, passed in trade for five shillings sterling,
were, at a little later period, only equal to four and six pence

* Printed Col. Records.

f I have failed to ascertain when this act was jiassed, but it was probably soon
after October, 1697 ; for, at that date, Massachusetts enacted a similar law.

]

CONNECTICUT CUEKENCY, ETC. ' ^ 21

sterling, each, or six New England shillings.* The pieces
gradually got lighter and lighter, so that about 1700, they had
lost ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five per cent.f Those
which were known as "heavy pieces-of-eight " were withdrawn
from circulation as fast as they appeared, while the light ones
were used as money and for the payment of debts. To arrest
the evil, the aid of legislation was invoked. Connecticut
enacted the law which has just been recited, which required
that those coins which passed by tale at their former rate,
should " not be diminished by washing," &c. Statutes, how-
ever, were inefiectual, and the evil went on increasing. In re-
cognition of an existing fact, the General Court of Massachu-
setts enacted, in 1705, that liglit money and plate of sterling
alloy shouldpass and be good in payments at seven shillings
the ounce.:]: " During the next year, the courts of judicature
[of the same Province] chancered [cut down] silver to eight
shillings per ounce, in satisfaction of debts, which was nearly
at the rate of six shillings to a light piece-of-eight, as current
at the time."§ The value of the metallic currency which was
in general use at this time, or, say, in the first part of the
eigliteenth century, was wortli about eight shillings per
ounce. II It passed at this rate in the way of trade. But as

* I am not sure that, in the mean time, the Spanisli coins in question had not
been degraded by lowering the mint standard.

f Merchants' Magazine, Vol. XVI., p. 345, (1847.) The merchants of New-
York, in a petition to Lord Cornbury, about February, 170A, complained as fol-
lows:— "Tlie people of Boston, publickly and avowedly, have practiced to clipp
and file all the small current money along the continent to 25 per cent, loss, which
practice and the unlawfull proffit comeing thareby, did encourage enough to
make it their business to carry it [the coin] thither and return it againe to us and
our neighbours, where it passed for the same value as formeidy ; which is now so
apparent that, many times, sixteen rials doe not weigh seaventeen penny
weight." Documentary Hist. N. Y., IV., 1134.

X Felt, p. 60, note.

§ See "A chapter on Cohmial Currency" in the Merchants' Magazine for
April, 1847.

II In 1727, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a law which establish-
ed a rule for the equitable adjustment of debts contracted in paper money. It
enacted tliat all obligations entered into, before 1712, might be discliarged in
bills of credit at the rate of eight shillings for an ounce of silver. (Felt, 83.)
Said bills, says Hutchinson, were as good as silver till after 1710.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

tlie real value could not be known from the denomination, it
was customary to weigh the pieces in order to ol)tain a correct
notion. " Money scales " is an item often met with in the
inventories of deceased persons of tliat day.

The washing and paring of coins \vas carried on in England,
on a large scale, in the latter part of the seventeenth century.
The irregular shape of the pieces, and the low state of the art
of coinage, rendered these operations comparatively easy.
Many of those in circulation, in consequence of the depreda-
tions of the clippers, were reduced to two-thii"ds, sometimes one-
half their proper weight. In Macaulay's brilliant pages (see
his History of England) will Ije found a graphic description of
the miseries brought upon England by this degradation of the
currency. At last, the government, in 1696, was obliged to
call in the old coinage, and to substitute a better, which was
protected against mutilation by what is called milling. The
change cost one million two hundred thousand pounds.

Notwithstanding the large amount of the New England
coinage, country pay continued to be received for public taxes
at fixed jDrices. The custom was continued in Massachusetts
till 169i, when it was abolished, bills of credit having been in-
troduced.* It was followed some fifteen years longer in Con-
necticut. As the consequence of this practice, several curren-
cies were in existence, and the prices of commodities w^ere
graded according to the particular currency which was oflered
in payment. To illustrate this point, I will quote a passage
from " The private Journal kept by Madam Knight, on a jour-
ney from Boston to New York, in the year 1704," first pub-
lished in New^ York in 1825, from tlie original manuscript.
Madam Knight was a literary lady, and on her journey, (which
was made on horseback,) passed several weeks in New Haven*
During this stay she wrote as follows : —

They [the people] give the title of merchant to every trader who rate their
goods according to the time and specie [l^ind] they pay in, viz : pay, money, pay
as money, and trusting. [That is, they have n pay price, a inove}/ price, a paij ax
money price, and a trusting price.] Pay is grain, pork, beef, ttc, at the ijricea

* Felt, 54.

CONNECTICUT CURKENCY, ETC. 23

sot by the General Court that 3"ear. Money is pieces of eight r^'als, or Boston or
Bay shillings, (as they call them,) or good hard money, as sometimes silver coin
is termed by them ; also wampum, (viz., Indian beads,) which serves for change.
Pay as money, is provisions as aforesaid, one-third cheaper than as the Assem-
bly in General Court sets it ; and trui^t, as they and the merchant agree for time.
Now when the buyer comes to ask for a commodity, sometimes before the mer-
chant answers that he has it, he says, " is your pay rea^/y.?" Perhaps the chap
replies, yes. "What do you pay in ?" says the merchant. The buyer having
answered, the price is set; as suppose he wants a six penny knife; in pay,
it is twelve pence; in pay as money, eight pence, and in hard monej', its own
price [value], six pence It seems a very intricate way of trade, [<&c.]

This, it will be observed, is a description of the currency of
Connecticut, and not of Massachusetts ; consequently nothing
is said of bills of credit, to be mentioned by and by. It is
possible, however, that Madam Knight may have been mis-
taken in one particular. So far as my inquiries have extended,
pay as money and money (which then meant specie) were
not two things but one. The General Court, annually, and
whenever it laid a tax, fixed the prices of the commodities
which were to be received in payment. They fixed them at
one-half or fifty per cent, higher than the money price. The
commodities thus selected were accepted by the people at the
established prices as a common currency. They were called
" country pay," not because they were products of the farm,
but because they were received by tlie Colony or government
in payment of rates. I have examined the inventories of es-
tates in New Haven, for the ten years following ITOO, for the
purpose of ascertaining the currency in which property was
appraised. The valuations are usually in country pay, the
fact, in most cases, being so stated. If money (coin) or plate
is entered, one half is added to convert it into pay. Items like
the following are common: — "Plate in pay, £10" (170| ;)
" money, £^\u : 1, in pay, £7:4: If (170| ;) '" Cash, £8:17:0,
in pay, £13:5:6" (1706 ;) " Cash, 30s. which is in pay, £2:5: 0,"
(170|.) In 1702, is this entry : " £ii00 money in England,
valued in pay at £375." Here twenty-five per cent, is added
to convert sterling into New England (pine-tree) currency, and
fifty per cent, to the sum of these two to convert the latter into
pay. Occasionally other standards are employed. In 1702,

24 COXNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

I find an instance in M-liicli plate is carried out at (about) nine
sliillings an ounce; in 1704, another, of silver at seven shil-
lings the ounce; in ITOA, another, of plate* at eight shil-
lings per ounce, &c. These examples show some instability of
practice, and the confusion growing out of the many currencies
in use.

To get a correct notion of the prices, stated in pounds, shil-
lings and pence, which prevailed in the period about which I
am writing, it will be necessary to understand the facts which
have been mentioned, and the peculiar condition of the cur-
rency. This will be specially important, if we would compare
the prices of this period with those of others. Suppose the
price of a commodity be stated at six shillings, without expla-
nation : it will be safe to assume that country pay is intended,
and that one-third must be deducted. The price will then
stand at four shillings, in money ; but as the current coins were
of light weight, being worth only at the rate of eight shillings
per ounce, when they should have been equal to six and ten
pence the ounce, another deduction of six pence must be made.
After this operation, the price reckoned in good Bay shillings,
or heavy pieces-of-eight, will stand at about three and six
pence. To convert the last sum into sterling money, twenty-
five per cent, more must be taken off". In this way alone can
an intelligible comparison be made.

The pieces of money which are named in the Connecticut
statute of 1702, made up the common metallic currency of
New England, for more than a century, beginning with the
time an active trade was opened with the West India Islands.
"When the Massachusetts shillings were introduced, these be-
came the measure of value, changed the imperial standard,
degraded it twenty-five per cent., and increased the nom-
inal prices of commodities in proportion. Bj' a well known
law, they drove the more valuable English coins that remained
in the country out of circulation, the latter seeking a foreign
market, where their current value equaled the cost of pro-
ducing them. The English pound, or pound sterling, as a

• "Plate" is understood to have been of tlic fineness of sterling money.

CONNECTICUT CUKEENCY, ETC. 25

money of account, gave place to the New England ponnd,
containing only tliree-qnarters as much silver. The several *
Spanish coins known as Mexican, Peru, Seville and pillar
pieces-of-eight (eight reals,) each weighing, in 1704, four
hundred and twenty grains, and worth, intrinsically, about
four and six pence sterling, were equal, singly, to six Bay
shillings. This is on the supposition that all the pieces were
of full weight. The Spanish milled dollar, too, which ulti-
mately took the place of the eight-real piece, though a trifle
lighter, was considered as good for six shillings. It was in this
way that the dollar of New England came to contain six shil-
lings, the half dollar three shillings, the quarter one and six
p«ince, the eighth nine pence, the sixteenth four pence halfpen-
ny— a way of reckoning which is not yet qnite obsolete. In the
other colonies different customs prevailed, the same coin hav-
ing a different nominal value. The Spanish dollar in New
York and North Carolina represented eight shillings ; in New
Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, seven and six pence ;
in South Carolina, four and eight pence ; in Virginia, the
same as in New Enf'''.id.'^ This diversity of custom was a
great inconvenience — an embarrassment to commerce and to
all intercourse.

The Board of Trade and Plantations, (established in 1696,)
which had a general oversight of colonial affairs in America,
had often complained of the different and unstable currencies
of the colonies. It proposed, not to restore the English basis,
but to fix the standard of value of the coins in use, and thus
to prevent its further degradation. By a judicious regulation
of this matter, it was thought to " make most of the money
center in England." In execution of the plan, tlie Qneen,
in June, 1704, issued her proclamation establishing the value
of the several foreign coins in common use in the plantations,
according to their intrinsic worth, and in conformity to a table
prepared by the " master- worker of the mint," Sir Isaac New-
ton, which is as follows : —

* Gouge's History of Paper Money, &c., p. 6.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC

Rale

of said pieces in propor-

Weight and intrinsic value of tJ

e xevern

I species.

lion to the limitation rtijde

said proclai

lation.

Pwt. Gr.

Value.

To be taken for in

the Plantations.

Seville pieces of eight, old plate

n 12

4s. 6d.

fis.

-?:^

" " " new "

3s. 7id.

4s.9id.

Mexico pieces of eight,

17 12

4s. Cd.

6s.

Pillar pieces of eight,

17 12

4 s. 6|d.

6s.

Peru pieces of eight,

17 12

4s. 5d.

Ss.lOAd.

Cross Dollars,

4s. 4fd.

6s.l0|d.

^§

Ducatoons of Flanders,

20 21

5s. 6d.

78.4d.

1 S"

Ecus of France, or silver Lewis,

17 12

48. 6d.

6s.

5 3

Crusados of Portugal,

11 4

2s.lOid.

3s.9id.

^ %

Three Guilder Pieces of Holland,

20 7

5s. 2id.

6s.lld.

Old Rix dollars of the Empire,

18 10

4s. 6d.

6s.

All halves, quarters and less pieces, are allowed to pass in jiroportion to the
above rates.

In regulating the value of foreign coins, the Proclamation of
Queen Anne seems to have followed the custom of New Eng-
land, making the pine-tree sliilling the standard. It is
true, the last named piece is not mentioned, but this is doubt-
less because it was an unauthorized coin. The royal order
was promptly enjoined by the American governoi's ; but for
various reasons it proved of no effect except in Barbados.*
No formal action was required on the part of the governments
of Massachusetts and Connecticut, the prescribed regulations
being in harmony with colonial laws. The custom of trade,
however, as I have already stated, was not in accordance with
existing legislation.

In 1707, the Act of the sixth of Queen Anne, so called, ^vas
passed l^y Parliament. It recites the Proclamation, and en-
acts tliat any person in the colonies who shall, after May first,
1709, receive or pay out any of the coins named at a greater
or higher rate than is alloSv^ed by the Proclamation, shall suf-
fer six months imprisonment and forfeit ten pounds. f The
purpose seems to have been to stop legislative tampering M'ith
the coin, to prevent the degradation of the standard of value,
and to sccui-e uniformity of custom. " Proclamation money,"
or, more briefly, " proc. money," of which we hear so much

* A short History of Paper Money and Banking. By William M. Gouge.
p. 6. See also Felt, pp. 59, 60, Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol. IV.
f See English Statutes at Large.

CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC. 27

half a century later, after 'the paper money system had ex-
ploded, derives its name from Queen Anne's order.

The year 1690 is memorable; for then was inangurated the
reign of paper money in America — a reign not yet ended.
It began in Massachusetts, the ancient mother of currency
heresies. Many years before, the question of setting up a
bank had agitated the Colony. The mint did not make money
fast enough or cheap enough. Spite the pine-tree shillings,
three-quarters weight, the people were much straitened in their
means. So soon as their coinage had ceased, the bank project
was revived. It appears from a rare tract quoted by Felt,
page forty-seven, that a partnership was formed wliich circu-
lated notes based on land-security. Little more is known of
it. Its operations must have been very limited, and its influ-
ence upon liistory inconsiderable. But now a new opportu-
nity occurred of carrying out some paper money scheme, under
favorable auspices. Massachusetts, it seems, in concert with
Connecticut and New York, had sent an expedition against
Canada. It proved a failure, and the troops returned, unex-
pectedly, to Boston. The government was unprepared to meet
the charges, having t]'usted to the success of the enterprise,
and the plunder which success would secure. Tlie soldiers
clamored fur their wages, and, not receiving them, were, it is
said, on the point of mutiny. There was not time to collect a
tax, and it was doubtless difficult to borrow. In this emer-
gency, the General Court, " desirous," as they say, " to ap-
prove themselves just and honest," and considering withal the
" scarcity of money and the want of an adequate measure of
commerce," established a " provincial bank," and autliorized
a committee to issue, forthwith, in the name of the Colony,
seven thousand pounds, in bills of credit, from two sliillings to
five pounds each. One of tliese bills, which I find copied in
Drake's History and Antiquities of Boston, page four hundred
and ninety-one, the original being five and three-quarter
inches from top to bottom, and five inches from side to side,
reads as follows :

28 COKN'ECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

No. (910.) 20 s.

This iiulented Bill of Twentj' Sliillings due from the Massachusetts Colony to
the Possessor shall be in value equal to money, and shall be accordingly accepted
by the Treasurer and Receivers subordinate to him in all Public pay's, and for any
stock at an\' time in the Treasury. Boston, in New England, February the third,
1690. By order of the General Court.

Elisha Hutchinson, \
[L. S.] John Walley, > Comitee.

Tim Thornton, '

These bills were, in fact, treasury notes, secured by a tax,
and receivable for treasury dues, the phrase " shall be in value
equal to money," meaning nothing. They were not favorably
received, and would not command money, or goods at money
prices. The soldiers lost heavily, not being able to sell their
paper notes for more than twelve or fourteen shillings in the
pound.* Afterward, in 1692, an order was passed declaring
" that all bills of public credit, issued forth by order of y®
Generall Court of y® late Colony of y^ Massachusetts Bay,
shall pass current within this Province in all payments equiv-
alent to money, and in public payments at 5 per cent, ad-
vance." Thus they were made lawful tender, for their face, in
private transactions, and M'ere received, by the Treasurer, in
whatever payment, at five per cent, premium. They were to
be redeemed in twelve months. These provisions were design-
ed to prevent depreciation. Felt thinks they had the intended
effect for twenty years. The demand for the bills, when the
tax became due, made them, for the moment, because of the
five per cent, bonus, better than hard money. But the order
which had been previously passed, that no more than forty
thousand pounds should be emitted was not regarded. The
" scarcity of money " was still complained of, and each issue
whetted the appetite for more. The whole amount of the emis-
sions, including the reemissions, up to 1702, Mr. Felt thinks,
must have exceeded one hundred and ten thousand pounds.
At this period, says Governor Hutchinson, they were as good
as silver, (silver, I suppose, at eight shillings per onnce;) and
not till after 1710 did they sufier any great depreciation.

* Hutchinson, I., 357.

CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC. 29

Those issued before the arrival of the new Charter, (granted
by William and Mary, in 1691,) were called old cliarter bills.

I believe the paper money of Massachusetts, emitted before
Connecticut had bills of her own, did not circulate in the
latter Colony. I think so, because I have been unable to find
any trace of them. And this view is confirmed by the neglect
of Madam Knight, in the passage already quoted, to mention
them, in lier enumeration of the different currencies in use.
Indeed, while at or near the specie point, they were too
valuable to be employed as money, or at least to pay debts
with, so long as country pay, repi'esenting two-thirds as much
labor, was allowed. Had any been received, in the way of
trade, they would, like coin, have borne a premium over the
common currency, which fact would have been evidence that
they had come to the wrong market. Those wishing to buy
goods in Boston would have picked them up as a profitable
remittance.

The example of Massachusetts, in her perilous 23aper money
experiment, was not lost upon the other English Colonies.
With the exception of Nova Scotia, says Hutchinson, they all,
sooner or later, adopted her system. Mr. Bancroft makes
Virginia* the exception.

CHAP TEE III.

CONNECTICUT BILLS OF CREDIT— OLD TENOR EMISSIONS.

The first bills of credit of Connecticut, like those of the
Massachusetts Ba_y, were issued in a time of financial embar-
rassment. The colonists, then in the midst of the war with

* Mr. C. J. Hoadley, State librarian, of Hartford, lias in his possession a Vir-
ginia bill bearing the date of llb'I. Others are in existence. See Hening's
Statutes of Virg., VI., 467. Nova Scotia, too, had issued bills in 1766.

30 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

France and its Indian allies, called Queen Anne's war, had
been heavily taxed, the colony tax alone amounting, in some
years, says Dr. Trumbull, to seven pence or eight pence in
the pound, on the whole list, equal, in the latter case, to three
and a third per cent, on taxable polls and estate. But it
must be remembered that the lists were made up very differ-
ently then and now, as I shall explain in another place. The
General Court met, by adjournment, in New Haven, in
June, 1709, apparentlj' to devise means to carry on the war.
During a three days' session, they passed the following law.
I copy from the printed statutes :

Forasmuch, as by reason of the great scarcity of money, the payment of the
public debts, and cliarges of this government, especially in the intended expedi-
tion to Canada, is made almost impracticable. For remedy whereof:

Be it enacted [<tc.] that there be forthwith imprinted a certain number
of Bills of Credit on this Colony, in suitable sums from two shillings to five
pounds, whicli in the whole shall amount to the sum of eight thousand pounds
and no more: which bills shall be indented and stamped with such stamps as the
Governor and Council shall direct, and be signed by a Committee appointed bj'
this Court — they or any three of them, and of the tenor following. That is to say :

No. ( ) 20 s.

This indented Bill of Twenty shillings, due from the Colony of Connecticut,
in New England, to the possessor thereof, shall be in value equal to money, and
shall be according!}- accepted by the Treasurer and Receivers subordinate to
him, in all public payments, and for any stock at any time in the Treasury.
Hartford, July the 12th, Anno Domini, 1709. By order of the Generall Court.

J. C. \

J. H. > Committee.
J. E. )
And so mutatis mutandis for a greater or lesser sum.

This form is copied, verbatim, from the Massachusetts note,
the necessary changes of date, &c., having been made. In
printing the bills, the words, " in all public payments," were
omitted, as they were in the next and subsequent issues, which
omission, though " not so material," was provided for by
special act, in May, 1710. The form, date and all, M^as pre-
served in all the subsequent emissions, for many years. The
additional date of " May, 171<'^," however, was afterwards
added, to distinguish the more recent issues. The law pre-
scribing and limiting the denominations of the notes was not

CONNECTICUT CUEBENCT, ETC. 31

changed. They were signed by a committee of the General
Court, and appear to have been printed, (some of the earlier
ones, at least,) in Boston, under the charge of Mr. Dummer.*

Of the eight thousand pounds in bills first ordered, four
thousand were to be signed and delivered to the Treasurer for
disbursement, the other four to be retained, unsigned, in the
hands of the Committee, till the further order of the Court.
Like the Massachusetts issues, they were to be paid out as
" equivalent to money," and to be received "■ in all public
payments fon account of taxes only] at the advance of twelve
pence on the pound more," or at the rate of five per cent,
premium. The premium was allowed as often as they were
paid in, though many times in the course of the year. The
effect would naturally be to make them worth more than other
par funds as the time approached for tlie payment of taxes.
" In all other payments," (other than public payments,) says
Dr. Trumbull, " they were to be received as money."t If, by
this language. Dr. Trumbull meant to say that they were
made a tender for private debts, he is mistaken. Mr. Ban-
croft, in his History of the United States, speaking of the
legal tender feature as common to the early colonial credit
bills, makes no exception in favor of Connecticut.:]: The law
of this Colony, at that period, said nothing of private obligations.
Probably, both of the historians named have been misled by
the phrase in the form of the bills " shall be in value ecpial to
money," which, as I understand it, bound no party except the
Treasurer of the State. The legislation of Massachusetts was
different, as has been mentioned.

By the same act which authorized the emission of public bills,
the General Court, " as a fund and security for the repayment
and drawing in of the said bills to the Treasury again, and for
defraying any further charge of the Colony," " granted a rate of
ten pence on the pound in money, one moiety thereof to be
levied according to the next list of heads and estates," and
payable, on the first day of May, 1710 ; the other half to be

* See Journal of the Council.

t History of Connecticut, Vol. 1., p. 414-. % Vol. III., p. 388.

32 CONNECTICUT CUKKENCY, ETC,

levied on the list of 1710, and payable May 1st, 1711. And
liberty was granted " for any person to pay his rate either in
bills of credit, silver money, or in pork at fifty shillings per
barrel, or beef at thirty shillings per barrel, winter wheat at
four shillings per bushel, rye at two shillings and four pence
per bushel, and Indian corn at two shillings per bushel.
•jv 7f -;f * ^j^(-| j^Q person shall have liberty to pay above
two- thirds of his rate in rye and Indian corn," these commod-
ities being less desirable " stock " than some other.

The expedition against Canada failed, and in October of the
same year, again, on account " of the great scarcity of money,"
eleven thousand pounds in bills of public credit were ordered
to be issued, and for their redemption, with the five per cent,
advance, and for other purposes, a tax of twelve thousand
pounds was laid, payable " within the term of six years, * "
* * and so much thereof in each of the six years" as should
be ordered.* The tax payers were allowed the same option as
to the ways of payment as by tlie act of the preceding May.
At the same session, a law was passed requiring that when any
salaries of public officers, or the wages of officers and soldiers,
or posts, or other persons, were made payable by law, " in coun-
try pay," the debt on account of said salaries, &c., should be
discharged by the Treasurer, with bills of credit for two-thirds
the amount. This act was designed to reduce " pay " to cur-
rent money, three of the former being only equal to two of the
latter. f

In May of the next year (1710,) it was found that the " Col-
ony in general, as well as particular persons," was suffering for
the " want of a due circulation of the bills of public credit."
" For remedy and prevention thereof" the General Court
enacted that " all rates hereafter to be made, pursuant to " pre-
ceding acts for drawing in said bills, should be paid either in
bullion at eight shillings the ounce, Troy, or in the bills of the
Colony. But it was found, doubtless, that the law rating silver

* At the next session, the time was fixed for June, 1*71 5.

\ It was in this year, (1709,) according to tlie Merchnnts' Magazine, (Vol XVT.
p. 344,) that New York and New Jersey made their first issues of bills of credit.
Rhode Island followed in the next j-ear, (1710.)

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 33

at eight shillings per ounce* contravened the act of Parlia-
ment and the Proclamation of Queen Anne. Consequently,
after three months, it was rej^ealed, and another enacted, pro-
viding that the before mentioned rates and taxes should be paid
either in money (money at that time meant coin,) " as it shall
generally pass in New England," or in the bills of the Colony.
Thus country pay was excluded from the Treasury, and a deci-
sive blow given to a most inconvenient currency.

In October, 1710, £5,000 in bills of credit were ordered, and
a tax levied of £5,250, payable on or before the last day of
August, 1718. £4,000 more were authorized in May, 1711, and
a tax laid of £4,500, to be paid before the first day of June,
1720. £6,000 were also ordered in June, 1711, and £6,300
levied by a tax due on or before August thirty-first, 1723. In
May, 1712, and in June, 1712, there M'ere reissued ,, in the one
case £3,000, and in the other £1,500, the same being bills which
had been paid into the Treasury by the rates of 1711 and
1712. A tax was laid in each instance paj^able in 1720. After
this period, it was customary for the General Court to authorize,
at stated periods, the reissue of any bills received into the Treas-
ury which were found in a suitable condition for circulation.

From June, 1709, to May, 1713, there had been emitted (or
authorized) in all, £34,000 in colonial credit bills, a little more
than Dr. TrumbulFs estimate at a later period.f Of this sum,
£3,500 paid into the Treasury, had been reissued, and there
were outstanding, at the last date, £20,000, or, according to a
subsequent statement, £23,636 : 11 : 4.

Rogues always prosper when large additions are being made
to the currency. Too often they get the start of honest men,
and pocket the gains which flow from a more active business.
They manipulated the bills of credit, and introduced certain
emendations and improvements. Judged by the higher stand-
ard of our day, their work was done in a bungling manner ;

* Silver was intrinsically worth, in the currency established by the Proclama-
tion, about 6s. lOJd., but in sterling money, or English coin, only 6s. 8d. (approx-
imately.)

f History of Connecticut, Vol. I., 474.

34 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

bnt tlicy sncccedcd in converting the smaller into larger notes,
" bv whicli means divers persons suffered considerable dam-
ages." For the prevention of which evil practices and wrong,
the General Court, in May, 1713, enacted that bills of credit
not exceeding £20,000, having the additional date of May,
1713, should be forthwith printed, which the Treasurer was
authorized at any time, within eighteen months, to exchange for
the bills then outstanding. And the people were to be warned
by proclamation, to bring in their bills and have them ex-
changed, "on penalty of having their demands upon the Treas-
ury refused." In October, 1714, the time was extended to
June first, 1715. But the bills did not come in as desired. In
the meantime, new "cheats and forgeries" had appeared. The
notes had " been imitated by several false and counterfeit bills,
* * * by false plates and otherwise," and the General Court,
October, 1717, again extended the time, and authorized the
Treasurer to exchange the bills " of tlie date of July twelfth,
1709, only," for those having the additional date of May, 1713,
till " the fifteenth of May [then] next, and no longer." At the
same time, it was enacted " that from and after the said fifteenth
day of May, no creditor" sliould " bo obliged to receive in jiay-
ment the said bills of credit bearing the date of July twelfth,
1709, only." Of course, the government had no intention, at
that time, of repudiating any of its true bills ; and I suppose it
was well understood that no creditor was under obligation to
receive them, and that they circulated by consent only. The
fifteenth day of May, 1718, soon came round, and many of the
old bills were still outstanding. Whereupon, the period was
again extended, first to May twenty-fifth, 1719, (when " several
thousand pounds" of the old bills were still in circulation,)
then to November first, 1719, then again to June first, 1720,
and still again to June first, 1721.

But the business of counterfeiting and altering the colony
bills went on. In fact, the crime became so common and so
dangerous, that the General Court, in May, 1724, felt con-
strained to increase the penalty from six months' imprison-
ment, or "standing in the pillory three several lecture dayes,"
to branding in the forehead with the letter C, cutting off the
right ear, confinement to work in the work-house, under a mas-

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 30

ter, till the day of deatli, and forfeiture of estate. Besides all
tliis, the offender was to be " forever debarred of any trade or
dealing within this Colony in any w^ise, upon penalty of being
severely whipped," — an unnecessary cruelty to a man shut up
for life in a work house.

The facts mentioned in regard to counterfeiting, show that
Dr. Trumbull is not quite correct when he says that this busi-
ness was not begun till "about the year 1735," wdien " there
arose a set of villains," &c. The villains had been up and
doinor long before that.

There is a history connected wuth the £20,000 in bills, au-
thorized in May, 1713. They were to be placed in the hands
of the Treasurer to be exchanged for the old issues. He was
" not to give or dispose of them to any other use or end what-
soever, without the order of this Assembly." With the excep-
tion of £1,000, emitted for ordinai-y expenses, in October of
the same year, no additional issues were authorized for several
years. Instead of this, the General Court would order the
Treasurer, from time to time, to apply certain portions of the
£20,000 fund " towards the payment of the public debts,

* * * and the further necessary charge thereof." This
operation began with the act that created the fund, and was
continued, year after year, till May, 1719, when £12,952:
12:6 had been thus appropriated, and the issue was exhausted.
At this time, "divers persons" bringing "divers sums" in
old bills to the Treasury for exchange, had been turned awa}'
on the plea of " no funds." Prompt to meet the emergency,
the General Court enacted that £4,000, in bills of credit, in all
respects like the £20,000, should " be forthwith imprinted," to
be placed in the hands of the Treasurer as an exchange fund.
£1,290 : 2 : 6 of this money were used to pay "public debts,

* * * and the further necessary charges thereof," at the
next session of the Court in October.

In October, 1722, it was found that the " torn and defaced "
bills, (" unfit to piass,") then in circulation, required attention,
and £4,000 were ordered to " be forthwith imprinted," to
take their place by exchange. But at the next session of the
Court, in May, 1723, £S46 : 12 : 6 of the same were wanted
and employed to discharge the debts of the Colony, the re-

3G CONNECTICUT CUEEENCY, ETC.

mainder to be reserved for the purpose for whicli tliej were
designed. £2,640 more of the same sort went in the same way
before October, 1724, when the "torn and defaced" bills
needed renewed attention. £4,000 were to be printed without
delay, and £2,000 of the same set apart to liquidate the debts
of the colonial government. Up to October, 1728, £16,000
in all had been struck off or authorized professedly on ac-
count of bills " torn, defaced and unfit to pass," the Treasurer,
in the several acts, being directed to make the exchange.
Out of this fund, I find that £9,942 : 17 : 0 were taken for the
payment of the public debts, and the charges of the govern-
ment.

The bills whicli have been mentioned, together with those
brought in by taxes and reissued, seem to have been sufficient
for the disbursements till May, 1729, when a new occasion was
embraced for a new emission. It appears that, owing to the
scarcity of small change, the colony bills had been halved and
quartered, and the fragments passed in payments at a propor-
tionate value, as was done by the issuers of notes, at a very re-
cent date, (1862.) To discourage the evil, a law was enacted
in May, 1726, forbidding the Treasurer to receive quartered
bills. To get quit of those in circulation, which are described
in the preamble as " bills of credit * * * torn in pieces "
whicli "do usually pass from man to man," an act was passed
in May, 1729, requiring £6,000 in new^ bills to " be forthwith
imprinted," to be exchanged for said notes, and for " all other
outstanding bills of this Colony that are not printed on the
backs." At a later period, the counterfeiters quartered and
halved their bills, in imitation of the genuine, rendering detec-
tion doubly difficult, so that more legislation was demanded in
May, 1736. In the mean time, however, £2,500 of the "ex-
change bills," so called, were employed for the expenses of gov-
ernment, there not being, at the time, (October, 1732,) " a suffi-
ciency of money " in the Treasury " to defray the charges of
this Assembly." Of the £47,000 authorized emissions from
May, 1713, to October, 1732, both inclusive, all, with the excep-
tion of £1,000 in October, 1713, were for the ostensible purpose
of taking up earlier impressions which had been counterfeited,

CONNECTICUT CUEEENCY, ETC. 37

or removing from circulation torn and defaced, or halved and
quartered bills. And yet, £29,885:12:0, if there is no mis-
take in my figures, out of the £46,000 net, .were appropriated,
from time to time, by law, for the payment of colony debts,
&c. The wants of the Treasury seem to have been supplied, to
a large extent, from the new notes set apart, in the first in-
stance, as an exchange fund.

In the earlier legislation of Connecticut, the same law which
authorized the emission of bills of credit, levied a tax payable
within a certain period, to sink the whole issue, together with
the five per cent, advance. At first, this period was one and
two years, then six years, then eight, nine, twelve, and again
eight years. After the close of the w^ar, in 1713, the time was
frequently shortened. I discover no instance in which this tax
was neglected. The same principle of providing by taxation
for all bills put in circulation, was observed, so far as can be
ascertained, with regard to the reissues — the reissues, I mean,
of notes brought in by any sinking fund tax. The idea seems
to have been to have all the outstanding notes, for the time
being, with the advance, made secure by outstanding taxes, so
that the latter, when collected, should sink the former, I
know not whether these taxes were all gathered in accordance
with the original intention. As they were levied in gross
sums, and required additional legislation for their apportion-
ment, according to lists, very possibly they were not. But I
have met with no law, till after the Revolution, for their post-
ponement, in the manner which was common in Massachusetts.*

After 1710, the rates of the General Court could not be sat-
isfied with country pay. They must be discharged with bills
of credit, or coin at current rates, as has been mentioned. In
October, 1719, however, a new practice was introduced, recog-
nizing the bills of other colonies, which now formed a part of
the common currency. The regular tax of that session might
be paid '• in bills of credit of this Colony, with the usual
advance, or in the true bills witli four signers of the Province
of the Massachusetts Bay, [the larger bills had four signers,]
or in the true bills of New York, Rhode Island, or New

* Felt, 63.

38 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

Hampshire, without any advance upon them," &c. Tliere
was, at this time, much complaint of the want of a " medium
of exchange," though paper money was so abundant that it
took twelve shillings to buy an ounce of silver. For the pur-
pose, probably, of mitigating the evil, the General Court made
the customary tax levied in October, 1720,* payable either in
the currencies allowed the year before, or in "grain at the fol-
lowing prices, viz : wheat at four shillings and six pence per
bushel, rye at two shillings and nine pence, Indian corn at two
shillings and three pence, all to be good and merchantable."
The same latitude was permitted in the two or three years that
followed, when " country pay " once more fell into discredit.
The paper money of the neighboring colonies was still re-
ceived, to a greater or less extent, always, however, without
the live per cent, premium. The bills of New Hampshire and
Rhode Island were the first to be discredited at the public
Treasury.

I have said that, at first, there was no law making the colo-
nial credit bills a legal tender for private debts. Doubtless,

* It was at about tliis time that the " South Sea Scheme" in England, and the
"Mississippi Babble," including John Law's bank in France, exploded. The
financial troubles in Europe may have wrought disorder in the colonies. Law's
bank was at first aprivate institution, chartered in 1716. Considered with refer-
ence to its avowed objects, it was not calculated to excite apprehension. It was
authorized to discount bills of exchange, to keep accounts with merchants, and
issue notes payable to bearu" in coin " of the weight and denomination of that
day," (date of the charter.) For a time, it was immensely successful. But in
January, 1719, it was taken into the hands of the government, then much in-
volved in debt, and became the Royal Bank, with Law for chief director. A year
later, according to the general plan of its founder, it was united with the " India
Companj'," under the same management. This company grew out of Law's
scheme to develop the wealth of Louisiana and the Mississippi valley, and aimed
to control a large proijortion of the foreign trade of France. The bank was to
provide the money for the greatest and grandest enterprise of that day. Not
long after the union, the bubble burst.

John Law was a gamester, libertine, speculator and enthusiast, but still a man
of genius. lie understood the laws of finance better, perhaps, than any man of
that age ; but he labored under the fatal delusion that money is wealth, the
source of all wealth — a delusion from which the popular mind has not \-et
escaped. See "The Mississi])pi Bubble: A Memoir of John Law." By A.
Thiers. Translated, and published in New York, in 1859.

CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC. 39

the government qnestioned its authority to pass such a law.
It is true, the authority had been often exercised, riglitfully
or wrongfully, in the Massachusetts Bay ; but Massachusetts
had lost her charter. Connecticut had a more precious one
which she wished to save. Though never more delighted than
when " trotting after the Bay horse," yet, she was not now
prepared for such a break-neck adventure. Her legislators
had long acted on the belief that discretion was a wise and
remunerative, if not valiant, virtue. And yet they wanted all
the supposed benefits of their fav^orite currency, without the
embarrassments which " evil disposed persons " sometimes
placed in its way. The question was how, in the legitimate ex-
ercise of their authority, they could make their bills of credit
not a lawful but an accepted tender — how they could constrain
men to receive them voluntarily, by simply withholding law.
The following act, passed October, 1718, shows how ingenu-
ously they could solve the problem. It is entitled " An Act
for the further encouraging the currency of the bills of public
credit, and for preventing the oppression of debtors," and
reads as follows :

Whereas by reason of the great scarcity of money, and other adequate media
for * * * carryinjj on the affairs of the government, the government did,
several years since, project and order the making and emitting of bills of public
credit, to be accepted and received in all public payments equivalent to money,
with the advance of five pounds per cent, thereon, upon good and sufficient funds
granted for the calling in and answering of the same, which bills iiave likewise
obtained a universal currency throughout the government in all private trade
and dealing, and are found beneficial and serviceable for facilitating of the same,
the whole course of trade from the year 1709 having been generally managed
and regulated thereby, and all debts since made and contracted vhere there
has been no special agreement and contract otherwise) generally understood to
be contracted for tlie said bills, —

Now, that encouragement may be given to the said bills in the way of private
commerce and dealings, and to prevent oppression by the rigorous exaction of
money (which cannot be procured but with great, difficulty) for debts contracted
with tiie real intent both of debtor and creditor, to be paid in said bills, though
not expressly mentioned:

Be it therefore enacted [<fec.] that from and after the first day of November
now next ensuing, no debtor for any debt made and contracted since the twelfth
day of July, 1709, or that shall be made and contracted before the the twelfth
day of Jul}^ * * 1727, (express contracts in writing for current silver
money, or some speciality always excepted,) that shall tender satisfaction and

40 OOXNECTIODT CURKENCY, ETC.

payment of liia full debt in good and lawful bills of credit of this Colony, shall be
liable to have execution served and levied upon his estate or person, or be im-
prisoned upon any recovery of judgment to be granted against him for such
debt, any law, usage or custom to the contray notwithstanding.

I presume this law was effectual, and all " rigorous exac-
tion " and " oppression " prevented. It worked so well that
the time limited for its operation was afterward extended from
1727 to 1735.

There are many circumstances to excuse, if not justify, Con-
necticut in her course when first she issued bills of credit.
She witli the other Colonies was engaged in a bloody and ex-
pensive war with the French and Indians, requiring her ut-
most exertions and all her resources. She saw Massachusetts
moving along pleasantly, embarked on a sea of paper money,
paying her expenses, in large measure, by promises only.
Perhaps her people were beginning to use the bills of their
neighbor, and she thought it better to occupy the field herself,
and reap the benefits. She showed, too, commendable pru-
dence in her early issues, taxing herself without stint to redeem
the whole at no very distant period. If she had stopped her
emissions, at the close of the war in 1713, or at any time be-
fore 1733, and left tJie laws then in operation to take their
course, comparatively little harm would have been done, so far
as her own action was concerned. But the temporary relief
which she had undeniably experienced was too fresh in the
memory to allow her to stop here. The first effects of a paper
inflation are peculiarly exhilarating, and no instance has yet
been known of a people once intoxicated recovering their senses
in time to save themselves from signal disasters. The sense of
public justice is too much weakened for present reform. Those
who knew the peril, and would counsel prudence and honest}^,
are stilled by the din of popular clamor. They who are likely
to suffer most are old fashioned, incredulous people, who are
without lucrative or influential positions, and have no access to
the public trumpet. They find themselves stranded, as it were,
on the river's bank, and see the unbelieving throng moving by,
pointing the finger and wagging the head at them.

Throughout this business of making paper money, those who

CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC. 41

administered the government seem to have been aware that
they were standing on ticklish if not dangerous gronnd. They
appeared desirous, in certain cases, that their motives should
not be too apparent and their acts too public. They well knew
that their course was regarded with disfavor in the mother
country, and that the eyes of the authorities were upon them.
The Proclamation of Queen Anne, in 1704, and the Act of
Parliament which followed it, in 1707, were proofs of the jeal-
ousy with which experiments on the currency were regarded.
In 1720, the colonial governors in America were instructed to
allow of no paper issues which were not necessary to meet the
charges of government. In Massachusetts, there was a strug-
gle between the Governor and Council on the one side, and the
House of Representatives on the other, one opposing and the
otlier favoring the emissions of bills of credit. Wearied out
by his fruitless endeavors to stem the torrent, Gov. Sliute re-
turned to England, leaving Lt. Gov. Dummer to encounter
the same difficulties. To settle the controversy, Gov. Burnet,
in 1728, was directed not to " assent to or pass any act, * *
* * whereby bills of credit may be struck or issued in lieu of
money, without a clause be inserted in such act, declaring that
the same shall not take effect until " ■^•' approved by the En-
glish government."'"^ Under these circumstances, Connecticut,
having much at stake, was naturally cautious. She doubtless
thought that emissions of notes to be exchanged for an old im-
pression were least likely to give offense ; and while supplying
bills for so good a purpose, could see no wrong in printing a
few, at her own cost, for treasury expenses. But the time at
last came when a change of plan seemed expedient. The torn
and counterfeit bill-system had worked well for a season, but
something new was demanded. Connecticut, thought the " pro-
gressionists " of that day, was behind the age, and too timid to
win laurels in the race of civilization. There was an urgent
demand for paper money, and her authorities could find no ac-
ceptable way of supplying it. Massachusetts was more inven-
tive—more fruitful of methods — and who could doubt her finan-

* Felt's Mass. Currency, p. 85.

42 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC,

cial ability? In 1714, lier government, after a severe contest
between the advocates of hard nione}' and paper inonc}^ and
partly for tlie purpose of heading off a scheme for a private
bank of issue, emitted £50,000 in province bills which were to
be loaned, on mortgage security, at five per cent, interest, the
principal to be paid in five equal annual installments. In 1716,
she issued and loaned £100,000, the yearly interest of which
was to help support the government. Rhode Island adopted a
similar system in 1715. After a bitter controversy, which dis-
tracted communities and even divided families, she issued and
loaned £40,000. Thus was established the "first bank" of
Rhode Island, so called. The " second bank," which was like
unto the first, was established in 1721, and the " third bank,"
of £40,000, in 172S.* Others followed, and the "ninth bank"
was born before the race became extinct, their designations re-
minding us, strangely enough, of certain model institutions of
our day, and proving that history but repeats itself.

In May, 1726, the Massachusetts plan found earnest advo-
cates in the General Court of Connecticut, the Lower House
favoring and the Upi)er House opposing it. Two years later,
or in May, 1728, a scheme Mas embraced in the Lower House
and a bill passed to emit and loan £50,000 for ten years ; but
it was rejected by the Council. The friends, however, of a
more liberal provision of paper money were not discouraged.
They were persons of decayed fortunes and large obligations,
wdio found that the more depreciated the currency, the easier
debts were discharged. Men of this class having a personal
and selfish object in view, were more persevering than those
that opposed them on public grounds.f

In 1730, an association was formed in New London for
commercial operations.:}; It embraced many of the leading

* Arnold's History of Rhode Island, II., pp. 53, 56, 59. 95.

\ " All our paper money making assemblies," writes Dr. Ayilliam Douglass, of
Massachusetts, " have been legislatures of debtors, the representatives of people
who for incogitancy, idleness and profuseness have been under the necessity
of mortgaging their lands." Summary History of North America, I., .SIO.

:(; Miss Caulkin-' History of New London, second edition, p. 243. I think
Miss C. is mistaken when she says that " loans were obtained [by the asso-

CONNECTICUT CUEKENCY, ETC. 43

men of tlie Colony, and was able to command a large political
influence. Through this influence, it is said, a most extra-
ordinary charter was obtained from the General Assembly, in
May, 1732. Thomas Seymour, John Curtiss, John Bissel,
Solomon Coit, and fifty-seven others were incorporated with the
name of the " New London Society united for Trade and
Commerce." Soon the society began to issue bills of credit,
in the likeness of the colony bills, in imitation of what had
been done, in defiance of the General Court, several years be-
fore, in Boston.* The notes bore the date of October, 25th,
I732,t were to run twelve years, and were " put off and sold
* * as a medium of trade current, and equal in value to
silver at sixteen shillings per ounce," &c. According to Miss
Caulkins, they " were hailed by the business part of the com-
munity with delight." Some others regarded them with sus-
picion, and there was a great commotion in the land. The
authorities were alarmed, and Gov. Talcott, appreciating the
emergency, convened the Legislature in special session. It
met in February, 173f, inquired into the circumstances and
proceedings of the society, and repealed its charter. At the
same time, a law was passed making those who should emit
bills of credit, based on any individual or society fund, "sub-
ject to the same pains and penalties as those guilty of forging
or counterfeiting," &c. This legislation, added to misfortunes
in trade, killed off the society. And for the relief of those
who had come into possession of its nearly worthless bills,
the following action was had. I copy it as a specimen.

" The question was put, whether it be not expedient {sic stan-
tibus circumstantiis) to emit " £30,000 in bills, " part thereof
to be tendered to such persons as this Assembly shall appoint,
and sliall give security for the drawing in of the bills lately
emitted by the New London Society, and the other part of the

ciation] from the public Treasury ;" for I do not find that the government
made any loans except to those who, at the time of its failure, were members of
the company, had mortgaged their lands to it, and been made liable for its bills.

* Felt's Mass. Currency, p. 71.

I So says Miss Caulkins; but there is one of the bills in the possession of the
Conn. Hist. Society which has the date of August, 1732.

44 CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC,

said sum to be let out for the benefit of the i^overnment, all to
be on such security, and for such a time or times, and for
sucli interest and with such distinction from other bills in
such form as this Assembly shall order and appoint. * * *
Resolved in the affirmative."

" Whereas this Assembly hath ordered that £30,000 in bills of
credit on this colony shall be emitted, it is now farther Ke-
solved, that his Honor the Governor and JSTathaniel Stanley,
Esq., be desired to procure some meet person to stamp the
said bills as soon as ma}' be."*

At the next session of the Assembly, in May, 1T33, it was
ordered that £15,000 out of the £30,000 should be loaned,
£3,000 in each of the five couiities, on mortgage security of
double value, in sums of not under fifty or over one hundred
pounds, payable May first, 1741, or earlier at ihe pleasure of
the borrower, at six per cent, annual interest, bonds to be given
for interest, and each town to have of the money in some meas-
ure in proportion to its list of polls and estate. At the same
session it was enacted that £20,000 in bills should be stamped,
" to be done on the new plate, of the tenor of our former bills,"
the same to be ready by the next session in October.

The legislation is exceedingly brief concerning the last
£20,000, and in striking contrast witli that which was usual on
such occasions. The Assembly does not condescend to give any
reason, or announce any purpose or end which is to be subserved.
Kor do I find anything to throw light upon the subject on the
subsequent pages of the record. From the silence which is
observed, it would be natural to infer that the contemplated
issue had never been made. Almost as much may be said of
the £30,000 authorized in the preceding February. Tliere is
an absence of the customary details of legislation, by Avhicli
the inquirer is much perplexed. And what is particularly
worthy of notice, in this connection, is the fact that neither of
the laws providing for these large emissions of bills was printed
with the other laws in conformity with the uniform practice up
to that time. The act ordering the printing of the £30,000

* Assembly's Record, Vol. VI., p. 111.

CONNECTICUT CUEKENCY, ETC. 45

was tlie coiiclndlug part of the act repealing the charter of the
New London Society ; and yet, the first part was printed and
the last suppressed. Thenceforward, all the laws ordering
paper issues were overlooked when the statutes came to be
published.

Several years later, the fact came out, in answer to certain
inquiries of the English Board of Trade, that the bills provided
for by the acts of Feb., lT3f, and May, 1733, amounting in the
whole to £50,000, were, with a trifling exception, all loaned after
the manner of the £15,000, either to those bringing in the notes
of the New London Society, or to others. On examining the
record of deeds of New Haven, I find that £2,250 were loaned,
on mortgage, (iu one instance five hundred pounds to one in-
dividual,) in New Haven, between September seventh, 1733,
and May seventh, 1734. It appears from the same record that
the notes given for the money were redeemable, some on the
first day of May, 174J , others on the first day of May, 1742,
and M'ere to be paid, in some cases, in silver at twenty shil-
lings per ounce, or in new bills of public credit ; in other cases, in
silver at twenty shillings, or gold equivalent, or colony bills, &c.

There are conceivable motives for this blind and summary
way of doing up the public business which related to currency
matters, and good reasons why the Assembly should not seek
unnecessary publicit}^ They consulted their own convenience,
preferred to manage their own affairs, and like others, did not
wish to have tJieir favorite plans interfered with. They had an
advantage over Massachusetts, New York, 'and other colonies,
in not having, in their government, a representative of the
King to report their misdoings. And naturally enougli, they
were not themselves anxious to declare what would not benefit
them if known.

I should not be willing to say that the evil deeds of the New
London Society and tlie condition of its suffering creditors
were the mere pretext, and not the true reason for establishing
a government land bank, so called. And yet, the occasion
seems to have been eagerly embraced, to supply the urgent de-
mand for a " medium of exchange." There was a strong out-
side pressure upon the Assembly. The people were infatuated,

46 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

made so b}' paper money, and thought their temporal salvation
depended on their having a more liberal supply of bills of
credit. And perhaps the government felt constrained either
to itesue notes itself, or to consent to its being done by some
New London or other irresponsible company.

In October, 1735, the counterfeiters, notwithstanding the
severity of the law against them, had been again at work.
The bills outstanding of five pounds, two pounds, ten shil-
lings and two shillings had been counterfeited, and the Assem-
bly ordered the emission of £25,000 to be stamped on the
new plates, with the date of 1735 "in some proper place,"
the new impression to be exchanged for tlie old. A part of
these were used as those j^reviously printed for a similar pur-
pose had been. They were found convenient for the ever re-
curring wants of government.

From October, 1735, to May, 1740, no new issues were au-
thorized. But during this period, opinion seems to have been
undergoing a change, running in favor of some new plan to
prevent depreciation. In October, 1739, when silver had
come to be worth, in currency, twenty-nine sliillin^s per
ounce, a bill was introduced into the Assembly ordering a new
emission of £10,000. They were to be " legal tenders," as I
infer ; the form given for the note declaring tliat it " should
pass current in the Colony of Connecticut." The bill passed
the Upper House, but the Lower House dissented, perhaps be-
cause the sum was too small.

In October, 1739, England declared war against Spain, the
assistance of the colonies was demanded, and Connecticut was
involved in heavy expenses. In May, 1740, £4,000 in bills
were ordered to be struck off, from the new plate, in value
from ten shillings to five pounds, and bearing the date of the
Asseml)!)' then in session. They were to be paid out, in the
language of the record, as " premia" for volunteers in the ex-
pedition against the Spanish West Indies, In July follow-
ing, £15,000, in all respects similar, were authorized, £10,000
for general expenses, and £5,000 to be exchanged for the notes
issued belbre 1733, and for torn and defaced bills. At tlie
same time, a tax of £10,500, to call in the £10,000 at the
advance, Avas laid, payable ^Yugust 3 1st, 1750, colony bills or

CONNECTICUT CURKENCT, ETC.

current money to be received in puj-ment. These emissions
were the hist of those called old teno>\ unless the £3,000 issued
in May, 1746, from the "oZr/ plate," were of this kind. In-
cluding the last sum, the whole amount of the old tenor bills
was £178,000. A portion of these, however, including con-
sidei'able sums of exchange bills, were never issued.

I here transfer what purports to be an " account of the
several yearly emissions of paper bills, * * * and what
has been yearly drawn in again," showing the outstand-
ing balances from year to year. The paper is signed by Gov.
Talcott :

To the Right HotiP^^ Lords Coitirnissio7icrs for the Board of Trade
and Plantationx.

May it please your Lordships — In pursuance of your Lordships desire by a
letter from Whitehall, dated the S^^ of July last past, I herewith send the account
of tlic several yearly emissions of paper bills that has from time to time been
paid out by this Colony, and what has been yearly drawn in aj^ain, and the sura
total ill bills of credit that are now outstanding. And as this Colony is a place
of but small trade, compared with the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, I
must beg leave to refer your lordships to the account you shall receive from that
Province for the value of gold and silver yearly as compared with our paper cur-
rency, that Province governingin the affair of exchange between us and England,
and our paper bills always passing at an equal value with the bills of that
Province.

Tiie account is as follows, viz. :
The first emission was in the year 1710* for defraying Drawn into the Treasury by a tax on

the charges that had arisen on the expedition to the inhabitants in the Colony, clear

Canada, £18,941: 0: G of all charges, £5,202: 0: 9

Remains outstanding, 13,738 : 19 : 9

And the Colony emitted, 1711,

Remained outstanding Inst year.
And the Colony emitted, 1712,

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1713,

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding.

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding,

18,941

13,738 :
10,246 :

19:
9:

9
6

5,298
18,687

23,985

8:
0:

23,985 :

1H,6S7
9,312

0
10

7
0

4,302
23,636

27,999 :

19:
11 :

10:

3
4

27,999

10:

23,636
4,000 :

11 •

4
0

3,459 :
24,177

0 :
11 :

0
4

27,636

11:

27,636

11 :

* The first bills were authorized in June, 1709, but were not, it seems, printed and put in circu-
lation till the following year.

CONNKCTICUT CUREENCY, ETC.

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitteil by the Colony, 1714,

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1715,

Remained outstanding last j'ear.
Emitted by the Colony, 1716,

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1717,

Remained outstanding last year.
Emitted by the Colony, 171S,

Remained outstanding last year.
Emitted by the Colony, 1719,

Remained outstanding last year.
Emitted by the Colony, 1720, at two

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1721,

Remained outstanding last year.
Emitted by the Colony, 1723,

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1724,

Remained outstanding lastyear.
Emitted by the Colony, 1725,

Remained outstanding last year
Emitted by the Colony, 1720,

£24,177: 11 : 4
1,000 : — : -

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding

25,177

: 11 :

22,875 ;
2,000

;18:
: 0:

24,S75

: 13:

: 4

22,490
5,000 :

: 0;
: 0:

: 0
0

27,490 :

; 0:

23,631 :
T89:

9:
: 7:

11
6

24,470 :

17:

20,433 :
2,500 :

7 :
0:

0
0

22,938 I

: 7:

20,080 :
2,651 :

; 5:
0:

2
6

22,731 :

; 5:

19,S21
emis-

4,407 :

: 15

IS:

: 0
3

24,229 :

13:

17,827 :
2,842 :

10 :
18:

2
4

20,670 :

12:

17,487
3,500 :

: 6;

; 9
0

20,987

: 6:

17,498 :
4,839 :

15:
3:

5
9

22,837 :

19:

16,831 :
4,000 :

18:
0:

7
0

20,831 :

18:

14,063 :
1,624 :

2 :

2
6

16,287 :

12,198 :
2,076 :

7:
1:

14,274 :

25177 : 11

Drawn in by a tax, 2.385 : 13 : 4

Remains outstanding, 22,490 : 0 : 0

24.875 13 : 4

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding,

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding.

Drawn in by a tax,
Remains outstandinp

Drawu in by a tax,

27,490 : 0 : 0

4,027 : 10 :
20,433: 7:

2,853 : 1:10
20,080 : 5 : 2

2,909 : 10 : 8

19,821 : 15 : 0

22,731 : 5 : 8

6,401 : 14 : 1

Remains outstanding, 17,827 : 19 : 2
24,229 : 13 : 3

Drawn in by a tax, 8,183 : 5 : 9

Remains outstanding, 17,487 : 6 : 9

20,670 : 12 : 6

Drawn in bj- a tax, 3,4SS : 11 : 4

Remains outstanding, 17,498 : 15 : 5

Drawn in by a tax, 5,506 : 0 ;

Remains outstanding, 16,831 : IS :

22,837 : 19 : 2

Drawn in by a tax, 6,16S : 14 : 5

Remains outstanding, 14,663 : 4 : 2

20,831 : 18 : 7

Drawn in by a tax, 4,088 : IS : 11

Remains outstanding, 12,198 : 7 : 9

16,287 : 6 : 8

Drawn in by a tax, 6,299 : 18 ; 10

Remains outstanding, 7,974 : 15 : 10

14,274 : 8 : 10

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC,

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 172T,

Remained outstanding last year.
Emitted by the Colony, 172S,

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1720,

Remained outstanding last year.
Emitted by the Colony, 1730,

Remained outstanding last year.
Emitted by the Colony, 1731,

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1732,

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1733,

Remained outstanding last year.
Emitted by the Colony, 1734,

Remained outsta/idinglast year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1735,

Remained outstanding last year,
Emitted by the Colony, 1736,

Remained outstanding last year.
Emitted by the Colony, 1737,

And by the foregoing account yoiu- Lordships may see that there is, to the year

1737, outstanding bills, emitted for defraying the necessary charges of the Colony,
but the sum of £5,738 : 16 : 9, and the Colony has granted two taxes, one for

1738, and the other for 1739, not yet brought into the public accounts, which will
near or quite sink the whole of the bills now outstanding. But the Colony has
further emitted on loan to the inhabitants as follows, viz.: —

£7,974
6,583

:12

0
: 1

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding.

Drawn in by a tax,
Remains outstanding.

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding.

Drawn in by a tax,
Remains outstanding.

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding,

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding.

Drawn in by a tax,
Remains outstanding.

Drawn in by a tax.
Remains outstanding.

Drawn in by a tax,
Remains outstanding,

£4,2R4
10,274

14,558

5
: 1

: 8

14,558

: T

: 1

10,274
3,505

: 1
16

: 8
9

4,559
9,219

•19
19

2
13

13,779

9,219
2,318

11,538

19:
3

4,800 :
6,738

11,538

0:
2

6,738 :
2,531 :

2 :
16:

10
3

4,889
4,880

9,269

3
15

9,269

4,380
5,307 :

9,GSS

15
15:

10
11

5,021
4,666

9,688

18
18

3
6

4,666
3,291 :

5,404
2,558

7,958 :

6
15-

1 :

7,958

2,553 :
3,689 :

15:

8
3

4,194 :
2,048 :

6
5

6,242:

17:

6,242

2,048 .
3,150 :

14.
2:

5
6

2,715
2,4^3 •

5
11:

5,198

16:

2,483
3,161 :

11
5:

16:

7
1

2,820
2,824

15
l:

4
4

5,644:

16:

2,824 :
1,500 :

1:
0.

4
0

3,071 :
1,253 :

0 :
0:

11
5

4,324:

1 :

4,324:

1,253
7,445:

0:
2:

5
10

2,959 :
5,738 :

6-
16:

6
9

8,698 :

50 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

In the year 1"33, loaned out by the Colony, on in-
terest, the sum of .e49,975 : 4 : 0.

•awn

in by interest,

1784,

£ 770:

IS:

;]1

Do.

more,

1735,

3,6(56

: 9:

: 2

Do.

more,

1786,

3,070 ;

:10;

; 1

Do.

more,

1737,

2,961 :

18:

Do.

more.

1788,

2,903 :

:17:

: (1

Do.

more,

1739,

3,007 :

; 0:

; 8

16,880 : 14 : 9
Remains outstanding of the money loaned out, 33,594 : 9 : 8

£49,975 -.4:0

And also the sum of £33,594: 9: 8, in loan money, which, added to tlie foregoing-
sum of £5,'738 : 16:9, makes in the whole bills of credit outstanding in this Colony,
the sum of £39,333:6. This being the exactest account can be made in the
affiiir siiviiig errors, I hope will be agreeable to your Lordships' request, and in
conformity to the address of both Houses of Parliament to his Majesty relating-
thereunto, which is all at present, with my most dutiful respects to your Lord-
ships, and am.

Your most obedient humble servant to command.
Dated at Hartford, in the Colony of Connecticut, J. TALCOTT.*

in New England, Jan. 12, 11^^.

This is an interesting paper, but nevertheless incomprehen-
sible in several particulars, and not easily reconciled with cer-
tain facts. Its careful perusal suggests several observations.

1. The reader is struck with the smallness of the outstand-
ing balances, from year to 3'ear, particularly during the latter
part of the time previous to 1733. While the currency was
steadily depreciating, the bills outstanding are represented to
be diminishing, running down from £24,1Y7: ll:-4, at the
close of 1713, when it took eight shillings and six pence in
paper to buy one ounce of silver, to £2,553 : 15 : 8, at the
end of 1732, when twenty shillings in bills would purchase
the same amount of silver. In the year last named, the notes
still outstanding were not half equal to the amount called in
by tax during the year. The addition of fifty per centum to
the sinking fund tax, for a single year, would liave provided
means to redeem the whole. What folly to endure the mise-
ries of a depreciated currency, when the remedy was so^easy!

2. I can see no propriety in leaving out of the table the
£49,975: 4 in bills " emitted on loan in 1733," these being as
truly "outstanding," and doing as much to swell the currency,
as the others.

* MSS. in State Librarv — Finance and Currency, 111., S3.

CONNECTICUT CUKKENCY, ETC- 51

3. It will be observed that the animal payment on account
of taxes, and also for interest on the loaned bills, is deducted
from the amount of outstanding bills in order to show the bal-
ance still in circulation. This is as it should be, provided the
receipts were all in Connecticut notes, and these notes were
not again put in circulation. But the pa^yments were made in
any money wdiich was current in ISTew England, and tlie colo-
ny bills, whether from taxes or loans, w^ere paid out again to a
very large extent. Having been deducted as above, and once
more put in circulation, they should have been included in the
annual emissions. But were they thus included? The answer
will appear from what follows : The whole amount of the
authorized emissions down to 1T37, inclusive, was £156,000.
Deducting from this sum the £49,975:4:0, in bills wliich
were loaned, and there remains £10'^",O24: : 1 0 : 0, to be
accounted for in the table. But the table shows a total of
emissions of £119,214 : 12 : 7. This excess of the actual over
the authorized issues, amounting to £13,189:16:7, must be
due to reissues. But is it possible tlie reissues were no great-
er? They certainly were, judging from the acts of the
Assembly. But may not the discrepancy be accounted for by
supposing that a ]»ortion of the £106,024:16:0 in bills was
never emitted, thus leaving a larger balance for reemissions ?

Dr. Trumbull, a conscientious and industrious historian,
whose mistakes must be due to the disadvantages under
which he wrote, describes the period between 1713 and
1730, as a time of much prosperity. No general war scourged
tlie land, and the people were contented and liapp3\ There
was a considerable increase of population, and trade was en-
larged. The colonial finances, the Doctor thinks, w^ere man-
aged with prudence, and the bills of credit suffered " little or
no depreciation."" In this last particular the facts are not in
accordance with the representation. The currency, during
the whole of this period, was, in truth, undergoing a rapid
and fatal depreciation. Pi-oofs of this could be gathered from
the Doctor's own pages. Evidence, too, might be found in the

Hist. Conn., Vol. II., 48, 61, 294.

52 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

course which legislation took — in the rising prices of com-
modities— ill the law to circumvent creditors, and prevent
the " rigorous exaction of money," etc. But there is more
decisive testimony. The old families of that day took pride
in silver tankards and other descriptions of plate. AVhen a
wealthy man died, you might expect to find, in the inventory
of his effects a certain number of ounces of silver ware. This
was valued at so much per ounce in currency. Instances of
the kind, in sufficient number, may be gathered from the
Probate records of New Haven. The following facts have
been obtained from that source. (Uncoined silver was estima-
ted to be worth, in the depreciated coin of that day, at the rate
of eight shillings per ounce, as has already been mentioned.)

1708, September, one ounce of pLate was worth 8s. in currency.

1710, May,

1721, May,

1724, July, ^'

1729, July, " " " IBs. 2d.

1732, May,

17&9, June, •'

1742, December, " " " 26s. 4d.

1742, December, "

174|, February, "

1744, December, "

174|, January, "

These prices of silver, as measured by the paper money of
Connecticut, correspond so closely with the figures in certain
tables in Felt's Massachusetts Currency, and in Belknap's
History of New Hampshire, as to furnish proof, were any
needed, that the depreciation in these several colonies w^as
the same, and that, practically, one currency was common to
all. In other words, the bills of each must have circulated
freely in the others, at a common par value; for it is an axiom of
financial science that two or more currencies of difierent in-
trinsic or exchangeable values cannot circulate together at the
same nominal value. The poorer will drive out the better, and
become the sole medium of exchange, and the accepted stand-
ard of value. This principle, as simple and obvious as it is,
is not yet recognized by the popular mind. People wondered,

bullion "

8s.

plate "

12s.

silver "

16s.

18s.

20s.

26s.

288.

28s.

32s.

(t ■<

82s.

CONNECTICUT CUEEENCY, ETC. 53

twenty months ago, when thej saw "^old going np," as the
phrase is. They wondered still more, a few months later,
when silver change became scarce. When the " nickels "*
disappeared, their astonishment was mingled with indignation.
It was somebody's fault, and the avaricious Jews were de-
nounced, in the customary style. The issue of a few million
of smaller "shin plasters," of the same proportional value as
the larger, cured the difficnlty, and the poor Jews were again
in good standing.

Our own Assembly, as I have already said, authorized the
people, for many years, to pay their county rates in good bills
of the other colonies. This would not have been done had
these bills been worth, in tlie market, either more or less than
the home currency. So soon as the credit of any of these
bills got shaky, as compared with the home standard, they
were discarded. All met with a common fate at last.

The current coin, as I have already stated, was worth only
eight shillings per ounce. It was by this standard that silver
bullion was measured, and with which bills of credit were
compared. Reckoned by the accepted standard, bills wdiich were
at par in 1710, gradually depreciated till 1714, when it took nine
shillings in currency to purchase an ounce of silver. Up to this
period and after 1703, it is estimated that Massachusetts had
emitted £191,000 ; while up to the same period Connecticut had
emitted (not counting issues in way of exchange, or re-issues,)
say, £38,000, Rhode Island £13,300. In 1724, Massachusetts
had, (see Felt, page eighty,) out of a total issue of £397,006 :
0 : 1, £201,201 : 10 : 10 in circulation; while, in the begin-
ning of the same year, Connecticut had emitted in all, (leaving
out bills exchanged and re-issued,) say, £52,929 : 8 : 6, and had

* Since the above was written, I have inquired into the intrinsic vaUie of
nickel cents. According to the New American Cyclopedia, they are composed
of twelve per cent, nickel and eighty-eight per cent, copper. Supposing the
former metal to be worth three dollars per pound, and the latter forty cents,
(about their present prices,) the nickel cent is worth, for the metals it contains.
about six and two-thirds mills, in currency. According to this, those who witli-
drew them from circulation were mistaken as to their intrinsic value. As I un-
derstand it, the mint is still coining them. (This note was written in January, 1864.)

54 CONNECTICUT CUERENCY. ETC.

in circulation, according- to a report made to the British gov-
ernment, in ITff, £10,831 : 18 : 7. Comparing tlie two colo-
nies, the former had twelve times as many outstanding bills of
credit as the latter, while its population was about one half
greater. It is true that the Massachusetts people were richer and
of a more commercial character than those of Connecticut, and
needed more currency on that account. But making every
proper allowance, it ma,y be safely charged that the deprecia-
tion of the circulating medium in 1724, when silver was
worth sixteen shillings and six pence per ounce, or more than
two for one, and for several years afterwards, was chiefly owing
to the reckless imprudence of Massachusetts. Connecticut
w^as traveling the same dangerous road, trotting after the
Bay horse in her modest way, but yet having the good sense
to keep far in the rear. Her position w^as, doubtless, in part,
owing to the agricultural pursuits and traditional habits of her
people. They were free from some of the vices of more com-
mercial ^and " progressive " populations. " They were," says
Dr. Douglass, " a colony of sagacious, laborious husbandmen,"
governed " by men of wisdom and probity."* They did not
ride fast horses, knew of no royal road to wealth, and till cor-
rupted by paper money, were not given to speculation.

It is easy to understand how the apparent prosperity, of
which Dr. Trumbull speaks, might be favored by a depreciat-
ing currency. Whilst tliis depreciation is going on, there is
an unceasing flow of wealth from the pockets of one class
of society to those of another — a transfer of values from
the creditor to the debtor interest. This is done by the
magic influence of paper money — a kind of money which
has no intrinsic worth, and which represents no labor and
no certain value. If a farmer sell his corn, oats and hay
for so many pounds in a currency which will exchange for one
hundred ounces of silver, or one hundred days labor, and gets
his pay when his pounds will purchase but fifty ounces, ecpiiv-
alent to fifty days labor, he is defrauded of half his crop. All
those who take notes, bonds, mortgages and other securities,

* Summary, I. 508. II. 15, 20.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 65

pa)'able at a futui"e day, in money, as well as those who live
on fixed salaries and annuities, are defrauded in a similar
manner. Thus property passes out of the hands of those who
have obtained it by industry and good management, and is
delivered over to enrich, without effort or sacrifice on their
part, , a very different class. Under these circumstances, the
more a man owes for value received, the better he is off. If
he can borrow to an adequate extent, and his debts become
sufiiciently large, he may come out a nabob in wealth. And
when borrowers and adventurers become opulent, things be-
gin to move. That country is always outwardly prosperous
where debtors are living at the expense of their creditors, or
where speculators, by means of depreciated and depreciating
notes, can control the earnings and products of the industri-
ous classes. But prosperity of this kind is never real, never
durable. Connecticut paid dearly for all the thrift she got out
of her paper money. The day of reckoning came at last !

It is when a redundant currency is being reduced, and the
people are endeavoring to get back upon a specie basis, that
manifest a wide spread distress prevails. It is then that
the nominal pound or dollar becomes more and more valuable,
representing more and more labor. Money appreciates, or,
what amounts to the same thing, everything else depreciates.
Paper values melt away, property shrinks in proportion to the
currency, goods bought at a high figure must be sold at a
sacrifice, and the financial world is threatened with sliip-
wreck. Under these circumstances, everybody wants to sell
for cash. The sellers rush into market, eacli trying to escape
loss, and each seeming conscious that the devil takes the hind-
most. Of course there are no Iniyers, and prices go down,
down. Confidence is destroyed, those who owe money cannot
get it, and many men who fancied themselves rich return to
nothingness. During all this time, wealth would flow from
the debtor to the creditor class, but the numerous failures stop
the current, and the latter are rarely gainers. It is in the
bankruptcy, repudiation, and general chaos which wind up a
financial crisis that we may best read the true nature of
paper money inflations.

56 CONNECTICDT CURKENCY, ETC.

CHAP TEE IV.

NEW TENOR EMISSIONS. GREAT DEPRECIATION.

In May, 1740, it required twenty-eight shillings in paper to
buy an ounce of silver, and Connecticut undertook the work
of reform. And it is curious that the same expedient was
fallen upon that had been repeatedly tried, without success,
by Massachusetts.* The remedy was sought in the same di-
rection whence the evil had come, to wit : in novel legislation,
and new emissions of paper, on the principle " similia similibus
curantur." The public mind had been debauched by a depre-
ciated currency, and there was not, at this stage, virtue or firm-
ness enough for any reform which required self-sacrifice. The
authorities preferred to go on in their downward career, enact-
ing impotent laws, and fulminating " bulls against the comet."
As the result of their deliberations, the Assembly ordered that
£30,000 should be emitted, in value from one shilling to three
pounds, giving as a reason the charges of the expedition to
the West Indies, &c., and the "great scarcity of a medium of
exchange, the same bearing a very small proportion to the ex-
tent of the demand therefor." The bill was to read as follows :

No.
This Bill, by a law of the Colony of Connecticut, shall pass current within the
same for twenty shillings, in value equal to silver at eight shillings per ounce,
Troy weight, sterling alloy, in all payments, and in the Treasury. Hartford,
May 8th, 1740.

A.)

B. Y Committee.

" Said bills [continues the Act] shall pass current in tliis
Colony in all payments and in the Treasury, equal to the value
therein expressed, excepting for the discharge of former con-

* Felt on Massachusetts Currency, p. 64.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 57

tracts by speciality for silver." £8,000 of the sum were to
be employed for discharging the public debts, to be paid out
as equivalent to silver at eight shillings per ounce. At the
same time, a sinking fund tax of £8,400 was laid, payable
within five years, in five equal annual installments, the same
to be paid in bills of this issue at one shilling in the pound ad-
vance, or in silver money at eight shillings the ounce, or in gold
equivalent, or in colony bills of other issues at their value in
silver at eight shillings. And to make everything fast without
the aid of further legislation, the Treasurer was directed to
send forth his warrants, at the proper times, for the collection
of the tax. The remaining £22,000 were to be loaned to free-
holders of the Colony, in sums of not under twenty-five nor over
one hundred pounds, on mortgage security of double value, or
on bond with two sureties, at three per cent, annual interest, the
principal redeemable half in four and half in eight years, to
be paid in the bills of this act, " or in good silver at eight shil-
lings per ounce, or gold equivalent, or in any bills of public
credit of this or the neighboring governments passing current
in this Colony, according to their current value in silver, at
the rate aforesaid, at the time of pajanent, or in good water
rotted hemp, or well wrought canvass or duck raised and man-
ufactured according to * * * a law of this colony, * *
at the current market price of such hemp, duck or canvass in
silver aforesaid.""'

Several months later, a letter dated July fifth, 17-iO, w^as re-
ceived by the government from the Lords Commissioners of
Trade and Plantations, requiring the amount and tenor of its
bills of credit, asking an opinion as to the best mode of sink-
ing them, and censuring the legal tender provision. At a
special session of the Assembly in November, an answer was
prepared, which is spread upon the record. It is written in a
spirit of loyalty and submission, and is an important document,
as will be seen hj the quotations:

In obedience to your order of the 20th of May hist, an account of bills emitted
■was sent, to which reference is made. * * * * About £3,000 of loaned

* See the mortgages on record in New Haven.

5^ CONNECTICUT CURRKNCY, LTC.

bills were drawn in for interest foi- the year 1740, and the whole of tlie said loaned
hills will be discharged by 1742, and the bills that were outstanding in 1739, are
near or quite sunk by the taxis of 1738 and 1739. * * *

Your Lnrdships will see, by the laws herewith transmitted, the teuor of the
several bills of credit issued in this government, and the amount of the old tenor
bills, in mono}' of Great Britain, by the account, we conclude you have received
from the Massachusetts, to which we humbly refer your Ijordships, as in the
aforementioned accounts is expressed; and the amount of the new tenor bills is
discovered by the form of tlie bill.

We do further acquaint your Lordships that the emission of £4,000, old teuor,
and £8,000 new tenor bills, in May last, and £10,000 bills of the old tenor in
July last were all granted in compliance with his Majesty's instructions to this
government respecting the expedition to the Spanish West Indies, and for the
necessary defence of this government, without which it was impracticable for
this government to answer his Majesty's instructions. And (hat the £:2'2,0u0 new
tenor bills which were ordered to be loaned to suj^ply our want of a medium of
exchange, is ordered to be paid in, the one half in four, aud the other in eight
years, and that the bills loaned and to be discharged by the year 1742, and the
said £22,000 are the only bills ever loaned by this government.

We also signify to ytair Lordships, that the most easy and effectual manner
of sinking and discharging said bills, according to your Lordships? letter, is, in
our opinion, to sink and discharge the same in the manner provided in the sev-
eral acts passed for the emission thereof, to which we refer your Lordships, by
which j'our Lordships will see that the said bills will be gradually drawn in and
sunk; which method we think will be least prejudicial to the inhabitants of this
government and interruption to the commerce of the Kingdom.

We do also further acquaint j'our Lordships that the act of May last for the
emission of £.30,000 bills of a new tenor, which made it obligatory on all per-
sons to take the said bills in payment of debts, dues, &c., was truly made with
an honest and real intent to prevent the said bills from depreciating, which we
was the rather induced to by the example of our neighboring government of
New York, who, we are informed, by such an act, in a great measure have pre-
vented tlieir bills from discounting, and we were not then in the least apprehen-
sive that the inserting such a clause in that act of May last, was any way incon-
sistent with or contrary to the act of the sixth year of her late Majesty, Queen
Anne, entitled A71 act for ascertaining the rates of foreign coin in her ^fajcst»/'s
Plantations in America, having then had no intimations of his Majesty's inten-
tions, nor of the sense of the House of Commons on that occasion; and as soon
as possible after the receipt of your Lordship's letters, we have repealed that
clause of the act of May last, which made it obligatory on all persons to take
said bills in paj'meut as aforesaid, as your Lordships will see by the act of this
Court, passed at the present session for repealing the said clause.

And on the whole, we conclude your Lordships will be of opinion that we
have not granted large and frequent emissions of paper currency, and if com-
pared with what some other colonies have done, will appear to be a small pro-
portion, and we do assure your Lordships that we shall take effectual care, as
mucli as in us lies, to pay all due regard to his Majesty's intentions, and to the
sense of the House of Conmions on this occasion.

CONNECTICDT CUERENCY, ETC. 59

"While the lei^al tender dause was repealed, the Assembly
M^as seemingly desirous of withdrawing the new bills from cir-
culation. The Treasurer was directed, as he had opportunity,
to exchange old tenor bills of this or the neighboring govern-
ments for new tenor, giving in the proportion of two and a
half for one. This was to be done during the future sessions
of the Assembly. But notwithstanding this apparent eager-
ness to conform to his " Majesty's intentions," those in author-
ity took good care that the intention of the laws enacted to
supply "a medium of exchange" should not be frustrated.
The business of putting out on mortgage the £22,000 in loan
bills went on as before, as the town records of New Haven
prove. By October, 174:1, when the exchange above referred
to was to begin, a large proportion were probably in circulation.
The practice of loaning out again any bills received on account
of the old mortgages of 1733, was also continued, as I infer
from the same record. From these facts we may conclude
that the Assembly had no very earnest desire to get in their
loaned bills, or to undo anytliii:g that had been done. In con-
firmation of this view, it may be stated that the payment of
the mortgage notes due in 1741, 1742 and 1744 seems to have
been postponed.* I do not find, on record, any release deeds
froiTL the Colony indicating payment, between May, 1741, and
May, 1746. In May, 1743, a committee reported to the As-
sembly that there were due to the Governor and Company, on
the first loan, £36,270 : 16 : S^, in old tenor, and on the last
loan, £6,671 : 4 : 8, in new tenor. In June, 1747, alike report
stated that the first loan amounted to £55,886 : 10 : 7, old ten-
or, and the last to £24,687:4: 7|, new tenor. In September,
1752, the first sum had been reduced to £665 : 10 : 6, and the
last to £11,120 : 6 : 2|-. The loan mortgages had not all been
paid up in February, 1757, and the mortgagors were to be sued.

One fact, well understood now, was not recognized as an
important theoretical principle, a century and a quarter ago.

* It will be remembered that the Assembly, when inquired of by the Lords of
Trade as to the best manner of sinking their bills, replied that they would be
most easily and effectually discharged " in the manner provided in the severfil
acts passed for the emission thereof."

00 CONNECTICUT CDRRENCY, ETC.

Our frttliers knew, empirically, that largo additions to the
currency, someliow, produced a diminislied value of the units
composing it ; but they did not perceive distinctly liow the
facts were connected — how the observed effect was brought
about. They did not comprehend the great truth that the
whole currency of a country, for the time being, has a deter-
minate and uniform value, and that this value is not changed
by increasing or diminishing its volume. Indeed, neither its
volume or value will be altered by adding to or taking from it,
so long as the currency represents labor, and foreign commerce
is permitted. If, when the foreign exchanges rule at par,
which is certain evidence that a country has its just propor-
tion of money, and all that it needs for its business, you pour
into the channels of circulation any additional quantity of
coin, it will not be absorbed or incorporated with the mass,
but will flow outward to find a market in other lands.
This truth is well illustrated by the gold movement of Cali-
fornia. The domestic wants of the State having been once
supplied, the whole of its immense product is shipped abroad
like an article of merchandise. Nor can the currency be dan-
gerously inflated by anything which represents a nearly
uniform amount of labor. You may convert all the agricul-
tural products in the country into a circulating medium, and
make them a legal tender at fixed rates, and there will be no
expansion and no rise of prices, unless, indeed, these products
are overvalued. The moment they should fail to exchange for
all they were worth in a labor-currenc}', they would cease to
be used as money, or as a means of paying debts, and be sent
to market as commodities. In this Wciy they could not fail
to bring a fair equivalent.

But the fact is diflerent when the currency is made of paper.
Paper money has no intrinsic value. It costs nothing and
represents no labor. Nevertheless, it may be made to take
the place of coin, and, if issued with sufticient freedom, it
will drive all the specie out of circulation. At the same
time, if no more paper pounds or dollars are emitted than are
necessary to displace the gold and silver coins of the same de-
nomination ; in other words, if there are the same number of

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 61

pounds or dollars in circulation as before the substitution, the
foreign exchanges will not be affected, and the currency will
not be depreciated. The paper pounds, though of no intrinsic
worth, will have an exchangeable value equal to the coins
which have disappeared. This value, however, cannot be aug-
mented. But the volume of a paper currency may be in-
creased, indefinitely. Any addition made to it, being worth
something as money but nothing for exportation and nothing
as a commodity, will not be withdrawn. On the contrary, it
will combine with it, swelling the mass in proportion to the
quantity. You may double a currency of paper, or ten fold
it ; but when this is done, the whole will buy no more, and in
this sense will be no more valuable than before. If a million
pounds in silver or gold be the exact amount which has
been displaced by notes, these notes, whatever their number
or denominations, will have a current exchangeable value of
one million pounds. This is the law. And in this particular,
paper lAoney differs wholly from metallic or other money
which is the product of labor ; inasmuch as the latter has a
value distinct from its uses as a currency, and may always be
disposed of as commodity without loss. Thus, a circulating
medium which represents a nearly uniform amount of labor
cannot be dangerously inflated, nor will it turn to ashes in the
hands of its possessor.

When the lawgivers of Connecticut emitted, in 1733,
£50,00U, and in 1740, £49,000, in bills of credit, they in-
creased the volume, but not the value or efficiency of the gen-
eral currency. They did not even relieve, except for the
moment, the pretended " scarcity of money." They aug-
mented the number of pounds, but each pound represented a
proportionally smaller amount of coin, and would command
an equally smaller amount of the comforts and luxuries of life.
They altered, arbitrarily and wickedly, the standard of all
values, and, m effect, compelled him who had contracted for
one currency to take his pay in another. He who had agreed
to give four days' labor discharged the debt witJi two or three.
By a process of legislative juggling, property was transferred
from the creditor to the debtor interest — wrested from the

63 CONNECTICl'T CUEEKNCT, ETC.

productive classes and bestowed, by tlie foulest injustice, on
adventurers and. speculators. And wliat the Colonial Assem-
bly did in 1733 and 1740, the United States Congress re-
peated in 1862, 1863 and 1864.

The ex])edient which is at this day adopted in every well or-
dered o'overnnient to prevent the depreciation of notes allowed
to circulate as money, is to make them convertible, at the will
of the holder, into coin. So long as this convertibility is
preserved they cannot, theoretically speaking, be issued in
excess. The moment the currency becomes redundant, and
the notes suffer the slightest depreciation, they return to their
issuers to be redeemed in specie, and thus the volume of paper
is reduced. But in practice, this system does not prevent im-
portant and even disastrous fluctuations; and the problem still
is. How may Ave get the benefits without the evils of a paper
circulation ?

The threatening attitude of the royal government in 1740,
appears to have checked the emissions of paper money for four
years. In the meantime, the Assembly felt constrained to do
something to better the currency. They saw^ that all attempts
to prevent depreciation had hitherto failed, but were not yet
prepared to withdraw their bills from circulation. They con-
sulted tlie Solons and Lycurguses of Massachusetts, and once
more put the colony nag upon the trotting course. Having
(they say) been enjoined and commanded by the Lords Jus-
tices of the Regenc,y, August 21, 1740, to take efl'ectual care
that the act of Queen Anne's reign should be "punctually and
hovaficle observed, an.d put in execution,'" in compliance with
which act the same was published with the laws of 1740, the
"currencies notwithstanding continuing very unstable," they
therefore resolved [May, 1742,] that coined silver, sterling
alloy, shall pass at six shillings and eight pence per ounce in
all business, trade, &c., and shall be lawful money — that after
the first of January then ensuing, all bargains, contracts, &c.,
shall be deemed and taken (unless otherwise expressed,) to be
made in money at the value aforesaid — that the courts shall
give judgment in lawful money as defined by this act, — and
that bills issued or to be issued, shall be regulated by the same

CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC. 63

standard according, to their current value, this to be declared
from time to time by the Assembly.

This law, gotten up in imitation of one passed by Massachu-
setts, in 1741,* seems to have restored, in a modified form, t,he
tender provision, making notesf good money at their true
value, coin being the standard. Nor did it answer any desired
purpose. For this reason, and for others which are refen-ed to
as "adverse constructions," and "great inconveniences," the
act was repealed in May, 1744. The truth is, probably, it was
found to be oppressive to debtors. It not only compelled them
to pay in a metallic currency or its equivalent, instead of bills,
but it practically raised the standard of silver money. Accord-
ing to the law, an ounce of metal was to be equal to six shil-
lings and eight pence, instead of eight shillings, the old current
rate. The measure must have been unpopular — an atiiiction
to the numerous debtor class, and to all those whose thrift was
dependent on a depreciated currenc}^

The war with Spain continued. Early in 1741, France
joined in the contest against England, her " natural enemy,"
and America became the theater of important transactions.
New England (Gov. Shirley taking the lead) projected a secret
expedition against Louisburg (Cape Breton,) the strongest fort-
ress in America. By a fortunate coml^ination of accidents, it
succeeded. The colonies were put to great expense, and in
the dilapidated condition of their finances, they had no resort
but to paper money. Connecticut emitted, in May, 1744,
£4,000; in October of the same year, £15,000; in March,
174A, £20,000 ; in July, 1745, £20,000, and in May, 1746,
£20,000, all new tenor, the bills ranging from one shilling to
three pounds, each emission bearing the date of the Assembly
authorizing it, and each secured by a sinking fund tax, pay-
able in from seven to fourteen years, in new tenor bills, at the
advance, or in something equivalent.

* Hutchinson, I., 361. By tlie Massachusetts law, the oldest counselors, one
fi'om a county, met once a year to ascertain the depreciation of the bills.

f I have occasionally termed bills of credit notes of circulation, or notes, in
accordance with present custom. This is not in conformity with the practice of
our fathers. Till after the Revolution, promises to pay, intended for money, were
always called bills of credit. Other promissory engagements were named notes.

6-1: CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

At the same date as the last emission, (May, 17-16,) £3,000
were ordered to be struck off, in small bills, from two to five
shillings, with " the date of this Assembly," from the old plate,
a tax being laid as before. (I suppose these were old tenor
bills.) After this the government printing press was allowed
an interval of rest, no other issues being authorized for eight
years.

It was expected that these large emissions of colony bills
would be tolerated by the British government, in consequence
of the greatness of the emergency. And as Lonisburg was
taken, its capture being the most important success of the war,
it was not doubted that Parliament would refund the expense
of the expedition, and thus render it unnecessary to collect the
heavy taxes which had been levied.

In May, 1747, the Assembly, getting a glimpse of the gulf
which was before them, and conceiving that the bills of the
neighboring governments, which circulated " promiscuously "
with theirs, had the effect to depreciate the colony notes, enacted
that thenceforth the bills of this colony only, or gold or silver,
should be received for court or jury fees, imposts, duties, excise,
&c., into the Treasury. At the same time, all bonds, notes,
&c., made payable after the ensuing first day of October, in
bills of the adjoining governments, or of New York, were
made void. But this last clause in the act was soon repealed.

The war closed in April, 1748 ; but the enormous issues of
paper money growing out of the contest, gave a fatal blow to
the currency. Rhode Island is reported to have had in circu-
lation in the beginning of 1744, £440,000.* Massachusetts,
says Gov. Hutchinson, emitted during the last years of the war,
between two and three million pounds. Connecticut issued
in the same period, £82,000, and during the war, £131,000.
In the latter sum are included all the new tenor issues, amount-
ing to £109,000.

* Felt, p. 115. I think the sum named must be an exaggeration. The Mer-
chants' Magazine, Vol. XX., p. 90, quoting from Sparks, says that Rhode Island
had emitted in 1149, not less than £335,300, of which .£135,00 were still out-
standing, in one form or another. The last sums are probably too small ; that re-
lating to emissions certainly is. I have not seen Potter's pamphlet on the cur-
rency of Rhode Island.

CONNECTICTTT CUKKENCY, ETC. 65

These last emissions broke the camel's back. The credit of
the colonial governments was utterly prostrated. An ounce of
silver which, in 1739, could be bought for twenty-eight shil-
lings in paper, and in 1744, thirty-two shillings, cost, in 1749,
fifty-five or sixty shillings. Trade was embarrassed, and the
utmost confusion prevailed. No safe estimate could be made
as to the future, and credit was almost at an end. No man
could safely enter into a contract which was to be discharged
in money at a subsequent date. Prudence and sagacity in the
management of business were without their customary reward.
All values, as measured by paper money, were uncertain.
The public mind was demoralized, so to say ; public and pri-
vate justice was forgotten. Doubt and suspicion took the
place of confidence, and men were afraid to trust one another.
If a man had goods to sell, he asked an extra price to cover
the risks of the currency. At the same time, bills of credit
circulated briskly, giving support to an active cash trade.
Those having them, fearing their fingers would be burned, got
rid of them speedily.* Desiring more substantial property,
they would ofier increasing prices till somebody would take
them. This impatience of holding always gives poor money a
lively circulation : and the poorer it is, so long as it will pass,
the quicker it moves.

The new issues, called new tenor, instead of benefiting the
currency and preventing depreciation, had a disastrous eftect.
They damaged the old emissions, produced new complications,
introduced more confusion, and sunk rapidly in value. A
break-down, through their agency, became necessary. In the
expectation, however, that they would fare better in the
general wreck, they did not sink so low as the old emissions.
They came finally to be worth in the proportion of one to
three and a half, one shilling new tenor being equal to three
shillings and six pence old tenor. They were never used as
the ordinary medium of exchange. Accounts were kept, and
payments made, as previously, in old tenor. If new tenor bills

» Hutchinson, II., 391.'

6G CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC.

were employed, in a business transaction, these were convert-
ed, by multiplication, into old tenor.

CHAPTER V.

DOWNFALL OF PAPER MONEY. THE SPECIE STANDARD RE-
SUMED.

After the war, a plan was proposed by Thomas Hutchinson
of Massachusetts, then Speaker of the House, and an influen-
tial member of the hard money party, for redeeraina: the bills
of that ProvincQ. After much opposition, and a final hair-
breadth escape in the House, it was adopted by the Assembly,
and approved by the Governor. The law was passed in Jan-
uary, 1748, and required that the money expected from En-
gland to reimburse the Colony for the expenses incurred in the
capture of Louisburg, &c., should be appropriated to such re-
demption. In September, 1749, the money arrived, consisting
of "653,000 ounces of silver and ten tons of copper," equal,
(says Drake, in his History and Antiquities of Boston, page
622,) to £183,649 : 2:7^. According to Felt, the commission-
ers, in closing their labors, in June, 1751, reported that they had
redeemed, in all, £1,792,236 : 5 : 6— £50,705 : 6 : 8, old tenor bills,
£38,431 : 7 : 0, middle tenor, and £1,703,099 : 11 : 5, new tenor
— " at the rate of about one in specie to ten in paper,"* or in
New England money, one to seven and a half. In other
words, one ounce of silver was given for fifty shillings in bills,
or a Spanish dollar for forty-five shillings. Two years later,

* Felt's Mass. Currency, p. 124. All the above sums seem to be stated iu old
tenor, one shilling of the new, or middle tenor, being' reckoned as equal to four
shillings, old tenor.

CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC. 07

£131,996:3:9, in old tenor, were still in the hands of the
people.

And now Connecticut, unwilling to be left behind, began to
think of another equestrian performance. She was also de-
sirous of averting threatened and hostile legislation in the
British Parliament. In May, 17-19, the Assembly passed a
law of the following purport : — All allowances of sterling
money by the Parliament towards reimbursing the expeases of
this Colony in the late expedition to Cape Breton, and such as
may be made for expenses in the late intended expedition
against Canada, are hereby fully appropriated to the calling
in, exchanging, sinking and discharging the now outstanding
bills of credit made and issued by the Colony, the bills receiv-
ed to be burned to ashes. One half of the bills of exchange
drawn for said allowances was to be sold for bills of public
credit, the other half for silver coin. " When the coined silver
procured fur the sales of said bills of exchange shall be fully
paid and lodged in the hands of the Treasurer, he is hereby
directed to pay the same out in exchange for the bills of credit,
at the same rate that the said silver money is received and
accounted for in the sale of said bills of exchange, and such
bills of credit brought in and redeemed by such exchange "
are to be burned to ashes. To provide for the remainder of
the bills, three three penny taxes were levied, payable on
the first day of May in the years 1751, 1752, and 1753. The
taxes were to be paid in old or new tenor bills — three and six
pence of the former being reckoned as equal to one shilling
of the latter — or in Spanish milled dollars, or pieces-of-eight,
at thirteen shillings and nine pence each, new tenor. Out of
the proceeds of each of said taxes, £9,000, new tenor, were to
be burned. At the same session, the Governor was requested
to write to Eliakira Potter, agent of the Colony at the Court
of Great Britain, to inform him of the act which had been
passed, and to say that the colonial government had never
made large emissions of bills of credit till lately, when it had
been done solely on account of his Majesty's service — that the
money allowed by Parliament had been fully appropriated for
the purpose of calling in said bills, and that this mone}^,

68 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

together with the taxes wliich had been levied, would sink all
the outstauding bills. And the Governor was to signify to Mr,
Potter a grateful sense of his services in his vigorous opposition
to the bill " before Parliament relating to paper currencies,
which seems to have a threatening aspect on our liberty and
privileges granted by charter, especially as it would invest the
Governor of the Colony with a power to negative all acts
passed by our Assembly " — and at the same time, to desire him
to continue to oppose the act, and " endeavor a speedy pay-
ment of the money granted to us for the expenses of the late
expedition to Cape Breton," &c.

In May, 1750, the Assembly ordered that the bills of ex-
change on England should not be sold to or drawn in favor of
any person not now a settled inhabitant of the Colony, and as
a sop to the English merchants, it was further ordered that the
purchaser of the bills should buy with them merchandise in
Europe, At the same time, the committee in charge of this
business was to sell £10,000 in said bills, the buyer to give
bonds to pay for the same, one-half in coined silver, at the rate
of five shillings and four pence per ounce, or its equivalent in
gold, and the other half in outstanding bills, on or before May,
1754, with three per cent, annual interest payable in coin.
Thus the time for redeeming the last of the bills was put oif
for no good reason that is apparent. Doubtless, the govern-
ment was willing to delay the business as long as possible.
Perhaps the intention was to defer it till certain taxes, origi-
nally levied for sinking the bills, became due. Beyond this
period, the time could not, with any decency, be extended.
Thus the costly benefits of a wretched paper nioney system
were continued, and the evils apprehended from a change
postponed. The public mind was infatuated, and could not
view with composure the contemplated reforms.

As introductory to the proposed change in the currency, the
Assembly enacted, in October, 1750, that all fines, fees, penal-
ties, duties, forfeitures, fares, &c., mentioned in any act, should
be payable in proclamation money. At the same time, said
fines, &c., might be discharged by an equivalent in colony
bills, or in bills at their current value, as measured by coin.

CONNECTICUT CUEEENCY, ETC, 69

As I understand it, £800,000 were appropriated by Parlia-
ment, in 1747, to reimburse tlie colonies for their expenses in
the Louisburg expedition.^' Of this sum, Connecticut received
(according to a note which will be found in Drake's History
and Antiquities of Boston, page 622) £28,863 : 19 : 1, supposed
to be sterling money. I have not been able to make out this
fact from our own records in the state offices in Hartford. Of
this amount, £10,000 appear to have been drawn for before the
middle of the year 1750, and the draft sold on a three years
credit. Bills of excliange for the remainder were afterwards
disposed of, and " gold, silver, and bills of this colony " receiv-
ed in payment. It was calculated that on " the first day of the
session of the Assembly in May, 1754," the coin produced by
these sterling bills would be all paid into the Treasury. The
records and papers which have come within my reach do not
place the matters under consideration in a very clear light.
With regard to the financial afltairs of the Colony there is an
absence of clear and full statement, which is much to be re-
gretted. Where the data are insecure, I have been cautious in
drawing inferences.

The following report of a committee made to the Assembly
in October, 1751, will show the amount of outstanding bills,
and the condition of the Treasury, at the date mentioned :

" Outstanding bills, in old tenor, £340,218 : 18 : T

Silver in Treasurer's hands at eight shillings (per oz.,) and gold

at £5 : 17 : 6, 1756 : 19 : 3

Bonds due to the Governor & Co., in old tenor, 8,086 : 14: 4

Bonds due the Governor & Co., in old tenor, or bills of the neigh-
boring governments, 5,856 : 7 : 9

Bonds due in silver, at eight shillings for interest, 1,189:7:9

September 6th, 1751."f

In the above report, it will be observed, no new tenor bills
are mentioned, these being, doubtless, converted, as was the
custom, into old tenor, and thus expressed. The statement rel-
ative to the condition of the government, proved that the taxes
levied in May, 1749, together with the moneys gran ted by Par-

* See Arnold's Rhode Island, Vol. II., p, 170. He refers for his authority to
the "Trumbull Papers," Vol. I., p. ?,().
f Finance and Currency, Vol. III., MSS.

70 CONNECTICUT CUKRliNCY, ETC.

liament, were more than suffirnent to redeem the notes still in
circulation. The Assembly therefore ordered that two-thirds
should be abated of the three-penny tax made payable in Octo-
ber, 1751. The same proportion was afterwards abated of that
payable in October, 1 752.

In 1751, the long delayed and much dreaded legislation on
bills of credit, spite the "vigorous opposition" of Mr. Eliakim
Potter, was consummated in the English Parliament. The law
passed applied to his " Majesty's colonies or plantations of
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, Mas-
sachusetts Bay, and New Hampshire," and declared that after
the twenty-ninth day of September, 1751, it should not be law-
ful for the governors, lieutenant-governors, &c., of these several
colonies to make or pass, or give assent to the making or pass-
ing, any act whereby bills of credit should be created or issued
under any pretense, or whereby said bills should be reissued, or
the time set for their redemption extended — every such act to
be void. All outstanding bills were to be called in within
the periods named by the acts emitting them, unless said
acts had been altered, &c. ; and in case any borrower of loan-
ed bills should fail, a tax was to be levied for the deficiency.
Acts creating bills for the expenses of the current year, not
to run over two years, were excepted from the operation of this
law. The law was not to extend to paper bills emitted in ex-
traordinary emergencies, as in the case of invasion, a fund hav-
ing been established for sinking the same within five years.
Said allowed bills were in no case to be legal tender. And
should any governor, &c., assent to a law in violation of this
act, he was to be dismissed from ofiice, sa:id assent to be void.*

This legislation, considering the insufliciency of milder meas-
ures, was no more stringent than should have been expected,
and no more so, probably, than was necessary to secure the
end. By acting more directly upon the governors, it seems
designed to save, as much as possible, the pride of the colonists.
So far as Connecticut was concerned, however, the penalty of
removal from office did not apply. Her governors had no neg-

« Statutes at Large, XXIV., Geo. II., Cap. 53.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 71

ative in legislative proceedings, nor was the power conferred
till given by the Constitution of 1818.

In May, 1752, the currency had become an intolerable nui-
sance, and there are signs tliat many of the people were getting
impatient of government delay. The course wliich Rhode
Island pursued was bitterly denounced. While Connecticut
was endeavoring to draw in her bills, her enterprising neigh-
bor was making new and large emissions to fill the void. John
Ledyard and twenty-five others, merchants and traders of Hart-
ford County, petitioned the Legislature for relief. Tliey utter-
ed words of wisdom and truth, not often heard at that day,
when they said : — "As the medium of trade is that whereby
our dealings are valued and weighed, we cannot but think it
ouglit to be esteemed of as sacred a nature as any weights and
measures whatsoever, and in order to maintain justice must be
kept as stable ; for as a false weight and a false balance is an
abomination to the Lord, we apprehend a false and unstable
medium is equally so, as it occasions as mucli iniquity, and is
at least as injurious." They, at the same time, complained of
the Rhode Island bills, and prayed " that the medium of trade
may be rendered stable for time to come, and that the just
value of our now outstanding debts may be secured to us."
Chauncey and Elisha Whittlesey and twenty-seven others of
New Haven County, also sent in a memorial. They represent-
ed themselves as suiferers from a depreciated currency, feared
that the trade of the Colony would be ruined, and prayed that
the bills of Rhode Island might no longer be tolerated.

The Assembly agreed to support the memorialists, and an act
was passed (in May, 175^) putting the notes of Rhode Island
under the ban of tlie government. It applied to those emitted
after the twenty-fifth day of December, 1750. Tlicse were de-
clared not current, and debts, contracts, &c., could not be dis-
charged with them, except by previous agreement when payment
was made within the time specified.

The colony bills brought in by taxes, &c,, appear to have
been paid out again to meet the wants of the government till
May, 1753, when the Assembly directed the Treasurer to do so
no longer, " on any occasion ;" but, instead, to defray the pub-

72 CONNECTICFT CURRENCY, ETC.

lie charges by tlie payment of " £1,500, lawful silver money,
bought in for the interest on the last emission of loan, and no
more." This was an important step in the right direction, and
looks as if reform was at least desired.

In September, 1752, as appears from the Treasurer's book,
£63,233 : 9 : 1, (reckoned in old tenor and including a small
sum in counterfeits,) in bills which had been received from nu-
merous individuals in payment or part payment of bills of ex-
change sold, were " consumed to ashes."

Connecticut's delay in redeeming her bills of credit, proved
to be a source of great embarrassment. Before her arrange-
ments were completed, she and her sister colonies were involv-
ed in another war, fierce and destructive, with France. Active
hostilities commenced in the beginning of 1755, though no
declaration of war was made till May, 1756. In March, 1755,
the Assembly met (for the second time in that year) to act upon
certain proposals of Governor Shirley tonching the war. Ex-
traordinary zeal was manifested, and a vote passed to raise one
thousand men. But there was the greatest difficulty in pro-
viding for the extraordinary expenses of the government, and
a scheme was devised to liberate the coin then in the Treasury
which had been appropriated for the redemption of the out-
standing bills of credit. Five thousand pounds in gold and
silver were to be paid out, while certificates, or interest bear-
ing Treasury notes, were to be issued to the public creditors,
according to the following regulations :

Possessors of bills of credit of this Colony, who bring them to a committee
appointed by the Assembly, to have for them orders on the Treasury for silver or
gold, payable in 1756, 1757 and 1758, one-third in each year, with lawful inter-
est— tiie form of the orders to be [as follows:]
To the Treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut for the time being —

Pay unto or his order ounces pennyweights and

grains of coined silver, Troy weight, sterling alloy, or gold equivalent, on
or before the first day of May, , with the lawful interest from the date here-

of until paid.

By order of the Assembly at Hartford, March thirteenth, 1755. Dated the
day of , A. D.

> Covimittee.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 73

— The bills so brought in to be burnt. The value of the outstanding bills is
to be computed for every fifty-eight shillings and eight pence, old tenor, one ounce
of coined silver, and for every forty-two pounds of old tenor, one ounce of coined
gold, the new tenor to be computed at the rate of one shilling for three and six-
pence of the old tenor. For provision of payment, a tax is laid of four j^ence on
the pound to be paid by the last of December next, in lawful silver money, or in
gold at the rate mentioned, or the bills of credit issued in January last, or that
may be now emitted by this act,* or in the now outstanding bills of credit of this
Colony either of the new tenor at fourteen shillings and seven pence, or in the
old tenor at fifty-one shillings, for six shillings [a Spanish dollar] lawful money,
or in anj^ of the orders drawn on the Treasurer by the committee appointed to
receive the now outstanding bills of credit, or in pork at fifty-one shillings per
barrel, beef at thirty shillings per barrel, wheat at three and six pence per bushel,
rye at two shillings per bushel, Indian corn at one shilling and nine pence per
bushel, flax at four pence per pound, [deducting the expense of carrying] to
the nearest place of transportation. [Other like taxes were laid, payable in
December, 1756, and December, I'Zo'Z.]!

The outstanding notes, whose payment was postponed by this
act, are understood to have been the last of the old issues. As
they were equal to £5,000 in coin, they must have amounted to
£44,000, old tenor. I am unable to say with certainty that
those previously redeemed were discharged at the same rate as
that fixed for the bills which remained. There was an obvi-
ous propriety in having an uniform rate ; but a government, in
breaking faith with its creditors, is not necessarily governed by
the rules of propriety or consistency.

Though accounts at this time, as a general rule, were still
kept in old tenor currency, there was a frequent reference to
proclamation money as the fixed standard of values. As com-
pared with silver, bills were fluctuating and uncertain. They
not only difiered at difiierent times, but varied as the place va-
ried, at the same time. By frequently making these comjDari-
sons, the people came to understand that it was paper that rose
and fell, or fell to rise no more, while specie was stable. The
changes were so frequent and sudden, that ecclesiastical socie-
ties which had voted their ministers yearly salaries, in current
money, sometimes appointed a committee to alter the sums as

* These were new issues of notes bearing interest and payable in coin, which
will be referred to by and by.

t MSS. Colony Record, Vol. VIII., 265.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

the currency altered, and thus secure an uniform compensa-
tion.*

In the beginning- of 1755, or a little earlier, accounts began
to be kept in "lawful money." When an inventory was put
upon the probate record, there was usually some remark to*
show in what currency the items were valued. If it was taken
in old tenor, a note like the following was added — '* N. B.
proc. money is one equal to eleven ;" that is, eleven shillings
in old tenor bills were worth one shilling in silver, which is at
the rate of eightj^-eight shillings per ounce. The breaking out
of the war with France, and the probable postponement of the
day of redemption, doubtless caused this great additional de-
preciation of bills.f One year later, or early in 1756, "lawful
money," or " proc. money," began to make its appearance in
the account books of private individuals. Wheat was charged
at three shillings and nine pence, or four shillings a bushel,
which just before had been set down at forty-five or forty-
eight shillings. In October of this year, a resolution of the
Assembly informs us that the bills of credit had been reduced
to a " small remainder," and that provision had been made
" that after the first day of November, 1756, all accounts in
this government [would] be kept in lawful mone3\" The Gov-
ernor (Fitch) was desired to advise the governors of New

* History of Waterbury, p. 284.

f The following table, taken from Felt's volume, shows the depreciation of the
currency from 1*710 to 1752, in Massachusetts. It answers equally well for Con-
necticut, and the other New England colonies,
'purchase an ounce of silver, was in
I72i,'

17s.

The amount in bills required to

1710, )

1711, J

1712, )
fl3, j

';!

?ie, [

8s.

9s.

10s.

1714

1716

1716,

1718, lis.

1721, 138.

1722, 148.

1723, 158.

8s. 6d.

1725,

1726,

1727, J

1728,

1729,

1730,

1731,

1732,

173X,

1734,

1735,

1736,

1737,

16s. 6d. to 18s.
19s. to 22s.
21s. to 19s.
189. 6d. to 19s.
19s. Gd. to 20s. 6d.
21s. to 238.
24s. to 27s.
27s. 6d.
87 s. to 26s. 6d
26s. 6d. to 27s.

1738, )

1739, ^■-•2

1740,

1741,]

1742, [

1743,

1744,

1745,

1746,

1747,

1748,

1749,

1750,

1751,

1752,

8s. to 29s.

28s.

35s. to 378.
378. to 403.

COS.

CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC. tO

Hampshire and Khode Island of tliese facts, and to inform
them that there were in the hands of the inhabitants of this
Colony considerable sums of the bills of tlieir respective colo-
nies for which it was hoped " a just and equitable provision "
would be made, notwithstanding " the fixed periods for the
payments of said bills are supposed to be past." Thus " dis-
putes and difficulties betwixt the governments w^ould be pre-
vented," and "the affection and good harmony now subsist-
ing" perpetuated, &c."

Connecticut, then, in redeeming her bills of credit, gave one
ounce of silver for fifty-eight shillings and eight pence in
paper, or at the rate of one shilling for eight shillings and ten
pence. In other words, she paid about one-ninth, and repudi-
ated the remainder, thus falling considerabl}^ below the stand-
ard of her oracle and pattern, Massachusetts. Her design
seems to have been to redeem her bills at the market price.
She measured her duty by her credit, her obligations by her
own poor performances. There was no w^ell meant endeavor
to keep faith with the public creditors ; no attempt, at any
period, to improve the value ot paper money by withdrawing a
part from circulation. So far as it was a simple question of re-
sources, the Colony might, by a system of taxation, liave called
in her bills, and thus have restored the currency and discharg-
ed the whole debt, hi this way, the accepted medium of ex-
change would not (till wholly withdrawn) have been altered,
but only its credit reestal^lished. The amount of the out-
standing bills in October, 1751, reckoned in old tenor, was
£H40,218: 18 : T. By far the greater part of this sum was in
new tenor bills, but the exact proportion I have been unable to
ascertain. Taking the report of the Committee, in 1Y39, and
the siibsequent issues, in old tenor, as the ground for an esti-
mate, there were not, probably, more than <£30,000t of this

* Colony Records, Vol. VII., 322. MSS.

f Of the large amount of loan bills of I'ZSj and 1733, equaling £50,000, there
appear to have been outstanding, in 1752, but £665: 10: 6, (see ante, p. 52.) Out
of so much of the last amount as had been ordered to the end of 1739, including
the £26,000 of 1735, and including all emissions before 17S|, there remained in
circulation, at the first named date, (end of 1739,) only £5,738: 16: 9, (see ante.

76 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

description, in circulation, in 1Y51. But suppose there were
£40,000, in old notes, there would then remain £300,219. To
show the amount of bills which this remainder represented, it
must be reduced to new tenor, or, in other words, divided by
three and a half. We thus get £85,777. This sum, repre-
senting the new tenor bills, added to £40,000 old tenor, makes
£125,777, as the total of outstanding bills. The annual tax re-
quired to redeem this sum by successive installments, paid in
depreciated currency, would at first bear very lightly. Esti-
mated in lawful money, it probably would not have been on an
average, from first to last, more than equal to half the sum
nominally paid. The whole required amount might have been,
say, £62,888. The grand list of the Colony, in 1753, (in-
cluding the " additions," £15,969, and excluding the " four-
fold assessments," £10,300,} was about £1,231,61 3,* property
being valued at an arbitrary rate which had been nearly uni-
form for more than fifty years, and which was fixed when
silver was the measure of value.f Taxes, therefore, amount-

p. 49.) A portion of the bills once withdrawn, may have been again paid out
after 1*739 ; but it will be fair to conclude that, of all the old tenor emissions, there
were not more than £30,000 fit for currency in 1751.

• The population of Connecticut, in 1753, may be estimated, in round num-
bers, at 130,000.

In answer to inquiries by the Board of Trade, a committee stated, in May,
1749, that the population of the Colony was about 70,000, exclusive of 1,000
Blacks and 500 Indians, in all 71,500. This estimate must have been very much
below the truth, as it was probably designed to be. The same committee report-
ed that the number of inhabitants had greatly increased in ten years ; that there
were about 10,000 militia from sixteen to sixty years of age, divided into ten
regiments ; that the Indians were given to idleness and drink ; that the people
were generallj- employed in clearing and tilling, though there were some trades-
men, tanners, shoemakers, tailors, joiners, smiths, carpenters. The trade of the
Colony waa not large. Horses, lumber, and some provisions were sent to the
West Indies and exchanged for sugar, molasses, rum, salt, and bills of exchange.
Surplus provisions were usually sent to Boston, New York and Rhode Island,
where European goods were purchased. There was no foreign trade, though,
before the war, some vessels had visited the Mediterranean. The revenue of the
government amounted to about £9,000, in bills of credit, of which sum £2,000
were for the support of schools. See MSS. entitled Trade and Maritime Affairs,
For. Correspondence, Vol. I., Doc. 165.

f By the code of 1750, the polls of persons " from sixteen years old to
seventy," with certain exceptions, went into the list at eighteen pounds; an ox, at

CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC. 77

ing in the whole to about five and one-tenth per cent, (reckon-
ed in silver) would have sunk the last of the outstanding bills
of credit, and thus have saved (in tlie mercantile sense) the
honor of the government. But if we deduct the money which
was received from England, and which was used as a redemp-
tion fund, amounting to £28,803 : 19 : 1, sterling, or £38,485 :
5 : 3|-, New England currency, taxes equal to less than two
per cent, would have been sufficient. But there were objec-
tions to this course — obstacles in the way of redeeming the
colony bills so long as they were the recognized currency of
the people. The government doubtless did not know the ex-
tent of the difficulty ; but they had a correct appreciation of
the practical consequences of the several possible methods of
proceeding. The debtor class, which had of late governed legis-
lation, could distinguish right from wrong when it came their
turn to suffer. For once, they had sound argument on their
side, and reasons which might well prove decisive.

In the first place, those of the creditor class who liad been
wronged by the progressive depreciation of bills, their sub-
stance having been transferred by installments and without
consideration to the debtor class, would not, as a general rule,
have been made whole by a reversal of the process, and a res-
toration of bills to their original credit and value. A very
large proportion of those who had suffered were dead. Of the
living, very many must have been so efi'ectually stripped that
their interests no longer lay with the creditor class. Indeed,
numbers had doubtless been driven over to the debtor ranks,
and were ready to be again robbed when a contraction of the
currency should take place.

When money is appreciating they that suffer are the debtors.
They are wronged in the same way that creditors are when the
currency is depreciating. They are obliged to pay in a medi-

four pounds ; a cow, three pounds; a horse or mare, three pounds ; house lots of
three acres, twenty sliillings per acre; upland pasture, eight shillings per acre;
meadow lands in Hartford county, fifteen shillings per acre ; do. in the other four
counties, seven shillings and six pence per acre; boggy meadows, five shillings
per acre, &c. It was estimated by a committee, in 1764, that a tax of one penny
on the pound would raise about five thousand pounds.

78 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

um which is becoming daily more valuable ; when the yarci-
stick which measures their goods is growing longer and longer.
Borrowing when paper is worth twenty or forty cents on a
dollar, they must satisfy the debt when it is equal to sixty or
a hundred. In other words, a contract which, when made,
could be discharged for three or six days' work, must be met
by the labor of eight or twelve days. Thus men are condemned
to toil without reward. Thus values are transferred, and the
debtor class is cruelly wronged. In the mean time, creditors
reap a golden harvest ; their gains, so long as they get their
pay, equaling the losses of the other party. They not only re-
ceive what they loaned, what they contracted for, or what in
justice belongs to them, but they obtain an additional sum,
perhaps twice or thrice as much, in a better currency. He
who parted with two days' labor gets, in return, three or five,
and interest. Thus is treasure heaped up at the expense of
debtors. Thus men became rich without toil or sacrifice of
any kind. But their gains have a limit. Debtors are crippled
and finally ruined by a restricted money market. One after
another goes to the wall, till wide spread bankruptcy prevails.
Then gains are made by nobody.

Practically, a greatly depreciated currency can never be re-
stored. And the difliculty, in common cases, does not arise
from the magnitude of the debt, but from the ruin wrought by
a prolonged and increasing money pressure. Nothing so effect-
ually kills off business and cripples industry as a contracted and
still contracting currency. The more active and enterprising
of the people, those who conduct the exchanges of a country,
and are usually more or less in debt, give up in despair. Prices
go down, the bottom falls out, and panic ensues. The loss of
confidence and the apprehension of disaster make matters
worse. Though the contraction proceed after an uniform rule,
the efi'ect will be irregular and spasmodic. No government is
wise enough to manage" a currency which is being forcibly and
very largely reduced. Nor is it strong enough to control the dis-
contents and revolutionary outbreaks which must surely arise.
This is especially so, when it is seen to be itself the cause of all
the mischief, remotely in its reckless issues, and immediately

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 79

in its ruthless measures of contraction. Those who are in-
jured by a pinched money market, and a continued apprecia-
tion of the currency, inchiding the whole debtor class, are
always a large majority of the people. If they cannot coerce
their rulers by their votes, they will find some other way of
controlling them.

A large currency debt is the most unmanageable and incon-
venient form of indebtedness which can afflict a country. It
cannot be increased or diminished without robbing a very large
class of the people. It cannot be withdrawn, w^ith the inten-
tion of restoring its value, without bringing on a tetanic spasm,
and destroying the very sources of wealth. And the danger
to the public interests is greatly increased if the government
happens to owe a large interest-bearing debt — a debt which
was possibly contracted at the highest point of inilation, and
at enormous sacrifice. Let the policy of restriction prevail,
and the yearly interest will become more and more burden-
some. Let what will come, this must or should be paid, in
good solid money, now more valuable than ever ; and at a
time, too, w'hen incomes have nearly disappeared, and when
two or four days' work, two or four bushels of corn, are re-
quired to pay for one. Heavy taxes, at such times, to apply,
perhaps, on the "dead horse" account, and coming as they
do out of capital, not profits, are borne with impatience ; and
if any relief, within easy reach, is to be had, the tax paying
debtors, should they happen to bo voters, will discover it.

Governments are apt in finding out costly ways of raising
money ; but they did not discover the most expensive one till
paper money was invented. And a more dishonest and dishon-
orable method it is difficult to conceive. The wealth of a
country is made the sport of those in authority. Fortunes are
transferred by bits of pictured paper. Thousands are made
rich, and as many impoverished, and a nation is ruined by a
few revolutions of the printing press. The people are swin-
dled by a false measure of value as truly as they would be by
deceptive weights or india-rubber yard sticks. Kulers may
talk in ad ca2)tandum style about the interest which is saved
by notes of circulation ; but they know little whereof they

80 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

speak, and nothing of true econon^y. To save a few thousands,
they break tlie most solemn contracts, change the ownership
of property, and cause the sacrifice of millions. And I here
say nothing of the increased cost of government resulting from
an inflated currency and augmented prices. Paper money, I
am teuipted to say, is the most dangerous invention of modern
times. Popular, insinuating and insidious, it proves, at last, to
be an "infernal machine" which no engineer, guided only by
his discretion, can run safely. No government is sufiiciently
pure or wise to use it without abusing it. It is a power that
had better be prohibited. If allowed, barriers should be
erected and the limits fixed by the fundamental law — a law
which will not yield to (so called) " state necessity."

Connecticut, in discarding the currency she had herself
established, and repudiating her obligations, pursued a prac-
tical and practicable course. She could not compensate the
class which had lost by her faithless and nearly worthless
promises. The attempt to restore her bills to good credit would
have injured, for nobody's good, still another class, and brought
untold calamities upon the whole community. Surrounded by
difficulties, pressed by Parliament, unable to go forward, un-
willing to go backward, discouraged and disgraced, she lay
down in the furrow and declared she could not pay. It was
easier, and, under the circumstances, wiser, to wipe out and be-
gin anew. The plighted public faith, so called, was no obsta-
cle to this course. The sponge was applied to a convenient
extent, and a new system inaugurated. Thenceforth, honesty
became the rule of action, false measures were discarded, and
hard money, the product of hard labor, again became the
standard of value. The practical bankruptcy of the govern-
ment and people made the change comparatively easy. There
can be no shock when nobody pays. It is the persistent
effort to pay in the usual currency when its volume, as com-
pared with the demand, is largely reduced — to pay in a pinch-
ed money market, when the circulating medium is becoming
every day more valuable — which intensifies the pressure, and
brings on a crisis. A general bankruptcy, by greatly dimin-
ishing the number of borrowers, affords relief — relief, I mean.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 81

to the money market. ISTor can there be any stringency wlien
an old currency is repudiated, and a new one takes its place.
There may be vast suffering ; estates may be lost and won ; but
the change may take place quietly, and without financial em-
barrassment.

Before the plan for redeeming the colony bills had been con-
summated, another war with France broke out, as has already
been mentioned. Troops were to be raised and equipped, and
money must be had. The Assembly met in January, 1755.
" To provide for the extraordinary emergencies of govern-
ment, occasioned by the invasion of his Majesty's dominions in
North America by the French and Indians," tliey voted to
issue Treasury notes, of a new description, to the amount of
£7,500. The system of " borrowing without interest " having
exploded, these notes bore interest, and were payable at a fixed
date. The denominations varied from nine pence to forty
shillings. Here is the prescribed form :

N"o. ( ) 20s.

The Possessor of this Bill shall be paid by the Treasurer of the Colony of Con-
necticut, Twenty shillings, lawful money, with interest at five per cent, per
annum, by the eighth day of May, 1768. By order of the Assembly at New
Haven, January eighth, 1756.

By the same act, a tax of two pence on the pound, sufficient
to sink the bills, was laid, payable in the new issue, or in law-
ful money, on the last day of August, 1757.

Tn March, (1755,) an issue of £12,500, in notes of the
same tenor and denominations, was ordered, payable May
eighth, 1759, a tax at the same time being levied of three and
a half pence on the pound, to be paid in lawful money
or the recent issues, oii the last day of December, 1758. The
notes were to be paid out to the public creditors " as their
value should he at the tiineP In August following, £30,000 of
the same sort were authorized, and in October, £12,000. Then
there was an interval lasting till March, 1758, when £30,000
were ordered, the same to be paid " out with interest com-
puted." Other amounts were afterwards added ; £70,000 in
1759 ; £70,000 in 1700 ; £45,000 in 1761 ; £65,000 in 1762 ;
£10,000 in 1763, and £7,000 in 1764. The last sum wa^ on

b2 CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC,

account of the Indian war which followed that with France,
the latter closing early in 1763. The entire issues since Jan-
uary, 1755, amounted to £359,000. The notes were of the
same tenor throughout, and, with a single slight exception, of
the same denominations. They bore five per cent, annual
interest, were payable in from two to five years, in lawful
money, and were put forth in strict conformity to the Act of
Parliament. The usual sinking fund taxes, which, in the year
that completed the conquest of Canada, (1760,) amounted to
two shillings and one penny on the pound, were not forgotten.
These interest bearing notes, it will be remembered, were
not a legal tender. According to the record, they were " paid
out as their value should be at the time of putting off the
same," or according to their market price. At a later period,
when probably no sacrifice was deemed necessary to make
them acceptable to the public creditors, the Treasurer was to
compute the interest and add this to the face of the note.
Strictly speaking, they do not appear to have constituted a
part of the currency, though debts were discharged with them,
by consent. Undoubtedly, they were designed to act as
money, as is apparent from the small denominations which
were issued. But as they bore different dates, and carried dif-
ferent amounts of interest, and were consequently of unequal
value, they could not well circulate together, or act as the com-
mon currency. The interest does not seem to have been paid
during the whole period the notes had to run. There is no
indorsement on them, and when they finally reached the Trea-
sury, simple interest was added, the result, perhaps, of several
years accumulation. Under these circumstances, they would
naturally be held for the gains they had made, or were expect-
ed to make. If parted with, they would be sold like a private
note of hand, below or above par, according to the confidence
reposed in the signer, the rate of interest, the amount accrued,
and the time the note had to run. In this state of things they
could not act as money, and were not a measure of value. On
the contrary, they were themselves measured, money being re-
quired for this purpose. During all this period, coin was the
standard of value. Contracts were made and debts paid in it.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 83

or its equivalent. Government bills, like ordinary commodi-
ties, were converted into it before their value could be stated.
They are understood, however, to have been worth something
like their face and accrued intei'est, spite the late breach of
colony faith, I find instances in which they were credited on
book account at an advance, the latter probably being for in-
terest.

By means of taxes and the considerable sums of money re-
ceived from England on account of the war, (£26,000 sterling,
in specie,* in August, 1756, and larger sums afterwards,) the
notes seem to have been all paid at maturity or before. I find
no evidence that those which had once reached the Treasury
were ever reissued. They may have been, however, when
brought in by taxes, which were designed to meet the ordinary
expenses of the government. It appears from a report made to
the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, in May,
176-i, that only about £82,000, in bills, were outstanding, at
that time. Tliese Jiad been emitted, some small sums in 1761,
the remainder at later periods. All the older issues had been
called in and burned. At the date of the report, £192,000, in
Treasury notes, had been authorized which had not yet become
due, they being payable in 1765, 1766, 1767 and 1768. £110,-
000, therefore, out of the £192,000, had been redeemed in an-
ticipation of the time fixed for payment. Under the circum-
stances, it is not surprising that the government credit was pre-
served, and the par value of its paper maintained. The exper-
iment proved how much better, more profitable and more lion-
orable it was to raise money, in the ordinary wa}^, paying what
it was worth, than to attempt it by the fraudulent, interest-
saving metliod previously resorted to. During the war, the
Colony borrowed considerable sums of money at six per cent.
per annum. It had^of Gov. Shirley, in 1756, a loan of £10,000,
sterling, for two and three years.

The last of the notes issued (those of March, 1764,) became
due in March, 1768. 'No others were authorized till May,

* See Coll. Con. Hist. Society, I. 285. The cost of importation, including
freight, insurance, commissions, and all other charges, amounted to £1,171 : 9: 11,
or more than four and a quarter per cent.

84 CONNECTICUT CUKEENCY, ETC.

1770, at which period the Colony must have been out of debt.
At the hist named date, £10,000 were emitted, bearing two and
a half per cent, interest, the denominations ranging from two
shillings and six pence to forty shillings. Tlie notes were pay-
able in lawful money, became due May tenth, 1772, and were
secured by two taxes of two pence each, payable, one, Decem-
ber thirty -first, 1770, and the other, December thirty-first,

1771, in lawful money or bills of credit. In October, 1771,
£12,000 were authorized; in May, 1773, £12,000; in October,
1771:, £15,000 ; all of " suitable denominations," and all to
run two years, without interest, seasonable and sufficient taxes
being provided for the redemption of each issue. These last
sums, amounting to £39,000, bearing no interest, were of
course designed solely for currency. Twenty-five years had
elapsed since bills of the kind had been emitted. They intro-
duced a new paper money era ; but as they did not exceed the
sum required for the trade of the Colony, and were not inter-
fered with by the notes of the adjoining governments, they
did not depreciate. The population, now about one hundred
and ninety thousand, had, probably, nearly doubled since
1746, while wealth and commerce had much increased. The
desire, however, " to borrow without interest," or below the
market rate, was not a favorable omen. It led to fresh dis-
asters.

C H A P T E K V I.

PAPER ilONEY OF THE REVOLUTION, CONNECTICUT AND CON-
TINENTAL EMISSIONS.

The war of the Revolution was opened with the skirmish at
Lexington, April nineteenth, 1775. A blaze of excitement
spread through the land. The Connecticut Assembly met, in

CONNECTICUT CUKRENCT, ETC. 85

special session, on the twenty-sixth of the same month, to
provide for the war. They organized the mihtia, directed
Commissary Trumbull and the other commissaries to purchase
military stores, including one hogshead of New England rum,
and to meet expenses, passed an act to emit, forthwith, £50,000
in bills of credit, payable in two years, in lawful money or bills
of this issue. In May, £50,000, dated June first, were order-
ed, and in July, £50,000 more, dated July first, making in the
whole £150,000 for the year 1775. These notes were in all
important particulars like those of the preceding years. Their
redemption, which was promised in two, three and four and a
half years, was secured by three seven-penny taxes. The
time of payment, in the two last instances, was extended be-
yond the limit prescribed by the parliamentary act of 1751,
unless, indeed, the emergency was an "extraordinary" one,
and the case one of " invasion," such as the act contemplated.

In May, 1776, the Assembly authorized the issue of £60,000,
dated June seventh, and payable January first, 1781, and in
June, £50,000, dated June nineteenth, and payable January
first, 1782, the bills ranging, in the first instance, from one to
twenty shillings, and in the last, from six pence to forty shillings.
The taxes, which were levied as usual, might be paid in colony
or continental bills, (the latter soon to be issued,) or in lawful
money. In the particulars not referred to, the notes were like
those of the preceding year. They were the last previous to
1780, except £5,250 of the same tenor, emitted, because of the
scarcity of small change, in October, 1777, in two penny, three
penny, four penny, five penny and seven penny notes, sixty
thousand of each denomination, redeemable in October, 1782.
John Chester and twelv^e others were appointed a signing com-
mittee for the last issue, each bill to have one signature. The
duty being somewhat burdensome, twelve others were after-
wards added to the committee, all to work without fee or re-
ward. I do not find that any special tax was laid to redeem
this issue, and I believe it is the only instance of the like neg-
lect on record.

Owing to causes which will be hereafter explained, Con-
necticut authorized no more bills till January and May, 1 780,

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC

when £190,000, in all, (which may be called new tenor,) were
ordered. I shall speak of the circumstances by and by. That
the reader may have before him, in one view, the important
facts relative to the paper money issues of Connecticut, I here
print a list of all the authorized emissions, from the beginning,
giving the amount and tenor of the notes, the dates of the
assemblies ordering the same, denominations, dates of the bills,
times of redemption, &c. (The emissions to be exchanged for
older issues are included.)

May, 1709,

Oct. 1709,
Oct. 1710,
May, 1711,
June, 1711,

May, 1713,

Oct. 1713,
May, 1719,
Oct. 1722,
Oct. 1724,
Oct. 1727,
Oct. 1728,
May, 1729,
Feb. 173|,
Mav, 1733,
Oct. 1735,
May, 1740,
May, 1740,
July, 1740,

May, 1744,

Oct. 1744,

March, 1741,
July, 1745,'
May, 1746,
May, 1746,
Jan. 1755,
March, 1755,
Aug. 1755,
Oct. 1755,
March, 1758,
Feb. 1759,
March, .1759,
May, 1759,
March, 1760,
March, 1761,
March, 1762,
May, 1768,
March, 1764,
May, 1770,

Amt. and tenor.

Denomination.

Date.

fi 8,000, 0. T.

2s to £5,

July 12, 1709,

11,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

July 12, 1709.

5,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

July 12, 1709,

4.000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

July 12, 1709,

6,000. 0. T.

2s. to £5,

July 12, 1709,1

20,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

\ July 12, 1709,1
\ and May 1713,

1,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

same.

4,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

same.

4,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

same.

4,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

same.

4,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

same.

4,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

same.

6,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

same.

30,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5 ?

20,000, 0. T.

2s. to £5,

25,000, 0. T.

2s- to £5 ?

4,0u0, 0. T.

lOs. to £5,

May, 1740,

30,000, N. T.

Is. to £3,

May 8, 1740,

15,000, 0. T.

108. to £5,

4,000, N. T.

10s. to £5,

j May 8, 1740,
\ May 10, 1744,

15,000, N. T.

10s. to £5,

Oct. 11, 1744,

20,000, N. T.

lOs. to £5,

Mar. 14, 174A,

20,0()0, N. T.

10s. to £5,

20,000, N. T.

10s. to £5,

Date of As'bly

3,000, 0. T. ?

2s. to £5,

7,600.

9d. to 40s.

Jan. 8, 1755,

12,500,

9d. to 40s.

Mar. 13, 1755,

30,000.

9d. to 40s.

12,000,

9d. to 40s.

30,000,

9d. to 40.S.

20,000,

9d. to 40s.

40,000,

9d. to 40s.

10,000,

70,000,

9d. to 408.

45,000,

9d. to 40s.

Mar. 26, 1761,

65,000,

9d. to 40s.

Mar. 4, 1762,

1U,000,

5s. to 40s.

May 12, 1763,

7,000,

9d. to 40s.

Mar. 8, 1764,

10,000,

2s. 6d. to 40s.

May 10, 1770,

When redeemable.

j May, 1710.^
I May, 1711.

Within 6yrs.

Aug. 1, 1718.

May 31,1720.

Aug 31,1723.

Sundry times
May31,1721.

May31,1755.

May 8,
May 8,
Aug.
Apr. 1;
Mar. 4,
May 1,
Mar. 1,
May 1,
Mar. 1,
Mar. 26,
Mar. 4,
May 1,
Mar. 8,
May 10

J
1758.1
1759.
1760.
1760,
1762,
1763,

1764, ;- ^

1763,

1765,

17rt6,

1767,

1765,

1768, J <

'72,2ip.c.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

Session.

Amt. and tenor.

Oct. 1Y71,

£ 12,000,

May. 17Y3,

12,000,

Oct. 1774,

15,000,

April, 1775,

50,000,

May, 1775,

50,000,

July, 1775,

50,000,

May, 1776,

60,000,

June, 1776,

50,000,

Oct. 1777,

5,250,

Jan. 1780,

40,000,

May, 1780,

100,000,

May, 1780.

50,000,

Denomination.

2s. 6d. to 40s.
2s. 6d. to 40s.
2s. 6d. to 40s.
2s. 6d. to 40s.
2s. 6d. to 408.
2s. to 40s.
l8. to 20s.
6d. to 40s.
2d. 3d. 4d. 5d. 7d.
9d. to 40s.
9d. to 40s.
9d. to 40s.

Oct. 10,
June 1,
Jan. 2,
May 1,
June 1 ,
July 1,
June 7,
June 19,
Oct. 11,
Mar. 1,
July 1,
June 1,

1771,
1773,
1775,

1775,
1775,
1775,
1776,
1776,
1777,
1780,
1780,
1780,

When redeemable.

Oct.lO,
June 1,
Jan. 2,
May 10.
June 1,
Dec. 31
Jan. 1 ,
Jan. 1,
Oct. 10,
March,
Mar. 1,
Mar. 1,

1775,^

1775,
1777,
1777.
1778, }■
,1779,
1781,
1782,
1782,
1784,'
1785,
1784,

The delegates of the " United Colonies" to tlie Continental
Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, May tenth, 1775. To
provide means to carry on the war, they resolved, June twenty-
second, 1775, five days after the battle of Bunker Hill, to
emit "two millions of Spanish milled dollars,* in bills of
credit," the " twelve confederated Colonies" to be pledged for
their redemption. The form prescribed was the following:

" Tliis bill entitles the bearer to receive Spanish milled

dollars, or the value thereof in gold or silver, according to the
resolutions of Congress, lield at Philadelphia, on the tenth day
of May, 1775." The date here mentioned was not that of the
resolution authorizing the emission, as several writers have
assumed, but that of the meeting of Congress. The bills
Avere to range from one to twenty dollars. On the twenty-
fifth day of July, an additional one million was ordered in
bills of thirty dollars each, a committee of twenty-eight to
sign the same, each bill to have two signatures. Four days
later, it was resolved that the twelve colonies, then repre-
sented, should redeem the $3,000,000 in bills ordered, in
four equal annual payments, beginning November thirtieth,

* The Spanish milled dollar, or the pieceof-eig-ht, with a new name, was
universally known and in general use. It was adopted as the unit of continental
money, doubtless, because the currencies of the different colonies were conflict-
ing. The pound and its parts meant different things in different places. In New
England and Virginia, 6s., in New York, 8s., and in Pennsylvania, 7s. 6d. made
a dollar. The accounts of Congress were kept in dollars, ninetieths and eighths.
A Pennsylvania penny (the delegates were sitting in Philadelphia) was equal to
the ninetieth part of a dollar, and the eighth of a penny to half a farthing.
Whether there were current coins to represent these fractions, I cannot say.

CONNECnCUT CURRENCY, ETC.

1779. The proportion of " each Colony to be determined
according to the number of inhabitants of all ages, including
negroes and mulattoes," was estimated (till " the list of each
Colony is obtained ") as follows : —

Virginia $496,278

Massachusetts Bay, 434,244

Pennsylvania, 372,208^

Maryland, 3U»,174i^

Connecticut, 248,139

New York 248,139

North Carolina, 248,139

South Carolina, 248,139

New Jersey, 161,290^

New Hampshire, 124,069^

Rhode Island, 71,969^

Delaware, 87,219^

$3,000,000

In this manner was inaugurated a system which was to fur-
nish (what proved to be) a " national currency." Thus was
conferred the boon of a circulating medium having, in the
language of a distinguished modern financier, an unform value
throughout the country !

Tlie paper emitted by Congress was to be received for the
taxes levied for its redemption ; while the gold and silver paid
in were to be exchanged for bills. The latter, however col-
lected, were to be " cut by a circular punch an inch in diam-
eter," and afterwards burned. The business of obtaining the
paper, engraving the plates, printing, signing, &c., occupied
several weeks, so that these first installments of paper money
did not make their appearance till early in August.* Accord-
ing to the Journal of Congress, the authorized emissions, in
the year 1775, amounted, in all, to $6,000,000. At the close
of 1776, they figured up $25,500,000 ; at the end of 1777,
$38,500,000 ; atUie end of 1778, $102,000,300. They, finally,
near the close of 1779, reached the enormous sum of $242,052,-
780, bearing no interest. They were of different denomina-

* Political Essays on tlie nature and operation of Money, Public Finances, and
other subjects. By Pelatiah Webster, A. M. Philadelphia: 1791.

CONXECTIOUT CUKKENCY, ETC. 69

tions, varying from one-sixtli" of a dollar to eighty dollars. It
is said, however, that not more than $200,000,000 were in cir-
culation at any one time. This sum was largely increased by
the colony and state emissions which, however, had no general
currency.

The circulating medium of Connecticut was made up in
part of its own, and in part of continental bills, the former,
doubtless, constituting the largest portion during the first
years of the war, but the latter preponderating at a later period.
The two circulated in the Colony at a common par value, and
were popular. For several months their credit did not suifer,
and prices were not affected. There was only a " flush" money
market. Long established habits, in such cases, do not give
way at once, and the evidences of inflation fail to appear till
after a considerable interval. Early in the year 177^^, men
began to hesitate, and to inquire whither they were drifting.
They probably had not forgotten certain notable passages in
their own history, Fii'st, small change grew scarce, then all
silver money disappeared. Some persons refused to take the
bills. At this juncture, patriotic individuals in certain of the
colonies stepped forward and offered to give coin for continen-
tal paper. Considerable sums, sometimes as much as a thou-
sand pounds at a time, M^ere thus exchanged.f Congress took
action on the subject. January eleventh, 17Y6, they resolved
that if any person should be " so lost to all virtue and regard
for his country" as to refuse the bills, or discourage the circu-
lation thereof, and should be convicted by a " committee of
safety," such person should be published and treated as a pub-
lic enemy, and precluded from all trade and intercourse, &c.X
— that is, he was to be outlawed.

The colonial governments did what they could, by legisla-
tion, to support the waning confidence in paper money. Mas-

• In tlie resolution of Congress of November 2d, 17'76, $500,000 were "to be ^-^
speedily issued in small bills of two-thirds, one-third, one-sixth, and one-ni7ith of
a dollar." I do not tind that any of the last denomination were ever emitted.

f Historical sketch of Continental Paper Money, by Samuel Breck. Philadel-
phia: 1863. — A pamphlet of 33 pages.

X Printed Journal of Congress.

90 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

sacliusetts, as early as May, 1775. made its own notes a legal
tender. Connecticut, more cautious, waited till after the Dec-
laration of Independence, which declaration, l)y the way, her
authorities seemed in no hurry to ratif}'. At the regular Octo-
ber session of the Assembly, 1776, the revolutionary pro-
ceedings of Congress were approved, while a resolution de-
claring " that this Colony is, and of right ought to be, a Free
and Independent State," was adopted.

The first act after this was one punishing high treason ; the
second required an oath of fidelity ; the third was one to sup-
port the credit and currency of the bills of the Continental
Congress, and of this State ; the order of the acts showing,
perhaps, their supposed relative importance. The law last
named made the bills I'cferred to "a legal tender as money, in
all payments within this State." And as certain evil minded
persons, inimical to the liberties of the states, had endeavored
to depreciate said bills, it was provided that any one who
should so depreciate or undervalue them by ofl:ering, demand-
ing or receiving them at a rate below their nominal value, in
exchange for coin ; or wdio should, directly or indirectly, oflfer,
demand or receive a greater sum in said bills for any houses,
lands or goods than the same could be purchased for in gold
or silver, &c. ; — every person so oifending should forfeit the
full value of the money so exchanged, or the houses, lands and
goods so sold or oflfered for sale, one half to go to the person
who should prosecute to effect.

But this somewhat stringent act was not suflicient, and more
legislation was called for. "The necessaries and conveniences
of life " rose rapidly, and exorbitant prices were demanded.
This was attributed to " monopolizers, the great pest of
society." To circumvent them, a law was passed in Novem-
ber, (1776,) regulating prices. " Labor, in tlie farming way, in
the summer season," was not to exceed in price three shillings
per day, wheat six shillings per bushel, rye three shillings and
six pence, Indian corn three shillings, good wool two shillings
per pound, the best grass fed beef twenty-four shillings per
hundred, good AV^est India rum six shillings per gallon, (l)y the
hogshead,) best New England rum, three shillings and six

CONNECTICUT CITRKENCY, ETC. 91

pence, &c., &c. ; "all other necessary articles to be in a reason-
able accustomed proportion to the above." Whoever violated
this act was to " snfFer the pains and penalties of the laws of
this State against oppression,"

In the following month, (December,) in accordance with the
recommendation of the " committees of the several states of
New England," a more detailed and stringent bill was passed
on the same subject. The maximum price of several articles
w^as raised, and the profits of wholesale and retail dealers pre-
scribed. The penalty of transgression was the price of the
article sold, but in no case was it to be less than twenty shil-
lings. As the volume of the currency was increased, and com-
modities got dearer, new regulations became necessary. This
policy, of course, proved ineffectual, A convention of dele-
gates Irom the New England States and New York assembled
in Springfield, July thirtieth, 1777, " for the purpose of hold-
ing a conference respecting the state of the paper currency,
and the expediency of calling in the same by taxes or other-
wise ;" to consult together as to the means of preventing de-
preciation, and to take into consideration the " acts lately
made to prevent monopoly and oppression," &c.* According
to Ilildreth, they advised the levying of taxes for the support
of the war, the redemption of bills of credit issued by state
authority, the repeal of laws limiting prices, and the enact-
ment of others against forestalling and engrossing,t Connec-
ticut acted in accordance w^ith the advice. In August, she
repealed her laws against "excessive and unreasonable prices,"
and in October, :{; (1777,) passed "An act to encourage fair
dealing, and to restrain and punish sharpers and oppressors."
By this last act, no person could buy or sell (except in small
quantities for his own consumption) certain enumerated arti-
cles— rum, sugar, molasses, wine, tea, coflfee, salt, woolen, linen
or tow cloth, stockings, shoes, hides, leather, wool, flax, cotton,

* Revolutionary War, VII., Doc. 390: MSS. State Library, Hartford,
f History of the United States, Vol. III., p. 227, (first series.)
:j: In speaking of legislative acts, I have always assigned to them the date of the
month ill which the Assemblj' came together, without inquiring whether the acts
referred to were, in fact, passed in that month or the next following.

92 CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC.

butter, clieese, wlieat, rye, beef, pork, cider, tobacco, &c., &c.,
till he had become known as the friend of freedom, obtained a
license, and taken the oath of fidelity. A breach of the act
(which was to continue in force one year) was to be punished
by forfeiture of double the value of the goods bought or sold.
Congress observed with apprehension the effects of a redundant
currency. She W' ould fain check the rise of prices, and recom-
mended conventions of the states. One was appointed to meet
in ISTew Haven on the fifteenth day of January, 1778, commis-
sioners of all the northern states, Delaware included, to be
present. Roger Sherman, William Hillhouse and Benjamin
Huntington, were chosen by the Assembly of this State. It
was to carry out the views of this convention that the Legisla-
ture attempted once more to regulate prices, and passed the
law of February, 1778. It was more stringent and more com-
prehensive than any wliich had preceded it. It established the
price of every important article, and made provision for those
which were not enumerated. Labor of whatever kind was not
to be more than seventy-five per cent, higher than before the
war. Importers might (with certain exceptions) charge one
continental dollar for each shilling sterling paid for his goods
in Europe. Eetailers of foreign goods were permitted to make
a profit of twenty-five per cent. Inn-keepers might advance
fifty per cent, on the wholesale cost of their liquors, &c., &c.
The particulars of the law are too numerous to be mentioned
here. Among other things, it declared that any person who
should be convicted under it should pay a fine of not less than
forty shillings, and be forever disqualified from holding ofiice
in this State, " or of prosecuting or maintaining any suit at
law, or of taking out any execution." And no person what-
ever could " commence or maintain any suit, either in law or
equity, in any court," till he had sworn " by the ever living
God," that he had not been guilty of a breach of this act.

This was indeed sorry legislation, a disgrace to any people.
It gives one an unsatisfactory opinion of the wisdom, not to say
intelligence, of our revolutionary fathers. Men in the govern-
ment, state and continental — good and great men, as we have
been accustomed to think — altered the standard of values, and

CONNECTICCT CtTERENCY, ETC. 93

then enacted that values should not be changed. They short-
ened the yard-stick — cut off twelve or twenty inches — and
then decreed that it was still a yard-stick of full length, which
should give to the purchaser an undiminished amount of cloth.
In other words, they end^vored to compel the people to part
with their labor or goods without an equivalent — to exchange
two days' work for one, or for nothing. To carry out their
schemes, stores w^ere broken open by committees, the goods
seized and sold at the established prices, and those who owned
them branded as speculators, Tories, and the like.* The ac-
tion of Congress was calculated to destroy all confidence in the
government. The state of things brought about by paper
money and their own violent proceedings, was the apology
which was offered for every oppressive measure. The army
was in great need of woolen cloths, blankets, stockings, shoes,
hats, &c., and they urged uj)on the states the necessity of seiz-
ing any of these things kept for sale — of seizing all stock and
provisions required for the army, which had been " purchased
up or engrossed by any person with a view of selling the same,"
giving receipts to the owner. And as there were certain per-
sons who, " instigated by the 1 ust of avarice, were assiduousl}'
endeavoring, by every means of oppression, sharping and ex-
tortion, to accumulate enormous gains," they advised tliat the
retailers of goods should be licensed, and their number limited;
that no one should purchase clothing or provision required for
the army (except for his own use) without a "certificate under
the seal and sign manual of the supreme executive authority"
of some state, and that " such punishment should be inflicted
upon all atrocious offenders, as shall brand them with indelible
infamy," &c. These were harsh measures, " but (unhappy
the case of America !) laws unworthy the character of infant
republics are become necessary to supply the defect of public
virtue, and to correct the vices of some of her sons."t It pains
me to say that the soundest men of the time — such men as
John Jay, and the illustrious Washington — shared, on this sub-

* Pelatiali Webster's Essays, p. 1 1.

f Journal of Congress, December 20, lYTY.

94: CONNECTICUT CUKKENCY, ETC.

ject, the senseless prejudices of tlie day. To Keed, President
of Pennsylvania, the latter wrote, December twelfth, 17T8, as
follows: " It gives me very sincere pleasure to find, * * *
that the Assembly is so well disposed to second your endeavors
in bringing those murderers of our cause, the monopolizers,
forestallers and engrossers, to condign punishment. It is much
to be lamented that each state, long ere this, has not hunted
them down as pests to spciety, and the greatest enemies we
have to the happiness of America. 1 would to God that some
one of the more atrocious in each state was hung in gibbets
upon a gallows five times as high as the one prepared by Ha-
man." A matter which so turned the wisest heads of the coun-
try, might be expected to excite the multitude. Nor were the
complaints against the speculators, ifec, wholly groundless. The
blame, however, did not rest on them so much as on those who,
by the continued emissions of paper money, tempted to specu-
lation, guaranteed its success, and made it profitable. The " pes-
tilent " race was called into life by bills of credit, and had these
been stopped in season, they would have "hung" themselves.

The speculation which is the inevitable effect of excessive pa-
per issues, is not without some collateral advantages. So far as it
is carried on by means of cash, it multiplies the uses for money,
creates a demand for it, and tends to make it scarce. In this
way, the natural consequences of a cheap currency are, in a
measure, counteracted. Depreciation is, to some extent, pre-
vented or retarded. Speculation, then, as a secondary effect,
establishes lower prices than would otherwise prevail. Similar
results follow monopolizing, or "engrossing." When goods are
withheld from market consumption is prevented, and future
comparative abundance secured. This abundance will show
itself in correspondingly reduced prices, when the hoarded arti-
cles are again thrown upon the market. These remarks are
intended not to justify, but to explain.

To prevent the downward course of continental bills. Con-
gress, January fourteenth, 1777, after resolving that said bills
ought to pass current, and be deemed equal to gold and silver,
and that any person giving or taking them at less than their
par value, was an enemy to liberty, and should forfeit the

CONNECTICUT CUEKENCY, ETC.- 95

money or property excljanged, recommended to the several
states to make them (as had ah'eady been done in several in-
stances) a lawful tender, at their par value, in all payments, a
refusal to take them to extinguish the debt.* The advice was
heeded. And as certain disaffected persons, doubtful of the
result of the war, had ventured to show a preference for the
old colonial bills, (those emitted before the war,) thinking, not
unreasonably, that these were more likely to be redeemed than
those issued at a later date, Congress declared such conduct
"calculated to sap the confidence of the public in the continen-
tal bills," &c., and advised the states, December third, 1777, to
call them in, giving for them new money, continental or state;
those not presented for redemption within a limited time, to
be refused payment. But all these measures, including em-
bargo laws of the most harassing description, were of no avail.
Goods and coin went up, and bills went down. You cannot
make paper dollars, costing nothing, representing nothing, hav-
ing no intrinsic value, and, when issued in excess, no certain
exchangeable value, equal to gold and silver, or to anything
else which is the product of labor. The experiment has often
been tried, and always with one result ; and the sooner poli-
ticians and (so called) statesmen find out their mistake, the
better for the country. Penal acts, tender laws, " committees
of inspection," mob violence, and military force, may frighten
people, but they can never change the decrees of nature, or
make irredeemable and depreciated paper money anything but
a nuisance. Thus discourses our friend, Pelatiah AVebster:

"It is not more absurd to attempt to impel faith into the
heart of an unbeliever by fire and faggot, or to whip love into
your mistress by a cowskin, than to force value or credit into
your money by penal laws." * * * *

" The fatal error that the credit and currency of the conti-
nental money could be kept up and supported by acts of com-
pulsion, entered so deep into the mind of Congress and all
departments of administration through the states, that no con-
siderations of justice, religion, or policy, or even experience of
its utter inefficiency, could eradicate it ; it seemed to be a kind

* Journal of Cono'ress.

06 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

of obstinate delirium, totally deaf to every argument drawn
from justice and right, from its natural tendency and mischief,
from common sense, and even common safety."

" This ruinous principle was continued in practice for five
successive years, and appeared in all shapes and forms, i. e., in
tender acts, in limitations of prices, in awful and threatening
declarations, in penal laws with dreadful and ruinous punish-
ments, and in every other way that could be devised, and al.
executed Avith a relentless severity, by the highest authorities
then in being, viz., by Congress, by assemblies and conventions
of the states, by committees of inspection, (whose powers in
those days were nearly sovereign,) and even by military force ;
and though men of all descriptions stood trembling before this
monster of force, without daring to lift a hand against it, during
all this period, yet its nnrestrained energy ever proved ineffec-
tual to its purposes, but in every instance increased the evils it
was designed to remedy, and destroyed the benefits it was in-
tended to promote; at best, its utmost effect Avas like that of
water sprinkled on a blacksmith's forge, which indeed deadens
the flame for a moment, but never fails to increase the heat
and force of the internal fire. Many thousand families of full
and easy fortune were ruined by these fatal measures, and lie
in ruins to this day, without the least benefit to the country, or
to the great and noble cause in which we were then engaged."*

* Essays, pp. 129, 132.

Mr. Webster was a native of Connecticut, but not an uncle of the late Noah
Webster, as stated by Gouge, in his History of raj)er Money. lie was graduated
at Yale College in the class of 174(i, studied for the ministry, and was afterward
ordained. At a later period, he became a merchant of Philadelphia, and, at the
breaking out of the war, met with considerable losses. He was in the habit of
familiar intercourse with the delcgiitesto Congress, and his house was the common
resort of the members from Connecticut. His Essaj's, twenty-five in number,
were printed at irregular intervals, mostly in pamphlet form, between 1776 and
1790. In 1791, they were gathered, by the author, into a volume of 504 pages,
aiid copious notes added. They contain views far in advance of those most gen-
enerally entertained at that day. The first essay, published in the Penn. Evening
Post, October 5, 1776, suggests the law which limits and controls the value of a
paper currency. " I conceive," (he says,) " the value of ihe currency of any state
has a limit, a ne plna ultra, beyond which it cannot go, and if the nominal sum
is extended beyond that limit, the value will not follow." In the same paper, he

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 97

The popular clamor against monopolizers, engrossers and
Bpeculators, though known to be misdirected, was doubtless
regarded with complaisance, if not favor. Men wlio were
the guides of public opinion, feeling tliat the credit of the con-
tinental money must be upheld and confidence maintained,
were quite willing to see the evils produced by it attributed to
other causes. There was, to some extent, an endeavor to keep
the masses in ignorance of the sources of their misery ; or at
any rate to permit a misconception when the states could profit
by it. In 1778, some members of Congress proposed to pay a
soldiers' bounty, one-half in coin. Washington objected to it.
The measure, said he, in a letter to Gouverneur Morris,
" would have a tendency to depreciate our paper money, wliich
is already of little value, and give rise to infinite difticulties
and irremovable inconveniences. Nothing after this would do
but gold and silver. All would demand it, and none would
consider the impracticability of its being furnished. The
soldiers seeing the manifest difierence in the value between
that and paper, and that the former w^ould procure at least five
or six fold as much as the latter, would become dissatisfied.
They would reason upon the subject," &c.*

Congress was slow to learn or reluctant to acknowledge the
necessary laws which govern currency and trade. They began
with a wrong system and, turning away from the lessons of
experience, obstinately clung to it. So late as November 19th,
1779, they earnestly recommended to the several states to pre-
vent " engrossing and withholding " by the strictest legisla-
tion, and " forthwith to enact laws for a general limitation of
prices, to commence from the first day of February next," on
the basis of twenty in paper for one in specie.f When the

advocates the calling in of bills of credit, to an extent " equal to the excess of the
currency," by effectual taxation. I do not find evidence that Mr. Webster had
ever read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, which made its appearance in the
early part of 1'776. Had he been acquainted with that immortal work, his expres
sions, which are often infelicitous and unscientific, would, I think, have shown it.
His death took place according to the Triennial of Yale College, in 1795.

* Washington's Writings, Vol. VI., p. 55.

f Journal of Congress.

98 CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC.

recommendation was made, currency was worth at the rate of
thirty-eight for one ; when the new prices were to commence,
forty-seven for one.*

Practically, the attempt, by forcible means, to make paper
dollars the equivalent of hard money or hard labor, increased
the " real " price of every description of goods. A man will
not work unless his industry can be rewarded ; nor will he
brino; his commodities to market unless he can obtain for them
a fair equivalent. If his com, his cattle and his cloth, are
wrested from him by atrocious laws and sold at half their
value, he will stop production, and soon have nothing to sell.
Or if he continues to labor, he must be paid for the risk he
runs. If there is danger of being robbed, he who furnishes
the goods must charge for insurance. So much was production
diminished and the cost of articles increased by the violent
measures taken to cheapen them, that early in 1780, " even
hard money would buy little more than half so much country
produce as before the war."f

It is a common error, even of those who, to some extent,
shape public opinion, that a currency ought not to depreciate
so long as the issuer is solvent. The " promises to pay " of a
government which represents and controls the entire wealth of
a country surely must be " good," so long as its obligations are
not beyond its resources. If a sovereign state cannot make
a good note, who can ? But this line of argument overlooks
certain important facts. What is a currency note, made a le-
gal tender, with the unlimited power of issue? It promises to
pay to the bearer, say, one dollar.:}; But what is a dollar under
the operation of a tender law, with no restriction onthemanu-

* P. Webster, 123, note.

f P. Webster, p. 107. These enhanced prices may have been, at this period,
partly owing to the influx of specie and its temporary depreciation — a fact which
will be referred to by and by.

:|: The continental bills promised " Spanish milled dollars ;" but as the resolu-
tions authorizing the issues called the bills themselves Spanish milled dollars, and
designated no time for their redemption, the remarks in the text are not inappro-
priate. The treasury notes for currency of 1864 promise " dollars " to the bearer,
without naming the time for payment.

CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC. 99

factnre ? The terra has no certain meaning. It signifies one
thing to-day, another thing to-inorrow. in the eye of the law,
the rectangular bit of paper inscribed with the promise, is it-
self a dollar. So considered, it is possessed of no fixed value,
and of course cannot measure anything which has value. It
represents nothing solid or stable. Though to a man who
would discharge a debt, (due perhaps in coin,) it is as good as
a silver dollar cr a day's labor, to the receiver, it may not be
worth the tenth part of that amount. A hundred like it might
not enable one to purchase a breakfast. Did it promise to pay,
on demand, or in sixty days, so many pounds or ounces of
shingle nails, or so many dozen of solid-headed pins, the case
would be different. It would then have something like a defi-
nite value, provided there were confidence in its prompt re-
demption. But an agreement to pay in dollars, (" Spanish
milled," if you please,) when the law has declared that agree-
ment is payment — tiiat the promise of a dollar is itself a dol-
lar— that fragments of pictured paper printed without limit on
government presses are the solid coin — is without significance.
It secures nothing ; it pledges nothing. In effect, it promises
nothing. No matter what may be the wealth of a government,
such an agreement does not make over to the holder of its
paper any known part of that wealth. The contract may be
fulfilled without anything of a determinate value passing from
debtor to creditor. The pledge may be redeemed by returning
to the person demanding payment the identical picture which
he had ofiered for redemption. The solvency of a nation has
not necessarily anything to do with the value of its notes of
circulation. A bankrupt state — one that nobody will trust for
a farthing — having the authority to enforce its decrees, can
make as good a currency as any other, even that of " the best
government on earth." Neither can do more than furnish a
circulating medium which, when accepted as such, and issued
in excess, will decline in value in proportion to its abundance.
The only reason that it is worth anything is the fact that it
performs the functions of a currency, and is the recognized
medium of exchange. It is true, it may have a speculative
value depending ou the opinions entertained as to what the

100 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

government may, from choice, finally do with it. If it is the
expectation that it will, at last, be redeemed in something bet-
ter than unmeaning promises, this circumstance will give it a
distinct value — a value in addition, perhaps, to its currency-
value. In the last case, currency-notes would cease to be cur-
rency. They would be withdrawn from circulation and held
for investment.

The amplest provision of funds to secure the redemption of
bills of credit at maturity will not prevent their depreciation.
This truth is sufficiently illustrated by the history of the colo-
nial currencies before the war. Still, the fact seems never to
have been understood. Legislatures persisted in thinking that
when a tax had been granted, payable in bills, in three, five,
or ten years, sufficient to sink the whole, due precautions had
been taken to secure a sound currency. This error was so
firmly planted that the experience of the Revolution could not
uproot it. " The evil of depreciation," wrote Gov. Trumbull, in
his celebrated letter to Capellan, dated August, 1770, "had its
rise in, and owes all its rapid increase to, the single cause of
our not having provided, at a sufficiently early period, for its re-
duction and pajmient by taxes."* Men appeared unable to
comprehend the principle, already commented on, (nor do they
yet fully understand it,) that a currency issued in excess, what-
ever the circumstances, must, so long as it is used as currency,
decline in value in proportion to that excess. It is true, the
certainty of redemption, in coin, at a fixed time, will present a
limit to depreciation ; but this effi^ct is brought about by the
withdrawal of bills from circulation. When paper money has
become so cheap, or has so declined in value, that it is worth
more to hold for redemption than to pay out as money, it will
be laid aside. Those seeking investments and wishing the
highest rate of interest will file it away with their promissory
notes. Thus the currency is contracted and Its value sustained.
As compared with coin, it cannot fall below a certain limit,
this limit being determined by the time the bill has to run, the
current rate of interest, and the confidence with which prompt

* See Stuart's Life of J.Trambull, Sen., p. 462.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 101

payment is expected. The same principles apply to a currency
note bearing interest. The interest will not prevent its depre-
ciation, even though regularly paid, unless it be sufficiently
high to tempt some one to stop its circulation, and hold it for
final redemption. There is, in fact, no method possible by
which the value and credit of a redundant currency can be
preserved which does not, in some way, reduce its volume.
Legal tender acts can reverse no law of nature. Restrictions
on prices, a perfect system of taxation, hopeful financial pros-
pects and solid wealth can have no efiect, so long as the quan-
tity of money is the same.* "Would that self-styled statesmen
understood this truth !

* I have just received (November, 1864) the "Speech of Henry G. Stebbins of
New York City," delivered in Congress, March 4, 1864. A considerable part of
bis remarks are much in the strain of the memorable " circular letter " of Con-
gress of September 13, 1779. He argues, strenuously, in favor of the ability of
the government to pay all its debts. He shows by incontestable figures how rich
we are, (or were,) and for proof refers to the census tables of 1860. He speaks
of our coal, iron, silver, and lead mines, and dwells with pride on the " prolific
sides," and the "hu2:e volumes of treasure" of the Rocky Mountains. He can-
not doubt the financial ability of the country, for " westward the star of empire
takes its way." In view of the security offered, he is unable to understand why
the $400,000,000 of government legal tender notes "should sell at from thirty-
three and a third to forty per cent, discount." Now I would like to ask Mr. Steb-
bins what the " security " which he speaks of has to do with the worth of the
notes? They pledge to the holder not coal, or iron, or gold, or western lands, or
the smallest item of wealth, but only "legal tender." The dollars which they
agree to pay have no outside existence — no existence save in the ink of the print-
er. What bearing, then, has the wealth of a nation on the value of its tender
notes? Were our means of payment increased a thousand fold, these notes would
be worth no more. Nor would the depreciation of the currency be prevented
though all the real property of the country were mortgaged for its redemption, so
long as its quantity was undiminished — so long as no one was tempted to convert
notes into real property. The "assignats" of France, first issued in 1789, were
"secured" by the crown lands, and the confiscated estates of the church, of the
monasteries and the emigrants, amounting, it is said, to half the territory of the
nation. Into these lands, they might be converted at the pleasure of the holder.
Their circulation was enforced by the severest laws. Any person who refused to
receive them in payment for debt was condemned to twenty years' confinement in
irons, while " forestalling" was declared to be a capital offense. (See Alison's
History of Europe, I., 315, Harper's Ed.) The depreciation was but three per
cent, for the first twelve months, and but moderate for the first two years. At
the fall of Robespierre, in July, 1794, the issues amounted to nearly $l,500,00i),000,

102 CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC.

In countries in which depreciated paper is the common cur-
rency, the precious metals have lost their peculiar functions.
They are no longer money ; they are simply commodities.
But as they are the product of labor, and represent a nearly
uniform amount of it, they may still be used to measure values.
They maintain the same relation to other things that they did
before, and are given, in the way *of exchange, in the same pro-
portions. They may be employed as the measure of paper
money as of other things. Known to every people, generally
recognized as the medium of trade, largely used to pay off in-
ternational balances, promptly indicating disturbances in the
commercial world, they have peculiar advantages when thus
employed. The price of gold or silver, considered as a commo-
dity, does not govern the price of paper — does not cause its
depreciation — a fact which some men in high positions cannot
or will not understand. Gold and silver might be struck out
of existence without a change in the value of paper money —
of paper money as measured by any fixed standard. Nor do
these metals govern the exchangeable price of industrial pro-
ducts. A bushel of wheat would have exchanged for two
bushels of Indian corn, or for a pair of shoes, or for a definite
number of depreciated paper dollars, though " hard money "
had never been known. Gold and silver indicate, with con-
siderable certainty, the fluctuations of other things, but control
nothing into which they do not themselves enter. They are of
little importance to a country which has proscribed them as a
currency. They supply no fundamental want, and their ab-
sence would only deprive a people of certain articles of plate,
jewelry, &c. Though convenient for export and for paying off
international balances, foreign trade could be carried on very
well without them.

The relations of commodities, one to another, as it regards

and finally to some $1,750,000,000, (or, according to a French Encyclopedia pub-
lished in 1857, to 45,578,000,000 francs,) all " secured " by the pledge of public
property. A dinner, in 1795, cost, in assignats, ten thousand francs! The end
•was, of course, repudiation and national bankruptcy. The catastrophe was
hastened, it ia true, by a doubt about the security, and a well grounded appro,
hension that the revolutionary government and its acts might come to an un-
timely end.

CONNECTICUT CUKKENCY, ETC. 103

price, are not affected by depreciated paper money. These
cannot be altered so long as the labor required to produce them
is unchanged. It the products of industry, including the pre-
cious metals and labor itself, are measured by a fluctuating pa-
per standard, their prices will vary, but vary alike, and in one
direction. They will move up or down together, as the cur-
rency is expanded or contracted, without losing the established
relations existing among themselves. To speak correctly, the
alteration which they seem to undergo is but seeming. The
change is in the money which measures, and not in the things
which are measured.

CHAPTER VII.

METHODS ADOPTED BY CONGRESS TO SUPPLY THE TREASURY
AND REPAIR THE FINANCES.

After the public credit had been shaken by large issues of
paper money. Congress attempted, October third, 1776, to raise
money by loan, and committed the grave mistake of offering
for it less than the market price. They resolved to borrow im-
mediately "five million of continental dollars," at four per
cent, annual interest, in sums of not less than three hundred
dollars, and recommended that a loan-office should be estab-
lished in each state, a commissioner for the same to be ap-
pointed by said state. The Connecticut Assembly, December,
1776, chose John Lawrence of Hartford, (State Treasurer,) to
fill the office, and pledged the State to deliver United States
three years loan-oflice certificates, (or treasury notes,) bearing
four per cent, interest, to all subscribers. The scheme of
course failed. Afterward, February twenty-sixth, 1777, the
rate of interest on money borrowed, or to be borrowed, was

104 CONNECTICUT CUKEENCY, ETC.

raised to six per cent. Other certificates were put upon the
market, thoiii^li those ah-eady offered had not been disposed
of. To make them more saleable, the interest was made paya-
ble, not in depreciated bills, but in drafts, " at thirty days
Bight," on the United States commissioners in Paris, five
livres being reckoned as equal to one dollar. (The livre was
overvalued about six per cent.) Foreign drafts were often
resorted to by Congress when they got out of money, and
wished to gain time. There were frequently no funds to meet
them, and they came back protested. From the loan-office
certificates, some assistance, i7i currency^ was secured.

Congress endeavored to obtain an additional supply of
money by a lottery. A resolution in favor of one " for defray-
ing the expenses of the next campaign," was adopted November
first, 1776. A scheme was reported and forthwith approved.
The object was not to obtain a profit, but to procure a loan.
As I understand it, the prizes amounted to $5,000,000, less
fifteen per cent., ten of the fifteen to go to the managers.
These prizes were to be paid in " treasury bank notes," or loan-
office certificates, to run five years at four per cent, annual
interest. The tickets were to be paid for in " ready money,"
and to be drawn in four classes, " the first to begin at Phila-
delphia on the first of March, 1777." The tickets sold but
slowly, and the drawing was postponed, from time to time, till
May first, 1778. Before the third class was drawn, which was
not till March first, 17S0, the interest on the loan-office certi-
ficates for prizes was raised to six per cent., while the unsold
tickets were to " be the property and at the risk of the United
States." The drawing of the fourth class was appointed for
the first Monday of April, 1781. On the twenty-first day of
December, 1782, Congress resolved that lottery tickets which
had drawn prizes should be received and certified as claims
against the United States, " at the rate of one dollar in sj)ecie
for forty of such prizes."

There were man}^ disaffected people in the country — loyal-
ists and enemies to liberty. They were numerous in Connec-
ticut. It was thought that some money or means might be
obtained from them — and why should not they be made to

CONNECTICUT CURKENCY, ETC. 105

pa}'^ ? September twenty-seventh, 1777, Congress resolved that
the Board of War be directed to cooperate with General Wash-
ington in "eifectiial measures for supplying the army with
fire-arms, shoes, blankets, stockings, provisions, and other
necessaries; and that, in executing this business, these col-
lections be confined, as much as circumstances will permit, to
persons of disaffected and equivocal characters." Soon after,
the several states were " earnestly recommended, as soon as
may be, to confiscate and make sale of all the real and personal
estate of persons who have forfeited the same, and the right to
the protection of their respective states, and to invest the
money in loan-ofiice certificates," &c. The advice was not un-
heeded. In most of the states tliat had not already acted,
laws were passed proscribing all wealthy absentees by name,
and putting their property into the hands of trustees. As a
financial expedient, however, "this procedure proved a com-
plete failure ; but it gratified party hatred, and served to
enricli some speculators."*

In addition to these measures to secure the means required
for the war. Congress, urged by the critical condition of affairs,
but without any riglitful autliority, clothed General Wash-
ington, late in December, 1776, with the power " to take,
wherever he may be, whatever he may want for the use of the
army, if the inhabitants will not sell it, allowing a reason-
able price for the same ; and to arrest and confine persons who
refuse to take the continental currency, or are otherwise dis-
affected to the American cause." Other powers were given
which made Washington dictator "for and during the term of
six months" — powers, wrote Robert Morris, that Congress
" durst not have trusted to any other man." He did not abuse
the trust.

Congress had no financial system during the early years of
the Revolution. Fearing the war would become unpopular,
they proposed no taxes for two years and a half — a nearly fatal
blunder. They valued liberty, but were opposed to the bur-
dens necesary to maintain it. At last, they were driven into a

* Hildreth, III., p. 229, (first series.)

106 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

different policy, and proposed, November twenty-second, 1777,
to raise " in the course of the year, 1778, commencing Janu-
ary first, by quarterly payments, $5,000,000, by a tax on the
states. The proportion assigned to Connecticut, until the
accounts could be finally adjusted, was $600,000, or nearly
one-eighth of the whole ;* to provide for which the Assembly
promptly laid two rates of twelve pence each, both payable
within the 3'ear 1778. At the same time. Congress proposed
an important measure to the states, one which had been recom-
mended b}' the Springfield Convention, and which was urged
by the General Assembly of Connecticut. While continental
paper money, payable in " Spanish milled dollars," was worth
but thirt3'-three and a third per cent, they " earnestly recom-
mended the several states to refrain from further emissions of
bills of credit, and * * * forthwith to call in by loans or
taxes, and to cancel the paper money, small bills for change
under a dollar excepted, which such state has already emitted ;
and, for the future, to provide for the exigencies of war, and
the support of government by taxes," <fec. Connecticut, un-
wearied in her endeavors to promote the common cause, was
ready for the change. In February, 1778, she enacted that no
more bills should be issued for currency by her authority ; that
those in circulation should be taken up and canceled b}' loans,
and that the charges of the government should be met by
taxes. It was also enacted that none of the bills of this State,
except those under one dollar, should "be current in any pay-
ment, trade or dealing after the twentieth of March next,"
though they might be received into the Treasury for taxes till
the first day of July. Tlie last named period was afterwards
extended to March 1st, 1779. While the state bills were, in
this way, proscribed as money, holders of them were permit-
ted, till the said twentieth day of March, 1778, to exchange
them for the Treasurer's promissory notes, " or bills emitted
on the credit of the United States." The said Treasurer's notes

* Journal of Congress. Connecticut, at this i^eriod, had a population of
about two hundred thousand, or onc-fourtccnth of ail the states. Slic afterwarda
complained that her proportion of the money-requisitions was too large.

CONNECTICUT CUREENCY, ETC. 107

were to carry interest at six per cent., and to run one year.
None was to be for a less sum than ten j)onnds, and the wliole
were not to exceed £235,000,* the estimated amount, probably,
of the outstanding bills of one dollar and over. In April,
1779, the said bills, which were ''not yet brought in," were still
to be taken by the Treasurer, and continental money given in
exchange for them till the ensuing September. By these
measures the state issues of the higher denominations were
withdrawn from circulation, and no more is heard of them as a
part of the currency. The small remnant which remained,
though forfeited by the neglect of holders, was presented and
allowed as a claim against the United States government,
under the Constitution, forty for one.

In May, 1777, the Treasurer of the State was ordered to
borrow not exceeding £72,000, " in continental bills or bills of
this State," and to issue his notes, payable in one year, with
interest at six per cent., said notes to be for sums of not less
than thirty pounds. In May, 1778, the Treasurer was instructed
to borrow £100,000, also at six per cent., payable in two years.
At the same session, it was ordered that the holders of the ten
pound notes which were authorized to the extent of £G0,000
to be paid as premiums to enlisted soldiers, in December, 1776,
redeemable in three years, should, after June 1, 1778, receive
six per cent, per annum instead of four, as stipulated. One
year later, (May, 1779,) a committee was directed to obtain a
further loan of £45,000, at six per cent.

December sixteenth, 1778, Congress resolved to raise in the
ensuing year, $15,000,000, by taxes. In addition to this, the
states were called on, December thirty-first, " to pay their
quotas of $0,000,000, annually, for eighteen years, commencing
with the year 1780, as a fund for sinking the loans and emis-
sions of these United States to the thirty-first day of Decem-
ber, 1778, inclusive." The bills emitted prior to 17S0, and no
others, were to be taken on these quotas. Those received, when

* December 15th, 1788, the state auditors burned £311,140, in notes given "in
1777, tfec, for bills of the old emissions," for which notes new ones had been
issued for their specie value and interest, dated February Ist, 1781. See Finance
and Currency, Vol V., Doc. 281, 275, 276.

108 CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC.

not wanted for the payment of the interest or principal of
loans, were, " together with the $15,000,000 for the year ensu-
ing, not to be reissued, but burned or destroyed." Having
thus provided (on paper) for tlie past. Congress proposed to
make sure of the future by a grand demonstration in the way
of paper money. They ordered ('' the faith of the thirteen
United States " being pledged) $50,000,400, on tlie fourteenth
day of January, and other smaller sums in February, April
and early in May. At length, they became frightened at their
own temerity. Bills were worth but twenty-two for one in
specie, when the states were required, by a resolution dated
May nineteenth, 1779, to pay their respective proportions of
forty-five millions before the first day of the following January,
Connecticut's quota being $5,100,000, Massachusetts' but
$6,000,000. Notwithstanding " the present ease of paying,"
(I use the language of Congress,) the states did not respond.
The amount of taxes paid to the continental government, dur-
ing the war, up to September thirteenth, 1779, was but
$3,027,56, (in currency, I suppose ;) while the whole sum con-
tributed by the American people, in any shape, (in taxes and
loans,) was no more than $36,761,666. Of the loans $7,545,197
were borrowed before the first day of March, 1778, the interest
on which was payable in France ; and $26,188,909, since the
said first of March, the interest payable here. Besides these
sums, there was " money due abroad, not exactly known, sup-
posed to be about $4,000,000," for which values had been re-
ceived. The other funds for the support of the war had been
obtained by bills of credit which, at this period, amounted to
nearly $160,000,000. The " Board of Treasury " had declared
in May previous that it was " impracticable to carry on the
war by paper emissions, at the present enormous expenses of
the commissary -general's, quartermaster-gcnerars, and medical
departments." Congress made known, in June, (1779.) its
" intention not only to avoid further emissions, but to dimin-
ish the quantity in circulation ;" and yet, tlie flow of paper
money continued. The flood rose higher and higher, and the
currency got worse and worse. Over $100,000,000 were issued
in the first eight months of 1779. Under these circumstances,

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 109

the most desperate efforts to bolster up the tottering fabric of
pubh'c credit were vain. Congress appealed to tlje country
again and again, and the appeals were read in the churches.
They begged, cajoled and threatened ; talked of the resources
of til e country; of immutable justice and plighted faitli; of
the ruin and disgrace of repudiation ; and then went off in a
rapture at the excellencies of a paper currency. " Let it be
remembered," they exclaimed, " that paper money is the only
kind of money which cannot ' make to itself wrings and fly
away.' It remains with us ; it will not forsake us ; it is always
ready and at hand for the purpose of commerce or taxes, and
every industrious man can find it." And this wretched soph-
istry, intended to blind the people, received the unanimous ap-
proval of a body of chosen statesmen, including such men as
John Jay !* And what is not a little remarkable, the " circu-
lar letter," in which is found this choice specimen of rhetoric,
makes the following admission : — " The moment the sum in
circulation exceeded what was necessary as a medium in com-
merce, it began and continued to depreciate in proportion as
the amount of the surplus increased." As early as the twenty-
second day of November, 1777, a resolution of Congress an-
nounced the law whicli governs a superabundant currency.
This is its language : — '" No truth is more evident than that
where the quantity of money of any denomination exceeds
wdiat is useful as a medium of commerce, its comparative value
must be proportionately reduced." Though the true principle
was, in this manner, occasionally acknowledged, it was not
recognized as a living, practical truth — was not allowed to have
its legitimate influence on the legislation of the country.
I do not here forget the well understood fact that the amount

* It appears from the Life and Writings of Mr. Jay, Vol. I., p. 88, that this
eomewhat celebrated letter, addressed by Congress to the people, (see the Jour-
nal of Congress, September 13th, 1119,) and so "distinguished for perspicuity,
eloquence and patriotism," was drawn up by that distinguished and able states-
man. Congress, of which he was then president, took the unusual course of re-
questing of him this service. To appreciate the effort, it should be mentioned
that Adam Smith's celebrated " Wealth of Nations," which sets forth clearly the
nature and functions of money, had then been before the world three years and a
half!

110 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

of money, technically so called, does not alone govern the pri-
ces of commodities. There are, among commercial peoples, in
the advanced periods of society, certain money-saving expedi-
ents which are made use of to facilitate exchanges. These, to
the extent that they are employed, diminish the amount of
money required for the business of the country. Most of the
large payments, in the great commercial centres, are, at the
present day, made by means of deposits in bank, or ledger
credits. The average deposits of the associated city banks of
New York, at this time, (October, 1864,) are about $146,000,000,
while the circulation is only some $4,130,000. These two sums
represent, approximately, the amount w4iich those doing busi-
ness with these institutions must keep on hand for making pay-
ments. Each answers a similar purpose. Both serve to trans-
fer values. As a general rule, deposits (controlled by means of
checks or drafts) are employed for the larger, and notes of cir-
culation (or specie where this is in use) for the smaller trans-
actions. TJie proportion between the two, required for the
business of a people, depends on several circumstances which
cannot be determined with certainty. Where the population
is sparse, and a retail trade only is carried on, exchanges are
made, almost wholly, by currency. This condition of things
exists in the earlier agricultural stages of society. In the first
and middle periods of the Revolution, there were no banks, and
trade (barter being left out of the account) was carried on by
means of money. In a place like New York, at this day,
probably ninety-five or ninety-seven per cent, of the exchanges
are efiected by means of bank deposits. The " clearings '^ of
the associated banks, at the clearing-house, show the magnitude
of the business done by checks and drafts. They amount, at
this time, (October, 1864,) to about $500,000,000 per week;
while the " balances " which are paid in money, or some sub-
stitute for it, equal only some $16,000,000, or but a little over
three per cent, of the gross amount. If we embrace in one
view both city and country, or, say, all the states of the Union,
the currency used in trade and commerce would probably equal
the deposits. According to the finance report of the Secre-
tary of the Treasury, made in 1863, the aggregate circulation

CONNECTICUT CUKEENCT, ETC. Ill

of all the banks was, in the year next before the present war,
$202,005,767, and the deposits $257,229,562. But to tlie former
amount must be added the specie then in the hands of the i)eo-
ple, in order to show the proportion of currency to deposits.
"Were this addition made, the lesser might be converted into the
larger sura. There are, however, many circumstances to be
taken in the account in determining this proportion.

Does any one doubt Avhether deposits do in fact perform the
functions of money, and thus save currency ? That they do is
shown by the obvious fact that all payments might be made by
checks and drafts. Thus what is called a circulating medium
might be dispensed with entirely. It would be inconvenient,
however, both to individuals and to banks, to manage a retail
business in this way. So goods might be exchanged directly,
and of course without the intervention of a medium of any
kind, as in the case of barter. This is done, to a large extent,
in every farming community. Under the pressure of necessity,
it might be done so as nearly or wholly to exclude the use of
mone3^ The quantity of money of a country, tlien, need not
bear any absolute ratio to its business transactions, or to the
prices of commodities. To get at this ratio, we must take an
account of exchanges made by means of checks and drafts, and
in the way of barter. Could we make an estimate of the
money required for every description of trade, and then assume
that the transfer of money concluded every commercial act,
and discharged every obligation, we could tell the effect which
would be produced (I mean the permanent effect) by any addi-
tion to the money of a country. If one hundred millions were
demanded and used as currency, and fifty millions were added
to the sum, the prices of all goods, and of everything pro-
duced or controlled by labor, would be raised fifty per cent.
This would be the etfect, as deduced from inevitable law.
Speculation and other temporary influences might modify the
result, but these could not annul, or suspend, or delay (except
for the moment) the operation of the law.

The time at last came when restrictive legislation, backed by
poor declamation, would not satisfy the people. Congress felt
constrained, in view of the bottomless pit into which thecoun-

112 CONNECTICDT CUERENCT, ETC.

try was sinking, to promise some limit to tlieir own action —
some limitation of paper issues. These issues which were in
circulation on the first day of September, 1779, amounted to
$159,918,800. At that date, Congress resolved that they would
" on no account whatever, emit more hills of credit than to
make the whole amount of such bills $200,000,000." Nor
would they increase the sum beyond its present limit, unless
" absolutely necessary." Four days after the date of the "cir-
cular letter " announcing these excellent resolutions, and before,
probably, it had been printed and put in circulation, $15,000,260
in bills of credit, "on the faith of the United States," were
authorized. As Congress sat with closed doors, the members
being pledged to the strictest secresy,* the public, doubtless,
did not know of this speedy renewal of paper issues.

On the twenty-ninth day of November, 1779, the whole of
the deficiency, equaling $10,051,120, was made up. Then,
when continental money had lost thirty-nine fortieths of its
value, the promise " to stop the press" was redeemed. Only
ten days before the last of the paper emissions was resolved
on. Congress attempted, once more, to put in operation the re-
strictive .policy. It "earnestly recommended to the several
states fortliwitli to enact laws for establishing and carrying into
execution a general limitation of prices," on the basis of
twenty in paper for one in specie. It also proposed " strict
laws against engrossing and withholding." A stringent " act
to prevent sharping and engrossing " had already been passed
by Connecticut, while a modified law to regulate prices was
enacted the succeeding January.

Though it is affirmed that the bills in circulation did not, at
any one time, exceed $200,000,000, yet, the whole amount
issued was largely in excess of that sum. The autliorized emis-
sions, with the date, as I have been able to glean them from
the printed Journal of Congress, poorly indexed, amounting
to $242,052,780, were in accordance with the following table.

* See Journal of Congress, May 1 1, 1775, and April 30, 1783. Notwithstanding
the pledges of members, the British government was promptly apprised of all the
important proceedings of Congress.

CONNECTICUT CUKEENCY, ETC. 113

The issue of $10,000, however, which was ordered January-
fifth, 1776, " for the purpose of exchanging ragged and torn
bills," is not included. I have also omitted the $10,000,000,
less five dollars, authorized January fourteenth and May
seventh, 1779, which were designed to take the place of the
counterfeited emissions of May twentieth, 1777, and April
eleventh, 1778.

1775. June 22, $ 2,000,000

July 25, 1,000,000

November 29, 8,000,000

$ 6,000,000

1776. February 17, 4,000,000

May 9 and 22 5,000,000

July 22 and August 13 5,000,000

November 2, 500,000

November 2 and December 28, 5,000,000

19,500,000

1777. February 26, 6,000,000

May 20 5,000,000

August 1 and 15, 1,000,000

November 7, 1,000,000

December 3, 1,000,000

13,000,000

1778. January 8, 1,000,000

January 22, 2,000,000

February 16 2,000,000

March 5, 2,000,000

April 4, 1,000,000

April 11, 5,000,000

April 18, 500,000

May 22, 5,000,000

June 20, 5,000,000

July 30, 5,000,000

September 5, 5,000,000

September 26, 10,000,100

November 4, 10,000,100

December 14, 10,000,100

63,500,300

1779. January 14 50,000,400

February 3, 6,000,160

February 19 5,000,160

April 1, 5,000,160

May 5 10,000,100

June4 10,000,100

July 17 5,000,180

114 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

1779. July 17, $10,000,100

September 17 5,000,180

September 17, 10,000,080

October 14, 5,000,180

November 17, 5,000,040

November 17 5,050,500

November 29, 10,000,140

140,052,480

$242,052,780

I also give an account of the dates and denominations of the
bills, prepared from the private collection of a friend and from
the Journal of Congress :

1775. May 10th, $1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 20, 30.

1775. November 29th, $1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

1776. February 17th, $1, i, i, |, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
1776. May 9th, $1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

1776. July 22d, $2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 30.

1776. November 2d, $2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 30.

1777. February 26th, $2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 30.

1777, May 20th, $2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 30.

1778. April 11th, $4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 20, 30, 40.

1778. September 26th, $5. 7, 8, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60.

1779. January 14th, $1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 20, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 80.

In a report made to Congress by the Register of the Trea-
sury, January twenty-fourth, 1828, and printed in the Amer-
ican State Papers, Finance, volume fifth, page 764, the au
thorized issue of $500,000, November second, 1776, in bills
of two-thirds, one third, one-sixth and one-ninth of a dollar,
is overlooked. No bills of the last denomination are known
to antiquarians, and it is believed that none was ever emitted.
And from the fact that no fractional notes, bearing the date
of November second, 1776, have been discovered, it has been
inferred that the entire issue was suppressed. But this in-
ference is not fairly drawn. It was not customary to give a
new date to each emission, as will be seen by an inspection of
the preceding tables. Old plates would naturally be employed
so long as they were fit for use ; and when new ones were en-
graved, old dates often seem to have been preserved. I have
been unable to find any proof that the bills of November
second, 1776, which were of the same denominations as those

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 115

authorized the seventeenth of February preceding, were not
issued.

Breck, in his Sketch of Continental Paper Money, page
eighteen, makes a great mistake when he says that the conti-
nental emissions, during the war, were " about $300,000,000."'
The table which Gouge gives, (taken from the American
Almanac,) in his History of Paper Money, page ten, which
makes the old issues $357,476,541, represents, if I understand
it, not the original emissions merely, but the entire disburse-
ments of the Treasury, in continental money, from the begin-
ning to the close of the war.

After Congress had ceased to issue more bills, the Treasury
continued to pay out those which were received. About
$83,000,000, old tenor, were disbursed in 1780, and over
$11,400,000 in 1781. The specie value of the whole must
have been less than $2,000,000.

The pride of France had been deeply wounded by the
treaty of 1763, and she rejoiced to see England in the way of
being humbled. At an early period, a disposition was shown
to help the revolted American Colonies. Arthur Lee, the
agent of the secret committee of Congress, in London, in the
spring of 177^5, entered into negotiation with Beauraarchais,
an eccentric French courtier and dramatist, and the confi-
dential agent of the French ministry. Lee, according to his
own statement, was promised assistance, in the way of gift,
to the extent of two hundred thousand louis-d'or, nearly
$1,000,000, in arms, ammunition and specie; but the affair
was to be managed in the most secret manner possible, to avoid
a rupture with England. To turn aside suspicion, it was
arranged that the business should be done through a com-
mercial house bearing the fictitious name of Roderique, Hor-
tales and Co., of which Beaumarchais was the responsible
head. His receipt shows that he received from the court of
France, June tenth, 1776, (before the declaration of inde-
pendence,) one million livres. August eleventh, of the same
year, a like amount was put into his hands, contributed, at the
solicitation of the French King, by the Spanish government.
In May, June and July of the next year, France made other

116 CONTSTECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

advancements to the extent of 1,074,490 livres.* These sever-
al sums amount to $569,437.

Beanmarcliais, entering enthusiastically into tlie scheme of
the French ministry, became a great Spanish merchant and
"rebel sympathizer." He hired "an immense house" in
Paris, installed himself in it with his ofliccrs and clerks, bor-
rowed " from the different state arsenals two hundred cannons,
mortars, shell, cannon balls ; twenty-five thousand guns, two
hundred and ninety thousand pounds of powder, and clothing
and tents for twenty-five thousand men." His first three
ships, escaping the English cruisers, " arrived at the com-
mencement of the campaign of 1777, in the roads of Ports-
mouth."'!' Other vessels, with their cargoes, arrived at a
later period. In the inean time, the French court, pressed by
the English embassador, denied (notwithstanding what had
occurred) having any knowledge of the transactions of their
secret agent. Beaumarchais ingeniously took advantage of
his position. Thongh " M. de Vergeunes, the minister, and
his secretary had repeatedly assured" Arthur Lee " that no re-
turn was to be expected for these cargoes, or for what M. de
Beaumarchais furnished us," the latter, alledging that the ship-
ments had been made on his own private account, presented a
claim against Congress for advances — a claim for " divers in-
voices and cargoes shipped" — amounting, according to the
Journal of Congress of June fifth, 1779. to 4,547,593 livres,
nearly £200,000 sterling. This demand, after the assurances
of Lee, was indeed a surprise. But Beaumarchais, who had
become deeply involved in debt, was importunate, and the sum
above named was, at length, paid, one million livres (which
were known, at the time, to have been furnished by France,
for the benefit of the United States, to some one) having been
first deducted. This course appears to have been taken to pre-
vent the exposure of cabinet secrets. Beaumarchais was not
satisfied with the deduction, and continued his suit for the

* For several of these facts I am indebted to a curious volume, translated from
the French, entitled "Beaumarchais and his Times," by Louis de Lomenie, pub-
lishedby Harper & Brothers, 1857. See Chapters XVIII, XIX, XX.

f Ibid. pp. 289, 294.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 117

balance. His renewed application, strangely enough, was
favored by the court of France. At length, after the over-
throw of the French monarchy, when reasons for concealment
no longer existed, the name of the person to whom was paid
the one million livres advanced, June tenth, 1776, was pro-
duced. Old suspicions w^ere confirmed, the receipt being
signed by Beaumarchais. The latter, notwithstanding, per-
sisted in his claim, and after his death, in 1799. his heirs con-
tinued to press it. On this claim. Congress, wearied with im-
portunity, allowed, in 1835, eight hundred thousand francs.

In the first volume (chapter tenth) of Pitkin's Political
and Civil History of the United States, may be found a good
and apparently truthful account of this mysterious affair.
Pitkin, however, relies on the declarations of Arthur Lee to
prove the original intentions of the French court. The author
of " Beaumarchais and his Times" controverts the statements
of Lee, and accuses him of " falsehood," &c. The truth is
the French minister prevaricated and shuffled. He took
effectual measures to help the Americans, and then, wishing
to escape the charge of bad faith, denied what he had done.
During the progress of the negotiations for peace, he declared
to the British minister, in the presence of Dr. Franklin, that
"independence was declared by the Americans lo7ig hefore
they received the least encouragement from France, and he de-
fied the world to give the smallest proof to the contrary."*

Beside the assistance which the United States received
through Beaumarchais, the French government paid directly
to the American commissioners, previous to the treaty of Feb-
ruary, 1778, and as a gratuity, two million livres.f In addi-
tion to this amount, one million livres were loaned by the farm-
ers-general of France.

» Franklin's Works, Vol. IX., p. 274, Spark's edition.

f In the articles of settlement between Franklin and the French minister,
dated February 25th, 1783, which will be found in the Appendix to the last vol-
ume of the Journal of Congress, "the aids granted by the King to the. United
States" are recapitulated. In the third class are comprehended "the aids and
subsidies furnished to the Congress, under the title of gratuitous assistance from
the pure generosity of the king, 3,000,000 of which were granted before the

118 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

After the capture of Burgoyne's array, in October, 1777, it
became evident tliat the dismemberment of the British empire
might, by timely assistance to the Americans, be made certain.
France, therefore, desiring to take an opeo part in the struggle,
sought an alliance with the United States, and signed a treaty,
dated February 6th, 1778. Material aid was also rendered in
the way of loan — three million livres in the course of the year
1778, one million in 1779, four million in 1780, four million in
1781, and six million in 1782; in all eighteen million livres, or
$3,333,333, at five per cent, annual interest. The interest,
however, was afterwards remitted till " the date of the treaty
of peace " with England — a favor which the minister of Con-
gress acknowledged " to flow from the pure bounty of the
King." Beside all this, France, in 1781, furnished in way of
subsidy, six million livres, and guaranteed a loan, at four per
cent., made in Holland, of five million Dutch florins, equal to
ten million French livres. Including all these items, the
French government, during the war, assisted the United States
to the extent of thirty-seven million livres, nine million by
subsidy, (including the one million paid to Beaumarchais in
June, 1776,) eighteen million by loan, and ten million by
guarantee, the whole equaling $6,851,862. This sum does
not include the one million livres from the farmers-general ;
nor does it comprehend a loan of six million livres, at five per
cent, interest, which, in February, 1783, was made " from the
funds of the royal Treasury," at the solicitation of Franklin,
to " meet urgent and indispensable expenses." Other moneys
were obtained from other sources. Mr. Jay, with much diffi-
culty, borrowed $150,000 of Spain, in 1781, at five per cent,
interest ; while John Adams, in June, 1782, contracted with
" certain lenders" in Holland, for a loan, at a similar interest,
of five million guilders, or ten million French livres, on which
contract $671,200 had been paid, April twenty-ninth, 1783.

The above were all the sums which the agents of Congress

treaty of February, 1778." To make the three roillion livres, it will be necessary to
include the 1,000,000 paid to Beaumarchais, June 10th, 1776, and to exclude the
other sums furnished him, 1,074,496 by France, and 1,000,000 by Spain.

CONNECTICUT CUEEENCY, ETC. 119

were able, by the greatest efforts, to beg or borrow from the
courts and capitalists of Europe till after the close of the war.
In the aggregate, they amounted to $8,639,348, counting only
so much of the last Dutch loan as had been received at the last
mentioned date. Tliey were quite disproportionate to the
need of the states ; but were, nevertheless, a great help.
The alliance with France was an important event, happening
at a most interesting period of the war. It made certain a re-
sult which was before doubtful ; but it did not give the relief
which was expected. Above all, it did not rescue the perish-
ing credit of the continental government, so recklessly sacri-
ficed by paper money and bad management.

The depreciation of the currency, and the embarrassment
which it introduced, gave great encouragement to the British
government. The adherents of the latter openly declared that
they had but to wait a little to see America become its own
conqueror. This subject gave Washington the greatest anxiety.
Speaking of the difficulty growing out of paper money, he de
clared it " the only hope, the last resource of the enemy."
Said he, in another place, we are laboring u*nder two of the
greatest evils, a reduced army and the " want of money, or
rather a redundancy of it, by which it is become of no value."
" A wagon load of money," he remarked, on still another
occasion, " will hardly purchase a wagon load of provisions."*
To increase the confusion, the issues of May twentieth, 1777,
and of April eleventh, 1778, were extensively counterfeited by
the Tories of New York, so that Congress was constrained, by
a resolution bearing date January second, 1779, to call them
in to be exchanged. The soldiers complained of the worth-
less character of tlie muney the}' received, and some corps de-
clined to accept it. The two regiments of the Connecticut
line that mutinied in May, 1779, were impelled by poor pay
and scanty food. The depreciation of the currency in which
their wages were paid was afterwards made good to them.

* Writings, Vol. VI., p. 229.

120 CONNECTICUT CUKKENC^, KTO.

CHAPTER VIII.

MORE PAPER MONEY, AND THE FINAL OVERTHROW OF THE SYS-
TEM. HOW CONNECTICUT SUPPORTED THE WAR.

In the beginning of 1780, all seemed to be satisfied that the
credit of the currency was irrecoverably gone — that broken prom-
ises could not be made as good as gold and silver. At this
juncture, when existing facts could no longer be ignored, the As-
sembly of the State undertook to do justice (on paper) to cer-
tain of its creditors, and thus declared its intentions : — " It be-
hooves every government to render justice, as far as possible,
to every member belonging thereto, and in a most especial
manner to those who have placed a particular confidence in
their equity." Therefore it was enacted, (in January, 1780,)
" that the notes executed and issued by the Treasurer of this
State, by virtue of an act passed in December, 1776, and the
bills of credit which have been loaned to this State in conse-
quence of an act passed in May, 1777, and in consequence of
another act passed in February, 1778, and also the bills of pub-
lic credit which have been loaned as aforesaid in consequence
of an act passed in May, 1778, shall be paid for, together with
the interest, to the respective lenders, in gold or silver, or in
bills of credit of this State, according to the full value of the
said bills or notes when they were loaned or issued as aforesaid."

By the same act, three taxes were granted, each of twelve
shillings on the pound, payable in April, June and November,
(1780,) in continental money, or at the option of the tax payer,
in gold and silver, or the bills emitted by the present or future
assemblies, one in coin or the new bills being reckoned as
equal to thirty in continental money.'^ The two first of these

* These taxes, amounting to thirty-six shillings on the pound, did not prove so
burdensome as was to be apprehended, owing to the continued depreciation of the

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 121

taxes — those payable in April and June — were intended to
meet state expenses and the demands of Congress. The last
was to remain in the Treasury till otherwise ordered. " For
the relief of the indigent," abatements were permitted in
each town to the extent of one-twentieth part of the taxes.
As a further measure to meet the requisitions of Congress,
authority was given to borrow one million pounds in " bills of
the common currency of the United States, already issued," on
the following conditions : — Every one who shall deposit with
the Treasurer for the use of the State any sum in said bills, not
less than one hundred and eighty pounds, shall receive there-
for one-thirtieth part of the amount in silver or gold within
six years from the date of deposit, with six per cent, annual
interest, the interest payable in coin, or in state bills having
not more than seven years to run, and bearing not less than
four per cent, annual interest. The Treasurer's notes which
were to be issued for this loan were called bank notes, and were
to be paid " to the possessors." Owing probably to the con-
tinued depreciation of bills, this law was repealed in May fol-
lowing.

Another part of this act authorized the emission of £40,000,
" lawful money, in bills of public credit, computing every six
shillings to be equal to one Spanish milled dollar," redeemable
March first, 1784, with interest from date, (March first, 1780,)
at five per cent, per annum. They were issued on the plan of
those emitted with so much success at the breaking out of the
French war, in 1755 ; and it was expected, without considering
the difference of circumstances, that they would be received
with similar favor. For their payment, a six penny tax, becom-
ing due January first, 1784, was laid, and the Treasurer was to
issue his warrant for its collection, &c. And as the bills emit-
ted in virtue of this act were " founded upon the most indubi-
table principles of public credit, and ought to be regarded

currency. In April and June, bills were worth, in Philadelphia, sixty for one, in
November, eighty for one. At the last rate, a tax of twelve shillings would have
amounted to less than two pence, in specie. It should, however, be remembered
that the depreciation was somewhat less in Connecticunt and New England than
in Philadelphia, and some other places.

122 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

accordingly," the Assembly ordered that they should be " re-
ceived in payment of all salaries, fees and rewards for services
within this State." It also enacted that if any quartermaster
or commissary, using this money, should " knowingly give
more for any purchase, hire or service, than the same might
' have been obtained for in coin," he should forfeit the amount
of the sums so expended, and pay a fine of one hundred pounds
in the bills of this act. And as there were " villains and
traitors " about, " who, under the mask of friendship, and by
dark, insidious and detestable conduct, endeavored to defeat
every public measure, by offering exorbitant prices," &c., it was
further provided that if any person should offer or give " ex-
cessive or unnecessary prices for any article or service," either
in coin or bills of this act, or should, by his conduct, " afford a
reasonable proof" of a design or intention to injure the public
credit, he should pay such fine as the court should judge rea-
sonable, and be imprisoned for a term of not more than three
years. The act of February, 1778, regulating prices, had been,
soon after its passage, and at the instance of Congress, first
suspended and then repealed ; and the present law was enacted
in consequence, apparently, of a desire which Congress had
expressed (November nineteenth, 1779) to try once more the
restrictive policy. The plan proposed required that paper
should pass at one-twentieth part of its nominal value, and
Connecticut did not, in this instance, come quite up to the re-
quirment. She was not often delinquent.

At the same session, (January, 1780,) the statute of October,
1776, making continental and state bills a legal tender, was so
changed as to make them a tender " according to their current
value," [as measured by specie,] at the time of the contract,
&c. ; but creditors living in other states which should not
"make similar laws to promote equal justice" were not enti-
tled to the benefits of the new law. This alteration was made,
notwithstanding Congress had just refused to reccommend to
the states'a similar measure.

In February, 1781, the modified tender act of January, 1780,
was, in anticipation of any action on the part of the general
government, repealed, " the longer continuance of said act being

CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC. 123

of no public use or benefit." Thus ended the legal tender
iniquity in Connecticut.

One month later, Congress showed signs of repentance.
March sixteenth, she proposed to the states to amend their ten-
der laws, and two months afterwards, (May twenty-second,
17S1,) advised their unconditional repeal, " experience having
evinced the inefficiency of all attempts to support the credit of
paper money by compulsory acts." This experience, though
frightfully expensive, was supposed, till a recent period, to
have been worth all it cost.

In the year last mentioned, at its May session, the Connecti-
cut Assembly repealed so much of the law of January, 1780,
as made the bills then authorized receivable for all [public]
salaries, fees, rewards, &c.

The legislation of Connecticut, daring the trying period of
the revolutionary war, and on the exciting questions of the
time, was sufficiently reprehensible ; but as compared with
that of the other states, it was moderate and conservative.
Her leading statesmen were, after the standard of tliat day,
shrewd, considerate and wise. Throughout her colonial ex-
istence, she was distinguished for the comparative mildness of
her laws. In illustration of this fact, it may be stated that her
government was the only one from New Hampshire to Georgia
which did not make death the penalty of counterfeiting.

Congress was disappointed at the failure of all their schemes
to establish the public credit. The supports on which they re-
lied had given way — their most cherished plans had come to
naught. It seemed as if the war could no longer be maintain-
ed either by borrowing, begging, printing, taxing or impress-
ing ; and patriotic resolves were useless. Good intentions on
the part of those who governed could not save a rebel popula-
tion. The country had been nearly destroyed by bad legisla-
tion, and the reckless, senseless use of paper money. The ar-
my, greatly reduced in numbers, was perishing from privation.
The people had lost confidence in their rulers, and a deep gloom
settled down upon the land. But something must be done.
With small prospect of relief, Congress renewed its eftbrts to
raise money on loan-office certificates, and made a show of a
still more vigorous taxation. October sixth, 1779, " deeply

124 CONNECTICUT CURRENCT, ETC.

concerned tliat the sums required were so great," they made a
requisition on the states for $15,000 000, monthly, for nine
months, beginning with the first day of February, 17S0. (This
was in addition to all former requisitions.) Fearing that this
measure would not sufficiently reduce prices, they once more
advised the states (as already mentioned) to pass limitation-
acts, and to enforce " strict laws against engrossing and with-
holding " !

The fund of continental bills was exhausted. The requisi-
tions payable in continental money had produced little and
promised still less. It seemed doubtful whether the army could
much longer be kept together with paper money, even though
the taxes were collected. In this state of things, when the
British trooops were overrunning the southern country, and
the people were well nigh disheartened. Congress resolved, Feb-
ruary twenty-fifth, 1780, to call on the states for " specific sup-
plies"— beef, flour, Indian corn, hay, salt, tobacco, rum, rice —
those articles most needed for the use of the army. These
things were apportioned among the states, at stated prices, ac-
cording to the natural advantages of each. New England was
to furnish most of the rum ; and what is not a little remarka-
ble, about four gallons of this popular beverage were required
for each barrel of flour. (The Indian corn appears to have
been wanted for forage.) On the fourth day of November, Con-
gress again called for army supplies and money, equal in value
to $6,000,000, in silver. Georgia, now a loyal state, made so by
British bayonets, was not embraced in the call. Other requisi-
tions, made during the year, produced little but disappoint-
ment, as proved by the fact that the entire disbursements of
the Treasury, for 1780, including eighty -three million of
continental money, were but $3,000,000, specie value. The
scheme of supplying the army by taxes payable in " specifics "
proved to be excessively burdensome and expensive, and was
abandoned.

Driven to the wall, but not yet ready to abandon its paper
delusions, or to give up the war. Congress hit upon a new ex-
pedient which it hoped might replenish the Treasury. As it
was pledged to issue no more continental bills, a little ingenu-

CONNECTICUT CrREENCY, ETC. 125

ity was necessary. The new scheme was adopted and recom-
mended, March eighteenth, 1780, and required the states to
lev}' a tax of fifteen million dollars, monthly, for thirteen
months, (instead of for nine months, as required by a former
resolution,) payable in continental bills, or in specie at the rate
of one for forty. Connecticut's quota was $1,700,000 month-
ly, $22,100,000, in all, or more than one-ninth part. Of this
amount, she appears to have paid into the continental Treas-
ury, firsrand last, $9,151,484f| in bills, or $228,7871^, specie
value.* This requisition on the states, amounting in the whole
to $195,000,000, was designed to call in all the paper money
of Congress then afloat. In lieu of the bills withdrawn, the
resolution provided that others should be issued to the extent
of one-twentieth part of those retired. The new bills would
amount to about ten million dollars, which is Mr. P. Webster's
estimate of the currency which the country naturally required.
They were to be issued by the individual states, in exchange
for the old notes, and in proportion to their several quotas, and
guaranteed by the United States. They were to be paid in
Spanish milled dollars, were to bear five per cent. (Hildreth
incorrectly saj^s six per cent.) annual interest, and to run six
years, funds (i. e., taxes) to be provided to sink one-sixth part
each year. Of these bills, the states issuing them were to re-
ceive, for their own use, six- tenths, and the general government
four-tenths.

The new scheme for reforming the currency, restoring the
government credit, and controlling prices, was a conspicuous
failure. The taxes recommended by Congress were but par-
tially collected ; the old tenor nuisance was not abated, and the
new tenor bills did not secure the confidence of the public.
Of the latter, there were issued, according to Mr. Hildreth,
$4,400,000, this sum taking the place of $88,000,000, old ten-
or, paid into the state treasuries and destroyed.f Mr. Hildreth
may be correct in this matter, but a statement which I find in

* American State Papers, Finance, I., 58. When the Constitution went into
operation, all the states had paid in, under the resolution of March 18, 1780,
?119,498,566.

f History of the United States, Vol. III., p. 446, first series.

126 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

the American State Papers* represents that the general govern-
ment " appropriated" of the new issues, received from all the
states, $1,592,222^1, two-thirds of the amount emitted by-
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. As the sum to be paid into
the United States Treasury was four-tenths of the whole, the
issues of bills under the resolution of March, 1780, must have
been $3,980,556 ; while the old bills called in to make room
for them must have equaled $79,611, 12f). The new currency
rapidly declined in value. The agents of Congress paid it out
at different rates, but by average at three for one of specie,
no account being taken of the accrued interest.f At length,
it became worth, in the general market, no more than five or
six for one, and Congress advised that the states should stop
the supply. Connecticut (and I might add Delaware, North
and South Carolina and Georgia) emitted none of the new
bills, though she took up enough of the old paper to entitle
her to a large issue. Mr. Hildreth improperly classes her with
those states that wholly failed to meet the requisitions of Con-
gress, and leaves us to infer that she emitted nothing because
this failure precluded her from the right of doing otherwise.:}:
The true reason why the state did not avail herself of her
right will be mentioned in another place.

The Assembly of Connecticut, in April, (1780,) approved
the resolution of Congress of March eighteenth. They thought
their quota of continental bills disproportionally large, but
engaged to sink the amount assigned to the State as fast as cir-
cumstances would permit. At the same time, they resolved to
issue the new bills reccomniended by Congress, and as a fund
for their redemption, laid a tax of seven pence on the pound,
" lawful money," for each of six successive years, payable De-
cember thirty-first, 1781, and afterward, in bills issued in

* Finance, I., 53.

f See Journal of Congress, April 4th, 1781.

■\. From a docuinent in the State Library, dated Pay-table office, May 17, 1787,
and signed Oliver Wolcott, Jr., it appears that the continental bills received from
J. Law, Esq., and destroyed by the commissioner of accounts of Connecticut
from January, 1780, to August, 1783, amounted to $8,102,424|, nominal money,
in sundry emissions from May 10, 1775, to January 14, 1779.

CONNECTICUT CUEEECNCT, ETC. 127

accordance with this act, or in like bills emitted by other
states. A tax of twelve shillings on the pound was also
granted, payable " in the common currency of the United
States," September first then next, the bills when collected to
be destroyed. At the next session, in May, the new bills which
were to be provided by Congress were " not prepared." There
was a great pressure on the Treasury, and a law was enacted
that £100,000, in lawful money, should be emitted, on the faith
of the State, bearing five per cent, annual interest, and paya-
ble March first, 1785, in specie. These bills, bearing date July
first, 1780, were to be in lieu of those reccommended by Con-
gress. The act was not in accordance with the plan. At the
same time, two taxes were laid, one of four pence on the pound,
payable on the first day of the ensuing August, and one of six
pence, payable the succeeding first day of January. Specie
only, or bills emitted since February, 1780, or yet to be emit-
ted, were to be received for these taxes. The notes thus col-
lected were not to be reissued except by order of the Assembly.*
At the same session, another issue of £50,000 was ordered, the
bills to be dated June 1, 1780, and payable March first, 1784.
They were of the same tenor as those of the last emission, and
were not to be reissued. To redeem them, a tax of seven pence
was laid, to be paid in the new bills or hard money, on or be-
fore January first, 1784.

The three emissions of January and May, 1780, amounting
to £190,000, bearing five per cent, interest, were the last of the
paper money of Connecticut.

In October, 1780, an important law was passed by the
Assembly. It was entitled "An Act to ascertain the current
value of continental bills," etc., and enacted " that all contracts
made on or before the first day of September, 1777, for lawful
money, or bills of credit of this State, or continental bills of
credit, shall be deemed equal to the same nominal sum in gold
or silver ; that all contracts made between the first day of
September, 1777, and the eighteenth day of March^ 1780, un-

* In October, 1780, it was ordered that £33,000 and no more of the bills of the
July emission should be reissued.

128 CONNECTICUT CTJREENCY, ETC.

derstoocl or expressed to be for the common currency of the
United States or of this State, shall be rated in Spanish milled
dollars, or other coins equivalent, agreeable to the following
table, which shows the value of one hundred Spanish milled
dollars, in continental bills of credit, at the several times
therein expressed," &c. The table referred to was in accord-
ance with a scale of depreciation adopted by Congress, (see the
abstract near tlie end of this chapter,) in conformity with which
loan office and commissary certificates were to be liquidated.*
For political reasons, perhaps, it did not represent truly the
facts. The depreciation was usuall}^ much greater than is
stated. For instance, on the first day of September, 1777,
when the table commences, paper is put down at par, when,
in fact, it was worth in Philadelphia but thirty-three and a third
per cent, ol* its face. On the eighteenth of March, 1780, paper
was valued at the rate of forty for one of specie, when it could
not be exchanged at a better rate than sixty for one.f The
State was a considerable loser and its creditors gainers, by this
over-valuation of continental money. The scale as adopted by
the State and made the " rule in all courts of law," the calcu-
lation being made for the first and fifteenth of each month,
is printed in the several editions of the " Statutes " down to
1808. By a later act passed in October, 1782, " all actions

* " Resolved, That the principal of all loans that have been made to these United
States shall finally be discharged, by paying the full current value of the bills
when loaned, wjiich payments shall be made in Spanish milled dollars, or the
current exchange thereof, in other money, at the time of payment." Journal of
Congress, June 8th, 1780.

The assumed value of the bills when loaned may be ascertained by reference
to the table above referred to. The latter will be found at length in the
fifth volume of American State Papers, p. 766, the calculation being made for
every day of the period which it covers. The rule thus laid down was observed
by this State. Other states adopted scales of their own.

\ This rate was not uniform throughout the country, but varied with the
expenditures of tlie government, the activity of business, &c. As a general rule,
the depreciation was first perceived, and was also greatest, in the centers of
commerce and population. In New England, it was usually less than in Phila-
delphia. The difference in " exchange " led, at one time, to extensive specula-
tion. Men called sharpers, in Philadelphia, exchanged their goods for bills, and
with the latter, went to Boston, and swept the market of similar goods, pocketing
a large profit.

CONNECTICUT CUEEENCY, ETC. 129

brought before any of the Superior or County courts for the
recovery of any debt due by bond, note, or book account, con-
tracted before or on the seventh day of January, 1782," for the
discharge of which continental bills had been tendered and
refused, were to be decided " according to the rules of
equity."

In November, 1780, the holders of the ten pound notes of
1777, [issued in exchange for the bills of credit of the old
emission,] or of any notes given for Connecticut money, or for
moneys loaned to the State, were invited to exchange them,
principal and interest, for new notes, the latter being reduced
in accordance with the scale of depreciation adopted in
October previous. The new promises, dated February first,
1781, were redeemable, in gold and silver, one year after the
war, and bore six per cent, interest, payable annually.

When once satisfied that the war could not be carried on by
paper money of any kind, and that heavier taxes must be laid,
Connecticut bent her neck to the yoke, and acted with prompt-
ness and efficiency. Indeed, she had never been backward in
the imposition of taxes. Washington singled her out, in a let-
ter to Edmund Pendleton, in November, 1779, for her policy in
this regard, and placed her in opposition to " the other states."
Her last issues of notes for currency were not in accordance
with the recommendation of Congress. But these were de-
signed for a temporary purpose only, and measures were taken
to call them in speedily. In October, 1780, a tax was granted
of five pence on the pound, payable October first, 1781, in sil-
ver or gold or the bills of the July emission, (£33,000 of which
had been reissued,) and another of twelve pence on the pound,
payable December thirty-first, 1780. The last was for the pur-
pose of sinking '• the residue of bills emitted since January
first last," and for bounties to soldiers. Payment was to be
made in specie, or in state money emitted since the preceding
January, or in new continental bills issued under the authority
of the State, or in old continental paper at the rate of forty for
one. To meet, in part, the requisition of Congress, and to clear
the way for the issue of the new continental money, a tax was

130 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

also laid of four dollars on a pound, to be paid at the same date
in old continental currency, or in new state bills at the rate of
one for forty, or in gold and silver at the same rate. To show
how the Connecticut people were taxed at this period, I will
refer to an advertisement which I find in the " Hartford Cour-
ant" for January fifteenth, 1781. Israel Williams, collector,
of Plartland, gives notice that he has received from the Treas-
urer of the State ten warrants to collect rates, as follows : —
twelve shillings on the pound, due July first, [1780,] payable
"in old continental [money]'- ; four pence on the pound, due
August first in [new] state money ; twelve shillings on the
pound, due September first, in old continental ; two pence on
the pound, due October first, in state money ; twelve shillings
on the pound, due November first, in old continental ; twenty-
four shillings on the pound, due December twenty-ninth, in old
continental ; one shilling on the pound, due December twenty-
ninth, in state money ; six pence on the pound, due January
first, [1781,] in state money ; one shilling on the pound, due
February first, in state money ; two and a half pence on the
pound, due March first, in silver or gold. All these rates were
on the list of 1779. The advertiser also states that he has
three other warrants for taxes on the list of 1780 : — one of
twenty-four shillings on the pound, [due March first, 1781,] in
old continental ; one of one penny, [due March first, 1781,] in
silver; one of two pence, [due May first, 1781,] in silver.
Here are in all thirteen different taxes, amounting, in the ag-
gregate, to eighty-seven shillings five pence half-penny, on the
pound, all becoming due in the space of ten months. Of this
amount, eighty-four shillings on the pound were payable in old
continental bills, worth, at the time of the collector's notice,
one hundred for one; three shillings on the pound in [new]
state money, and five and a half pence on the pound, payable
in specie. And the taxes were not much lighter at other peri-
ods of the war. In 1777, when bills were worth about one-
third their face, they amounted to twenty-eight pence on the
pound; in 1778, to fifty -five pence on the pound, bills being
equal to one-fifth their nominal value; in 1779, to thirty-one

CONNECTICUT CUBRENCY, ETC. 131

shillings,* equal, say, to fifteen pence on the pound, in specie,
or six per cent, on the list of polls and estates.

But it should be remembered that the lists, at that period,
did not represent truly the property, real and personal, of the
State. Dwelling houses, for instance, until May, 178(», did not
go into the list ; but house lots of tliree acres were rated at
twenty shillings per acre, one-third higher than tlie other best
lands. Till January, 3 779, the polls of all male persons be-
tween sixteen and seventy years of age, were set in the list at
eighteen j)ounds; but at that time the law was changed, and
those between sixteen and twenty-one years were put down at
nine pounds. Even after the change, about two-fiftlis of the
amount of the taxable lists were derived from polls, represent-
ing no property. By the revised laws of 1784, which, in re-
gard to the principles and most of the details of taxation, were
not difierent from those which, for long periods, had been and
continued to be in force, dwelling houses went into the list
" at fifteen shillings for each fire-place therein," proper deduc-
tions being made if the buildings were old and decayed.
Horned cattle and " liorse-kind " were set down at from one to
four pounds each ; the best meadow lands, (which were in
Hartford County,) at fifteen shillings per acre ; meadow lands,
salt and fresh, in the other counties, (Middlesex and Tol-
land were not incorporated,) seven and six pence; plowed
lands, in the years of bearing crops, ten shillings per acre ;
cleared pasture lands, eight shillings ; bush pasture, tw^o shil-
lings ; uninclosed lands, from two shillings to six pence per
acre ; coaches, twenty-five pounds each ; phsetons, fifteen
pounds ; chaises, five pounds ; gold watches, five pounds ;
money on interest, at six percent, of its amount ; plate, at six
per cent, of its value. These are specimens. Lawyers were
assessed at fifty pounds and upwards ; physicians and surgeons,
at ten pounds and upwards ; tavern-keepers, at fifteen pounds
and upwards; persons following " any mechanical art or mys-
tery," five pounds and upwards ; the best corn-mills, eighty

* See MSS. Finance and Currency, Vol. V., for a report of a committee giving
a list of the taxes during the war.

132 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

pounds, &c., &c. On the cjross sum of all these items, taxes
were levied, one penny on a pound raising, in 1783, after abate-
ments, about six thousand two hundred and fifty pounds.
What proportion the lists made up in the manner described,
bore to the entire property of the State, real and personal, it is
difficult to say. The first inay have been to the last as one to
twenty-five.

The Assembly resorted to other methods to sink their quota
of the old continental money. They authorized the Treasurer
to exchange, to the extent of £50,000, old for new continental
bills, the latter to be issued by this State, in pursuance of the
Act of Congress of March eighteenth, the exchange to take
place at the established rate of forty for one. And as a large
part of the State's quota of old bills was still outstanding, a
resolution was passed, November, 1780, that, for the speedy
calling in of three million, a public lottery be authorized, the
same to be drawn on or before the twentieth of May [tlien]
next. The tickets were to be purchased with old bills and to be
drawn out in new bills. The scheme was advertised several
times in the Hartford Courant ; but neither this nor the other
plan which proposed an exchange of the old for the new money
seems to have succeeded. I judge so from the fact that none of
the new currency was ever emitted by this State.* It was not
emitted, because the new bills, as the record says, (May, 1782,)
" could not be issued on a par with gold and silver." The
truth is, the proposed new tenor money was not regarded with
favor. The people, I suppose, could see no advantage in ex-
changing promises, giving forty for one, with no additional se-
curity.

To meet its most pressing engagements, the State also pro-
posed to raise money by loan. In November, 1780, the Gov-
ernor was authorized to negotiate a loan of £200,000, lawful
money, in Europe or America, to run from seven to twenty
years, with annual interest at not over six per cent. — " funds
to be established." $30,000 were also to be borrowed at six

* I find that the act for a lottery was repealed at the February session, 1781,
tlie money paid for tickets to be refunded.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 133

per cent, interest, tlie latter payable in gold or silver, redeema-
ble one year after the war, the lender to receive the annual in-
terest one year in advance.

According to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury,
May eleventh, 1790, showing the estimated specie value of the
moneys paid by the several states to the United States, from
the beginning of the war to the above period,* Connecticut was
credited with $1,607,259, as follows, omitting fractions: —

On account of specie requisitions, [leaving unpaid $381,869,] - $210,420

Paid in indents, or certificates for interest on the public debt, [leaving

$698,091 in indents unpaid,] --.... 111,791

On account of the requisition of March eighteenth, 1780, in continental

bills at forty for one, ...... 228,787

On account of taxes collected in old emissions on the several requisi-
tions, specie value, .-.-... 375,996

Continental money credited on the treasury books from the beginning
of the tvar to the present time, $251,720. [This sum is omitted in
the footing. See next item.]

Value in specie of the continentfil money credited, ... 172,797

Credits on the books of the quartermaster, commissary, marine, cloth

ing, and hospital departments, specie value, ... 507,468

$1,607,259

This then is the amount paid by Connecticut directly to the
general government for the support of the war. In the same

* The following are the total amounts debited and credited to each State. See
Am. State Papers, I., 54, 55.

Dr. Cr.

New Hampshire, $ 440,974 $ 466,555

Massachusetts, 1,245,737 3,167,020

Rhode Island, 1,028,511 310,395

Connecticut 1,016,273 1,607,259

New York, 822,803 1,545,889

New Jersey 366,730 1,607,259

Pennsylvania, 2,087,276 2,629,410

Delaware, 63,817 208,879

Maryland, 609,617 945,537

Virginia,... 483,282 1,965,011

North Carolina, 795,431 219,839

South Carolina 1,024,743 499,325

Georgia, 687,579 122,744

134 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

account there are charges against the State for continental
money advanced, amounting to $1,716,517, equal in specie to
$1,016,273. If this sum is deducted from the other, a balance
will appear in favor of the State of $590,986.

Soon after the act of Congress of March eighteenth, 1780, old
continental bills, then worth sixty for one, began to depreciate
more rapidly than ever. In elanuary, 1781, they were valued one
hundred for one, and about the first of May, two hundred for
one. They still, however, continued to discharge the functions
of a currency. Their circulation was brisk. Anything, even
hard money, might be bought with them, if only a suflicient
sum were offered. At last, " May thirty-first, 1781," says Pel-
atiah Webster, (page five hundred and two,) " continental
money ceased to pass as currency, but was afterward bought
and sold as an article of speculation, at very uncertain and
desultory prices, from five hundred to one thousand for one."
In the end, the " two hundred million lost all their value, and
were laid aside. The annihilation was so complete that barber-
shops were papered, in jest, with the bills ; and the sailors, on
returning from their cruise, being paid off in bundles of this
worthless money, had suits of clothes made of it, and with
characteristic light-heartedness turned their loss into a frolic by
parading through the streets in decayed finery, which, in its
better days, had passed for thousands of dollars."* The out-
standing portion of this money, (which, at the close of the war,
amounted, according to Hildreth, to about $70,000,000,) was
finally funded, under the Constitution, one hundred dollars in
paper being exchanged for one dollar in United States stock.f

I here subjoin a table showing the depreciation of old conti-
nental bills on the first of each month, made out in accordance
with the rule of Congress.:}: The figures in the last column
showing the depreciation in Philadelphia, (day of the month
not indicated,) is taken from Mr. Webster's volume of Essays:

* Breck's Sketch, p. 15.

f See " Act making provision for the debt of the United States," approved
Aug. 4, 1 Y90.

\ See ante, p. 128, note, and Am. State Papers, Finance, V., 766.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC

135

SCALES OF DEPRECIATION OF CONTINENTAL MONEY.

Value of 100

Number of conti-

Value of 100

Number of conti-

continental

nental dollars giv-

continental

nental dollars giv-

Year and
Mouth.

dollars in spe-
cie,— scale of
Congress.

en for one dollar
in specie, accord-
ing to the Mer-

Year and
month.

dollars in spe-
cie,— scale of
Congress.

en for one dollar
in specie, accord-
ing to the Mer-

n <n

chants Books of

m' ai

chants Books of

2 o 5 '

Philadelphia.

g s i

Philadelphia.

Q §. 3?

O S GO

9 05 0,

1777.

April,

12i^, 14,16, 22.

January,

May,

8 20 5,

22, 24.

February,

H-

June,

7 40 6,

22, 20, 18.

March,

July,

6 69 4,

18, 19, 20.

April,

August,

6 12 9,

20.

Maj',

2i.

September,

5 50 0,

20, 28.

June,

2i.

October,

4 83 2,

30.

July,.

November,

4 31 4,

32, 45.

August,

December,

3 77 0,

45, 38.

September,

100 00 0,

October,

91 12 6,

1780.

November,

82 73 0,

January,

3 36 3,

40, 45.

December,

76 42 6,

February,

3 00 5,

45, 55.

March,

2 60 7,

60, 65.

1778.

March 18,

2 45 0,

January,

68 52 0,

April,

2 45 0,

60. ■

February,

62 27 7,

May,

2 45 0,

60.

March,

57 12 6,

June,

2 45 0,

60.

April,

49 64 2,

July,

2 45 0,

60, 65.

May,

43 40 0,

August,

2 45 0,

65, 75.

June,

37 71 5,

September,

2 45 0,

76.

July,

33 02 6,

October,

2 45 0,

76, 80.

August,

28 66 1,

November,

2 45 0,

80, 100.

September,

25 00 0,

December,

2 45 0,

100.

October,

21 43 0,*

November,

18 32 1,

1781.

December,

15 69 3.

January,

2 45 0,

100.

February,

2 45 0,

100, 120.

1779.

March,

2 45 0,

120, 135.

January,

13 43 2,

7, 8, 9.

April,

2 45 0,

135, 200.

February,

11 47 0,

10.

May,

2 45 0,

200, 500.

March,

10 00 0,

10,11. 1

The new tenor Connecticut money, (the issues of 1780,)
owing to the persevering eiforts made to call it in, fared better.
It did not, however, maintain the credit to wliich its pro-
jectors thought it entitled. Though declared by state author-
ity to be " founded upon the most indubitable principles," it
was worth but ten shillings on the pound in December, 1780 ;
had become "cheap" in July, 1781, when nearly £120,000
were in circulation ;"* and was received for taxes, in January

See Connecticut Courant for July 17, 1781.

13G CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

1783, at the rate of two for one. After the war had closed,
the bills were bought up on speculation at the same figure.
They were then supposed to amount to about £4!.),000, exclu-
sive of interest. In October, 1788, some £28,000, and in May,
J 790, some £22,000 were still in the hands of the people. The
accounts of the Treasurer, Mr. Lawrence, had been so loosely
kept that it was found impossible to state the precise amount.
In some cases, where parcels of bills were burned, the princi-
pal and interest included in the amounts were not given
separately. John Lawrence, who was Treasurer from 1769 to
1788, nineteen years, became infirm from age and disease be-
fore he left office. He was severely censured by the Legisla-
ture, in January, 1789, but I do not understand that there was
any evidence of a want of integrity.

There were reasons enough why the state bills of 1780
declined in value. They bore too low a rate of interest, and,
above all, there was no confidence in their being paid, either
principal or interest, at maturity.* At the same time, their
credit was respectable, as compared with that obtained bj^ the
promises of other states, and of the continental Congress.
Though designed for circulation, and of convenient denomina-
tions, they did not, in strictness, so far as I can ascertain, form
a part of the currency. At any rate, they wfere not the stand-
ard of value. They were distrusted at the outset, and the accru-
ing interest was a hindrance. Throughout the period which
followed their emission, accounts appear to have been kept in
specie. The items in the inventories of deceased persons, includ-
ding bills of credit, were valued in hard money. The disburse-
ments on account of the continental army, in 1781, and after-
ward were made, mostly or wholly, in solid coin. Specie was in
fact abundant. It became so in consequence of the expenditures
of our French allies, and of the British government in Kew York,
&c. It had, in truth, become so cheap, so depreciated, in
1783, that bills of exchange on Europe were sold at a discount
of from twenty to forty per cent.f But though the new bills

* Gov. Weare, of Js^ew Hampshire, wrote in August, 1781, that "continental
bills of the new emission" were refused in payment of goods, in Massachusetts
and the neighboring colonies. See " Letters to Washington," by Sparks.

f P. "Webster, p. 267, note.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 137

were nowhere the standard of value, tliey doubtless performed
some of the functions of money. A demand was created for
them, as well as for the other obligations of the State, by the per-
sistent endeavors made to call tliem in by taxation. Without
question, they were often accepted, at their depreciated mar-
ket value, in the purchase of commodities and the discharge
of debts, as were, doubtless, the other evidences of state in-
debtedness, as well as the loan office certificates of the general
government. In this way tliey saved currency. At no time,
after the war, were they alone sufficient in amount to answer
the ends of a circulating medium. A successful attempt to
use them as the exclusive currency of the State, would have
quickly brought them to a level with specie. In disposing of
them, no account appears to have been taken of the accrued
interest, which was not paid till their final redemption. As I
understand it, they were never a legal tender in private deal-
ings, either at their nominal or market value. The same
session of the Assembly which authorized their emission re-
pealed the old tender law, and the new law which was enacted
applied only to "bills of credit heretofore emitted."

Nearly all the Connecticut bills of 1780 were discharged by
taxes, payable in kind, the greatest proportion of them, inter-
est included, before they became due.* They were not redeem-
ed " in Spanish milled dollars or other coins equivalent," ac-
cording to promise. It was the expectation, doubtless, that the
pledge would not be made good ; and this was a sufficient cause
for their great decline in value. The State took advantage of
its fallen credit to call them in, while the tax-payers were ben-
efited to the full extent of the depreciation. Had they been
a legal tender, and formed the sole currency of the people,
their sudden withdrawal would have caused their equally sud-
den appreciation. The last taxes levied would have been paid
in a medium equivalent to coin, while the last bill-holders
would have received the value promised. A government which

* Taxes amounting to 17 pence on the pound were laid in May and October,
1780, to sink these bills, all payable between August, 1780, and October, 1781.
These should have raised £110,000. See "Finance and Currency," Vol. V.,
Doc. 193.

138 CONNECTICDT CUERENCY, ETC.

damages its credit by neglecting the measures necessary to sus-
tain it — which calls in its depreciated notes by taxes instead of
paying them in the manner stipulated — profits by its own de-
linquency, and in effect repudiates its obligations. It might as
well buy up its paper in the open market at ten shillings in the
pound. The small balance of the bills which remained, at the
date of the federal Constitution, went in as a claim against
the general government, at par value, with interest.

CHAPTEK IX.

THE CONFEDERATION OF THE STATES GIVES NO FINANCIAL
STRENGTH. BANK OF NORTH AMERICA.

At the beginning of the war, the attention of many patriotic
individuals was turned to tlie advantages which w^ould flow
from a closer union — a more centralized government. Among
the benefits proposed were a better credit, and the improved
financial condition of the country. The Congress which as-
sembled at the opening of tlie contest had no defined powers.
The authority which it exercised was assumed, not granted ;
implied, it may be, but not expressed. It grew out of its rela-
tion to the states, and the condition and necessities of the coun-
try. The delegates from several of the colonies received no
instructions whatever. Connecticut was as usual wary.
Her Assembly appointed five delegates, " any three of whom
are authorized and empowered to attend said Congress, in be-
half of this Colony, to join, consult, and advise with the dele-
gates of other colonies in British America, on proper measures
for advancing the best good of the colonies." Afterward,
they were " empowered to represent this Colony, to consult,
advise, and resolve upon measures necessary to be taken and

CONNECTICUT CUEKENCY, ETC. 139

pursued for tlie defense, security and preservation of the rights
and liberties of tlie United Colonies, and for their common
safety ; and of such their proceedings and resolves they do
transmit authentic copies, from time to time, to the General
Assembly."* The Colony or State, however, when once warm-
ed up, was behind no other in etficient acts and measures of
her own.

The necessity of conferring definite and ampler powers on
Congress, and of forming " a more perfect union," soon became
apparent. On the twelfth day of June, 1776, two days after
the resolution declaring independence was passed in committee
of the whole, Congress appointed a "committee to prepare and
digest the form of a confederation to be entered into between
these colonies," consisting of one from each colony, Roger
Sherman being the member from Connecticut. On the twenti-
eth day of July a report was made and a plan presented. This
was debated, and an amended draft reported August twentieth.
Owing to a disagreement about details, and the pressure of
business, the discussion was not resumed till April, 1777. It
was then continued, with one long interruption, till November,
1777, when the thirteen "Articles of Confederation and per-
petual Union " were adopted. This result was not reached till
serious differences had been overcome. Forbearance, conces-
sion and compromise, at length, won the victory. It was not
to go into operation till approved by all the states. A circular
letter was drawn up, in which it was recommended " to the im-
mediate and dispassionate attention of the several legislatures,"
" as the best which could be adapted to the circumstances of
all, and as that alone which affords any tolerable prospect of
general ratification." The adoption of the plan, it was affirm-
ed, would "confound our foreign enemies, defeat the flagitious
practices of the disaffected, strengthen and confirm our friends,
support the public credit, restore the value of our money, ena-
ble us t(^ maintain our fleets and armies, and add weight and
respect to our councils at home and to our treaties abroad."
Connecticut was the first state, after South Carolina, to au-

* See Journal of Congress, May 11th, 1775, and January I6th, 1776, <fec.

140 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

tliorize her delegates to sign the Articles. She gave her assent
February twelfth, 1778 ; * but instructed her delegates to move
certain amendments. The eighth article required that " all char-
ges of war and all other expenses " should " be defrayed ont of a
common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states,
in proportion to the value of all land within each state granted
to, or surveyed for, any person, as such land and the buildings
'and improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such
mode as the United States, in Congress assembled, shall, from
time to time, appoint." Connecticut wanted the expenses, &c.
apportioned according to "the number of white inhabitants in
each state." She desired, also, to add a proviso to the fifth
paragraph of the ninth article, thus — " provided no land army
shall be kept np in time of peace, nor any officers or pension-
ers kept in pay, not in actual service," and not disabled in the
military service of tlie government. The amendments were
rejected hj Congress, eleven votes to one. Nnmerous other
amendments, proposed by several of the states, shared the same
fate. At length, the Articles were ratified by all the states ex-
cept Kew Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. These required,
among other things, not without a show of reason, that those
states claiming western lands should cede them for the benefit
of all, as their possession, if finally secured, would be due to
the blood and treasure of all. Ere long, however, New Jersey,
rather than defeat the union, and in a patriotic spirit, gave her
assent. This was November twentieth, 1778.t On the first
day of February following, Delaware, trusting for future
amendments to " the candor and justice of the several states,"
yielded her objections. Soon afterward, May twentieth, 1779,
the delegates from Virginia laid before Congress certain reso-
lutions of that State (which was largely interested in the west-
ern lands) authorizing and requiring its delegates to ratify the
Articles of Confederation to the exclusion, if necessary, of those
states M'hich refused to sign the same. The next day the
delegates from Connecticut presented a resolution of sinii-

* See Journal of Congress, June 27th, 1778.
f See Journal of Congress, Nov. 25th, 1778.

CONNECTICUT CtJERENCY, ETC. 141

lar import passed by the General Assembly of their State, and
dated April seventh, 1779 ; but Maryland, by the same resolu-
tion, was not to be prevented " from acceding to the Confeder-
ation at any time." The acceding states would not consent to
a partial union ; while some of them having no western lands,
hoped to gain advantage from delay.

Mar^dand persisted, and the states were " at a dead lock."
The country was in imminent peril. The enemy rejoiced,
while the friends of liberty almost despaired. At this stage,
!N^ew York revived the hopes of patriots. On the nineteenth
day of February, 1780, she authorized her delegates in Con-
gress " to limit and restrict the western parts thereof, by such
line or lines, and in such manner and form, as they shall jndge
expedient," &c.* At the same time, Congress, while urging
Maryland to subscribe the Articles, used its utmost endeavors
to induce other states to imitate the example of New York, re-
minding them '"how indispensably necessary it is to establish
the union on a fixed and permanent basis."f Soon afterward,
Connecticut came np to the work, and, for the good of the
whole, surrendered her claim to the western territory, reserv-
ing, however, a large tract, one hundred and twenty miles from
east to west, adjoining Pennsylvania, and afterwards known as
the " Connecticut Reserve." On the second day of January,
1781,Yirginia,her movements quickened (according tollildreth)
by the terror of Arnold's invasion, authorized her delegates to
cede to the United States that magniiScent tract of territory
lying northwest of the Ohio.:}: So much being accomplished,
Maryland reluctantly yielded her objections to the Confeder-
acy ; " and from an earnest desire to conciliate the affection of
the sister states," and without giving up " any right or interest
she hath, with the other United States, to the back country,"
empowered her delegates to subscribe the Articles.§ This was
February second, 1781, and the subscription was made March

* See Journal of Congress, March 1, 1781.

\ Journal of Congress, September 6, 1780.

X See Journal of Congress, March 1, 1784, when the grant was perfected.

§ See Journal of Congress, Feb. 12, 1781.

142

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

first, 17bl. Tims the Union was perfected, and a load of anx-
iety lifted from the breasts of a nearly despairing people. This
result was secured by the most important and magnanimous
sacrifices. The states which had signed with the expectation
of cessions of land by their associates in the Confederacy were
not disappointed.

The general confidence placed in the Articles of Confed-
eration and Perpetual Union proved to be a delusion and
a snare. They did not secure unity, or power, or credit, or
respectability. The government which they established was but
a compact or league between sovereign states. There was no
adequate central authority. Cot)gress could frame laws for
the people, but was not able to execute them ; could " recom-
mend " or " resolve," but was not competent to enact ; could
make requisitions for money, but had not the legal capacity
to collect a farthing. Between it and the people the states
were an efiectual barrier. The latter alone had the requisite
machinery for levying and collecting internal taxes, and duties
on foreign commodities; and also for '' prohibiting the ex-
portation or importation of any species of goods," &c. They
alone had sovereign authority, and were determined to keep it.
So long as continental bills retained their power, Congress
occupied a position of influence and respectability. It could
" order " and " resolve " to some purpose ; but when this re-
source failed, it was stricken to the dust. Destitute of money,
its right arm was broken, its autliority contemned, its dignity
gone. The officers of the army bullied it ; armed soldiers
insulted it, and all distrusted it. For eight long years the
Confederacy strugled for an impotent and humiliated life, and
then died by the hands of its friends.

The eighth article of the Confederacy — that which appor-
tioned the expenses of the government among the states —
may require to be noticed, more ])articularly, in this connec-
tion. It will be remembered that at the beginning of the
contest Congress proceeded on a different basis. The three
million tax to be levied to redeem the two first issues of
bills of credit was distributed according to assumed population
of all kinds. In the subsequent requisitions for money, &c.,

CONNECTICUT CUKKENCY, ETC. 143

the states were called on to pay, not conformably to any ex-
pressed rule, but in proportion to their supposed ability
(roughly estimated) at the time, with the proviso " that
the sums assessed shall not be considered as the propor-
tions of the states, but being paid shall be placed to their
credit, respectively, bearing an interest of six per centum per
annum, from the time of payment until the quotas shall be
finally ascertained aiul adjusted by the Congress, agreeably to
the confederation hereafter to be adopted and ratified."*
When the Articles of Confederation were under consideration,
the committee of the whole repoi'ted in favo]* of taxation ac-
cording to population ; but this provison, taxing slaves, was
opposed by the slaveholding states. An amendment was in-
troduced and carried making the value of lands with improve-
ments the rule in distributing the expenses of government, the
four New England states being against, and the four southern-
most states in favor of the measure. After the Articles were
ratified and alterations refused. Congress, embarrassed in the
application of the eighth article, as a rule of taxation, agreed
to a change, and recommended (April first, 1783) that the com-
mon Treasury should be " supplied by the several states in
proportion to the whole number of white and other free citi-
zens and inhabitants of every age, sex and condition, in-
cluding those bound to service for a term of years, and
three-fifths of all other persons not comprehended in the fore-
going description, except Indians not paying taxes, in each
state." This proposed change, the result of a compromise
between the free and slave states, and agreed to in Congress
by nine, including all those south of New York, (except Georgia,
which was not represented,) M^as referred to the several states
for ratification. The " Articles" required that it should be
approved by all. The Assend>ly of Connecticut, at its next
May session, and Pennsylvania, at a later period, agreed to the
amendment ;f but I do not find that it was finally adopted.:};

* Journal of Congress, Nov. 22, 1117.
\ See Journal of Congress, Aug. 28, and Sep 1, 1*783.

:j: Curtis's History of the Constitution of the U. S., I., 213, note; II. 160.
Jour. Cong., Sep. 24, 1786.

144 CONNECTICUT CUKEENCT, ETC.

At the time it was proposed, however, an estimate was made
(in the cases of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut
and Maryland, from " authorized documents ") of the taxable
population of the several states, omitting three-fifths of the
slaves, in accordance with the rule of the contemplated amend-
ment. The proposed excise duty was apportioned, provision-
ally, in conformity with the same rule, as were all the requisi-
tions afterwards made for supplying the confederated Treas-
ury.* Connecticut's quotas were thus considerably reduced.
Under the new regulation they were less than one-eleventh of
the whole.

Tiie provision which failed to become a law of the Confeder-
ation afterwards found a place in the Constitution of 1789, as
the rule of direct taxation and representation. The expenses
of the war and the debts of the confederated government were
finally paid in consistency with this constitutional provision ;
but indirect taxation was the chief source of the revenues
thus appropriated.

In February 17S1, Congress determined to abandon the
system of boards and committees, and to put each of the ex-
ecutive departments of the government under a single head.

* In the "Madison Papers," vol. I , p. 431, will be found the " fs^rand com-
mittee's" estimate of population above referred to. It is as follows:

New Hampshire, 82,200

Massachusetts 350,000

Rhode Island 50,400

Connecticut, 206,000

New York, 200,000

New Jersey, 130,000

Pennsylvania, 320,000

Delaware, 35,000

Maryland, 220,700

Virginia 400,000

North Carolina, 170,000

South Carolina, 1 50,000

Georgia, 25,000

2,339,300
In the report. South Carolina is set down at 170,000, but the figures were
reduced, as above.

CONNECTICUT CUERENCT, ETC. 145

Robert Morris, a niercliant of Philadelphia, was appointed, by
an unanimous vote, Superintendent of Finance. He accepted
the office on condition, it is said, that all transactions should
be in specie. To facilitate the management of his depart-
ment, he proposed a national bank. A plan was submitted to
Congress which was approved, May twenty-sixth, Massachu-
setts alone voting against it. Its capital of $400,000, (after-
ward increased to $1,000,000,) divided into shares of four hun-
dred dollars each, was, after considerable delay, subscribed.
The general government, however, was obliged to take
$254,000 of the amount. The institution was incorpo-
rated by Congress, December thirty-lirst, 1T81, by the name
of the Bank of North America. It commenced business on
the following seventh of January. Thomas Willing was its
first president. In the ordinance creating it there was no
limit to its circulation, and none to its capital except that it
could own in property only " to the amount of 10,000,000 of
Spanish silver milled dollars." Its bills, receivable for all
public dues, and payable on demand in coin, were the first of
the kind issued in America. In the commencement, they were,
very naturally, received with distrust; but ere long they ob-
tained a general currency. Connecticut, without delay, gave
them the benefit of its laws against counterfeiting paper
money, and made them receivable for taxes payable in specie,*
" Morris' Bank," so called, was afterwards (April, 1T83) char-
tered by the Assembly of Pennsylvania, grave doubts being
entertained whether Congress had the power which it pre-
tended to exercise. Established at a time of great financial
embarrassment, it was obliged to resort to sundry artifices to
magnify its apparent resources.f It proved at length a suc-
cessful enterprise, and made large dividends. Considering its

* In May, 1788, the Assembly enacted that "none of the notes or paper anti-
cipations, [post notes?] called Morris' notes, shall be received into the Treasury
of this State, after the first day of June next, in payment of any tax or arrear-
age of tax now due," for discharging any requisition of Congress, "but the same
shall be paid in money only, and applied to the use of the United States, accord-
ing to the requisition of Congress and the resolves of the General Assembly," &c,

f Gouge's History of Banking, p. 13.

146 CONNECTTCrT CURRENCY, ETC.

limited means, the benefits which it conferred on tlie govern-
ment and country have, I conceive, been greatly exaggerated.
It still exists, as a state institution, with a capital of $1,000,000.
In 1784, the Massacliusetts Bank, at Boston, and the Bank
of New York, in New York city, were chartered by state
authority. No others were established till after the adoption
of the federal Constitution.

CHAPTER X.

WAS INDEPENDENCE WON BY PAPER MONEY? ERRORS
EXPOSED.

The issues of paper money, state and continental, during the
war of the Revolution, were the result of a short-sighted policy.
They produced all the evils, in the most aggravated form,
which are known to result from such a policy. They dis-
couraged sober industry, frugality and honest dealing, and en-
couraged improvidence, extravagance, speculation and pecu-
lation. There were "shoddy patriots" in those days who,
while they shouted for libertj^ cheated the soldiers and plun-
dered the Treasury. Yice and immorality ran riot. The de-
preciation of the currenc}' wrought the greatest injustice, while
the tender laws legalized robbery on the most extended scale.
Men well able to pay discharged their debts for twelve pence
or six pence inthe pound. General Washington himself was a
sufi'erer from this cause. August seventeenth, 1779, he wrote
to his business agent at Mount Yernon, Lund Washington,
that he was " resolved to receive no more old debts (those
which were contracted and ought to have been paid before the
war) at the present nominal value of the money, unless com-
pelled to do it, or it is the practice of others to do it." He

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 147

did not think it his duty to ruin lumself for the benefit of
others, unless the common good required it ; and could not see
how a man of honor and honesty could take advantage of the
times, and propose to discharge an old ol)ligation by paying
one shilling or sixpence in the pound.* Paper money, says
honest Pelatiah Webster, " polluted the equity of our laws,
turned them into engines of oppression and wrong, corrupted
the justice of our public administration, destroyed the fortunes
of thousands who had confidence in it, enervated the trade,
husbandry and manufactures of our country, and went far to
destroy the morality of our people." At last " it expired
without one groan or struggle," unlamented, " aged six years."
Says anotlier, an apologist for paper money : It was " the
bane of society. All classes were infected. It produced a rage
for speculation. The mechanic, the farmer, the lawyer, the
physician, the member of Congress, and even a few of the
clergy, in some places, were contaminated. The morals of the
people were corrupted beyond anything that could have been be-
lieved, prior to the event. All ties of honor, blood, gratitude,
humanity and justice were dissolved. Old debts were paid
when the paper money was worth no more than seventy for
one. Brothers defrauded brothers, children parents, and
parents children. Widows, orphans, and others were paid for
money lent in specie with depreciated paper,"f &c. In the
end, all those who had witnessed its effects were, for the time,
satisfied with the experiment. Washington hoped he should
never hear of it again, and in 1786, branded a scheme for in-
troducing it, once more, into Virginia as " a nefarious plan of
speculation.":); Similar plans in other states he characterized
as " verj^ foolish and wicked. ^'§

We have been accustomed to think that whatever our fathers
did in the Revohition was wise and good. Paper money, it is
said, was a necessity. By its agency, armies were supported,
battles fought, and our independence achieved. " Without it
we should have been subdued." Thus orators have declaimed.
Thus historians have written, and copying from one another

* WasliingtoD's Writings, VI. 321. f Breck's Sketch, p. 23.

X Writings, IX. 120. § Ibid. IX. 186.

148 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

■will, doubtless, continue to write. But the facts have not
alwaj^s been fairly construed nor correctly stated. " The heroes
of seventy-six " were not all wise men — were not all statesmen.
They did some weak and wicked things, and attempted others
that were quite im])racticable. Bills of credit they issued at
the very outset of the war, and by repeated acts established
the paper money policy, without trying to provide means in
other ways. They emitted them because they had confidence
in them ; because they thought other provision unnecessary,
and because the lessons of experience had been forgotten.
Congress was unwilling to impose burdens on the people.
" Do you think," said one of their number, " that I will con-
sent to load my constituents with taxes, when we can send to
our printer and get a wagon load of money ?"* The truth
is, the masses had never been convinced of the folly of the
paper money experiments which had been made, on former occa-
sions. In colonial times, they were choked off, prematurely as
they thought, by the stern decrees of the British government :
this was the feeling in New England. Those who issued
bills of credit in 1775 did not do it because every other measure
had been tried and failed. 'They did not continue the issues,
in 1776 and 1777, under the pressure of any demonstrated
necessity, and as tlie only alternative. On the contrary, they
were governed by false notions of economy, by popular
clamor and the debtor interest. They wished to wage a cheap
war — one which should provide an economical method of dis-
charging debts. Do not their acts justify this conclusion?
They did not try taxation to which they had been accustomed,
and which, at first, they were well able to bear. Instead of
this, tliey went plunging on in the road to certain ruin. The
first five million tax, Congress did not so much as " recom-
mend" till after the lapse of more than two years and a half.
Money might have been obtained by loan, but this was not
attempted for eighteen months, nor till $20,000,000 in conti-
nental bills had been emitted, and the public credit shaken.
And when an effort was made, the proposed rate of interest

* P. Webster,

CONNECTICUT CURRENCT, ETC. 149

(four per cent.) was too low to tempt lenders. The next thing
that was tried (with about equal success) was a lottery.

But Congress, it will be said, had no control over the prop-
erty of the country — had not the power to levy taxes or borrow
money, and by its acts to bind the people. But the states had
the needful authority. This, however, they refused to exercise.
They pursued the policy of the general government, and
(while credit lasted) made their contributions to the common
cause, in paper money. As for Congress, it had as much
authority in the first as in the third year of the war — as much
to levy taxes and make loans as it had to issue bills of credit.
It was in the habit of doins; thino-s which it had no lee-al rio-ht
to do. Besides, its " recommendations," at an early period,
when the fever was up, had the force of law ; while any
power which it lacked, the state authorities might have con-
ferred. If the machinery for tlie convenient collection of taxes
were wanting, this could have been supplied b}^ the states.
The latter found no difficulty in making continental bills legal
tender, or in doing anything which seemed to cost little.
There doubtless would have been found some means to get at
the resources of the country had it not been for the misplaced
confidence in paper issues. A firmer will, with a greatei-
readiness to make sacrifices, would have opened a way. The
paper money plan, after deluding the people and wasting their
means, broke down at a critical jjeriod of the war. Then,
when enthusiasm had nearly died out, and gloomy forel)od-
ings had taken its place — when credit was greatly impaired,
and the country approacliing a state of exhaustion, Congress
and the state governments, sensible of tlieir error, resorted to
ways and means which should have been adopted at the outset.
In the then crippled condition of the country, could anything
but tailure have been anticipated? The taxes called for were
not paid. On the thirtieth day of October, 1T81, Congress
demanded of the states $8,000,000 for the service of the year
1782. On the thirtieth of January, 1783, but $tl:20,031|f ' had
been received into the Treasury,* Instead of alledging that

* Journal of Congress.

150 COJSNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

our independence was won witli paper mone)% we might better
8aj that it was gained in spite of it. The subsidies and loans
from France v.' ere obtained at a most critical juncture. Indeed,
it is difficult to seehow we could have recovered fioni the blast-
ing inlluence of paper money, and continued the struggle,
without the active assistance of that nation.

It cannot be denied that bills of credit were, in the begin-
ning of the war, a convenience. They afforded a ready and
certain means of raising money at a small apparent cost. I^or
would much injury have resulted had the issues been checked
seasonably, when the channels of circulation were filled. But
it is much easier to open the shiices of paper money than
it is to close them. Whoever yet knew the flow to be stopped
till disaster had overtaken those in the management ? So long
as the current is feeble, doing no mischief, it seems unne-
cessary to restrain it. When it has become a flood, resistance
is hopeless.

It is quite true that the general and state governments were,
for a time, provided with funds by means of a paper currency.
The amount which Congress received from this source was
considerable ; though, owing to depreciation, the sum was but
a fraction of that which it should have been, and for wliich its
obligations were given. So desperate was the situation that
a large proportion of this money was put forth when it
was worth but ten or five or three cents on the dollar. The
loss to the successive bill-holders was of course equal to the
sum which the government gained. According to my estimate,
taking the Philadelphia table of depreciation as a guide, the
$242,052,780 of the authorized continental issues must have
biought into the Treasury some $53,000,000, specie value.
Ilildreth makes the amount much greater, the tax on the
country, according to him, equaling, "perhaps" $70,000,000.*
But I suspect that Hildreth was governed in his calculations
by the rule of depreciation estal)lished by Congress, unreliable
as it is known to be. Of the $53,000,000, nearly one half was
derived from the bills issued, at tlieir par value, in 1775 and
1770. Beside the amount which came from the old emis-

♦ History of the U. S., Vol. III., p. 446, (first series.)

CONNECTICUT CUBRENOY, ETC. 151

sions, the government received about $530,741, specie value,
from the new issues of 1780, reckoning these to have been
paid out at the rate of three for one of coin. But this sum was
not finally lost to the holders of the new bills. The $53,000,000
may be stated as the amount which continental money ex-
tracted from tlie pockets of the l)ill-holders. The resources of
the country were depleted by the operation to this extent.
Had notes of circulation not been used, the funds thus obtain-
ed would have remained in the hands of the people, to
be drawn forth, it may be, in other less objectionable ways.
Mere convenience could not excuse the action of Congress.
A more enlightened policy and a truer statesmanship, backed
by a higher order of patriotism, would have saved much
treasure, and wrought out more glorious results.

The loss to continental bill-holders was widely distributed,
but fell with most weight on the commercial classes. In this
point of view, it may be regarded as a tax on the people very
unequal in its operation, but no more so perhaps than the
measures which are often resorted to in war-time to obtain
money. But there is another aspect to this paper money pol-
icy— another effect, already alluded to — which no one can deny
or defend. The laws emitting paper money and making it le-
gal tender M^ere iniquitous, (in the language of Washington,
" nefarious,") because they broke contracts, robbed creditors
for the benefit of debtors, plundered the industrious classes to
enrich speculators and gamblers, and bestowed rewards on dis-
honesty and immorality. The man who had parted with a
month's or year's labor, or its worth in cloth or coin, and, as
an act of indulgence, had taken a note payable at a future day
in dollars, was cruelly and shamefully defrauded. The govern-
ments under which this was done, though instituted to admin-
ister justice and protect the right, deceptively altered the terms
of the note. They, in effect, interpolated a clause making that
which was redeemable in one thing payable in another. By
juggling legislation, they changed the meaning of the impor-
tant word dollar, and thus annulled the contract.* What

* Thus wrote David Ramsey, in 1789, after having spoken a kindly word for
paper money : " Congress attempted to prop its credit by means which wrecked

152 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

should we tliink of a statute which expunged "wheat" from
all contracts to deliver that article, and inserted in its place
'^ straw " or " chaff '' ? Should we regard the enactment as in-
genious— or flagitious ? Would not the courts set it aside on
account of its fundamental wickedness, and for the reason that
it broke contracts ? — This operation of the tender laws was
quite distinct from the losses sustained by the bill-holders.
The forced sacrifices from this cause exhausted the resources of
the more industrious and thrifty portion of the population,
without conferring any benefit on the government. In the
end, rulers and the ruled were alike brought to shame. f

It is peculiarly important that the currency should be kept
sound during the progress of a great war, when so many dis-
turbing causes are at work. This is required in order that in-
dustry may be as little interfered with as possible — that labor
receive its just reward — that capital be not unnecessarily sac-
rificed— that habits of extravagance receive no encourao;ement,
and the fell spirit of speculation no rewards. A paper curren-
cy, issued in excess, increases largely (enormously, it may be)

private property, and injured the morals of the people, without answering the
ends proposed. * * The poor became rich, and the rich became poor. * *
The evils of depreciation did not terminate with the war. They extend to the
present hour. That the helpless part of the community were legislatively de-
prived of their property was among the lesser evils, which resulted from the le-
gal tender of the depreciated bills of credit. The iniquity of the laws estranged
the minds of many of the citizens from the habits of love and justice. Tlie na-
ture of obligations was so far changed, that he was reckoned the honest man
who, from principle, delayed to pay his debts. * * Truth, houor and justice
were swei)t away by the overflowing deluge of legal iniquity. * * Time and
industry have alread}^ in a great degree, repaired the losses of property, * *
but both have hitherto failed in effacing the taint which was then communicated to
their principles, nor can its total ablution be expected till a new generation ari-
ses, unpractised in the iniquities of their father.*." Hist, of the Am. Rev., Phil-
adelphia, 1789, II. 183, 135, 136.

f A cui'ious but fair illustration of the changes wrought by paper money on
the relations of debtor and creditor may be seen in the following extract from
Gordon's History of the American War, IV., 145. — "A merchant of Boston sold
a liogshead of rum for £20, cask included. The purchaser did not settle for it
till after the seller applied to him for an empty hogshead, for which he was cliarg-
ed £30. When thej' came to settle, the merchant found, upon examining, that
he had to pay a balance of £10 on that ver}' cask, which, with the rum it con-
tained, had been sold for £20."

Dr. Gordon copies largely from P. Webster's Essays, without credit.

CONNECTICUT CITERENCY, ETC. 153

the cost of war, while, at the same time, the reservoirs of wealth
are dangerously depleted, and the sources which should supply
the waste dried np. It increases, too, the sacrifices and the
perils which come in the train of peace, as I shall explain in
another place.

It maj' be unnecessary to say here that paper money does
not increase the capital of a country — cannot add to its pro-
ductive means, except so far as it displaces the coin which was
before in circulation. The coin thus liberated is added to the
list of exportable commodities, and may be used to increase
the supply of imported goods or capital. From the gross gains,
however, must be deducted the expenditures required to fur-
nish and maintain a paper currency. The charges for paper,
engraving, printing, signing, &c. — for renewing defaced and mu-
tilated bills, fur catching and punishing counterfeiters, &c. —
are much more considerable than is generally supposed, and
are gi'cater in proportion as the currency is inflated.* Suppose
the $200,000,000 of continental bills which were in the hands
of the people in the beginning of 1780, had continued to be
the circulating medium of the states : — the annual cost of sup-
porting the system would have been large, and might have ex-
ceeded the whole amount saved. The saving, if any, would,
of course, have been equal to the interest on the specie natu-
rally required to do the business of the country. This Mr. P.
Webster estimated at ten or eleven million dollars.

It is true that an increase of the currency by means of pa-
per money gives activity to business, and, to a certain extent,
stimulates industry. Men engaged in the production and ex-
change of commodities receive more nominal dollars than they
did before, and, very innocently, think themselves getting rich.
They do not consider the fact that their dollars have a dimin-
ished value. The delusion is a most agreeable one, encourages
business men, and prompts to more vigorous exertion. As a
result, production is, for the time, augmented and wealth in-

* The French assignats were, at one time, while still in circulation, scarcely
worth the expense of printing alone. See Smith's Wealth of Nations; Supple-
ment b}' the editor. II. 359. Hartford edition.

154

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

creased. But this is only the first eflfect of a money inflation.
Continue to apply the stimulus, and other eiiects follow — spec-
ulation, reckless enterprise, extravagance and fraud. Industry
is neglected or despised. At last come paralysis and collapse,
when it is seen that far more has been lost than gained.

That is a vulgar error which supposes that, in a time of war,
when government must obtain and disburse large sums of mon-
ey, more currency is needed than at other periods. This mistake
comes from assuming that the large financial operations of the
government are an addition to the ordinary business transac-
tions of the country. No doubt, many thousand soldiers are to be
paid. Military and naval stores are to be purchased, on a large
scale. The work of destroying human life cannot go on w^ithout
much money. But, in the aggregate, no more men are to be pro-
vided for, no more wages to be paid, than before the war.
Many persons that were previously employed by individual
capitalists, have gone into the service of the state. There is a
transfer of laborers from peaceful to war-like occupations, but
no addition to their number or wages. Nor is the sum total
of commodities to be exchanged by the use of money increased.
Indeed, there is a rapid and progressive diminution. Laborers
in becoming soldiers cease to be producers. Their industry no
longer adds to the exchangeable commodities of a country.
The uses of a circulating medium, then, instead of being en-
larged, are contracted by war. If the operations of govern-
ment are on a more extended scale, those of individuals are
limited in a still greater proportion.

* As an example of the crude notions which prevail in high places on the sub-
ject of the text, I would refer to the published opinions of the judges of the
Court of Appeals of New York in the famous legal-tender case, September, 1863.
It was the right and duty of Congress, says Judge Balcom, to call forth and
maintain an army and navy sufficient to put down the rebellion ; but this could
not be done, he continues, " without adequate pecuniary means, and without the ex-
penditure of vastly more money than could have been borrowed in coin in the
entire world." " Could Congress have been justified by the Constitution," ex-
claims the Judge, " if it had permitted the republic to perish, because enough
gold and silver coin could not be borrowed to save it ?" The issue of several
hundred million of government legal tender paper money was, therefore, justifi-
able, and within the meaning of the Constitution. This is the reasoning ; and

CONNECTICUT CTJKKENCT, ETC. 155

Nor do additions to the coiTencj make it more efficient, or
give it increased value, as I have explained in another place.
After the revolutionary Congress had put forth two hundred
million in bills, the whole were worth no more — had no more
exchangeable value — than the monej which they had displaced.
Nor did this large amount of paper' do the business of the
country more easily or more perfectly than it would liave been
done by a contracted and more valuable currency. Indeed, as
a matter of fact, the contrary was true.

The idea of making the currency more efficient by increasing
its volume, is quite as absurd as it would be for a cloth-dealer
to think of facilitating his operations by multiplying his yard-
sticks. Two or four yard-sticks, in one man's hands, would
measure no more cloth than one. Nor would the process be
expedited, though the government should enact that each yard
measured by four sticks should be called four yards, and should
pass current for four. In the last case, the merchant would,
indeed, have a greater number of nominal yards, but no more
goods than before. He could in no way be benefited, unless
he had old debts to pay in yards ^ which he could discharge in
the new measure, one being equal to four. Ixv this way, he
would save three-quarters of his cloth, and become rich at the
cost of his creditors.

A government which hastily resolves to issue paper money,
and thus depreciates the currency, commits a grave offense
against honesty and good morals. It does an act which is
equivalent to altering the standard of weights and measures,
without protecting those under contract to receive or deliver
goods, who would be ruined by the new law'. It does an act
which is no better in principle or effect than dividing or deba-
sing the coin. The kings of Europe used to melt up their
money and issue new pieces, one half or one quarter the weight
of the old, retaining the names. With the new issues, bearing
falseliood on their face, spendthrift princes paid their debts, and

Judge Davies, in his opinion, starting from similar premises, and by an equal dis-
play of logical acumen, arrives at the same conclusion. Respect for the highest
court of the great State of JN^ew York, prevents my saying more.

156

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

in this way, contrived to over-reacli their masters, the Jews.
All creditors were obliged to receive them at their nominal
value, getting, say, six pences or three pences when shillings
were due. But the trick was apparent, and in process of time
it became too disreputable for repetition. As civilization ad-
vanced, a more refined and less obvious method of cheating was
required. Rulers discovered that the desired objects might be
attained by the use of bills of credit, and without shocking, in
an equal degree, the half enlightened moral sense. By their
agency, men might be swindled, almost without their know-
ing it. So cunning was the plan that a people might be de-
prived of their earnings or savings while the hand which robbed
them was invisible. But when a i^erson is to be plundered by
those whose duty it is to protect him, is the suffering or wrong
less because the thing has been done cleverly ? Is a pick-pock-
et a more respectable cliaracter than a highwayman ? On the
contrary, would it not be more manly — more statesmanlike —
to throw off disguise, and do what must be done openly and by
direct means ? A depreciated currency note is no more respec-
table than a false coin. It claims to be what it is not, and is,
therefore, a cheat and a snare. In an important sense, the coin
is the better of the two. So long as it contains any of the
precious metal, it represents labor and has a substantial value.
It will be worth no less next year than it is this. Its purcha-
sing power will remain, though government should continue to
make other pieces like it or lighter than itself. But it is not so
with paper money. Though valuable to-day, it may be nearly
worthless six months hence. Should you lay aside some thou-
sand for a time of need, your store when wanted may have
turned to useless rags. Every new emission reduces the reserved
fund, and makes all the hoarders of money poorer. Nor will
the catastrophe be averted should you put your "legal tenders"
in a savings bank, loan them, or buy with them money stocks,
or a life annuity.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 15 Y

CHAPTER XI.

CONNECTICUT FINANCES AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.

The state indebtedness, at the close of the war, consisting
of certain sums due the " Connecticut line " of the continental
army, treasury notes, pay-table orders, and sundry other obli-
gations, I find it diflicult to determine with entire certainty.
I give below what may be considered an approximate estimate,
in May, 1783, which I have derived from document number
180, in the fifth volume on Finance and Currency in the State
Library.

Debt.1 contracted since 1115.

Securities due the Connecticut line, exclusive of interest, £427,725

Treasury notes payable one year after the war, dated February first,
1781. [These were originally given partly for moneys borrowed, and

partly in exchange for bills of credit of the old emission] 395,010

Do. given for horses for Col. Sheldon's regiment, dated June Ist, 1781,

and payable June first, 1783, 5,900

Do. given for beef cattle, payable one year after the war, 40,284

Do. for sundry services and supplies estimated at 20,000

Total securities, £888,920

State bills of 1780, in circulation, exclusive of interest, 49,000

Orders drawn by the committee of pay table, not yet received by the

Treasurer, April fifteenth, 1783, 72,460

Total state money debt, £121,460

Committee of pay-table orders in excess of the two and six penny tax.. . 62,183

Unliquidated debt, say, 35,000

Other specified items, 27,590

£124,773

The several sums in this statement amount to £1,135,153.
It is the clearest and most complete account which I have been
able to find ; but it does not always harmonize with apparent

158 coNNECTicrrr cuerency, etc.

facts to be derived from other documents. The latter, liow-
ever, are more uncertain as to date or in some other
particulars, and I have selected from a paper which seemed,
on the whole, most reliable. In the document numbered 200,
in the same volume, which should apparently bear the date of
October, (1783), the whole debt of the State is made out to be
£], 097,276, £35,876 less than appears by the other statement.
But the truth is, the finances at the close of the war were iu
great disorder. In the confusion which prevailed, it is doubt-
less true that only an aproximate estimate of the state indebt-
edness could then be made.

Connecticut, then, came out of the war with a debt of more
than eleven hundred thousand pounds, nearly the whole of it
reduced to specie value, and payable in coin; and all, except
bills of credit, bearing six per cent, annual interest. In addi-
tion, there was a considerable amount of accrued and overdue
interest. The aggregate was, indeed, a formidable sum ; but
when increased by Connecticut's share of the continental debt,
reckoned at one-tenth of the whole, it became appalling- The
population of the State was, at this time, a little over 200,000, and
the taxable list of polls and estates nearly £2,000,000. From
the last sum there had to be deducted, because of financial em-
barrassments, a large per centage (twenty-five per cent.) for
abatements.* It should, however, be remembered that a con-
siderable part of the state indebtedness had grown out of the
fact that the State had made advancements for the common cause
beyond her proportion. A large sum had been paid under
a misapprehension of the existing acts of Congress. Connec-
ticut had settled with her line of the arm}' np to the first of
January, 17b2, when Congress resolved that after the first
of January, 1780, the army should be paid by the general
government. The Assembly, therefore, after recounting the
services which it had rendered, by which means, in spite of

* At the close of the war, it was ascertained that the abatements of taxes had,
throughout its duration, amounted, on an average, to about one quarter.
A committee was appointed, in May, 1783, to inquire into the subject. A tax of
one j)enny on tlie pound, whicli should have produced more than eight thousand
pounds, netted but little over six.

CONNECTICUT CUEEENCY, ETC. 159

" taxation to the utmost," " an immense local debt " had been
incurred, resolved in January, 1784, that his Excellency, the
Governor, tlirongh onr delegates, should make a claim on Con-
gress for certain extraordinary expenditures, among others,
for the moneys paid to the Connecticut line, through misap-
prehension. I cannot find that any special attention was
given to this application. Commissioners were, however, af-
terward appointed to ascertain the claims of the several states
against the United States, and to adjust the accounts,* Finally,
the whole matter was turned over to the new government.

In May, 1T83, the Assembly voted to procure a loan of £609,-
572, lawful money, redeemable in from three to ten years, with
six per cent, annual interest payable in gold and silver, the
avails of which were to be used to pay the principal of the debt
then due, or to become due before the first of June, 1784. No
notes were to be issued under ten pounds. Takers of the loan
might pay for the same in state obligations "as ascertained in
hard money." To meet the interest, the tax of two pence on
the pound laid in 1781, payable December first, annually, in
gold and silver, and set apart for interest, was increased to six
pence.

The interest on tlie state debt was not paid witli regularity,
if at all, in cash. Usually a settlement was made, for the time
being, by an issue of interest-certificates, which were receivable

* On the 20th of February, 1782, Congress passed a resolution providing for
a commissioner for each state, the same to be nominated by the Superintendent
of Finance, and approved by the state for which he may have been designated,
with full power to liquidate and settle all accounts between it and the United
States, for money, supplies and services provided by said state, the same to be
estimated according to the scale of depreciation established June 28th and July
29th, 1780. The purpose was to ascertain the expenses of the war up to Janu-
ary 1, 1782, in order that they might be apportioned equitably among the members
of the Confederacy. Annual interest was to be credited or debited to each state
whicli had furnished more or less than its proportion. June 3, 1784, more par-
ticular rules were laid down for the guidance of the commissioners. At a still
later period, May 7, 1787, an ordinance was passed providing for live commis-
sioners, whose duties were similar to those whose term of service had expired —
one for each of the five districts into which the states were divided. A report was
to be made in twelve months, and the states were to be allowed six months in
which to present their claims.

160 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC..

for certain taxes. No sooner was peace restored than tlie most
serious discontents arose on account of the burden of taxa-
tion. The half pay for life granted by Congress to officers of
the army was the subject of bitter complaints, and in some
towns of the State of riotous demonstrations. To increase the
burden of the tax payers, all moneys loaned to the State or
the United States, and the polls of non-commissioned officers
and soldiers serving in the army were, by law, left out of the
list. The public debt, said the Assembly in their application
to Congress, already referred to, January, 1784, "imposes such
a burden upon the inhabitants that they are endeavoring to
avoid the weight of it by emigrating into states where the bur-
den of taxation is much less." The population of Connecti-
cut, at this time, was made up, almost wholly, of small farm-
ers who gained a living by the sweat of the brow, and who earn-
ed, in good times, but a small surplus. So limited were their
means, and so severe the drain upon their resources, that the As-
sembly felt constrained, in May, 1784, to suspend for three years
the gathering of taxes " not then in collection," excepting the an-
nual December six penny tax for interest, and such other taxes
as it might be necessary to grant for the support of civil gov-
ernment. There were then due to the State large arrearages of
taxes, the accumulation of several years.* To facilitate the
payment of these, it was further enacted that any of the state
securities due before March first, 1784, which had been reduced
to specie value, should be receivable for all taxes except those
granted for sinking the state bills, for the payment of army
notes or the state interest, for the support of civil government,
and for the use of the United States. The holders of the bills,
notes, &c., thus excepted were considered as preferred creditors.
Certain taxes had been levied for their special benefit wdiich
were payable in the obligations which they themselves held.

* In a document dated May 17, 1783, (Finance and CuiTency, Vol. V., Doc.
194,) will be found a statement of the balances of state taxes then due from the
several towns. Those payable in continental currency amounted to £1,446, '<07 ;
those payable in state money to .£17,389 ; those to be paid in specie to £'2()5,-
100. The paper is signed by Oliver Wolcott, Jr., and William Moscley, com-
mittee.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 161

Tlie taxes granted for the maintenance of government, state and
national, could be discharged only in specie, or ''Morris' notes,"
or orders on the civil list. The State was earnest in its endeav^-
vors to discharge its public debt. Excise and import duties
were laid which were pledged to the public creditors, and pay-
able in soldiers' (army) notes or interest certificates. The bills
of credit of 1780 were to be received at their nominal value for
western lands sold, except twenty seven dollars in hard money
for each township * As for the requisitions of Congress, Con-
necticut followed the example of the other states, and delayed
or declined payment. In October, 1786, the Governor was to
inform the President of Congress, by letter, of the embarrass-
ment of the State by reason of the arrears of taxes, cfec, " in-
ducing a non-compliance " with the requisitions of Congress.

Id the several ways which have been mentioned, by a most
stringent system of taxation-^-a system once suspended, but
never abandoned — the state debt was so diminished that, on
the first day of November, 1789, it amounted to only about
£608,013. f It was diminished, not by payment in full, in good

* 500,000 acres of western lands lying west of Pennsylvania and south of Lake
Erie were afterward (May, 1792) granted to sundry persons, inhabitants of cer-
tain towns lying on and near the Sound, who had suifered from the depredations
of the British during the war. The aggregate of damages sustained, according
to the report of a committee, in May, 1791, was £151,606 : 8 : 6.

f In the Am. State Papers, Finance, I., p. 29, will be found a statement by Mr.
Pomeroy, (the Comptroller,) of the state debt, at the time mentioned, as follows :
Notes issued to the Connecticut line, payable a part in each

year from 1782 to 1789 £148,564 : 3 : 4^

Do. dated February, 1781, as per act of Assembly, November,

1780. 153,229: 8 : 6^

Do. of various dates, as per act of Assembly, May, 1781 33,947: 11: 8^

Do. ddted June 1, 1781 1,932: 8 : 0

Do. of various dates, as per act of May, 1783 41,841 : 6 : If

Do., as per act of May 1789, for old notes re-loaned, 180,890 : 1:0

560,404 : 18 : 9i

Notes payable out of civil fund list, 2,856 : 1 1 : 4

Interest certificates, 19,140 : 3 : 9f

Balance of state bills of 1 780, 24,948 : 9:1

Balance of orders payable out of the one shilling tax 692 : 8 : 10

£608.042 : 11 : 10
11

162 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

faitli, and in hard casli, bnt by first reducing the nominal
amount of the debt, and secondly, by a mode of taxation which
secured to the State the benefit of its poor credit. By making
the taxes wliich were imposed on account of the public debt,
pa^'able in the depreciated evidences of that debt — in soldiers'
notes, interest certificates, pay-table orders, bills of credit of
1780, etc. — the government diminished the burdens of the peo-
ple one half or more. But what the tax-payers gained the pub-
lic creditors lost. I am not denying that Connecticut did well
under the circumstances — as well as she conveniently could, and
better than could have been expected: I am only stating what
her performance was, and how the parties interested were af-
fected by it.

CHAPTEE XII.

COST OF THE WAR. FINANCIAL EMBARRASSMENTS. THE ARTI-
CLES OF CONFEDERATION NEED MENDING.

The whole expense of the revolutionary war, according to
Mr. Hildreth, was about $170,000,000, two-thirds of it borne
by the general government, and the balance by the individual
states. I do not know whence these figures are obtained, but
the gross sura must be too large. The Register of the Treas-
ury, in 1790, estimated the expense at $1 35,19:^,703, specie
value, inclusive of $21,000,000 (by computation) expended by
the several states. The following is his account, copied (slight
errors excepted) from the published "' Statements of the Re-
ceipts and Expenditures of the Public Money during the ad-
ministration of the Finances by Robert Morris, Esq.," &c. (In
the treasury payments, continental bills are reckoned, the old,
according to the scale of Congress, the new, at the average
rate of about one and nine-tenths for one. See pp. 31, 32.)

CONNECTICUT CUERENCY, ETC. 163

GENERAL ABSTRACT OF THE ANNUAL ESTIMATES, AND ABSTRACT
STATEMENTS OF THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF THE EXPENDITURES
AND ADVANCES AT THE TREASURY OF THE UNITED STATES.

The estimated amount of the exiaenditures of

Dolls. 90th.

1775 and 1776, is, in specie, 20,064,666 66

1777, " " 24,986,646 85

1778, " " 24,289,438 26

1779, " " 10,794,620 65

1780, " " 3,000,000 00

1781, " " 1,942,465 30

1782, " " 3,632,745 85

1783, " " 3,226,583 15

To Nov. 1, 1784, as per schedule D, and

subordinate accounts, 548,525 63

Amount total, $92,485,692 75

The foregoing estimates, being confined to actual treas-
ury payments, are exclusive of the debts of the United
States, which were incurred at various periods and
should be taken into view, viz. :

Army debt, upon commissioners' certificates, $11,080,576.01

For supplies furnished by the citizens of the several
states, for which certificates were issued by the com-
missioners, 3.723,625.20

Supplies furnished in the quartei'-master, commissary,
hospital, clothing and marine departments, exclusive
of the foregoing, 1,159,170.05

Supplies on accounts settled at the Treasury, and for
which certificates were issued by the Register, 744,638.49

$16,708,009.75

(The loan office debt formed a part of the Treasury ex-
penditures.)

The foreign expenditures, civil, military, naval and con-
tingencies, amount, by computation, to 5,000,000.00

The expenditures of the several states cannot be stated
with any certainty, because the accounts thereof re-
main to be settled. But as the United States have
granted certain sums for the relief of the states, to be
funded by the general government, therefore estimate
the total amount of said assumption 21,000,000.00

Estimated expense of the war, in specie, $135,193,702.60

The advances made from the Treasury were principally in a paper medium,
called continental money, which in a short time depreciated ; the specie value of
it is given in the foregoing estimate. The advances made at the Treasury of the

1G4 CONNECTICUT CUEEENCY, ETC.

United States, in continental money, old and new emissions, were estimated by
the Secretary of War, in 1790, (see " Statements," &c., pp. 26-32,) as follows:

Old emission. New emission.

Dolls. 90th. DoUs. 90th.

In 1'7'76, 20,064,666 66 These bills are esti-

1'777^ 26,426,3:^3 01 mated, in the table of

1778, 66,965,269 34 treasury payments, the

1779, 149,703,856 77 old at 182,920,575, and

1780, 82,908,320 47 891,236 80 the new at $1,089,624,

1781, 11,408,095 25 1,179,249 23 specie value.

357,476,541 50 2,070,486 13

No unpaid interest which accrued after the war appears to
enter into the preceding estimate of expenditures, except that
which had accumulated on the sums expended bj the state gov-
ernments. The amount assumed for these suras is doubtless
small enough, (as appears from the final settlement,) so that no
deduction need be made on account of included interest. The
Register's whole estimate must be taken as only an approxima-
tion to the truth. But as the scale uf Congress (which over-
valued continental money) was used to ascertain the specie
value of the sums paid out of the Treasury, and to liquidate
and settle the claims against the government, and the advances
made by the several states, the assumed grand total of $135,-
] 93,703, it is fair to suppose, very considerably exceeds the
actual expenditures. In other words, the war probably cost
less in treasure alone than the government paid, or rather
agreed to pay.

To meet the expenditures of the war, money had been bor-
rowed as far as possible. A continental debt was thus created
which, on the twenty-fourth day of April, 1783, according to
the Journal of Congress, amounted to the following sums:

FOREIGN DEBT.

Due to the farmers general of France, Livres 1,000,000

Due to individuals in France on unliquidated accounts,

estimated, " 3,000,000

Due to the crown of France, including a loan of 10,000,-
000 borrowed in Ilolland, and for which France is
guarantee, " 28,000,000

Due to do., a loan for 1783 " 6,000,000

Livres 38,000,000

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 165

Or in dollars, at fivelivres and eight sous each, $7,037,037
Due to lenders in Holland, received in part of the loan

contracted for by Mr. J. Adams, 1,678,000 florins,. . 671,200

Borrowed in Spain by Mr. Jay, 1 50,000

One year's interest of Dutch loan of 10,000,000 livres, 26,848

Foreign debt, Jan. 1, 1783, $7,885,085

DOMESTIC DEBT.

Due on loan office certificates, reduced to specie value, 11,463,802

Interest unpaid for 1781, 190,000

Interest unpaid for 1782, 687,828

Credit to sundries in treasury books, 638,042

Army debt to Dec. 31, 1782, 5,635,618

Unliquidated debt, estimated at 8,000,000

Commutation to the army, agreeable to the act of 2 2d

March last, 5,000,000

Bounty due to privates, • 500,000

Deficiencies in 1783, supposed 2,000,000

Domestic debt, $34,115,290

Total debt, 42,000,375

ANNUAL INTEREST OF THE DEBT OF THE UNITED STATES.

On the foreign debt, part at four and part at five per ct., 369,039

On the domestic debt, at six per cent., 2,046,917

$2,415,956*

This debt (from which continental bills were excluded — on
the ground apparently that as they were worth nothing, they
constituted no obligation) was increased before the end of the
year, so that it may be stated, at the conclusion of the war, in
round numbers, at |M,000,000. This sum does not, of course,
include tlie obligations of the individual statesf which, accord-

* See Journal of Congress, April 29, 1783.

f I have been unable to find any general account of the state debts at the close
of the war. The following statement, made out after the adoption of the Consti-
tution, is taken from the Am. State Papers, Finance, I., 28, 29 :

Massachusetts, principal and interest to Nov. 1, 1789, ^5,226, 801

Connecticut, principal and interest to Nov. 1, 1789, 1,951,173

New York, principal and interest to Jan. 1, T, 90, 1,167,575

New Jersey, " principal unredeemed," 788,681

Virginia, principal on domestic debt, an l principal and in-
terest (£40,826) on foreign debt, 3,680,743

South Carolina, 5,386,232

$18,201,206

1 OG CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

ino; to Mr, Ilildreth, amounted to twenty five or twenty-six
million dollars.) If the aggregate indebtedness were sixty-
nine or seventy millions, and the whole expenditures 8135,000,-
000, the difference should show the amount raised, in different
ways, by taxation. In another place, I have assumed the losses
sustained by the holders of continental bills of credit to be
equal to a tax of $53,000,000, But I have not confidence
enough in the figures to proceed further in this direction.

So soon as the war was over, a spirit of speculation made its
appearance. This was favored by the new fields which were
opened for profitable investments, and the abundance of the
precious metals. A period followed lasting till the inauguration
of the new government in the spring of 1789, which was dis-
tinguished by financial disaster and great privation.

The change from war to peace — from the business of destroy-
ing to that of supporting human life — rendered necessary a
great change in the industry and capital of the country. A like
change, whatever the occasion, can never be abruptly made
without enormous losses — losses which cannot long be con-
cealed. At the time the states were so nearly exhausted by
herculean military eff'orts, they were called upon to bear new
burdens — to make new sacrifices. The people, seeing no end
to their sufferings, naturally became discontented. Specie, for
some time plentiful, had, owing to the revival of trade and the
excessive importation of goods, become scarce, and the currency,
so far as it was made up of coin, underwent a sharp contrac-
tion,"^ Then it was that the pecuniary burdens of the war were

Amount brought forward §^18,201,206

New Hampshire, estimated, 300,000

Pennsylvania, estimated, 2,200,000

Maryland, estimated, 800,000

$21,501,206

Four of the states, it will be observed, are not mentioned, and those named
may have had (as in the case of Connecticut) a larger indebtedness at the close
of the war. Guided by the above statement, Mr. Hamilton thought that the
whole indebtedness of all the states at that time (Jan., 1790) might amount to
about $25,000,000. The state debts generally bore six per cent, interest.

* It api)ears from the " English custom-house books " that the imports from
England in the two first years after peace, (1784 and 1785,) amounted to £5,987,-

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 167

justly appreciated. They were felt to be insupportably oppres-
sive.* The impatient multitude, struggling for emancipation,
cast about for objects on which to vent their rage. They com-
plained of the continental and state governments, of unequal
and unjust laws, high public salaries, extravagant court fees, the
extortions of lawyers, the oft-repeated requisitions of Congress,
the impost and excise taxes, and cruel exactions of every kind.
They felt that they were wronged and robbed, and yet toiled
on ineffectually. In their desperation, comparing their priva-
tions with their better condition during the war, they began
to clamor once more for paper money. The debtor class uni-
ted themselves to speculators, adventurers and gamblers in fa-
voring this movement. The dire calamities and rank injustice
which were sure to flow from the desired measure were uncared
for. Men had become reckless. The moral sense was blunted,
the public conscience seared — the natural effect of war and a
depreciating currency. Rhode Island was the only New Eng-
land State that sought a remedy for the present evils in new
paper issues. A party was formed which, thoughtless of conse-
quences, advocated this policy. It was opposed by the mercan-
tile class, and favored, as a general rule, by the farmers. It awa-
kened fierce passion and bitter strife, and ended in mobs and riots.
At length, when the new party obtained the control of affairs,
a government paper money'' bank" of £100,000 was establish-

490, sterling, and the exports to £1,042,939, sterling, a difference of £4 344,551
sterling, which could be paid only in specie, or in bills of exchange derived from
favorable balances in the trade with other countries. There are no data from
which the whole trade of the United States, at that time, can be correctly esti-
mated. See Pitkin's Statistical View of the United States, p. 30, 2d ed.

* The list of polls and estates of this State which, at the end of the war, amount-
ed to about £2,000,000, had, in May, 1*785, run down to £1,559,623 : 16 : 8, and
in 1788 to £1,462,860 : 10 : 11. (In 1*795, it was only £1,'715,516.) A part of
this great reduction was doubtless owing to the act of May, 1784, which imposed
diminished taxes on live-stock ; but a part also must have been due to a pinched
money market and high taxes. Industry was discouraged, agriculture contract-
ed. There was little motive to accumulate tax-paying property. Men sold their
farms and emigrated to other states. Young men forsook their occupations and
took to the seas. Thus the list, as derived from polls and estates, was much re-
duced, and the rate of taxation correspondingly increased.

16S cosxEcncuT ctrkejtct, etc.

ed, the bills to be loaned on pledge of real estate, and to be re-
ceivable for continental taxes. This was in Mav, 1TS6. *' The
new system," says Arnold, •* was more destructive in its effects
upon the peace and prosperity of the State than any that had
yet l^een attempted, and whose baleful influence was to extend
far beyond the period when its name and objects had passed
away."* A '' forcing act " was soon necessary to compel the
refractory to take the bills, and a fine of £100 was imposed for
refusal. When this act was decided by the highest court to be
unconstitutional, a special session of the Assembly was called,
and the judges summoned to appear " to assign reasons and
grounds'' for their decision. Defending themselves with intre-
pidity, they "gave no satisfactory reason for their judgment,"
and were discharged. By the course she took in this matter,
Rhode Island earned, as she had done before, no little infamy.
Her promises soon came to be woith no more than six or eight
for one of specie. The other offending, states — those which
yielded to the paper money pressure — were Xew York, Xew
Jersey, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

In the stormy and perilous times about which I am writing,
in no state did affairs wear a gloomier aspect than in Massa-
chusetts. The unquiet, over-burdened masses, hoping little re-
lief from the established order of things, looked to untried ex-
pedients and unauthorized measures. '• Xo desperately indebt-
ed people," says some one, " can long endure a regular, sober
government." Excited passion, breaking over legal restraints,
cnlminated in a formidable rebellion. It made its first appear-
ance in western Massachusetts, and was headed by one Capt.
Daniel Shays. The insurgents called for sundry reforms in the
state government, prevented the sessions of the courts and de-
manded paper money. Four thousand militia soc»n restored
order ; but men's minds were powerfully impressed with the
dangers with which good government was threatened, and the
utter helplessness of the Confederation.

During this critical period^ Connecticut was not a disinterested

• History of Rhode Island. II.. 519.

f In the debate on the asiuniption of the state debts, in the first Congress un-

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 169

spectator. Maiij of tlie people, at first a majority, sympathized
with the malcontents of Massacliusetts and the other states, as
has been mentioned. But their " steady habits," their conser-
vative education, their traditionary respect for the state govern-
ment, taken in connection with the prompt and energetic mea-
sures of those in power, prevented any dangerous outbreak.

In the condition of things which has been described, little
could be done in the way of paying the public debts. The
requisitions of Congress upon the states were little heeded, the
less so as they were repeated, and the unpaid interest was al-
lowed to accumulate to a large extent. Of the sums called for
from 1782 to 1786, amounting to more than six million of dol-
lars, to meet the interest on the domestic debt, about one mill-
ion only had been paid on the thirty first day of March, 1787.*
The insufficient loans which Congress was able to obtain in
Europe were used to pay interest on the foreign debt.f Un-
der these circumstances, the government credit was so poor
that liquidated and certified claims against it were worth no
more than twelve and a half or fifteen cents on the dollar. At
the time the debt was finally funded, (January first, 1791,)
there had accumulated of unpaid interest, in the whole, $15,-
050,884; §2,020,716 of it on the foreign, and $13,030,168 on
the domestic debt. On the latter debt, there had been paid of
interest, but $4,944,128:};, and this in indents.

der the Constitution, " Mr. Sedgwick declared that the insurrection which had
just taken place in Massachusetts, was occasioned by the burden of taxes neces-
sarily imposed on the people of that State, to pay a debt incurred merely for na-
tional purposes." The debts of Massachusetts, Connecticut and South Carolina
amounted to about one half of those of all the States. See Pitkin's Polit. and Civ.
Hist., II., 344, 345. Felt intimates that the debt of Massachusetts, in 1785, was
£1,468,554 : 7 : 5. See Mass. Currency, p. 200.

* Pitkin's Polit. and Civ. Hist, of the United States, II., 184-5.

\ There were borrowed in Europe, after the war and before the Constitu-
tion went into operation, the following sums:

In Holland by contract dated March 9, 1784, at four per cent. 2,000,000 guilders.

Do. do. June 1, 1787, at five per cent 1,000,000 "

Do. do. March 13, 1788, at five percent 1,000,000 "

The whole equaling, say, $1,600,000. See Appendix to the Journal of Congress.
:j: See American State Papers, Finance, Vol. I., 484.

lYO CONNECTICUT CTJREENCT, ETC.

Even before tlie concluding act of Maryland gave a qnasi-
vitality to the Confederation, statesmen had seen that, finan-
cially considered, it had fatal defects. It needed no prophet
to perceive that the pnblic creditors could not be paid — that
the interest on the debt could not be discharo-ed — that the
faith and honor of the government could not be preserved — so
long as Congress had no control over the wealth of the coun-
try. Without this control, no fund could be established, no
security given as a basis for public credit. This fact was raade
apparent by the too often fruitless efforts of our commissioners
to borrow money in Europe. It was signally illustrated by the
peremptory refusal of the King of France, at one period, to
make any further pecuniary advances. To remedy the diffi-
culty. Congress, February third, 1781, the day after Maryland
had authorized her delegates to subscribe the Articles, " recom-
mended to the several states, as indispensably necessary, that
they vest a power in Congress to levy for the use of the United
States a duty of five per cent., ad valorein, at the time and
place of importation, upon all goods, wares and merchandises
of foreign growth and manufactures," excepting " articles im-
ported on account of the United States or any of them, and
wool-cards and cotton-cards, and wire for making them," &c. ;
" also a duty of five per cent, on all prizes and prize-goods."
The moneys (when collected) were appropriated to the pay-
ment of the public debts incurred for the support of the war,
and the duties were to continue till said debts were discliarged.
Connecticut granted the required authority without delay, but
limited the operation of the law to three years after the close
of the war. This was not satisfactory, and the State was
called on to amend its act.'^ A new grant was made in Jan-
uary, 1782, in which the objectionable clause was removed.
A harmless provision was added, intended to quiet apprehen-
sion, that no part of the moneys collected should be used " for
the payment of any pensions or half-pay to discharged ofiicers,
or as a pension, gratuity, or consideration to any person or per-
sons not then in the actual service of the United States."

* See Journal of Congress, March 22, 1781.

CONNECTICUT CUEEENCT, ETC. lYl

After the lapse of nearly two years, all the states had adopted
the recommendation of Congress except Rliode Island, To
hasten her movements, Congress, December sixth, 1782, ap-
pointed a "deputation" to visit her " for the purpose of mak-
ing a just representation of tlie public affairs of the United
States, and of urging the absolute necessity of a compliance
with the resolution," &c. But just as the deputation was
about to depart, news came that Virginia had withdrawn her
consent to the measure. Thus hope was deferred, and good
men were " deeply aflPected." It seemed doubtful whether
the states would part with more power — whether they would
ever yield up to the Confederation enough of authority to
clothe it with respectability, or to prevent its downfall.

When the war at last came to an end, the minds of far-see-
ing men were turned anxiously to the future. It was perceived
that before the young republic could hold up its head among
the nations of the earth, its finances must be reformed.
Madison had been a member of Congress nearly two years ; and
Hamilton, aged twenty six, had recently taken his seat. These
master spirits devoted their best energies to the salvation of
the country, and the impost scheme was revived. On the
twelfth of February, 1783, Congress agreed, by a nearly unan-
imous vote, to " a proposition reported by the committee of
the whole," " that the establishment of permanent and ade-
quate funds on taxes or duties * * are indispensably necessary
towards doing complete justice to the public creditors," &c.
After much earnest discussion, a resolution was adopted April
eighteenth, 1783, asking the states to invest Congress with the
power to levy a duty of five per cent., ad valorem, on all im-
ported goods, except liquors, wines, teas, pepper, sugar, molas-
ses, cocoa and coffee. The last were to paj' a moderate specific
duty. The moneys thus obtained were to go to discharge
the interest and principal of the debts of the United States,-
contracted for the support of the war. The resolution also re-
commended that the states should establish, in the most conve-
nient way, such " substantial and effectual revenues" as might
produce, in addition to the above, $1,500,000, annually. A
provision required that the collectors should, in both cases, be

172 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

appointed by the states, but tliey were to "be amenable to and
removable by the United States." This important measure re-
quired the assent of all the states, and was to continue in ope-
ration twenty five years, Hamilton voted against the resolu-
tion as it finally passed, because the plan did not concede enough
to the Union ; but urged its adoption by 'New York, partly on
the gi-ound that she was a creditor state, the debts due from
the United States to her citizens very considerably exceeding
the amount the latter would have to pay in taxes.* On this
matter, however, a word may be said. If New York was a
creditor state, she became so by way of trade or purchase, and
not by her contributions for the support of the war. In this
last regard she was the great debtor state, which she still con-
tinued to be. She justly owes the federal Treasurj^, on the old
account, $1,852,036, and interest since January first, 1790.

These recommendations were sent forth, accompanied by an
address to the states, prepared, it is said, by Madison, and writ-
ten with considerable force. Appended to this paper were sev-
eral other documents, the famous " Newburgh Addresses," so
called, the argumentative letter of Hamilton, intended to an-
swer the objections of Rhode Island to the former revenue
scheme, (fecf

This measure, estimated to produce about ^2,410,000, and
sadly defective in some particulars, did not meet with a very
flattering reception. Peace had returned, the outward press-
ure was gone, and little interest, comparatively, attached to
the central government. Congress was thinly attended. Some
of the best men had left it, and gone home to look after their
respective state sovereignties. There was disatisfaction with
several of its acts, and a jealousy of its power. Under these cir-
circumstances, its plan for raising a revenue gave rise to much
opposition and prolonged debate. Connecticut was violently
agitated. Though the great influence of Gov. Trumbull and
his Council were on the side of Congress, its scheme, at two dif-
ferent sessions of the General Assembly, was rejected, "through

* Life of Hamilton, 11., 186, 2d edition.
t See Journal of Congress, April 29, 1783.

CONNECTICm^ CUREENCT, ETC. 1Y3

the votes, principally, of farmers and mechanics," who supposed
the burden of tlie taxes would rest on themselves. The ques-
tion became mingled with several others hardly less exciting —
questions relating to " commutation pay," the powers of Con-
gress, "the order of the Cincinnati," and the system of state
taxation. " These matters shook the State, politically, from one
end to the other more fiercely than it had ever been sliaken be-
fore, and the excitement was intense."* The Lower House of
the Assembly, in a petition to Congress, remonstrated against
the powers exercised, and the policy pursued by that body. At
length, however, passion and prejudice were softened, and the
storm abated. The arguments, the resolution and influence of
Gov. Trumbull and the federal party were able to control events.
On tlie twentieth day of May, 1784, the popular branch of the
Assembly, by a vote of ninety-three yeas to forty-two nays,
passed an act levying the proposed duty on imports.f but ignor-
ing the "supplementary" tax, designed to raise $132,091, Con-
necticut's proportion of the $1,500,000. NotwitJistanding this
law did not grant all that was asked, it was considered, at that
time, a great triumph for the Union. But the authorities of
the State did not cease to cherish tlieir political privileges.
Those constitutional or chartered riglits which liad been watch-
ed over with jealous care for more than a century, and for the
permanent security of which an eiglit years' war liad been
waged, were not to be yielded up without a struggle.

After waiting impatiently for nearly three years, a commit-
tee of Congress reported (February fifteenth, 1786) tliat two
states only, Delaware and North Carolina had agreed to the
revenue scheme presented for their consideration, in all itsparts ;
thougii in the case of the former, the plan was not to go into
operation till the otlier states had made similar grants. Six
states, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jer-
sey, Virginia and South Carolina, had passed laws compl3dng
with the impost part of the scheme, but not with the other
portion. Pennsylvania Jiad done as much, and made a show
of doing more, but attached a proviso to the act. Rhode Isl-

* Stuart's Life of Jonathan Trumbull, Sen,, p. 632. f Ibid. 644.

174 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC,

and had passed a law, but it did not conform to any part of the
plan recommended. Maryland, ISTew York and Georgia had
enacted nothing "in pursuance of the system of April, 1783."
In this gloomy condition of affairs. Congress did its whole du-
ty ; and once more earnestly commended the subject to the at-
tention of the hesitating states, warning them " that the most fa-
tal evils will inevitably flow from a breach of the public faith,
pledged by solemn contract," &c. As there seemed little pros-
pect of securing the adoption of the " supplementary " part of
the scheme — that which pledged an internal revenue — they
were willing to accept such state action as secured to the gov-
ernment the duties on imports. The Treasury was empty, and
the calls upon it most pressing. The entire receipts from tax-
es between November first, 1781, and January first, 1786,
amounted but to $2,457,987, a sum insufficient to pay the interest
on the public debt for a single year, to say nothing of the or-
dinary charges of the government. During the latter portion
of the time, there had been received, on the average, only
$371,052 per annum, not enough to meet the current expenses.
At length, as it regarded the tax on imports, all the states had
so far yielded to the importunity of Congress that the system
would go into operation when New York should adopt it.
Governed by petty jealousies, and an apprehension that her
commercial advantages would be interfered with by the pro-
posed tax, she stubbornly refused her consent. At last, how-
ever, she passed a law on the subject ; but it gave to the State
" the sole power of levying and collecting " the duties. By an-
other act, she ordered the emission of £200,000 in bills of cred-
it, which were expressly declared to be receivable for import du-
ties. Her legislation was, of course, not satisfactory. It did
not comply with the recommendation of April, 1783. Under
these discouraging circumstanqes. Congress by resolution, Au-
gust eleventh, 1786, urged the executiv^e of New York "im-
mediately to convene the Legislature * * for the purpose of
granting the system of impost," &c., so that the same might
be carried " into innnediate effect." Gov. Clinton, feeling " un-
happy to be formally called on by Congress," replied that he
had no power " to convene the Legislature before the time fixed

CONTSIECIICUT CTIRRENCY, ETC. 175

bj law, except on extraordinary occasions.'''' He, therefore,
with " the highest deference and respect," declined. On the
receipt of his letter, Congress renewed its request in the
words of the former resolution. At the next session of the
Legislature of New York, in January, 1TS7, the question again
came np for consideration. Hamilton, who was a member, ad-
vocated the measure with great ability ; but, on the final vote,
it was rejected by a decisive majority. This action gave the
finishing blow to the Confederation.* It had only life enough
left, after naming its successor, to make arrangements for its
funeral.

CHAPTER XIII.

FIRST UNITED STATES COINAGE. CONNECTICUT COPPERS.

After the war, the country sufi"ered much from the circula-
tion of base coin sent over from Europe, or manufactured at
home. Congress had previously (February twenty-first, 1782)
proposed to establish a mint. The Superintendent of Fi-
nance was to prepare a plan ; but nothing was done for sever-
al years. July sixth, 1785, it was resolved '• that the money
unit of the United States be one dollar," and " that the several
pieces shall increase in a decimal ratio." More than a year
later, August eighth, 1786, the denomination, weight and fine,
ness of the several coins of gold, silver and copper were estab-
lished, in accordance with the previous regulations. An ordi.
nance for a mint was passed October sixteenth following. And
as " the great quantity of base copper coin daily imported into

* Life of Hamilton, II., 448, 2d edition.

176 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

.or manufactured within the several states " was higlil}^ injurious,
&c., it was ordained " that no foreign copper coin whatsoever
should, after the iii*st day of September, 1787, be current with-
in the United States, and that no copper coin struck under the
authority of a particular state should pass at a greater rate than
one federal dollar for two pounds and one quarter, averdupois
weight, of such copper coin,"^ or at a higher rate by weight than
the United States coin. The next year, April Iwenty-lirst,
(1787,) the "Board of Treasury" was authorized to contract
with James Jarvis for three hundred tons of copper coin, of
the federal standard, to be manufactured at his own expense,
he '' to allow to the United States on the amount of the coin
contracted for, not less than fifteen ])er cent." The devices on
this coin, as fixed July sixth, 1787, were as follows : On one
side " thirteen circles linked together, a small circle in the
middle, with the words ' United States ' round it, and in the
centre, the words ' We are one ;' — on the other side, a dial
with the hours expressed on the face of it, a meridian sun above,
on one side of which is to be the word ' fugio,' and on the oth-
er, the year in figures, ' 1787 ;' below the dial, the words "Miiul
your business.' ■ '

These copper "cents" were the first coins manufactured by
authorit}^ of the United States, and the only ones previously
to the date of the federal Constitution. Tiiey are supposed to
have been struck at the " New Haven mint,"* in a building
which stood immediately upon the water's edge, nearly in front,
or a little to the west, of the residence of the late Harvey Iload-
ley, in East Water street, about which, buried in the rubbish,
the boys were wont to find coppers, some forty years ago.

In a memorial dated October eighteenth, 1785, Samuel Bish-
op, James Ilillhouse and John Goodrich, of New Haven, and
Joseph Hopkins of Waterbury, applied to the Legislature of
Connecticut for liberty to establish a mint for coining copper
coins or coppers. " There is [they alledged] a great and very
prevalent scarcity of small coins in the State," in consequence
of which "great inconveniences are severely felt," particularly
" by the laboring class Avho are the stay and staff of an)' com-

* New Aia. Cyclopedia, Art. Coins, p. 441.

CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC. 17Y

munity." Our late enemies and our fellow-citizens, they con-
tinued, are busy counterfeiting, &c.* The petition was grant-
ed at the same session, and the persons named were authorized
to make copper coins not exceeding, in value, £10,000, lawful
money, each piece to be of the value of the British halfpenny,
and to weigh six pennyweights. They were to have " a man's
head on the one side, with a circumscription in the words or
letters following, (viz.) : AYCTORl : CONNECT : and on the
other side, the emblem of liberty, with an olive branch in her
hand, with the words and figures following, (viz.) : INDE : ET
LIB : 1Y85." The grant was to continue during the pleasure
of the Assembly. Of the coins stamped, one twentieth part
was to go to the State, and none was to be put in circulation till
inspected and approved by a connnittee, of which Hon. Roger
Sherman, James Wadsworth and David Austin, Esquires, and
Messrs. Ebenezer Chittenden and Isaac Beers were the mem-
bers. They were not to be a legal tender except for change^
and for any sum not exceeding three shillings. At the same
session, an act was passed forbidding any person, without the
permission of the General Assembly, to manufacture copper
coins. The penalty was one hundred pounds, one half to go
to the informer.

In January, 1789, Daniel Holbrook and James Wadsworth,
Esquires, were appointed a committee to inquire into the con-
duct of those authorized to manufacture coppers, and to ascer-
tain whether the resolution of the Assembly as to the intrinsic
value of the coins, and the proportion to be paid into the Treas-
ury of the State, had been complied with. From their report,
made in May, 1789, it appears that the original grantees, Novem-
ber twelfth, 17S5, entered into an agreement with Pierpont Ed-
wards, Jonathan Ingersoll, Abel Buell and Elias Shipman, and
formed a company by the name of the " Company for Coinino-
Coppers." The business was carried on until about June first,
1786, when the company, unable to procure more stock, was
obliged to suspend operations. In September of the same year,
a lease of privileges and apparatus was given, for six weeks, to

* See " Miscellaneous" papers in the State Library, Vol. III., Doc. 243.

178 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

Mark Leavenworth, Esq., (afterwards a proprietor,) Isaac Bald-
win and William Leavenworth, all natives and the two last
residents of Waterbiiry. There were frequent changes of own-
ership. At the date of the report, April ninth, 1789, James
Jarvis (who had removed from New York to New Haven) own-
ed nine parts in sixteen, James Hillhonse, Mark Leavenworth
and Abel Buell, each two parts, and John Goodrich one part.
Up to about June first, 1787, when the coinage ceased, there
had been inspected by the committee during the three years the
mint was in operation, 28,944 pounds [avoirdupois] of coined
coppers. Reckoning eighteen pieces, each weighing one hun-
dred and forty-four grains, as equal to one shilling, (the com-
mittee's estimate,) and the whole inspected coinage would
amount to £3,908 : 6 : 8. Of this amount, the State should
have received 1,447tf pounds by weight, which " amounts to
£192 : 19: 2." But there had been paid into the Treasury only
l,38()yV pounds, which "amounts to £184 : 16 : 2," leaving a
balance due the State of 61 f^ pounds, or "£8 : 3 : 0." (There
is a small error in each of the quoted sums, made in converting
weight into money.)

A large amount of work was accomplished at the New
Haven mint in 1787. The coins were extensively circulated.
Though the dies were often poorly executed, the blanks were
of excellent material.* Tlie market seems to have been large-
ly overstocked, and as the coppers did not contain metal enough
to keep up their value as an article of commerce, a deprecia-
tion followed. As early as June, 1786, I find a merchant ad-
vertising to take them at twenty shillings the pound, or at par,
payment to be made half in gold or silver, and half in goods
" at lowest cash price." An aged gentleman of New Haven
tells me that he remembers when they passed at four for a pen-
ny, then six for a penny. In December, 1 90, the Assembly
directed that the accumulated stock in the Treasury should be
sold for liquidated notes, or securities of the State, provided two
shillings per pound (forty-eight pieces and six tenths weighed
one pound, nearly) could be obtained. The notes, &c., men-
tioned had not then probably recovered from their great deprcs-

• Dickeson's Numismatic Manual, 1859, p. 103, and onward.

CONNECTICUT CUREENCT, ETC. 179

sion. It may have been partly in consequence of the deprecia-
tion of coppers that the manufacture was stopped in 1787.

The committee of investigation appears to have found no
sufficient cause of censure in the management of the mint ; and
yet the Assembly, after the report had been made, in May,
1789, ordered that those interested in the company should be
notified to appear and show cause, if any they had, why the
powers granted them should not cease. To give them the
opportunit}^ their privileges were extended from the twentieth
of June, 1789, to the rising of the Assembly at the October
session. The reason of this procedure is doubtless to be found
in the fact that the new Constitution, taking from the states
the authority to coin money, had gone into operation.

Abel Buell, the master spirit in this coinage, had, at the time
of the committee's report, gone to Europe, ostensibl}^, it is said,
to purchase copper for coining, but really to obtain a knowl-
edge of the machinery used in manufacturing cloth. Before
leaving, he had given (the committee say) his son Benjamin lib-
erty to make coppers, which business the latter was then pur-
suing, having just begun to stamp the coins. Abel Buell was
a mechanical genius. He was born in Killingworth, and was
apprenticed to Ebenezer Chittenden, a gold and silver smith.
At the age of nineteen, he was married. At twenty, he alter-
ed, very ingeniously, a five shilling bill of credit to one of five
pounds. For this he was, after conviction in March, 1764,
punished by branding on the forehead with the letter C, cut-
ting off the right ear, imprisonment in tlie Norwich jail, (he
was sentenced for life,) and confiscation of estate. In view,
however, of his youth and other mitigating circumstances, he
was soon released on bond, — he to live in and not to leave Kil-
lingworth. In October, 1765, he asked the Assembly for lib-
erty " to trade and deal without penalty," and to go where he
pleased. His petition Avas refused, but in October, 1766, it was
renewed. He had, he said, discovered a method of grinding
and polishing crystals and other stones of great value, " the
growth" of this Colony. The petition was now granted on con-
dition that abend be given of £200 for good behavior.

In October, 1769, Buell again addressed the Legislature. He

180 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

Stated that he had discovered the art of type-fouiidiDg, and ask-
ed encouragement in the form of a lottery, or in some other
way, tliat he might erect a foundry and prosecute the business.
To prove the vahie of the discovery, and as a specimen of his
abilities, his memorial was " impressed with the types of his
own manufacture." The Assembly, in accordance with the
report of a committee, voted to loan him £100 for seven years,
he to " set up and pursue within one year the art of lettter
founding in this Colony." After twelve months, £100 more
were to be loaned for seven years. Soon, (about 1770,) Mr. Buell
removed to New Haven, and employed for his foundry the
Sandemanian meeting house in Gregson street, and employed
fifteen or twenty boys in making types. Not much came of
the undertaking, however, and the business seems soon to
have been abandoned. Soon after, he was engaged with Ber-
nard Komans in constructing a map of North America, and
visited Pensacola to make a survey of the coast. He was
arrested for attempting to break the Governor's seal and to
open a letter, but escaped. The map was engraved by Mr.
Buell and Amos Doolittle, of New Haven, and published
during the war. It is stated, erroneously, to have been the first
map engraved and published in this country. In August,
1777, " said Buell having wholly failed to set up and practice
the art [of type-founding], and since become insolvent and is
absconded," &c., the Assembly voted to accept from Mrs.
Aletta Buell, of New Haven, the wife of Abel, the one hun-
dred pounds, •' which she had procured with the utmost difii-
culty," and to discharge the £200 bond held by the State.'^'

At length, Mr. Buell became connected with the company for
coining coppers, as we have seen. He is reported to have in-
vented machinery which turned out one hundred and twenty
pieces per minute. He lived in a house on Chapel street,
fronting the Green, the land being described in a mortgage
deed to Henry Whitney, of Derby, dated August sixteenth,

* See State Archives, " Industry," Vol. II. What I have said concerning Mr.
Buell's inventions, and also of his efforts to obtain his liberty, has been derived
chiefly from tliis volume. Most of these documents, with others relating to " early
American inventions," are printed in the Patent Office Report for 1850-51.

CONNECTICUT CUERENCT, ETC. 181

1784, as running back forty feet — " bounded north by the Green
twenty feet, east by highway through the glebe land, west by
land leased to Ebenezer Chittenden, south by land leased to
the said grantor, which land was leased to the said grantor by
Christ's church for ninety-nine years, renewable at pleasure, for
eight pence half penny a foot for the forty foot, b}'' the year."*
At a later period, there was " a shop or building adjoining the
south end of the dwelling house," which, January twenty-first,
1789, Buell deeded to James Jarvis, of New Haven, to secure
a note for one hundred and fifty pounds.f

When Mr. Buell returned from England to this country, he
brought with him a Scotchman by the name of M'Intosh.
They erected a cotton mill in VVestville, (New Haven,) one of
the first in this country. Afterward, Buell removed to Hart-
ford, thence to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Finally, about
1825, he returned to New Haven, and soon, after died in the
almshouse.:}:

In 1785, a mint for coining coppers was established in Ru-
pert, Vermont. In 1787, cents were made in Boston, Massa-
chusetts.

I have hitherto had no convenient opportunity to refer to
certain copper coins, of private manufiicture, struck in Gran-
by in this State, in 1737. They are known as " Higley's cop-
pers," and are supposed to have been made (from a rude set of
dies) by Dr. Samuel Higley, who, a few years before, had at-
tempted to manufacture steel. The copper used was dug in
Granby, and is of excellent quality, being much sought by jew-
elers for mixing with gold. The coins were circulated in Con-
necticut and New England, but have now nearly disappeared.

* Land Records, Vol. XLI., p. 160.

f Ibid., Vol. XLIII., p. 349.

\ Many of the facts contained in the pi-eceding sketch of Buell's life— those re-
lating to the places of his birth and death, his apprenticeship and marriage, hi3
removals, his concern in the map of North America, aod in the cotton mill at West-
ville, his visit to Pensacola, the place whero he made types, and the number of
coppers wliieh his machine turned out — have been derived from Barber's Connec-
ticut Historical Collections. (See Killingworth, p. 531.) Mr. Barber states that
his information came from Mr. William Storer, watch maker, who died in New
Haven a few years ago.

182 CONNECTICDT CURRENCY, ETC.

There is one in the cabinet of the Connecticut Historical So-
ciety, bearing the date of 1737, with " I am good copper," on
one side ; " Yahie me as jou please," on the other.*

CHAPTEK XIV.

THE CONSTITUTION AND PAPER MONEY. THE PUBLIC DEBT
FUNDED: BANKS CHARTERED.

The feebleness of the Confederation was very much due to its
financial inability. Those who sought a change, desired a gov-
ernment which, by its own authority, could tax the people, and
command the wealth of the country. Another object to be se-
cured was protection from the evils of a paper currency. There
was, at the time the Convention assembled in Philadelphia in
May, 1787, " for the sole and express purpose of revising the
Articles of Confederation," a general outcry against the recent
legislation of Rhode Island (then called Rogues' Island) per-
petuating the paper money nuisance. Reflecting the popular
feeling, the wits of '' The Anarchiad " satirized the State.
When her government refused to appoint delegates, and
stood aloof from the Convention for the avowed reason that
she apprehended some interference with her right to issue
bills of credit, the indignation felt was not diminished. In
the " Constitution " which was finally (September seven-
teenth, 1787) adopted, the ])ow('r "to coin money, emit bills
of credit, nuike anything but gold and silver coin a tender in
payment of debts," was wisel,y taken from the states. At the
same time, the general government was authorized " to coin
money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coin, and fix
the standard of weierhts and measures." In the first draft of the

* See Phelps' History of Simsbury, p. 118, and Prime's Coins, Medals and
Seals, p. 72.

CONNECTICUT CUEKENCY, ETC. 183

Constitution, the power was granted to emit bills of credit, —
" to borrow money, and emit bills, on the credit of the United
States " — but objections were made, and debate ensued. " Mr.
Ellsworth thought this a favorable moment to shut and bar
the door against paper money." Mr. Madison was " satisfied
that striking out the words would not disable the government
from the use of public notes, as far as they could be safe and
proper, and would only cut off the pretext for a paper cur-
rency^ and particularly for making the bills a tender either for
public or private debts."* In conclusion, the clause authoriz-
ing the emission of bills of credit was stricken out, nine states,
to wit : New Hampsliire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Penn-
sylvania, Delaware, Yirginia, North Carolina, South Carolina
and Georgia, voting in favor, and two states, New Jersey and
Maryland, against the motion. Thus to prevent the abuse of
a power which a few members thought might be useful, in
certain emergencies, the proposed grant was withheld alto-
gether. In this manner, " the authority of Congress was con-
fined to borrowing money on the credit of the United States,
which [power] appears to have been intended to include the
issuing of government notes not transferable as currency."!
The original proposition was not objected to on the ground
that it might justify a tender law, for no one appears to
have suspected that such a law could, under any circum-
stances, grow out of it. To a candid mind, it would seem clear
that the framers of the Constitution meant, in the words of
Ellsworth, " to shut and bar the door against [government]
paper money," and particularly, to prevent, in the language of
Madison, " making tlie bills a tender either for public or private
debts." Until recently, it has been supposed — admitted — that
the Constitution gave us the amplest security against the
mighty evils which flow from a depreciated, legal tender cur-
rency. But the safeguards upon which we once relied have
been swept away, and we are now repeating (in a financial
sense) revolutionary history.

* Madison Papers, III., p. 1840, note.

f See Curtis' History of the Constitution, II., pp. 330, 364,

184 CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

In January, 1790, Hamilton, the first Secretary of the
Treasury under tlie Constitution, presented to Congress his
famous plan for funding and paying the public debt. It was
by this time largely increased, principally from unpaid interest,
and amounted to more than $54,000,000. Provision was
made for the whole by act of Congress, August fourth, 1790.
By this act, the foreign debt was a preferred claim. It
was to be paid in full, principal and interest, and a loan was
authorized, not to exceed $12,000,000, for that end. The
" domestic debt," so called, consisting of loan office certificates,
reduced to specie value in accordance with the scale of Con-
gress, bills of credit at one hundred for one, and sundry other
obligations, fared differently. Two-thirds of the principal of
the debttlius made up was to bear six per cent, annual interest
from and after the first day of January, 1791 ; the other third,
six per cent, from and after the year 1800. The stock issued
for arrears of interest was to draw three per cent, from Janu-
uary first, 1791. By the same act, state debts to the extent of
$21,500,000 were assumed and apportioned, Connecticut's
allowance being $1,600,000.* Some states, however, were not
able to present claims equal to their proportions, and the
whole stock was not issued for the special purpose for which
it was designed. But the amount was swelled by certain

* The following is the apportionment. See Laws of the United Stales ; Act
approved, Aug. 4, 1*790.

New Hampshire $300,000

Massachusetts, 4,000,000

Rhode Island 200,000

Conneclicul, 1,600,000

New York 1,200,000

New Jersey 800,000

Pennsylvania, 2,200,000

Delaware 200,000

Maryland 800,000

Virginia, 3,500,000

North Carolina, 4,000,000

South Carolina, 2,4( 0,000

Georgia, 300,000

$21,600,000

CONNECTICUT CITEEENCTj ETC. 185

balances found due to some of the states on a final settlement
of accounts between them and the United States.* On the
scoi'e of balances, or advances beyond her proportion, Con-
necticut had a credit of $619,121. Of the stock issued for
state debts and revolutionary balances, principal and interest,

* A board of three commissioners was appointed to adjust these accounts on
"the principles of general equity." They were to debit each state with all ad-
vances made bj' the United States, with interest to the last day of the year
1789; and to credit each for its disbursements and advances with interest to the
same date. This done, they were to strike the balance due to each state, find
the aggregate of the balances, and then apportion the same between the states,
agreeably to that provision of the Constitution which relates to representation
and direct taxes. " The difference between such apjDortioiiments and the respec-
tive balances shall be carried, [so said the law,] in a new account, to the debit
or ci-edit of the states respectively." Thus certain states became creditors of the
government to the extent in all of $3,517,684, and others debtors to an equal
amount, as appears from the report of the commissioners made in 1793.

The following tables distinguish those states which had advanced more
than their proportions for the support of the war, from those states which had
paid less. It is derived from Pitkin's United States, II., 538.

CREDITOR STATES.

New Hampshire, 175,055

Massachusetts 1,248,801

Rhode Island, 299,611

Connecticut, 619,121

New Jersey, 49,030

South Carolina, 1,205,978

Georgia, 19,988

$3,517,584

DEBTOR STATES.

Nejv York $2,074,846

Pennsylvania, 76,709

Delaware, 612,428

Maryland, 151,640

Virginia, 100,879

North Carolina, 501,082

$3,517,584
The balances found due to the United States, with the exception of a small
amount ($222,810) allowed to New York for expenditures on state fortifications
■were never paid ! When, after several j-ears' delay, a member of Congress pro-
posed to seize the United States stocks held by New York, for payment, the state
Legislature, then in session, ordered their immediate sale !

186

CONNECTICUT CUREIDNCY, ETC.

fonr-nintlis were to Lear an interest of six per ceiit. from tlie
first day of January, 1792, three ninths, of three per cent, from
the same date, and two-ninths, of six per cent, from January
first, ISOO, According to a statement of the Secretary of tlie
Treasury, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., December twenty-ninth, 1796,
" the entire debt of the United States, on the first day of
January, 1791, including ihe assumed debt and the balances
due the creditor states, as the same has been settled and
funded," exclusive of a balance of $472,801 paid by the new
government on account of the, old, was as follows. (Conti-
nental bills are entered at one hundred for one, and the " new
emissions " of the states at specie value :)

Foreifjn debt, viz :

Due in France, inclusive of $1,922,907 interest,. .$8,190,532

Due in Holland, (interest paid,) 3,863,000

Due to Spain, inclusive of $76,371 interest, 250,582

Due to foreign officers, inclusive of 21,438 interest,. .209,426

Total Foreign debt, $12,513,341

Domestic debt, $27,197,490

Interest on do., 13,030,168

40,227,659

Unliquidated claims, including continental emissions, .... 2,127,514

Assumed debt, (state debts:)

Principal, $12,181,254

Interest, 6,090,561

18,271,816

State balances :

Principal, 3,517,584

Interest, 703,517

4,221,101

Total Foreign and Domestic debt, Jan first, 1791,. . . *$77,361,429

In strictness, the $472,301 paid by the new government on
account of the old, ought to be added to this account, while
the interest which accrued on the state balances for four

• See American State Papers, Finance, Vol. I., p. 483. Tiie general footing
of the foreign debt does not correspond with the items. The mistake ($200) I
have not corrected.

CONNECTICTJT CURRENCY, ETC. 187

years after the date of the statement, at four cent, amounting
to $562,818, should be deducted. This done, the debt would
stand, at the period named, at $77,270,917.

Thus a debt which hung like a millstone around the neck
of the Confederacy, as well as of the state governments,
threatening anarchy or revolntion, was finally disposed of.
The foreign creditors were paid off, principal and interest, to
the last farthing, by means of the loan of $12,000,000 which the
President was authorized to make. The domestic creditors were
obliged to compromise their claims, making a large sacrifice.
The obligations they held, already reduced to specie vahie, were
again cut down some twenty-five or tliirty per cent, by the
diminished or delayed interest which the government promised.
They received, however, a far better security than they parted
with, and were, as they had reason to be, well satisfied with
the settlement. Continental certificates which, before the
funding system was proposed, were sold for twelve or fifteen
cents on a dollar, when converted into United States stock
became at once a staunch security. " Our credit," wrote
Washington, in June, 1790, (nearly two months before the law
funding the debt was passed,) " has got higher than that of any
nation in Europe."* A sinking fund M'as established, the
public revenues were ample, and the debt, principal and inter-
est, was all paid in due time. The six per cent interest-paying
bonds were sold, February first, 1792, at twenty-seven and a
half per cent, premium.

Connecticut was paid by the general government, on account
of revolutionary expenditures, in the stocks w^hich have been
described, as follows : —

State debt assumed, principal and interest, 11,600,000

State balance assumed, principal and interest, $619,121

Add four per cent, annual interest for five years, commen-
cing December 31st, 1789, according to act of Congress,. . 123,824 742,945

$2,342,945

* Writings, X., p. 98. One reason of this relatively high price of American
Becurities will be found in the fact that the governments of Europe were, at that
time, more or less involved in the uncertainties connected with the French Rev.
olution.

18S CONNECTICUT CURRENCY, ETC.

This sum was sufficient to extinguish tlie entire indebtedness
of the State which, at tlie time it was assumed and funded,
amounted, principal and interest, to a little more than £600,000,
or say, $2,002,260.08, leaving a balance in favor of the State
of some $340,685,* But the amount thus provided for by
the general government, it should be remembered, did not
represent the entire war expenditures of Connecticut. Besides
the heavy taxes which had been levied and paid during the
contest, on account of the State, some £533,000 ($1,777,000) of
the principal of the debt had been discharged between 1783
and 1790. In addition to this, 500,000 acres of Western lands,
valued at £151,606, were afterward (May, 1792) granted to
persons living on and near the Sound, who had suffered from
the hostile incursions of British troops.

That part of the United States stock which was issued on
account of the " state balance" was placed to the credit of the
State on the books of the general government. By law, it was
not transferable. In October, 1794, the Assembly authorized
the holders of the remaining outstanding debt of Connecticut
to bring in their claims for settlement, to wit : — (1) notes of
the Treasurer computing interest to January 1st, 1795, on those
bearing interest, and reducing to specie value such as are liable
to liquidation ; (2) Imlay's certiticatesf acknowledged as evi-
dences of debt by act of October, 1793, computing interest as
aforesaid ; (3) interest certificates ; (4) " orders of the late com-
mittee of pay-table and of the several comptrollers of public
accounts, subject to liquidation when unliquidated;" (5) bills
of credit of 1780, with interest according to their tenor, and
bills before 1780, at the rate of forty for one. The holders of
these claims were to receive, in satisfaction of the same. United
States stocks, whenever Congress should enable tlie State to
make the necessary transfers, wliich were not to exceed $130,-

* Perhaps this sum should be increased some $8,094.81. See MSS. vohimes
of the Comptrollers' reports in tlie Comptroller's office ; also, Am. State Papers,
Finance, I., 483.

f Wm. Imlay was Commissioner of loans of the United States for this State.
His certificates were issued for that part of the loan (called the " assumed debt")
which was subscribed in excess of the $1,000,000 assigned to the State.

CONNECTICUT CUKKENCT, ETC. 189

000. The stock was soon made transferable, and, from time
to time, tlie transfers were made. In October, 1798, a law was
passed "that all state notes, interest certificates, pay-table
orders, and bills of credit of this state," then outstanding,
which should not, on or before the fourth day of the following
March, be presented to the office of the Comptroller to be dis-
charged by a transfer of stock, (or to be registered in said office,
at the option of the holders,) should " be forever after barred
and precluded from settlement and allowance," &c. In May,
1799, the time, thus limited, was extended to April first, 1800.
In Ma}"-, 1800, the Assembly resolved that the "holders of state
notes, interest certificates, pay-table orders and bills of credit,
which have been, registered pursuant to the acts of October,
1798, and May, 1799, who shall present the same at the office
of the Comptroller" at any time before the first day of April,
1801, shall " receive in specie for principal and interest at the
rate of fourteen shillings on the pound ;"'^ but unliquidated
notes were to be first liquidated, and the holders of the bills
issued before 1780 were to receive at the rate of one shil-
ling for forty. Imlay's certificates, not mentioned by name in
the laws of 1798 and 1799, were put on the same footing as
state notes. The privileges secured by this resolution were
afterward extended, first to June fifth, 1803, and then to June
fifth, 1805.

That part of United States stock not required to meet the
state indebtedness remained to the credit of the State ; but as
the principal was being paid off from year to year; the Comp-
troller was authorized, in May, 1803, to subscribe the money
thus received to the several banks of the State, the}' consenting
thereto. Thus Connecticut became an OMaier of bank stocks
which it still continues to hold. They amounted, in 1804, to
$406,000, of which $165,000 were in the Hartford Bank,

* I presume it, was the intention of the Legislature to pay to the state cred-
itors, under the resolution, a sum which would be equivalent, in value, to United
States stocks delivered within the time prescribed by the acts of October, 1798,
and May, 1799. State notes, &c., it will be observed, carried interest at the rate
of six per cent., while a portion of the stocks of the United States paid but three
per cent.

190 CONNECTICUT CURKENCT, ETC.

$122,000 in the Phoenix Bank, $59,300 in the Micldletown
Bank, $51,800 in the New Haven Bank, and $1,900 in the
Farmers and Mechanics Bank. But they did not all come
from the moneys received for United States stock.

I have pointed out the manner in which the Connecticut
war debt was finally paid. It was paid not in full, nor accord-
ing to the original contract. It was first reduced in conformity
with the scale of depreciation adopted in October, 1780, and
the principles of supposed equity. The specie value of the
money or goods or services received, not the nominal and
stipulated money value, was' the rule of settlement. Soldiers'
wages were adjusted by the same rules. The depreciation of
the bills in which their wages were paid was made up to them.
The state debt thus "liquidated" and adjusted was discharged
in the manner stated. It did not fare quite so well as the
" domestic debt " of the United States. Five-ninths of the
whole, it will be remembered, bore a reduced or deferred inter-
est. The holders of state bills, however, were nnich better
dealt hy, first and last, than those who held continental money.

After the expiration of the statute of limitations, (June fifth,
1805,) petitions were frequently presented to the Legislature
for the payment of small amounts of the still outstanding
public debt, including bills of credit. The sums asked for
were so small, and the expense incurred and time consumed so
considerable, that the Assembly, at their May session, in 1811,
resolved "that the holders of state notes, interest certificates,
pay-table orders and bills of credit of this State, may present
such evidences of debt at the Comptoller's office, and the
Comptroller is hereby directed to register the same, and to
draw on the Treasurer for the amount thereof, includins: the
interest up to the period when the statute of limitations took
effect, according to tlie provisions heretofore made for payment
of registered debt," &c. Small sums were, from time to time,
brought in, and were discharged under this resolution. The
Comptroller, in his annual report, continued to make a state-
ment of the nominal public debt till 1812, at which time it
amounted to $2,390.76. It had been thus reported for several
years, though small amounts had been paid from time to time.

CONTSTECTICTJT CUREENCY, ETC.

191

This sum embraced every description of indebtedness of revo-
lutionary origin. The outstanding bills, issued before 1780,
were estimated at $1,235.70; those emitted in 1780, at $45.87.
The interest on the last named sum, which is computed down
to 1805, is set down at $26.27. Judging from the number of
bills which are still met with in the hands of antiquarians and
others, I conclude that the above estimates are too small. It
will be remembered that the amount of bills in circulation
(those of 1780) at the close of the war was never ascertained
with any certainty. Perhaps the number still remaining in
the hands of the people is much swelled by undetected coun-
terfeits. Since the last statement by the Comptroller, some of
the bills have been redeemed under the resolution of 1811,
which, as I understand it, is still in force. £0 : 10 : 0 ($31.67)
in bills emitted before 1780, were registered in favor of C. A.
Lay, Williamsburg, N. Y., February eighteenth, 1853. Soon
after, (April twenty-eighth, 1853,) one bill of forty shillings,
($6.67,) dated June first, 1775, was registered in the name of
J. P. C. Mather, of New London, then Secretary of State. These
amounts are understood to have been paid in full, without the
authority of law; for the resolution of 1811 required that bills
of credit, &c., should be redeemed " according to the provisions
heretofore made for the payment of registered debt," &c. The
law of 1794 declared that the bills emitted before 1780 should
be discharged at the rate of forty for one; while the resolution of
1800 provided that the holders of state notes, interest certifi-
cates, pay-table orders, and bills of credit of 1780, should "re-
ceive in specie at the rate of fourteen shillings on the pound."
In an elaborate report dated December thirteenth, 17i^0,
Hamilton set forth the advantages of a national bank, and
proposed a plan. His project met with a vigorous opposition
in the House of Representatives, but was finally adopted. An
act to incorporate the Bank of the United States M-as approved
February twenty-fifth, 1791. It was to have an allowed cap-
ital of $10,000,000, in shares of $400 each, payable, one-quarter
in gold and silver, and three-quarters in six per cent, interest-
paying stock of the United States. When $400,000, in specie,
had been paid in, it could go into operation. It might own,

192 CONNECTICUT CUKRENCY, ETC.

'^O

in property of all kinds, inclusive of its capital, $15,000,000,
and might Iiave an indebtedness, exclusive of its deposits, not
exceeding $10,000,000. The cor2)oration was forbidden to loan
to the United States more than $100,000, or to any individual
state more than $50,000. Nor was it permitted to lend to any
foreign prince or state. It was designed to be the fiscal agent
of the government, and its bills were receivable for all public
dues Up to the time of the expiration of its charter, (March
fourth, 1811,) and the winding up of its affairs, it was a well
managed and j)rosperous institution.

About the period the United States Bank was incorporated
and soon after, several state banks were authorized. At the
May session of the Assembly of Connecticut, in 1T92, the
Hartford Bank was chartered with a capital of $100,000, which
might be increased to $500,000, divided into shares of $400
each. No more than three-fourths of the directors, exclusive
of the i:)resident, were " eligible as directors the next succeed-
ing year." The Bank could " not trade in anything except
bills of exchange, gold or silver bullion, or in the sale of goods
for money lent." Nor could its " bills or notes," which must
be payable on demand, amount to more than fifty per cent, of
its capital stock and deposits. The State reserved the right to
subscribe, at any time within one year, for thirty shares. The
charter was not limited as to time, nor was any restriction im-
posed as to the rate of interest. At the same session, the
Union Bank of New London was incorporated with a capital
of $50,000, (which might be augmented to $500,000,) to be
divided into one hundred dollar shares. At the next session
of the Legislature in October, the New Haven Bank, the third
bank in the state, was chartered. Its capital was $100,000,
and its shares one hundred dollars each. In the matter of
voting, there Avas, as in the case of the Hartford Bank and the
Union Bank of New London, and of others chartered subse-
quently, a discrimination in favor of the small share-holders.
In October, 1795, the Middletown Bank was incorporated, and
in May, 1796, the Norwich Bank, each with a proviso that the
act creating it might be altered or repealed at the pleasure of
the Assembly. These were all the banks which were in exist-
ence in this State, at the close of the century.

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Full text of "A historical account of Connecticut currency, continental money, and the finances of the revolution"

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