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Full text of "A history of three of the judges of King Charles I. Major-General Whalley, Major-General Goffe, and Colonel Dixwell: who, at the restoration, 1660, fled to America; and were secreted and concealed, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, for near thirty years"

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frefident  of  Yale  College- 


A 

HISTORY 

OF    THREE    OF    THE 

JUDGES 

OF 

King  Charles  L 


Major-General  WHALLEY,    Major-Gene= 
RAL  GOFFE,  and  Colonel  DIXWELL  : 

WhO|  at   the  Restoration,  1660,  Fled  to  America; 

AND  WSr.E  secreted  AND  CONCEALED,  IN 

Massachusetts  and  Connecticut, 

FOU    NEAR   thirty     YEARS. 

WITH     AN    A  C  C  O  U  N  T     O  F 

Mr.  Theopiiilus  Whale,  of  Narraganfett, 

Siippojed  to  have  hem  alfo  one  of  the  Judges, 

By   president  stiles. 


They  tvandered  about — being  dcfit:ute,  ajp/iFredj  tormented— thry  loander^ 
-ed'in  deferts,  and  in  mountains^  and  indens  and  cava  of  the  earth, 

— Ofiuhom  the  world  ivas  not  tvorthy. —m-mm. 

Be  nat  forgetful  to  entertain  fir  angen-:   for  thereby  fo^ne  ha've  entertained 
Angeh  mazvares.         llih.  xi.  and  xiii. 


HArvTFOP.D:  PRINTED  ?.y  ELISIIA  BABCOCK, 
1794. 


TO 

ALL    THE     PATRONS     OF 

RIAL,    PERFECT,    AND     UNPOLLUTED     LIBERT  Vy 

CIVIL    AND     RELIGIOUS, 

THROUGHOUT     THE     WORLD; 

THIS     HISTORY 

OF  THREE    OF     ITS   MOST    ILLUSTRIOUS  AND  HEROIC, 

BUT     UNFORTUNATE     DEFENDERS, 

IS     HUMBLY     SUBMITTED, 

AND     DEDICATED, 

BY    A    HITHERTO     UNCORRUPTED     FRIEND 

TO     UNIVERSAL     LIBERTY, 

EZRA  STILES, 

Yale  College, 


fALE  College,       > 
i/tv,  zo,  1793.        J 


CONTENTS, 


CHAP.  r. 

Memoirs  of  the  two  Judges,  W  H  A  L  L  E  Y  and  G  o  F  f  E;, 
before  their  Exile, 

CHAP.  n. 

Their  Exile,  and  living  together  in  their  various  Lodg- 
ments,, and  Pilgrimages  in  New-England,  until  their 
death, 

CHAP.  HI. 

Memoirs  of  Q(A.  Dixwell,  his  Death  and  Sepulture, 
at  New- Haven, 

CHAP.  IV. 

Inquiry  into  the  Surmife  that  Whallc-y  and  GolTe  aljo 
lie  buried  in  New-Haven. 

CHAP.  V. 

fufiif cation  of  the  Judges  ;  with  RefleBions  on  the 
Englijh  Policy, 

CHAP.  VI. 
On  Mr,  Theophilus  Whale,    of  Narraganfett. 


HISTORY 

OF  THREE  OF  THE  JUDGES 
OF  KING    CHARLES    I. 

WHO,  ESCAPING  ROYAL  VENGEANCE,  FOUND  Alt 
ASYLUM  IN  NEW-ENGLAND,  AND  PARTICULARLY 
IN    CONNECTICUT., 

CHAP.     I. 
Of  the  Three  yudgcs  Jeparaiely^  and  before  their  Exile » 

OF  about  one  hundred  2nd  thirty  Judges,  appoint- 
ed in  the  original  comniiilion,  by  the  commons' 
Houfe  of  Parhament,  for  the  tryal  of  King  Charles  I. 
only  feventy-four  fat,  and  of  thefe,  fixty-feven  were 
prefent  at  the  lail  fetiion,  and  were  unanimous  in  pafl- 
ing  the  definitive  fentence  upon  the  King  ;  and  fifty- 
nine  figned  the  warrant  for  his  execution,  1649.  Of 
thefe  fifty-nine,  about  one-third,  or  twenty-four,  were 
dead  at  the  Reftoration,  1660.  Twenty-l'even  perfons> 
Judges  and  others,  v/ere  then  taken,  tried  and  con- 
demned ;  fome  of  which  were  pardoned,  and  nine  of 
the  Judges,  and  five  others,  as  accomplices,  were  ex- 
ecuted. Only  fixteen  j  uoges  fled,  and  finally  efcaped  : 
three  of  whom,  Major-General  Edward  Whal- 
LEY,  Major-General  William  Go  FFE,  and  Colonel 
John  Dix WELL,  lied  and  fecreted  themfelves  in  New- 
England,  and  died  here.  One  of  the  Judges  pilloied 
■himfelf  in  Holland,  another  fled  to  Laufanna,  and  was 


2  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

aflaffinated  there  :  what  became  of  the  reft  is  to  me  un- 
known, and  perhaps  is  yet  in  undete6i:ed  oblivion.  I 
am  to  write  the  hiftory  of  thofe  three  only,  who  fled  to 
America  and  died  here.  Thefe  came  to  New-Eng- 
land, and  found  a  friendly  afylum  and  concealment  in 
Maifachufetts  and  Connefticut  :  and  Col.  Dixwell  lies 
buried  in  New-FIaven.  I  (hall  colle61:  and  digeft  the- 
memoirs  of  thefe  three  Judges  ;  whofe  hiftory  being 
partly  combined,  and  partly  difconnecled,  may  fome- 
times  involve  repetitions. 

The  rera  is  now  a;rived,  when  tribunals  for  the  trial 
of  delinquent  ?vlajefty,  of  Kings  and  Sovereign  Rulers, 
will  be  provided  for,  in  the  future  policies  and  confti- 
lutions  of  Sovereignties,  Empires  and  Republics  :  when 
this  heroic  and  high  example  of  doing  juftice  to  crimi- 
nal Royalty,  of  the  adjudication  of  a  King,  will  be  re- 
curred to  and  contemplated  with  juftice  and  impartiality. 
And  however  it  has  been  overwhelmed  with  infamy  for 
a  century  and  a  half,  will  hereafter  be  approved,  admired 
and  imitated  ;  and  the  memoirs  of  thefe  fuftering  exiles 
will  be  immortahzed  with  honor. 

A  full  account  of  them  cannot  yet  be  colle6^ed,  as 
part  of  their  hiftory  hes  ftill  concealed  on  the  other  fide 
of  the  Atlantic.  But  although  time  and  future  refearch- 
€3  may  amplify  the  information  concerning  them,  it  is 
however  prefumed  fo  much  may  be  now  colledlcd,  as 
may  enable  pofterity  and  the  world  to  forma  juft  and 
true  idea  and  eftimate  of  the  principles,  defigns  and 
charaders  of  thefe  illuiirious  Worthies. 

General  Whalley. 
"  The  Whalleys  are  of  great  antiquity,"  favs  the 
Reverend  Mark  Noble,  in  his  mem.oirs  of  the  family 
of  Cromwell.  The  General  defcended  from  the 
family  of  Whalley,  which  figured  in  England  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  the  ftxth.  Richard  Whalley,  Efq.  of 
Kirkton,  in  the  county  of  Nottingham,  was  a  man  of 
great  opulence  j  a  member  of  parliameat  for  Scarbo- 


OF    KIN©    CHARLES     I.  J^ 

?©i]gh,  I  Edward  VI.  He  died  1583,  aged  84.  His 
cldeft  fon  and  heir,  Thomas  Whalley,  Efq.  by  his  wife 
Elizabeth,  had  feveral  children ;  and  among  others, 
firft,  R.ichard,  who  married  the  Prote6lor  Oliver  Crom- 
well's Aunt.  Second,  Walter  Whalley,  d.  d.  educa- 
ted at  Pembroke- Hall.  Third,  Thomas,  educated  in 
Trinity  College,  both  of  Cam.bridge.  Richard  Whal- 
ley, Efq.  uncie  to  the  Protedlor,  fucceeded  his  grand- 
father, of  his  name.  He  was  a  m.ember  of  Parliament, 
43.  Eliz.  Pie  had  three  wives  :  His  fecond  was  Fran- 
ces, daughter  of  Sir  Henry  Cromwell,  Hinckinbrooke, 
Knight,  grandfather  of  the  Prote6lor,  Oliver.  He  had 
ifTue  only  by  the  fecond,  the  Protestor's  aunt,  who 
were,  Thomas,  Edward,  one  of  King  Charles'  I. 
Judges,  and  Henry,  the  Judge  Advocate.  It  is  Ed- 
ward, the  fecond  fon  of  Richard  by  Frances,  aunt  to- 
Gliver  Cromwell,  of  whom  I  am  now  writing. 

Edward  Whalley,  Efq.  the  Judge,  being  a 
fecond  fon,  **  was  brought  up  to  merchandize.  Nofoon- 
er  did  the  contefl  between  King  Charles  and  his  Parlia- 
ment blaze  out,  than  he  (though  in  the  middle  age  of 
life)  took  up  arms  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  the 
fubje6l  :  and  this  in  oppofition  to  the  fentiments  of  his 
neareft  relations.  Probably  his  religious  opinions  de- 
termined him  as  much  or  more  than  any  other  confi- 
deration.  And  though  the  ufage  of  arms  muft  be  new 
to  him,  yet  he  early  diftinguidied  himfelf  in  the  parlia- 
ment fervice,  in  many  fieges  and  battles  ;  but  in  none 
more  than  in  the  battle  of  Naifby,  in  1645  ;  in  which 
he  charged  and  entirely  defeated  two  divifions  of  Lang- 
dale's  horfe,  though  fupported  by  Prince  Rupert^  who 
commanded  the  referve  :  for  which  Parliament,  Janu- 
ary 21,  1645 — 6,  voted  him  to  be  a  Colonel  of  Horfe  ; 
and  May  9,  the  following  year,  they  gave  him  the 
thanks  of  the  houfe,  and  /loo.  to  purchafe  two  horfes, 
for  his  brilliant  action  at  Banbury,  which  he  took  by 
ftorm ;  and  afterwards  marched  to  Worcefter  j  whick 
city  furr.endered  to  him  July  23,  following." 


10  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

"  Feb.  3,  1747,  the  Commons  granted  him  for  his 
arrears,  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  years  purchafe,  the  manor 
of  Flavvborough,  part  of  the  eftate  of  the  Marquis  of 
Newcadle,  the  annual  rent  of  which  was  ^400."* 
This  was  redeeming  part  of  his  father's  eftate  purchafed 
by  the  Marquis  for  a  fmall  part  of  its  value. 

"  Cromwell  confided  fo  much  in  him,  that  he  com- 
mitted the  perfon  of  the  King  to  his  care.  The  loyal- 
ifts  have  charged  him  with  feverity  to  his  royal  prifon- 
er ;  but  the  monarch  himfelf,  in  a  letter  he  left  behind 
him,  when  he  made  his  efcape,  fully  exculpates  him 
from  that  charge." 

He  was  one  of  the  commillioners  appointed  and  au- 
thorifed  by  Parliament,  as  the  High  Court  of  Juftice, 
and  fat  in  that  auguil  and  awful  Tribunal,  to  which 
Majefty  was  rendered  amenable,  and  which  had  the 
intrepidity  and  fortitude  topafs  judgment  on  the  life  of 
a  King  ;  one  of  whofe  judges  he  thus  was,  and  the 
warrant  for  whofe  execution  he  figned. 

At  the  battle  of  Dunbar,  September  3,  1650,  he, 
with  Monk,  commanded  the  foot,  and  greatly  contri- 
buted to  the  complete  defeat  of  the  Scotch  army.— 
**  Cromwell  left  him  in  Scotland  with  the  rank  of  Com- 
milTary-General,  and  gave  him  the  command  of  four 
regiments  of  horfe,  with  which  he  performed  many 
actions,  that  gained  him  great  honor." 

He  continued  a  fteady  friend  to  his  coufm  Oliver, 
after  he  had  raifed  himfelf  to  the  fovereignty  ;  and  was 
entrufted  by  him  with  the  government  of  the  counties 
of  Lincoln,  Nottingham,  Derby,  Warwick,  and  Lei- 
cefter,  by  the  name  of  jU^fj or- General.  He  was  one 
of  the  Reprcfentatives  of  Nottinghamfliire,  in  the  Par- 
liament held  in  1654  and  1656.  The  Protedtor  made 
him  CommiiTary-General  for  Scotland,  and  called  him 
up  to  his  other  Houfe. 
*  NobUy  V,  I.  X7g., 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  II 

*'  He  was  looked  upon  with  jealoufy  by  Parliament 
after  the  refignation  of  Richard  the  Protedor,  efpecial- 
ly  as  he  leaned  fo  much  to  the  interefts  of  the  army. 
For  this  reafon  they  took  from  him  his  Commiffion. — . 
This  ftill  endeared  him  the  more  to  the  army,  who 
when  Monk's  condu6l  began  to  be  problematical,  de- 
puted him  one  of  their  commiffioners  to  agree  to  terms 
f)f  peace  and  amity  with  that  in  Scotland.  But  Monk, 
who  knew  his  hatred  to  the  royal  family,  and  how  much 
jeafon  he  had  to  dr^ad  their  return,  abfoiutely  refufed 
to  treat  with  him." 

**  The  Reftoration  of  monarchy  foon  after  becom- 
ing vifible,  he  faw  the  danger  of  the  fituation.  For 
befides  the  lofs  of  the  eilate  he  polfeffed  of  tlie  Duke  of 
Newcaftle,  and  the  manors  of  Weil- Walton  and  1  or- 
rington,  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  part  of  Qiieen  Hen- 
rietta Maria's  jointure,  which  he  had  purchafed,  and 
whatever  elfe  eilate  he  had,  he  knev/  even  his  life  would 
be  offered  up  to  the  flirine  of  the  King,  whom  he  had 
condemned  to  death  :  he  therefore  prudently  retired.— 
Septemiber  22,  1660,  a  proclamation  was  pubiifhed, 
fetting  forth,  that  he  had  left  the  kingdom,  but  as  there 
was  great  reafon  to  fuppofe  he  was  returned,  ^^ico.  was 
offered  to  any  who  fliould  difcover  him  in  any  of  the 
Britifh  dominions,  and  cauie  him  to  be  brought  in 
alive,  or  dead,  if  he  made  any  refiilance.  Colonel 
GofFe  was  included  in  this  proclamation/'t 

Here  the  European  hiftorians  are  loft.  They  repre- 
fent  that  thefe  two  exiles  efcaped  to  the  continent,  and 
were  at  Lucerne,  in  Switzerland,  in  1664  ;  ■v'vhere 
fome  fay  that  they  died  ;  others,  that  leaving  that  place, 
they  privately  wandered  about  for  fom.e  years,  and  died 
in  a  foreign  clim^e,  but  when  or  where  unknown.  But 
truely  their  remaining  hiftory,  after  they  left  England, 
i66o,  is  to  be  traced  only  in  America. 
-}-  NdJe.  p.  184. 


'12  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Mr.  Noble  gives  this  chara6]:er  of  General  Whalley  : 
"**  His  valor  and  military  knowledge  were  confeiredly 
great ;  his  religious  fentiments  wild  and  enthufiaftic. 
From  a  merchant's  counter  to  rife  to  fo  many  and  fo 
high  ofiices  in  the  ftate,  and  to  condiid  himfelf  with 
propriety  in  tliem,  fufficiently  evinces  that  he  had  good 
abilities :  nor  is  his  honelly  queltioned  by  any,  which> 
as  one  of  the  King's  Judges,  and  a  Major-General> 
would  lay  him  open  to  a  very  narrow  fcrutiny." 

General  Edward  Whalley  married  the  fifter  of  Sir 
George  Middleton,  Knight,  who  was  as  great  an  ene- 
.my  to  King  Charles  I.  as  he  was  a  friend  to  King 
•Charles  II.  ^'  By  her  he  had  feveral  children,  and  one 
born  fo  late  as  1656.  What  became  of  them  is 
unknown,  except  John,  his  elded:  fon  and  heir,  who 
was  a  cornet  of  horfe,  and  who  was  returned  member 
of  Parhament  for  the  town  of  Nottingham,  1658 — 9, 
and  alfo  for  the  borough  of  Shorcham.  He  married 
the  daughter  of  Sir  Herbert  Springer,  Knight,  by 
whom  he  had  Herbert  Whalley,  Efq.  his  eldeif  fon. 
and  heir  ;  who,  though  King  Charles  II.  granted  tlie 
manor,  the  Parliament  had  given  to  the  Major-Gene- 
ral,  once  belonging  to  the  Earl,  then  Marquis,  then 
Duke  of  NewcaiUe,  with  all  the  reil  of  his  own  lands, 
forfeited  to  the  Crown  by  any  of  the  purchafers,  yet 
this  Herbert  Whalley,  Efq.  was,  1672,  in  polTeiTion 
offome  of  the  paternal  inheritance  of  the  Whalley's 
which  had  been  purchafed  by  his  Grace's  anceftors 
from  them,  but  by  mortgage  which  the  Duke,  when 
Earl,  made  to  Sir  Arnold  Waring  fome  years  before, 
through  aflignments  or  heii-(hips,  became  veiled  in  this 
Herbert." 

Of  Whalley's  children.  Noble  knew  none  but  John. 
But  he  had  a  daughter  who  was  married  to  (jeneral 
Goffc  ;  whom  GotFe  left  in  England,  and  with  wdioni 
he  kept  ud  a  eonftant  correfpondence,  by  the  name  of 
Mother  Goldimith,  wliile  in  exile  in  New-England. 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  I3 

The  iafl  of  his  letters  to  her  was  dated  at  Iladley,  1679. 
Goffe  had  feveral  children  by  her,  whom  he  left  m 
England. 

Henry  Whalley,  brother  of  the  Major-General,  is 
faid  to  have  been  an  Alderman  of  London.  From  the 
regard  his  confm  Henry  Cromwell,  Lord- Deputy,  had 
for  him,  he  was  promoted  to  the  oilice  of  Judge- Ad- 
vocate of  the  armies  of  England  and  Scotland  before 
1655.  Fie  continued  in  Scctlanrl  during  the  remainder 
of  the  prote6lorate  of  Oliver  ;  and  in  1656,  reprefentei 
the  Sheriifdom  of  Selkirk  and  Peebles  in  the  Britifli 
Parliament  :  and  was  one  of  thofe  who  figned  the  or- 
der for  proclaiming  his  coufin  Richard,  Lord  Protedlor. 

In  verification  of  Noble's  account  of  the  family  and 
connections  of  Whalley,  I  add  an  extra6l  from  the 
Fajlj  Oxonienfes^  P.  90.  **  Oliver  Cromwell  had  feve- 
ral uncles,  whofe  defcendants  taking  not  part  with  him, 
only  one  or  two,  they  v/ere  not  preferred  by  him.  Fie 
had  alfo  five  aunts,  tiie  eideft  of  which,  named  Joane^ 
was  married  to  Francis  Barrington,  whofe  fon  Robert 
was  countenanced  by  Oliver.  The  fecond  named. 
Elizabeth,  was  wife  of  John  Hamden,  of  Hamdea 
in  Bucks,  father  of  John  Hamden,  one  of  the  five 
members  of  Parliament,  excepted  againftby  Charles  I. . 
and  a  Colonel  for  the  Parliament  in  the  beginning  of 
the  rcbeUion.  Which  John  lolt  his  life  in  their  fervicc 
in  June  1643.  By  this  match  Oliver  Cromwell  came 
to  be  related  to  the  Ingoldefbies,  and  Goodvnns,  of 
Bucks.  The  third,  named  Frances,  was  the  fecond 
wife  of  Richard  Whalley,  of  Kirton,  in  Nottingham- 
shire, father  to  Edward  Whalley,  a  Colonel  in  the 
Parliament  army,  one  of  the  King's  Judges,  Commif- 
fary-General  in  Scotland,  oneoi  Oliver's  Lords,  and  a 
Mijor-General.  He  tied  from  juflice  upon  the  ap- 
proach of  the  return  of  King  Charles  II.  and  lived  and 
died  m  a  Itrange  land.  " 

The  heroic  acls  2nd  atchievementsof  Gen.  Whalley 
B 


14         HISTORY    OF    THREE    OP    THE    JUDGES 

are  to  be  found  in  all  the  hlftories  of  thofe  times,  in  th4 
records  of  Parliament,  and  the  other  original  memoirs 
of  Whitlock,  Wellwood,  Rulliworth,  and  the  perio- 
dical publications  of  that  day,  now  before  me.  From 
?J1  which  it  appears,  that  he  was  a  man  of  true  and 
real  greatnefs  of  mind,  and  of  abilities  equal  to  any  en- 
terprize,  and  to  the  higheft  councils  of  the  ftate,  civil, 
political,  and  military  :  that  he  was  a  very  adive  cha- 
radler  in  the  national  events,  for  twenty  years  in  the 
great  period  from  1640  to  1660.  He  was  a  man  of 
religion.  It  has  been  the  manner  of  all  the  court  hifto- 
rians,  ever  fmce  the  licentious  sera  of  Charles  II.  to 
confound  all  the  chara6lers  of  religion  with  the  Irration- 
al and  extravagant  fanaticifm  of  that  day,  and  of  every 
age.  But  candour  ought  to  confefs,  at  leaft  to  believe, 
and  even  to  know,  that  in  the  caufe  of  liberty,  in  the 
Par-liamentary  caufe,  while  there  were  many  mad  en- 
thufiafts  both  in  religion  and  politics,  the  great  and 
noble  tranfaclions  of  that  day,  fhow  there  was  alfo 
great  wifdom,  great  abilities,  great  generalihip,  great 
learning,  great  knowledge  of  law  and  juftice,  great 
integrity,  and  rational  fmcere  religion,  to  be  found 
converfant  among  the  moit  vigorous  and  a6tive  charac- 
ters of  that  sera.  Am.ong  thele  Whalley  ought  to 
be  ranked  ;  and  to  be  confidered  as  a  man  of  firmnefs 
in  a  good  caufe,  and  like  Daniel  at  the  Court  of  Per- 
lia,  of  a  religion  of  which  he  was  not  afhamed  ;  of  an 
open,  but  unoilentatious  zeal,  of  real  rational  and  man- 
ly virtue,  a  determined  fervant  and  worlliipper  of  the 
moft  high  God  ;  of  exemplary  holinefs  of  life  ;  of  fer-_ 
vent  indeed,  but  fmcere  and  undiffembled  piety.  The 
commiirionersof  Nottinghamlliire  give  this  teitlmony  :--■ . 
*'  They  think  themfelvcs  happy  in  liaving  a  perfon  of  •■ 
fo  high  merit  fent  down  to  them  as  Major-General-' 
Whalley,  who  is  their  native  countryman,  a  gentle- 
man oi  an  honorable  family,  and  of  fmgular  jultice, 
ability,  and  piety. '"'t 

Jl'Isre,  Pc/if,  Jcin,   17,  1663. 


of  king  charles    i.  i5 

General  Goffe. 
William  Goffe,  Efq.  was  a  fon  of  the  reverend  Ste- 
phen GofFe,  a  Puritan  Divine,  Re6lor  of  Stanmer,  in 
SulTex.  He  hved  with  Mr.  Vaughan,  a  dry  falter  in 
London,  a  great  partizan  of  the  Parliament,  and  a 
zealous  Prefbyterian.  Difliking  trade,  and  the  war 
opening,  he  repaired  to  the  parliament  army  ;  where 
his  merit  raifed  him  to  be  a  Qiurtei-Maflcr,  and  then 
a  Colonel  of  foot,  and  afterwards  a  General.  Pie  was 
a  member  of  Parliament  ;  and  one  of  thofe  who  took 
up  accufation  againll  the  eleven  members,  and  who 
fentenced  the  King,  and  figned  the  warrant  for  his 
execution.  He  rendered  the  Prote£lor  great  fervice, 
in  allifting  Colonel  White  in  purging  the  parliament. 
For  this  and  his  other  fervices  he  received  Lambert's  pofl 
of  Major-General  of  foot.  Pie  was  returned  for  Great 
Yarmouth  in  the  Parliament  of  1654;  and  for  the 
county  of  Southampton  in  1656.  Lad  of  all  he  was 
called  lip  into  the  Prote6lor's  Houfe  of  Lords.  He 
was  grateful  to  the  Cromwell  intered,  and  figncd  the 
order  for  proclaiming  the  Proteclor  Richard.  This  at- 
tachment made  him  to  be  regarded  by  the  Parliament, 
as  well  as  army,  vv^ith  jealoufy,  after  they  began  to  b® 
difpofed  to  a  return  of  monarchy.  And  Monk,  who 
knew  he  v/as  an  enemy  to  the  Kmg's  return,  refufed 
to  admit  him  to  treat  with  him,  though  fent  by  the 
Englifh  army.  At  the  Refloration  he  left  the  kingdom 
with  Whalley,  whofe  daughter  he  married,  and  cams 
with  him  to  Bofldn  in  New-England,   1660. 

There  happened  a  remarkable  diverltty  of  religious 
fentiments  in  the  family  of  GofFe.  The  father,  the  re- 
verend Stephen  GoiFe  was  a  ferious,  pious  and  learned 
Puritan  Divine  ;  and  paid  great  attention  to  the  educa- 
tion of  his  children.  He  gave  an  univerfity  education 
to  two  of  his  fons,  John  and  Stephen  :  and  although  his 
fon  William  was  not  liberally  or  academically  educated, 
yet  fuch  were  his  abilities,  and  fo  well  were  they  cul- 
Vvated  and  improved  by  reading,  obfervation  and  con- 


l6  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    TKE    JUDGES 

verfe  witfe  fcientific  fubjeiSls,  and  the  great  variety  of 
jiterary  life,  that  the  Univerfiiy  of  Oxford  conferred 
upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Maiter  of  Arts.  In 
religion  and  piety  he  was  very  fimiiar  to  his  father-in- 
]aw,  Whailey.  Indeed,  both  GofFe  and  W hall ey  were 
cxa6c]y  of  the  fame  rehgious  fentiments  witli  that  emi- 
rjent  Puritan  Divine,  Dr.  Owens,  Vice-Chancellor  of 
tht  Univerfity  of  Oxford,  who  was  a  Congregationahft. 
The  Poedobaptiil:  part  of  the  diifenting  intereilin  Eng- 
land, was  unhappily  divided  into  PreAjyterians  and 
Congregationalifis,  both  unanimoufly  agreeing  in  doc- 
trines, and  differing  only  on  forms  of  church  govern- 
ment, and  yet  generally  very  amicably  differing,  as 
knowing  they  were  harmonioufiy  agreed  in  ail  the 
greai",  eiiential,  and  mod  important  things  in  religion, 
if  any  thing,  tjie  Independents,  or  Congiegationaliiis, 
were  then  the  rnod  catholic  and  fraternal  of  the  two.  Oli- 
ver Cromwell,  and  thefe  two  Judges,  were  Congregation- 
alifts.  While  General  Gofie's  father  v/as  a  Puritan,  his 
brother  John  was  a  clergyman  of  the  eftabliilied  cliurch  : 
his  brother  Stephen  became  agent  for  Charles  II.  in 
Prance,  Flanders,  and  liolland,.  turned  Roman  Ca- 
thoii:,  and  became  a  prieii:  amxong  the  Oralorians  in 
Pari?,  and  afterwards  a  chaplain  to  Qi^ieen  Henrietta 
Maria  1  wliile  William  himfelf  was  tlie  pious  Congre- 
gational Puritan,  exa6lly  agreeing  in  religious  fenti- 
ments with  the  firfl:  fettlcrs  of  Eollon  and  New-Haven. 

I  fubjoin  feme  extradls  from  the  Fcy^i  Oxonienfes. 
Page  79. 

*'  May  19.  Colonel  William  Goffe,  was  then  alfo 
prefc-nted  by  Zanchy,  and  created  M.  A.  He  was 
the  Con  of  Stephen  GofFe,  E.ecl.or  oi  Stanmore  in  Suifex, 
and  younger  brother  to  John  Goffe,  mentioned  among 
the  vjnXQvSyAn.  1661,  and  to  Stephen  Goffe,  mentioned 
in  the  FaRi,  An.  16-^6.  Whi^le  this  William  was  a 
youth,  andavcrfe  to  ail  kind  of  learning,  he  v/as  bound 
ap  apprentice  to  one  Vaughan,  a  falter  in  London, 
Wrotlicrto  Cdoncl  fofcph  Vaughan,  a  Parliamentarian, 


CF    KING    CHARLES      I.   ~  '  I7 

and  a  zealous  Prefbyterian  ;  whofe  time  being  near, 
or  newly  out,  he  betook  himfelf  to  be  a  foldier  for  the 
righteous  caufe,  inftead  of  fetting  up  his    trade,  went 
out  a  Qiiarter-Mader  of  Foot,  and  continued  in  the 
wars  till  he  forgot  what  he  had  fought  for.     At  length, 
through  feveral  military  grades,  he  became  a  Colonel, 
a   frequent   prayer  maker,    preacher,    and  prelTer  for 
righteoufnefs   and   freedom,    which   in  outward  fhew, 
was    exprelfed    very  zealoufly,    and  therefore  in  high 
efteem  in  the  Parliament  army.     In  1648,   he  was  one 
of  the   Judges  of  King  Charles  I.    fate  in  judgment 
when  he  was  brought  before  the  High  Court  of  Juftice, 
flood  up  as   confenting  when  fentence  paffed  upon  him 
for  his  decollation,  and   afterwards  fet    his   hand   and 
fealto  the  warrant  for  his  er-cecution.     Afterwards,  hav- 
ing, like  his  General   (Cromwellj   an  evil  tincture  of 
that  fpirit  that  loved  and  fought  after  the  favor  and  praife 
of  man,  more  than  that   of  God,  as  by  woful  experi- 
ence in  both    of  them    it  did    afterv/ards    appear,  he 
could  not  further   believe,  or   perfevere  upon   that  ac- 
count, by  degrees  fell  oiF  from   the  anti-monarchical 
principles  of  the  cheif  part  of  the  army,  and  was  the 
man,    with   Colonel  William    White,^    vv^ho   brought 
Mufqueteers,  and  turned  out  the  Anabaptiftical  mem- 
bers that  were  left  behind  of  \.\\Q  Little,  or   Bareb one's 
Parliament,  out  of  the  houfe.  An.  1654.      Complying 
thus  kindly  with  the  defign  and  intereft  of  the  faid  Ge- 
neral, he  was   by  him,  when  made   Prote6lor,  confti- 
tuted  Major- General  of  Hampfhire,  Sulfex  and  Berks, 
a  place  of  great  profit,  and   afterwards  was  of  one,  if 
not  of  two  Parliaments  ;  did  advance  his  interefi:  great- 
ly, and  was  in  fo   great  efteem  and  favor  in  OlivePj^ 
Court,  that  he  was  judged   the  only  fit   man    to   have" 
Mjjor-General  John  Lambert's  place  and  command, 
as  Major-Gencral  of  the  army  of  foot,  and  by  fome  to 
hsve  the  Protedlor Hi ip  fettled  on  him,  in   futUiC  time. 
He  biingthnsmade  fo  confiderable  a  perfon,  was  taken 
out  of  the  Houfe  to  be  a  Lord,  and  to  have  a  negative 
B  a 


l8  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OP    THE    JUDGES 

voice  III  the  other  Houfe,  and  the  rather  for  this  raafon,  ~ 
that  he  never  in  all  his  life  (as  he  ufed  to  fay)  fought 
aa;ain't  any  fuch  thing  as  a  finsjle  perfon,  or  a  negative 
voice,  but  "only  to  pull  down  Charles  and  fet  up  Oliver, 
&c.  in  which  he  obtained  his  end.  In  1660,  a  little 
before  the  reiloration  of  King  Charles  II.  he  betook 
himfelf  to  his  heels  to  fave  his  neck,  without  any  re- 
gard had  to  his  Majefty's  proclamation,  wandered 
about,  fearing  every  one  that  he  met  fhould  flay  him  ; 
and  v/as  living  at  Laufanna  in  1664,  with  Edmond 
Ludlow,  Edward  Whalley,  and  other  regicide^,  when 
|ohn  L'ifie,  another  of  that  number,  was  there  by  cer- 
tain generous  royalifts  difpatched.  He  afterwards  lived 
feveral  years  in  vagabonfliip,  but  when  he  died,  or 
where  his  carcafs  was  lodged,  is  as  yet  unknown  to  mc." 

The  follov/ing  is  extrafled  from  Athene  Oxoniciyes, 
"Page  261. 

^'  John  Goughe,  commonly  called  GofFe,  fon  of  the 
Reclor  of  S^anmer,  in  Sufifex,  was  born"  in  that  coun- 
ty, began  to  be  converfant  w^ith  the  Mufes  in  Mertoii 
Colleg'e,  An.  1624 ;  made  Demi  of  that  of  S.   Mar. 
Magd.   1627,  aged  feventeen   years,  or  more,  Perpe- 
tual Fellow  29  July,  1630,    being  then   Bachelor   of 
Arts.    Afterwards  proceeding  in  that  faculty,  he  enter- 
i'A  into  orders,  and  became  a  preacher  in  theie  parts. 
In    1642,  September   26,  he    was   induced  into  the 
Vicarac-e   of  Hackingtcn,   alias  S.   Stephen,    near  to 
the  city  of  Canterbury,  in  the  .place  of  Jam.es  Hirft, 
deceafed.     From  whence  being  eje£led  foon  after  for 
refuiing  the  covenant,  was,  with  other  loyal  clergymen, 
call  into  the  county  prifon  in  S.  Dundan's  parifli,  in 
the  fiiburbs  of  the  fa  id  city.     In  1652,  he,  by  the  en- 
deavors of  his  brother  William,  whom  I   fliall  anon 
mention,    was  inducted   into  the  Reilory  of  Norton, 
near  Sittingbourne,   in  Kent,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of 
March,  and  in  the  year  1660,  he  being  reflored  to  the 
Vicarage  of  S.  Stephen,  was  actually  created  Do6lar 


OF  KING  CHAIILES  I-  -^  ^  r  >..,  ,.,  ^% 
of  Divrmity  in  the  beginning  of  December  m  the  fame 
year,  and  indii6ted  again  according  to  the  ceremonies 
of  the  church  of  England,  into  the  Re  Story  of  Norton, 
on  the  fourth  of  Mirch  following,  which  were  all  the 
Spiritualities  he  enjoyed. 

**  He  hath  written  a  b3ok  entitled,  Excleftce  AngJU 
ean/e  Thresnodla  in  qua  perturbatijfimus  regni  dsf  ec- 
clefiiZ  ftatusy  fub  Anahaptifiica  tyrannide  lugetur,  Lon- 
don, 1661.  Ocf.  Alfo  a  large  Latin  Eptille  written 
to  D)6ljr  Edward  Simfon,  fet  before  a  book  written 
by  him,  entitled,  Chrohicon  Catholicum  &c.  London, 
1652.  Fol.  He  concluded  his  lad  day  in  the  parifh  of 
Norton  before  mentioned,  and  was  buried  in  the  chan- 
cel of  the  church  of  S.  Alphage  in  Canterbury,  on  the 
26th  day  of  November,  in  fixteen  hundred  lixty  and 
one.  This  perfon,  who  was  a  zealous  fon  of  the 
Church  of  England,  had  an  elder  brother  named  Ste- 
phen Goffe,  originally  of  Mert.  Coll.  afterwards  of 
S.  Alb.  Hall,  and  a  bigot  of  tlie  Church  of  Rome  ;  and 
another  brother  named  William,  whether  elder  or 
younger  I  knovv  not,  who  was  originally  a  trader  in 
London,  afterwards  a  Prefbyterian,  Independent,  one 
of  the  Judges  of  King  diaries  L  and  one  of  Ohver's 
Lords  ;  who,  to  fave  his  neck  from  the  gallows,  did, 
upon  a  forefight  of  the  King's  return,  1660,  leave  the 
nation,  and  died  obfcurely  in  a  (Irange  land.  The 
iiither  of  the  faid  GofFe,  was  Stephen  Goife,  fometime 
Bachelor  of  Arts  of  Magd.  College,  a  good  logician 
and  difputant,  but  a  very  i^v(tT(t  Puritan,  eminent  for 
his  training  up,  while  a  tutor,  feveral  that  proved  after- 
wards very  noted  fcholars  ;  among  whom  muft  not  be 
forgotten,  Robert  Harris,  D.  D.  fome  time  Prefident 
of  Trinity  College,  in  Oxon." 

Further  accounts  of  General  GofFe,  and  his  fnare  and 
aftivity  in  the  national  adminiftration,  efpecially  during 
the  ProtccSlorate,  are  to  be'  found  in  the  memoirs  and 
feiifories  of  thofe  times.     Thus  we  have  given  a  fum- 


40  RlSTOHr  OP    THREE    OP    THE  JUDGES 

mary  account  of  Gciieral  Whalley  and  General  Gaffe, 
the  parts  they  a6led  and  the  characters  they  fuftained  on 
the  European  theatre  of  Hfe,  and  antecedent  to  their 
coming  over  to  New-England.  And  certainly  they 
were  among  the  perfonages  of  the  firft  eminence  for 
great  and  nob^e  adions  in  their  day.  They  were  both 
of  Oliver's  Houfe  of  Lords  ;  and  when  we  confider  his 
fingular  penetration  and  fagacious  judgment  in  difcern- 
ing  characters,  and  the  abundance  of  great  and  merito- 
rious characters  ftrongly  attached  to  his  caufe,  from 
among  which  he  had  tofeledt  his  counfellors,  being  in 
no  neceffity  of  fele61ing  inferior  abilities,  the  prefump- 
tion  is  ftrong  and  juft,  that  in  themfelves  they  were 
very  diftinguiilied  and  meritorious  chai'acSters. 

They  had  moved  in  a  great  fphere  ;  they  h.ad  a6ted  in 
a  great  caufe,  which  might  have  been  carried  through, 
had  national  inftability  permitted  it.     But  Monk,  ever 
of  dubious  principles,  and  who  had  never  been  at  heart 
a  friend  to  the  caufe,  turning  up  at  the  head  of  the  army 
in  thecourfe  of  events  by  a  certain  cafualty  and  fatality  ; 
and  refolving  on  a  bold  llroke  for  the  abolition  of  this 
and  the  reltoration  of  the  former  government ;  and  at 
the  fame  time  the  nation,  unhappily  wearied  out  of  thc' 
convulfions  and  ftruggles  of  civil  war,  in  the  very  criti-^ 
cal  moment  of  the  parturition  of  empire,  when  indeed- 
had  they  been  fenfible  of  it  the  die  was  cait,  the  ditii- , 
culty  was  over,  and  the    pohcv  already  formed  ;    the 
nation,   I   fay,  becoming  prepared  for  a  revolution,  it 
•was  obvious  that  great  havock  vv'ould  be   made  among 
the  molt  diilinguilhed  and   si£live  characters,  and  that 
thefe  two  judges  muit  fall  among  the  reft.      It  is  very 
dangerous  and  unwife  to  truft  iupremacy  into  the  hands 
ot  thofe  who  are  not  cordial   in  a  great  caufe,  be  that ' 
caufe  juft  or  unjull:,  and  efpeciallyin  a  juil:  and  glori- 
ous caufe.     If  opportunity  prefents,  inftead  of  its  con- 
fervation  and  defeace,   it  will  certainly  be  betrayed  and 
given  up.      It  was  fo  by  Monk.     The   great  caufe  of 
libwtiy  was  lolt,  overwhelmed  and  gone.    The  Judi^eg 


■' '  ■  Of   KING   CHARxrs     n  21 

therefore  feeing  their  fate  inevitable,  found  it  neceffary 
to  efcape  from  England,  exile  themfelves  from  their 
native  counti-y,  and  evani Hi  into  oblivion.  Accordingly, 
feeing  the  complexion  of  Parliament,  and  that  the  Re- 
floration  was  in  effe6l  determined  and  fettled,  juft  be- 
fore it  a6lually  took  place,  they  fecretly  withdrew  them- 
felves, and  abdicated  into  New-England  in  1660  Here 
they  lived  fecreted  together  until  they  nniilied  life  :  and 
therefore  their  remaining  hiilory  mull  be  confidered  to- 
gether. 


CHAP.  II. 

Their  Ex  iky  and  living  together  in  their  various  Lodg- 
ments in  New-Englandy  to  their  death* 

I  Shall  now  proceed  to  the  Hiftory  of  the  two  Judges, 
in  their  exile  and  pilgrimages  after  their  arrival  to- 
gether in  New-England  :  and  trace  them  in  their  con- 
cealments at  New-Haven,  Milford,  Guilford  and  Had- 
ley,  to  the  lafl:  notices  of  them.  This  fiiall  be  arranged 
in  two  fedions.  r.  Their  hiftory  for  the  firft  eleven 
months  after  their  arrival,  while  they  appeared  publicly 
here  ;  and  efpecially  the  dangerous  period  of  the  two 
lall  months  of  their  public  appearance,  when  they.en- 
tirely  abdicated,  and  were  ever  after  totally  loft  from  all 
knowledge  of  the  public.  2.  Their  various  pilgrima- 
ges in  total  oblivion  and  concealment  from  the  public. 

Se6l>i.   The  firji  eleven  months  of  their  public  a-ppear- 
ance,  after  iljeir  arrival  at  BojUn, 

The  mod  authentic  account  is  taken  from  Goffe's 
journal  or  diary,  for  feven  vears  from  their  departure 
from  London,  1660,  to  1667.  It  confifted  of  feveral 
pocket  volumes  in  Goffe's  ov/n  hand  v/riting  \  received 


^2  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

from  the  RufTel  family,  and  preferved  in  Dr.  Cotton 
Mather's  library  in  Bofton.  The  Do6lor's  only  fon, 
Dr.  Samuel  Mather,  married  Governor  Hutchin- 
fon's  fifter  ;  by  which  means  the  Governor  obtained 
GofFe's  manufcript,  and  himfelf  llievved  me,  in  1766, 
one  of  thef:  little  manufcnpt  books  in  GofFe  's  own  hand. 
It  confided  of  ^^  leaves,  or  no  pages,  in  fmail  12  ma. 
It  began  the  firft  month  of  the  year  1662,  and  was  a 
diary  of  one  whole  year  and  a  little  more.  It  was 
written  in  chara61:ers,  though  not  altogether  in  (liort 
hand,  being  a  mixture  of  inv^erted  alphabet  and  charac- 
ters, eafily  decyphered  :  and  contained  news  from  Eu- 
rope, and  private  occurrences  w^ith  them  at  New-Haven 
and  Milford.  From  this  I  then  m.ade  fome  extra£i:s, 
Mr.  Hutchinfon,  from  this  and  th@  other  volumes,  as 
well  as  from  their  manufcript  letters,  fundry  original 
copies  of  which  he  fhewed  me,  formed  the  fummarj 
abfl:ra6l,  which  he  publiihed  as  a  marginal  -note  in  the 
firft  volume  of  his  Hiftory  of  MaiTachufetts,  p.  215. 
firft  printed  1764.  This  may  be  depended  upon  as  ge- 
nuine information,    and  is  as  follows  : 

Governor  Hutchmfon' s  Account  of  PFh alley  and  Goffe. 

'*  In  the  fhip.  t  which  arrived  at  Bofton  from  Lon- 
don, the  27th  of  July,  1660,  there  came  paffengers. 
Colonel  Whalley  and  Colonel  Goife,  two  cf  the  late 
King's  Judges.  Colonel  GofFe  brought  teftimonial« 
from  Mr.  John  Row  and  Mr.  Seth  Wood,  two  minif- 
ters  of  a  church  in  Weftmi niter.  Colonel  Whalley 
had  been  a  member  of  Mr.  Thomas  Goodwin's  church. 
Goffe  kept  a  journal  or  diary,  from  the  day  he  left  Wefl- 
minfter,  May  4,  until  the  y^ar  1667  ;  which  together 
with  feveral  other  papers  belonging  to  him,  I  liave  in 
my  polfellion.  Almoft  the  whole  is  in  €hara<Slers,  or 
ihort  hand,  not  difficult  to  decypher.  The  Itory  of 
thefe  perfons  has  never  yet  been  publillied  to  the  world. 
It  has  never  been  known  in  New-England.  Their  pa* 
pers,  after  their  death,  were  coUe^^cd,    and  have  re- 

\  Caj>t,  FUrcs. 


OF   KING    CHARtLES     t.  S^i 

malned  near  an  hundred  years  in  a  library  in  Bofton  J 
It  mult  give  Tome  entertainment  to  the  curious.  They 
left  London  before  the  King  was  proclaimed.  It  does- 
not  appear  that  they  were  among  the  moil  obnoxious  of 
the  Judges:  but  as  it  was. expected  vengeance  would 
be  taken  of  fome  of  them,-  and  a  great  many  had  tied, 
"they  did  not  think  it  fate  to  remam.  1  hey  did  not 
attempt  to  conceal  their  perfons  or  charafters  when 
they  arrived  at  Boiton,  but  unmediately  went  to  the  Go- 
vernor, Mr.  Endicot,  who  received  them  very  courte- 
ouily.  They  were  vifited  by  the  principal  perfons  of 
the  town  ;  and  among  others,  they  take  notice  of 
Colonel  Crown's  coming  to  fee  them.  He  was  a  noted 
RoyaJiil:.  Although  they  did  not  difguife  themfelves, 
yet  they  chofe  to  relide  at  Cambridge,  a  village  about 
lour  miles  dillant  from  the  town,  where  they  went  the 
firii:  day  they  arrived.  They  went  publicly  to  meetings 
on  the  Lord's  day,  and  to  occafionai  lectures,  tails,  and 
thankfgivings,  and  were  admitted  to  the  facrament,  and 
attended  private  meetings  tor  devotion,  vifited  many  of 
the  principal  towns,  and  were  frequently  at  Bofton  ; 
and  once  when  infulted  there,  the  perfon  who  infulted' 
them  was  bound  to  his  good  behaviour.  They  appear- 
ed grave,  ferious  and  devout ;  and  the  rank  they  had 
fullained  commanded  refpe6l.  Whalley  had  been  one 
of  Cromweirs  Lieutenant-Generals,  and  Goiie  a  Ma- 
jor-Geiieral.  It  is  not  ftraKge  that  they  lliouid  meet 
with  this  favorabie  reception,  nor  was  this  reception 
any  contempt  of  the  auinority  in  England.  They 
were  known  to  have  been  two  of  the  King's  Judges  ; 
but  Charles  the  fecond  was  not  proclaimed,  when  the 
Ihip  that  brought  them  left  London.  They  had  the 
news  of  it  m  tue  Channel.  T'he  reports  atterwards, 
byway  of-barbadoes,  were  that  all  the  judges  would 
be  pai"dohed  but  feven.  The  a<5t  of  indemnity  was  not 
brought  over  till  the  lail:  of  November.  When  it  ap- 
peared, that  they  were  not  excepted,  foir.e  of  the  princi- 
pal p-eiK^ns  in  the  Government  were  alarmed  ,  pity  acd 


24  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

compaffion  prevailed  with  others.  They  had  aiiiiran- 
ces  from  feme  tisal  belonged  to  the  General  Court,  that 
they  v/ouid  Itand  by  them,  but  were  advifcd  by  others 
to  think  ot  removing.  The  22d.  of  February,  1661, 
the  Governor  fummonsd  a  Court  of  affi-lants,  to  con- 
fult  about  fecuring  tnem,  but  the  Court  did  not  agree 
to  it.  Finding  it  unfafe  to  remain  any  loRger,  they 
left  Cambridge  the  '26th  following,  and  arrived  at  New- 
Haven  the  7th  of  March,  1661.  One  Captain  Bren- 
dan, who  had  feen  them  at  Bolton,  gave  information 
thereof  upon  hi&  arrival  in  England.  A  few  days  after 
their  removal,  a  hue  and  cry,  as  they  term  it  in  their 
diary,  was  brought  by  the  way  of  Barbadoes  ;  and 
thereupon  a  warrant  to  fecure  them  illued,  the  8th  of 
March,  from  the  Governor  and  Alhifants,  which  was 
lent  to  Springfield  and  other  tow^ns  in  the  w^eilern  part 
of  the  colony  ;  but  they  were  beyond  the  reach  of  it." 

The  Governor  adds  in  a  long  marginal  note,  **  They 
were  well  treated  at  New-Haven  by  the  minlliers,  t 
and  fome  of  the  magiftrates,  and  for  fome  days  feemed 
to  apprehend  themfelves  out  of  danger.  But  the  nev/s 
of  the  King's  proclamation  being  brought  to  New- Ha- 
ven, they  were  obhged  to  abfcond.  The  27th  of 
March  they  removed  to  New-Milford,  and  appeared 
there  in  the  day  time,  and  made  themfelves  known  ; 
but  at  night  returned  privately  to  New-Haven,  and 
lay  conceiiled  in  Mr.  Davenport  the  miniiler's  houfe, 
until  the  30th  of  April.  About  this  time  news  came 
to  Bolton,  that  ten  of  the  Judges  were  executed,  and 
the  Governor  received  a  royal  mandate,  dated  March 
5,  1660.  to  caufe  Whalley  and  Goife  to  be  fecured. 
Tliis  greatly  alarmed  the  country,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  court  were  now  in  earneit  in  their  endea- 
vors to  apprehend  them :  and  to  avoid  all  fufpicion, 
they  gave  commiifion  and  inilru6lion  to  two  young 
merchants  from  England,  Thomas  Kcllond  and  Tho- 
mas Kirk,  zealous  royal i (Is,  to  go  through  ihe  colonies, 

f  Rev,  jiln  Da-vcv^crt  ar.d  Rev,  I^'icto/as  StrniU 


^5Jr:'       ^p    KING  'XTHARLES      I.'     '  25 

Sis'T^r  2S' Manhados,  in  Tea  re  h  of  them.     T-lvey  had 
friends  who  informed  them  v/h at  was  doing,  and  thev 
removed  from  Mr.  Davenport's  to   the  houfe  of  one 
Jones,  :{:  v.here  t'r/ey  lay  hid  until  the  i  ithof  May,  and 
then  removed  to  a  mill,  and  from  thence,  on  tiie  13th 
into  the  woods,  where  they  met  Jones  f.nd  two  of  his 
companions,  Sperry  and   Burril,  who  iirii  condu6t;ed 
them  to  a  place  called  Hatchet-Haiboiir,  v/jiere  they 
lay  two  niglits,  until  a  cave  or  hole  in  tlie  fide  of  a  liill 
was  prepared  to  conceal  them.     This  hill  they  called 
Providence-Hill :    and  there  they  continued  from  the 
15th  of  May  to  the  i  ithof  June,  fomeiimes  in  the  cave, 
and  in  very  tempeftuous  weather,  in  a  houfenearto  it. 
Daring  this  time  the  m^elfengers  went  through  New- 
Haven  to  the  Dutch  fettlement,  from  wlience  they  re- 
turned to  Eofton  by  water.   They  made  diligent  fearch, 
and  had  full  proof  that  the  regicides  had  been  feen  at 
Mr.  Davenport's,   ar:d  offered  i^reat  rewards  to  Englifli 
and  Indians  who   fliould  give    information,    that  they 
might  betaken  ;  but  by  the  fidehty  of  their  three  friends 
they    remained    undifcovered.      Mr.    Davenport  was 
threatened  with  being  called  to  an  account,  for  conceal- 
ing and  comforting  traitors,  and  mxight  well  be  alarm- 
ed.    They  had  engaged  to  furrender,  rather  than  the 
country  or  any   particular  perfons  fhould  fuirer    upon 
their  account :  and  upon  intimation  of  Mr.  Davenport's 
danger,  they  generouOy  refolved  to  go  to  New-Haven, 
and  deliver  themfelves  up  to  the  authority  there.     The 
mif:ries  they  had  fuftered,  and  were  ilill   expofed  to, 
and  the  httie  chance  they  had  of  finally  efca ping,  in  a 
country  where  every  ilranger  is  immediately  known  to 
be  luch,  would  not  have  been  fufficient  to  have  induced 
them.      They  let   the  Deputy-Governor,  Mr.  Leets 
know  where  they  were  ^  but  he  took  no  meafures  to  fe- 
cure  them  ;  and   the  next  day  fom^e  perfons  came  to 
tliem  to  udvife  them  not  to  furrender.     Having  pubiiclj 
fnewn   themfelves  at  New-Haven,  they   had  cleared 

t  iViUiam  Jones f  Ejq.  afttrivards  Dsp'.ny  Governor  cfConr.sSlcuit, 

c 


rS         MISTOIiY    OF    THREE    OF    TH£    JUDGES 

Mr.  Davenport  from  the  fufpicion  of  ftill  concealing 
them,  and  the  24th  of  June  went  into  the  woods  again 
to  their  cave.     They  continued  there,  fometimes  ven- 
turing to  a  houfe  near  the  cave,  until  the  i9thof  Auguft 
— ^^.vhen  the  fearchfor  them  being  pretty  well  over  they 
ventured  to  the  houfe   of  one  Tomkins,  near  Milford 
meeting-houfe,  where  tliey  remained  two  years,  with- 
out ft)  much  as  going  into  the  orchard.     After   that, 
they  took  a  little  more  liberty,    and  made   themfelves 
known  to  feveral  perfons  in  whom  they  could  confide, 
and  each  of  them  frequently  prayed,  and  alfo  exercifed, 
TiS  they  termed  it,  or  preached  at  private  meetings  in 
their   cham.ber.       In   1664.,    the   commiflioners  from 
King  Charles  arrived  at  Bofton — Upon  the  news  of  it, 
they  retired  to  their  cave,  where  thev  tarried  eight  or 
ten  days.     Soon  after,  fome  Indians  in  their  hunting, 
difcovered  the  cave  with  the  bed  ;    and  the  report  being 
fpread  abroad,  it  was  not  fafe  to  remain  near  it.      On 
the  13th  of  Odober,    1664,  they  removed  to  Hadley, 
near  an  hundred  miles  diitant,  travelling  only  by  night ; 
v/here  Mr.  Rulfci,  the  miniiirr  of  the  place,  had  pre- 
vioully  agreed  to  receive  them.       Here  they  remamed 
concealed  fifteen  or  fixteen  years,  very  few  pCi-fons  in 
the  colony  being  privy  to  it.  The  laft  account  of  Goffe, 
is  from  a  htter,  dated  Ehenezer^  the  name  they  gave 
their  feveral  places  of  abode,  April  2,  1679.     Wbailey 
^.ad  been  dead  fjmetime  before.  The  tradition  at  Had- 
ky  is,  that  tv/o  ptrfons  unknown,  vvCre  buried  in  the 
miniiter's  cellar.     The  minidcr  was  iio  fufferer  by  his 
hoarders.     They  received  more  or  lefs  remittances  eve- 
ry year,  for  many  years  together,  from  their  wives  in 
England.     Thole  iQ\Y  perfons  wiio  knew  where  they 
were,  made  them  frequent  pre fents.      Richard  Salton- 
fUdi,  Efq.    wlio   was  in  the  f^crel,  when   he  left  the 
country  and  v.-ent   to,  England  in  1672,  made  t'lem  a 
prefent  of  fifty  pounds  at  his  departuie  ;  and  they  take 
notice  of  donations  from  feveral    other  friends.     They 
vj'ure   in  conftant  terror,  though  they    had  reafon  to 


OF    KING    CHARLES     T.  '2^ 

hope,  after  fome  years,  that  the  enquiry  for  them  was 
over.  They  read  with  pleafure  the  news  of  their  being 
killed,  with  other  judges,  in  Switzerland.  Their  dia- 
ry for  fix  or  feven  years,  contains  every  liltle  occurrent 
in  the  town,  church,  and  particular  famihes  in  the 
neighborhood.  They  had  indeed,  for  five  years 'of 
their  lives,  been  among  the  principal  aclors  in  the  great 
affairs  of  the  nation  :  Goffe  efpecially,  who  turned  the 
members  of  the  little  Parliament  out  of  the  houfe,  and 
who  was  attached  to  Oliver  and  to  Richard  to  the  lad  ; 
but  they  v/ere  both  of  lorv  birth  and  education.  I'hey 
had  very  conftant  and  exact  intelligence  of  every  thing 
which  paifed  in  England,  and  w^ere  unwlling  to  give 
up  all  hopes  of  deliverance.  Their  greatefi:  expetta- 
tions  were  from  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies.  They 
had^.  no  doubt,  that  the  execution  of  the  Judges  was  the 
Haying  of  the  witnelTes.  They  were  much  diiappointed, 
when  the  year  1666  had  paiTed  without  any  remarkable 
event,  but  flattered  themfelves  that  the  Chridian  aera 
might  be  erroneous.  Their  lives  were  miferable  and 
conltant  burdens.  They  complain  of  being  baniflied 
from  all  human  fociety,  A  letter  from  Goffe's  wife, 
who  was  Whaliey's  daughter,  I  think  v/ordi  pi-eferv- 
ing.  After  the  fecond  year,  GoiFe  writes  by  the  name 
of  JValter  Goldjmith,  and  ihe  of  Frances  Goldjmith  ; 
and  the  correfpondence  is  carried  on,  as  between  a  mo- 
ther and  fon.  There  is  too  much  religion  in  their  let- 
ters for  the  tafte  of  the  prefent  day  :  but  tlie  didreffes 
oi  two  perfons,  under  thefe  peculiar  circumftances, 
who  appear  to  have  lived  very  happily  together,  are 
veiy  ftrongly  defcribed. 

Whilil  they  were  at  Hadley,  February  lo,  1664 — 5, 
Dixwell,  another  of  the  Judges,  came  to  them  ;  but 
from  whence,  or  in  whit  p.irt  of  America  he  firft  land- 
ed, is  not  known.  The  fn-ft  mention  of  him  in  their 
journal,  is  by  the  name  of  Colonel  Dixwell ;  but  ever 
after  they  call  him  Mr.  Davids.  He  continued  fome 
years  at  Hadley,  and  then  removed  lo  New-Haven,— 


i>S  KISTORY    O?    THE22    OF    THE    JUDGES 

He  was  generally  fuppofed  to  have  been  ©ne  of  thofe 
who  were  obnoxious  in  England  ;  but  he  never  difco- 
vercd  who  he  was,  until  he  was  on  his  death-bed.  I 
have  one  of  his  letters  figned  James  Davids,  dated 
March  23,  1683.  He  married  at  New-Haven,  and 
left  feveral  children.  After  bis  death  liis  ion,  who  be- 
fore had  been  called  Davids,  took  the  name  of  Dixwell, 
came  to  Bofton,  and  lived  in  good  repute  ;  was  a  rul- 
ing elder  of  one  of  thei  churches  there,  and  died  in 
1725,  of  the  fmail-pox  by  inoculation.  Some  of  his 
grand -children  are  now  living.  Colonel  DiKwell  was 
buried  in  New-Haven.  His  grave-ftone  ftili  remains 
with  tills  infcription, — '^  J.  D.  Efq.  deceaied  Marcl> 
i8th,  in  the  82d  year  of  his  age,  168S." 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that'many  of  the  principal  per- 
Ions  in  the  colony  greatly  efteemed  thefe  perfons  for  their 
profellions  of  piety,  and  their  grave  deportment,  who 
did  not  approve  of  their  political  conduA.  Mr.  Mitch- 
el,  the  rninifter  of  Cambridge,  wlio  fhevv^cd  them 
great  friendship  upon  their  firll  arrival,  fays  in  a  manu- 
script which  he  wrote  in  his  own  vindication,  **  Since 
I  have  had  opportunity,  by  reading  and  difcourfe,  to 
look  a  little  into  that  aclion  for  which  tliefe  men  fijfter, 
I  couid  never  fee  that  it  was  juftinable.*'  After  they 
xvere  declared  traitors,  they  certainly  would  have  been 
fent  to  England,  if  they  couid  have  been  taken.  It  was 
generally  thought  that  they  had  left  the  country  ;  and 
even  tlie  confequcnce  of  their  efcape  was  dreaded,  leO: 
when  they  were  taken,  thofe  wlio  iiad  harbored  them 
fiiould  fufferfor  it.  Mr.  Endicot,  the  Governor,  writes 
to  the  Earl  of  MancheRer,  that  he  fiippofes  they  went. 
tov/ards  the  Dutch  at  Manhados,  and  took  fhipping 
far  Holland  :  and  Mr.  Brauil:reet,  then  Governor,  in 
December  1684,  writes  to  Edward  Randolph,  "that 
after  their  being  at  New-Haven,  he  could  never  hear 
v/hat  became  of  them."  Randolph,  who  was  fent  to 
fearch  into  the  fec'rets  of  the  government,  could  obtain 
no  more  knowledge  of  them,  than  that  they  had  be^ 


i>S  HISTORY    O?    THRSa    OF    TMS    JUDGES 

He  was  generally  fuppofed  to  have  been  ene  of  thoft 
who  were  obnoxious  in  England  ;  but  he  never  difco- 
vercd  who  he  w:;3,  until  he  was  on  his  death-bed.  I 
have  one  of  his  letters  figned  James  Davids,  dated 
March  23,  1683.  He  married  at  New-Haven,  and 
left  feveral  cliildren.  After  bis  death  his  foa,  who  be- 
fore had  been  called  Davids,  took  the  name  of  Dixwell, 
came  to  Bofton,  and  lived  in  good  repute  ;  was  a  rul- 
ing elder  of  one  of  thel  churches  there,  and  died  in 
1725,  of  the  fmall-pox  by  inoculation.  Some  of  his 
grand-children  are  now  living.  Colonel  Dixwell  was 
buried  in  New-Haven.  His  grave-ilone  ftili  remains 
with  tills  infcription, — ^^  J.  D.  Efq.  deceafed  Marcl> 
i8th,  in  the  82d  year  of  his  age,  168S." 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  many  of  the  principal  per- 
sons in  the  colony  greatly  efteemed  thefe  perfons  for  their 
profellions  of  piety,  and  their  grave  deportment,  who 
did  not  approve  of  their  political  conduct.  Mr.  Mitch- 
el,  the  miniiler  of  Cambridge,  who  fliev/ed  them 
great  friendibip  upon  tlieir  firll  arrival,  fays  in  a  manu- 
fcript  which  he  wrote  in  his  ov/n  vindication,  "  Since 
I  have  had  opportunity,  by  reading  and  difcourfe,  to 
look  a  little  into  that  action  for  which  tliefe  men  fjffer, 
I  could  never  fee  that  it  was  jurdnabb."  After  they 
were  declared  traitors,  they  certainly  v/ould  have  been 
fent  to  England,  if  they  could  have  been  taken.  It  was 
generally,  thought  that  they  had  left  the  country  ;  and 
even  the  confequcnce  of  their  efcape  was  dreaded,  left 
when  they  were  taken,  thofe  wlio  had  harbored  them 
faould  fufferfor  it.  Mr.  Endicot,  the  Governor,  writes 
to  tl;e  Earl  of  Manchciier,  that  he  fuppofes  they  went. 
towards  the  Dutch  at  Manhados,  and  took  fhipping 
for  Holland  :  and  Mr.  Bradiireet,  then  Governor,  in 
December  1 68_J,  writes  to  Edward  Randolph,  "that 
after  their  being  at  New-Haven,  he  could  never  hear 
what  became  of  them."  Randolph,  who  was  fent  to 
fearch  into  the  fec'rcts  of  the  govenunent,  could  obtain 
no  more  knowledge  of  them,  than  that  they  had  bc«a 


M':Hich''j)ierry 


jWJiu/ph  lin 


m 


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t^  Mav  13 


^^^x 


,/ 


MAP   of¥EW-HAVE7\r               ^^ 
and  l/j-  Envu'Oii'f.                                       \ 

'  / 

--[ 

\ 

Sca/e  ofMili,-           ^ 

^\ 


MTIUcJiifperry 


0 


OF   KING    CHARLES     I.  ,  29 

in  the  country,  and  refpefl  had  been  fhewn  them  by 
fome  of  the  Magiilrates.  I  anri  loth  to  omit  an  anec- 
dote handed  down  through  Governor  Leverctt's  family, 
I  find  GofFe  takes  notice  in  his  journal  of  Leverett'-s 
being  at  Hadiey.  The  town  of  Hadley  was  alarmed  by 
the  Indians  in  1675,  in  the  time  of  pubhc  worihip,  and 
the  people  were  in  the  utmoft  confuiion. — Suddenly,  a 

frave  elderly  perfon  appeared  in  the  midfl  of  them.— • 
n  his  mien  and  drefs  he  differed  from  the  reft  of  ths 
pf^ople. — He, not  only  encouraged  them  to  defend  them-- 
feives  ;  but  put  himfelf  at  their  head,  rallied,  infiru6l^ 
ed,  and  led  them  on  to  encounter  the.  enemy,  who  by 
this  means  were  repulfed. — As  fuddenly  the  deliverer  of 
Hadley  difappeared. — The  people  were  left  in  confter- 
nation,  utterly  unable  to  account  for  this  ftrange  plioeno- 
menon.  It  is  nut  probable  they  were  ever  able  to  ex- 
plain it.  If  Goife  had  been  then  difcovered,  it  mud 
have  come  to  the  knowledge  of  thofe  perfuns,  who  de- 
clare by  their  letters  tb_at  they  never  knew^  v/hat  becams 
of  him."t 

Thus  far  Governor  Hutchinfon's  narrative  concern^ 
ing  thefe  two  perfons  ;  which  is  the  more  valuable,  as 
being  extra6led  from  their  journal,  it  mufi  contain  the 
mod  accurate  information  we  can  ever  obtain.  To 
this  extract  pofterity  muft  ever  have  recourfe,  fince  it 
is  out  of  our  power  again  to  recur  to  the  original  jourr 
nal,  which  with  Goffe's  other  papers,  in  the  Govern^ 
or's  hands,  were  irrecoverably  loft  when  the  Governor's 
houfe  was  demoliihed  in  the  tumults  of  tlie  Stamp  A6i, 
1765.  But  that  we  may  coile£t  all  he  fays  in  other  parts 
of  his  hi  (lory  refpe61:ing  tiiefe.  Judges,  I  (hall  fubjoiu 
another  extra6l. 

In  1664,  four  commifliones  were  appoiuted  by  the 
King,  Colonel  Richard  Nichols,  Georg.-r  Cartwright, 
Efq.  Sir  Robert  Carr,  and  Samuel  Maverick,  Efq.--— 
After  the  r.^duftion  or  Maiihados,  thev  returned  to  Bof- 
ton,  exhibited  a  number  of  articles  to  the  G-neiai  Af- 
.     t  ^i*'<^^'  i''fi'  ^^I-  y.L  p.    18. 

C  2. 


30  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDSES 

fciTibly  of  MafTachufetts,  on  which  they  were  charged 
by  the  King  to  make  inquiry  ;  and  to  which  the  Af- 
fembly,  in  May  1665,  make  their  anfwers.  In  an- 
fwer  to  the  tenth  in{lru6lion,  they  fay,  "  That  they 
knew  of  no  perfbns  attainted  of  high  treafon,  who  had 
arrived  here,  except  Mr.  Whalley  and  Mr.  Goffe,  and 
they  before  the  a6l  of  Parhament,  and  they  departed 
this  jurifdiclion  the  February  folio vving,  and  a  procla- 
mation againft  them  coming  foon  after  by  way  of  Bar- 
hadoes,  the  Court  fent  two  gentleman,  Mr.  Kel- 
lond  and  Mr.  Kirk,  after  them  to  Connedlicut  and 
New-Haven,  to  apprehend  them."t 

Hitherto  we  have  proceeded  upon  accurate  and  au- 
thentic documents.  I  fhall  now  ~coile6t  and  exhibit 
other  fcattered  lights  and  traditionary  information,  pre 
ferved  partly  in  the  public  fame  which  fuch  an  event 
would  be  likely  to  produce  at  New-Haven  and  Hadley, 
and  partly  in  families  whofe  anceftors  were  privy  to  the 
fecrets  of  thefe  men,  and  concerned  in  their  conceal- 
ments. Thefe  anecdotes,  together  with  the  defcription 
?.n(\  delineation  of  their  places  of  abode,  may  illuilrat© 
the  hiflory  of  thefe  fugitive  pilgrims. 

Among  the  traditionary  anecdotes  and  ftories  con- 
cerning the  events,  which  took  place  at  and  about  the 
time  the  purfuers  were  at  New-Haven,  are  the  follow- 
ing. 

I.  The  day  they  were  expe61:ed,  the  Judges  walked 
©at  tov^'-ards  the  neck  bridge,  the  road  the  purfuers  muil 
enter  the  town.  At  fome  diflance,  the  Sheriff  or  Mar- 
dial,  v/ho  then  was  Mr.  Kimberly,  overtook  thena 
with  a  warrant  to  apprehend  them,  and  endeavored  to 
take  them.  But  the  Judges  Hood  upon  their  defence, 
and  placing  themfelves  behind  a  tree,  and  being  expert 
at  fencing,  defended  themfelves  with  their  cudgels,  and 
repelled  the  officer ;  who  went  back  to  town  to  com- 
mand help,  and  returned  wi;h  aid,  but  found  the  Judg«s 

rjt  Hutcb*  U'tji.  Majf.  />.  243, 


OF   KIN©    CHARLES     I.  ^t 

had  ePjapcd,  having  abfconded  Into  the  woods,  with 
which  the  town  was  then  f-jTrouaded. 

2.  That  immediately  after  this,  on  the  fame  day, 
the  Judges  hid  themfelves  under  the  bridge  one  mile 
from  town  ;  and  lay  there  concealed  under  the  bridge, 
while  the  purfiiivants  rode  over  it  and  paifed  into  town  : 
and  that  the  Judges  returned  that  night  into  town,  and 
lodged  at  Mr.  Jones's.  All  this,  tradition  fays,  v/as  a 
preconcerted  and  contrived  bufmefs,  to  fliew  tliat  the 
Magiftrates  at  New-Haven  had  ufed  their  endeavors  to 
apprehend  them  before  tlie  arrival  of  the  purlliers. 

3.  That  on  a  time  when  the  purfuers  were  fearching 
thet0wn,  the  Judges,  in  fnifting  their  fituations,  hap- 
pened, by  accident  or  defign,  at  the  houfe  of  a  Mrs. 
Eyers,  a  refpe6lable  and  comely  lady  :  flie  feeing  the 
purfuivants  coming,  ufliered  her  guefts  out  at  the  back 
door,  who  walking  out  a  little  ways,  inllantly  returned 
to  the  houft,  and  were  hid  and  concealed  by  her  in  her 
apartments.  The  purfuers  coming  in,  enquired  whe- 
ther the  regicides  vs'ere  at  her  houfe  ?  She  anfweredj 
thty  had  been  there,  but  were  jufc  gone  away,  and 
pointed  out  the  way  they  v/ent  into  the  fields  and  woods, 
and  by  her  artful  and  polite  addrefs,  fhe  diverted 'them, 
put  them  upon  a  falfe  fcent,  and  fecured  her  friends. 
It  is  rather  probable  that  this  happened  the  next  day 
after  their  coming  to  town  :  and  that  they  then  left  the 
town,  having  fnevv^n  themfelves  not  to  be  concealed  in 
Mr.  Davenport's,  and  went  into  the  wocdi  to  the  mill, 
two  miles  otf,  v/hither  they  had  retired  on  the  nth  of 
May. 

4.  The  family  of  the  Sperrys  always  tell  this  (lory ; 
that  while  the  Judges  were  at  the  houfe  of  their  anceftor, 
Mr.  Richard  Sperry,  they  were  furprized  with  an  un- 
expe6led  vifit  from  the  purfuers,  whom  they  efpied  at 
a  difcance  coming  up  a  long  caufway  to  the  houfe,  ly- 
ing through  a  morafs,  and  on  each  fide  an  impalliblc 
fwamp,  fo  that  they  were  feen  perhaps  fifty  or  fixty 


3^  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUD€SS 

rocls  before  they  came  up  to  the  houfe.  But  the  Judges 
cfcaped  into  the  woods  and  mountains,  and  eluded  their 
learch.  This  ftory  is  current  at  New-Haven,  and  is 
always  told,  as  wliat  took  place  after  the  return  of  the 
purfuers  from  New-York,  and  lb  w^as  unexpected  to 
Sperry  and  the  Judges.  Governor  Hutchinfon  fays, 
the  purfuivants  returned  from  Manhados  to  Bofton  by 
water  ;  but  the  conftant  tradition  at  New-Haven  is 
otherwife,  and  that  they  were  here  a  fecond  time,  and 
that  it  was  thought  they  got  their  information  of  their 
being  at  Sperry 's^  in  confequence  of  the  bribes  they 
had  fcatteved  here,  at  their  former  vilit,  among  fevvants. 

5.  About  the  time  the  purfuers  came  to  New-Ha- 
ven, and  perhaps  a  little  before,  and  to  prepare  the 
minds  of  the  people  for  their  reception,  the  reverend 
Mr.  Davenport  preached  publicly  h^om  this  text,  Ifai. 
xvi.  i^»  ^,  Take  counjel^  execute  judgment^  make  thy  jha- 
dow  as  the  night  in  the  midjl  of  the  noon  day  ;  hide  the 
out-cajhy  biwray  f/9$  hi/n  that  wandereth.  Let  mine 
Qut-cafts  dwell  with  thee  ;  Moab^  be  thou  a  covert  ts 
them  from  the  face  of  the  fpoiler.  This  doubtlefs  had 
its  eifeCt,  and  put  the  whole  town  upon  their  guard, 
and  united  them  in  caution  and  concealment. 

As  Keliond  and  Kirk,  befides  the  royal  mandate^ 
received  a  warrant  from  Governor  Ersdicot  at  Boilon, 
to  make  f?arch  triro.igh  the  colony  of  Mairachrifetts  -Ao 
palling  out  of  that  jurifdidion  into  the  jurifdiclion  of 
ConneClticut,  they  obtained  a  fimilar  v/arrant  from  tiie 
Governor,  Winthrop,  at  New-London,  and  upon  en- 
tering into  the  colony  of  New- Haven,  they  applied  to 
Governor  Leet,  at  Guilford,  for  a  like  warrant  to  fearch 
this  jurifdi<Slion  alfo.  They  lodged  at  GuiUord  May 
1 2th,  aa^hext  day  rode  eighteen  miles  to  New-Ha- 
ven, an^Pighr  enter  the  tov/n  about  noon.  The  banks 
of  the.  liver  at  Neck-Bridge  are  low,  and  fait  marih  on 
both  fides,  fo  that  the  bridge  is  low,  being  only  high, 
enough  to  avoid  high  water,  which  is  here  fi.x.  to  eight 


OP    KING    CHARLES      J,  ^^ 

feCt  tide  ;  f)  there  could  be  no  hiding  under  the  bridge 
at  high  Vv^ater.  From  ths  rnlronomical  or  lunar  tabks 
\vc  find,  that  on  the  13th  May,  1661,  the  fun  was  in 
thc-feconddec^ree  of  gemini,  and  the  moon  in  the  lirft 
of  arie?,  or  about  fixty  degrees  apart,  and  fo  about  two 
ihys  and  half  after  the  lait:  quarter  ;  when  it  is  always 
high  water  at  Ne,v-Iiavcn  about;,  or  a  little  after  fix 
o'clock,  and  low  water  about  noon,  the  only  time  when 
they  could  have  fccreted  themfelves  under  ihe  bridge, 
agreeable  to  tradition. 

6.  To  (hew  the  dexterity  of  the  Judges  at  fencings 
this  (lory  is  told  :  That  while  at  Boilon,  there  appeared 
a  gallant  perfon  there,  (oine  Uy  a  fencing-mafter,  who 
on  a  ftage  ere6led  for  the  purpofe,  v/alked  it  for  feve- 
raldays,  challenging  and  defying  any  to  play  with  him 
at  fwords  :  at  length  one  of  the  j  udges,  difguifed  in  a 
ruific  drefs,  holding  in  one  hand  a  cheefe  wrapped  in  a 
napkin,  for  a  flieild,  with  a  broom-flick,  whofe  mop 
he  had  befmeared  v^ith  dirty  puddle  water  as  he  paifed 
along ;  thus  equipped,  he  mounted  the  flage  : — -The 
fencing-mafler  railed  at  him  for  his  impudence,  alked 
what  bufmefs  he  had  there,  and  bid  him  be  gone.-— 
The  Judge  ilood  his  ground — upon  which  the  gladiator 
made  a  pafs  at  him  with  his  fword,  to  drive  him  oif — 
a  rencounter  enfued — -the  Judge  received  the  fword  into 
the  cheefe,  and  held  it  till  he  drew  the  mop  of  the 
broom  over  his  mouth  and  gave  the  gentleman  a  pair 
of  whiikers — The  gentleman  made  anotl^er  pafs,  and 
plunging  his  fword  a  fecond  time,  it  was  caught  and 
held  in  the  cheefe,  till  the  broom  was  drawn  over  his 
eyes — At  a  third  lunge,  the  fw  ord  vv-as  caught  again, 
till  the  mop  of  the  broom  vv2.s  rubbed  gently  ail  over  his 
face. — Upon  this  the  gentleman  let  tall,  or  laid  afide 
his  fmall  fword,  and  took  up  the  broad  A^ord,  and 
came  at  him  with  that — Upon  which  the  Judge  faid, 
Hop  fir,  hitherto  you  fee  I  have  only  played  with  you, 
and  not  attempted  to  hurt  you  ^  but  if  you  come  at  me 
ROW  with  the  broad-fword,  know,  that  I  wiUcertainlf 


34-  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OK    THE    JUDGES 

take  your  life.  The  iirmnefs  and  determinatenefs  with 
which  he  fpake,  ftruck  the  gentleman,  who  deilfting, 
rxciaimed,  who  can  you  be  r  You  are  either  Gofre, 
Whalley,  or  the  Devil,  for  there  was  no  other  man  in 
England  that  could  beat  me.  And  fo  the  difguifed 
Judge  retired  into  obfcurity,  leaving  the  fpe6iators  to 
enjoy  the  diveruon  of  the  fcene,  and  the  vanquifhment 
of  the  boading  champion.  Hence  it  is  proverbial  in 
fome  parts  of  New-Enghnd,  in  fpeaking  of  a  cham- 
pion at  athletic  and  other  exercifes,  to  fay  that  none 
can  beat  him  but  GofFe,  Wlialley,  or  the  Devil. 

I  fay  nothing  on  a  few  variations  in  narrating  this 
ftory — as  that  fome  fay  the  fcene  was  at  New- York, 
where  the  fencer  ftaked  and  offered  a  hat  crown  full  of 
iilver  to  the  man  that  fhouid  beat  him — The  place  cer- 
tainly was  Boilon,  if  any  where,  for  they  never  were 
out  of  New-England  ;  and  that  the  fencer  difcerned 
and  recognized  his  mailer  in  the  a 51  of  fencing,  and 
defifted  inftantly,  faying,  you  are  my  mailer.  Colonel 
GofFe,  who  taught  me  fencing — You,  Cir,  and  no 
other  man  can  beat  me. 

I  fhall  &OW  confider  more  particularly  their  critical 
fituation  at  New-Haven,  during  the  dangerous  period 
of  the  lail  two  months  of  their  public  appearance,  and 
efpecially  of  the  laft  month  previous  to  their  final  abdi- 
cation. But  a  fummary  view  of  the  polity  and  fpirit 
of  the  little  republic  of  New-Haven  colony,  will  be  ne- 
ceiiary  to  throve  light  upon  thefe  tranla6lions ;  and 
without  it  thefe  events  will  not  be  perfe6lly  mtclliglble. 

The  colony  of  New-Haven  jurifdi6lion,  was  begun 
1637  and  i6';8.  The  fetUers  came  over  from  England 
together,  chN?!!};  from  L'  ^ndon  and  it^  vicinities.  They 
came  three  dillin^Sl  congregations  with  their  minillers  ; 
from  the  beginning  infending  to  fettle  down  in  three 
diii  ln6l  and  f^parnte  tnwnfhips  ;  and  to  form  and  coa- 
lefce  into  one  body  politic,  di^lind  from  Mairachufetts, 
Plymouth,  and  the  other  colonizations.     They  planted 


er    KING    CHARLES      I.  35 

down  together  at  and  about  New-Haven,  with  thele 
original  views,  which  they  carried  into  immediate  ex- 
ecution. They  therefore  at  their  firit  coming  to  Bof- 
ton,  went  beyond  Mailachufetts,  and  Conne6ticut  then 
juil  fetlhng  aifo,  to  Quinipioke,  with  the  view  of  fet- 
tHng,  fomev/here  by  themfelves,  v/ithin  the  Earl  of 
Warwick's  patent  aihgned  to  Lord  Say  and  Seal,  who 
held  in  truil  for  Puritan  exiles.  Here  they  pitched  and 
fettled  their  tc^wns,  and  formed  into  a  feparate  inde- 
pendent government ;  and  framed  their  polity  for  them- 
felves, one  of  the  v/ifefi:  ever  devifed  by  man.  This 
cm.bryo  of  a  perfect  republic  v/as  conceived  by  the  con- 
current wifdom  ot  Governor  Eaton,  Goodyear,  Nev/- 
mah,  Leet,  Defborough,  and  other  fenfible  and  patri- 
otic civihans,  and  the  three  learned  miniiters,  Daven- 
port, Whitfield  and  Prudden. 

Samuel  Defborough,  Efq.  afterward;?  Lord  Keeper 
of  Scotland,  was  related  to  Major-General  John  Def- 
borough, one  of  Ohvers  Lords.  Pie  came  over  v,  ith 
the  reverend  Mr.  Whitfield,  was  a  magiftrate,  and  at 
the  head  of  the  fettlem.ei^t  of  Guilford.  He  returned  to 
England  1651  ;  became  "  one  of  the  commiifionersof 
the  revenues  ;  the  fame  year  reprefented  the  city  of 
Edenburghin  Parliament :  at  a  council  held  at  White- 
hall, May  4,  1655,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  nine 
counfellors  for  the  kingdom  oi  Scotland  ;  and  the  fame 
year  Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal  of  that  nation,  and  al- 
lowed ^2000.  annually  : — The  year  following  he  was 
returned  a  member  of  the  Britiih  Parliament  for  the 
Sheriffdom  of  Mid-Lothian  ;  and  was  continued  in 
all  his  employments  under  the  Prote&or  Richard."  t — 
This  fnews  him  a  man  of  political  abilities  to  fuftain 
fo  many  and  fuch  high  betruftrnents  with  the  reputation 
and  acceptance  witli  which  he  difchargeJ  them. 

Upon  amicable  confultation,  they  devifed  this  little 
fyftem  of  policy,  the  miniature  even  of  our  prefcnt  po- 
t  ^''"^^^i  ^"'^^^'  *.  254. 


36  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

licy,  admitling  an  unfolding  of  itfclf  into  an  enlarge- 
ment and  application  even  to  the  efficacious  dominion 
of  the  largeit  republic.  Their  idea  was  ro  found  and 
inftitnte  a  general  aiTembi)',  or  a  court  of  general  jurif- 
di6Lion,  for  legiilation  and  dominion  over  all  the  towns, 
and  a  regulation  of  the  fubordinate  interior  local  policy 
of  therefpedive  towns,  left  in  tliis  to  themfelves.  Or, 
to  invert  the  order  of  origination,  the  towns  to  govern 
themfelves  abfolutely  and  independent'y  as  far  as  re- 
fpected  themfelves : — In  as  far  as  refpeded  the  common 
public  interefl:  of  all  the  towns,  to  inllitute  an  authori- 
tative governmental  and  judi^'^lal  Council,  to  which  all 
ihould  I'ubmit  and  be  fubordinated,  fo  far  as  refpeded 
the  common  interefl  of  the  repubhc. 

The  General  Court  was  to  be  conftituted  and  con- 
fiil  of  two  branches  ;  both  eledive  in  different  modes 
by  the  people  :  The  one  to  confift  of  deputies  of  the 
towns,  eleded  twice  a  year  by  each  town  refpeCtively  ; 
the  other,  by  the  name  of  Magiftrates,  confuting  of  a 
Governor,  Deputy-Governor,  and  three  or  more  others 
of  abihties  and  patriotifm,  elected  by  the  general  voice 
of  ail  the  freemen  annuaJiy.  The  concurrence  of  thefe 
two  branches  made  a  public  a6t  or  law.  The  fupreme 
adminiftration,  both,  civil  and  mihtary,  to  be  with  the 
Governor  or  Deputy-Governor  ;  the  judiciary  was  in 
the  Governor  and  Magiftrates.  The  mode  of  eledlion 
was  thus  :  In  April,  preceding  the  election  and  fellion 
of  Allcmbly,  v/hich  was  the  laft  week  of  May,  annu- 
ally, the  towns  e]e6ted  two  deputies  each  ;  and  at  ihc 
fame  time  nominated  in  each  town,  one  or  more  per- 
fonf^  for  the  Magidracy  :  but  this  was  not  eledion.  In 
tlie  firft  inftance,  each  of  the  three  towns  nominated 
two  perfons  ;  and  their  names  were  fent  by  the  Go- 
vernor to  all  the  towns  ;  which,  on  the  day  of  eledion, 
v;ere  limited  and  confined  to  make  their  choice  of  Ma- 
giftrates (not  Governor  nor  Deputy -Governor)  out  of 
thefe  perhaps  half  a  dozen  nominated  perfons,  eleding 
three  ufually,  fomedmes  more,  out  of  the  v\^hole,  for 


©?    KING-CHARLES     1.  37 

r^Iijgsfi rales.  On  the  day  of  eledion  a  iermon  way 
preached  by  one  of  the  MiniHers.  It  was  originaliy 
defigned  that,  however  Mofes  and  Aaron  fhoiild  walk 
togtther  in  co-operative  harmony,  yet  the  MinifLcrs 
Ihould  not  be  eligible  into  the  Magiitracy.  When  all 
the  freemen  of  all  the  towns  were  alfcmblcd  on  tlie  day 
of  eleclion,  they  nrfl  chofe  a  Governor  and  Deputy- 
Governor,  not  herein  confined  to  the  nomination  ;  then 
cut  of  the  nomination  a  Magiilrate  for  each  town,  not 
as  a  reprefentative  for  that  town  only,  for  they  differed 
from  the  deputies,  Hood  on  general  election,  and  were 
thereby  beconie  charged  with  tlie  general  interell  of  all 
the  towns.  Tl:ey  at  the  fame  time  chofs  a  Secretary, 
Treafurer  and  Marlhal,  out  of  a  previous  nominati un 
of  the  towns  as  general  officers.  The  choice  thus  an- 
nually finilhed  upon  the  election  dv.y  ;  the  general  olli- 
cers  and  town  deputies  form.ed  thenilelves  into  nh  orc^a- 
nized  AlTembiy,  or  General  Ccnrt,  for  the  Jurifdiciion. 
This  for  the  Legiflature  and  General  Gavernment. 

For  the  executive  adminiriration,  whether  judical  or 
govermental,  they  eftablillied  this  fyliem  :  Each  town 
annually  chofe  four  deputies,  or  judges,  for  town  Court?, 
diftin^l  from  deputies  of  the  General  Court  :  thefe  fat 
in  their  refpecSlive  towns,  and  ailed  judicially  in  all  civil 
matters  and  lower  felonies,  much  like  the  Juftices  for 
keeping  the  peace,  and  local  for  the  town,  or  rather 
iimilartoour  County  Court  Judges  for  the  Counties. 
I'hefefour  deputies,  chofen  by  the  towns,  ^Ae^e  report- 
ed or  prefented  to  the  AlTemibly,  who  approved,  empow- 
ered and  eiiabliflied  them  :  fo  that  they  became  within 
the  tovv^n  diflrids,  judiciary  officers  of  the  law,  vefttKi 
with  civil  authority  and  legal  jurifdiclion.  There  were 
then  no  Juftices  of  peace  in  the  colony.  In  each  town 
■  v.as  a  Marlhal  ;  and  a  military  company  whofe  chief 
officer  was  a  Lieutenant,  under  the  Governor,  who  was 
commander  in  chief.  The  Supreme  Judiciary  v/as  a 
Court  of  Magiftrates,  firft  at  New-Haven,  to  wldck  . 
D 


-S         HISTORY    O?    TMRSE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

fhe  whole  colony  was  amensble  ;  coniiPdng  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, Depuly-Governor,  and  the  three  or  more  Magi- 
irrates.     iTide  had  the  cognizance  and  trial  of  a!)  caii- 
fes  civil  and  criminal,  being  held  to  proceed  according 
toftri^l  law  and  jiiilice,  and  according  to  the  principles 
and  fpirit  of  the  laws  of  England.     It   was  a  Court  of 
original  as  well  as  appellate  jnrifdi£lion,    but  chiefly 
original,  caiifes  ufually  being  bronghit   before  them  in 
.the  iirlt  inibnce.     With  them,  alio,  was  the  probate  of 
wills,  and  all  teftamentary  matters,  and  fettlement  of 
inteftateefcu?.     This  Court  adminiftered  juftice  with 
great  firmnefs,  impartiality,   aild  dignity.     It  was  in 
the  conilituticn  that  this  judiciarv  power  flioukl  veil  in 
the  M?.giilracy,  and  not  be  the  effect  of  an  annual  in- 
vcuitcre  by  the  AiTembly.     In  the  public  records   this 
judiciary   Court  was  (tiled  the  Court  of  Magiiiracy  ; 
and  the  meetings  of  the  General  Aifembly,    are   ftiled 
General  Courts,   and  were  folely  Icgiflatorial  and  gov- 
ernmental, while  the  former  were  only  executive   and 
indicir.l.     It  belonged  to  the  Governor  in  his  double  ca- 
pacity of  Governor  of  the  colony,   and  chief  judge   or 
head  of  the  Magiftrates  or  Supreme  Judiciary,   to  take 
cognizance  of  treafon,  and  to  execute  the  King's  war- 
rant for  the  apprehenlion  of  the  Judges,  had  he  receiv- 
ed it  in  feafon,  Vv'hich  he  did  not,  and  which  as  foon  as 
lie  received  it,  he  executed,  fo  as  to  favc  himfelf  and 
the  colony  i^'Dni  ii.'putiiticns. 

Here  we  f:e  a  diicincSlion  between  Deputies  of  the 
Tou-n  Courts,  'and  Deputies  of  the  General  Court. — 
The  former  were  the  civil  authority  of  the  town,  and 
oh  cccaiion  v/ere  frequently  confuited  by  the  Governor 
and  Court  of  !\/Ligirirale3.  '  Thefe,  not  thofe  of  the  Ge- 
r^eral  Ailen-ihly,  were  the  Deputies  v^hich  Governor 
Leet  called  in  to  advife  with,  wlicn  he  and  the  Magi- 
Itrates  met  at  New-Haven,  on  the  application  of  Kel- 
lond  and  Kirk  for  a  warrant  ci  fearch  ;  which  apphca- 
tlon  they  refufed,  becaufe  they  had  as  yet  received  n® 
orders  frocil.  tlic  King's  iiiajedy. 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I,  3IJ 

Thus  have  I  given  a  general  and  uimmary  idea  of  fhc 
initial  polity,    leginatorial,  judicial  and  goverment:^!. 
Their  laws  and  decilions  were  excellent,  founded  in 
juflice  and  wifdom.     The   hi[!;ory  of  their  laws  and 
tranfa6lions,  with  a  very  few  exceptions  of  iindne,  tlio' 
Gonfcientious  rigidity,    and  yet  farlefs  oppi-eOive  than 
any  other  policy  on  earth,  ancient  or  modern,   would 
do  honor  to  any  national  councils.     As  to  their   initial 
jurifprudence,  it  was  a  fingularand  judicious  iimplica- 
tion  of  law,  and  recovery  and  emancipation  of  it,  from 
the    confufed    coUuvies    of    European    jnrifprudence, 
involved  and  embnrrafTed  with  contradiclory  decilions 
in  the  accumulation  of  ages  ;  a  finipllncatios  as  honor- 
able to  the  jural  world,  as  to  the  republic  of  letters  v/ns 
the  Newtonian  difcovery  of  the  fimple  energetic  lav^^s  of 
nature  which  operate  with  difFufive  efficacy  tliroiigh  the 
fyi'lem,  the  fimple  principle  of  gravity,  wdiich  com- 
mands the  m.oon  and  the  fatellites,  governs    the   planets 
and   comets  in  their  vaft  extended  orbits,   their  lofty 
and    magnificent  revolutions.     In    1656  they  printed 
their  little  code  of  krvvs,  and  difperfed   five  hundred  co- 
pies among  all  the  freemen  through  the  v/hols  jurifdic- 
tion.      If  their  laws  and  adjudications  have  been  in  fom® 
inflancesjuRdy  ridiculed  and  condemned  ^  let  it  be  re- 
mem.bered  that  there  is  no  ftate  in  which  it  may  not  be 
eafy  for  candid  and  liberal  minds,  and  efpecialiy  for  a 
fatyrical  and  malicious  Zoilus,   to  fele6l  at  lead  a  fevf 
lavv'sand  adjudged  cafes,  which  juftly  merit  contempt, 
evQii  when  the  general  digeft  of  their  jurifprudence  and 
law  proceedings  may  be  wife,  juft  and  excellent.     Be- 
fides  taking  care  for  civil  policy  ;     they  took  care  of 
religion  and  learning.      From  the  beginning  they  bylaw 
ellablifhed  aminiflry  in  each  tovs^n,  to  be  fupported  by 
the  inhabitants  ;  from  the  ^beginning,  they  by  law  edab- 
liihed  fcliools  in  each  town  for  comm.on  education,  the 
teaching  of  reading  and  writing,  and  arithmetic  ;  and  a 
colony  grammar  fchool  to  prepare  youth  for  College. 
By  A 654  Mr.  Davenpor-  brought  forward  the  infiitutiow 


40  -HISTORY    C?    T!IRE2    OF    TMS    JUDGES 

of  a  College,  to  which  the  town  of  New-Haven  mad« 
a  donation  of  lands  and  meadows,  diftlngnifhed  to  this 
day  by  the  name  of  College  Land.  Upon  a  donation  to 
this  College  in  Nev/-Iiaven,  of  perliaps  ^^400  or;(r5oo 
iicrling,  by  Governor  Hopkins,  who  died  in  London 
4656,  v/hich  donation  was  procured  by  the  correfpond- 
ence  of  Governcr  Eaton  and  Mr.  Davenport  with  Mr. 
Hopkins,  tlie  General  AHembly  creeled  the  Colony 
School  into  a  College  for  teaching  "  the  three  learned 
languages,  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew  ;"  and  for  *^  the 
education  of  youth  in  good  literature,  to  fit  them  for 
public  fervice  in  church  and  commonv/ealth  ;"  and 
il-ttled  .^40  a  year  out  of  the  Colony  treafury  upon  th^ 
preceptor  or  re6lor,  bchdcs  the  f^jlary  from  New-Haven 
ichool,  with /i 00  for  a  library,  Mr.  Davenport  took 
the  care  of  the  Colony  School  for  feveral  years;  until 
tlie  Truftees,  with  the  Magiilratcs  and  Miniders,  in 
1660,.  eftabliilied  tlic  reverend  Mr.  Peck  in  it,  accord- 
ins;  to  a6l  of  the  Ailembly  ;  who  undertook  and  proceed- 
ed in  it,  teaching  the  learned  languages  and  tlie  fcienccs. 
Eut  the  convulfions  of  the  times,  the  diffolution  of  the 
colony  in  1664,  the  difcouragemcnts  Mv.  Peck  met 
with  for  v.'ant  of  proper  fupport,  and  the  removal  of 
Mr.  Davenpoit  fi-om  New-Haven  to  Bofton  in  1667, 
broke  up  the  college — and  left  this  well  begun  literary 
infliiUlion  to  go  out  and  terminate  in  a  public  grammar 
ichool,  upheld  in  this  town,  and  holdiiig  the  Hopkins' 
funds,  and  the  other  endov/ments  of  college  cfiate,  to 
this  day.  Yale  College  is  a  diiTerent  inditution,  and 
not  at  all  built  upon  the  foundation  of  this  hrft  college, 
■^vhich  became  extin6l  in  1664,  and  eli^ecially  long  be- 
fore 1700,  vdien  the  prefent  college  was  founded  at 
Saybrook,  and  before  1717,  Vvhen  it  was  removed  and 
fettled  in  Ne^s^-Iiaven.  By  this  it  appears  what  early 
auention  was  paid  to  literature  by  New-Haven  colony, 
IVom  its  foundation  and  firft  f.ttlement.  Our  anceftors 
ilem  to  have  paid  an  early  attention  to  every  thing  that 


OF   KING    CHARLES     I.  Al 

refpeded  the  well  ordering  of  fociety,  as  to  laws,  go- 
vernment, religion  and  literature. 

Never  was  dominion  and  government  more  juftly 
and  firmly  adminiftered  than  in  the  colony  of  New- 
Haven,  daring  the  firil  twenty-five  years  from  the  ori- 
ginal plantation  of  the  colony  to  its  confolidation  with 
the  colony  of  Hartford,  or  Connecticut,  1664;  when 
New-Haven  colony  terminated,  and  was  abforbed  in 
the  joint  union  of  the  two  colonies  of  New- Haven  and 
Conne61:icut,  under  the  pohty  of  the  charter  procured 
by  Governor  Winthropin  1662  ;  a  polity  very  firiiilar 
to  that  which  had  obtained  at  New-Haven  from  its 
original.  Though  it  began  with  the  three  towns  of 
New-Haven  Milford  and  Guilford,  as  did  Connedicut 
at  the  fame  time,  with  the  three  towns  of  Hartford, 
Windfor  and  Wethersfield  ;  yet  it  was  joined,  fo  early 
as  1642  by  Stamford,  while  Stratford  and  Fairfield, 
about  the  fame  time,  joined  with  Hartford  :  and  1648 
New- Haven  was  joined  by  Southokl,  on  the  eali  tnd 
of  Long-Ifland,  and  was  in  negociation  to  be  joined 
by  Oyfter-Eay.  Before  this,  1644,  Totoket,  or  Bran- 
ford,  had  fprung  from  New-Haven  and  Guilford,  as 
had  Paugaffet,  or  Derby,  from  Milford  and  New-Ha- 
ven, by  1658  or  1660,  or  about  the  time  of  the  Judges, 
whofometimes,  lodged  there.  At  firil:,  as  I  faid,  only- 
three  towns  confociated  :  from  1643  to  1653,  they 
were  five  ;  by  the  union  of  Southold,  iy  1654,  they 
became  fix  :  and  fo  continued'  a  confederacy  of  fm 
towns  to  the  time  of  the  Judges,  and  to  the  diifolution 
of  the  colony  in  1664.  So  that  here  was  the  bafis  for 
a  Houfe  of  twelve  deputies  ;  which,  with  a  Governor, 
Deputy-Governor,  and  three  or  four,  and  fome  times 
five  Magiftrates,  formed  the  Senate  of  this  little  Sove- 
reignty. 

The  ftate  of  the  Magiflracy  was  thus  :  Theophilus 
Eaon  had  been  annually^ eledted Governor,  and  Stephen 
Gt>odyear  Deputy-Governor,  from  the  beginning  till 
1657,  v/hen  this  was  the  magiftracy  : 

D  a 


42  HISTORY    OF    TKR.KL:    OF    THE    JL-DG£S 

Ekcfion,  I'jth  yL  m.   1657. 

Thcophiliis  Eaton,  Governor. 
Stephen  Goodjear,  D^pu-y-Governor. 

Francis  Newsnan,  *] 

Mr.  Leet,  >  Mapidrales. 

Mr.  Fcrin,  J 

Francis  Newman,  Secretary. 
Mr.  Wakeman,  TVe^furcr. 
Thomas  Kimberly,  Marih^il. 

Governor  Eaton  died  in  NcV/-Haven  1657  ;  and 
Deputy-Govei nc!r  Goodyear  died  in  London  the  year 
1658.  At  the  election,  May  1658,  Mr.  Newman 
came  in  Governor,  and  Mr.  Leet  Deputy-Governor. 
Matthey/ Gilbert.  Benjamin  Fenn,  and  Jaij3er  Crane, 
Magiftrates  :  W;dceman  Treafiirer,  Wihiam  Gibbard, 
Secretary,  and  Kimberly  Mirlhal.  Li  1659,  the  lame, 
only  Robert  Treat,  of  Mih^brd,  inflead  oi:  Mr.  Fenn. 
Ln  1660  the  fame.  Governor  Newman  died  Novem- 
ber 18,  1660:  and  at  x\z  acceffion  of  the  Judges, 
March  i66i,  they  ilcod  t-:::j  : 

Wiliiami  Leet,  of  Gr.ilfcrd,   Deputy-Governor. 

Matthew  Gilbert,  of  Nev/- Haven, "^ 

Robert  1 1 e:it,  ofMih'brd,  >Magl:'lraies. 

JafperCrane,  ofBranford,  J 

John  Wakeman,  Treafurer," 

'" ' '    '"of  N.  Haven. 


John  Wakeman,  Treafurer,"^ 
WiUiam  Gibbard,  Secretary,  V-Ali 
i  homas  Kimberly,  Marihal,  J 


Thefe,  with  the  four  deputies  of  New- Haven  town 
«oiirt,  were  the  principal  men  concerned  in  the  tranf- 
aclions  about  the  Judge?.  At  the  eledion,  May  2g, 
1661,  th.e  critical  time,  the  freemen  concluded  to  aug- 
ment the  Magiftracy  to  five,  though  for  fevcral  years 
they  had  but  three,  befidcs  the  two  Governors;  ani 
accordingly  the  elefli on,  i66r,  flood  thus  : 


®F    KING    CHARLES     I.  43 

Ceiirt  of  Ele^'iQrU   1()th  May^    1661.  t 
William  Leet  was  chofen  Governor. 
Matthev/  Gilbert,  Deputy- Governor. 
Benjamin  Fenn  "^ 

.  Robert  Treat,  | 

Jnfper  Crane,  )>  Chofen  ^vlagidrates 

John  Wakeman,  | 

William  Gibbard  J 

All  took  the  oath  of  office  but  Mr.  Wakeman  and 
Mr.  Gibbard,  wlio  refigncd.  Mr.  Fenn  took  the  oath 
*'  with  this  explanation  (before  the  oath  was  adminifter- 
edy  that  he  would  take  the  oath  to  acl  in  his  place  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  this  jurifdiclion.  But  in  cafe 
any  buiinef?  t'l-om  without  incnild  prefent,  he  conceived 
he  fhould  give  no  offence  if  he  did  not  attend  it  :  who 
deHred  that  ib  it  might  be  underftobd." 
Roger  Ailing,  Treafurer. 
James  Bifhop,   Secretary. 

Thomas  Kimberly,   Mar/hal. — All  for  the  year 
enfuing. 

General  Court ,  May2(),   i66r. 
Prefent, 
The  Governor. 
D  eputy- Governor. 
Mr.  Fenn,  Mr.  Treat,  Mr.  Crane. 
Deputies. 
Lieutenant  Nafh,  1  xt       rt 

J  onn  Cooper,  J 

Tohn  Fletcher,  1  ri/i-ir     1 

l-homas  Welch,  |Mi!ford. 

Mr.  Robert  Kite  hell,        1  r-   -ir    i 
John  Fowler,  JGuihord. 

Richard  Law,  1  c.      r    j 

Francis  Bell,  )  Stamford. 

Barnabas  Horton,  "to      ,    , , 

William  Furrier,  joouthold. 

Lieutenant  Swaine, 
Lawrence  Ward, 

•j-  Nexv -Haven  College  Records 


aven. 


JBranf 


ford." 


44  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Having  exhibited  this  fynoptical  view  of  the  polity 
and  government,  I  Ihall  next  make  a  chronological 
ftatement  of  events  and  occurrencies  to  be  afterwards 
verified  and  enlarged  upon. 

1660 — I.  March 'J.  The  Judges  arrived  at  New- 
Haves  and  appeared  publicly,  having  in  their  way  lirfl 
called  upon,  and  been  hofpitably  received  by  Governor 
Wiiithrop  ;  and  been  in  like  manner  received  by  Go- 
vernor Leet. 

27.  Went  to  Milford,  as  if  departing  for  Manha" 
dos,  or  New- York  ;  but  returned  in  the  night,  and 
were  fecreted  at  Mr.  Davenport's  till  the  30th  of  April, 
and  at  Mr.  Jones's  till  nth  of  May. 

April.  The  King's  warrant  arrived  at  Bofton  ; — 
where  they  had  previoufly,  upon  feeing  the  King's  pro- 
clamation from  Barbadoes,  in  March,  made  a  ficlitious 
fearch  through  MaiTachufetts. 

May  II.  Removed  from  Jones's  to  the  Mills,  two  ^ 
miles  from  town.  On  the  fame  day  Kellond  and  Kirk 
arrived  at  Governor  Leet's,  with  only  the  copy  of  the 
King's  order,  fent  by  the  Governor  of  Bofton  ;  on 
which  Governor  Leet  did  not  a6t  decidedly  :  yet  fent  a 
letter  to  magiftrate  Gilbert,  with  advice  of  the  town 
deputies,  to  fearch  and  apprehend.  The  Judges  had 
notice,  and  left  Jones's  for  the  woods ;  yet  delignedly 
appeared  tv/ice  afterwards,  while  the  purfulvants  were 
in  town — Firfl:  at  the  bridge,  again  at  Mrs.  Eyers's. 

13.  The  purfulvants  arrived  in  New-Haven.  The 
Governor  and  Magiftrates  convene  there  the  fame  day, 
and  under  grea4  prelTure  and  perplexity,  tlie  purfulvants 
demanding  a  warrant  In  the  King's  name  for  a  general 
fearch— which  was  refufed.  On  this  day  it  is  fuppofed 
the  fingular  and  dangerous  events  happened,  partly  be- 
fore the  Governor  arrived  In  town,  by  the  Marfl:ia1:>  at- 
tempting to  take  the  Judges  near  the  bridge,  which 
iiiufthave  been  by  a  warrant  from  Mr.  Gilbert,  though 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  45 

MOt  at  firfl  to  be  found — partly  afterwards  at  Mrs.  Ey- 
crs's.  The  Judges  this  day  retired  and  went  to  Hatch- 
et-Harbor, and  tiience  to  the  Cave  prepared  by  Sperry, 
condu6led  by  Jones  and  Biirral.  After  the  purfuivants 
were  gone,  and  before  the  feilion  of  Aflembly,  a  tho- 
rough but  iilufory  fearch  was  made  by  order  of  the  Ma- 
giftrates.  The  prelfure  (o  great  and  dangerous,  that 
ieveral  dechned  ferving  in  ofncc  the  next  Aliembly  and 
town  court. 

May  17.  The  AiTembly  convened  fpeedily  in  four 
•ays  after  the  purfuivants  arrived  in  town,  and  perhaps 
in  two  days  after  their  departure.  To  whora  the  Go- 
vernor dating,  that  upon  receiving  the  King's  real  or- 
der, he  had  iifued  a  warrant,  and  had  caufed  fearch  to 
be  made  ;  every  requifite  feemed  to  have  been  already 
done,  and  fo  the  Aifembly  had  nothing  further  to  do  in 
the  cafe. 

29.  Came  on  the  General  Eledion  ;  when  the 
Court  found  no  neceility  of  doing  any  thing  further 
about  the  Judges.  Yet  as  the  Governor  and  Mr.  Gil- 
bert were  in  danger,  it  was  concluded  that  the  Judges 
Ihould  furrender,  which  they  (lood  ready  to  do. 

ytme  II.  The  Judges  left  the  Cave,  and  v/cnt  over 
to  Guilford  to  furrender  themfelves  to  the  Governor  : 
who,  though  he  never  faw  them,  yet  lodged  them  feve- 
ral  nights  in  his  (lone  cellar,  and  fent  them  food,  or 
they  w  ere  fed  from  his  table.  Here  and  at  Mr.  Roiie- 
ter's  they  fpent  above  a  week,  while  it  wtxS  deliberated 
whether  tlie  furrendery  could  or  could  not  be  put  OiT, 
or  at  lead  deferred.  Finally,  their  friends  would  not 
fuiTer  them  to  furrender  at  this  time  ;  and  it  was  con- 
cluded that  they  ihould  retire  a^rain  to  their  conceal- 
ment.    Upon  vv^hich  they  returned  to  New-Haven. 

yune  20.  They  appeared  publicly  at  New-Kaven  ; 
and  though  cautioufly,  yet  uefignedly. 

24.  Tliev  retired  into  the  woods  to  their  Cave,  and 
ne\'er  more  came  into  ovcix  life,  or  out  of  concealment. 


46  KI2T0RY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGED 

But  wandering  about  and  fhifting  their  feveral  harbors^ 
were  fomc  times  at  Hatcliet-Harbor,  fome  times  at 
Totoket,  fome  times  at  Paugaifct,  and  at  t'lree  diiler- 
ent  places  or  lodgments  behind  the  Weil- Rock,  until 
the  19th  of  Augiift,  166 1,  when  they  removed  and  fet- 
tled in  fecrecy  at  MiUord  for, two  years.  At  times  the 
places  of  their  lodgments  v/ere  fecretly  made  known  to 
the  Governor,  to  whom  they  everilood  ready  to  furren- 
der  themfelves. 

July  J^.  The  Governor  and  Magifcrates  of  MaiTa- 
chufetts  colony  vvere  greatly  agitated  both  for  themlclves 
and  for  New-Haven.  Tliey  vv^rote  a  fraternal  but  re- 
prehenfory  letter  to  Ne^v-Haven.  Upon  which  Gov- 
ernor Leer  convened  the  General  Aifembly. 

Aug.  I.  The  General  Court  met  at  New-Haven, 
and  wrote  an  anfwer  to  Bofcon. 

SepL  5.  Declaration  of  tl>e  Commiia oners  of  the 
United  Colonies,  that  fearch  had  a£luaily  been  made  in 
all  the  Colonies  without  fucceis,  and  enjoining  and  or- 
dering fijither  fearch  and  apprehenfion.  Tins  very 
much  ended  the  bufinef-,  and  the  Judges  left  at  red,  at 
leail  no  further  moleited> 

The  New-Haven  politicians  of  that  day  judged  more 
juftly  and  with  deeper  difcernment,  and  acted  with 
more  ultimate  hrmnefs,  on  this  great  and  trying  occa- 
fton,  than  their  brethren  at  Boiton.  While  Bofloa 
trembled  for  them  ;  they  knew  and  felt  themfelves, 
from  circumftances  then  unknown  to  Bafton,  to  have 
cond!i6led  whh  fafety  and  fecurity  in  this  dangerous 
fituation.  Having  made  this  ftatcnicnt  of  facls,  1  pro- 
ceed to  adduce  extra£ls  from  the  public  records,  and 
traditionary  elucidations  upon  them. 

*'///  a  meeting  of  the  General  Court  foi'  the  yurifdiufloji. 

May  17,   1661. 

"  The  Deputy-Governor  declared  to  the  Court  the 

caufe  of  the  meeting,  viz.  that  he  had  received  a  copy 

ei  a  letter  from  his  Majelly  with  uiiother  letter  from 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  47 

the  Governor  of  the  jMairachiifetts,  for  the  apprehend- 
ing of  Colonel  Whalley  nnd  Colonel  Goffe,  which  let- 
ters he  fliewed  to  the  Conrt,  acquainted  them  that 
forthwith  upon  the  receipt  of  them,  granted  his  letters 
to  the  Magiftrate  of  Nev/ -Haven,  by  the  advice  and 
concurrence  of  the  Deputies,  there  to  make  prefent  and 
diligent  fearch  throughout  their  town  for  the  faid  per- 
fons  accordingly  ;  which  letters  the  melfengers  carried, 
but  found  not  the  Magiftrate  at  home  ;  and  that  he 
liimfeif  followed  after  the  meffengers,  and  caiije  into 
New-Haven  foon  after  them,  the  13th  May,  1661, 
bringing  with  him  Mr.  Crane,  Magiltrate  at  Branford, 
who  when  they  were  come  fent  pre(l!ntly  for  the  Ma- 
giftrates  of  New-Haven  and  Milford,  and  the  Deputies 
of  New-Haven  Court.  The  Magiftrates  thus  fent  for 
not  being  yet  come,  they  advifed  with  the  Deputies 
about  the  matter,  and  after  a  ihort  debate  with  the  De- 
puties, was  wTiting  a  warrant  for  fearch  of  the  above 
laid  Colonels,  but  the  Magiftrates  before  fpoken  of 
being  come,  upon  further  confideration  (the  cafe  being 
weighty)  it  was  refolved  to  call  the  General  Court,  for 
the  cfFeAual  carrying  on  of  the  work.  The  Deputy- 
Governor  further  informed  the  Court,  that  himfelf  and 
the  Magiftrates  told  the  meftengers,  that  they  were  far 
from  hindering  the  fearch,  and  they  were  forry  that  it 
fo  fell  out,  and  were  refolved  to  purfue  the  matter,  that 
an  anfwer  fhould  be  prepared  againft  their  return  from 
the  Dutch.  The  Court  being  met,  when  they  heard 
the  matter  declared,  and  had  heard  his  Majefty's  letter, 
and  the  letter  from  the  Governor  of  the  Maifachufetts, 
they  all  declared  they  did  not  know  that  they  were  in 
the  colony,  or  had  been  for  divers  weeks  paft,  and  both 
Magiftrates  aad  Deputies  wifiied  a  fearch  had  been 
fooner  made,  and  did  now  order,  that  the  Magiftrates 
take  care  and  fend  forth  the  vvarrant,  tbifit  a  fpeedy  dili- 
gent fearch  be  made  throughout  the  Jurifdi6lion,  in 
purfuance  of  his  Majefty's  commands,  according  to  the 
letters  received,  and  that  irom  tlie  fcyeral  plantations  a 


4B  HvI^TQl8Y-,OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

return  be  made,  and  that  it  may  be  recorded.  And 
whereas  there  have  been  rumors  of  their  late  being  known 
at  Nev/-Hav€n,  it  hath  been  enquired  into,  and  feveral 
perfons  examined,  but  could  find  no  truth  in  thofe  re- 
ports, Zind  for  any  that  doth  appear,  are  but  unjuil  iuf- 
picicns,  and  groundlefs  reports  againil:  the  place,  to 
raifeill  furmife's  and  reproaches."         [_N.  H.  Records. 

Thofe  in  adminillration  at  this  critical  time  Vv'ill  ap- 
pear by  the  following  extra6ts  from  the  public  records. 

*^  At  a  Gener-aJ  Court  held  at  Neiv- Haven  for  ths  Ju- 
rifditlloUy  Aiigiiftijf,   l66i«    ' 

The  Governor, 
Deputy-Governor, 
Mr.  Benjamin  Sterne,     "j 
Mr.  Bobeit  Treat,  pvlagiftrates, 

Mr.  Jafper  Crane,  ^  J 

Deputies. 

John  Cooper,  \  New-Haven, 

James  Biihop,  J 

/t^^^  ^^^'^lf\\  \  Milford. 

I  homas  Welch,  3 

M^-  Rober  Kitchill,     1  ^^.^^^^.^^ 

George  Hubbard,  3 

Richard  Law,  Stamford. 


Lieut.  Swaine,  '   1  Branford. 

Lawrence  \vard,  3 


*^  The  Governor  informed  the  Court  of  the  cccafion 
of  calling  them  together  at  this  time  ;  and  among  the 
reft,  the  main  thing  infifted  upon  was,  to  confider 
what  application  to  make  to  the  King  in  the  cafe  we 
now  Hood,  being  like  to  be  rendered  worfe  to  the  King 
than  the  other  colonies,  they  feeing  it  an  incumbent 
duty  fo  to  do.  The  Governor  informed  the  Couit  alfo, 
that  he  had  received  a  letter  from  the  Council  in  th« 
bay,  which  was  read,  wherein  was  intimated  of  fundry 
complaints  in   England  made  againil  Navz-England, 


OP    KING    CHARLES     I.  40 

SincUhcit  the  committee  in  England  take  ■pticeof  the 
Degledl  01  the  other  colonies  i:i  their  non  appiication 
to  the  King. 

Now  the  Court  taking  the  matter  into  ferioriS  con- 
fideration,  after  much  debate  and  advice,  concuided 
that  the  writing  iliould  be.  lent  to  the  Council  in  ih^ 
Bay,  the  copy  whereof  is  as  follows  : 

Honorable  Gentlemen^ 

**  Yours,  dated  the  4th  of  July,  (61]  with  a  poftcrlpt 
of  the  15th,  we  received  July  30th,  which  was  com- 
municated to  our  General  Court,  Augull:  ill:.  We 
have  confidered  what  you  pleafe  to  relate  of  thofe  com- 
plaints made  againft  New-England,  and  of  what  fpirit 
they  are  reprefented  to  be  of,  upon  occafion  of  that 
falfe  report  againft  Captain  Leveret,  who  we  believe 
to  have  more  wifdom  and  honefty  than  fo  to  report ; 
and  we  are  alTured  that  New-England  is  not  of  that  fpi- 
rit. And  as  for  the  other  colonies'  negled  in  non  ap- 
plication with  yourfelves,  to  his  Majefty  the  laft  year, 
it  hath  not  been  forborne  upon  any  fuch  account,  as 
we  for  ourfelves  profefs  and  believe  for  our  neighbors. 
But  only  in  fuch  new  and  accuftomed  matters,  were  ia 
the  dark  to  hit  it  in  way  of  agreement,  as  to  a  former 
fatisfaclion  that  might  be  acceptable  ;  but  fmce  that  of 
your  colonies  hath  come  to  our  view,  it  is  much  to  our 
content,  and  we  folemnly  profefs  from  our  hearts  to 
own  and  fay  the  fame  to  his  Majefty  ;  and  do  engage 
to  him  full  fubje6i;ion  and  allegiance  with  yourfelves 
accordingly,  with  profelhon  of  the  fame  q\yA\:.  in  com- 
ing with  like  permiihonand  combining  with  yourfclve-s 
and  the  other  neighboring  colonies,  as  by  the  preface 
of  our  articles  may  appear,  upon  which  grounds  \yc 
both  fupplicate  and  hope  to  find  a  like  protedion,  pri- 
vileges, immunities  and  favors,  from  his  Royal  Majeily. 
And  as  for  that  you  note  of  our  not  fo  diligent  attention 
to  his  Majefty's  warrant,  we  have  given  you  an  account 
©f  before,  that  it  was  not  done  out  of  any  miad  to  llight 
E 


5©  ilSTORT    OF    THREg    01?    TKS   JUDGES 

er  dlfown  his  Majefty's  authority,  &c.  in  the  leaft,  n?» 
out  of  favor  to  the  Colonels,  nor  did  it  hinder  the  effe6t 
of  their  apprehending,  they  being  gone  before  the  war- 
rant came  into  our  colony,  as  is  fince  fully  proved  ; — 
But  only  there  was  a  gainfaying  of  the  Gentlemen's  ear- 
rieftncfs  v.'ho  retarded   their  own  bufmefs  to  vv-ait  upon 
ours  without  commiifion,  and  alfo  out  of  fcruple  of  con- 
fcience  and  fear  of  non  faithfulnefs  to  our  people,  who 
committed  all  our  authority  to  us  under  oath  by  owning 
a  generrd  Governor,  unto  whom  the  warrant   was  di- 
•Tecied,  as  fuch,  implicitly,  and  that  upon  mifinforma- 
't-ion  to  his  Majefty  given,  though  other   Magiilrates 
v/ere  mentioned,  yet  (as  fome  thought)  it  was  in  or  un- 
der him,  which  overiight  (if  fo  it  fhali  be  apprehended) 
we  hope  upon  cur  humble  acknowledgement  his   Ma- 
jefty will  pardon,  as  alfo  that  other  and  greater  bewail- 
ed remiffion  in  one,  in  not  fecuring  them  till  we  came 
vind  knew  their  place  out  of  over  much  beUef  of  their 
pretended  reality  to  refume  upon  them.felves  according 
\o  their  promife  to  fave  their  country  harmlefs,  which 
failing  is  fo  much  the  more  to  be  lamented,  by  how- 
much  the  m>ore  we  had  ukd  all  diligence  to  prefs  for 
.inch  a  delivery  upon  fome  of  thofe  that  had  ffiewed  them 
former  kindnefs,  as  had  been  dons  other  where,  whea 
as  none  of  the  Magiilrates  could  otherwife  do  any  thing 
in  it,  they  being  altogether  ignorant  where  they  were, 
«r  how  to  come  at  them,  ncr  truly  do  tliey  now,  nor 
«an  we  believe  that  they  are  hid  any  where  in  this  colo- 
ny,  fince  tliat  departure  or  defcatment.     But  however 
ihe  confequence  prove,  we  muH  wholly-  rely  on  the 
ancrcy  of  God  and  the  King,  with  promife  to  do  our 
siideavor  to  regain  them  if  opportunity  fcrve.     Where- 
5()re,  dn  this  our  great  difcrtiir-,  v/e  earneftly  defire  your 
^.id  to  prefent  us  to  his  Majefty  in  our  cordially  owning 
and  complying  v/ithyour  addrefs  as  if  it  had  been  done 
and  faidby  cur  very  felves,  who  had  begun  to  draw  up 
fome  tiling  that-  way,  but  were  difiiearteEcd  through 
U-n[<i  of  fvLbknefs  iuid  iacapacity  to  procure  a  me-et 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  ^l 

agent  to  prefent  it  in  our  difadvantaged  (late,  by  thefb 
providences  occiiring,  hoping  you  will  favor  us  in  this 
latter  and  better  pleafmg  manner  of  doini%  which  we 
fhall  take  thankl'uliy  from  you,  and  be  Vi'illing  to  join 
in  the  proportionate  ihare  of  charge  lor  a  common  agent. 
to  foUcitNev<r-England's  affairs  in  England,  wliich  wc. 
think  necelTary  to  procure  the  beneBt  of  all  ails  of  in-. 
demnity;,  grace,  or  favor,  on  all  cur  behalfs,  as  vrell 
as  in  other  refpecls  to  prevent  the  mifchiefs  offuchas. 
malign  and  fcek  to  niiiinform  againft  us,  of  wluch  foil; 
there  be  many  to  complot  now-a-days  with  great  fedu^ 
lity.  If  you  fliall  defert  us  in  this  aihi'Slion  to  prefent 
ijs  as  before  by  the  tranfcript  of  this  our  letter  or  other- 
wife,  together  with  the  petition  and  acknowledgement 
herewithall  fent,  we  fliall  yet  look  up  to  our  God  tlxg^ 
aeliverance  may  arife  another  v/ay  relting." 

l^Exfr.  hleW'Haven  Records. 

Thus  far  had  I  written,  when  I  thought  of  looking 
into  Governor  Hutchinfon's  Supplemeiat,  or  Collection 
of  Original  Papers,  edited  by  him,  1769,  to  fee  if  I 
could  colle6l;  fome  fcattered  lights.  Upon  this  I  found 
what  I  had  read  many  years  ago,  but  which  was  out  o^ 
my  mind,  the  purfuivants'  Report,  in  which  there  i« 
an  elucidation  of  fome  dates  and  tranfa6lions  alrea- 
dy alluded  to,  and  wherein  there  are  fome  omif- 
fions,  as  refpeiling  Mr.  Davenport  and  the  thorough 
examination  of  his  houfe,  and  the  fearch  of  other  houf- 
es  in  town  and  the  vicinity,  the  memoir  of  which  is 
preferved  in  the  uniform  and  conftant  tradition  in  Nevf- 
Haven. 

I  fhall  proceed  to  give  the  copies  of  authentic  docu- 
ments, as  well  to  illullrate  tlie  hiilory,  as  to  fhew  the 
preiling  danger  in  which  thefe  hunted  exiles  were  in- 
volved ;  and  alfo  to  Ihewthe  diilrelfes  with  which  Mr. 
Davenport,  and  Governor  Leet>  and  the  Magiftrate^ 
of  Nei¥- Haven  colony  were  incompalled,  by  their  per-« 
feverance  in  protedling  and  concealing  thefe  mcrit<^p?» 


•52  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

ous  exiles — meritorious^  if  the  caufe  in  which  they  fur- 

iered  was  juit. 

Cofy  of  a  Repo'/'t  made  to  Governor  Endlcotty  hy  Thomat 
Kellond  and  Thomas  Kirk, 

*'  Honorable  Sir, 

"  We  according  to  your  honor's  order  departed  m 
fearch  after  Colonels  GoiFe  and  Whalley  fperfons  de- 
clared traitors  to  his  Majefty)  from  Bofton  May  the  7th, 
1 66 1,  about  fix  o'clock  at  night,  and  arrived  at  Hart- 
ford the  lothday,  and  repaired  to  Governor  Winthrop> 
iand  gave  him  your  honor's  letter  and  his  Majedy's  or- 
der for  the  apprehending  of  Colonels  Whalley  and 
GofFe,  who  gave  us  an  account  that  they  did  not  flay 
there,  but  went  direclly  for  New-Haven,  but  informed 
Bs  that  one  Symon  Lobden  guided  them  to  the  town. 
The  honorable  Governor  carried  himfelf  very  ncbly 
tons,  and  was  very  diligent  to  Ripply  us  with  all  manner 
ofconveniencies  for  the  profecution  of  them,  and  pro- 
inifed  all  diligent  fearch  fliould  be  made  after  them  in 
that  jurifditStion,  which  was  afterwards  performed. 
The  nth  day  we  arrived  at  Guilford,  and  repaired  to 
the  Depiity-Governor,  William  Leet,  and  delivered 
him  your  honor's  letter  and  the  copy  of  his  Majefty's 
order  for  the  apprehending  of  the  aforefaid  perfons, 
with  whom  at  that  time  were  feveral  perfons.  After 
the  perufal  of  them,  he  began  to  read  them  audibly, 
whereupon  we  told  him  it  was  convenient  to  be  more 
private  in  fuch  concernments  as  that  was  ;  upon  which 
ivithdrawing  to  a  chamber,  he  told  us  he  had  not  feen 
the  two  Colonels  not  in  nine  weeks.  We  acquainted 
him  with  the  information  we  had  received  that  they 
were  al  Nev/-Haven  fmce  that  time  he  mentioned, 
and  thereupon  dcfired  him  to  furniili  us  with  horfes, 
&c.  which  was  piepared  Vvith  fome  delays,  which  wc 
took  notice  of  to  him,  and  after  our  partipg  with  him 
out  of  his  houfe  and  in  the  way  to  the  ordinary,  came 
It  us  one  Dji-in'*5  Scranton,  and  told  us  he  would  war- 


Of    KING    tHAl^LSS     !.  '^ 

fsnt  that  Colonels  GofFe  and  Whulley  at  tli6  time  of- 
his  fpeaking  were  harbored  at  the  hoiife  of  one  Mr.  Da- 
venport, a  minifter  at  New-Haven,  and  that  one 
Goodman  Bifhop,  of  the  town  of  Guilford,  was  able 
to  give  us  the  like  account,  and  that,  without  all  quef- 
tion.  Deputy  Leet  knew  as  much,  and  that  Mr.  Da- 
venport had  put  in  ten  pounds  worth  of  frefh  provifions 
at  one  time  into  his  houfe,  and  that  it  vvas  imagined  il 
was  purpofely  for  the  entertainment  of  them. 

And  the  faid  Scranton  faid  further,  that  GofFe  and 
Whalley  fhould  fay,  that  if  they  had  but  two  hundred 
friends  that  would  (land  by  them,  they  would  not  care 
for  Old  or  New-England  :  Whereupon  we  ailced  if  he 
would  depofe  to  that  :  He  replied  he  would,  that  it 
v/as  openly  fpoken  by  them  in  the  head  of  a  compan^r 
in  the  field  a  training.  Which  words  V7ere  alfo  con- 
firmed by  feveral  others,  as  alfo  information  that  GofFe 
and  Whalley  were  feen  very  lately  betwixt  the  houfesof 
Mr.  Davenport  and  one  Jones,  and  it  was  imagined 
that  one  lay  at  one  of  their  houfes,  and  the  other  at  the 
other's.  Upon  which  we  went  back  to  the  Deputy's 
and  required  our  horfes,  with  aid,  and  a  power  t» 
fearch  and  apprehend  them  ;  horfes  wree  provided  for 
us,  but  h6  refufed  to  give  us  any  power  to  apprehend 
tiiem,  nor  order  any  other,  and  faid  he  could  do  nothing 
until  he  had  fpoken  vvith  one  Mr.  Gilbert  and  the  reit 
of  the  Magiftrates :  Upon  which  we  told  him  we  fliould 
go  to  New -Haven  and  flay  till  we  heard  from  him, 
but  before  we  took  horfe  the  aforefaid  Dennis  Scranton 
gave  us  information,  there  was  an  Indian  of  the  town 
Vv^antingy  v/hich  he  told  us  was  to  give  notice  of  our 
coming.  But  to  our  certain  knowledge  one  John  Meg- 
ges  w^as  fent  a  horfe-back  before  us,  and  by  his  fpeedy 
and  unexpeded  going  fo  early  before  day  v/as  to  give 
them  an  information,  and  the  rather  becaufe  by  the  de- 
lays was  ufed  it  was  break  of  day  before  we  got  to  horfe, 
fo  he  got  there  before  us  ;    upon  our  fufpicio^i  we  re- 

E  2 


54  Hi"!TO£y  OF  THREE  OF  THE   JUDGES 

quired  the  Deputy  that  the  laid  John  Megges  might  bi? 
examined  what  his  buiinefs  was  that  might  occafion  his 
l(j  early  going  ;  to  which  the  Deputy  anrvvered,  that 
he  did  not  know  any  fiich  thing,  and  refufed  to  exa- 
mine him  ;  ap.d  being  at  New-Haven,  which  was  the 
thirteenth  day,  the  Deputy  arrived  within  two  hours  or 
thereabouts  after  us,  and  came  to  us  to  the  Court  Cham- 
ber, where  v/e  again  acquainted  him  with  the  inform- 
ation we  had  received,  and  that  we  had  caufc  to  believe 
they  were  concealed  in  New-Haven,  and  th.ereupon 
we  required  his  alTiilance  and  aid  for  their  apprehenfion  i 
To  which  he  anfw^ered  that  he  did  not  believe  they 
T/ere  there  :  W  hereupon  we  defired  him  to  empov/er 
us,  or  order  others  for  it  :  To  which  he  gave  us  this^ 
anfyver,  That  he  could  not,  nor  would  not  make  us 
Magiftrates  :  We  replied,  we  ourfdves  wculd  psrfon- 
ally  adventure  in  the  fearch  and  apprehenfion  of  thenX 
in  two  houfes  where  v/e  had  reafon  to  imagine  they  lay 
hid,  if  they  would  give  way  to  it  and  enable  us  :  To 
which  he  replied,  he  neither  would  nor  could  not  do 
•any  thing  until  the  freemen  met  together.  To  which 
we  fet  before  him  the  danger  of  that  delay  and  their  in- 
evitable efcape,  and  how  nii:ch  the  honor  and  fervice 
of  his  Majeity  was  dsfpifed  and  trampled  on  by  him, 
'^nd  that  we  fuppofed  by  his  unwillingnefs  to  afRft  in  the 
spprehenfion,  he  w^as  v.dllingthey  lliould  efcape  :  After 
which  he  left  us  and  went  to  feverul  of  the  Magiftrates 
and  were  together  five  or  iix  hours  in  confultation,  and 
upon  breaking  up  of  their  Ccimcil,  they  would  not  nor 
could  not  do  any  thing  until  they  had  called  a  general 
Court  of  the  freemen  :  Whereupon  we  reprefented  to 
them  your  Honor's  and  Governor  Winthrop's  warrants 
as  precedents,  who  upon  the  receipt  of  his  Majefty's 
pleaf.'re  and  order  concerning  the  (iiid  perfons,  flood 
not  upon  fuch  niceties  and  formalities,  but  endeavored 
to  make  all  expedition  in  feizing  on  tliem,  if  to  be 
found  in  their  government,  and  alfo  how  your  honor 
fead  recomrneadcd  this  grand  aiFuir  to  hiai,  and  ho/r 


OF    &!!?(5    (?HARL£S      f.  £^ 

mueh  the  honor  and  juftice  of  his  Majefly  was  con- 
cerned, and  how  ill  his  facred  Majefty  would  relent 
fuch  hoiTid  and  deteftab'e  conccahnents  and  abeuings  of 
fuch  traitors  and  regicides  as  they  were,  and  allied  him 
whether  he  would  honor  and  obey  the  King  or  no  in 
this  affair,  and  fet  before  him  the  danger  which  by 
law  is  incurred  by  any  one  that  conceals  or  abets  trai-' 
tors  ;  to  ^vhich  the  Deputy  Leet  anfwered,  we  honor 
his  Majefly,  but  we  have  tender  confciences. 

To  which  we  replied,  that  we  believed  that  he  knevr 
wliCie  they  were,  and  only  pretended  tendernefs  of  con- 
fcience  for  a  refufal  :  upon  which  they  drew  into  con- 
fultation  again,  and  after  two  or  three  hours  fpent,  in 
the  evening  the  Deputy  and  Magiftrates  came  to  us  at 
the  head  of  the  flairs  in  the  ordinary,  and  takes  one  of 
us  by  the  hand,  and  wilhed  he  had  bezn  a  ploughman 
and  had  never  been  in  the  office,  fnice  he  found  it  fd 
weighty. 

To  which  we  told  him,  that  for  their  refpe61:  to  two 
tr.iitors  they  would  do  themfelves  injury  and  po/Iibly 
ruin  themfelves  and  the  \vhole  colony  oi  New- Haven, 
and  (lill  cofitinuing  to  prefs  them  to  their  duty  and  loy- 
alty to  his  Majefty,  and  whether  they  would  own  his 
Majelly  or  no,  it  was  anfwered,  they  would  firil 
know  vv'hether  his  Majefty  would  own  them. 

This  was  the  fubfiance  of  our  proceedings^  there 
was  other  circumftantial  expreffions  which  are  too 
tedious  to  trouble  your  honor  withall,  aad  which  we 
have  given  your  honor  a  verbal  account  of,  and  conceive 
it  needkfs  to  innft  any  further  ;  and  fo  finding  them 
obftinate  and  pertinacious  in  their  contempt  of  his  Ma- 
jeily,  we  came  away  the  next  day  in  profecution  after 
them,  according  to  inflr unions,  to  the  Governor  of 
Manhados,  from  whom  we  received  civil  refpe6ls,  and 
i\  promife,  if  they  were  within  his  jurifdi6lion,  we 
Ihould  command  what  aid  we  pleafed,  but  for  fending 
of  them  according  to  your  hoiior's  requeil,  he  could 


5^        HISTORY    OF    THREE    Of    THE    JUDGES 

not  arxfvver  it  to  his  Mailers  at  home,  but  if  they  camt 
there  he  ihould  give  your  honor  timely  notice  :  Where- 
upon we  requeiled  his  honor  the  Governor  of  Manhados 
to  lay  a  reftraint  upon  all  Shipping  from  tranfporting 
them,  which  he  promifed  ihould  be  done,  and  alfo  to 
give  order  to  his  iifcal  or  chief  officer  to  make  private- 
fearch  in  all  veffels  for  them  that  were  going  thence. 

Upon  which  we  finding  any  other  means  would  bs 
ineffeilual,  w^e  made  our  return  hither  by  fca,  to  give 
your  honor  an  account,  and  to  which  (when  your  ho- 
nor (hall  require  it)  are  ready  to  depofe  to  the  truth  of 
it,  and  remain, 

Sir, 

Your  honor's  humble  fervants, 
Thomas  Kellond^ 
Thomas  Kirk. 
Bofton,  May  29ih,  1661. 

30th  May,  i66r. 
Mr.  Thomas  Kellond  and  Mr.  Thomas  Kirk 
having  delivered  this  paper  to  the  Governor  as  their  re- 
turn, in  anfwer  to  what  they  were  employed,  depofcd 
before  the  Governor  and  Magiftrates,  that  what  is  there 
exprefTed  is  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but 
ihe  truth. 

Per  Edward  Rawson,  Secretary." 

Copy  of  a  Letter  from   Secretary  Rawfon   to   WilUafil 
Lcety  Efq.  Governor  of  New-Haven  "jHrifdiaion. 

"  Honored  Sir, 
*'  The  Council  of  our  jurifdi£lion  being  aifembled 
the  4th  infrant  at  Bofton,  ordered  me  to  fignify  to  you 
what  lately  they  have  received  from  England  by  Cap- 
tain Leverett,  his  letter  being  dated  12th  April,  1661, 
who  tells  us  that  however  our  addrefs  to  his  Majefty 
came  feafonably,  and  had  a  gracious  anfwer,  yet  many 
complaints  and  claims  are  multiplied  againd:  us,  and 
that  we  arc  like  to  hear  ironr.bis  MajeRy's  committee 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  57 

v»'hat  tliofe  complaints  are,  and  what  is  expe£led  from 
us  ;  that  an  oath  was  produced  againft  him  for  faying 
that  rather  than  we  (hould  or  would  admit  of  appeab 
here,  we  would  or  fliould  fell  the  country  to  the  Spani- 
ards :  w^hich  though  he  abfohilely  denied  that  ever  he 
fo  faid,  and  that  if  he  fiiould  have  fo  faid  he  had  wrong- 
ed his  country  very  much,  fome  of  the  faid  committee 
faid  the  words  if  ipoken  they  were  pardoned,  but  they 
looked  at  the  words  not  fo  much  his  as  the  fpirit  of  the. 
country,  and  though  again  he  defired  that  the  country 
might  not  fufler  in  their  minds  for  what  he  knew  was 
fo  much  and  fo  far  from  them,  as  to  think  ought  in 
any  fuch  refpe61:,  yet  one  of  them  proceeded  to  quef- 
tion  him,  whether  if  we  dared  we  would  not  caft  off  our 
allegiance  and  fubjedion  to  his  Majefty  :  He  anfwered, 
he  did  apprehend  we  T?ere  honell  men  and  had  declared 
in  our  application  to  his  Majefty  the  contrary,  and 
therefore  could  not  have  fuch  thoughts  of  us  without 
the  breach  of  charity  ;  that  it  is  no  lefs  than  neceifary 
we  had  fome  able  perfon  to  appear  for  us,  well  furniih- 
ed  to  carry  on  our  bufinefs,  which  will  not  be  without 
money  :  that  the  Council  for  plantations  demanded  of 
him  whether  we  had  proclaim.ed  tiie  King,  and  whether 
there  was  not  much  oppofition  to  the  agreeing  of  our 
application.  He  anfwered  he  knew  not,  only  had 
heard  Captain  Bredan  fay  fo,  but  humbly  fubmitted  to 
tlieir  confideration,  that  neither  we  nor  any  other  were 
to  be  concluded  by  debates,  but  by  our  conclufions, 
which  were  fent  and  prefented  to  his  Majefty  in  our 
names.  They  took  notice,  from  enquiry,  that  it  was 
only  from  one  colony,  namely,  Maflachufetts,  and 
have  their  confiderations  of  the  other  colonies  neglects, 
to  fpeak  moft  favorably  thereof.  Thus  far  as  to  the  let- 
ter. Further,  I  am  required  to  fignify  to  you  as  from 
them,  tiiat  the  non  attendance  with  diligence  to  exe- 
cute the  King's  warrant  for  the  apprehending  of  Colo- 
nels  Whalley  and  GotFe  will  much  hazard  the  prefent 
ilateofthefe  coloales  and  your  own  particulaFiv,  i:  not 


5S  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

fome  of  your  perfons,  which  is  not  a  little  afi^j'dive  to 
them.  And  that  in  their  underftanding  there  remains 
no  way  to  expiate  the  ofFence  and  preferve  yc>iJi'l'-;H'e3 
from  the  danger  and  hazard  but  by  apprehending  the 
faid  perfons,  who  as  we  are  informed  are  yet  remaining 
in  the  colony  and  not  above  a  fortnight  fmcc  were  {qqu 
there,  all  which  will  be  againil  you.  Sir,  your  own 
welfare,  the  welfare  of  your  neighbors,  befpeak  your 
unwearied  pains  to  free  yourfelf  and  neighbors.  I  fliali 
not  add,  having  fo  lately  by  a  few  lines  from  our  Gov- 
ernor and  myfelf  looking  much  this  way  commuicated 
our  ienk  and  thoughts  of  your  and  our  troubles,  and 
have  as  yet  received  no  return,  but  comm.end  you  to 
God,  and  his  grace,  for  your  guidance  and  direction  in 
matter  of  fuch  moment,  as  his  Majefty  may  receive 
full  andjuft  fatisfa6lion,  the  mouths  of  all  oppofers  Hop- 
ped, and  the  profeilion  of  the  truth  that  is  in  you  and 
us  may  not  in  the  lead  fuifer  by  your  acting,  is  llip 
prayer  of,  Sir, 

Your  alTured  loving  friend, 

Edward  Rawson,  Secretary. 
In  the  name  and  by  order  ®f  the  Council. 
Bofton,  4th  July,  1661. 

Sir,  fmce  what  I  wrote,  news  and  certain  intelli- 

fence  is  come  hither  of  the  two  Colonels  being  at  New- 
laven,  from.  Saturday  to  Monday  and  publicly  known, 
and  hovv^ever  it  is  given  out  that  they  came  to  furrender 
themfelves  and  pretended  by  Mr.  Gilbert  that  he  looked 
when  they  would  have  come  in  and  delivered  up  them- 
felves, never  fetting  a  guard  about  the  houfe  nor  endea- 
voring to  fecure  them,  but  when  it  was  too  late  to  fend 
to  Totoket,  &c.  Sir  how  this  will  be  takem  is  not  dif- 
ficult to  imagine,  to  be  fure  not  well ;  nay,  will  not 
all  men  condemn  you  as  wanting  to  yourfelves,  and 
that  you  have  fomething  to  rely  on,  at  lead  that  you 
hope  will  anfwer  your  ends  ?  I  am  not  willing  to  med- 
dle with  your  hopes,  but  if  it  be  a  duty  to  obey  fueli 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  59 

lawful  warrants,  as  I  believe  it  is,  the  negle£l  thereof 
will  prove  uncomfortable.  Pardon  me,  Sir,  its  my,  de- 
fire  you  may  regain  your  peace  (and  if  you  pleafe  to 
give  me  notice  when  you  will  fend  the  two  Colonels) 
though  Mr,  Wood  Greene  is  bound  hence  within  a 
month,  yet  if  you  ihall  give  me  affurance  of  their  com- 
ing I  Ihall  not  only  endeavor  but  do  hereby  engage  to 
eaufe  his  flay  a  fortnight,  nay  three  weeks,  rather  than, 
they  ihould  not  be  fent,  expeding  your  anfwer,  remain. 

Sir,  your  aflbred  loving  friend  and  fervant, 

Ebward  Rawson." 

Copy  of  the  Declaration  of*the  CommiJJioners  of  the  Uni- 
ted Colonies  concerning  JVhalley  and  Goffe. 

*'  Whereas  it  appeareth  by  his  Majefty's  order  di- 
rected to  John  Endicett,  Efq.  Governor  of  the  Maffa- 
chufetts,  and  to  all  other  Governors  and  Magiftrates  in 
New-England,  and  by  him  communicated  to  the  re- 
Ipedive  Governors  of  the  United  Colonies,  for  the  ap- 
prehending of  Edward  Whalley  and  William  Goffe, 
who  (land  convicted  of  high  treafon  for  the  horrid  mur- 
der of  his  royal  Father,  as  is  exprelTed  in'the  faid  order, 
and  exempted  from  pardon  by  the  act  of  indemnity  ;  in 
obedience  whereunto  diligent  fearch  hath  been  made 
for  the  faid  perfons  in  the  feveral  colonies  (as  we  are  in- 
formed) and  whereas,  notwithltanding,  it  is  conceived 
probable  that  the  faid  perfons  may  remain  hid  in  fome 
parts  of  Nevv^- England,  thefe  are  therefore  ferioully  to 
iidvife  and  forewarn  all  perfons  whatfoever  within  the 
faid  colonies,  not  to  receive,  harbor,  conceal  or  fuc- 
cour  the  faid  perfons  fo  attainted,  or  either  of  them, 
but  that,  as  they  may  have  any  knowledge  or  informa- 
tion v/here  the  faid  Whalley  and  Goffe  are,  that  thcr 
forthwith  make  known  the  fame  to  fome  of  the  Gov- 
ernors or  Magiftrates  next  refiding,  and  in  the  m.ean 
time  do  their  utmofl:  endeavor  for  their  apprehending 
and  fecuring,  as  they  will  anfv/er  the  contrary  at  their 


6o         HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE   JUPCXS 

iitmoft  peril.  And  we  do  hereby  further  declare  that 
ajlfuch  perfon  or  perfons,  that  fince  the  publication 
of  his  Majefty's  order  have  wittingly  and  wilhngly  en- 
tertained or  harbored  the  aforefaid  Whaliey  and  GoiFe, 
orliereafter  ihall  do  the  like,  have  and  will  incur  his 
Majefty's  higheft  difpleafiire,  as  is  intimated  in  the 
faid  order,  and  will  be  accounted  enemies  to  the  pub- 
lic peace  and  welfare  of  the  United  Colonies,  and  may 
€xpecl  to  be^proceeded  with  accordingly. 

By  the  Commiffioners  of  the  United  Colonics,  at 
their  meeting  at  Hartford,  Sept.  5,  1661. 
John  Mason, 
•Samuel  Willis, 
William  Leet, 
Thomas  Prince, 
Symon  Bradstreet, 
Daniel  Denison, 
Tho's.  Southworth." 
The  icing's  CommiiTioners,  who  were  Colonel  Ni- 
chols, Cartwright,  Carr,  and  Maverick,  in  their  nar- 
rative about  New-England,  1667,  fpeaking  of  thefe 
Judges,    fay,    among  other   accufations,    "  Colonels 
Whallcy  and  Goffe  v.  ere  entertained  by  the  Magiftrates 
with  great  folemnity  and  feafted  in  every  place,  after 
they  were  told  they  were  traitors,  and  ought  to  be  ap- 
prehended ;  they  made  their  abode  at  Cambridge  until 
they  were  furniilied  with  horfes   and  a  guide  and  fcnt 
away  to  New-Haven  :    for  their  more  fecurlty.  Cap- 
tain Daniel  Gookin  is  reported  to  have  brought  over 
and  to  manage  their  eftates  ;  and  the   Commillioners 
being  informed  that  he  had  many  cattle  at  his  farm  in 
the  King's  province,  which  were  foppofed  to  be  Whal- 
iey's  or  Gofte's,  caufed  them  to  be  feized  for  his  Majef- 
ty's ufe,  till  further  order,  but  Captian  Gookin,  (land- 
ing upon  the  privilege  of  their  charter,  and  refuiingto 
anfwer  before  tlie   Commiiuoners,  as  fo  there  was  no 
more  done  in    it  :     Captain  Pierce  who   tranfported 
Whaliey  and  Golfc  into  Nevv-Englanu>  may  probably 
fayfomething  to  their  ellate." 


OF    KINS    CHARLES     I.  6l 

}jy  the  purfuivants' report  to  Governor  Endicot    it 
appears,  that  they  arrived  at  New- Haven  13th  Mayj 
and  it  fhould  feem  that  they  left  the  town  the  next  day ^ 
2nd  this  witjiout  any  fearch  at  all  ;    and  particularly  no 
mention  is  made  of  their  interview  with  Mr.  Dave a- 
port.     But  the,  conftant  tradition    in  New-Haven  i-?, 
that  they  diligently  fcarched  the  town,  and  particulariy 
thehoufeof  Mr.  Davenport,  whom  they  treated  willi 
-afperity  and  repreheniion.     GofFe's  journal   fays,  the 
Judges  left  the   town  the   nth  May  and  went  to  tlie 
Mills,  and  on  the  i  ?th  went  into  the  Woods  to  Sparry "s. 
It  (hoidd  feem  that  they   were  not  in  town  wiiiic  the 
purfuivahts  were  here.     But  although  the  nights  of  the 
nth  and    12th   they  lodged  at    the  mills,  and  on  the 
13th  at  Sperry's,  they  might  purpofely  in  the  day  time 
Ihew  themfelves  at  the  bridge  vvlien    the   purfaivant-? 
palled  it,  and  at  Mrs.  Eyers'sin  town  the  fame  or  next 
day,  in  order  to  clear   Mr.   Davenport,  and  return  n't 
night  to  their  concealment.     The  Sperrys  are  uniform 
in  the  family  tradition  that  the  fui  prizal  of  the  Judges 
at  their  anceilor's  hcufc  was  by  the  purfuers  from  Eng- 
land, known  and  diftinguifhable,  as  they  faid,  from 
our  own  people  by  their  red  coats  ;    which  could  not 
have  been  if  they  liaid  in  tov/n  but  one  day.     Perhan* 
**  the  next  day"  in  the  Report,  might  not  be  that  imme- 
diately following  the  13th,  but  the  next  day  after  they 
found  they  could  do  nothing  to  piirpofe.     On  the  one. 
hand,  it  is  improbable  they  would  fpend  but  one  day  in 
a  town  where  they  did  not  doubt  the  regicide.^,   they 
came  three  thoufand  miiles  in  queft  of,  were  ;    and  on 
the  other   hand,  'tis  doubtful  Avhether  they  would  do 
mucKat  aftual  fearching  themfelves  without  the  (^ov- 
ernot^^s  warrant,  which  was  refufed.   They  might  howe- 
ver go  into  a  few  houfes,  as   Mr.  Davenport's,  Mr. 
Jones's,  and  Mrs.  Eyers's,  and  finding  it  in  vain,  give 
over  further  fearch.     Governor  Hutchinfon  fays,  "they 
made  diligent  fearch."     And  this  has  always  been  the 
tradition  in  New-Haven.     But  of  this  nothing  is  mta^' 
F 


62  HISTORY    OP    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

tioned  in  the  report,  iinlefs  it  may  be  alluded  to  in  the 
**  verbal  account"  giv^en  to  Governor  Endicott.  The 
tradition  is,  that  the  purfuivants  v.'ent  to  Sperry's  houfe 
after  thdr  return  frona  Manhados  ;  but  this  could  not 
be  if  they  went  from  thence  by  water  to  Bofton  ;  un- 
lefs  returning  again  through  New-Haven  to  Governor 
Windirop  at  New-London,  they  might  go  from  thence 
to  Bofton  by  water.  But  of  this  they  take  no  notice  in 
the  report. 

After  the  purfuivants  were  gone,  and  before  1 7th  of 
May,  the  MagiPaates  caufed  a  thorough  though  fic- 
titious fearch  to  be  made  through  the  jurifdidion. — 
They  fcnt  to  Totoket,  or  Branford.  I  have  thought 
ihcfe  purfuits,  and  thefe  purfuers,  might  be  the  bafis 
of  the  tradition  refpedling  Pvlrs.  Eyers,  the  bridge,  and 
Sperrys.  But  moit  that  tell  the  ftory  from  ancient  tra- 
dition, perfjft  in  it,  that  they  were  the  purfuers  from 
Bofton,  or  the  King's  purfuers,  and  not  our  own  peo- 
ple, which  vifited  and  fearched  both  Sperrys  and  Ey- 
ers. But  enough  of  this  m.alter,  which  can  never  be 
fatIsfa6torily  cleared  and  afcertained  :  While  it  is  cer- 
tain the  purfuivants  came  here,  had  an  interview  with 
the  Magiftrates  to  no  purpofe  :  and  that  the  Judges 
eeafed  to  lodge  in  town  on  the  nth  of  May,  two  days 
before  they  came  ;  and  fo  Governor  Lcet  might  fay 
very  truly  on  the  13th,  that  he  did  not  believe  they  were 
in  town,  and  indeed  might  have  every  reafon  to  think 
at  that  time,  that  they  were  abfconded  into  the  environs 
or  the  woods  beyond  the  Weit-Rock.  All  tradition 
agrees  that  they  itood  ready  to  funender  rather  than 
that  Mr.  Davenport  ftioiild  come  into  trouble  on  their 
account  ;  and  they  doubtlefs  came  into  town  with  this 
intention  about  2cth  June,  and  tarried  in  town  from 
Saturday  till  Monday  for  this  iind,  and  Mr.  Gilb-rt  ex- 
pedled  their  fuirendery.  .  B'lt  in  this  trying  time  their 
friends,  for  their  fakes  adventured  to  take  the  danger 
upon  theo"!fj]vcr,  and  rifquc  events.  A  great,  a  noble, 
a  trying  a6l  of  friend  lb ip  1   For  a  good  man,  one  would 


OF    KlxMG    CHARLES     I.  63 

■fil'en  dare  to  die  !  Great  was  the  peril  efpecially  of 
Lect,  DiivenpOi-t,  and  Gilbert  !  Inveterate  the  refent- 
ment  of  Kellond  and  Kirk  !  and  pointed  and  preffing 
the  rernonftrances  of  the  Governor  and  Secretary  of 
Boiion.  The  Magiitrates  of  New-Haven  colony  were 
truly  brought  into  great  llraits — The  fidelity  of  their 
friendihip  heroic  and  glorious  1  Davenport's  fortitude 
faved  them  ! 

Here  follows  a  collet  ion  of fc  altered  information. 

Mrs.  Sherman,  reli6l  of  Mr.  James  Sherman,  aged 
86,  a  defcendant  from  Governor  Leet,  whole  daugh- 
ter married  a  Trowbridge,  from  whom  Mrs.  Sherman. 
She  tells  me  flie  was  bo|n  in  Governor  Jones's  or  ia 
Governor  Eaton's  houfe,  which  had  nineteen  lire -pla- 
ces, and  many  apartments  ;  where  Goffe  and  Whalley 
ufed  to  refide  ;  tiiat  Mr.  Davenport's  houfc  alfo  had 
many  apartments,  and  thirteen  fire-places,  which  in- 
deed I  myfelfwell  remember,  having  frequently,  when 
a  boy,  been  all  over  the  houfe.  She  fays  flie  knew 
John  Dixwell,  fon  of  the  regicide.  She  has  the  whole 
family  hillory  of  the  three  Judges  as  in  the  families  of 
Mansiield,  Prout,  and  Trowbridge.  She  was,  as  I 
faid,  of  the  Trowbridge  family.  She  was  intimately 
acquainted  v^ith  Mrs.  Eyers,  and  is  full  of  the  ilory  of 
the  Judges  being  fecreted  at  her  houfe,  which  was  re- 
peatedly fearched  for  them.  It  is  necefTary  to  obferve 
that  this  houfe  was  twice  iearched,  and  the  circumftan- 
ces  are  a  little  blended  in  the  ditFercnt  narratives.  T.'h(3 
fir  11  was  by  the  purfuivants,  when  the  Judges  went 
out  at  the  back  door,  and  returned  and  were  fecreted 
in  the  clofet  while  the  purfuivants  were  in  the  houfe, — ■ 
The  other  was  immediately  after  the  perfuivants  left 
the  town,  and  between  the  14th  and  17th  of  May, 
Vv'hen  the  fearch  was  made  by  Governor  Leet's  orders  : 
v/hen  the  doors  were  all  fct  open,  and  Mrs.  Eyers  left 
tlie  houfe  for  the  fearchers  to  come  in  and  examine  eve- 
ry room  ;  this  was  by  our  people.  In  narrating  thefe  cir- 


1^4         'HISTORY    OF   THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

cumflances  they  are  fometimes  varied.  Mrs,  Sherman 
confiders  and  fpeaks  of  the  fearch,  not  as  once  only, 
but  at  fev^erai  or  difrerent  times.  She  fays  Mrs.  Eyers 
had  on  one  fide  of  ihe  room  a  large  wainfcotted  clofet, 
v/hich  file  has  often  viev/ed  and  admired  :  it  had  cut 
licrhts  at  top,  full  of  pewt-er  and  brafs,  and  a  wainfcot 
door,  which,  when  ihut,  could  not  be  diftinguiilied 
from  the  wainfcot,  and  all  over  the  door,  and  on  the 
ontfide  of  the  clofet,  was  hung  braizery  and  elegant 
kitchen  furniture,  that  no  one  would  think  of  entering 
the  clofet  on  that  breall-work.  Flere  Ihe  hid  the  Judg- 
e-:?. — ]t  fecms  to  her  as  if  it  was  more  than  once. — That 
thcv  lifed  to  frequent  the  houfe  on  Saturdays  afternoon, 
when  fometimes  Ihe  fhut  tiieifi  up,  and  then  opened 
all  the  doors,  -and  walked  abroad,  leaving  all  open  for 
the  purfuivants  to  fearch.  In  this  connexion  I  afiitd 
her,  whether  the  purfuers  were  foreigners  or  New-Ha- 
ven people  ?  She  faid,  ihe  took  it  they  were  not  foreign- 
ers,'but  our  own  officers.  .Here  ihe  feems  a  little  to 
blend  the  circurniknces.  Which  may  be  eafdy  ex- 
plained, by  coniidering  the  firlt  fearch,  made  by  the 
purfuivants,  and  the  lail  two  days  after  by  our  officers, 
to  whom  ihe  might  throw  open  all  the  doors  but  the 
cloici:  door. 

She  fays  Is  Irs.  Eyers,  and  lier  fjn  and  daugluer, 
hvcd  together  all  to  great  old  agC: — tiiat  Ibe  died  about 
the  hard  winter,  November  17,  1740,  when  flie  mull- 
have  been  aboye  an  hundred  years  old  ;  and  her  fon 
a;id  daugliter  were  feventy  or  eighty  years  old  at  the  old 
lady's  death.  Mother  and  children  fo  rem.arkable  for 
iongevitv,  that  tlie  reverend  Mr.  Cooke  (Mrs.  Sher^ 
man's  father)  ukd  familiarly  to  enquire,  how  the  good 
old  folks  of  that  houfe  did,  where  death  did  not  enter  ? 
So  much  has  been  faid  of  Mrs.  Eyer>;,  that  I  will  add 
this cha'5-a6lcriiLic  defcription  01  her: 

Mr>.  Shernran  dcfcribed  Mrs.  Eyers,  thou.gh  not 
•xitivont  imperfeflions,  yet  an  excellent  perfon  j    as  a 


OF    KINS    CHARLES     I.  65 

fmall  woman,  of  a  fvveet  and  pleafant  temper,  and  of 
the  greateft  propriety  of  manners,  to  uk  her  expreffions, 
very  genteel  and  refpe6lable,  univerfally  efteemed  and 
beloved,  never  did  any  thing  wrong,  but  always  with 
propriety  and  gracefulnefs,  v/as  much  of  a  gentlewo- 
man, neat,  elegant,  beautiful,    comely  and   graceful, 
admired  by  all  gentlemen  of  Chara6ler,  and  her  ac  - 
quaintance  from  abroad,  who   coming  to  town,  would 
get  Ibrne  of  the    genteelefi:  people  in  town  to  go  with 
them  to  pay  her  a  vifit — And  every  one,  high  'or  low, 
always  profited  by  her,  v/ere  improved,  inftructed,  and 
edified  by  her  converfation,    and   pleafed    when   they 
could  vifit  and  fi:)erid  an  hour  at  her  houfe.~That  ilie 
was  rather  reduced  the  latter  part  of  her  hfe,  yet  had  the 
richeft  of  apparel  and  furniture — Ufed  to  keep  lliop, 
b'ltleft  offfeveral  years. — That  her  intelledual  powers 
were  clear  to  the  laft — An  excellent  christian.     1  ufe 
Mrs.' Sherman's  words  in  this  defcription,  writing  them 
from  her  lips.     She  adds,  that  her  father  was  Mr.  Ifaac 
/lllcrton,  of  Borton,  a  fea  Captain,    who  came  early 
^nd  fettled  in  New- Haven,    and  built  a  grand  houfe  on 
the  creek  with  four  porches,  and  this  with  Governor 
Eaton's,  Mr.  Davenport's,  and  Mr.  Gregfon's,  were 
the  grandeft  houfes  in  town.     The  houfe  highly  finifh- 
ed  :  he  had  a  fine  garden  with  all  forts  of  flowers,  and 
fruit-trees,  and  in  the  befi:  cultivation.      Mr.  Eyers  was 
alio  a  fea  Captain,  purfuing  foreign  voyages  up  the 
Mediterranean  and  to  the  wine  iflands,  and  always  had 
his  cellar  ftored  with  wines  and  good  liquors,  and  ufed 
to  bring  home  much  produce  and  foreign  manufactures, 
and  elegant   Nuns'  v/ork.       Beth  went  long  voyages, 
and  bL)th  died  abroad  at  fea  near  together,  leaving  her 
a  young  widow,  wlio  never  married  again.     She  poilj-^ 
felHjd  her  father's,  brother's,  and  hufband's  eflates.j^.^j 
This  refpe6ling  Mrs.  Eyers.      It  is  the  ftrong  and  c^lw- 
current  tradition  that  the   Judges  were  fecrcted  atf^j^^ 
}K)ufe,  fome  fay  in  a  chamber^  fome  m  a  ciofetj.ij.p,^ 
bably  both  true.  •"  ~^ 

Fa 


66         HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Mr.  JofepK  Howell,  merchant,  tells  me  his  grand- 
fui her  lioweli  died  here  about  1772,  aged  88. — That 
he  came  from  Long-Ifland  to  hve  ac  Ne-.v-Haven,  Mt 
13..— That  he  has  often  heard  him  tell  about  the  Judges, 
and  that  his  grandfather  ufed  to  fay  he  knew  two  men 
tliat  helped  in  laying  out  Dixwell,  and  he  Ihewed  this 
grandfon  Dixwell 's  grave.  He  told  him  the  ftory  of 
GoiFe  and  V/halley's  hiding  therafelves  under  the  Neck 
Bridge,  and  being  under  it  while  the  purfuivants  reds 
over  it  ;  and  tliat  they  were  the  piirfiiers  from  Boilon. 
Mr.  Howell  was  intimate  \^ith  Mr.  Prout,  who  mar- 
ried his  lifter. 

Captain  Willmot,  aged  82,  remembers  the  fcory  of 
t;itir  being  hid  in  Mrs.  Eyers's  houfe  when  the  puriu- 
crs  came  there  He  remembers  the  old  houfe,  that  it 
was  grand,  like  Mr.  Davenport'r,  which  h.e  alfo  knew^ 
and  all  of  oak  and  the  beft  of  joiner's  w^ork.  There 
was  more  wr^rk  and  better  joinsr-w^ork  in  thefe  houfes, 
he  ^ivs,  th:>n  ii^  any  liouie  now  in  town.  He  is  a  join- 
er, and  helped  to  pull  do-^n  Mrs.  Eyers's  houfe. 

Jutk^e  Bilhop,  now  mayor  of  the  city  of  New-Ha- 
ren,  o.^cd  70,  tells  me  lie  received  from  his  aged  grand- 
fjther  Bhliop,  with  whom  he  lived  from  his  youth  up, 
ion  ()f  the  Governor,  andw'io  died  1748,  aged  82,  the 
tr:i(liiion  concerning  tlie  Judges  bei'ig  hid  under  the 
bridge,  and  that  the  purfuiv.mts  were  thofe  who  were 
ll'iit  irom  England.  The  Jndge  remembers  Mrs. 
}''...■:<,  She  was  a  fmall,  plump,  round  woman,  a 
V.  r,iu  y  chara<^^er.  He  remembers  her  old  houfe,  which 
I'j  fays  was  one  of  the,  grandcil:  in  town,  like  Mr.  Da- 
venport's, and  fit  for  a  noblemaii.  She  left  three  chil- 
Q\fn-,  Simon,  Lydia,  and  Benjamin.  .  Simon  was  a 
<^,jiriderabie  reader,  -and  a  great  hidorian,  andufedof- 
th!s\^  fpend  the  evening  at  his  Gra^dfaiher's,  and  con- 

, ,-upon  old  affairs.     lie  has  liifetied  |o  their  conver- 

.  ,  ■  ma!iy  an   hour.       Bciiiamin  (etileJ  on  Lone-i 
•\itno«      .  •'  '  ■     -      ^  ■ 


Oif    KING    CHAI^LES      1.  67 

General  Ward,  of  Guilford,  tells  me  It  is  ths  con- 
ftant  tradition  at  Guilford,  that  the  two  Judges,  Goffe 
and  Whalley,  wer,e  fecreted  three  or  four  days,  or 
more,  in  Governor  Leet's  ih.me  cellar  ;  and  that  the 
Governor  and  all  the  family  of  the  Leet's  were  refolute 
andj^:onra.o;eous.  The  reverend  Mr.  Fowler^  and  Hen- 
ry Hill,  Efq.  of  Guilford,  concur  in  this  and  the  gen- 
eral hifiory  of  the  Judges,  and  particularly  the  Angel 
ilory,  tliatof  hiding  under  the  , bridge,  and  the  humor- 
ous Itory  of  ])laying  with  the  fvvord,  or  the  fencing 
ilory.  The  fame  have  been  told  me  by  Major  Daven- 
port, of  Stamford,  defcended  from  the  venerable  pa- 
triarch at  New- Haven  ;  by  the  reverend  Mr.  Whit- 
ney, of  Brooklyn,  in  the  eaflern  part  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  the  reverend  Mr.  Bray,  and  others  ;  indeed 
thef^  [lories  are  to  be  foiin:]  fcattcred  and  circulating  all 
over  New-England  to  this  day. 

Stephen  Ball,  Efq.  teils  me,  that  when  the  purfuers 
were  here,  one  of  the  ho.ufes  in  which  WT.alley  and 
G  .>:Te  abfcondcd  was  Mrs,  Eyers's,  who  feeing  them 
coming,  fent  the  Judges  out  the  back  door  towards  the 
fields,  who  returning  immediately,  ilie  hid  them  in 
her  chamber.  The  leaft  tliat  can  be  miade  of  all  this 
is,  that  they  were  atSlually  fecreted  by  Mrs.  Eyers. 

Upon  having  recourfe  to  tlie  records,  we  have  feeii 
that  in  May,  1660,  Francis  Newman  was  ele^led  Go- 
vernor, and  William  Leet  Deputy-Governor  r  Tliat 
Governor  Newman  died  November  18,,  1660  :  wliere- 
ijpon  t!ie  adminiilration  devolved  on  DepLitv-Goveraof 
Lect  till  May  29,  1661,  when  he  was  cluJbn  Govern- 
or, and  Matihew  Gilbert  Deputy-Govemur  ;  and 
Fenn,  Treat  and  Crane,  Magillrates.  But  a  fort- 
night before,  v/hen  the  puriinvaiits  were  here,  tliofe  in 
office  Vv- ere,  Leet,  Djpuly--Governor,^-Gilbert,  Treat 
and  Crane,  ailillants.  The  town  government  of  New- 
Flaven  was  in  the  hands  of  fix  lovvnfmen,  or  feltcl 
mtn,  for  the  ordimry  iccular  affair^,  and  four  Dcpu- 


6S         HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE   JUDGES' 

ties  or  Judges  for  Nevv^-Haven  Court,  all  annually 
ele£live  in  the  fpring  by  the  town,  and  the  four  Judges 
confirmed  and  authorized  by  the  Aifembly.  The  fix 
fele£l  men  then  in  office  were,  Roger  Ailing,  John 

Harriman,    John  Cooper,    — Andrews,     Henry 

Glover,  Nicholas  Elfey,  and  William  Gibbard.  Tho- 
mas Kimberly  was  Mardial,  who  attempted  with  a 
warrant  to  take  the  Judges,  towards  the  Neck  Bridge, 
the  morning  of  the  arrival  of  the  purfuivants.  The 
matter  however  did  not  lie  wltli  thefe  town  officers,  but 
with  the  officers  of  the  general  jurifdiftion  :  Thefc 
were,  as  I  faid,  the  Deputy-Governor  and  three  Af- 
fiftants.  Governor  Leet,  who  followed  the  purfuivants?, 
brouglu  along  with  him  Mr.  Crane,  from  Branford, 
and  then  fent  for  and  convened  the  Magiflrates  of  MiU 
ford  and  New-Haven,  and  the  four  Judg&s  of  New- 
Haven  Court,  who  at  this  time  were  John  Wakeman, 
John  Nafli,  William  Gibbard,  fecretary,  and  John 
Davenport,  jun.  of  whom  Wakem-an  and  Nadi  were 
alfo  Deputies  to  the  Jurifuidtion  Court,  or  Members 
of  the  Legiflature.  Thefe  eight  perfons  were  all  that 
were  in  the  authoritative  confultation,  and  that  after- 
noon in  great  diftrefs,  were  for  a  few  hours  on  tlie  poiat 
of  ilTuing  the  v/arrant,  v/hich  was  aftually  begun  to  be 
written  ;  and  which  was  flayed  upon  their  conceiving 
the  expedient  of|  referring  it  to  the  Aifembly,  which 
they  inflantly  called,  and  adlually  convened  within, 
lour  days,  or  the  17th  of  Ivlay.  In  this  deliberation  on 
the  trying  13th,  befides  thefe  eight  perlbns,  the  Govern- 
or, Alii  Hants,  and  four  Judges- ,  who  fat  ofteniibly  in 
Council,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted,  but  that  they  advifed 
with  the  felecl  men,  and  particularly  with  the  reverend 
Mr.  Davenport,  Mr.  Bilhop,  Mr.  Jones,  and  others ; 
and  that  their  opinions  had  full  v/eight,  cfpecia-lly  Mr. 
Davenport's  and  Mr.  Jones's,  who  were  moft  expofed, 
and  moil  deeply  concerned.  My  idea  of  them  is  this, 
that  the  Governor,  though  naturally  firm,  was  in  this 
prcifure  timid  j  Gilbert  v/as  bold  and  courageous,^  and 


OF    K.ING    CHARLES      I.  69 

refokite  for  faving  the  Judges  at  all  hazards,  though  a 
month  after,  upon  the  letters  from  Boilon,  he  rather 
gave  up.  He  and  Treat  coining  in  at  the  time  of 
drawing  the  warrant,  (lopt  it,  Jones  was  enterprizing, 
and  had  it  been  known,  had  really  and  knowingly  done 
what  would  have  been  alluredly  adjudged  treafon,  which 
the  others  had  not  :  Biihop  was  firm  ;  he  with  Jones 
ftood  their  ground :  none  were  difpofed  to  give  up  the 
Judges  at  this  time,  if  poffible  to  fave  them  ;  ail  fav/ 
and  felt  the  danger,  but  that  it  would  come  upon  Leet, 
Gilbert  and  Davenport,  whom  they  were  equally  en- 
gaged to  fave.  Jones's  adlvity  w^s  unknov/n  to  the 
purfuivants.  The  prelFure  was  fo  great  the  afternoon 
of  the  confiiltation  on  13th  May,  as  that  then,  I  be- 
lieve, they  w^ould  all  have  unanimoufly  concurred  in 
furrendering  GofFe  and  Whalley,  as  Bofton  had  done,. 
had  it  not  been  for  the  wifdom,  difcernment,  and  firm- 
nefs  of  Davenport.  If  he  had  fhaken  and  failed,,  all 
would  have  been  over  and  loft.  It  was  Davenport's  in- 
trepidity that  faved  the  Judges. 

Mr.  Jones  was  a  newcomer,  having m.arried  Gov- 
ernor Eaton's  daughter,  an  heirefs,  in  L(5ndon,  1659, 
he  came  over  with  his  wife  in  the  fall  of  1660  to  take 
pofTeffion  of  Governor  Eaton's  eftate,  and  lived  in  his 
houfe  oppofite  Mr.  Davenport's.  I  prefume  it  was 
his  and  Mr.  BKhop's  diftinguiihing  themfelves  V7ith 
firmnefs  upon  this  occaGon,  that  brought  them  imme- 
diately forward  to  civil  improvement,  and  into  the  Ma- 
giftracy.  Timidity  feized  the  people  of  Nevz-FIaveii 
on  this  occaficn  of  the  Judges,  and  made  them  cool  to 
office.  In  lefs  than  ten  days  after  the  departure  of  the 
purfuivants,  on  May  23,  i66r,  John  Nafh  and  John 
Cooper,  being  chofen  Deputies  to  the  General  Court, 
declined  :  and  the  fame  day,  at  a  fecond  choice,  John 
Davenport,  jun.  and  John  Naili,  being  elecled,  decli- 
ned ferving.  They  made  no  choice,  fuch  was  the  re- 
luctance in  all  to  ferve  at  this  critical  conjun6lui:e.  ^  At 
length,  Auguft  i,  1661,  John  Cooper  and  James  BilV 


^O  HISTOnV  OF  THREE  OF  THE   yUDGES 

op  were  eleded,  and  they  dared  to  accept,  Mr.  Jones 
had  not  hscn  an  inhabitant  a  year.  However,  the  year 
folio  wing,  May  23,  1662,  William  Jones  was  admit- 
ted a  freeman,  and  nominated  for  Magidrate  ;  he  Ibori 
came  into  the  Magiftracy  ;  and  both  he  and  Mr.  Biih- 
op  became  Governors  of  Conne6licut.  They  were 
well  informed,    firm  and  decided  chara6ters. 

Further  confideration  brought  New-Haven  almoft  to 
a  conclufionof  the  neceffity  of  furrenderingthe  Judgejii 
Even  the  courageous  Mr.  Gilbert  feemed  to  judge  this 
expedient.  It  was  undoubtedly  the  perf-verance  of 
Davenport,  and  his  fidehty  and  heroifm,  that  decided 
at  this  crifis  alfo.  And  the  Judges  retired  to  their  cave. 
Tliis  \v?.s  the  lad  public  appearance  they  ever  made. 
From  this  time  to  their  death  they  were  buried  in  ob- 
fcurity,  neither  was  it  fafe  for  their  numerous  friends 
to  know  the  places  of  their  concealment  and  fhiftingrc- 
fidences.  None  wifhcd  to  betray  them  ;  none  wlihed 
to  know  wdiere  they  were  ;  all  wifhed  to  be  totally  ig- 
norant. A  few  however  adventured  to  fecure  their  re- 
treat, and  as  guardians  of  a  holy  depofit  to  watch  fecure 
and  proted  them,  altliough  at  the  known  rifque  of  their 
lives,  as  prote6lors  of  traitors.  Among  thefe  we  may 
enumerate  Mr.  Jones,  Mr.  Burril,  and  Mr.  Sperry, 
at  New-Haven  ;  Mr.  Tomkins,  and  others,  at  Mil- 
ford  ;  and  Mr.  Ruifel  and  Mr.  Tilton,  at  Hadley.— 
Thefe  perhaps  were  almoH:  the  only,  at  leaft  the  prin- 
cipal perfons,  with  whom  they  had  immediate  com- 
munication, and  through  whofe  hands  they  received 
all  their  fupplies.  A  few  other  perfons  might  be  know- 
ing of  their  places  of  concealment,  and  might  fecretl/ 
and  occafionally  vifit  them,  as  Mr.  Davenport  and  Mr.. 
Bifhop,  at  New-Haven  ;  Mr.  Treat,  at  Milford  ;  and 
Mr.  Richard  Saltonftal  and  Governor  Leverett,  at  Had- 
ley.  The  reft  of  the  country,  it  is  probable^  not  only 
wiflied  not  to  know  any  thing  of  them,  but  were  ever 
in  a<5lual  ignorance.  Thus  they  were  fhut  out  and  fe- 
elttded  from  the  world  to  their  deaths- 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  7^ 

Section  II. 

Their  fee  ret  ed  pilgrimages  after  their  final  abdication  and 
evanejcence  from  the  -world y  June  24,  1 661,  to  the 
lafl  notice  of  them y  in  1679. 

This  fsclion  will  necellariiy  involve  fome  repetitions, 
whicii  may  however  be  an  illudration  of  the  preceding 
period.  It  may  be  bed  to  deliver  the  traditionary  in- 
formation collectively  and  promifcuo-uily,  jud  as  it  is 
received,  refpeCting  either  the  whole  or  part  of  their 
refidencc  in  New-England.  Every  one  will  be  able 
to  felett  \vhat  fialls  within  one  period  or  another — 
When  we  fhall  have  feleded  what  applies  to  one,  there 
will  be  much  left  to  illuftrate  the  other.  It  is  difficult 
to  feparate  from  the  promifcuous  mafs  of  information, 
what  belongs  only  to  one,  without  lofmg  fome  of  the 
force  of  probabiHty  as  to- each.  We  muff  take  narra- 
tives as  they  come  to  us,  w"ith  all  their  attendant  cir- 
cumftances,  and  make  the  proper  w^^^  fele6lion  and  ap- 
propriation ourfelves.  Som^e  relate  one  thing,  fome 
another  ;  fome  mere,  fome  lefs  ;  fome  of  one  period, 
fom.e  of  another ;  m.oii:  deliver  fcattered  notices  of  both 
collecSlively.  We  can  fele61:  and  apply  illucidations  at 
our  own  difcretion.  In  examining  evidences  or  wit- 
nefses  in  a  court  of  law,  it  is  bed:  to  fufFer  them  freely 
to  narrate  their  teftimony  and  knowledge,  each  in  his 
own  way,  v/ith  the  attendant  circumltances,  as  they 
lie  or  arife  in  their  own  minds,  though  much  may  be 
repetitions  and  fuperfluous,  that  w-e  may  more  accu- 
rately difcern  and  feleil  that  which  is  in  point  or  to 
purpofe.  Often  the  fame  thing  narrated  fimply  and 
without  circumftances,  will  yield  a  different  afpect  and 
force  or  weight,  with  from  v/hat  it  would  v/ithoiit  tlie 
circumilances  and  fuperfluous  matter.  And  we  eafily 
feleCi  that  which  we  need,  and  find  different  matter 
applicable  to  different  fubjeds,  even  onthought  of  ia 
the  courfe  of  enquiry,  and  which  the  narrators  v/ould 
not  difcern  tbemfelves,  and  if  they  did,  would  not  dif- 


^2  «ISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

clofe,  or  would  be  diiTident  and  uncertain.  And  this 
may  exciife  and  juftify  me,  in  bringing  the  fame  things 
repeatedly  up  to  view  in  the  courfe  of  this  hiilory,  un- 
der different  references,  and  for  different  pcrpoies,  as 
it  may  be  with  profitable  retrcfp  /clive  i^ppiication  in 
variation  of  fiibjecls  already  confidsred.  Nor  is  it  in 
the  power  of  an  hiftorian  always  to  brig  together  in  one 
view  the  whole iiluitration  of  afulxeit,  efpec!?.'1y  when 
fuch  illuflration  may  arife  from  fiibfequeni  events  ; 
which  15  peculiarly  the  cafe  in  developing  fee  ret  hillo- 
ry,  which  often  requires  a  generation,  or  the  period  of 
many  years,  for  a  lull,  intelligible,  and  fatisfadfory  in- 
veftigation  ;  and  \^  herein,  after  the  m.oil  diligent  and 
iiffiduous  fearch  and  enquiry,  many  things  will  remain 
obfcure  and  dubious,  and  many  tilings  remain  to  belofh 
in  irrecoverable  oblivion. 

Let  us  ROW  trace  out  thefe  exiled  pilgrim.s  in  their 
feveral  retreats,  migrations,  and  fecret  refidences. — 
To  begin  at  New-Haven  where  they  firfi:  evanifhed 
into  obfcurity  and  oblivion.  They  retired  from  town 
to  the  weft  fide  of  a  rock  or  mountan,  about  300  feet 
perpendicular,  commonly  called  the  Weft-Rock,  to 
diftinguilh  it  from  the  Neck-Rock,  to  the  n.  e.  of  the 
town.  The  fouthern  extremity  of  Weft-R.ock  lies 
about  two  and  a  half  miles  n.  w.  from  the  town.  Be- 
tw^een  this,  weftward,  and  a  ridge  of  mountaineous 
or  rocky  elevation,  ranging  n.  and  s.  parrallel  with  the 
Weft-Rock,  lies  an  interjacent  bottom,  or  plain,  three 
miles  long,  containing  a  tlioufand  or  twelve  hundred 
acres  of  excellent  land,  which  Mr.  Goodyear,  a  rich 
fettler,  had  bought  of  the  tov/n,  and  on  which  he  had 
planted  his  farmer,  Richard  Sperry,  which  farm  Rich- 
ard Sperry  afterwards  became  poficffed  of,  and  now  for 
above  a  century  it  has  gone  by  tlie  name  of  Sperry's 
Farm.  In  the  records  l^nd,  April 23,  t66o,  **  Mrs. 
Goodyear  and  her  farmer  Sperry."  Mr.  Goodyear 
brought  farmers  with  him  out  of  England,  being  him- 
k\(  an  oppulent  Merchant,  and  always  foilovved  com- 


■OF    KIN©    CHARLES      I.  73 

merce.  On-thls  tmd  Mr.  Goodyear  hnxl  built  Sperry 
an  houfe  ;  a-Ki  in  tlie  woods  nbont  one  irale  'i.  \¥.  lioiii 
Sperry 's,  flood  the  houfe  ot  Ralph  l^ines,  T'lefe  were 
the  only  two  houfcs  in  1661  weihvard  from  Ntw-Ha- 
ven,  between  this  Weft  Rock  and  Hudfons  River,  un- 
jefs  we  except  a  fevv^  houfes  at  Derby  or  PaugaHet.  All 
was  an  iinmenfe  wildernefs.  Indeed  all  the  environs 
of  New- Haven  was  wildernefs,  except  the  cleared  traib 
about  half  a  mile  or  a  mile  around  the  town,  which  w:is 
laid  out  and  built  v/ith  100  or  120  houfes  on  a  ffjuarc 
Tiaif  mile,  divided  into  nine  fquares.  Behind  tlie  Well 
Rock  therefore  was,  in  1661,  a  very  fecure  retreit  and 
concealment.  This  Mr.  Jones  provided  for  thefe  ex- 
iles. At  and  about  this  mountain  they  fecreted  them- 
felves  between  three  and  four  months.  "I'hree  iiarbors, 
lodgments,  or  places,  of  their  r^fidence  there,  at 
diiFerent  times,  are  known  and  Ihewn  to  this  day.  I 
])ave  vifitedall  three  of  them,  being  carried  to  and 
fliewn  them  by  the  family  of  the  Sperrys  (till  dweUing 
-on  that  tra6b.     The  defcription  of  them  is  as  follows  : 

Let  it  be  obferved  that  at  this  time,  about  3  or  ACo 
acres  v/eftward  of  the  town  v\  as  cleared  in  a  common 
field,  called  the  ox  pafture.  This  migiit  extend  near 
Haifa  mile  weftward  from  the  centi-al  fquare  of  the 
town.  All  beyond  was  woods  and  wildernefs.  At  two 
miles  N.  W.  from  the  town  was  a  mill.-'  To  this 
mill  the  Judges  repaired  nth  of  May,  1 66 1,  and  here 
they  lodged  two  nights.  On  the  13th,  Jones,  Enrril 
and  Sperry,  came  to  them  in  the  woods  near  the  fouth 
end  of  the  mountain,  and  conducted  them  to  Sperrys, 
about  three  miles  from  town.  They  provided  for  them 
*'  a  place  called  Hatchet  Harbour,  where  they  lay  two 
nights  ;  until  a  cave  or  hole  in  the  fide  of  a  hill  was  pre- 
pared to  conceal  them.  The  liill  they  called  Provi^ 
dence  Hill :  and  there  they  continued  from  the  15th  of 
May  to  the  nth  of  June  ;  foraetim.es  in  the  cave,  and 

in  very  tempelhious   weather   in  a  houfe  near  it." ^^ 

Hutch,  from  GofFe's  Journal.     It  is  fomewhat  difficult 

G  [*  Sec  F laic  II.  No.  i. 


^4  niSTORY    OF    TliREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

U)  afcertain  wlicrc  Hatchet  Harbour  was.  I  have  tak- 
en much  pains  10  inquire  out  this  place  from  the  Sper- 
5  y5,  and  other  inhabitants  ;  and  for  a  long  time  with- 
out fatisfadion.  Upon  Gov.  Hutchinfon's  Hiflory 
coming  out  in  1764,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Woodbridge,  the 
Miiiifter  of  that  pariihj,  made  dihgent  inquiry  for 
HatcliCt  Harbour  :  but  he  told  me  he  could  not  fatisfy 
himfelf.  Not  but  that  upqn  enquiry  he  readily  found 
that  the  people  knev/  the  itory,  and  uniformly  pointed 
out  the  place  to  be  that,  which  was  alfo  called  the  Lodge 
at  the  fpring,  backinthe  wildernefs,  and  three  miles 
N.  W.*  from  Sperrys.  On  this  trad  well  of  the  moun- 
vain,  there  is  now  the  large  and  well  fettled  parifh  of 
Woodbridge,  of  15c  or  2CO  families,  chiefly  peopled 
ironi  New-Iiaven  and  Milford,  thoroughly  transfufed 
and  impregnated  with  the  ftories  of  the  Sperrys  and 
Lines,  concerning  the  Judges  and  the  places  of  their 
concealments:  So  that  any  and  all  of  them  point  out 
the  places  witli  as  much  facility  and  precifion  as  a  New- 
Haven  man  vvill  point  cut  jJixweH's  grave,  or  a  Say- 
brook  man  point  out  Lady  Butler's  tomb  now  land- 
ing. Until  Mr.  W.  expreiled  his  doubts,  they  never 
uci'e  more  at  a  lok  to  point  out  Hatchet  Harbour,  than 
the  cave  or  cliur.p  of  rocks  called  the  cow  and  calves  ; 
.vndas  uniformly  made  that  and  the  lodge  the  fam^e. 
And  now  auc  a  Sparry  or  any  Woodbridge  m^an,  where 
was  Hatchet  Harbour  ?  and  they  conllantly  fay,  at  the 
Spririj;;  or  Lodge,  to  this  day  :  and  never  lieard  of  any 
olb.er^place.  ivlr.  V/oodbridge"s  difficulty  hy  here: 
(governor  llatcliinlon  places  it  in  the  fide  of  a  hill,  call- 
ed Providence  hi;l,  ^vhich  was  doubtlcfs  {he  Weil 
Rock  •  and  lavs  ii^at  their  concealment  here  was  only 
two  lYivhi^,  and 'his  at  the  beginning  of  their  exile  fVoni 
TScw-Huviii.  Now  traddion  here  makes  it  a  place 
tl'sree  miles  oif,  of  a  longer,  and  lor  a  time  a  fettled  re- 
lui-nce,  and  th^ir  lidl  alxide  bclbre  they  went  and  fettled 
::t  iViilrbrd.  Tho:;gh  during  their  more -ordinary  anli 
ivui^d  rcfidcnccs    at  three    di;rcrcnt   places  for  thi .e 


OF    KING    CHARLKS      I.  7> 

inonths,  they  attunes  wandered  about  in  tiie  vvildernef-, 
and  made  tranfient  exteaipora neons  lodgments  in  the 
woods,  at  Mr.  Riggs's  and  at  George's  cave,  I  have 
often  obfervedthis'to  the  inhabitants,  and  though  they 
are  not  able  to  reconcile  or  account  for  it,  yet  tliey  uni- 
formly and  unalterably  perfill  in  their  feeling  and  an- 
ceftorial  tradhion,  that  Hatchet  Harbour  is  three  or  four 
milesoft  of  the  Weft  Rock,  on  Mr.  Newton's  f^rm, 
and  at  a  place  called  indifferently  by  them  all,  fometimes 
Hatchet  Harbour,  fometimes  the  Harbour  only,  funic- 
times  the  Lodge  near  a  fpring.  Within  a  fevv  rods  ad- 
jacent to  which  is  an  eminence,  called  by  the  Judges, 
the  Fort  or  Lookout :  as  from  thence  they  commaiid- 
ed  the  view  of  New-Haven,  feven  miles  off.  Forty 
years  ago,  and  many  years  before  the  publiihing  oi 
Hiitchinfon's  Hiftory,  the  very  boys  of  a  certain  faniilf 
and  neigliborhood  three  miles  off,  which  cultivated  » 
iarm  there,  when  aiked  where  they  were  gcing  to  work 
tiiat  day,  would  anfwer,  to  the  Harbour,  o\-  to  the 
Lodge  indifferently,  but  rather  more  commonly,  to  the 
Harbour,  meaning  this  very  place.  This  I  have  from 
Ibme  of  the  perlbns  themfelves  now  living. 

This  having  been  fo  conftantly  the  underilanding 
and  language  of  the  inhabitants,  of  the  Sperrys,  and  all 
the  people  to  this  day  ;  and  their  never  having  heard  of 
any  other  place  for  Hatchet  Harbour,  has  led  me  to 
conceive — that  the  firftniglit  Sperry  led  the  exiles  into 
the  woods,  determining  to  place  them  ia  abfolate  fecu- 
rity  and  fafety  for  a  few  days,  till  the  cave  could  be  pre- 
pared, he  carried  them  out  into  the  wildernefs  to  this  re- 
cefs  ;  and  carrying  a  hatchet  with  them,  or  as  conllant 
tradition  fays,  finding  one  there  at  the  fprin::,  loft  tliere 
perhaps  by  fome  hunter^,  tiiey  cut  down  D.-,ighs  of 
trees,  and  made  a  temporary  covcrtr.:e,  where  they 
lodged  a  few  nights  only,  and  then  went  to  ihe  Cave  on 
the  ihmmit  of  the  Welt  Rock.  And  after  perhaps  a 
months  refidence,  being  affri.9,hted  frcm  the  Cave  hf 
wild  and  ferocious  animals,  thev   ibug-ht  another  r^ucc; 


76  HISTORY    Of    Tf!REE    O  J^   THS    JUDaSS 

a  mile  or  two  northward,  on  the  Rivulet  at  the  foot  ojT 
the  lame  Mo!iniajn  :  but  being  difcovereci  by  the  Indi- 
an's dogs  \r.]:imlv:ii^,  they  removed  three  miles  fijrtltef 
wcihvard  into  the  v/ildernels,  to  Hatchet  Harbour,  tiieir 
firH:  tranfient  place  ;  which  from  becoming  thenceforth 
their  more  fettled  relldence,  was  called  the  Lodge.  So 
that  the  fame  place  goes  by  the  name  of  the  Lodge  or 
Harbour,  to  this  day. 

To  return  :  after  lodging  two  nights  at  Hatchet  Har- 
bour, they  went  to  the  Cave.  From  Sperrys  they  af- 
cended  the  weft  fide  of  Providence  Hill  to  this  Cave. 
But  why  this  Cave  ihouldbe  fpoken  of  as  being  in  **  the 
fide  of  the  Hill,"  I  cannot  conceive,  unlefs  it  might  fo 
appear  to  the  Judges,  for  the  Cave  is  high  up  the  hill, 
even  on  the  very  fummit ;  although  being  inveloped  in 
woods,  they  might  not  efpecially  at  firft  confider  it  as 
on  the  fummit :  it  is  however  on  the  very  top  of  the 
Weft  Rock,  and  about  half  or  three  quarters  of  a  mile 
from  the  fouthern  extremity.  This  Cave  then  I  fhall 
confider  as  their  firft  ftation  or  harbor,  as  they  called 
all  tlieir  refidences  Lodges,  Harbors,  or  Ebenezcrs, 
without  accounting  their  lliort  lodgments  of  two  nights 
each  at  the  Mill  arid  at  Halcliet  Harbor. 

In  1785  I  viuted  aged  Mr.  Jofeph  Sperry,  then  liv- 
ing, aged  76,  a  grandfon  of  the  firft  Richard,  a  fon  of 
DTraiel  Sperry,  who  died  1 751,  aged  86,  from  whom 
Jofeph  received  the  Vv'hole  family  tradition.  Daniel 
was  the  fixth  (on  of  Richard,  and  built  a  houfe  at  the 
fouth  end  of  Sperry 's  farm,  in  v/hich  Jofeph  now  lives, 
not  half  a  mile  weft  from  the  Cave,  whicli  Jofeph 
ihcvvci'inc.  There  is  a  notch  in  the  mountain  againft 
Jofephs  houf:,  through  which  I  afcendcd  along  a  very 
itecp  acclivity  up  to  the  Cave.  From  (he  fouth  end  of 
the  mountain  for  three  or  four  miles  northward,  there  is 
110  pOiTible  afcent  or  defcent  on  the  weft  fide,  but  at 
this  notch,  fo  ftcep  is  the  precipice  of  the  rock.  I  found 
ttie  Cave  to  be  formev!/  on  a  bafe  of  perhaps  forty  feet 


I 


i7're^ul(2^?^  Mocks^  ?S  /^^  /ti<//iy  d.  JJO  ground,  SO/Ct 
Sleu(Z^?t^  or  erer^V&eH^  07i/S.£.  froTtt* 


ffo7'i}zantii/ Jbe&oii  o7'BiLfe  of^i^/^  liock^,  iv^^Me^ 
^^terture  af  r^^idence^  2  ^fe?  3  fee/- n^ide^Si  4  tv  &fhio/iy 


Of    KIN«    CHARLES     I.  77 

fquare,  by  an  irregular  clump  or  pile  of  rocks,  or  huge 
broad  pillars  of  ftone,  fifteen  and  twenty  feet  high, 
ftanding  ereS:  and  elevated  above  the  furrounding  fu- 
perficies  of  the  mountain,  and  enveloped  with  trees  and 
foreft.  Thefe  rocks  coalefcing  or  contiguous  at  top,  fur- 
nifhed  hollovvs  or  vacuities  below,  big  enough  to  con- 
tain bedding  and  two  or  three  perfons.  The  apertures 
being  clofed  with  boughs  of  trees  or  otherwife,  there 
might  be  found  a  v/ell  covered  and  convenient  lodgment. 
Here,  Mr.  Sperry  told  me,  was  the  firft  lodgment  of 
the  Judges,  and  it  has  ever  fmce  gone  and  been  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Judges'  Cave  to  this  day.  Goffe's 
Journal  fays,  they  entered  this  Cave  the  15th  of  May, 
and  continued  in  it  till  the  nth  of  June 'following. — 
Richard  Sperry  daily  fupplied  them  with  vi6luals  from 
his  houfe,  about  a  mile  off;  fometimes  carrying  it 
himfelf,  at  other  times  fending  it  by  one  of  his  boys, 
tied  up  in  a  cloth,  ordering  him  to  lay  it  on  a  certain 
ftump  and  leave  it :  and  when  the  boy  went  for  it  at 
night  he  always  found  the  bafons  emptied  of  the  provi- 
fions,  and  brought  them  home.  The  boy  wondered 
at  it,  and  ufed  to  afk  his  father  the  deiign  of  it,  and  he 
faw  no  body.  His  father  only  told  him  there  was  fome 
body  at  work  in  the  woods  that  wanted  it.  The  fons 
alv/ays  remembered  it,  and  often  told  it  to  perfons  now 
living,  and  to  Mr.  Jofeph  Sperry  particularply. 

They  continued  here  till  nth  of  June.  Mr.  Jofeph 
Sperry  told  me  that  the  incident  which  broke  them  up 
from  this  Cave  was  this,  that  this  mountain  being  a 
haunt  for  wild  animals,  one  night  as  the  Judges  lay  in 
bed,  a  panther,  or  catamount,  putting  his  head  into 
the  door  or  aperture  of  the  Cave,  blazed  his  eye-balls 
in  fuch  a  hideous  manner  upon  them,  as  greatly  affright- 
ed them.  One  of  them  was  fo  terrified  by  this  grim 
and  ferocious  monller,  her  eyes  and  her  fquawHng,  that 
he  took  tf)  his  heels,  and  fled  down  the  mountain  to 
Sperry's  lioufe  far  fafety.     They  thereupon  confidered 

G2 


7S  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

liiii   fitiiitlnn  toD  dan.'rerous,  ani   quitted  it.     All   tlie 

SpciTv  iiiffinic?  h:ivc  liiis  tradition. 

Mr,  jo;'?rKi  Sperrv  alfb  told  me  another  anecdote. — • 
'l\]::{  O'ii^  day  the  Judges  being  at  Mr.  Richard  Sperry '5 
Ivjail?^  ioQij  perlbns  appeared  riding  up  towards  the 
hoLsic  thrc'.igli  a  carifey  ever  the  meadows,  fo  that  they 
could  be  feeii  iifty  or  iixty  rods  oft  ;  who  by  their  appa- 
rel, and  particularly  their  redcoats,  were  by  the  fami- 
ly immediately  taicea  to  be,  not  our  own  people,  but 
cnemie-.  They  were  the  Encdifh  purfiiivaiits  uneK- 
l^-!:5>jdU^  returnci  from  N^^v-York,  or  Manhados. — 
U-rMi  \vhich  the  gueds  abiconded  into  the  woods  of  the 
tJiH  :i:di}g  hill,  and  concealed  themlclves  behind  Savin 
Rock,  twenty  rods  wefl  of  Sperry's  houfe.  When  the 
i)::'rriiivanis  came  to  the  houfe,  and  enquired  of  the  fa- 
fiiiU' {or  l!ie  two  regicides,  they  (aid  they  knew  not 
'';^here  they  were,  they  had  tranfiently  been  there,  but 
h.id  gone  into  the  woods.  *  I  have  long  ago  often  heard 
'thi<  il 'ly  of  the  purfuivants'  adfually  furprizing  the 
Jt'dgc:,  at  Sperry's  houfe,  and  that  it  was  unexpecSiedly 
■kud  when  they  were  off  their  guard,  and  upon  their 
nnexpetSled  return  from  New- York.  Yet  by  Hutch- 
mion  thiCy  returned  to  Bofton  by  w^ater.  But  it  has  al- 
V.  ays  been  the  tradition  at  New-Haven  ^hat  they  re- 
ti.rned  here,  and  by  corruption  of  iervants  learned  this 
retreat  at  Sperry's,  and  made  this  fudden  irruption  to 
fnrprize  and  take  them.  That  they  came  there,  and 
came  unexpefledly,  whether  on  14th  May,  before  they 
went  out  of  town,  or  afterwards  upon  a  return,  I  think 
tliCi  e  can  be  no  doubt. 

I  have  defcribed<heir.  firiL  refidence  in  the  Cave  on 
t'leRock.  Mr.  Sperry  told  me  of  two  others,  one 
-.ibcut  two  miles  north,  and  the  third  at  the  Lodge  and 
f'\n-t,  io  called,  about  four  miles  north-well  in  thewii- 
derncfs.     Thefc  I  afterwards  vifited. 

The  fecond  refidence  is  a  little  more  dubious  than 
the  tint  and  lali,  T/liich  are  unquedionably  certain.     It 


0F    KIKG    CHARLKS      I.  "fi) 

Was  abont  two  miles  and  a  half  north  of  the  firil,  on 
the  we;i:  baak  of  a  rivulet  running  along  at  the  foot  of 
the  well  iide  of  the  Wed  Rock,  and  about  half  a  mile 
north  of  the  houfe  of  Thomas  Darhng,  Efq.  This 
gentleman  was  a  man  of  literature  and  folid  judgment, 
and  the  mofl  inapt  to  credulity,  efpecially  of  fables,  of 
any  ma.n.  Retiring  from  town  many  years  ago,  he 
fettled  on  a  paternal  edate  at  the  upper  end  of  Sperry's 
houfe.  He  had  been  converfant  with  the  Sperrys  and 
their  traditions  for  many  years,  and  was  fully  convinced 
that  this  place  was  one  of  the  refidencesof  the  Judges. 
In  Augufl  1785,  he  ^vent  with  me  and  fhewed  me  the 
fpot  of  their  little  domicile,  when  fome  of  the  wall  or 
itone  ruins  were  then  remaining.  I  examined  it  with- 
clofe  attention,  and  made  a  drawing  of  it  on  the  fpoty 
one  of  the  Sperrys  being  with  usy  and  afErming  the 
immemorial  tradition,  and  herein  concurring  with  Mr. 
Jofeph  Sperry,  who  referred  me  to  tlie  fame  fpot. 

It  was,  as  has  been  laid,  at  the  foot  of  tlie  mountain 
on  the  weilern  bank  of  a  fmall  rivulet,  which  runs  along, 
the  wed:  fide  of  the  Weil:  Rock  ;  the  fpot  juii  five  miles 
and  a  half  from  Yale  College.  Defcending  a  ifeep 
bank,  of  brow  of  the  hill  of  upland,  fixteen  feet,  we' 
came  to  a  bottom,  or  level,  forty  feet  wide,  four  or 
five  feet  above  the  water  of  the  rivulet  or  brook,  which 
I  meafured  thirty-four  feet  wide  at  that  place.  This 
feottom,  or  level,  extended  along  the  bank,  on  the 
edge  of  the  river,  fifty-four  rods,  under  the  brow  of  the 
hill,  being  two  to  three  rods  wide.  It  was  a  beautiful,' 
lliady  and  pleafant  ambulacrum,  or  walk.  The  up- 
land on  the  well  lide  is  a  level  of  twenty  feet  above  the 
river.  From  under  the  w-silern  brow  ilTues  a  perpe- 
tual fpring  about  the  mdddle  of  the  ambuiacrum,  run- 
ning in  a  perpetual  pleafant  brook  or  ilream  along  un- 
der the  weltern  brow,  and  discharging  into  the  rivulet. 
The  rell  of  the  bottom  is  not  wet  and  marlliy,   but  dry 


So  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OP    THE    JUDGES- 

was,  in  1785,  inveloped  in  trees  and  foreO:,  and  yet 
the  bottom  was  not  fo  charged  with  trees  as  to  be  im- 
palTable,  being  only  a  pleafant  fhady  retreat,  in  which 
a  philofopher  might  walk  with  delight.  Near  the  up- 
per end  of  this  walk,  clofed  in  at  each  end  by  the  curve 
brow  of  the  hill  coming  down  to  the  very  brink  of  the 
jivulet,  was  fituate  the  hut  of  the  Judges  under  the  fide 
or  brow  of  the  hill.  Evident  traces  of  it  remained  in 
1785.  It  v/as  partly  dug  out  of  the  fide  of  the  hill, 
and  built  with  (lone  wall,  about  eight  feet  one  way  and 
feven  the  other.  The  weftern  v/all  was  yet  ftanding 
perhaps  three  feet  high,  and  a  remnant  of  the  north 
wall.  The  fcite,  when  I  fawit,  was  filled  with  weeds 
and  vegetables,  and  buflies,  in  the  manner  of  old  cel- 
lars, for  it  feemed  to  have  been  dug  out  a  little  lower 
than  the  furrounding  furface  of  the  bottom.  The  re-  . 
mainder  of  the  ftone  work  evidently  Ihewed  that  it  had 
been  built  with  defign  :  and  unvaried  tradition  fay  it 
was  one  of  the  abodes  of  the  Judges.  They  could  not 
have  chofcn  a  more  fecret,  hidden,  and  pleafant  con- 
cealment, t  They  probably  came  to  it  next  after  they 
fled  from  the  iirft  Cave,  which  they  left  nth  of  June. 
In  the  twelve  days  fucceeding  they  were  in  great  un- 
certainty whether  to  furrender  or  not.  It  is  not  impro- 
bable that  in  this  fpace  of  time  they  refided  in  Sperry's 
houfe,  or  perhaps  in  the  adjacent  woods  part  of  the. 
time,  and  part  of  it  Ihevving  themfelves  at  New-Haven, 
as  well  as  at  Govei-nor  Leet's  in  Guilford.  But  con- 
cluding not  to  furrender  as  yet,  they,  on  24th  of  Jvme, 
went  into  their  wildernefs  retirement.  Let  us  fuppofe 
they  now  went  into  this  fecond  Cave  lodgment,  or  refi- 
dence  by  the  rivulet.  For  fome  reafon  however  they 
do  not  feem  to  have  fojourned  here  long  :  The  Sperry's 
farm  tradition  fays,  becaufe  the  Indian  dogs  in  hunting 
difcovered  them.  They  therefore  fought  another  lodg- 
ment. If  Governor  Hutchinfon  had  made  more  copi- 
ous extracts  from-  Goffe's  Journal,  we  doubtlefs  fhould 
have  had  more  particular   defcriptiojns.     lie  fpeaks  of 


OF    KING    CHARLS^S     J.  §f 

The  CavBy  whereas  there  were  undoubtedly  thfee  re- 
fidences  in  three  duTerent  places,  akhough  all  three 
at  and  behind  the  Vv^eft  Rock. 

The  third  place  of  thc^ir  abode  in  the  vicinity  of  New- 
Haven,  was  at  a  place  called  to  this  day,  The  Lodge. 
It  was  fituated  at  a  fpring  in  a  valley,  or  excavation  in  a 
declivity,  about  three  miles  weft,  or  a  little  north  weft, 
from  the  laft  mentioned  refidence.  A  little  northward 
of  it  was  an  eminence  called  the  Fort  to  this  day,  from 
whence  there  was  an  extenfive  and  commanding  prof- 
pe6l,  and  a  full  view  of  New- Haven  harbor  to  the 
s.  E.  (even  miles  off.  From  this  they  could  fee  the 
veftels  pafling  in  and  out  of  the  harbor.  When  they 
came  to  this  abode  is  uncertain  ;  it  v/as  in  the  fummer. 
And  they  left  it  and  removed  to  Milford  Auguft  1661  ; 
after  having  refided  in  and  about  New-Haven  for  near 
half  a  year,  from  7th  of  March  to  19th  of  Aug.  1661. 
During  this  time  they  had  two  other  occafional  lodg- 
ments In  the  woods  ;  one  at  the  houfe  of  Mr.  Riggs, 
newly  fet  up  in  the  wildernefs,  at  PaugaiTet  or  Derby  ; 
another  between  that  and  Milford.  They  were  fome 
times  alfo  at  Totoket  or  Branford.  Thus  they  fhifted 
about,  fecretly  changing  their  reclufes. 

I  have  never  been  able  to  determine  with  precifion 
the  true  place  of  Hatchet-Harbor,  whither  Sperry  car- 
ried the  two  Judges  and  lodged  them  for  the  firft  two 
or  three  nights  after  the  13th  of  Pv'Iay,  until  he  had  pre- 
pared another  lodge  for  them  on  the  top  of  Weft 
Rock.  I  had  thought  it  was  near  his  houfe,  at  a  hole 
on  the  fide  or  precipice  of  that  rock.  Afterwards  1 
became  fatisfied  it  was  not  there,  but  fome  miles  n.  w. 
from  his  houfe.  The  territory  from  this  mountain 
weftward,  as  indeed  that  of  all  New-England,  is  like 
the  hill  country  of  Judea,  a  land  of  hills  and  vallies. — 
On  a  trail  about  a  mile  fquare,  and  lying  four  miles 
N.  w.  from  Sperry 's,  there  are  four  hills,  or  eminences, 
between  which  there  a:rs  vallie'^aud  iatercurrent  brooks. 


fjZ  HISTORY    01-'    THREE    OF    THt    jUD(5E3 

The  bouncbry  linebetvveen  Milford  and  Nevv-FIaven 
palling  here,  its  frequent  perambulation  iias  given  no- 
toriety and  continued  memorial  of  the  names  of  feverai 
places  on  this  territory  ;  names  taken  from  the  reu- 
denceof  the  Judges  there.  And  thefe  are  entered  in 
the  public  records  both  of  tliofe  towns  and  of  the  colony. 

On  the  northern  dechvity  of  one  of  tliefe  hills  ifllies  a 
fmall  perennial  fpring,  between  two  trees,  a  walnut 
and  chefnut,  noiv  three  and  four  icet  diameter,  and 
judged  to  be  two  hundeed  years  old,  Handing  tvventy- 
tv/o  feet  apart.  This  fountain  is  ftonned  as  if  v/ith  de- 
fign,  and  probably  rem^aining  as  the  Judges  left  it. — 
Tradition  fays  that  when  they  came  to  this  fpring,  one 
of  them  faid,  *'  Would  to  God  we  had  a  liatchet". — 
and  immediately  finding  a  hatclict,  left  there  probably 
by  the  Indian  hunters,  they,  cut  do^vn  boughs  and  built 
a  temporary  harbor,  from  this  circumitance  called 
Hatchet-FIarbor  to  this  day.  Not  indeed  that  all  agree 
in  indigitating  this  particular  fpring,  though  moft  do  ; 
while  all  agree  in  placing  Hatchet-Harbor  foiiie  where 
on  this  mile  fquare  territory,  to  which  they  alfo  uni- 
verfally  give  the  name  of'  ilie  Lodge,"  and  '*  the  Har- 
bor," '*  the  Spring,"  "  Hatcliet-Harbor,"  "the  Fort," 
**the  Look  Out,"  *^  Homes's  Fort,"  and  **  Providence 
Hill."  For  different  parts  of  this  little  territory  go  by 
thefe  names,  which  are  frequently  ufed  promdfcuoufly 
and  indifferently  for  any  and  all  parts  of  it.  But  I  be- 
lieve that  this  fpring  was  Hatchet-Harbor.  On  an 
eminence  well  of  this,  by  the  fide  of  a  ledge  of  rocks 
twenty  fe-c^t  high,  was  built  a  Cave,  or  convenient  lodg- 
ment, ten  feet  long  and  feven  feet  wide,  regsilarly 
ftoned,  I  find  the  walls  now  remaining,  though  fome- 
what  broken  down.  It  was  covered  with  trunks  of 
trees,  which  remained,  though  much  rotten  and  decay- 
ed, till  within  forty  years  ago  :  indeed  I  faw  fome  of 
the  rudera,  rafters,  or  broken  rehcs,  limbs  and  trunks  of 
trees,  fiill  lying  in  the  cavity.     This  was  undoubtedly 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  S3 

thf-it*  great  and  principal  lodge,  and  in  a  very  reclufe 
and  iecreled  place.  There  is  a  beautiful  fpring  fix  rods 
from  it.  A  moil:  convenient  and  fl:^cnre  iltuation  for 
exile  and  oblivion.  This  lodgment  is  fifty  rods  eail  of 
deacon  Peck's,  on  \vhofe  farm  it  is  fituated,  and  about 
one  hundred  rods  weft  from  Milford  line  :  as  Hatchet- 
I'larbor,  or  fpring  (at  which  I  found  an  Indian  il one 
god)  is  fituate  about  as  far  eaft  of  that  line,  on  Mr. 
Newton's  farm.  Between  thefe  two  hills,  and  dire£i:iy 
in  this  line,  is  a  valley  im.?riemorially  and  to  this  day 
called  **  Hatchet- Valley,''"  lying  nearly  in  equal  proxi- 
mity to  both  fprings.  The  true  fpot  of  Hatcket-Har- 
bor  is  loft,  while  all  agree  in  referring  it  to  this  fmall 
territory,  and  moft  fpeak  of  Mr.  Newton's  fpring  as 
the  place. 

Acrofs  a  valley,  and  fifty  or  fixty  rods  north  of  this 
fpring,  lies  a  very  rocky  hill,  called  to  this  day  "the 
Fort,"  and  in  the  town  patents  1675,  "  Homes's  Fort" 
— perhaps  a  nam.e  acquired  before  the  Judges' coming 
there.  It  was  however  a  place  they  frequented,  not 
for  refidence,  but  for  a  look  cut  and  profpe^l  into  New- 
Haven  town  and  harbor,  f;::ven  milfes  off.  From  hence 
is  was  called  indifferently  "  the  Fort  Rocks,"  "  the 
Fort,"  "  the  Look  Out,"  "  Homes's  Fort." 

Weft  of  this,  and  about  one  hundred  rods  north  of 
tire  great  or  convenient  lodgment,  on  deacon  Peck's 
farm,  lies  another  hillock  or  erriinence,  called  to  this 
day,  and  in  the  records  fo  early  as  1675,  "  Providence 
Hill :"  between  which  and  Fort  Rocks  hill  is  a  valley 
and  brook.  Between  iheie  two  hilis  runs  the  dividend  line 
of  the  towns  of  Milford  and  New- Haven,  Milford  tra- 
dition is  that  it  acquired  that  name  tiius  :  Vv^hile  the 
Judges  refided  at  the  lodge  on'  the  fouthern  hill,  they 
apprehended  themfclves  cifcovered  and  parfued,  wiiile 
walking  upciithe  tops  of  lulls,  and  the  Indians ain^ays 
burned  rings  or  tra6i:son  thofefumrnits,  to  give  a  clear 
vicv/  for  hunting  deer  ;  fuppofing  ihciTifcives  difcovcr- 


§4  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    TUDGSS 

ed  they  took  to  the  biifli,  and  to  deceive  their  p;ir2".;;rs 
janged  a  north  courfe  between  the  hills,  and  giving 
them  a  fah'e  fcent,  turned  off  to  the  weilward,  and 
came  round  the  hill  to  their  old  place  in  feciirity.  On 
account  of  this  deliverance  they  called  this  northweftern 
hiU  Providence  Hill.  It  is  faid  there  are  ftill  the  re- 
mains of  another  Cave  at  the  fouth-eafl:  declivity  of  Fort 
Rocks,  fuppofed  and  traditioned  to  have  alfo  been  one 
of  the  Judges'  burrows.  However,  all  thefe  feveral 
lodgments  hereabouts,  may  be  properly  comprehended 
under  the  general  name,  *'  the  Lodge." 

Thefe,  with  one  at  PaugafTet  or  Derby,  and  another 
in  the  woods  half  way  between  Derby  and  Milford, 
give,  I  believe,  all  their  lodgments  at  and  about  New- 
Haven  :  and  thefe  inclufive  of  one  at  Totoket  and 
Guilford,  give  all  their  lodgments  in  Connecticut,  for 
three  years  and  an  half,  and  until  their  final  removal 
and  abforption  in  Hadley,  where  they  ended  their  days. 

Letter  from  Dr.  Carringfon, 

^^  Milford,  Septe?nber  ij},i*^()^, 

*'  Reverend  and  dear  Sir, 
**  I  find  by  examining  the  town  records  of  Milford, 
that  the  place  called  the  Lodge  is  the  high  lands  a  little 
to  the  weilward  of  Captain  Enoch  Newton's  houfe,  the 
now  farm  of  deacon  Peck,  near  an  hundred  years  ago 
this  land  is  defcribed  to  be  at  a  place  called  the  Lodge, 
above  the  head  of  Mill  River,  and  is  fo  defcribed  ever 
lince  in  the  deeds  of  transfer.  To  the  northward  of 
this  about  a  mile,  and  on  the  north  fide  of  the  road  to 
Oxford,  is  an  hill  at  this  day  called  Providence  Hill. 
'Squire  Strong,  who  is  now  above  eight)  years  old,  tells 
me  that  full  hxty  years  ago  he  v/as  on  this  hill  in  com- 
pany with  a  Mr.  George  Clarke,  then  an  old  man, 
and  who  then  ii\ed  a  little  eail  of  the  hill ;  he  told  them 
that  was  Provide iice  Hill,  and  that  it  had  its  name  from 
the  Judges  refiding  rlicrc.     He  adds,  this  Mr.  Clarke 


OF    KIMG    CHARLfeS      J.  S5 

was  an  intelligent  man.-— And  in  a  deed  executed  by 
this  Mr.  Chrkein  1716,  of  land  on  the  hill  below,  to 
lus  fon,  he  defcribes  it  as  being  at  a  place  called  the 
Lodge,  or  Morocco.  Betwixt  theie  two  hills  there  is 
.a  brook  of  water  running  wefcward,  called  now  Bladen's 
Brook,  and  was  fo  by  the  records,  as  early  as  1700, 
•but  from  what  it  had  its  name  I  cannot  learn.  A  Uttle 
eaitof  Providence  Hill,  on  the  New-Haven  fide,  is 
an  hill  which  is  commonly  called  the  Fort,  and  I  think 
-ukd  to  be  called  the  Lodge  too,  when  I  was  a  lad.-— 
There  is  a  t^aft  of  land  lying  on  Milford  iidc,  begin- 
ning as  far  north  as  Amity  meeting-honfe,  and  running 
foutli  three  or  four  miles,  which  has  ahvays  been  called 
'the  Race.  I  find  in  the  records,  that  in  perambulating 
the  lines  betwixt  New-Haven  and  Milford,  early  in 
Governor  Law's  day,  they  fay  they  fixed  bounds  on 
Ifomes's  race :  that  they  went  northv/ard  and  fet  up 
another  on  the  Lodge  ;  and  further  on,  and  fixed  ano- 
ther at  Bladen's  Brook,  at  the  mouth  of  Station  Brook> 
a  fmall  run  of  water  coming  out  from  Homes's  Fort. 
Why  tnefe  are  called  Homes's  Race  and  Fort^  cannot 
learn.  'Squire  Strong  fays- he  always  fuppofed  it  was- 
from  the  judges  ajiliming  that  naiTxC  ;  but  does  not  re- 
colle6l  he  ever  heard  fo.  There  never  was  any  perfoa 
in  this  town  of  that  name  as  I  can  find*  I  have  enclo- 
fed  you  a  plan  reprefenting  thofe  places,  Vv'hich  may* 
make  them  more  intelligible  to  .you.  The  Lodge  is- 
juft  tv/elve  mile?  from  Milford,  and  I  judge  about  fe- 
ven  from  Ncvv-^aven.  Deacon  Peck,  who  has  lived 
on  the  Lodge  about  fifty  years,  and  has  heard  many 
things  from  his  anceilors  on  this  fubje6l,  particularly 
from  the  aforefaid  Mr.  Clarke,  hi.^  father  in  law  ;  but 
docs  not  feera  now  to  recolie6t  much  about  them  ;  but 
this  he  feem.s  to  fully  recollecl:,  that  while  the  Judges 
lived  here  they  had  their  provifions  from  one  Sperry's 
houfe,  in  Speriy's  farm,  lail  Richard  Sperry's  houfc, 
now  Mr.  Darling's  land.  Hutchinibn  fayii  they  leit 
New-Hav£n,  and  lodged  in  a  mill  ^  this  mill  vrao  cro« 
H 


%         HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE   JUDGES 

bably  at  the  Beaver  Ponds  ;  thence  they  went  into  the 
woods,  met  Sperry,  &c.  who  condu£led  them  to  Hateh- 
et-Harbor.  This  Hatchet-Harbor  was,  I  beheve,  the 
fame  with  the  Lodge.  I  hear  a  Mr.  Clarke,  now  8o 
years  old,  fon  to  George,  and  lives  near  the  Lodge^ 
iays  it  was  fo  called  from  the  circumflance  of  their  find- 
ing a  hatchet  there  the  firft  night  they  came  t^ere  ;  bijt 
I  have  not  feen  him  to  make  the  enquiry  myfelf. — 
■Squire  Strong  tells  me  he  has  heard  his  mother  tell  of 
tlieij  living  in  Tomkins's  flone  cellar  ;  that  a  number 
of  girls  a  fpinning  above,  fun g  a  royal  fong,  counting 
on  the  regicides,  not  knowing  they  were  below  and 
heard  them— the  place  called  George's  cellar.  'Squire 
Strong  tells  me  the  tradition  is,  that  a  perfon  by  the 
name  of  George  Alfop  once  lived  there,  but  who  he 
was,  or  from  whence  he  came,  there  is  none  can 
give  any  account.  The  old  people  in  this  tov/n 
have  heard  their  anceftors  tell  about  the  Judges,  but 
feem  not  to  recolie61;  any  thing  particular  about  them, 
.  'except  they  all  agree  of  their  living  at  Tomkins's  houfe. 
The  firll  lav/  book  of  New-Haven  colony,  you  enqui- 
red of  me  about,  publiilied  in  Governor  Eaton's  day, 
^Squire  Strong  tells  me  he  has  feen  in  Mr.  EdvTard's 
library  at  Hartford.  The  Judges  were  probably  known 
to  Governor  Treat,  for  he  was  at  that  time  a  man  of 
gi-eat  note  in  tliistown.  He  was  born  in  1622,  came 
here  from  Hariford  with  the  planters  in  1639,  was 
t^ien  feventeen  years  old.  He  married  the  only  daugh- 
ter and  child  of  Mr.  Edmund  Tapp,  one  of  the  iirft 
said  principal  planters.  He  intended  to  have  returned 
to  Hariford,  but  his  wife's  parents,  and  the  planters, 
pvrfuaded  Ivim  to  tarry  in  the  plantation,  and  tliey  mad;i 
Mm  grants  ©f  lands  toinduce  him  to  tarry  with  them  ; 
hic  lived  vi'ithMr.  Tappy  at-  leail  his  houfe  was  on  Mr. 
Ti^pp's  lot.  Mr.  Tiipp's  great  grand-fon,  and  Gov- 
ernor Treat's  grand-fon,  Mr.  Edmund  Treat,  now 
eighty  years  old,  lives  on  tind  owns  the  iarm  lot,  toge^ 
liier  with  many  otlier  pieces  of  iand^   that   was  Mt,- 


OF    KING    CHARLES     t.  8.^ 

Tapp's  and  Gover»or  Treat's.  The  firft  lands  taken 
up  by  the  firft  planters,  are  in  many  inflancesyet  in  tlie 
fame  famihes,  as  the  Pruddens,  Clarkes,  Fenns,  Fow- 
lers, &c.  Governor  Treat  appears  by  the  records  to  have 
had  the  principal  diredionof  the  plantation  very  early^ 
as  in  building  of"  the  meeting-houfe,  which  was  3^)  feet 
fquare,  and  flood  where  the  iteeple  of  the  prefent  (lands. 
He  is  often  mentioned  in  the  records,  and  appears  as 
Deputy-Governor  firft  in  1678 — as  Governor  in  1682, 
and  until  1699 — from  that  time  until  1708  he  again 
appears  as  Deputy-Governor.  '"Squire  Strong  tells  nae 
that  on  the  return  of  General  Winthrop  from  England, 
as  agent,  in  1698,  Governor  Treat  requeiled  Mr. 
Winthrop  might  have  the  chair,  and  he  was  according- 
ly chofen  Governor,  and  Colonel  Treat  Deputy-Gov- 
ernor. Mr.  Winthrop  died,  it  appears  by  our  re- 
cords, in  1707,  and  upon  the  17th  of  December,  1707, 
Deputy-Governor  Treat  convened  the  AiTembly  at 
New-Haven,  informed  them  of  the  death  of  the  Goifo. 
ernor,  that  he  had  convened  them  that  they  might  make 
choice  of  one,  agreeable  to  charter.  Governor  Treat 
v/as  at  this  time  86  years  old,  and  probably  declined 
public  bufmefs  any  m.ore,  for  I  do  not  find  any  further 
mention  of  him  after  this  in  the  records.  He  died  July 
1 2th,  17 10.  It  is  recorded  alfo  on  his  tomb-flcne, 
that  he  ierved  in  the  poll:  of  Governor  and  Deputy-Gov- 
ernor nigh  thirty  years.  The  AfTembly,  in  1707, 
made  choice  of  Governor  Saitonflall,  but  as  he  was  not 
in  the  nomination,  and  by  law  they  could  not  chufe  any 
one  out  of  the  nomination,  before  they  gave  him  the 
qualifying  oaths,  Avhich  was  on  the  firft  of  January, 
1708,  they  repealed  the  law  fo  far  as  refne6ls  the 
choice  of  Governor  and  Deputy-Governor,  and  left 
them  to  the  choice  out  of  the  freem.en  at  large,  which 
has  continued  ever  fince.  This  tranfa6lion  is  on  our 
town  records. 

"I    am    inclined  to  believe    that  Bladens   Brook, 
Homes's  Fort  and  Race,  the  Lodge,  or  Morocco,  0, 


^S  HISTORY    or    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES'' 

had  their  names  from  the  Judges,  as,vvell  as  ProviQence- 
Hill ;  but  at  this  day  there  is  none  can  inform,  Gofte's 
Diary,  which  Hutchinfon  mentions  he  had,  might 
refer  to  thefe  places,  and  point  them  out  as  it  did  Pro- 
vidence Plili,  where  they  lodged.  Hutchinfon  fays 
their  letters  are  dated  at  places  not  known,  to  prevent 
their  difcovery.  Morocco  I  fnould  fuppofe  it  likelv 
for  them  to  write  from,  as  Ebenezer.  Vv'^hen  I  found 
thefe  places  in  the  records  I  expected  to  have  got  further 
information  from  the  aged  people  ;  but  they  in  general 
do  not'*  recollect  with  fufficient  certainty  to  eltablifii 
facts. — Ypur  information  may  explain  thefe  records, 
or  they  may  pofilbly  help  to  explain  iomc  matters  you 
have  doubted  of.  There  is  a  Mr.  Valentine  Wilraot 
now  living  in  Bethany,  an  old  man,  whom  I  have  not- 
feen  many  years ;  he  knew  all  the  ancient  people  at 
Sperry's  farm,  was  a  great  Hunter,  and  I  believe  from 
what  I  can  recollect  of  the  man,  is  hkely  to  have  heard 
und  retained  feme  anecdotes  about  the  Judges. 
I  am,  Sir, 
With  refpect, 

Your  moft  humble  fervant, 

Edward  Carrington. 

Reverend  DoJi'o?^  Stiles. 
*'  P.  S.  There  is  a  tradition  of  a  very  curious  fe- 
pulchre  fouixi  many  years  ago,  about  two  miles  north- 
well  of  the  Lodge  ;'t}!at  it  was  in  the  fide  of  fome  rocks, 
that  it  was  made  of  itones  laid  by  hands  in  a  very  regu- 
lar manner  ;  and  when  opened  a  corpfe  was  found  in 
it,  at  leail  the  bones  of  a  man  fuppofed  to  be  fix  feet 
and  a  half  liigh.  It  was  accidently  found  by  removing 
the  flmQt  for  a  building." 

From  their  lodgments  in  the  woods  the  Judges  re- 
moved and  took^Jp  an  afyluni  in  the  lioufe  of  Mr. 
Tomkins,  in  die  centre  of  Milford,  thirty  or  forty  rods 
Iruiu  the  meetiiig-Uoufc.     Governor  Law  afterwards 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  ^ 

bought  fhis  Iwufe  and  lot,  and  built  his  feat  within  a 
rod  or  two  of  it.  I  have  frequently  been  in  this  houfe 
of  Tomkiiis's  in  the  Governor's  life  time,  vv^ho  died 
1750,  aged  73  :  it  was  (landing  fince  1750,  and  per- 
haps to  1770.  In  this  houfe  the  two  Judges  refided  in 
the  moft  abfolute  concealment,  not  i^  much  as  walking 
out  into  the  orchard  for  two  years.  I  have  not  learned 
who  were  privy  to  the  concealment  here^  The  minif- 
ter  at  this  time  was  the  reverend  Roger  Newton.  Hq 
with  Mr.  Treat  and  Mr.  Fenn,  and  a  few  others  here 
were  in  the  fecret,  and  held  interviews  with  them  ia 
this  fecret  retirement.  But  it  is  ftrange  that  the  very 
memory  of  their  refidence  there  is.  almoft  totally  obli- 
terated from  Milford.  I  do  not  find  a  fmgle  perfon  of 
Milford,  or  of  Milford  exti'a6t,  except  Judge  Law, 
now  of  New- London,  born  at  Milford,  the  Governor's 
fon,  and  Gideon  Buckingham,  Efq.  of  Mil  ford j^ 
now  living,  who  is  pofTeifed  of  any  idea  or  tradition  of 
the  Judges  having  ever  lived  there  at  all.  Judge  Law 
is  fully  pofleffed  of  the  matter,  and  corre6ls  Governor 
Hutchinfon's  account,  who  places  Tomkins's  houfe 
between  New-Haven  and  Milford,  whereas  he  informs 
me  it  flood  in  the  very  center  of  the  town  of  Milford, 
and  on  his  father's  home  lot.  This  houfe,  it  is  faid, 
was  built  for  the  Judges  on  Tomkins's  lot,  a  fev/  rods 
from  his  houfe.  It  was  a  building,  fay  twenty  feet 
fquare,  and  tv/o  ftories.  The  lower  room  built  with 
ftone  wall,  snd  coniidered  as  a  ftore.  The  room  over 
it  with  timber  and  wood,  and  ufed  by  Tomkins's  family 
as  a  work  or  ipinning  room.  Tlie  family  ufed  to  fpia 
in  the  room  above,  ignorant  of  the  Judges  being  below, 
where  they  refided  two  years,  without  going  abroad  fo 
much  as  into  the  orchard.  Judge  Buckingham  tells 
me  this  llory,  the  only  anecdote  or  notice  I  could  ever 
learn  from  a  Milford  man  now  living.  While  they  fo- 
journed  at  Milford,.  there  came  over  from  England  a 
ludicrous  cavaljer  ballad,  fatirizing  Charles's  "judges, 
and  Goffe  and  Whaliey  among  the  reft.  A  fpinftre[i» 
H2 


qo  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

at  Miiford  had  learned  to  fing  it,  and  ufed  fometimes 
to  fing  i^  in  the  chamber  over  the  Judges  :  and  the 
Judges  ufed  to  get  Tomkins  to  fet  the  gi'rls  to  finghig 
that  fong  for  their  diverfion,  being  humoured  and  pleai- 
ed  with  it,  though  at  their  own  expence,  as  they  were 
the  iubje6ls  of  the  ridicule.  The  girls  knew  nothing 
of  the  matter,  being  ignorant  of  the  innocent  device, 
and  little  thought  that  they  were  ferenading  angels. 

But  however  the  memory  of  the  Judges  is  obliterated 
cit  Miiford,  not  fo  at  Guilford,  New-Haven  and  Had- 
]ey.  Here  I  refume  their  fituation  before  their  final  ab- 
dication. It  is  in  conflant  tradition  at  Guilford,  not 
only  that  they  a^lually  were  here,  but  were  for  fome 
time,  at  leaft  for  feveral  days,  fecreted  at  Governor 
Leet's.  They  fpeak  of  two  circumilanccs  :  ift.  That 
the  Governor,  though  a  cordial  friend  to  them,  was  fill- 
ed with  great  anxiety  and  diftrefs  leall  he  ■  fiiould  be 
brought  into  danger  and  trouble  by  their  being  tliere, 
and  took  the  iitmaft  precaution  concerning  their  con- 
cealment, that  he  might  be  fafe  and  fecure  from  incur- 
ring blame.  And  to  this  end,  2d.  He  would  not  fuf- 
fer  them  to  be  lodged  in  his  boufe,  but  made  them 
lodge  in  his  (tone  cellar.  *  Now  it  is  difficult  to  account 
for  this  tradition,  on  the  fuppofidon  of  only  their  tran- 
■fient  vifit  and  calling  upon  him,  and  even  lodging  with 
liim,  in  their  way  from  Governor  Winthrop's  in  New- 
London,  to  New-Haven,  which  they  certainly  did  on 
7tb  of  March :  for  there  really  was  no  danger  of  impeach- 
ment for  the  harboring  and  concealing  traitors,  till  after 
he  had,  on  loth  May,  received  a  copy  of  tHc  royal 
mandate.  Governor  Winthrop  felt  no  danger,  nor  did 
Governor  Leet,  till  the  loth  of  May.  He  might  be 
tenderly  anxious  and  folicitous  for  the  regicides  them- 
ielves,  and  for  the  manner  he  muu  be  called  to  condu6l 
latheafRur,  but  not  for  his  incurring  any  penalty  by 
this  a6t  of  hofpitality  even  to  travelling  traitors,  whom 
he  had  no  orders,  nor  by  office  as  chief  Magiflrate  was 
then  holden  or  obliged  to  apprehend.     Nor  would  he 


OF   KING    CHARLES     I.  9I 

at  that  thiie  have  lodged  them  in  his  celbr.  But  the  ■ 
cafe  was  much  altered  after  the  loth-  of  May,  and  every 
body  was  put  into  terror  and  caution  after  that.  The 
Judges  ceitainly  were  not  at  Guilford  after  they  went  fa 
Nev/-liaven,  during  the  fpace  of  from  7th  of  March 
to  loih  of  May,  when  the  Governor  told  Kellond  and 
Kirk  that  he  had  not  feen  them  for  nine  weeks.  Al- 
though it  is  probable  that  he  immediately,  or  in  a  few- 
days  after  7th  March,  followed  the  Judges  to  New- 
Haven,  there  to  take  counfel  and  concert  mcafures  how 
to  a£t  concerning  them.,  of  v/hich  there  is  a  fiyin.g  tra- 
dition ;  yet  if  fo,  he  faw  them  no  more  till  after  the 
lothof  May.  After  this,  it  became  really  dangerous 
for  the  Governor  to  be  concerned  in  the  conceahnent* 
From  their  firft  coming  in  March,  to  nth  June,  they 
certainly  were  not  feen  by  the  Governor.  Between  th?s 
itnd  20th  of  June  was  the  only  fpace  in  which  they 
could  be  at  the  Governor's,  for  they  were  expofed  three 
days  in  New-Haven,  and  retired  to  their  Cave  jun& 
'24th.  Thefe  eight  or  nine  days  it  was  in  deliberation 
to  deliver  them  up,  and  Mr.  Gilbert  gave  out  that  he 
expeded  it.  Let  us  conceive  that  they  had  concluded 
to  furrendcr,  and  went  over  with  their  friends,  doubt- 
lefs  Jones,  if  not  Davenport,  to  the  Governor  to  fur- 
render.  Deliberating  when  they  cam^e  there,  they 
might  confidcr  that  the  only  perfon  in  real  danger  v/as 
Mr.  Davenport,  and  if  he  v/ould  rifqu.e  the  matter, 
the  concealment  might  go  on.  The  formal  and  acluai 
furrendery  tliey  might  hold  in  fufpence.  But  this  took 
up  time,  and  perhaps  they  mult  lodge  in  Guilford  a 
night  or  two.  How  fiiould  this  be  ordered  fo  as  to 
fave  the  Governor  ?  Here  might  be  room,  for  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Governor's  timidity  and  caution'; 
which  miglit  terminate  in  a  conclufion  that  it  was  not 
bcit  nor  fafe  that  they  iliould  lodge  in  the  Governor  s 
lioufe  ;  and  to  avoid  this  they  ihould^  during  thefe  fe\y 
days  fecretion,  take  up  their  abode  in  the  ilone  cellar^ 
and  perhaps  in  Mr.  Rolfeter's  houfe. 


92.    HISTORY  ©F  THREE  Of    THE  JUDGES 

There  is,  as  I  have  faid,  reafon  to  think  that  thef 
went  over  to  Guilfcrd  vvith  the  bona  fide  and  a(Si:uaI 
viewof  rurrenderingthemfelves  to  Governor  Leet.  The 
Governor's  houfe  was  fitnated  on  the  eaftern  bank  of 
the  rivulet  that  palTes  through  Guilford,  t  He  had  a 
a  (lore  on  the  bank  a  lew  rods  from  his  houfe,  and  un- 
der it  a  cellar  remi'inin^  to  this  day,  and  which  I  lately' 
(1792;)  viii ted  and  viewed  with  attentii)n.  It  is,  as  I 
hav^e  faid,  fti»l  in  the  genf^ral  and  concurrent  tradition 
at  Guilford,  that  the  Judge-s  were  concealed  and  lodged 
in  this  cellar  feveral  nights,  moft  fay  three  days  and 
three  nights,  when  the  Governor  v/as  afraid  to  fee  them. 
A  daughter  of  Governor  Leet  afterwards  raarried  ia 
New-Haven  to  Mr.  Trowbridge.  It  is  an  anecdote 
flill  prefervedin  that  family,  that  fhe  ufed  often  to  fay 
that,  when  fhe  was  a  little  girl,  thefe  good  men  lay  con- 
cealed fome  time  in  this  cellar  of  her  father's  (lore  ; 
but  that  Ihe  did  not  know  it  till  afterwards  :  that  (he 
well  remembered  that  at  the  time  of  it,  flie  and  the 
reft  of  the  children  were  flridly  prohibited  from  going 
near  that  flore  for  fome  days,  and  that  fhe  and  the 
children  wondered  at  it  and  could  not  conceive  theTea- 
fon  of  it  at  that  time,  though  they  knew  it  afterwards. 
Tradition  fays  that  they  were  however  conftaatly  fup- 
plied  with  viduals  from  the  Governor's  table,  fent  to 
them  by  the  maid,  who  long  after  was  wont  to  glory  in 
it,  that  fhe  had  fed  thefe  heavenly  men.  Now  this 
caution  could  not  be  at  their  hrlt  interview  with  the 
Governor,  at  their  paffing  at  Governor  Winthrop's  from 
New-London  to  New-Haven,  in  March.  On  the 
lath  of  May  Leet  told  the  purliiivants  that  he  had  not 
feen  them  in  nine  weeks,  nor  was  it  dangerous,  as  I 
have  faid,  for  any  one  to  fee  them  till  that  time,  when 
he  firft  received  the  King's  procla«nation.  He  doubt- 
1efs  ftudiouily  avoided  feeing  them  ever  after  this. — 
This  hiding  In  the  cellar  mud  therefore  have  been  after 
J  2th  of  Mav,  and  indeed  after  the  nth  of  June  ;  and  I 
conceive  it  to  have  been  at  the  tijiie  when  Mr.  Gilbert 
t  S:;e  Plate, 


OF    KING-    CI-IASLE3      I.  93 

gave  out  that  he  looked  when  they  (lioiild  have  come- 
in  and  farrendered,  as  he  might  fay  wi'di  truth,  If  he 
knew  they  were  gone  to  Guilford  with  the  exprefs  de- 
figsi  of  furrendering.  And  as  it  would  not  have  been 
proper  for  the  governor  to  fee  them  until  they  actually 
furrendered,  it  was  natural  fo  ta  contrive  the  matter, 
that  they  Ihould  lie  concealed  in  this  cellar,  during  the 
two  or  three  days' confultation  and  deliberation  on  what 
was  necelTary  and  bed  to  be  done.  This  therefore  was 
a  proper  time,  and  here  was  fufficient  reafon  for  all  tlie 
caution  and  injun6tion3  upon  the  family,  to  avoid  and 
not  go  near  that  (lore,  a  thing  long  after  remembered 
by  the  Governor's  daughter,  and  narrated  in  her  very- 
old  age,  within  the  memory  of  perfons  now  living. — • 
Perhaps  Mr.  Davenport  himfelfwas  in  this  confultation, 
as  being  conceived  to  be  the  principal  peribnin  dano;er. 
Upon  revolving  and  di  feu  fling  the  matter,  they  malt 
have  perceived  the  folidity  of  Mr.  Davenport's  reafons, 
that  both  he  and  the  Governor  were  fafe  it  they  had  ne- 
ver any  thing  more  to  do  with  the  Judges  after  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  King's  proclamation  and  commands.  For 
thefeor  other  reafons,  it  was  concluded  not  to  infiit  on. 
their  furrendery  ;  and  accordingly  they  v/ere  left  to  re- 
tire from  this  concealment  in  the  Governor's  cellar,  and 
returned  to  Nev/-Haven  ;  and  after  fhewingthemfelves 
openly  there  from  20th  to  24th  of  June,  retired  to  their 
Cave  at  Providence  Hill.  This  was  undoubtedly  the 
time,  the  dangerous  time,  when  they  were  fo  cauticuf- 
]y  concealed  in  the  cellar. 

Conne£led  with  this  is   another  anecdote,  which   I 
extract  from  the  records  : 
Jf  a  General  Court  at  ISJew-Haveiiy  May  7,   1662. 

Confidering  the  cafe  of  Mr.  Brayton  (Bryan)  Roffe- 
ter,  of  Guilford,  and  his  fon,  John  Rolfeter  :  The 
Marfhal  of  Guilford  had  waited  upon  them,  for  colony 
rates,  the  father  not  at  home.  In  converfation  with  the 
fon,  the  Marilial  '^  told  him,  his  father  ihould  bring  in 
an  account  of  his  charges  about  the  Colonels,  &c/' 


^\.  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUD(SES 

Now  at  that  day,  that  military  office  v/as  not  in  be- 
ing in  New- England :  there  being  only  Majors  and  no 
Colonels  in  Maiiachuretts,  Connecticut,  Ncvv-Kaven, 
Plymouth  or  Rhode-Iiland.  Were  not  thefe  Colonels 
Goffe  and  Whalley  ?  and  dont  this  concur  in  evidenc- 
in$7  that  they  refided  fome  time  at  leaft  in  Guilford  in 
l66i  ?  Doubtlefs  they  reiidcd  in  the  Governor's  cellar, 
2.nd  at  Mr.  Ro  deter' s,  from  the  nth  to  2oth  of  June. 
Mr.  Davenport  (landing  firm,  and  the  Governor  now 
liaving  demonftration  by  the  aftual  furrendery  of  the 
Judges,  that  they  would  at  all  times  fiand  ready  to  fur- 
render,  and  it  being  agreed  that  the  places  of  their  re- 
treat fliould  always  be  known  to  him,  fo  that  they  could 
be  given  up  in  cafe  of  extremities,  he  felt  himfelf  fafe, 
and  could  agree  to  poftpone  the  a6lual  acceptance  of 
their  furreridery  to  a  future  time,  if  i-t  iliould  be  abfo- 
lutely  necellary. 

Madam  Dexter,  of  Dedham,  originally  of  Bofton, 
whom  I  faw  1793,  aged  92,  tells  me  iliehad  formerly 
been  acquainted  vv'ith  a  pious  v^'oman  at  Dedham.,  who 
ufed  5ften  to  glory  that  ihe  had  lived  with,  ferved  and 
miniftered  to  thefe  holy  men  ;  but  when  alked,  would 
never  fay  where  it  was. 

An  aged  woman  now  living  in  New-Haven,  of 
good  intelhgence,  tells  me,  1793,  that  her  grand-mo- 
ther CoUins  died  about  1744,  aged  87,  when  ihe  was 
aged  17  or  18.  Mrs.  Collins  (formerly  Mrs.  Trow- 
bridge) was  Governor  Leet's  daughter.  She  has  oftea 
heard  her  fay,  that  ihe  remembered  the  children  of  the 
family  were  for  a  time  forbid  the  ftone  cellar,  but  coidd 
not  then  conceive  for  what  reafon.  But  flievvas  after- 
wards informed,  and  ever  after  fuppofed  the  two  Judg- 
es vi-ere  concealed  there.  Mrs.  Collins  might  be  four 
or  five  years  old  in  i66r.  This  isadiflincl  branch  of 
traditionary  Information  from  the  former,  although  of 
the  fame  fa6l:,  and  concurrent  with  other  information. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  any  thing  lefs  than 
il^  fliould  be  fuiHcient  for  the  tradition  at  Guilford.-* 


OF  KINO   CHARLES     t.  95 

If.this  fcene  really  took  place,  what  cpmmanded  thtj 
ultimate  determination  I  Siippofe  it  was  this,  that  they 
ihould  return  to  New-flaven,  appear  openly,  and  not 
only  clear  Mr,  i Davenport  from  then  Itill  concealing 
them,  but  confer  with  Mr,  Davenport,  the  only  man 
in  danger,  and  if  he  felt  his  danger,  then  to  furrenders, 
And  this  would  bring  the  v/hole  matter  upon  Mr.  Da- 
venport. If  he  gave  out,  all  was  gone.  Mr.  Daven- 
port was  a  great  man  in  every  refped:,  a  great  civilian, 
a  great  and  deep  politician,  as  well  as  divine,  and  of 
intrepid  refolution  and  firmnefs  ;  and  was  a  much  deep- 
er man,  of  greater  difcernment  in  public  affairs,  and 
every  way  fuperior  in  abilities  to  the  Governor  and  all 
concerned.  He  faw  they  all  gave  up.  He,  like  Mount 
Atlas,  flood  firm,  and  alone  refolutely  took  the  whole 
upon  himfelf.  Better  than  any  of  the  Counfellors,  he 
knew  that  the  fecreting  he  had  done  to  the  30th  of 
April,  and  whatever  could  have  been  done  before  the 
arrival  of  the  royal  mandate,  could  be  vindicated  by 
the  laws  of  hofpitality  to  unconvided  criminals,  and 
could  not  in  a  court  of  law  be  conftrued  into  even  a  mif- 
prifion  of  treafon.  It  might  fubjecft  him  to  fome  in- 
conveniences, perhaps  profecutions,  but  could  not  be 
fatal :  a  thing  which  perhaps  the  others  doubted.  Sup- 
ported by  his  good  fenfe  and  deep  difcernment,  he 
therefore  felt  himfelt  fecure,  and  itood  firm  ;  not  out 
of  obftinacy,  which  v/as  indeed  natural  to  him,  but 
v/ith  an  enhghtened  and  judicious  flability.  What 
itaggered  Governor  Endicott,  a  man  of  heroic  fortitude, 
and  other  Hearts  of  Oak  at  Boftou,  never  Itaggered 
Mr.  Davenport.  He  alone  was  firm,  unfhaken,  un-  . 
awed.  Great  mdnds  difplay  themfelves  on  trying  and 
great  occafions.  Ke  was  the  man  for  this  trying  occa- 
iion.  Davenport's  enlightened  grealnefs,  fidelity  and.  g^ 
intrepidity,  favcd  the  Judges.  ^Mb 

They  having  fbewn  themfelves  three  days  at  New- 
Haven,  though  doiibliefs  cautioufiy,  on  tue  2  U.h  of 
June,  as  I  have  faid,,  retired  to  their  Cave,  and  clofed 


"^6  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDCES 

"their  laft  open  intercoiirfe  with  the  world.  Here  they 
continued  about  two  months  longer,  and  then,  on  the 
■T9th  of  Aiiguft,  1 66 1,  removed  to  the  houfe  of  a  Mr. 
Tomkins  in  Mil  ford,  t  Here  they  lived  fecreted  two 
years  vvithout  going  into  the  orchard.  Afterward?  their 
-religious  meetings  and  exercifcs,  as  it  is  faid,  gave  them 
too  much  notoriety  to  continue  there  any  longer ;  and 
they  were  obliged  to  meditate  a  removal  to  a  more  fe- 
■creted  afylum.  This  was  undoubtedlv  accelerated  by 
the  news  of  the  arrival  of  the  CornmiHioners  at  Bodon, 
1664,  one  of  whofe  inftruclions  fi*om  the  King  was, 
to  make  enquiry  for  Colonel  Whalley  and  Colonel 
Gofte.  They  fought  foT  the  moii:  1  emote  frontier  fet- 
tlement;  and  the  friends  provided  for  their  reception  at 
the  houfe  of  the  reverend  John  .Ruifel,  minilter  of  the 
new  fettled  town  of-  Hadlcy,  one  hundred  miles  oft,  up- 
on Conne^icut  river,  in  Maffachafetts.  They  re- 
moved from  Milford  to  Hadley  onthe  13th  of  October, 
1C64,  after  a  lefidence  and  pilgrimage  of  three  years 
and  feven  months,  at  New-Haven  and  Milford.  I'hey 
travelled  only  in  the  night,  and  lay  by  in  the  day  time, 
making  little  llations  or  arbors,  v/hlch  they  called  har- 
bor^, when  in  the  woods  on  their  journey.  One  of 
the  little  refls  or  harbors  of  thefe  pilgrims,  was  near 
the  ford  of  a  large  brook  or  rivulet,  which  we  pafs  in  the 
way  to  Hartford,  juft  twenty  miles  frooi  Nev/-Havcn, 
or  half  way  to  Hartford,  and  one  mile  weft  of  Merideri 
meeting-hcufe  :  which  circumitance  has  given  the 
name  of  Pilgrims  Harbor  to  this  place  or  pafs,  to  this 
day.     From  thence  they  proceeded  to  Hadley  in  1664. 

They  kept  a  diary  or  journal  of  occurrences  for  the 
Erft  feven  years  of  their  exile,  after  they  left  London, 
at  Bodon,'  New-Haven,  and  Miltbrd,  and  then  at 
Hadley.  I'hef-  with  their  letters,  an'.l  perhaps  other 
WTiting?,  were  left  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Ruifel,  of  Had- 
ley, till  his  death,  1692  ;  and  padcd  uov/n  to  his  fon, 
who  died  171 1,  having  rem.oved  them  to  Barn  (table  ; 
awd  thence  to  his  grand-fon,  the  fucceeding  minifcer  ot 

T  S:^  a!l:b:^j!Lu!gmi:aSi  Pijiiil.  r-.'j.  11.  and  PlatcWl. 


'of    king    CHARLES     K  9/ 

Barnftable,  where  they  were  preferved  to  his. .  death, 
1758.  About  this  time,  or  perhaps  1759^  or  1760,  Ii:li's; 
Otis,  of  Barnilable,  an  a'gecl  widow  lady,  removed 
from  Barnftable,  and  came  to  hve  with  her  fon,  Major 
Jonathan  Otis  of  Newport,,  and  became  for  many 
years  a  comiTsunicant  in  my  church  there.  This  brought 
me  into  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  her.  She  was 
a  Ruirel,  a  grand-daughter  of  the  reverend  John  Ruf- 
ihlj  of  riadley,  daughter  of  the  reverend  Jonathan  Ruf- 
fe}, of  Barnftable,  and  fifter  of  the  reverend  Jonatlian 
Ruflel,  fucceiror  of  his  father  in  the  paftoral  charge  of 
the  church  at  Barnftable,  v/ho  died  I75§.  She  was 
every  way  a  woman  of  merit  and  excellence.  Oi  ex- 
ceeding good  natural  abilities,  very  inquihtive,  pof- 
felfed  a  natural  decency,  dignity  and  refoe6lability,  and 
was  a  perfon  of  confiderable  reading,  and  extenfive  ob- 
fervation.  She  had  all  along  in  life  been  much  con- 
verfant  am^ong  minifters,  gentlemen  of  the  Court,  and 
perfons  of  the  firft  refped'tabihty.  She  was  ever  learn-, 
ing  and  imbibing  fomething  profitable  and  improving, 
and  took  fmgular  delight  in  the  converfation  of  inftruc- 
tive  characSlers.  She  v/as  perfe6lly  verfed  in  the  Ruf- 
fe! hiftory  of  the  Judges,  for  whofe  m.emory  the  had 
the  family  veneration.  So  much  I  think  necefiary  to 
obferve  of  her  perfonal  character.  Among  other  con- 
verfations,  ihe  often  brought  up  the  ftory  ot  the  Judges. 
She  confidered  it  an  honor  to  have  delcended  Irom  an 
anceftor  who  had  concealed  ai^proteCied  them.  She 
often  told  me  of  a  trunk  of  Wl|lley's  and  Gofte's  ma- 
nufcripts  which  had  come  down  tu  her  brother,  the 
fecond  Mr.  Ruifel,  of  Barnftable,  and  were  pref^rved 
there  in  his  library  to  his  death.  She  faid  ilie  had  fpent 
much  time  in  reading  them,  and  fpake  much  of  what 
fhe  found  contained  in  them.  What  v/as  given  to  the 
Mather  library,  vs^as  but  a  very  fmall  part  cf  the  collec- 
tion of  the  Judges'  manufcripts  in  this  trunk,  fome  of 
which,  though  difperfed,  may  poilibly  yet  be  found, 
aiid  Qh'oid  light  and  information. 
1 


98  HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGE? 

When  I  read  Governor  Hiitchinfon's  hiflory,  pub- 
liiked  in  1764,  and  particularly  his  marginal  notes 
about  the  regicider,  I  inflantly  recolIe6led  this  inform- 
ation of  Mrs.  Otis  refpe6ting  this  collection  of  manu- 
fcript?,  and  at  firil  Judged  that  this  was  the  fource  from 
whence  the  Governor  derived  his  documents.  Lieu- 
u  nant-Governor  liutcliinfon  was  then  Chief  Juftice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  MalTachufetts.  I  at  once  con- 
lidcred,  that  in  riding  the  circuit,  when  holding  the 
court  in  the  county  of  Barnftable,  he  came  acrofs  this 
trunk  of  the  Judges'  m>anufcripts,  and  feleded  from 
llience  the  accurate  and  authentic  information  which  he 
publiihed.  But. afterwards  the  Governor  told  me,  that 
he  had  never  heard  of  this  coUeftion  of  manufcripts  in 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Ruifel,  of  Barnftable ;  and  that  his 
information  vvas  derived  from  original  autographical 
writings,  which  he  had  found  among  the  papers  and 
manulcriptspref-rvedin  the  Mather  library^  in  Bofton, 
and  which  the  reverend  Samuel  Mather,  of  Bofton,  had 
obliged  him  v/ith  the  perufal  of.  The  reverend  Samu- 
el Mather  married  Governor  Hutchinfon's  fifter.  He 
was  the  only  fon  of  the  reverend  Do6lor  Cotton  Ma- 
ther, author  of  the  ?vlagnalia  Americana,  who  had  been 
long  aflidiious  in  collecting  original  information  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  for  tliat  work.  A  moft  valuable 
coileaion  of  ManuilTipts  from  the  reverend  Richard 
Mather,  ofDcrchcfter,  Decior  I ncreafe  Mather,  and 
Doctor  Cot'.cn  Matlier,  defcended  and  came  into  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Samuel  Matlier,  brother-in-law  to  Go- 
vernor Hutchinfon.  This  f;;.mlly  connexion  opened 
^W  this  treafury  of  hiftorical  information  to  the  Govern- 
or. Here  he 'found  GofFe's  original  Diary,  or  Journal, 
ior  fcven  years,  written  in  feveral  pocket  volumes,  and 
<d{o  a  number  of  Goffe's  letters  to  hisv/ife.  But  nei- 
liier  the  Gcvcrnor  nor  the  pofiefibr  knew  how  they  came 
into  the  Idather  library. 

That  they  came  from  the  RuiTel  family,  and  from 
the  B*irn(tabic  colle6licn,  I  do  not  doubt ;  as  the  libra- 


or  KING    CHA-RLES      I.  99 

ry  of  the  Hadley  RulTel  had  been  removed  to  his  fon's 
at  Barnftable,  foon  after  1692,  before  Do6lor  Cottpn 
Mather  began  to  write  his  hiftory,  and  ten  years  before 
the  publication  of  the  MagnaHa.  I  do  not  believe  the 
Hadley  RuQel  would  have  fiifFered  them  out  of  his  hands 
in  his  life  time.  If  Cotton  Mather  came  acrofs  them 
Avhile  \vriiing,  he  for  fome  reafons  never  made  ufe  of 
them,  as  nothing  of  them  appears  in  his  works.  Doc- 
tor Cotton  Mather,  as  well  as  his  father,  Doftor  In- 
creafe  Mather,  was  intimately  acquainted  with  all  the 
Ruifels,  and  doubtlefs  from  them  received  the  manu- 
RTipts.  But  I  am  incUned  to  think  that  they  never 
difclofed  thefe  manufcripts  to  Mather,  till  death  had 
put  every  one  out  of  danger.  Probably  Mr.  Ruffei 
lentthem  to  one  of  the  Math'ers,  about  1715  or  1720, 
for  Governor  Hutchinfon  fpeaks  of  them  as  of  the  col- 
lection of  Doctor  Increafe  Mather,  who  died,  1724, 
as  did  Do6lor  Cotton  in  1727,  when  they  came  into 
his  fon  Samuel's  hands,  and  lay  unnoticed  till  Hutch- 
infon delivered  an  extract  IVom  them  to  the  public,  1 764, 
But  it  feems  they  were  but  few,  and  a  very  fmall  part 
of  a  larger  colledlion,  which  may  poilibly  be  yet  re- 
maining in  the  trunk  at  Barnftable.  Thofe  which  the 
Governor  had,  I  have  before  obfer ved,  v/ere  lolt  when 
his  houfe  Vv-as  deftroyed  at  the  time  of  the  Stamp  A6>. 
Thus  far  the  hiftory  of  the  Judges'  manufcripts  I  thought 
belt  to  infert. 

When  I  once  faw  one  of  the  pocket  volumes  of 
GofFe's  .Journal  for  1662,  which  Hutchinfon  fhewed 
me  in  1766,  I  little  thought  of  the  ufe  I  could  now 
have  made  of  ir.  As  the  original  is  loft,  I  regret  that 
I  did  not  extradl  and  copy  more  of  it,  v.hile  in  my 
poiTeffion,  than  this  little  I'cliil:.  In  tl.e  beginning  of 
it  was  the  following  lift  of  names,  which  I  then  conted. 


"  Ifaac  Ewre, 
S.  F.  Banners, 
S.  T.  Malevern, 


rureioy, 
I.  Blackftone, 
S.  W.  Conftable, 


iQp^      HISTORY    OF  -THR 

S.  G..  Norton, 

T.  Anctevs, 
A.  Sfcley, 

T.^Horton, 

T.  Idainmond, 

S.  I  .Boiirchier,  alldeceajed. 


0.  Cromwell, 
Ireton, 

■ Bradiliaw, 

*    Pride. 

Wm.  Ld.  Monfun, 
Ja.  Challoner, 
Sr.  li.  Miidmay, 
S,  J.  Harrington^ 

1.  Phcln^;, 
Robert  \Vale, 

Sr.  A.  Hailerig.— /  Chal- 
loner ancl  Sr.  A.  Hajle- 
rigy  dead  ;  the  other  five 
are  degraded,  and  ivhen 
taken  to  h^  dra.wn  from 
''Tower  to  Tiburne  zvith 
ropes,  tfc.  and  impri- 
foiled  during  life. 

I.  Lille, 

W.  S:ns 
V.  Waitor., 


EE    OF    THE... JUDGES 

E.  W^ — -, 

J^  Barksd.  ^ 
E.  Ludlow, 


M.  Le 


ulay. 


J.  Okey  ^^ 
j.  Hewfon, 

W.  G , 

C.  Holland, 
T.  Chattr. 
M.  Corbett,  * 
W.  Cawley, 
N.  Love, 
y.  Dixwell, 
b.  Blagrave, 
A.  Brougton, 
A.  Dtndy.—Fled. 


J.  PenniiigLon, 
R.  Tichboiirne, 
O.  Row,* 
A.  Garland, 
E.  Harvie, 
H.  Smith, 
H.  Martin, 
H.  Walter, 
G.  Fleetwood, 
J.TeQiple, 
P.  Temple, 
J.  Waite, 
S.  Mayne, 
W.  Henuinghuni, 
R.  Lileburrie, 
G.  Millington, 
V.  P(yaer, 
T.  Morgan, 

J.    Downe;.' — Condemned ^ 
and  hi  the  Tower T 


OF   KING    CHARLES      I.  JCI 

Hcrearegiven  the  name  of  fixty-ninc  perfons  ;  twen- 
ty-iix  of  whom  are  dead ;  five  degraded  ;  nineteen  fled, 
and  nineteen  in  the  Tower.  Moft  of  thefe  were  King 
Charles's  Judges,  as  the  following  Ordinance  and  War- 
rant for  his  execution,  with  the  fignatures,  will  fhew. 
In  the  above,  probably  Peckham  fliould  be  Pelhain. — 
Barks<^-  Okey,  and  Corbet,  were  afterwards  taken  and 
executed,  1662.  Morgan  was  not  in  the  Tower. — 
Phelps  is  PbiUps. 

Ordinance  for  trymg  the  King,  made  January  6,  1 649. 

'^  Whereas  it  is  notorions  that  Charles  Stu- 
art, now  King  of  England,  not  content  with  thefe 
many  encroachments  which  his  predecefTors  had  made 
On  the  people  in  their  rights  and  freedoms,  has  had  a 
wicked  defign  totally  to  fubvert  the  ancient  and  funda- 
mental laws  and  liberties  of  this  nation,  and  in  their 
(lead  to  introduce  an  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  govern- 
ment ;  and  that  befides  all  other  evil  ways  and  means 
to  bring  this  defign  to  pafs,  he  has  profecuted  it  with 
fire  and  fword,  levying,  and  maintaining  a  crued  war 
againft  the  Parliament  and  kingdom,  whereby  the 
country  has  been  miferably  walled,  tlie  public  treafurc 
exhaufted,  trade  decayed,  thoufands  of  people  murder- 
ed, and  infinite  other  mifchiefs  committed;  for  all 
which  high  and  treafonable  offences  the  faid  Charles 
Stuart  might  long  fince  juftly  been  brought  to  exem.pla- 
ry  and  condign  punilhment :  whereas  alfo  the  Parlia- 
ment, well  hoping  that  the  imprifonment  of  his  perfon, 
after  it  had  pleafed  God  to  deliver  him  into  their  hands, 
w^ould  have  quieted  the  diftempers  of  the  kingdom,  for- 
bore to  proceed  judicially  againft  him  ;  but  found  by 
fad  experience  that  their  remiffnefs  ferved  only  to  en- 
courage him  and  his  accomplices  in  the  continuance  of 
their  evil  pra61:ices,  and  in  raifing  new  commotions, 
rebellions  and  fnvafions.  For  preventing  therefore  the 
like  or  greater  inconveniences,  and  to  the  end  no  chief 
ofHcer  or  magiltrate  whatever   may  hereafter  prefumc 

J    2 


102        HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF   ^H2    JUDGES 

traitorouily  an-l  malicioufly  to  imagine  or  contrive  the 
cnflaving  or  dearoying  the  Englivh  N^^tion,  and  to- ex - 
pe6l  impunity  for  fo  doing  ;  It  is  hereby  ordp.ined  and 
ena6bed  by  the  Commons  in  Parliament,  -that  Thomas 
Ld.  Fairfax,  O.  Cromwell,  Hcnrv  Ireton,  Efqrs.  Sir 
H.  Waller,  Philip  Skippon,  Val.  Wahon,  Thomas 
Harrifon,  Edward  Whalley,  Thomas  -Pride,  rfaac 
Ewer.  R.  ingdldflr/,  Mildmay,  Efqrs,  Thomas  Mo- 
K:yv./ood,  Thomas  Ld.  Grey  cf  Grooby,  Philjp  Ld. 
Liile,  vYilliam  Ld.  Mounfon,  .Sir  J-ohn  Danver^  .  Sir 
Thomas  Maleverer,  Bart.  Sir  John  Bonrcheir,  Sirjam^-S 
Harrington,  Sir  William  AlenH^n,  Sir  Henry  Mild- 
may,  Sir  Thomas  Wroth,  Knts.  Sir  WilUam  Mafham, 
Sir  J.  Barrington,  Sir  William  Brereton,  Barts.  Ro- 
bert Wallop,  William  Havcningham,  Efqrs.  Ifaac 
Pennington,  Thomas  Atkin?,  Bowl  'Wilfon,  ^Ider- 
ineu  ofXondon,  Sir  P.  Wentworth,  Knt.  of  the  Bath, 
Henry  Martin,  William  Purefoy,  Godfrey  Rofvil, 
John'Trenchard,  H.  .Morley,  John  Barkftead,  _^f at. 
ThomJJnfon,  John  Blackifton,  Gilb.  Millington,  Efqrs. 
Sir  William  Conftable,  Bart.  Edmond  Ludiov%^.,  John 
Lambert,  John  Hutchinfon,  Efqrs.  Sir  A.  Haiierig, 
Sir  Miclviel  Livefey,  Bart.  Richard  Sahvay,  H.  S.il- 
v^y,  Robert Titchbiun,  Owen  Roe,  Robert Manwaring, 
P.oDert  Sdbnrn,  Adr.  Scroop,  Richard  Dean,  John 
Okey,  Robert  Ov^erton,  Johii  Hevvfon,  John  Defbo- 
row,  William  Goffe,  Robert  Diickenheld,  -Cornelius 
Holland,  John  Careu,  Efqrs..  Sir  William  Armyn,  Bart. 
John  Jone^,  Miles  Corbet,  F.  Allen,  Thomas  Lifter, 
Benjamin  Wellon.,  P.  Pelhara,  J.  G.onrdoa,  Efqrs.  Fr. 
Throp,  feriemtat  law,  John  Ni't,  Thomas  Ghaloner, 
Ax Ige  non "Sidney,  John  AMlaby,  John  Mare,  R.  Dar- 
ley,  \¥illiam  Say,  John  Alured,  John  Flagg,  James 
N'ehhorp,  Efqrs.  Sir  William  Roberts,  "F.  LafffeLs  Alex- 
ander Rigby,  H-^nry  Smith,  Edmund  Wild,  James 
Chidv)ner,,  Jofias  Berners,  D.  Bond,  fiumphrey  Ed- 
ward^", Greg.  Clement,  John  Fry,  Thomas  Wogan, 
Efq.  Sir  Gi'C'^.  Norton,  Bart.  John  Bradihaw,  ferjeant 


OF    KIN®    CHARL'ES     t.  tO;^ 

at  law,  Edni.  Hervey,  J.  Dave,  J.  Ven,*Efqrs.  J. 
Ff^-^^vle^,  Thom?.«.  Andrews,  aldermen  of  London, 
Thomas  Scott,  V/illiam  Cawlcy,  Abr.  Biirrel,  Ant. 
Stapeley,  Ro.  Gratwick,  J.  Downs,  Thomas  Horton, 
Thomas  Hammond,  'Geo.  Fenwick,  ECqrs.  Robert 
NiccAa';,  ferj.  St  law,  Robert  Reynolds,  John  Lifle, 
Nic  Love,  Vine.  Potter,  Efqrs.  Sir  Gilbert  Picker- 
ma:^  B^rt.  John^  Weaver,  Rog.  Plill,  John  Lenthiall, 
Efqrs.  Sir  Edward  Buinton,  John  Corbet,  T  homas 
Bhjnt,  Thomas  Boone,  Aug.  Gai'land,  Ang.  Skinner, 
Jt.^hn  Dix well,  George  Fleet vvood,  Sim.  Mayn.e,  James 
Temple,  Peter  Temple.  Daniel  Blagrove,  Elqrs.  Sir 
Peter  Temple.  Bart.  Thomas  Wayte,  John  Brown, 
John  Lowry,  Efqrs.  are  hereby  appointed  and  required 
to  be  Commiiiioners  and  Judges  for  hearing,  trying, 
snd  adjudging  the  faid  Ch.^rles  Stuart,  And  the  faid 
Commiilioners,  or  any  twenty  or  more  of  them,  are 
authorized  and  conftituted  a  High  Court  of  J.uitice,  to 
meet  and  fit  at  fuch  convenient  time  and  place,  as  by 
the  faid  Commiilioners,  or  the  major  part  of  twenty  or 
more  of  them,  under  their  hands  and  feais  fliall  be  no- 
tined  by  public  proclamation  in  the  Great  Hall,  or 
Palace  Yard  at  Wefiminller,  and  to  adjourn  from  time 
to  time,  and  from  place  to  place,  as  the  faid  High 
Court,  or  major  part  thereof,  iliall  hold  fit  :  and  to 
take  order  for  charging  him,  the  faid  Charles  Stuart, 
with  the  criisies  and  tre.ifons  a;bove  mentioned  ;  and 
for  recurving  his  perfonal  anfwer  thereto  ;  and  for  ex- 
amining viatneifes  upon  oath,  which  the  Court  has 
hereby  authority  to  adminider,  and  taking  any  other 
evidence  concerning  the  fame :  and  tliereupon,  or  in 
default  of  fuch  anfwer,  to  proceed  to  final  f.ntence, 
according  to  juftice  and  the  merit  of  the  caufe,  and 
fuch  filial  fentence  to  execution,  or  caufe  to  be  ex-- 
ecuted,  fpeedily  and  impartiuily.  A.nd  the  hid  Court 
is  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  appoint  and  direct 
all  fuch  officers,^  attendants,  and  ^ther  circumPcances^ 
as  they,  or 'the  majbr  part  of  them,  fhali-  in  any  fert 


lOi.       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    jUDGTiS 

judge  necefTary  or  ufeful  for  the  orderly  and  good  ma* 
naging  the  premifes.  And  Thomas  Ld.  Fairfax,  the 
General,  and  all  officers  and  foldiers  under  his  com- 
mand, and  all  officers  of  juftice,  and  other  well  afFe6t- 
ed  perfons,  are  hereby  authorifed  and  required  to  be  aid- 
ing and  affifting  to  the  faid  Court,  in  the  due  eKecution 
of  the  trufl  hereby  committed.  Provided  that  this  a6l, 
and  the  authority  hereby  granted,  continue  in  force 
one  month  from  the  making  hereof,  and  no  longer." 

\_RuJhworth's  ColleSiion.  VoJ.  6.  562. 

At  the  High  Court  of  yujilce  for  the  trying  of  Charles 
Stuart,  King  of  England,  January  2()ih  A.  D.  1648. 

Whereas  Charles  Stuart,  King  of  England,  is  and 
Handeth  convi6led,  attainted,  and  condemned  of  high 
trcafon  and  other  high  crimes,  and  fentence  was  pro- 
nounced againft  him  by  this  Court,  to  be  put  to  death 
by  the  fevering  of  his  head  from  his  body,  of  which  fen- 
tence execution  yet  remaineih  to  be  done  :  Thefe  are 
therefore  to  will  and  require  you  to  fee  the  f^iid  fentence 
executed,  in  the  open  itreet  before  Whitehall,  upon 
the  morrow,  being  the  thirtieth  day  of  this  inftant,  month 
of  January,  between  the  hours  often  in  the  morning 
and  five  in  the  afternoon  of  the  fame  day,  with  full  ef- 
fe6l.  And  for  fo  doing,  this  ihall  be  your  fufficient  war- 
rant. And  thefe  are  to  require  all  officers  and  foldiers, 
and  other  the  good  people  of  this  nation  of  England  to 
be  ailifting  unto  this  fervice.  Given  under  our  hands 
and  feals. 
To  Colonel  Francis  Hacker,   Colonel  Huncls^ 

and    Lieutenant-Colonel  P  hay  re,    and  to 

every  of  them, 

JohnOkey,  (l.s.) 

J.  Dauers,  (i-.s.) 


John  Bradfhaw,  (l.s.) 

Thomas  Grey  .  (l.s.) 

O.  Cromwell,  (l.s.) 

Edward  Whalley,  (l.s.) 

M.  Liveiey,  (l.s.) 


John  Bourchier,        (l.s.) 
H.  Ireton,  (l.s.) 

T.  Mauleuerer,        (l.s.) 


OF    KING    C 


Har.  Waller, 
John  Blackifton, 
f  ohn  Hutchinfcn, 
William  Go^^, 
Thamas  Pride, 
P.  Temple, 
T.  Harrifon, 
J.  Hewfon, 
Hen.  Smyth, 
Per.  Pelhan], 
Ri.  Dearie, 
Robert  Tichborne 
H.  Edwards, 
Daniel  Blagi-ace, 
Owen  Rowe, 
Vvilliam  Purefoy, 
Ad.  Scrope, 
James  Temple, 
A.  Garland, 
Edm.  hud 


low. 


(l.s.) 
(l.sO 

(l.S'.) 

(L.SJ 

(L.S. 

(L.S.) 

(L.S.) 

(L.S.) 

(L.S.) 

(L.SJ 

(L.S.) 

(L.S.) 

(L.S.) 

(L.S. 

(L.S.) 

(L.S.j 

(l.s.J 
(l.sJ 
(l.s.) 
(l.eJ 
(l.s.) 
(l.s.) 


HAHLES      I. 

William  Gavvley, 
J<^hn  Barketead, 
Ifaac  Ewer, 
John  Dixwe!], 
Valentine  "Wanton, 
Syrnon  Mayne, 
Thomas  Plorton, 
J.  Jones, 
John  Pcfine, 
Gilbert  MilUngton, 
G.  Fleetv/ocd, 
I,  Mured, 


Rohzxt  LUeburne, 
'William  Say, 
Anthony  Stapley, 
Gre.  Norton, 
Thomas  Challoner, 
Thomas  Wcgan, 
John  Downes, 
Thomas  Wayte, 
Thomas  Scott, 
John  Careo, 
Miles  Corbet, 


ro5 

(l.s.)' 

(l.s.) 

(L.s  ) 
(L.S.) 

(L.S.) 
(L.S  ) 
(L.S.) 
(L.S.) 
(L.S.) 

(l.s) 

(L.S.) 

(l.s.) 
(l,s.) 
(l.s.-) 
(l.s.) 
(l.s.) 
(l.s) 
(l.s.) 
(l,s.) 

(L.S.j 
(L.s.) 

(L..S.) 


Henry  Marten, 
Vin6l.  Potter, 
William  Conftable,(L..s) 
Richard  Ingoldefb)i.,(L.s.) 

The  original  fignatnres  are  in  fsven  columns :  Brad- 
ihaw  (lands  at  the  head  of  the  fiifi  column  ;  Lin  fey  the 
fecond  ;  Waller,  Smith,  Garland,  Ivlayne,  Wogan, 
at  the  head  of  the  fucceeding  ones.  Fifty- nine  figned 
the  warrant,  out  of  feventy,  who  fat  at  the  .beginning  of 
the  trial,  and  a&ewaids  withdrew  before  giving  judg- 


ment. 


So 


names   in  Go9e's  Wu.  are  not   in  this.-—. 


Others  befides  the  Judges  were  comprehended  under 
the  accufation  and  title  of  regicides,- — "the  number  of 
whom,  including  the  ofScers  of  the  Court,  and  others 
immediately  concerned,  amounted  originally  to  four 
fcore.  Ofthefe,  tvventy-five  were  dead  ;  twenty-nine 
or, twenty -feven  had  elcaped  from  the  kingdom  \  fevea 


106       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

were  deemed  proper  obje6LS  of  the  King's  mercy;  twen- 
ty-nine received  fentence  of  death,  but  nineteen  were 
reprieved  during  the  King's  pleafure,  becaufe  they  had 
furrendered  themfeives  according  to  the  proclamation. 
The  ten  devoted  to  immediate  execution  were,  Harri- 
fon,  Careu,  Cook,  Peter?,  Scott,  Clement,  Scrope, 
Jones,  Hacker  and  Axtei."  [^SmoUet,  V.  5.350. 

This  was  1660.  In  1662,  Barketead,  Corbet  and 
Okey,  and  a  little  afterwards  Vane  and  Lambert,  were 
alfo  condemned  and  executed.  This  was  the  (late  of 
inform.ation  at  the  time  of  GofFe's  entries  in  his  journal 
of  1662,  v/hich  contain  fome  others  befide  Judges  \^\gn- 
ing  the  warrant,  and  not  all  thofe ;  as  it  contains  Judg- 
es who  fat  during  part  of  the  trial,  butdid  not  fign,  and 
fome  that  were  not  Judges,  but  were  accufed  and  con- 
demned, as  Phelps  and  Wale.  GofFe's  11(1:,  however, 
fhews  that  he  had  pretty  juft  inform.ation,  as  to  the 
number  in  1662  dead ;  the  number  vfhofe  aihes  were 
to  be  diflionored  ;  thofe  adjudged  to  perpetual  imprifon- 
ment,  who  were  fled,  and  in  the  Tower.  Enough  to 
fhew  Whalley  and  Goffe  what  would  be  their  fate  if  ta- 
ken. This  information  they  received  vv^hile  at  Milford. 
Of  the  firft  ten  executed,  fix  only  were  Judges,  Coke 
was  follicitor  at  the  trial,  Peters  a  clergyman.  Hacker 
and  Axtel  Colonels  at  the  execution  :  neither  were 
Vane  or  Lambert  Judges  .  The  bodies  of  Bradfhaw, 
Cromwell,  Ireton  and  Pride,  were  taken  up  at  the 
Reftoration,  and  hung  and  buried  under  the  gallows. — 
Thefe  are  in  the  fecond  divifion.  Of  thofe  in  the  third, 
two  were  dead  ;  but  the  reafon  why  feparated  from 
others  dead  is  not  obvious.  It  is  to  this  day  problema- 
tical, and  can  never  be  afcertained,  whether  the  bodies 
of  Bradfhaw  and  Cromwell  were  adiually  taken  up  and 
diihonored  at  the  Relloration.  It  is  in  lecret  tradition 
that  Bradfhaw  was  conveyed  to  Jamaica.  His  Epi- 
taph is  defcriptive  of  him,  and  full  of  fpirit.  In  a  pub- 
lic print  of  1775,  it  was  faid  "  The  following  infcrip- 
tion  was  made  out  three  years  ago  on  the  cannon  near 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  IO7 

which  the  afhes  of  Prefident  Bradfhaw  were  lodged,  on 
the  top  of  a  high  hill  near  Martha  Bay  in  Jamaica,  to 
avoid  the  rage  againft  the  regicides  exhibited  at  the  Ref- 
t  oration  : 

STRANGER, 

Ere  thou  pafs,  contemplate  this  Cannon. 

Nor  regardlefs  be  told 

That  near  its  bafe  lies  depofited  the  duft  of 

JOHN  BRADSHAW, 

Who,  nobly  fu per ior  to  all  felfilh  regards, 

Defpifmg  alike  the  pageantry  of  courtly  fplendor. 

The  blaft  of  calumny,  &  the  terrors  of  royal  vengeance, 

Prefided  in  the  illuftrious  band  of  Heroes  and  Patriots, 

Who  fairly  and  openly  adjudged 

CHARLES  STUART, 

Tyrant  of  England, 

To  a  public  and  exemplary  death. 

Thereby  prefenting  to  the  amazed  w^orld. 

And  tranfmitting  down,  through  applauding  ages. 

The  moil  glorious  example 

Of  unikaken  virtue,  love  of  freedom,    and  Impartial 
Juftice, 

'Ever  exhibited  on  the  blood-ftained  theatre  of  human 
adtion. 

,_   _  O,  Reader, 

fioijife^*  not  on  till  thou  had  bleiled  his  memory  : 
4q3f  hitL  .  And  never,  never  forget 

i%AT%EBELLION TO  TYRANTS  IS  OBE- 
J...-.-  DIENCETOGOD. 


loH        HISTOiiV    OF    THREE    OF    TlfE    JUDGES 

There  are  no  other  anecdotes  v/orthy  of  prefervrjlion 
ccncerning  thefc  tv^,  o  perfons  during  their  reiidence  at 
New-Haven  r.nd  Miltbrd.  We  ihall  therefore  now 
follow  them  in  their  pilgrimage  to  Fladley. 

On  the  13th  of  Oclober,  1664,  they  left  Milford, 
and  proceeded  in  this  excurfion.  I  fliall  fuppofe  tliat 
the  firfl  night  they  came  over  to  New- Haven  to  their 
friend  Jones,  though  of  this  there  is  no  tradition,  as 
there  is  of  their  making  a  lodgment  at  Pi Igrnns  Harbor, 
fo  called  from  them,  being  twenty  miles  from  New- 
Haven,  at  a  place  fince  called  Meriden,  half  way  be- 
twecH  New-Haven  and  Hartford.  Here  they  might 
reft  and  ledge  one  day,  and  the  next  night  proceed  to 
Hartford,  and  the  night  following  at  Springfield,  and 
the  fucceeding  night  reach  Hadley.  Eut  of  this  I  find 
no  tradition,  faving  only,  that  in  their  rout  to  Hadley 
they  made  one  ftation  at  Pilgrims  Harbor. 

Being  arrived  at  Hadley,  they  took  up  their  abode  at 
the  Houfe  of  the  reverend  Pvfr.  RufTel.  At  this  houfe, 
and  at  the  houfe  of  Peter  Tilton,  Efq.  they  fpent  the 
reft  of  their  lives,  for  fourteen  or  iixteen  years,  in  drea- 
ry foiitude  and  feclufion  from  the  fociety  of  the  world. 
The  almoft  only  important  anecdote  that  tranfpires  con- 
cerning them  in  this  fee reted  abode,  was  that  oi  the  angel 
appearance  there,  which  is  preferved  to  this  day  in  the 
tradition  at  New-Haven  and  Hadley,  as  well  as  in  Go- 
vernor Leverett's  fsm.ily  :  and  aifothat  one  or  both  died 
at  Hadley,  and  thatWhaliey  was  buried  in  Mr-r-  Ruf- 
fel's  cellar,  or  lot  adjoining  his  houfe,  alfo  as  current 
at  New-Haven  as  Hadley. 

They  came  to  Hadley  O61;ober  i66j,  and  Whalley 
died  there  about  1676,  or  1678,  and  Goife's  lalUetter 
is  April  2,  1679,  and  no  more  was  heard  of  him  after 
1680.  Soon  after  their  arrival  at  Hadley,  johnDix- 
we1l,  Efq.  another  of  Charleses  Judges; 'cstmeta  them, 
in  February  1664 — 5,  and  fojourned  with  them  in  their 
fjcrecy  for  fome  lime. 


X)T    KING    CHARLES     t.  ICQ 

T^hough  told  with  fome  variation  in  difTcrent  parts  of 
Wew-England,  the  true  uory  of  the  Angel  is  this  : — • 
During  their  abode  at  Hadley,  the  famous  and  mofi: 
memorable  Indian  v/ar  that  ever  was  in  New-England, 
called  King  Philip's  War,  took  place,  and  was  at- 
tended  with  exciting  an  univerfai  rifingofthc  varions 
Indian  tribes,  not  only  of  Narraganfet  and  the  Sachem- 
dom of  Philip,  at  Mount- Hope,  or  Briilol,  but  of  the 
Indians  through  New-England,  except  the  Sachem- 
dom of  Uncas,  at  Mohegan,  near  New-London. — ■ 
■Accordingly  the  Nipmug,  Quanbang,  and  northern 
tribes  were  in  agitation,  and  attacked  the  new  frontier 
towns  along  through  New-England,  and  iiadley  amon'^ 
the  red,  then  an  expoled  frontier.  That  pious  con- 
gregation were  obferving  a  Fall  at  Hadley  on  the  occa- 
iion  of  this  war  :  and  being  i.t  public  worihip  in  the 
meeting-houfe  there  on  a  Faft  day,  September  i,  1675, 
were  fuddenly  fiirrcunded  and  furprized  by  a  body  of 
Indians.  It  was  the  ufage  in  the  frontier  towns,  and 
even  at  New-Haven,  in  thcfe  Indian  wars,  for  a  felect 
number  of  the  congregation  to  go  armed  to  public  wcv^ 
(hip.  It  was  fo  at  Hadley  at  this  time.  The  pv^or^.le 
immediately  took  to  their  arras,  but  were  thrown  into 
great  coniiernation  and  confullon.  Had  Hzdhy  been 
taken,  the  difcovery  of  the  Judges  had  been  inevitable. 
Suddenly,  and  in  the  midft  of  the  people  there  appear- 
ed a  man  of  a  very  venerable  afpe.dt,  and  different  from 
the  inhabitants  in  his  apparel,  v/ho  took  the  command, 
arranged,  and  ordered  them  in  the  befl  military  man- 
ner, and  under  his  diredlion  they  repelled  and  routed  the; 
Indians,  and  the  town  was  faved.  FIc  immediately 
vanifned,  and  the  inhabitants  could  not  account  for  the 
phoenomenon,  but  by  confideriag  that  psrfon  as  an 
Angel  fent  of  God  upon  that  fpecial  occadon  for  their 
deliverance  ^  and  for  fome  time  after  faid  and  believed 

that  they  had  been  delivered  and  favcd  by  an  Angel. 

Nor  did  they  know  or  conceive  otherwife  till  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  after,  when  it  at  leneih  became  known  at     '^^ 
K  ^        ' 


no      HISTORY    OF    THREX    OF    TH%    JVDGtS 

Hadley  that  the  two  Judges  had  been  fecreted  there  ; 
which  probably  they  did  not  know  till  after  Mr.  Ruf- 
fers  death,  in  1692.  This  flory,  however,  of  the  An- 
gel at  Hadlry,  was  before  this  univerfally  difFufed  thro* 
Ney/-England  by  means  of  the  memorable  Indian  war 
of  1675.  The  myftery  was  unriddled  after  the  revolu- 
tion, when  it  became  not  fo  very  dangerous  to  have  it 
known  that  the  Judges  had  received  an  afylum  here, 
:ind  that  GofFe  was  adually  in  Hadley  at  that  time. — 
The  Angel  was  certainly  General  GoiFe,  for  Whalley 
was  fuperannuated  in  1675. 

Although  they  were  fecreted  at  Hadley,  yet  while 
there,  they  were  in  jeopardy.  Public  enquiry  was 
made  after  them  particularly  at  two  different  times,  one 
in  1665,  and  the  other  by  Randolph,  who  probably 
gained  fome  fulpicious  notice  of  them  before  their  death, 
as  being  fecreted  fomewhere  in  MaiTachufetts.  I  have 
already  fhewn  that  one  of  the  inftru6lions  from  the 
Crown  to  Colonel  Nichols  and  the  other  Commiffion- 
crs  in  May  1665,  the  year  after  the  removal  to  Hadley, 
reipeded  the  concealment  of  thefe  regicides  ;  to  which 
the  AlTerabiy  replied,  that  they  had  departed  from  their 
jurifdidion  before  the  proclamation  arrived,  and  that 
they  had  fent  Kellond  and  Kirk  after  them  to  New- 
Haven.  Edward  Randolph,  Efq.  was  fent  from  Eng- 
land with  the  mod  malicious  purpofes  againft  the  coun- 
try, as  preparatory  to  the  refum.ption  of  charters,  and 
the  alteration  of  its  whole  civil  and  religious  pohty.  He 
was  a  fubtil,  fenfible  and  affiduous  I nquifitor- General 
over  New-England,  and  moil:  indefatigabl  eand  induftrl. 
ous  in  procuring  and  collecting  information  of  every 
thing  in  the  public  affairs  here,  which  might  be  wrought 
jip  into  a  fyitem  of  accufation  againfl  the  colonies,  as 
a  ground  and  reafon  to  juftify  the  intended  abolition  of 
charters,  and  for  fhev;^ing  the  neceffity  of  ere£lingthe 
'arbitrary  general  government  of  Sir  Edmund  Androfs, 
Randolph  undertook  the  dirty  and  ividious  bufinefs  of 
aciing  the  fpy  and  informer  upon  all  New- England — 


OF    KING    CHAIRLES     I.  Ill 

and  fuch  was  his  indefatigable  induftry  and  refearches, 
that  it  v/as  next  to  impoffible  that  any  thing  fhould 
cfcape  his  detection.  Randolph  was  the  meffenger  of 
death  to  New- England,  being  fent  to  MalTachufetts 
with  his  Majefty's  letter  of  March  lo,  1675 — 6. 

Randolph  came  over  firft  in  1676.  He  went  home 
repeatedly,  carrying  accufations,  and  returned  to  New- 
England  in  1678,  1679,  1681,  when  he  returned  col- 
le6lor  of  the  cuftoms,  furveyor  and  fearcher  for  all 
New-England  ;  and  in  1683,  when  he  came  with  in- 
il:ru6tions  to  inquire  for  Gofte  and  Whalley,  not  know- 
ing that  they  were  both  dead  at  that  time.  In  1684, 
the  Governor  gave  him  fuch  anfvver  of  his  ignorance 
concerning  them,  and  the  probability  of  their  having 
gone  from  Maiihados  to  Holland,  as  filenced  all  fur- 
ther fearch  and  inquiry  ;  efpecially  as  it  may  be  pro- 
bable the  infidious  Randolph  now  became  vvell  fatisfied 
that  both  were  dead.  Thus  the  Judges  were  in  immi- 
nent danger  from  Randolph  during  the  two  or  three 
lafl  years  of  their  hves  :  and  theyhadreafon  to  fuppofe, 
could  the  places  of  their  deaths  be  knovvn,  their  afhes 
would  be  difhonored,  as  were  thofe  of  Bradfhaw  and 
others  :  for  Whalley  efpecially  was  confidered  as  ob- 
noxious as  any  of  the  Judges.  It  is  true  Whalley  was 
paft  being  affected  with  any  fuch  apprehenfions,  if  alive 
at  Randolph's  acceffion  ;  he  was.  already  fuperannuated 
in  1674,  as  appears  by  Goffe's  letter  of  tha\  date  to  his 
wife.  But  Goffe  and  Dixwell  mJght  juftly  entertaia 
fuch  apprehenfions  from  the  malevolence  and  virulence 
of  Randolph,  whofe  memory,  vvith  that  of  Sir  Edmond 
Androfs,  has  been  accurfed  through  New-England  ts> 
this  day. 

The  Judges  led  fo  reclafe  and  concealed  a  life  at 
Hadley,  that  we  have  but  few  anecdotes  concerning 
them  there.  They  were  certainly  well  fupplied  with 
means  of  fubfiftertce  to  the  end  j  partly  from  Europe, 
^d  p  artly  by  fecret  friends-  here.     Richard  Saltoafbll, 


112       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Efq .  wheti  he  went  to  England,  1672,  prefented  them: 
with^/50.  at  his  departure,  and  they  received  donations 
from  ieveral  others,  but  doubtlefs  yjtry  confidentiaily. 
peter  Tillton,  Efq.  was  a  member  of  Aiiembhy  from 
HadJey,  and  a  Magiftrate  :  he  was  often  at  Bofton  du- 
ring the  fefiions  of  AlTembly,  and  through  his  hands  do- 
jiations  might  be  fafely  and  fecretly  made,  as  he  was 
all  along  in  the  fecret,  and  the  Judges  fometimes  refi- 
ded  at  his  houfe.  His  letter  of  1672  will  give  feme 
ideaof  his  piety.  In  1680,  Richard  Saltonftall,  Efq. 
fon  of  Sir  Richard,  returned  from  England,  and  was 
again  chofen  hrft  affiftant,  and  fo  the  two  iucceeding 
years.  He  went  back  to  England  before  1683,  and 
died  there  1694,  So  that  at  the  period  of  Randolph's 
inquifition  for  the  regicides,  there  were  at  leaft  three  in 
the  council  who  were  privy  to  their  fecretion,  viz.  Go- 
vernor Leverett,  Mr.  Saltonftall,  and  Mr.  Tilton,  and 
perhaps  more.  Indeed^Governor  Leverett  died  1678, 
and  Mr.  Saltonftall  was  abfent  in  England  1672,  but 
Mr.  Tillton  v/as  on  the  ground,  and  kept  the  fecret 
from  Randolph.  Indeed  all  New-England  were  their 
friends,  although  they  did  not  wifii  to  be  too  knowing 
about  them.  They  did  not  view  them  as  traitors,  but 
2S  unfortunate  fufFerers  in  the  noble  caufe  of  civil  li- 
berCy,  proftrated  by  the  Refloration,  and  again  loft  and 
overwhelmed  in  a  return  and  irrefiftible  inundation  of 
tyranny.  T'key  no  more  confidered  therafelves  as  pro- 
testors of  rebels,  than  England  did  in  prote6ling  the  ex- 
iles from  Germ.any  at  the  Reformation,  and  the  refu- 
2:ees  from  France  at  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 


Nuntz 


The  Judges  might  havs  fome  other  fecret  retreats  and 
temporary  lodgments :  I  have  heard  of  two  more  with- 
in ten  miles  round  New-EIaven,  but  not  with  fo  per- 
fect certainty.  The  one  about  four  miles  from  Milford, 
on  tlie  road  to  Derby,  where  an  old  cellar  remains  to 
this  day,  faid  to  have  been  one  of  their  reclufes.  Thi* 
is  i©«^led  George's  Cellar,  from  one  George  wha  aftcc- 


OF   KING    CHARLES      I.  113 

wards  lived  there.  The  other  at  Derby,  en  the  eaft- 
ern  bank  of  Neugitiick  river,  at  a  place  then  called 
Pavrgalett,  and  near  the  church.  Madam  Humphreys, 
confort  of  the  reverend  Daniel  Humphreys,  and  mother 
of  the  honorable  Colonel  Humphreys,  the  AmbalTador, 
was  a  Riggs,  and  a  defcendant  of  Mr.  Edward  RiggJ^, 
one  of  the  firfl  fettlers  of  Derby,  between  1655  and 
1660.  She  often  ufed  to  fpeak  of  it  as  the  family  tra- 
dition, that  the  Judges  who  fometimes  fecreted  them- 
felves  at  the  cave  and  in  Sperry's  farm,  aifo  for  foms 
time  fecreted  themfelves  at  Derby,  in  the  houfe  of  her 
grandfather,  Mr.  Edward  Riggs  ;  whofe  hcufe  was 
forted  or  pallifadoed  in,  to  fecure  it  from  the  Indians  ; 
there  being,  1660,  perhaps  fewer  than  half  a  dozea 
Englifh  families  there  in  the  woods,  ten  or  a  dozen 
miles  from  all  other  EngUfli  fettlements,  and  they  all 
lodged  in  this  forted  houfe.  Certainly  this  was  a  good 
and  fafe  reclufe.  They  might  probably  fhift  their  refi- 
dences,  efpecially  in  the  dangerous  fummer  of  1661,  to 
difappoint  and  deceive  purfuivants,  and  avoid  difcovery. 
This  tradition  is  preferved  in  the  Riggs  and  Humphrey 
ifamilies  to  .this  day. 

^  General  V/halley  died  at  Hadley  certainly  after  1674, 
probably  about  1678.  And  General  GofFe  is  to  bs 
heard  of  no  more  after  1679.  Other  circuy Usances 
concerning  them  will  occur  in  the  4th  chapter.  I 
ihail  therefore  fubjoin  here  only  Tillton's  letter  1672, 
and  a  long  letter  of  Gofte"s  to  his  wife,  by  the  name  of 
IMother  Goidfmirh,  in  1674  \  and  then  proceed  to  the 
hiltory  of  judge  Dixwell. 

Capy  of  a  Letter  from    Mr.    Pefer.TiUtQn  to  his  JVfe 
at  Hadley. 0^ 

Bofton,   18  7/72^.    1672. 
llDearJFife^ 
"  THIS   opportunity  gives  occafion  of  thefe  lines  ; 
we  have  had  a  qui^t  and  peacable  eleclion,  no  altera- 
tion or  additioii.    Q  what  a  price  doih  Divine  Patience 
K  2 


IIJ-       HISTORY    O?    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

yet  bctroPt  us  with,  when  he  is  drawing  out  the  f\vord 
and  arraying  himfelf  with  the  garments  of  vengeance  as 
to  other  kingdoms^  and  when  it  is  more  than  probable 
many  garments  are  tumbUng  in  blood.  As  to  the  news 
from  England,  all  men,  both  v/ife  and  others  of  more 
Oi  jhiary  c;:p2cities,  look  on  the  eitecl  or  produce  cherc- 
of  will  be  as  bhick  a  day  in  the  world,  as  the  worli 
hath  known.  The  late  actions  in  England  in  coramif- 
fioning  their  fleet  to  feize  and  fall  on  the  Hollanders, 
of  which  I  wrote  you  in  m.y  laft,  breaking  their  league, 
joining  with  the  French,  affiuing  them  with  fokliers 
out  of  England,  and  with  their  piincipal  harbors  to  re- 
ceive a  numerous  army,  and  flmtting  up  the  e>;i:hcquer, 
whereby  many  are  oulcd  of  their  efta^es  contrary  to  all 
hvy  are  things  that  both  in  England  and  here,  by  men 
of  aU  forts,  are  looked  upon  as  llrange,  horrid,  and 
ominous.  There  is  another  iliip  expected,  one  Jonas 
Clarke,  if  not  (lopped  by  the  embargo  or  otherwife,  in 
which  one  Dr.  Hoare,  a  miniftcr,  is  expected.  Re- 
ir.ember  me  to  mine  and  thine,  v^ith  my  love  to  all  with 
yon.  I  cannot  ibrget  you  before  the  Father  of  Spirits 
Kigut  and  day.  The  good  will  of  Mim  that  dwelt  in 
'the  buili  be  with  you,  caufs  his  face  to  fliine  upon  you 
ail,  and  give  you  peace.     So  prayeth  ftill 

Yours  unieignedly  to  love, 

Peter  Tillton." 

€.:t'y  of  a  Letter  from  WUluini  Goffe,  to  his  IVife, 

''  Moft  dear  and  honored  Mother y 

*'  On  the  23d  July  I  received  yours  of  the  29  March 
1671,  with  the  enc'lofed  that  ihonld  have  come  lail 
year^  hoping  you  tmve  alfo  by  this  time  received  mine 
of  the  2 1  ft  May  1^  which  inform^s  you  how  it  was 
then  with  myfelf  and  your  old  friend  Mr  R,  \JVhalley\ 
and  that  I  wrote  largely  to  yourfelf  and  dear  Mrs. 
Janes,  in  O'flob^r  laft,  which  I  perceive  you  have  not 
received,  which  I  am  very  forry  for  ;  but  it  hath  been 
a  'jreat  mercy  tliat  all  my  former  leitcrs  came  fafely  to 


work  to  love  the  lord  Jelus  in   finceiily,  and   love   one 

anoiher  dearly  for  Chnft's  fake,  and  to  carry  it  v.iih 


ir/.       HISTORY    or    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

yet  betruPc  us  with,  when  he  is  drawing  out  the  r>vord 
^nd  arraying  himfcif  with  the  garments  of  vengeance  as 
to  other  king-Joins,  and  when  it  is  more  than  probable 
many  garments  are  tumbUng  in  blood.  As  to  the  news 
from  England,  all  men,  bolli  y/ife  and  others  of  more 
ordinary  capacities,  look  on  the  eitecl  or  prodacecher-- 
of  will  be  as  black  a  day  in  the  world,  as  the  world 
hath  known.  The  late  actions  in  England  in  coramif- 
Honing  their  fleet  to  feize  -Lui  fall  on  the  HollaHders, 
of  which  I  wrote  you  in  my  iafr,  breaking  their  league, 
joining  with  the  French,  affiuing  theni  with  foldiers 
out  of  England,  and  with  their  pnncipal  narbors  to  re- 
ceive a  numerous  army,  and  ilnitting  up  the  e>^chequer, 
whereby  many  are  oiited  of  their  efta^es  contrary  to  all 
law,  are  things  that  both  in  England  and  here,  by  men 
of  ail  forts,  are  looked  upon  as  ilrange,  horrid,  and 
ominous.  There  is  another  ihip  expecfed,  one  Jonas 
Clarke,  if  not  (lopped  by  the  embargo  or  otherwife,  in 
•which  one  Dr.  Hoare,  a  minifter,  is  expected.  Re- 
member me  to  mine  and  thine,  with  my  love  to  ail  with 
you.  I  cannot  forget  you  before  the  Father  of  Spirits 
night  ancf  day.  The  good  will  of  liim  that  dwelt  in 
'the  bulTi  be  with  you,  caufs  his  face  to  fliine  upon  you 
all,  and  give  you  peace.     So  prayeth  iiill 

Yours  unieignedly  to  love, 

Peter  Tillton.'^ 

i'5t>y  of  a  Letter  from  JVilUam  Goffe,  to  his  Wife, 

'*  Mcfl  dear  and  honored  Mother y 

*'  On  the  23d  July  I  received  yours  of  the  29  March 
16'^ -1,  with  the  enclofed  that  ihould  have  come  la(l 
y-ar^  hoping^  you  have  alio  by  this  time  received  mine 
ef  the  2 1  ft  May  lii|  which  inform.s  you  how  it  was 
then  with  myfelf  and  your  old  friend  Mr  R.  \_lVhalley] 
and  that  I  wrote  largely  to  yourfeif  and  de:ir  Mrs. 
Janes,  in  O'flober  la(t,  which  I  perceive  you  have  not 
received,  which  I  am  very  forry  for  ;  but  it  hath  been 
a  -rcat  ni'srcy  that  all  my  former  letters  came  fafely  to 


^1       I  ■  Lod^/fienU    g/"^  Judge; 


ot 


jane?,  in  OccoDsr  Tail,  wni 

received,  which  I  am  very  Ibn-y  For  ;  but  it  hath  been 

a  -rcat  insrcy  that  ail  my  former  letters  came  f.itely  to 


OF  JCING    CHARLES     t^  II5 

vour  hands,  and  as  for  thofc,  knowing  the  hazard  of 
tlieir  mifcarriage  by  reafon  of  the  wars,  I  kept  the  co- ' 
pies  of  them,  and  for  your   further  fatlsfaclion  I   have 
ii2/an  iranfcribed,  that  you  may  fee  I  was  not  iinmind- 
iiil  in  my  duty  in  writing  to  you  and  anfvveiing  your 
ciefire  of  my  advice  concerning  my  fiuer  Fr.  [  his  daugh^ 
tcr  Frances]  of  whofe  difpoial  in  marriage  yon  have 
now  given  aic  the  account,  fo  far  as  you  conceive  you 
could,  and  I    believe   are  k:>nging  to-  underiland  my 
thoughts  of  it.     Dear  mother,  you  are  pleafed  to  fay 
well,  that  you  gave  me  an  account  how  it  hath  pleafed 
the  Lord  to  diQoofe  of  her,  &c.     It  is  indeed  the  Lord 
who  is  her  heavenly  father,  that  hath  difpofed   of  her 
and  provided  this  hufband  for  her,  and  therefore,  tho' 
he  be  unknown  to  me,  I  do  believe  he  is  the  ntteft  per- 
fon  in  the  world   for  her,  and  that  {}\q  likev/ife  is  the 
moil  meet  help  for  him.     I  remember  in  a  former  let- 
ter to  yourfelf,  when   vou  deHred  my  thoughts  in  a  mat- 
ter concerning  her,   I  told  you  I  was  confident  the  Lord 
would  take  care  of  her  and  in  due  time  provide  a  huf- 
band for  her,  and  x\o\\'  he  hath  done  it,  fiiali  J  quedion 
whether  he  hath  done  it  well  ?     No,  I  dare  not  do  it. 
It  is  a  great  fatisfadiion  to  iPiC  that  you  fought  the  Lord, 
and  took  advice  of  our   dear  and  chriilian  friends,  and 
that  my  lifter  was  guided  in  her  choice  by  yourfelf  and 
them,  and  deHre  vv'ith  you  to  blefs  the  Lord  that  hath 
provided  fo  well  for  lier,  and  ihall  not   ccafe  to  pray 
night  and  day  on  their  behalf,  that  the  Lord  will  be 
pleafed  to  make  them  great  blefiings  to  each  other,  and 
that  this  new  condition  may  be  every  v/ay  and  always 
comfortable  to  them  both,  for  as  you  very   truely  fay, 
it  will  be  as  the  Lord  ihall  be  pleafed  to  make  it.      I 
pray  remember  my  mofi  tender  and  af-re6Lionaki  love 
to  them  both,  and  tell  them  that    I  greatly  long  to  fee 
them  ;  but  hnce  that  cannot  be   at  prefent,  you   rqay 
aiu:re  them  that  whilil;  they   fhallmake.it  treir  great 
w^ork  tolove  the  lord  Jefus  in   fincciity,  and   love   one 
anodicr  dearly  lor  Chriit's  hike,  and  to  carry  it  with 


Il6       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    J^-UDGES 

fender  love  and  dutiful  refpe£t  to  yourfelf,  I  fliallefteem 
it  my  duty  to  love  and  pray,  and  aft  faith  for  them  as 
if  they  were  my  own  children,  being  not  otherwife  able 
at  this  diaance  to  be  helpful  to  them.     Dear  mother^ 
that  yourfelf  and  all  friends  did    fo  well   approve  the 
match  gives  much  content  to  my  heart,  and  I  befeech 
you  not  to  give  way  to  any  recoilings  that  may  arife  in 
your  own  fpirit ;  do  not  fay,  as  to  the  world,  my  filler 
might  have  done  much  better,  the  Lord  knows  what  is 
beft  for  us  and  ours  ;  it  may  be  that  which  we  may 
think  would  have  been  better  might  have  proved  much 
worfe.     Thefe  are  dying  times,  v^^herein  the  Lord  hath 
been  and  is   breaking  down  what  he  hath  built,  and 
plucking  up  what  he  hath  planted,  and  therefore   it  is 
not  a  time  to  be  feeking  great  things  for  ourfelves.  Let 
us  read  the  45th  chapter  of  Jeremiah,  and  apply  to  our 
felves  what  the  Lords  fpeaks  to  Baruch,  and  account  it 
a  great  mercy  if  he  give  us  our  lives  for  a  prey,  and 
bring  us  again  to  fee  the  faces  one  of  another  with  com- 
fort.    The  things  that  Baruch  is  dehorted  from  feeking 
■were  worldly  things,  why  then   are  they  called  great 
things  ?   Surely  the  Lord  fpeaks  it  only  according  to  tlie 
elleem  that  we  are  too  apt  to  have  of  them,  for  the 
world's  great  things  are  indeed  and  in  truth  but  poor  lit- 
tle things,  and  the  faints  fhould  look  down  upon  theiA 
with  contempt,  and  fhev/  themfelvesto  be  of  high  raif- 
ed  fpirits,  feeking  things  tiuly  great,  as  oar  Lord  him- 
felf  doth  exhort  us,  Malt.  6.  33"^  But  feek  you  firft  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteoufnefs,  as  if  he  faid,  for 
they  are  great  things,  wortiiy  your  afFe6iionate  endea- 
vors, and  as  for  all  tliefe  little  tilings  which  Gqntilcs  ib 
€arnellly  purfue,  they  ftall  be  added  i.mto  you  fo  far  ik 
your  heaV'-nly  Father  knoweth  that  you  have  need'^^' 
them.     My  poor  filter  begins  her   houlekeeping,  at  a 
time  wjien  trading  is  low,  and  all  provilions  dc.u',  and 
I  cannot  but  pity  her  in  that  refpeeh      I  hope  Ihe  will 
not  be  difcouraged  nor  her  hi;f!:)and  neither,  but  for  pre- 
Temion  1  defirethein  locon'ider  icnouily  anitoaiUaitli 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I,  11' 

Upon  that  moil:  excellent  counfel  our  Lord  delivec^i 
^%  ith  authority  in  his  fermon  on  the  mount.  Mat.  6th' 
from  the  24lh  ver.  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  I  canno 
but  be  full  of  longings  to  hear  how  the  Lord  hath  deal? 
ivith  her  in  her  lying  in,  but  I  doubt  not  you  will  takt 
the  firfl  opportunity  to  inform  us  of  it,  in  the  mean  time 
1  Oiall  endeavor  to  ilay  myfelf  upon  the  promife  made 
to  child-bearing  womeq,   i  Tim.  2.  15. 

Dear  mother,  I  have  been  hitherto  congratulating 
my  new  married  filler,  but  I  niuil:  now  tiu-n  afide  to 
drop  a  few  tears  upon  the  hearfe  of  her  that  is  deceafed, 
wliofe  lofs  I  cannot  choofe  but  lament  wiih  tears,  and 
fo  fliare  with  you  in  all  tlie  providences  of  God  towards 
us  ;  bu.t  my  dear  mother  let  m.e  not  be  the  occafion  of 
renewing  your  grief,  for  I  doubt  not  but  you  have  griev- 
ed enough,  if  not  too  much  already.  Let  us  confider 
how  graciouily  the  Lord  deals  v\^ith  us  (as  for  our  dear 
fifler,  (he  is  got  beyond  our  pity,  v/e  need  not  lament 
for  her  fake,  but  rather  rejoice  that  ihe  is  at  reft  in  the 
bofom  of  Chrifl)  who  whilil  he  is  taking  from  us  with 
one  hand,  gives  double  with  the  other.  He  hath  added 
one  to  your  family  on  whom  I  hope  you  may  fet  that 
motherly  2fFe6iion  as  if  he  were  your  own  fon,  and  I 
hope  hath  before  this  time  alfo  made  you  to  rejoice  in 
the  fiuit  of  my  filler's  womb  ;  and  iliall  not  v/e  fay  with 
Job,  the  Lord  hath  given,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken, 
bleffed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.  But  oh  how  apt  arc 
we  to  murmur,  if  the  Lord  do  in  any  thing  difpleafe  us, 
but  what  a  fliame  it  wei-e  that  we  Ih.ould  be  difpleafed  at 
any  thing  which  God  doth  ?  Who  are  we,  that  we 
fliould  fet  our  corrupt  wills  in  oppofition  to  his  moft  holy 
snd  bleifed  will.  It  is  bieiTed  counfel  that  a  reverend 
miniuer  ot"  the  gofpel  gives,  v»ho  has  been  in  the  fchool 
of  aftii61:ion,  that  I  lately  met  v/ith  in  *a  printed  book  of 
his,  I  pray  you  (faith  he)  drink  in  that  notion,  viz. 
That  the  will  of  God  being  pure,  holy,  perfedl,  yea 
Godhimfelf,  fhould  not  only  be  fubmitted  to,  or  rett- 
ed, i^,  but  loved  £ud  chgfen  above  all  creatures,  yea 


il8       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

abov€  life  itfelf,  the  bed  of  creatures.  Would  we  but 
once  learn  this  leiTon  (which  the  Lord  is,  I  hope, 
teaching  of  us  by  all  his  dealings  with  us)  and  help  us 
{as  you  fay  fweetly  in  your  letter)  to  fee  love  in  all  his 
difpenfations,  there  could  nothing  come  amifs  to  us. 

Dear  mother,  I  perceive,  wlien  you  wrote  lad,  you 
were  upon  a  remove  from  thofe  dear  friends  with  whoi:n 
you  then  fojourned,  I  hope  the  Lord  guided  you  to  that 
motion^  and  fhall  tlong  to  hear  where  you  fettle  :  in 
the  mean  time  it  is  my  comfort  that  the  Lord  tells  all 
your  wanderings,  and  receives  all  your  tears  into  his 
bottte,  and  will  not  fail  to  direct  all  your  fleps,  till  he 
hath  given  you  a  fafe  condu6l  through  your  wearifome 
pilgrimage,  and  at  the  end  thereof  open  unto  you  an 
abundant  entrance  into  thofe  manfions  that  are  prepared 
for  you  in  our  Father's  houfe,  where  you  fhall  be  at 
-reft  in  the  bofom  of  Chrift  for  ever. 

Your  old  friend,  Mr.  R.  is  yet  living,  but  continues 
iti  that  \7cak  condition  of  which  I  formerly  have  given 
you  account,  and  have  not  now  much  to  add.  He  is 
fcarce  capable  of  any  rational  difcourfe,  his  underftand- 
ing,  memor'y  and  fpeech  ddth  fo  much  fail  him,  and 
Teems  not  to  take  much  notice  of  any  thing  that  is  either 
done  or  faid,  but  patiently  bears  all  things  and  never 
cojhplains  of  any  thing,  though  I  fear  it  is  fome  trou- 
ble to  him  that  he  hath  had  no  letter  of  a  long  time  from 
liis  ccufm  Rich,  but  fpeaks  not  one  word  concerning 
it,  nor  any  thing  you  wrote  of  in  your  laft,  only  after 
1  had  read  your  letters  to  him,  being  alked  whether  it 
Was  not  a  great  refrefhmentto  him  to  hear  fuch  a  gra- 
<:ious  fpirit  breathing  in  your  letters,  he  faid  it  was  none 
of  his  leail  cotnforts,  and  indeed  he  fcarce  ever  fpeaks 
anything  but  in  anfwer  to  queftions  when  they  are  pin 
to  him,  which  are  not  of  many  kinds,  becaufe  he  is 
tidt  capable  to  anfwer  th§m  ;  the  common  ^nd  veiy 
■iVequerit  queftion  is  to  know  how  he  doth,  and  his  aii- 
iWcf,  for  the  moft  ^art,  is.  very  well,,  I  praife  <jod, 


OF   KIN©    CHARLES     I,  1 19 

li^'hich  he  utters  with  a  very  low  and  weak  voice  ;  but 
fometimes  he  faith,  not  very  well,  or  very  ill,  and 
then  if  it  be  further  faid,  do  you  feel  any  pain  any 
where,  to  that  he  alwi^ys  anfwereth  no  ;  when  he  wants 
any  thing  he  cannot  T,ell  fpeak  for  it,  becaufe  he  for- 
gets the  name  of  it,  and  fometimes  afks  for  one  thing 
when  he  means  another,  fo  that  his  eye  of  his  finger  is 
oftentimes  a  better  interpreter  of  his  mind  than  his 
tongue  ;  but  his  ordinary  wants  are  fo  well  known  to  us, 
that  moft  of  them  are  fupplied  without  afking  or  making 
figns  for  them,  and  fome  help  he  (lands  in  need  of  in 
every  thing  ^u  which  any  motion  is  required,  having 
not  been  able  of  a  long  time,  to  drefs  or  undrefs  him- 
felf,  nor  to  feed,  or  eafe  nature  either  way,  orderly, 
without  help,  and  its  a  great  mercy  to  him  that  he  hatb 
a  friend  that  takes  pleafure  in  being  helpful  to  him,  and 
I  blefs  the  Lord  that  gives  me  fuch  a  good  meafure  of 
health  and  ftrength,  and  an  opportunity  and  a  heart  to 
ufe  it  in  lb  good  and  neceffary  a  work;  for  tho'  my 
help  be  but  poor  and  weak,  yet  that  ancient  fervant  of 
Chrift  could  not  well  fubfift  without  it,  and  I  do  believe, 
as  you  are  pleafed  to  fay  very  well,  that  I  do  enjoy  the 
ii)ore  health  for  his  fake.  I  have  fometimes  wondered 
inuch  at  this  difpenfation  of  the  Lord  towards  him,  an4 
have  fome  expedations  of  more  than  ordinary  iffue  : 
the  Lord  help  us  to  profit  by  all,  and  to  wait  with  pati- 
ence upon  him,  till  we  fhall  fee  what  end  he  will  make 
with  us.  Thus  far  I  write  of  myfelf,  I  fhall  now  afl^ 
him  what  he  would  have  me  to  fay  to  his  friends  cor\- 
cerning  him.  The  queftion  being  afked,  he  faith,  I 
am  better  than  I  was.  And  being  afked  what  I  fhould 
fay  more  to  his  coufm  R.  or  any  other  friends,  after  a 
long  paufe,  he  again  faid,  the  Lord  hath  vifited  me  in 
much  mercy,  and  hath  anfwcred  his  vifitation  upon 
me.  (I  give  it  you  in  his  own  words.)  Being  defi- 
rous  to  draw  more  from  him,  I  propofed  feveral  quef- 
tio?is,  and  the  fum  of  his  anfwers  were,  that  he  earneft- 
lydefires  the  continuauce  of  the  fervent  prayers]  of  all 


1-20       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

his  friends  for  him,  nncl  defires  to  be  rernsmbere^I  to 
his  coufin  Rich,  and  longs  lo  receive  a  letter  from  her, 
and  dcfircs  her  to  exhort  her  fon  and  daughters,  his  dear 
coufins,  to  fear  God,'  and  to  be  remembered  to  her 
annt  at  Chelfey,  praying  that  the  Lord  will  requite  ail 
her  great  love,  as  alfo  to  be  remembei-ed  to  Mrs.  Jaines 
and  her  good  huiband,  to  whom  alfo  he  thinks  himfelf 
greatly  obliged  for  their  great  love,  and  in  particular  for 
Mrs,  Jaines  her  care  of  poor  Nol.  defiring  her  to  con- 
tinue the  fame  ;  as  alfo  to  be  remembered  to  yourfelf, 
and  wiflierh  Frank  much  comfort  in  her  new  condition, 
2nd  faith  he  fliall  not  ceale  to  pray  for  you  and  all 
yours.  This  is  wTitten  on  the  6th  of  A'lguil:,  but  I 
know  not  when  I  fliall  have  opportunity  to  lend  to  Bof- 
ton,  it  may  be  therefore  before  I  fend  away  my  letter 
I  may  have  fomething  more  to  add  concerning  him. 

Thus  far  I  proceeded  yefterday,  but  night  com.ing 
on  and  having  fomething  elfe  todo^  I  could  proceed  no 
further,  and  fo  laid  afide  my  paper,  intending  this 
morning  to  finiih  (if  the  Lord  pleaied)  my  anfv/er  to 
yours  of  the  29th  March.  But  now  my  hrd  work 
muft  be  to  tell  you  that,  through  the  great  goodnefs  of 
God,  I  did  alfo  lafl:  night,  after  fupper,  receive  your 
welcome  letter  of  the  8th  of  May  (Franks  birthday) 
wherein  you  let  me  know  that  you  have  alfo  received 
mine  of  the  2d  of  Oftober  lail,  at  fuch  a  feafon,  which 
made  it  morerefrefliing  to  you,  which  is  a  great  fatis- 
faftion  and  comfojt  to  me,  for  which  I  dehre  to  blefs 
the  Lord  ;  but  it  would  have  been  the  more  full  if  you 
had  but  laid,  with  the  inclofed  to  dear  Mrs.  Jaines, 
which  I  have  lately  tranfcribed,  together  with  your 
own,  from  the  originals,  with  a  purpofe  to  have  fent 
tlicm  with  this,  but  I  (hall  fend  neither,  for  I  have 
good  hopes  that  both  were  received,  for  I  cannot  but 
think  when  you  complained  that  the  door  of  your  houfe 
was  opened,  if  half  of  your  goods  had  been  taken  away 
you  vv^ould  have  made  mention  of  it ;  for  your  Ovvn  let- 
ter was  both  the  houfe  and  inventory  of  all  the  goods  con- 
tained in  it. 


©F    KING    CHARLES     I.  t2r 

Bear- fsaioth€r,  it  is  alfo  a  great  comfort  toi  me  to  hear 
that  the  Lord  was  gracioiiily  pleafed  to  appear  on  mf. 
dear  filler's  behalt  in  the  needful  hour,  and  defire  with 
yoii  to  blefs  tlie  Lord  for  that  great  mercy,  and  I  hear- 
tily thank  you  for  giving  me  fo  quick  a  notice  of  it. 
Dear  mother,  it  was  likewife  a  great  mercy  that  the 
Lord  was  pleafed  fo  far  to  fatisfy  your  defire  as  to  fliew 
you  the  fruit  of  her  womb,  and  to  make  you  the  joyful 
grandmother  of  afon,'and  though  it  hath  pleafed  the 
Jvord  fo  foon  to  tranfplant  him  from  the  militant  to  the 
triumphant  church,  yet  it  may  be  a  great  comfort  to 
yourfeif  and  my  dear  filler,  that  from  your  wombs  hath 
proceeded  the  increafe  to  the  myflical  body  of  Jefus 
Chriil,  and  reckon  it  a  mercy  thatth«  Lord  beingpur- 
pofed  to  take  him  from  you  in  his  infancy,  was  pleafed 
(that  it  might  be  the  more  eafy  to  you)  to  do  it  beforft 
,ij;  had  much  time  to  take  deep  root  in  your  afFedions,  for 
3  do  believe  the  longer  yourfelves  and  his  other  relations 
had  enjoyed  him,  the  harder  it  would  have  been  to  us 
all  to  have  parted  with  him  :  But  what  fhall  we  fay- 
more  ?  It  may  be  fuch  confiderations  as  thefe  are  too 
fslfifh,  it  is  enough  to  compofe  the  hearts  of  the  children 
of  God  under  every  providence,  to  fay,  it  is  the  Lord 
that  hath  done  it,  our  loving  and  tender  hearted  infi- 
nitely wife  Father  hath  declared  his  royal  pleafure,  and 
it  is  our  duty  to  fubmit  to  it,  yea  to  rejoice  in  it  (for  it 
is  mod  m.eet  he  fhould  difpofe  of  us  and  ours  as  fiiall 
|eem  good  in  his  fight)  and  to  apply  ourfelves  to  learn 
the  leffons  he  would  teach  us  thereby,  and  among  the 
reft  that  is  none  of  the  leaft  which  yoii  mention,  to  get 
cur  hearts  weaned  from  creature  comforts  and  to  live 
iipon  himfelf  as  our  all-fufficient  foul-fatisfying  portion 
• — and  let  my  dear  brother  and  filler  remember  what  the 
.H.  G.  faith,  Lam.  3.  27.  it  is  good  for  a  man  that  he 
bear  the  yoke  in  his  youth.  Dear  mother,  I  pray,  J^ 
your  next,  fpeak  a  little  more  fully  concerning  his  gocl- 
iinefs,  for  you  fay  nothing  to  that,  except  by  thephrafe 
of  a  very  honeft  man,  you  mean  a  very   godly  man,  a:? 


122       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUD€ES 

I  hope  you  do  ;  for  you  give  the  fame  epithet  to  that 
good  man  (whofe  word   you  took  concerning  him)  of 
whom  another  friend  faith  that  he  is  a  very  godly  man, 
aged  and  xvife,  &c.      I  pray,  rem.ember  my  dear  love 
to  filler  Judith,  and  tell  her  from  me  fhe  muft  now  be 
a  very  good  child,  and  labor  to  know  the  God  of  her 
father,  and  ferve  him  with  a  perfe6l  heart  and  with  a 
willing  inind,   i  Chr.   18.9.  and  leaving  to  grieve  for* 
her  filter  and  nephew  that  are  at  reft  with  God,  ilrive 
with  all  her  might  to  be  a  comfort  to  her  poor  affli6led 
mother,  who  is  contefting  with  the  difficuhies  and  tem- 
tations  of  an  evil  world.     I  humbly  thank  you  for  your 
motherly  love  and  care  for  me,  in  your  being  fo  defirous 
to  fupply  my  w^ants  ;   and  becaufe  you   are  pleafed  to 
Iviy  your  commands  upon  me,  I  iliall  make  bold,  whejj 
I  need  your  help  in  that  kind,  to  write  to  you  for  it. — 
There  is  yet  a  little  meal  in  the  barrel  and  oil  in  the 
cruife.     The  greateft  thing  I  need  is  a  heart  to  abide 
patiently  in  this  condition  until  it  be  expended.  I  cannot 
but  account  it  a  great  mercy  that   in   thefe  hard  times 
yen  fliould  be  able  to  be  fo  helpful  to  your  poor  children  ; 
Ivjut  I  befeech  you  let  not  your  love  to  them  ma-ke  you  to 
forget  yourfelf,  in  parting   with  what  is  neceffary   for 
your  own  comfort  in  your  old  age.     Dear  mother,  you 
iay  you  find  nature  greatly  decaying  in    you,  and  there- 
fore delire  prayers  that  grace  may  be  ftrengthened,  &c. 
It  cannot  be  othervvife  expcsSled  but  that  as  age  comes 
on  nature  will  decay  ;    but   I   befeech  you  preferve  it 
•what  you  can,  and  take  heed  of  immoderate  griefs,  or 
whutfoever  elfe  may  be  prejudicial  to  your  health,  which 
you  are  able  to  avoid,  and  when  you  have  done  all  you 
v:an,  if  you  ftill  perceive  the  outward  man  periihlng, 
vet  faint  not,  for  I  do  believe,  through  the  faithfulnefs 
of  God,  your  inward  man  fliall  be  renewed  day  by  day, 
€i.  Cor.  4.  16.     I  bltfs  the  Lord,  though  I  cannot  deny 
but  I  feel,  with  you,  the  decays  of  naUire,  yet  I  have 
and  do  enjoy  a  competent  meafure  of  health  and  ftrength, 
and  beg  )  our  pardon  if  I  have  been  too  How  in  ucquaiiU^* 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  Itl^ 

ing  you  with  and  giving  you  the  comfort  of  it.  I  thank 
you  for  what  you  have  written  concerning  thofe  rela- 
tions I  defired  to  hear  of ;  and  the  rather  bccaufe  you 
fay  you  cannot  write  much,  through  the  weakncfs  of 
your  eyes,  ar^d  I  fear  it  may  hurt  them  to  read  thef* 
long  letters,  for  I  defire  you  firft  to  read  and  tlien  feal 
and  deUver  the  enclofed  to  my  honored  and  dear  friend 
D.  G.  with  my  bed  refpedls  to  him  and  his  dear  wife. 
My  dear  mother,  I  recommend  to  you  the  counfel  and 
promife  given  to  the  Phihppians,  chap.  ^.  4,5,6,7. 
and  let  me  intreat  you  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord  always^ 
and  again  I  fay  rejoice  ;  and  I  befeech  you  to  reniem^ 
ber  that  weak  eyes  are  made  weaker  by  too  much  weep_ 
ing.     Pray  take  heed  you  do  not  hurt  y our felf  thereby. 

But  alas,  I  fee  my  paper  is  almofl  done,  and  muft 
yet  referve  a  litde  room  for  a  poftcript,  therefore  (hoping 
I  have  not  forgotten  any  material  thing  I  fliould  writK 
ot)  I  am  forced  here  to  break  off  abruptly,  and  with 
my  moft  afFe6lionate  remembrance  to  all  friends,  as  if 
I  named  them,  deHring  the  continuance  of  your  and 
their  fervent  prayers,  I  recommend  you  and  my  dear 
brother  and  flfters  to  the  tender  watchful  care  of  Him 
who  hath  borne  us  from  the  belly  and  carried  us  from 
the  womb,  and  will  be  our  God  and  our  guide  unta 
death,     I  am,  dear  mother. 

Your  moft  afte6lionate  and  dutiful  fon, 

W.  G. 

Now,  my  dear  mother,  give  me  leave  in  a  pofifcript 
to  be  a  little  merry  with  you,  and  yet  ferious  too.  There 
is  one  word  in  one  of  your  ^ptters  that  founds  fo  harihly, 
and  looks  fo  untowardly,  that  I  cannot  tell  well  how 
to  read  or  look  upon  it,  and  I  know  not  how  to  write 
it,  and  yet  I  muff,  though  I  crofs  it  out  again.  I 
fuppofe  you  do  by  this  time  fufliciently  wonder  what 
will  follow  ;  but  the  matter  is  this,  after  you  had  ^ivexx 
me  a  loving  account  of  a  bufmefs  wherein  you  have 
done  your  beft,  you  were  pleafed  to  fay,  that  if  I  {kouid 


J24      HISTORY,  OF    THREE    OF    THE    }UD«E5 

be  angry  you  had  many  to  bear  with  you,  &c.  Raftl 
anger,  I  confefs,  is  a  burthen  that  needs  more  fhoul- 
ders  than  one  to  bear  it  ;  for  Solomon  faith,  a  ftone  i§- 
Jieavy,  and  the  fan d  weighty,  but  a  fool's  v/rath  is  hea- 
vier than  them  both.  But  oh,  my  dear  mother,  how 
could  you  fear  fuch  a  thing  from  me  ?  Yourfelf  know^ 
eth  I  never  yet  fpakean  angry  word  to  you,  nay  I  hope. 
I  may  fay  (without  taking  the  name  of  God  in  vain) 
the  Lord  knoweth  I  never  conceived  an  angry  thought 
towards  you,  nor  do  I  now,  nor  I  hope  never  fhall,  and 
in  fo  faying  I  ^o  not  commend  myfelf,  for  you 
i\^\Q^x  gave  me  the  leafl  caufe,  neither  have  you  now, 
and.  I  believe  never  will  ;  therefore,  dear  mother,  the, 
whole  praife  belongs  to  yourfelf,  or  rather  to  the  Lord, 
>vho,  blelTed  be  his  name,  hath  fo  united  our  hearts  to- 
^eiher  in  love,  that  it  is  a  thing  fcarce  poffible  to  be  an- 
gry one  with  another.  But  I  Iball  now  conclude  with 
a  requeft  that  you  will  not  be  angry  with  yourfelf  for 
writing  that  word  I  have  fpoken  fo  much  againft,  for 
I  fuppofe  ail  your  meaning  was,  if  I  fhould  not  alto- 
gether approve  of  what  was  done,  &c.  and  I  am  abun- 
dantly fatisfied  that  the  root  from  which  that  fear  fprung 
was  tender  love,  and  that  you  fpeak  your  heart  when 
you  fay  you  love  asd  honor  me  as  much  as  ever,  which 
may  well  increafe  my  longings  after  you,  for  the  ex- 
ceeding grace  of  God  in  you.  Now  thanks  be  untci 
Gudfor  his unfpeakable  gift.  2  Cor.  9.  14,  15." 


CHAP, 


^F    KING    CHARLES     I.  !2^ 

CHAP.    III. 

O/CoIofteJDiXWEL  L  and  his  Sepulture  at  New-Haven. 

COlonel  John  Dixwell  was  another  of  King 
Charles's  Judges.  He  was  of  tlie  priory  of  Folk- 
ilone,  in  the  county  of  Kent.  He  was  a  junior  brother 
of  Mark  Dixwell  of  Broome,  in  the  pariih  of  Barham, 
in  the  county  of  Kent ;  who  died  1643,  leaving  In  the 
hands  and  in  the  care  of  Colonel  Dixwell  all  his  eflate 
and  children,  all  minors,  and  among  the  reft  his  eldeft 
fonand  principal  heir,  Bafd,  afterwards  Sir  Bafil  Dix- 
well. He  came  to  New-England  a  bachelor,  then 
having  neither  brother  nor  fifter  living.  The  Colonel 
was  a  gentleman  in  good  and  eafy  circumftances,  beingj 
poficfled  of  a  manor  and  fundry  other  ertates  in  Eng- 
land. Engaging  in  the  civil  wars,  he  became  an  olPicer 
in  the  army  under  the  Parliament  and  Protectorate  % 
was  nominated  (lierifFof  tlie  county  of  Kent,  and  be- 
came m.ember  of  Parliament  for  Kent  in  1654.  He 
was  one  of  the  Judges  that  figned  the  warrant  1649. 
At  the  Reftoration  he  abdicated  his  country  in  1660  : 
but  when  he  firft  came  to  New-England  is  unknown. 
<Very  little  can  be  recovered  concerning  him  for  the  nr(t 
ten  or  a  dozen  years  of  his  abdication.  The  firii  notice 
we  have  of  him  is  in  GofFe's  Journal,  while  the  Judges 
were  at  Hadley,  wherein  it  is  entered  that  Colonel  Dix- 
well came  to  tliem  there  February  10,  1664 — .-c^  :  but 
ever  after  they  call  him  Mr.  Davids  ;  and  afterwards 
he  went  by  the  name  of  James  Davids,  Efq.  till  his 
death.  This  name  it  is  faid  he  aiuimed,  being  his  mo- 
ther's name.  Governor  Hutchinfon  fays  he  lived  at 
Hadley  fome  years  :  his  grand-daughter,  Mrs.  Caru- 
thers,  fays  only  fix  weeks.  From  thence,  or  after  va- 
rious wanderings  and  reclufes,  now  iknov  n,  he  at 
length  came  to  Nev^- Haven  ;  whe  ,  though  covered 
with  a  borrowed  name,  he  hc\sever  was  gLueraiiy  fup- 
L  3    *■ 


.,  *. 


126       HISTORY    OF    THREE    ©?    THE    JUDGES 

pofed  to  have  been  one  of  thofe  who  were  obnoxious  in 
Kngland.  But  lie  carefully  concealed  his  true  charac- 
ter from  the  public. 

When  he  firfl  came  to  New- Haven  is  unknown. — 
Stephen  Ball,  Efq.  of  Nev/-Haven,  aged  67,  a  de- 
fcendant  of  the  original  inhabitants,  tells  me  the  tradi- 
tion is,  that  when  Mr.  Davids  firil  came  here,  he  put 
lip  and  lived  with  an  aged  family,  two  fedate  old  perfonf , 
Mr.  Ling  and  his  wife,  who  had  no  children.  Mr. 
Ling  at  his  death  requcfted  him  to  aiiifl  and  take  care 
of  his  wife,  and  recommended  it  to  her  to  be  kind  to 
him.  -He  left  his  houfe  and  whole  eftate  to  his  wife. — 
Mr.  Davids  alliHed  in  fetthng  the  eftate.  And  after- 
wards he  faid  he  did  not  know  any  better  way  to  (hew 
lindnefs  and  take  care  of  her,  than  to  marry  her,  and 
accordingly  married  her.  She  foon  dying,  he  married 
ant)ther  wife,  and  had  children  by  her.  Thus  far  dea- 
con Ball.  Mr.  Ling's  death  was  in  1673  ;  his  will  and 
the  inventory  of  his  eftate,  £goQ.  was  then  immedi- 
ately entered  and  remain  on  the  probate  records  to  this 
day.  So  Mr.  Davids  muft  have  been  in  New-Haven 
before  1672  .*  and  probably  feveral  years-  before,  as  a 
fhort  and  tranfient  acquaintance  v*^ouId  not  have  been 
fufficient  to  produce  that  truft  and  confidexice,  which 
Mr.  Ling  repofed  in  him  at  his  death. 

Mr.  Ling's  houfc  v/as  in  a  retired  part  of  the  town> 
at  the  north-weft  corner  of  wiiat  was  afterwards  called 
Mr.  Pierpont's  Square.  *  Here  Mr.  Davids  lived  in  a 
retired  indeed,  but  not  fecreted  manner.  For  he  con- 
ilantiy  attended  public  worihip,  was  openly  converfant^ 
though  not  very  familiarly  and  intimately  with  the  inha- 
bitants, who  confidered  him  as  a  rcfpe^labie  and  pious 
gcntleraan,  who  relidcd  among  tli;.Mri  in  a  quiet  and 
peacable  manner,  without  tranfading  any  apparent 
"buiinefs,  and  yet  fubfifting  with  decency,  leading  ra- 
ther a  reclufe  and  private  life.  His  countenance,  but 
not  his  true  name,  was  knowa  to  Mr.  J  ones  at  his  £aJ^ 


CITY  of   NY.W  HA  VEIN" 


S 


■j^ 


±Uodi- 


i/i 


M 


1 

^  1 

1   \ 

1      t 

Mr     M 

OF   KING    CHARLES     I.  14^ 

coming,  who  probably  was  foon  after  pofTefTed  of  his 
true  name  and  character,  and  proved  his  faithful  friend 
till  death.  There  is  feme  reafon  to  think  he  was  early 
known  to  a  very  few  others  in  town,  particularly  to 
Mr.  Street  and  Mr.  Biihop,  as  he  certainly  was  after- 
wards to  Mr.  ViGTponh  The  reverend  Nicholas  Street, 
the  minifter  of  New-Haven,  died  1674.  In  his  will 
dated  April  14,  1674,  herequefts  **  his  beloved  friends^ 
Mr.  James  Davids  and  Mr.  Nicholas  Augur,  to  be 
alfiftants"  to  his  wife  in  the  fcttlement  of  his  elUte. — 
Do6lor  Augur  was  an  eminent  and  learned  phyfician  of 
the  town,  and  opulent,  and  of  early  accelhon,  and 
long  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Street ;  whofe  confidence 
alfo  repofed  in  Mr.  Davids  may  feem  to  imply  more 
than  a  fhort  acquaintance,  not  lefs  probably  than  five 
or  fix:  years  intimacy.  Mr.  Street  was  fettled  in  New- 
Haven  a  colleague  minifler  with  Mr.  Davenport  in 
1658,  and  upon  Mr.  Davenport's  removing  to  Bollon, 
1667,  continued  fole  minifter  till  his  death,  1674.  i 
believe  Dixwell  was  unknown  to  Davenport,  and  pro- 
bably did  not  come  here  till  after  his  removal  to  Boflon.- 
After  all,  I  confider  the  firft  certainty  of  his  adually 
being  here  to  be  about  1672,  and  at  lead  before  Mr. 
Ling's  death  in  1673  :  while  yet  it  is  more  than  proba- 
ble he  was  here  rtill  earher.  From  1660  to  1665,  we 
know  nothing  of  him,  he  was  perfe6ily  out  of  fight : 
tjien  hejud:  appeared  at  Hadley  and  evanifhed,  leaving 
no  certain  trace  of  himfelf  from  1 665  to  1 67  2 ,  where 
we  mud  date  the  firft  certainty  of  his  being  at  New- 
Haven.  While  here  he  always  condudled  himfelf  like 
a  pious  and  exemplary  chriftian.  0ne  fays,  Mr.  Dix- 
well was  a  very  pious  and  religious  man,  and  always- 
fafted  on  Friday  of  «very  week  conftantly."  Another 
faySj  "  he  had  the  reputation  of  a  worthy  old  gentleman^ 
a  very  pious  and  holy  man,  and  lived  very  much  by  him- 
felf and  retired."  Another,  aged  83,  fpeaking  of  Dix- 
well and  all  the  Judges,  fays,  that  the  good  old  people, 
Vihcn  he  was  a  boy,  ufed  to  fpeal^  gf  ihefe  men,  *-*  3& 


I2S   HISTORY  OF  THREE  OF  THE  JUDGE? 

very  good,  and  pious,  and  holy  perfons,  and  they  be^ 
lieved  what  they  had  done  they  did  out  of  confcience, 
and  that  they  themfelves  always  thought  they  had  done 
right/' 

In  New- Haven  records  I  find  thefe  entries  : 
*' Mn  James   Davids  and  Mrs.   Joanna  Ling  were 
married  by  Mr.  James  Bifhop  the  3d  of  Nov.  1673."' 

*'  Mrs.  Joanna  Davids,  wife  of  Mr.  James  Davids 
died  (between  15th and  26th  in  the  entries)  Nov.  1673.''' 

"  Mr.  James  Davids  and  Bathfhebeba  How  were 
married  the  23d  of  October,  before  James  Billiop,  af- 
fiftant,  1677." 

**  Mary,  daughtei-  of  Mr.  James  Davids,  born  9th 
June,  1679." 

"  John,  the  fon  of  Mr.  James  Davids  and  Bathfhe- 
ba  Davids,  was  born  the  6th  day  of  March,  1680 — i.'j 

**  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  James  and  Bath- 
flicba  Davids,  was  born  the  14th  of  July,  in  New- 
Haven,   1682." 

**  Mr.  John  Dixw^ll  and  Mrs.  Mary  Prout  were 
married  September  I,  1708." 

From    New-Haven    church  records,  in  the  hand- 
writing  of  the  reverend  James  Pierpont,  who  was  or- 
dained Paftor  of  the  church,  July    1685,   I  extracted  * 
this  .  "  December  29,  1685,  Mr.  James  Davids,  alias 
John  Dixwell,"  admitted  into  church  fcllowlhip. 

From  hence  it  appears  that  Mr.  Dixwell  came  to 
New-Haven  before  -1672  ;  thai  he  was  known  here  by 
the  name  of  Janies  Davids  ;  that  by  his  nrft  wife  he  had 
no  children  ;  that  he  married  his  fefond  wife  1677,  and 
by  her  he  had  three  childreii,  one  of  which,  hi >•  only 
fon  Jijhn,  afterwards  married  Miis  Prout  ;  and  that  he 
was  adniuted  a  member  in  lull  comm\.inion  v^ith  the 
chinch  of  New-Hav-n  in  1685,,  wifliin  hil:  a  year  af- 
tci-  Mr.  Pierpont's  ordi^ati;:)n,  and  liiis  by  the  n^me  of 


©F    KINS    «HARLES      I.  12^ 

Dixwell  as  well  as  Davids  ;  which  fhews  that  his  true 
chara61:er  was  known  to  Mr.  Pierpont  at  his  firil  com- 
ing to  New-Haven,  though  the  tradition  here  is  that 
Mr.  Dixwell  never  revealed  it  till  on  his  death  bed, 
and  then  to  Mr.  Pierpont.  In  truth  it  was  known  to 
Governor  Jones,  and  Governor  Bifhop,  Mr.  Ling  and 
Mr.  Street,  from  the  beginning  of  his  coming  here^ 
fay  1672,  and  to  Mr.  Pierpont  1685,  and  to  a  few 
others  till  his  death,  when  it  was  promulgated  to  the 
towu. 

During  the  feventeen  years  or  more  in  which  he  liv- 
ed in  New-Haven,  nothing  extraordinary  occurred 
concerning  him.  From  1674  to  1685,  the  church, 
had  no  fettled  minifter,  with  whom  he  might  adbciate. 
The  reverend  Nicholas  Street,  the  minifter,  at  his  firft 
coming  here,  foon  died.  For  above  eleven  years  the 
church  was  deftitute  of  a  paftor,  and  ftipplied  by  occa- 
iional  and  temporary  preaching  only,  till  Mr.  Pierpont's 
fettlement,  1685.  With  him  the  Colonel  enteied  im- 
mediately into  an  open  and  unreferved,  but  confidential 
communication  ;  but  this  was  only  for  the  Ihort  fpace 
of  the  three  or  four  laft  years  of  his  exile.  During  this 
fhort  time  there  was  the  greatelt  intimacy  and  friend- 
ihip  ;  which  however  feems  for  fome  time  to  have  been 
concealed  from  even  his  wife.  For  tradition  fays  that 
madam  Pierpont  obferving  and  remarking  the  fingular 
intimacy,  and  v/ondering  at  jit,  ufed  to  alk  him,  what 
could  be  the  reafon  of  this  intimacy,  and  what  he  favv 
]^  that  old  man,  who  was  fo  fond  of  leading  an  obfcure' 
unnoticed  life,  that  they  (hould  be  fo  very  intimate  and 
take  fuch  pleafure  in  being  often  together  :  for  their 
houfe-lots  being  contiguous  and  cornering  upon  one 
another,  they  had  beaten  a  path  in  walking  acrofs  their 
lots  to  meet  and  convcrfe  together  at  the  fence  :  and 
fhe  often  v/nndered  why  he  Ihould  be  fo  fond  of  meeting 
and  converfing  with  that  old  gentleman  at  tliC  fe.ncQ  } 
To  whom  he  replied,  that  he  was  a  very  knomiig  and 
legiiued  man  ;  that  he  uxjueAdoQd  more  about  rehgion 


130      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

and  other  things  than  any  other  man  in  town,  and 
that  if  fhe  knew  the  worth  and  value  of  that  old  man, 
ihe  would  not  wonder  at  it. 

Among  other  traditionary  anecdotes  concerning  him^ 
this  is  one  :  The  Eiiglilh,  and  perhaps  Europeans  in 
general,  efpeclally  thofe  who  have  been  converfant  in 
the  variety  of  bufmefs  and  employments  in  large  cities 
and  populous  towns,  have  a  fmgular  fagacity  in  judging 
from  the  external  appearance  and  manner,  a  perfon's 
bufmefs  and  occupation  in  life.  Sit  Edmund  Audrofs 
came  to  America,  and  became  Governor  of  New- 
York  in  1675  to  1684;  and  of  MaflTachufetts  from  1686 
till  1689.  In  one  of  his  tours  through  the  colony  of 
Conne<£i:icut;,  perhaps  about  1686,  attending  public 
Worfliip  at  New-Haven,  he  obfervcd  a  venerable  old 
gentleman  at  m.ecting,  and  noticing  hi rn  cloftly^  dif- 
cerned  fomething  fmgular  in  him,  and  fufpe^ted  him. 
After  meeting  he  inquired  Vv'ho  that  perfon  was,  and 
waK  told  that  he  vras  a  merchant  who  refided  in  town. 
Sir  Edmund  replied,  that  he  knev/  he  was  not  a  mer- 
chant, and  became  particularly  inquititive  about  him. 
Probably  Colonel  Dixwell  was  notified  of  the  inquifi- 
tivenefs  of  this  ilranger  concerning  his  perfon  and  cha- 
racler  ;  for  the  Colonel  was  not  fcen  at  meeting  in  the 
afternoon. 

In  connexion  with  this,  I  inay  m.ention  another  tra- 
dition, which  I  received  from  Major  Lyon  and  others, 
indicating  how  obnoxious  Sir  Edmund  was  at  New- 
Haven,  as  well  as  through  New-Eaglax^*d.  Sir  Ecl- 
mund  being  at  meeting  here,  and  probably  on  the  fame 
Lord's  day  as  the  above,  the  deacon  gave  out  the  5 2d 
Pfalm  to  fmg,  in  Sternhold  and  Hopkins's  verfion, 
which  begins  thus  : 

Why  dofl  thou,  Tyrant,  boaft  abroad, 

Thy  wicked  works  to  praife  ? 
Doft  thou  not  know  there  is  a  God 

Whofe  mercies  lall  always  r 


OF  KING    CHARLES     I,  I3I 

Why  doth  thy  mind  yet  flill  devife 

Such  -wicked  wiles  to  warp  ? 
Thy  tongue  untrue,  in  forging  hes 

Is  like  a  razor  Iharp. 

Thou  dod  delight  in  fraud  and  guile, 

In  mifchief,  blood  and  wrong  ; 
Thy  lips  have  learn'd  the  flattering  (lile, 

O  falfe  deceitful  tongue  ! 

Governor  Androfs  felt  it  as  an  intended  infult  upon 
bimieli,  and  after  meeting  refented  it  as  fuch,  and  re- 
prehended the  deacon  for  it.  But  being  told  it  was  the 
ufage  of  this  church  to  fing  the  pialinns  in  courfe,  he 
excufed  the  deacon,  and  let  the  matter  pafs  off.  But  it 
is  not  improbable  that  though  this  might  be  the  general 
iifage,  yet  in  this  inftance  a  pfalm  vv^as  fele6led  for  Sir 
Edmund's  contemplation* 

Colonel  Dixwell  carried  on  no  fecular  bufinefs,  but 
employed  his  time  in  reading  and  rural  walks  into  the 
neighboring  fields,  groves  and  woods,  adjacent  to  his 
houfe.  Mr.  Pierpont  had  a  large  library,  from  whence 
as  well  as  from  bis  ovv^n  coHecSlion,  he  could  be  fuppU-. 
ed  with  a  variety  of  books.  He  often  fpent  his  even^ 
ings  at  Mr»  Pierpont's,  and  when  they  were  by  them^ 
felves  retired  together  in  his  ftudy,  they  indulged  them- 
felves  with  great  familiarity  and  humour,  refped  and 
honor,  and  free  and  unreftrained  converiation  upon  all 
matters,  whether  of  religion  or  .politics.  But  other- 
wife  when  in  company,  Mr.  Peirpont  treated  and  be- 
haved towards  Colonel  Dixwell  with  caution  and  re- 
ferve.  The  Colonel  fpent  much  of  his  retirement  ia 
reading  hiflory.  As  a  token  and  memorial  of  his  friend- 
Ihip  for  Mr.  Pierpont,  he  in  his  hii  will  prefentedhim 
\vith  Raleigh's  Hidory  of  the  World.  This  book  is 
now  before  me,  and  in  it  I  nnd  infcrihed  bv  Mr.  Pier- 
pont, in  his  Ovvn  hand  writing,  with  which  I  am  well 
acquainted  ia  lii"  chur'-^h  records,  '*  James  Picrpont's 
b:>ok,  1689,   Ex  DQii-i  dom,   John  Dixwell,  xwtef.ta-' 


ijZ       HISTORY    OF    THRtE    OF    THE   JUDGES 

mento  Juo  no'vijftmo ^'  What  Raleigh  wrote  for  the  life 
of  the  learned  world,  as  well  as  for  his  own  amufementj 
during  a  fourteen  years' imprifonmentj  under  eondem- 
nation  for  treafon,  became  the  entertainment  of  Dix- 
Well,  during  his  twenty- eight  years'  exile,  under  the 
fame  high  accufatioil  and  condem.nation. 

Whether  Colonel  Dixwell  had  any  communication 
with  Whalley  and  GofFe  after  he  left  them  at  Hadley^ 
is  not  certainly  known.  But  intelligence  was  probably 
kepi  up  betweem  them  by  means  of  Jones  and  Tijjjjfcjn.. 
His  fupplies  for  fubfifience,  and  their  channels,  are  alfo 
unknown.  Eefides  the  monies  he  doubtlefs  brought 
over  with  him  from  England,  he  acquired-eight  or  nine 
hundred  pounds  by  his  hrft  wife,  befides  his  houfe. — - 
Kis  nephew,  Sir  "Bafil  Dixwell,  totally  negle6led  and 
abandoned  himi  And  it  does  not  appear  that  he  re- 
ceived any  thing  from  Englandj  during  his  exile,  from 
any  but  his  niece,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Welirow.  And  the 
tradition  is,  that  in  the  latter  part  of  his  exile,  though  he 
was  not  tieedy,  or  in  indigence,  yet  he  was  in  ftraiten- 
ed  circumftances,  for  a  gentleman  formerly  accuflomed 
to  affluence. 

After  having  three  children  born  to  him  in  New- 
Haven,  he  made  a  difpofition  of  his  eftate  in  England^ 
\vhich  he  expe6led  would  be  relfoTed.  This  he  did  in 
feveral  indenture*  and  writings  in  1682  \  which  he  did 
fecretly,  but  left  them  to  be  recorded  and  ufed  after  his 
death.  His  wife  procured  them  to  be  approved  by  the 
judges  of  the  county  court,  in  1691,  which  had  at 
that  time  the  probare  of  wills^  and  the  jurifdi^lion  of  all 
teff  amentary  matters,  and  fettlements  of  eltates. 

There  is  no  reafon  to  think  that  the  three  Judges  were 
ever  out  of  New-England  after  their  arrival  in  America^ 
though  there  were  fome  loofe  flying  (lories  that  they 
were  at  New- York.  .Suppofe  V/halley  and  Goffe  both 
died  at  Hadley,  the  former  1678,  the  latter  1680,  then 
Dixwell  was  left  alone.     It  does  not  appear  that  Dix- 


O?    KING    CH ARIES      r.  .       I33 

vcH's  fe-Sdence  "in  New-Eitglaiid  v.-as  ever  ilifpefledi 
either  in  England  by  the  Miniflry,  there,or  by  Ran  dolph- 
in Ncw-.ETigland.  So  that  he:  >^^no  really  lived  the 
moft  openly  of  any  of'  them,  lived  the  inoft  fafely  and 
fecureiy.  He  well  knejv,  however,  and  fully  felt  tb(i 
danger  that  the  regicides'  afnes  might;  be  diifu'rhed,  as 
he  muft  be  v/ell  apprifed  of  the  inlidious  vigilance  of 
Randolph.  It  is  pollible  alfo  that  the  three  Jnc^csr 
might  wiiKthat  their  graves  might  be  together.  What 
has  been  before  narrated  is  delivered  upon" fii re  .docu- 
ments. I  jhall  now  nari-ate  what  is  only  cbnjedural,. 
and  leave  it  with  every  one's  judgment ;  only  obfervinjr 
that  if  it  ever  did  take  place,  no  one  will  doubt  but  that 
DiXwcll  was  concerned  in  it.  There  is  fomehow  pre- 
ferved,  not  in  imiverfal  or  general,  but  particular  and" 
ftrong  and  lineal  tradition,  at'  New-Htven,  which  is 
tp'  be  confidered  more  largely  hereafter,  that  smother  o£ 
tlie  regicides  beiides  Dixwell,  lies  buried  in  our  burying 
place,  and  that  this  other  v»as  Whalley.  This  is  "par- 
ticularly preferved  among  the  fcxtons,  or  grave-diggers^ 
ivho  it  feems  for  many  years,  and  perhaps  ever  irpn-r 
the  time  efpecially  of  Dixw^ell's  death,  have  fhevvnthe 
ftone  marked  E.  W.  for  Whalley,  as  they  have  that 
marked  J..D.  for  Dixwell.  I  have  not  found  the lealt 
tradition  or  furmife  of  GoiFetill  I  myfeif  conjedured  itj^ 
January  1793,  infe#ing  in  my  ow^n  mind  without  ac 
doubt,  that  if  Whalley,  who  certainly  died  at  Hadley^ 
v/as  after w^ards  removed  here,  Goffe  would  have  beert 
alfo.  But  of  this,  I  mean  as  to  Goffe's  being  here  alfo^ 
i  can  find  no  tradition,  while  yet  I  find  it  tenacioufly 
adhered  to  by  fome  few,  and  particularly  in  the  line  of 
grave-diggers,  that  Whalley  is  here.  I  have  often  ex- 
iiimincdahe  Hone  marked  E.  W.  but  confider  tile  mat- 
ter without  proof,  yet  pollible,  not  to  fay  a  little  probu- 
Ijle,  but  by  ,no  means  certain.  Nor  do  I  wifn,  and  leaft: 
of  all  attempt  to  gain  any  one's  credulity  to  it,  leaving 
■every  mind  perfeilly  free  and  unprejudiced.  But  as. I 
'-now  that  whoever  takes  the  pains  v.'hich  I  have  don;;^ 

M : 


!34      HISTORY    OP    THREE    OF    TH£    JtCGtig 

to  trace  out,  and  colle6^j  and  digeft  the  tra^ditions  iii 
New-Haven,  v/ill  find  this  among  others,  however  it 
originated  among  us  ;  fo  after  this  precaution  and  noti- 
f]caticn,  I  fhall  proceed  to  what  iso.ffome  confequence 
in  the  life  of  Dixvvell,  if  true  •  and  fhould  it  be  indeed 
otherwife,  will  have  no  bad  confequence,  as  not  being 
adchiced  on  the  verity  of  hiftory; 

It  is  then  fuppofcd  by  fome,  that  Whslley  alfo  hcs 
buried  in  New-Haven*      If  fo,  his  corpfe  mud  have 
been  taken  up  and  fecretly  convfeyed  here.     For  with- 
out repeating  the  proi)fs,  it  is  certain  he  died  in  Hadiey^ 
Who  will  doubt  this  removal  was  at  the  procurement 
of  his  friend  Dixweli,  or  at  lead  that  he  was  privy  to  i,t, 
iind  concerned  in  efFeding  it  r    None.     If  done  before 
1685,  none  but  Dixweli,  Jones  and  Bilhop,  in  New- 
Haven,  and  RulTel,    TiUtoh,   and  perhaps  Smith,  at 
Hadley,  v/ere  privy  to  it  ;  and  yet  probably  it  was  after 
Randolph's  rage  burned  and  became  dangerous,   Vvhich 
was  after  1680,  when  GofFe  was  either  dead  or  abdica- 
ted.    At  all  events,    the  five  or  fix  I   have  miCntioned 
jnuft  have  been  the  principal  perfons  concerned  in  ef- 
ib<5ling this  removal.     If  fo,  Dixweli   mud  have  been 
ileeply  concerned  in  the  affair  ;  and  this  event  and  tranf- 
■ailion,  however  fecretly  performed,  mud  become   an 
important  anecdote  in   his  life,  a&being    the  lad  care 
:uu\  office  of  fiirviving  friendihip  t6  the  memory  and  to 
the  fecurity  of  the  allies  of  a  venerable  fellow  exile  and 
brother  Judge.     In  this  Governor  Jones  was  unquef- 
tionabiy   the  erhcacious  agent.     He   and  Mr.  Tillton 
mud  have  been  the  men,  wlv)  procured  the  corpfe  to 
have  been  conveyed  from  Hadley  and  interred  in  Nevv- 
Haven,  in  fo  private  and   fecret  a  manner  as  to   have 
eluded  even  the  fiifpicion  of  Randolph.      If  Gode  died 
;it  Hafllcy,  1680,  as  is  probable,  the  fam.e  jeafons  v/bich 
would  induce  the  removal  of  one  v.'ould  induce  the  re- 
moval of  tlic  other,  and  perhaps  from  a  fecret  pre-con- 
certed plan  that  all  the  three  exiles  diould  l)C  dcj:>orued 
tSid  iLcp  in  the  dud  together,  unt:l   they  Ih^uld  aridl" 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  I^.i^ 

together  at  the  refurre^lion  of  the  JuR,  Now  if  al! 
this  v/as  true,  which  can  never  be  fully  afcertained,  it 
would  have  been,  as  I  have  faid,  an  important  cve^t 
in  the  life  and  tranfaitions  of  Judge  Dixwell.  But  th& 
whole  is  fubmitted  as  only  conjectural  j  though  I  Ihall 
attend  further  to  it  hereafter. 

After 'a  pilgrimage  of  twenty-nine  years  in  exile  from 
his  native  country,  and  banifhment  into  oblivion  frorri 
the  world,  of  which  feventeen  years  at  leaft,  probably 
more,  were  fpent  in  New- Haven,  by  the  name  of 
James  Davids,  Efq.  Colonel  Dixwell  died  in  New- 
Haven.  He  and  all  the  other  Judges  lived  and  died  in 
the  firm  expe61:ation  of  a  revolution  in  England.  This 
had  adlually  taken  place  the  November  before  Dix- 
well's  death,  but  the  news  not  having  then  arrived,  he 
died  ignorant  of  it,  about  a  month  before  the  feizure  of 
Sir  Edmund  Androls  at  Bofton.  At  his  death  he  dif- 
covercd  his  trr.e  character  to  the  people,  and  owned  the 
name  of  John  Dixwell,  but  requeued  that  no  monu- 
ment fliould  bcf  erected  at  his  grave,  giving  any  account 
of  his  perfon,  name  and  chara6ler,  and  alledged  as  a 
r^afon,  "  left  his  enemies  might  difhonor  his  a(hes"-r- 
requelling  that  only  a  plain  (lone  might  be  fet  up  at  his 
grave,  inscribed  with  his  initials,  J.  D.  Efq.  with  hi^ 
age  and  time  of  his  death.  Accordingly  a  plain  rough 
(lone  is  ere£led  at  the  head  of  his  grave,  clofe  by  the 
tomb  (lone  of  Governor  Eaton  and  Governor  Jones, 
which  (tone  is  (landing  to  this  day,  charged  with  this 
infcription,  as  at  firll  put  and  engraved  upon  it  by  his 
friends  : 

.    "  J.  D.   Efq. 
DECEASED    MARCH  THE    iSth, 
IN  THE  82d  YEAR   OF  HIS  AGE, 
1688—9." 

He  left  a  wife  and  two  children.  His  will  was  af- 
terwards  exhibited  and  approved,  and  recorded  in  the 
probate  ollice,  from  the  records  of  which  I  have  tranf- 
cribed  the  following  copy. 


136       HISTORY    OFTHRSB    OY    Tn:E    :i*i)GE,:^ 

*\,The  laji  Will  of  James  Davids ,  alias  yahnDlxtuelL 

"  I  Jarr.e."  Davids,  of  the  town  of  New- Haven,  be- 
ing in  reafonable  good  Health  and  perfeft  memory,  I 
blefs  the  Lord' 'for  it,-  do  make  and. ordain  this  my  lail: 
Will  and  Teftament  in  manner  and  forrri  follovi'ing. — 
Imprimis  I  give  nnto  my  loving  w4fe,  my  honfe  in 
New-Haven  aforefaid,  v/ith  the  home  lot,  the  orchard, 
^vA  buildings,  and  alfo  my  lands  at,  the  Beaver- Pond, 
and. one  acre  of  arable  land  being  in  the  quarter  called 
Cooper's  Quarter,  and  likewife  my  land  in  the  Neck, 
with,  the  Avoodlands,  lying  in  two  parcels ;  AH-  which  I 
give  unto :Bathfhfcba  Davids,  my  wife,  for  and  during 
'iier  natural  life,  and  after  her  deceafe,  I  give  unto  my 
ion  John,  my  houfe  and  the  lands  aforefaid,  unto  him 
arid  his  heirs. for  ever.  Item  I  give  unto  my  fon  John 
all  fuch  lands  as  fell  to  me  by  the  laft  divifion,  being 
'^bout  four  fcore  acres,  to  him  and  his  heirs  for  ever. — 
And  if  my  fon  John, die  without  illue  of  his  body  law- 
fully begotten,  llicn  m.y  v/ill  is,  that  my  daughter  Ma- 
ry; fhall  have  the  houfe  F/ith  all  the  lands -before men- 
tioned,, to  her  and  her  heirs -for  ever.  .  .liem  I  give  my 
tionored  friend,  ?4'r.  Fierpont,  paftor  of  the  church. of 
Chrifi  in; New-Haven,  Sir  W<ilter  Raleigh's  Hittory 
of  tlie  World.  Item  I  give  unto  my  fon  John  all  the 
i-effof  my  book?,  and  my  filver  flandilh  I  ufed  to  write 
■with,  and  my  iwefers  which  is  in  a  red  tortoife-fhell 
cafe,  my  fword  and  my  gun,  all  w^iich  I  delire  may 
tie  carefully  kept  for  him.  lte??i  I  give  unto  my  daugh- 
ter Mary  twelve  pouiids.  Item  I  give  unto  my  loving 
*.'ife,  Bathflieba  Davids,  the  r^il  of  my  perfonal  cftate 
here  in  New-England,  and  do  make  my  faid  wifefolc 
executrix  qf  this  my  lall:  Will  and  Teftament.  And  I 
do  hereby  declare,  that  this  will  fhall  not  extend  to  any 
thing  enjoyed  by  me,  or  belonging  to  me  in  Old  Eng- 
land. .And  I  do  earncftly  defire  my  loving  friends,  Mr. 
William  Jones  and  Mfs.  Jones,  his  wife,  of  New- 
Haven  aforefaid,  if  my  wife  die  before  my  friends  in 
Ef>2rand  fend  for  mv  children,,  unto  whom  I  have  coua- 


3la^y    darkjboney     Headftone 


13^       HISTORY    0FTHR2B    OK    THS    JI?DGE.|- 

*^..The  loft  Will  (jj  Ja>nes  Davids,  alias  JaLn  DixrjjelL 

"  I  Jarr.e-  Davids,  of  the  town  cf  New- Haven,  be- 
in^  ill  reafonable  good  health  and  perfeft  memory,  I 
hIefs'tHe  Lord' for  it,-  dp  make  and. ordain  this  my  laft 
Will  and  Teftament  in  manner  and  form  following.— 
Imprimis  I  give  unto  my  loving  wife,  my  houfe  in 
New-Haven  afoiefaid,  v>^ith  the  home  lot,  the  orchard, 
and  buildings,  and  alfo  my  lands  at  the  Beaver- Pond, 
and^qne  acre  of  arable  land  being  in  the  quarter  called 
Cooper's  quarter,  and  likewife  my  land  in  the  Neck, 
with  the  .woodlands,  lying  in  two  parcels :  AH  which  I 
give  unlOiBathlheba  Davids,  my  wife,  for  and  during 
'JT-er  natural  life,  and  after' her  deceafe,  I  give  unto  my 
■fon  John,  my  houfe  and  the  lands  aforefaid,  unto  him 
arid  his  heirs  for  ever.  Item  I  give  unto  my  fon  John 
all  fitch  lands  as  fell  to  me  by  the  laft  divifion,  being 
'^lout  four  fcore  acres,  to  him  and  his  heirs  for.  ever. — 
And  if  my  fon  John  die  without  iifuc  of  liis  body  law- 
fully begotten,  then  my  will  is,  tliat  my  daughter  Ma- 
ry. (haJI  have  the  houfe  with  all  the  lands -before men- 
tioned, ^o  her  and  her  heirsfor  ever.  :  .Item  I  give  my 
tionored  friend,  PvJ'r..  Pierpont,  paftor  of  the  church. of 
C.hiifl  in. New-Haven,  Sir  \V>Iter  Raleigh's  Hi ibry 
of  the  World.  Item  I  give  unto  my  fon  John  ail  the 
a:eft  of  my  books,  and  my  fflver  flanciilh  I  ufed  to  write 
v^itli,  and  my  iw^krs  which  is  in  a  red  tortoife-ihell 
cafe,  my  fword  and  my  gun,  all  which  I  dehre  may 
"he  carefully  kept  for  him,  Ite??i  I  give  unto  my  daugh- 
ter Mary  t^vclve  pounds.  :  Item  I  give  unto  my  loving 
f'/ife,  Bathfiieba  Davids;  the  r^lt  of  my  perfonal  cftate 
here  in  New-England,  and  do  make  my  faid  wifefole 
executrix  of  this  my  lafl:  Will  and  Teftament.  And  I 
do  hereby  declare,  that  this  will  fhall  not  extend  to  any 
thing  enjoyed  by  me,  or  belonging  to  me  in  Old  Eng- 
land. And  I  do  earncftly  defire  my  loving  friends,  Mr. 
William  ^jones  and  Mfs.  Jones,  his  wife,  of  New- 
Haven  aforefaid,  if  my -wife  die  before  my  friends  in 
Ef^giand  fend  for  my  children,  unto  whom  1  have  com- 


Flate  Vr.p.  136. 


\%^wy  8 2*^ Team  of 


7lf&,  and  a  ^iiarieryie^.  /i^hSc  Iroad' 
S  Inc.  t/iich:  ned-  .ftoitey.  He  ad  ftone . 


at  hviid  ienJn^Aiafv. 
Headlbne 


7fyffjee4vnd& Schick,  icSLia  tfiic/o 
£lu.e^    d<irk,Ji:<me^      Heaxlftone 


FootiJone 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  I37 

miftedthe  care  and  education  of  them,  that  they  would 
receive  them  into  their  family  and  take  care  of  them  till 
my  friends  have  opportunity  to  fend  for  them,  and  what 
charge  and  expence  they  (hall  be  at  thereby,  to  be  re- 
paid to  them.  And  I  defu-e  alfo  my  good  friends  afore- 
faid,  that  what  belongs  to  my  children  here,  they  would 
take  care  that  it  may  be  preferved  for  them.  In  wit- 
nefs  whereof  I  have  hereunto  fet  my  hand  and  feal, 
dated  the  feventh  day  of  May,  one  thoufand  fix  hun- 
dred eighty  eight. 

Signed  and  pubUfliedl      James  David:*  fL.s.j 
in  the  prefence  of  J 

{AMES  Clarke, 
AMES    HeATON, 

I  do  alfo  hereby  fignify  my  mind  and  will  to  be,  th^.<: 
fuch  of  my  books  as  have  my  daughter's  name  writteii 
upon  them,  belong  to  her,  and  that  Ihe  ihall  enjoy  them. 

James  Davids." 

*'  An  inventory  of  the  eftate  of  Mr.  James  Davids, 
iate  of  New-Haven,  deceafed,  taken  and  apprized  by 
Captain  Mofes  Mansfield  and  Thomas  Tuttle,  June 
ioth,  1689,"  amounting  to  £^7.'](^  12  6.  and  among 
other  articles,  houfingand  homefted,  j^65.  By  a  cur- 
fory  review  of  a  number  of  inventories,  about  this  time 
I  fhtfbld  judge  Mr.  Dixwell's  ellate  better  than  thofeoi 
half  the  inhabitants  of  New-Haven,  who  were  com- 
fortable livers  ;  and  confequently  that  he  was  not  redu-- 
ced  to  indigency.  I  have  often  been,  in  his  houfe,  which 
v/as  (landing  till  twenty  or  twenty-five  years  ago,  Ic 
was  a  comfortable,  two  ftory,  old  fafhioned  houfe. 

Immediately  after  his  death  the  news  of  the  revolu- 
tion and  of  the  accellion  of  King  William  and  Q^ieeh 
Mary  arrived  here.  Upon  which  things  took  a  new 
turn,  and  a'Tumed  an  afpecl  more"  favorable  to  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  In  a  little  time  therefore,  or  in  about 
two  years  after  Dixwell's  death,  it  beca^me  fafe  to  brin:-^ 
M3 


133       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

forth  the  following  indentures  and  writings,  which  I 
find  recorded  in  the  probate  office  at  New-Haven  ;  and 
wliich  I  have  tranfcribcd  and  copied  from  the  records 
of  that  office,  as  they  will  ilhidrate  the  hiftory  of  Co- 
lonel Dixwell. 

Extracts  from  the  Neiv- Haven  records. 

'*  Here  follows  a  record  of  feveral  deeds  and  other 
writings,  recorded  at  the  dcfire  of  Mrs.  Bathfneba  Da- 

>.id?,  and  the  allowance  of  the  county  court. 

«^  Dixwei],  John,  Efq. 

**  This  indenture,  iDade  the  tenth  of  0<5lober,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  God  one  thoufand  jfix  hundred  eighty- 
two,  between  John  Dixwell,  alias  James  Davids,  of 
the  priory  of  Folkeftone,  in  the  county  of  Kent,  Efq. 
of  the  one  part,  and  Bathiheba  Dixwell,  his  wife,  on 
the  other  p:irt,  Witneiieth,  That  the  faid  John  Dix- 
Avili,  alias  James  Davids,  for  the  natural  love  and  af- 
ftcfion  he  beareih  to  his  faid  wife,  Hath  given,  granted 
and  confirrr:ed  unto  the  faid  Bathiheba  Dixwell,  his 
wife,  All  that  his  farm  lying  in  the  parilli  of  Hougham^ 
in  the  county  of  Kent,  with  the  houfes  and  building?, 
?,nd  ail  xhz  hinds,  arable,  and  pafture,  and  meadows 
thereto  belonging,  formerly  in  the  occupation  of  widow 
Vallier,  To  have  and  to  liold,  and  enjoy,  and  alfo  to 
take  and  receive  the  profits  thereof  during  her  natural 
life,  with  pov/er  alfo  to  leafe  out  faid  farm  and  lands  for 
a  yearly  rent,  fo  that  it  be  to  the  value  of  it,  and  her 
ieafe  extend  not  for  above  eleven  years  at  a  time.  In 
witnefs  v\  hereof  the  parties  above  named  have  interchan- 
sbly  fet  tlieir  hands  and  feals.  Dated  tlie  day  and  year 
above  naiTicd. 

Sealed  and  deli  vered  1  J o  H  N  D  i  x\\ ell  (  l .  s . ) 

in  theprefence  of  J  alias, 

y^Jsph  Allfup,  Jam5s  Davids. 

''fa/ties  Clarke, 
Jofeph  All/up,  jim. 


OP  KING    CHARLES     I.  l^f 

This  writing,  as  above  is  a  true  record  of  the  origi- 
nal.    Recorded  and  examined  pr  me, 

James  Bishop, 
Clerk  of  New-Haven  County." 

"  This  indenture,  made  the  twentieth  of  0(Slober, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God,  one  thoufand  fix  hundred 
and  eighty-two,  between  John   Dixwell,  alias  James 
Davids,  of  the  priory  of  Folkedone,  in  the  county  of 
Kent,  Efq.  of  the  one  part,   and  John  Dixwell,  his 
Ton,  of  the  other  part,  WitneiTeth,  That  the  faid  John 
Dixwell,  alias  James  Davids,  out  of  the  natural  love 
and   affection   he  beareth  unto  faid   fon    John  ;    Have 
given,  granted  and  confirmed,  and  by  thefe   prefents 
doth  give,  grant  and  confirm,  unto  the  faid  John  Dix- 
well, his  fon,  All  that  his  capital  houfe,  called  the  prio- 
ry of  Folkeftone,  with  the  pigeon-houfe,  ftables,  barnsy 
and  all  the  lands  thereunto  belonging,  called  the  Priory 
Lees,  and  alfo  all  that  his  farm  called  or  known  by  the 
name  of  Sandgate  Farm,  with  the  buildings  thereunto 
belonging,  and  all  the  lands,  arable,  pafture  and  mea- 
dow, thereunto  belonging,  formerly  in  the  occupation; 
of  John  Hill,    or  his  afiigns,  and  alfo   all   his  marih 
lands  lying  in  Romney  Marrti,  formerly  in  the   occu- 
pation of  Bafil  Cloake,  or  his  afligns  ;  and  alfo  all  that 
his  farm  lying  in   the   parifii  of  Hougham,  with   all 
the  houfes   and  lands,    arable^    pafture  and  meadow^ 
thereunto  belonging,    formerly    in  the  occupation   of 
widow  Vallier,  or  her  afiigns ;  .and   alfo  all  his  manor 
and  farm  called  Buckland,    near  unto   Haveriham,    in 
the  faid  county,  with  all  the  houfes  and  buildings,  lands 
arable  and  pafture,  thereunto  belonging  :  To  have  and 
to  hold  the  faid  houfes  and  lands,  with  the  manor  of 
Buckland  aforefaid,  after  the  death  of  the  faid  John 
Dixwell,  alias  James  Davids,  unto  his  faid  fon  John 
and  his  heirs  forever.     And  if  my  fon  John  die  without 
ilfue  of  his  body  lawfully  begotten,  if  the  Lord  ftiould 
give  me  another  fon,  that  then  the  brother  of  the  faid 
John  Ihall  enjoy  all  the  houfes  and  lands  with  the  nia» 


J40  HISTORY  OF  THREE  OF  THE  JUDGES 
nor  aforefaicl,  to  him  and  to  his  heirs  for  ever.  And 
if  there  be  no  iillie  male  to  inherit  the  fame,  then  I 
give  and  grant  all  the  houfes  and  lands  beforefaid  to  my 
two  daughters,  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  and  to  their  heirs 
for  ever.  And  if  there  be  no  iffue  lawfully  begotten 
from  the  children  of  the  faid  John  Dixwell,  alias  James 
Davids,  then  I  give  and  grant  all  the  aforefaid  manor 
and  lands  unto  my  dear  and  loving  niece,  Elizabeth 
Wefirow  during  her  life,  and  after  to  Dixwell  Wef~ 
trow,  her  fon,  and  his  heirs  for  ever.  And  I  do  alfo 
hereby  fignify  and  declare  that  all  former  fettlements  of 
the  lands  before  mentioned  on  any  of  the  fons  of  my 
brother  A4ark  Dixwell,  deceafed,  being  upon  revoca- 
tion, either  by  indenture  or  by  will,  fliatl  be  null  and 
void.  In  witnefs  whereof  the  parties  above  named 
have  interchangably  fet  their  hands  and  feals.  Dated 
the  day  and  year  above  named,  1682. 

Signed,  fealed  and  1  John  Dixwell,  (l.s.) 
delivered  in  prefence  of  J  alias 

Jojeph  Allfnp,  Jam  es  Da  v  i  d  s . 
James  Clarke^ 
Jojeph  Allfupy  jun. 

"  This  writing  as  above,  is  a  true  record  of  the  ori- 
ginal;,  recorded  and  examined  pr  me, 

James  Bishop, 
Clerk  of  New-Hi*ven  County/' 
Mr.  Davids, 

''  Whereas  my  brother,  Mark  Dixwell,  of  Broome, 
in  the  pariQi  of  Barham,  in  the  county  of  Kent,  Eiq.. 
deceafed,  did  by  his  deedof  bargair*  and  fale  convey  and 
fettle  his  whole  cdate  upon  me  for  the  confideration  of 
thirteen  thoufand  pounds,  to  be  paid  to  the  bell  of  my 
remembrance  in  manner  following,  viz.  To  his  two 
daughten-,  Elizabeth  and  Bennet,  two  thoufand  pounds 
apiece  at  the  time  of  marriage,  or  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  and  to  his  fecond  fon,  Hcardfon,  three  thoufand 
pounds,  at  his  age  of  one  and  twenty  years,  and  alfo  to 


OF  Kr^^G  CHARLES    I.'.:  141 

his  fon. William  two  thoiiliind  pouiidsVathi^atgeof  one 
gnd  twenty  years,  aridlikvvife  to  his  eWeft  fon,  Bafi], 
four  thai] faad, pounds,  at  his  age  of  two  and  twenty- 
years  :  For  the  payment  of  wliich  fums  I. -entered  into 
l^veral  bonds..  Now  this  fale  of  hiseftate  was  indeei 
but  in  .truft,  my  brother  having  that  confidence  in  me  I 
would  manage  his  eftate  for  the  benefit  and  advantage 
of  hiseldeil  [on,  and  pay  thofe  fiims -before  mentioned 
to  his  yaunger  children,  did  leave  his  whale  eftate  and 
care  of  his  children  folely  to  me,  he  then  cafting  after 
three  hundred  pounds  y^ariy  being  paid  to  'his  widow 
for  her  jointure,  and  tw6  hiuidred  and  fifty  pounds, 
yearly,  ^being  allowed'  for  his  five  children's  education, 
allowing  fifty  pounds  apiece  for  every  one  of  them,  did 
fuppofe  the  fums  aforefaid  might,  he  raifed' when  his 
eldeft  fon  came  to  the  age  of  tv7o  and  twenty  years,  not 
confidering  of  any  taxes  to  be  paid  out  of  his  efta;e  nor 
abatement  of  rents  in  regard  to  the  great  troubles  that 
was  then  in  the  nation.  And  this  Uuii  my  brotlier  com- 
mitted to.rae  I  did  with  all  the  care  and  diligence  I 
could  to. the  utmoft  of  my  povv-er  perforin,,  in  takmg 
care  for  his  children  as  if  they  had  been  my  own.  My 
brother  died,  as  I '  remember,  in  February  one  thou^ 
fand  .fix  hundred  forty-threC;,  and  then  I  took  upon  me 
that  truft,  and  paid  and  laid  out  the  fums  following  : 
To  his  two  daughters,  Elizabeth  and  Bennet,  when 
they  married,  four  rhoufand  pounds,  the  taxes  I  paid 
out  of  the  eftate:  could  not  be  lefs  than  /)ne  thoufand  five 
hundred  pounds  j  for  his  eftate  wasfeffed  to  the  full  va- 
lue :  I  laid  out  at  leaft  fix  thoufand  pounds  in  purcha- 
fingtherrranor  of  Diggs  and  other  lands  tor  his  eldeftr. 
fon,  and  in  buildings  and  other  necelfaryexpenfes  about 
his  chief  houfe,  and  elfewhere  one  thoufand  pounds  ; 
and  for  the  abatement  of  rents  ihofe  troublefome  times,- 
one  thoufand  and  tw^enty  pounds,  the  fums  before  men- 
tioned I  do  think,  and  rather  more  than  lefs.  Befides, 
when  I  came  away  I  left  with  my  brother's  widow  five 
hundred  pourads,:  there  being,  in  the  tejiant*'  hands. at; 


T4-2        HISTORY    OF    THRKE    CF    THE    JUDGES 

lead  oPiCthoufand  pounds,  \vhic!i  v/.iththe  profits  of  his 
eliate  for  two  years  more^  woulcl  have  gone  near  to 
have  raifed  the  other  fons  portijns,  if  their  mother, 
that  was  entrufted  v/ith  the.  farae  had  been  as  careful  as 
I  was.  But  the  funis  aforefaid  could  never  have  been 
diiburfed,  confidering  the  taxe'>  which  were  paid  out 
of  the  ellate,  and  the  abatement  of  rents,  and  the  necef-^ 
i'ary  expenfes  about  building  and  reparation,  and  his 
ellate  fo  increafed,  if  I  had  made  ufe  of  my  own  money, 
for  what  money  I  had,  and  what  1  faved  out  ef  my 
eRate  for  fcventeen  years,-  I  made  uk  of  to  improve 
my  nephew's,  the  which  I  fuppofe  to  be  betv/een  two 
or  three  thoufand  pounds.  And  being  confident  of  my 
nephew's  ingenuity  and  honeily  in  paying  the  fame, 
did  not  make  any  provifion  to  fecure  the  fame  when  I 
fetded  his  father's  eftate  upon  him  ;  but  moft  ungrate- 
fully and  injnrioufly  he  re fu fed  to  allow  any  thing  ta 
me  for  this  confiderable  fum,  nor  fiiew  any  refpe^t  for 
tlie  care  I  had  of  him,  by  making  fome  provilion  for 
me  in  my  aiflicled  eflate.  And  that  there  was  fuch  a 
fum  due  to  me  from  Bafil,  my  brotJier's  eldeft  fon, 
his  mother,  nowtbeLady  of  Oxinden,  wis  to  perfua- 
ded  of  it  (lie  offered  me  two  thoufand  pounds  for  it,  and 
if  ihe  be.living  can  teilify  to  the  truth  of  what  I  fay,  and 
to  the  particulars  before  mentioned.  Befides,  for  fe- 
venteen  years  I  wa^s  at  great  expence  and  trouble  in  ma- 
naging this  eftate  and  therefore  in  ju (lice  there  ought  to 
be  an  allowaiice  for  the  fame  :  And  aifo  for  detaining 
fuch  a  fum  from  me,  taking  advantage  of  my  condition, 
and  Ihewing  unmercifulnefs  in  that  they  would  allow 
me  nothing  for  my  prefent  maintenance,  that  if  the 
Lord  had  not  extraordinarily  provided  for  me,  I  had 
periihed  for  want,  Novv  being  confident  the  Lord  will 
appear  for  people  and  the  good  old  caufe  for  which  I 
fuller,  and  that  there  will  be  thofe  in  power  again  that 
will  relieve  the  injured  and  opprelTed,  the  Lord  having 
given  me  opportunity  to  change  my  condition,  and  alfo 
givea  lae  ciuldieji,  I  diiak  I  am  bound  to  ufe  the  bcil 


OF    KI>:G    CHARLES     I*  14.3 

means  I  can  whereby  they  may  enjoy  what  is  Co  inju- 
HouHy  kept  from  me. — Therefore,     know  all  men  by 
tlicfe  prefents,  that  I   John  Dixwell,  alias  James  Da- 
vids, of  the  priory  of  Folkeftone,  in  the  county  of  Kent, 
Eiq.  do  hereby  conititute  and  appoint  my  dear  and  lov- 
ing niece,    Mrs.  '  Ehzabeth  Weftrow,    and  Thomas 
\Veftro\v,  her  fon,  my  true  and  lawful  attorniesto  afk, 
demand  and  receive  of  the  eldefl:  fon  of  my  nephew. 
Sir  Bahl  Dixwell,   Knight  and  Barron et,  deceafed,  or 
his  executors,  or  any  that  may  be  jullly  liable  thereto, 
the  fum  of  two  thoufand  five  hundred  pounds,  and  alfo 
allowance  for  the  trouble,  charge  and  expence,  in  ma- 
naging the  eftate   aforefaid  for    feventeen   years,   and 
likewifewilh  allowance  for  detaining  the  fum  of  two 
thoufand  five  hundred  pounds  for  tvv'o  and  twenty  years 
paft  :  and  if  the  executors  of  my  faid  nephew.  Sir  Ba- 
iil  Dixwell,  or  his  fon,  or  any  other  t1i at  may  be  juflly 
hable  thereto^  refufe  to  pay  or  give  fatisfaclion  for  the 
lame,  then  to  fue,  implead  and  ufe  all   other  lawful 
means  the  law  and  jullice  will   afford'  to  recover  ^the 
fame  :    Arid  I  alfo  empower  my  faid  attbrnies  to  com- 
pound v^^th  them  upon  juft  and  reafonable  term^s,  and 
alfo  to  give  a  full  difcharge  from  the  fame,  by  releafe, 
or  by  making  any  other  legal  difcharge  vvhich  may  be 
according  to  law  ;  and  I  do  alfo  hereby  ngnify  what  my 
iaid  attornies  fhall  recover  or  receive  for   the  fame  to 
be  paid  to  my  children  according  to  a  writing  I   have 
bearing  date  with  this  my  letter  of  attorney.     In  wit- 
fiefs  whereof  I  have  hereunto  fet  my  hand  and  feal.— 
Dated  the  two  and  twentieth  of  Odlober,  in  the   year 
of  our  Lord  God,  one  thoufand  fix  hundred  and  eighty- 
tv/o. 

Sealed,  fign^d  and  \     John  Pixwell,  (l.  s.| 
dviivered  in  prefence  ot   J  alias 

^a/ep  h   /illjupj     ■  J  A  M  E  S  D  A  \- 1 D  S . 


^ofyh  Jllfup,  jun.. 


144       HISTORY,   OF    THUEE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

"  The  interHnifig  of  Thomas  V/eiirow -in  this- wri- 
ting,-and  alfo  the  other  interlining,,  is  done  by  my  own 
hand,  thereafon  being  my  dear  niece  Elizabeth  Weft-- 
row  being  fickly,  I  thought  fit  to  join  her  foa.  Thomas- 
Vv^edrow  with  her  in  this  truft,  and  by  reaien  of  the 
infirmities  of  my  •oki  age,  being  about  eigiity  years  Qldy 
and  notable  to  new  write  it,  and  not  knowing  anj^/f 
durfl:  to  tru.ft  to  write  it. for  me,  I  hope  t^rds  will  fat isfy 
any  that  fnall  make  any  fcruplejheyeo.f.  And  I  da 
hetebyiignify  my  mind  to  i)e,  that  if  I  die,  it  Ihall  not 
niiHib^  power  I  have  given  i^ntp  the  faid  Ehzabpth  aini 
Thomas  Weitrow,  but  this  my  letter  of  attorney  Ihail 
be  offuU  force  after  my  death  as  now.  And  I  i^jrthqr 
empowei^  the  faid  Elizabeth  and  Thomas  Weftrow,  if 
tb&y /die  before  the  monies  mentioned  to  be  recovered, 
tkat  they.fhalK  have  power  -by  writing  under  their  hand 
und  fea),  /toempcxwer  fuch  as^they  fliail  thjnk  fit  to  re- 
cover the  monies  mentioned  in  this  writing  to  be  p^^ 
as  is-exprcifed  in  another  writing  bearing  date  with  this, 
wherein  my  defires  are  fuDy  mentioned.  ;    . 

Ivlay-thef  7th,  1688.  John  Dixwell. 

**  This  writing  as  *  above,  with  that  on  the  other 
fide,  is  a  true  record  of  the  original.  Reeorde'd 
and  examihed-fjrme, 

Jamtss  Bishop, 
Gi erk  of  Ne w- H aven  County . ' ' 

iMr.  Davids.  ■  ■  '         ''  : '  '  ■, 

*'  Whereas  I  John  Dixwell,  alias  James"  Davids,*t3^ 
thepx^oryot  Folkeflone,  in  thccounty  of  Kent,  Ef^'. 
have  conflituted  and  appoiiited .  my  dear  and  loviilg 
niece,  Mrs.'  Elizabeth  Weflrow,  and  "Thomas  her 
Ion,  my  true  and-  lawful  attornjes,  to  aflc  and  de|nand 
rid  receive  of  the*execut()rs'tjf'  my  lie'j^tew,  SifBafil 
iJixvv'ell,  Knight'  and  Baronet,  ■  deceafeti,  or  his  Ton, , 
r  any  other  that^-nay  be'jiiffly  liablethefcto,' thcfuifh- 
cf  two  thoufand  five  hundred  pounds,^  what  1  laid  out  for 
tiie  improving  hise'latc,  v/ith  allowance  for  the  manag- 


o 


XjV   king    CHARI.H3      I.  145 

\ng  bis  eflatc  at  ray  own  cl^arge  for  feventeen  years,  and 
alf'o  for  detaining  t!ie  fum  of  two  thoufand  five  Iiundrcd 
pounds  from  mc  tor  thefc  two  and  twenty  years  pad,  not 
afrord.ing  me  any  thing  tor  my  fubfiitencc  the  time  of 
my  afflidlion.       Now  1  do  liereby  tignify  by  thelV  pre- 
sents, that  whdt  thall  be  recovered  concerning  the  two 
thoufand  five  hundied  .pounds,  owing  to  mc,  and  alfo 
^allowance  for  managing    his  dlatc  lor  feventeen  years, 
and  likewifc  for  detaining  the  faid  fiun  of  two  thoufand 
•five  hundred  pounds  for  two  and  twenty  years,  my  faid 
•niece,    Ehzabeth   Wcftrowj    and  Thomas  Weflrow 
^iforefaid-,  in  cafe  my  fon  John  enjoy  my  etlate  which 
Avas  taken   from  m.e   in    thefc  tirne.s,    tiiat    then  they 
would  pay  to  my  daughter  Mary  one  thoufand  pounds 
^at  the  day   of  lier  marriage,  or  at  her  age  of  eighteen 
years,  and  if  fbe  die  before  flie  marry  or  attain  to  the 
age  aforefaid,  "that  then  my   fon  John   fnail  have  the 
4ame.     And  alfo  my  detireis,  my  faid  dear  niece  would 
take  tv/o  hundred  pounds  for  her  own  ufe,  as  a  token  of 
my  love  and  refpcct  to  her;    and  alfo  that  they. would 
pay  to  my  loving  wife,  Bathflieba  Dixw^ell,  two  hun- 
dred pounds,  and  what  is  remaining  charges  being  al- 
lowed about  recovering  the  fame,   tiiey  vs'ou.ld  pay  it  to 
my  fon  John  at  his  age  of  one  and  twenty  years  :  But 
if  my  fon  John  do  not  enjoy  my  eftate,  that  then  my 
faid  daughter  Mary  (hall  have  but  five  hundred  pounds. 
And  I  do  hereby  commit   the  education  of  my  children 
and  guardianlliip  of  them  wholly  to  the  faid  Elizabeth 
-and  Thomas  Weftrow,    earnettly  requeuing,    if  the 
Lord   take  me  out  of  this  v/orld,  they  would  fend  for 
them  and  alfo  my  dear  wife,  if  they  pleafe  to  come,  for 
whom  I  have  made  fome  provifion  out  of  my  eilate  I 
'enjoyed  ;  and  I  defire  they  would  ilievv  the  fame  kind- 
nefs  to  my  v/ife  they  would  fliew  to  m^.      And  I  do 
make  it  my  lait  and  great  requeft  to  rny  faid  dear  niectf 
and  coufm  Tliomas  VV'ctfrr.r/^  they  W(3uld  bring  up  my 
children  in  the  k!io\^lec;.L  v:.d   k-^r  of  God.     And  if 
a-ny  thing  fail  to  my  ..jn  iu  icgard  to  my  brotlier's  eflatCj, 
N 


14^        HISTORY    OV    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGtS 

Was  intailcd  upon  mc  for  want  of  ifHie  male,  \hef 
woiild  endeavor  rny  fon  John  or  otlier  children  may  en- 
loy  the  fa'Tie.  In  witnefs  whereof  I  have  hereunto  fet 
my  hand  and  Tea!,  Dated  the  two  and  twentieth  of 
Oclcber,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God  one  thoiifand 
fix  iiundred  eighty  two. 

Seeded  and  delivered!       John  Dixwell,  (l.s.'^ 

in  prefcnCc  of      J  alias 

Jofeph Alljup^  James  Davids. 

James  Clarke ^ 
Jojeph  Alljupyjun. 

This  writing  as  above  is  a  true  record  of  theoriginaL 
Recorded  and  examined  pr  me, 

James'  Bishop, 
Clerk  of  New-Haven  Count)-^ 

*^  Further  InJfTUtlions  on  the  other fick. 

**  Mr,  Davids. 

*'  Thcfe  are  further  to  fignify  my  requcfl  unto  my 
dear  niece,  Elizabeth  Weibow,  and  my  coufm,  Tho- 
mas Wcftrow,  her  fan,  That  I  do  hereby  declare  my 
mind  to  be,  that  what  m.y  dear  niece,  Elizabeth  Welt- 
row,  out  of  her  tcndernefs  hath  furniihed  me  with,  or 
vet  may  if  this  condition  continue,  Ihali  be  allowed  to 
her,  or  uich  as  fhe  fnall  aiiign  it  to  ;  And  I  do  alfo  hg- 
jnify  my  mind  to  be,  that  my  coufin  Thomas  Weftrovv 
-afcrefaid  fnall  have  for  a  token  of  rny  rtfpc£l  to  him 
f:;rty  pounds.  And  rny  further  requelt  is,  it  I  die  before 
,;-;ny  thini?  he  recoveredi  that  lr:en  Iny  dear  friends  afore- 
1:.id  wonUi  iJiow  unto  myw;tc,  lor  hqr  and  my  chil- 
*;r.:n's  ir;atn'enancc,  twenty  pounds  yearly.  And  I  do 
u^rther  dtciare  r-;;  vcAiA  and.  will  to  btrj  that  if  my  (on 
John  and  daughter  Mary  die  before  the  times  nicniion- 
cd  in  this  writ'inr;^  lor  the  payment  of  thofc  m.dni^  to 
ilicm,  as  is  expreiicd,  then  I  dO  hereby  iignify  it  to  be 
t;-:y  mind  and  vvill,  th.at  my  dear  niece,  Elizabeth  Wc!t- 
'vOV\'   aiOi"cla:d,  at:d   t!  c  children   fhe   had  by  her  bus 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  147 

hufband,  Thomas  Weft  row,  deceafed,  iliall  have  all 
fuch  monies  as  remain  due  to  me  to  be  equally  divided 
bstv/een  her  and  them.  In  teftlmony  hereof  I  have 
hereunto  fet  my  hand,  May  the  7tli,   1688. 

John  Dixwell." 

''  Know  all  men  by  thefe  prefents,  that  I  James 
Davids  of  the  town  01  New- Haven,  in  New-England^ 
alias  John  Dixwell,  of  the  priory  of  Folkeftone,  in  the 
county  of  Kent,  in  Old  England,  Efq.  being  under 
weaknefs  of  body,  and  uncertain  what  ilTue  the  Lord 
will  pleafe  to  make  with  me,  do  think  fit  hereby  to  de- 
clare that  all  the  pov/er  and  authority  I  have  ellewherc 
given  to  my  dear  niece,  Elizabeth  Weftrow,  and  hci: 
fon,  Thomas  Weftrow,  (liall  after  my  death  of  deceafe, 
continue,  for  the  recovery  of  all  that  money  mentioned 
in  a  letter  of  attorney  already  given  or  made  unto  the 
faid  Elizabeth  and  Thomas,  authoriftng  them  as  above 
faid,  unto  the  end  and  ufesexprelfed  in  the  faid  letter  of 
attorney,  and  fully  hereby  declare,  that  the  faid  Eliza- 
beth and  Thomas,  or  either  of  them,  fliall  have  and 
exercife  all  the  truft,  power  and  authority,  exprefleci 
and  conveyed  in  faid  letter  of  attorney,  as  fully  in  all 
refpe6ts  as  if  I  were  perfonally  prefent  and  living.  la 
witnefs  whereof,  and  for  a  moil  full  conhrm.ation  of 
ihefe  prefents,  I  have  hereunto  fet  my  hand  and  feal, 
this  fifteenth  of  March,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God, 
one  thoufand  nx  hundred  eighty-eight,  or  eighty-nine. 

Signed,  fealed  and  7        James  Davids, 
delivered  in  prefence  of  3  ^lias 

James  He  at  on  y  JOHN  Dix  WELL.     • 

Eyios  Talmagey 
John  Allingy  tertlus, 

''Thepj  two  diftin6b  writings  as  above  are  a  true  ic- 
:  -^i d  of  the  originals.      Recorded  and  examined  pr  rne^ 

James  Bishop, 
Clerk  of  New-Havea  Countv." 
End  of  the  Records, 


LlS        HISTORY    GF    TKR8^    OP    THE    JUDGES^ 

Thsfe  entries  or  records  are  indeed  without  date,  but 
they  were  made  1691,  in  the  handwriting  of  Governor 
Birhcp,  and  among  his  laft  entries,,  as  he  died  24tU 
Tune,  1 69 1 .  They  are  betvveen  a  record  dated  to  have 
been  recorded  December  3,  1690,  and  the  record  of  a 
dttd  acknowledged  *' before  James  Billiop,  Deputy -- 
Governor,"  which  acknowledgment  is  dated  31ft  of 
March,  169L,  and  the  record  "  by  James  Bifhop, 
clerk  of  the  county,"  though  without  date.  The  en- 
tries in  the  next  page  of  the  records  is  in  Governor 
J  vones's  hand  writing.  So  this  is  the  laft  recording  of 
Governor  Eifhop. 

From  thefe  papers  it  appears,  that  Mr.  D^ixwell-  had 
p.  handfome  eftate  in  England  ;  that  he  received  fome 
jiipplies  from  Mrs.  Weftrow,  but  none  from  the  reft  of 
the  family,  though  he  had  faithfully  executed  an  im- 
portant bctrufiment  for  the  benefit  of  his  brother's  chil- 
^iren,  and  particularly  Sir  Baf;!  Dixwell,  who  feems  to 
!uivc  ihewn  no  gratitude  to  his  uncle  in  his  dilirefs  and 
Jong  protra(^led  exile.  It  is  probable  that  the  eitate  he 
hadrby  his  firll  wife,  the  widow  Ling,  yielded  him  his 
princioal  fubriilcnce  for  the  lali  years  of  his  life,  if  not 
for  tlie  whole  of  his  iixteenyeursrefidcnce  in  New-Ha- 
ven. He  received  fomethint^  from  his  coufm,  Eliza- 
beth "Weftrow,  and  perhaps  ihmt  private  donations,  as 
his  brother  Judges  received  at  Hadley. 

At  his  death  he  hit  a  widow  and  two  children,  a  Cvn 
;inda  daughter.  The  family  lived  together  eigTiteen  or 
tvventy  years  in  New-Haven,  immediately  refuming 
the  name  of  Dixwell.  The  fon  v/as  put  to  a  gold- 
fmith,  and  throuj^h  the  faithful  care  of  his  friends  re- 
ceived a  good,  and  religious,  and  refpGvSlable  education, 
and  became  a  pious  and  worthy  man.  The  daurihtcr, 
Mary  Dixwell,'  married  Mr.  John  Collins  of  Mtddle- 
towii,  December  24,  1707,  the  year  after  the  death  of 
C  ivcrnor  Jones  and  his  lady,  to  whofe  guardianPnip 
]u'I^c  Dixwell  had  commended  his  two  children,  and 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  ,  1:1.9 

who  faithfully  befriended  them.  The  fon  foon  married 
and  fettled  in  Bofton.  Hereupon  the  mother,  Mii-. 
Bathiheba  Dixvvelf,  the  Judge's  rehit,  removed  and 
lived  with  her  daughter  Collins  at  Middletown,  in  Con- 
ne6licut,  where  flie  died  December  27,  1729,  aged  85,, 
on  her  grave-ftone  86.  Mrs.  CoUins's  children  were  as 
follows  : 

Nathaniel  Colhns,  born  Nov.  17,  1708. 

Mary  Collins,  -     Sept.  2-^,  1710.  living  1793* 

John  Collins,  -     Mar.  18,  171-2.  ob.  May  6  '14 

Twins — John  Collins,  1  Nov.  13, 1714.ob.O6l  i.2'i4 

One  died  in  a  few  hours  / 

Sibbel  Collins  -     Aug.  16,  1716. 

Abigail  Colhns,  -      Jan.     4,1718—19. 

This  account  was  at  my  requeil:  extracled  from  thz 
records  of  the  city  of  Middletown  in  1793^  by  the  re- 
verend Enoch  Huntington,  pa/lor  of  the  tirft  church  in 
faid  city. 

The  Judge's  only  fon,  Mr.  John  Dixwell,  fettled 
as  a  goldfmith  in  Bolton,  about  1707  ;  and  afterwards 
went  into  trade,  and  became  a  merchant  in  good  and 
ilourilliing  circumftances.  He  was  exemplary  for  ami- 
ablenefs  of  manners,  and  for  flrictintegrity  and  religion 
— and  became  an  elder  in  the  new  north  church  in  Bol- 
ton, and  every  way  fuflained  a  very  worthy  chara(5leri, 
of  which  there  is  a  refpe6lable  and  aiFe6lionate  telliino- 
iiy  entered  in  the  records  of  that  church. 

John  Dixwell  was  among  thofe  who  formed  the  r.ew 
north  church.  The  building  was  raifed  in  17 14.  la 
17 16,  it  is  recorded,  "  That  our  worthy  brother,  Mr. 
Jolm  Dixwell,  was  unanimouily  chofen  to  the  olEce  of 
deacon^ 

1720 — Sept.  7,    "  Voted  to  proceed  to  the  choice  of 
three  ruling  ciders,  and  vvlicn  the  votes  were  brought  in 
it  appeared  tliat  our  worthy  brethren,  John  Bicker,  dca' 

*i]'f/-j.  iVIary  Caruthers  of  Benningto?!, .  . 
N  2 


150        HiSiORV    OP    THRLt    0 1-     iHt    JLDGES 

con  Caleb  Lyman,  and  deacon  John  Dlxwell,  vvei»- 
chofcn  to  faid  office  vvith  great  unanimity. 

''  1725 — April  2 — On  this  day  died  that  excellent 
elder,  John  Dixvvell,  in  the  44th  year  of  his  age,  greatly 
lamented  by  this  church,  and  by  all  that  knew  his  iin- 
guhr  worth  and  abilities." 

In  1710,  he  went  to  England  to  recover  his  father's 
cHiate,   and  was  kindly  received  by  Sir  Balll  Dixvvell. — 
It  is  faid  the  edate  had  not  been  conhfcated.     It  was 
doubtlefs  fecured  from  confifcation  by  its  being  llievvn 
that  it  was  held,  at  leail  in  part,  by  the  Judge  in  truft 
for  his  brother's  children.     It  appears  by  the  indenture 
of  1682,  that  the  Judge,  before    his  leaving  England, 
had  made  a  fettlement  and  transfer  of  all  his  eftates  to 
his  r^ephews,  fuBjecl  ho vt ever  to  "  Revocation."     He 
made  this  revocation  indeed  in  1682,  above  twenty  years 
lifter:  yet  in  1660,  or  at  the  time  of  the  feizure  and 
confifcation  of  the  eitates  of  the  regicide;^,  no  fuch  revo- 
cation appearing,  the  eflate  mult  at  that  time  have  been 
•adjudged  in   law  as  veiling  in  the  nephews,   efpecially 
coniidering  the  trufl :    and  alfo  that  he  being  attainted 
cf  ircafou,  a  fubfequcnt  revocation  by  him  muffc  be  bar- 
red.    The  tnill  as  well   as  alhgnment,  and  efpecially 
bom  coni'tiu^lly,   would  have  been  fufficient  to  prevent 
the  connicalion  in  1660  or  1661  ;  and  the  fubfequent 
relocation,   being  perhaps  a  nullity  in  law^  mud  have 
}>re\eated  a  recovery  in  17 10.     And  it  is  probable  that 
Mr.  John  Dixvvell,  upon  advihng  with  covinfel  learned 
.,i  th.e  law,  might  find  it  their  opinion  that  the  attain- 
licr  and  abdication  would  be  adjudged  ever  after  to  dif- 
f-nable  the   Judge  from  making  a  legal  revocation. — -- 
Whereupon  the  ellate  mull  be  left  to  veft  in  the  polTef- 
fors.      Whether  for  thefe  or  other  reafons,  yet  it  is  cer- 
tain that   Mr.  Dixwell  returned  without  the   recovery 
of  the  ellate.  And  yet  he  does  not  feem  to  have  given  up 
this  matter,  for  he  afterwards  intendeil  another  voyage 
fur  its  xecovcry,  after  Sir  Bafii'i  death,  as  he  had  pro- 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  I5I 

mifed  or  encouraged  him  to  make  a  fon,  whom  he 
Ihould  and  did  name  Bafll,  his  heir.  This  may  induce 
us  to  give  fome  attention  to  a  tradition  narrated  to  me 
by  one  perfon  in  New-Haven,  whofe  mother  knew 
Judge  Dixwell,  and  who  is  from  her  poirelfed  of  much 
of  the  Dixwell  hiftory  ;  and  which  may  fugged  that  the 
rcafons  for  the  nullification  of  the  rev^ocation  I  have 
mentioned,  did  not  in  fa£l  operate  fo  (Irongly,  even  in 
Qiieen  Anne's  time,  as  I  have  reprefented,  but  that 
truely  in  17 10  the  matter  was  fettled  with  Sir  Baill,  in 
fome  good  meafure  to  the  fatisfa6lion  of  Mr.  Dixwell, 
though  he  did  not  then  recover  the  full  poiTeffion  of 
the  family  eflate.  I  fliall  (late  the  tradition  as  I  receiv- 
ed it  from  this  perfon,  as  derived  from  Mr.  Kilby — 
That  Dixwell's  papers  and  all  the  documents  were 
committed  to  Mr.  agent  Kilby,  who  was  empowered 
to  the  purpofe. — That  while  in  England  he  communi- 
cated them  firfl:  to  afon-in-law  of  Sir  Bafil's,  a  lawyer 
who  had  married  Sir  Balil's  daughter  and  only  child, 
who  became  convinced  and  fatisfied  that  the  eftate  was 
recoverable.  But  as  the  knight  was  aged  and  vvould 
refent  the  motion,  it  was  concluded  the  fon  fhould  firft 
open  the  matter  to  Sir  Bafd  :  Upon  doing  which,  it  is 
faid,  that  the  knight,  as  was  expelled,  ftormed  and 
was  in  a  great  rage  ,  airerting  that  he  was  the  rightful' 
and  lawful  owner  of  the  eflate.  Learned  counTel  in- 
the  law  were  confulted,  and  the  refult  was  that  the  right 
heir  was  in  New- England,  and  was  recoverable  efpe- 
ciaily  in  the  more  moderate  days  of  the  Hanoverian  fa- 
mily. Upon  which  Sir  Bafil  was  foftened,  and  acceded 
to  a  compromife.  And  that  by  an  indenture  or  wri- 
ting figrted  by  Sir  Ban  I,  it  was  agreed  with  Mr.  Kilby^ 
that  Sir  Bafil  fhould  enjoy  the  eflate  during  his  life,  and 
alter  his  death  it  fhould  come  to  the  heirs  in  New-Eng- 
land. But  that  on  Mr.  Kilby's  return  to  America,  the 
heir  was  dead.  This  heir  was  Bafil  Dixwell,  fon  of 
elder  Dixwell.  This  is  the  tradition,  perhaps  mifla- 
ken  in  fome  circumflancerj  and  imperfed  as  to  others^ 


t^Z      HISrORy    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

If  the  matter  was  really  brought  to  this  crifis,  it  woulvi^ 
not  feem  that  the  death  of  Bafil  in  1746,  would  prevent^ 
the  defcent  and  fucceiFion  of  the  ellate,  but  that  it  is 
open  to  this  day,  it  not  being  conhfcated  :    For  although 
Bafd  died  without  iOlie,  yet  his  brother   John  furvived 
him.       This  {lory  was  told  by  Mr.  agent  Kilby  him-j 
felf,  who  refided  fometime  at  New-Haven  about  1 760,; 
and  who  then  propofed  ere6ling  a  monument  over  Dix- 
well's  grave* 

Elder  Dixwell,  who  fettled  at  Bofton,  married  M'lfs 
Mary  Propit  of  New-Haven,  September  i,  1708,  by 
whom  he  had  the  following  children,  born  in  Bofton. 

Bafd  Dixwell,  born  July  7,  171 1.     Ob.   1764. 
John  Dixwell,  born  17 18.     Ob.  1749. 
Elizabeth  Dixwell,  born  1716.     Living  1793. 

Innoculation  for  the  fmall  poX  v/as  introduced  at 
Bofton  for  the  firft  time  in  1721,  the  fame  year  that, 
through  the  recommendation  of  Lady  Montague  it  was 
firft  introduced  into  England  from  Conftantinople.  It 
is  the  tradition  in  the  family  of  Prout  here,  that  Mrs, 
Dixwell  wasinthefiril  experiment,  and  died  in  inno- 
culation*  Mr.  Dixwell  married  again,  and  himfclf 
died  1724  ieavin!^  three  orphans,  all  children  by  the 
Prout  venter.  Thereupon  their  uncle,  John  Prout 
Efci.  took  thofe  orphans  home  to  New- Haven,  and  be- 
came their  guardian.  Madam  Prout,  his  mother,  took 
care  of  John  ;  Mrs.  Mansfield  of  New-Haven,  his 
aunty  took  careof  Balil ;  and  Elizabeth  was  taken  into 
the  family  of  Mrs.  Chriftophers,  his  aunt,  at  New- 
London. 

Ivlr.  Bafd  was  placed  with  a  goldfmith  at  Boflon  ; 
fettled  at  Providence;  entered  the  army  1745;  and 
died  unmarried  and  without  ilfue,  at  Louilburg,   1746. 

Air.  John  Dixwell,  liis  brother,  was  put  to  live  with 

a  brazier  in  Bofton,  where   he  fettled  in  bufinefs,  and 
entered  into  trade,  and   profpered.     He  married  Mils 


O?    KING    CHARLES     I.  1 53 

Hunt  of  Watertown,  and  died  in  Bofton  1749.  Of 
three  children,  Mary  only  fiirvived  to  maturity,  and 
married  Mr.  Samuel  Hunt,  preceptor  of  the  grammar 
fchool  in  Bo  (Ion. 

The  daughter,  ^rifs  Elizabeth  DIx well,,  who  was- 
educated  by  her  aunt  Chriftophers  at  New-London,  is 
now  living  there,  1793,  aged  76,  the  widow  relicl  of 
Mr.  JofephLathrop,  of  New-London,  married  April 
22,  1739,  by  whom  Ihe  had  four  fons  and  Lhree  daugh- 
ters. 

Elizabeth  Lathrop,  born  Jan.  23,  1740. 

Jofeph  Lathrop,  born  Dec.  11,  1741.     Died'. 

John  Lathrop,  bom  June  7,  1743.     NoiiTue, 

Mary  Lathrop,  born  Feb.  3,   1744. 

JofephLathrop,  born  Sept.  16,  1747. 

Sarah  Lathrop,  born  Jan.  30,  1752. 

Dixwell  Lathrop,  born  July  29,  1 753.     KTue  8  chiL 

Mrs.  Lafthrop  tells  me,  that  about  1745,  or  48  years 
ago,  upon  a  folicitation  of  fome  friends  here.  Sir  Bafil 
Dixwell  fent  over  a  gratuity  in  m.onies  to  the  family  of 
Dixwell  here,  of  which  file  received  ^^"50  for  her  ihare^ 
perhaps  equal  to  ;if  20  (lerling. 

I  fubjoin  a  letter  of  Mrs.  Carutliers'  an  aged  grand- 
daughter of  Judge  Dixwell,  now  living  at  Bennington, 
1793,  aged  83  ;  with  three  afiidavit?,  and  two  other 
letters  from  the  reverend  Mr.  Piei-ppnt  and  the  reverend 
Dodor  Cotton  Mather,  procured  for  me  by  the  reve- 
rend Do6lor  Belknap,  of  Bofton,  from  Mr.  Samuel 
Hunt,  who  married  Mar}',  the  lad  branch  of  the  Dix- 
well family,  in  Bollon  :  All  which  may  CGnfirm  and 
illuilrate  the  hiflory  of  Judge  Dixwell. 

^^  Bsnuiui'ton^  April  26 ,   179^. 

*'SlR, 

**  I  received  your  letter  of  i6ih  February  lafl,  and 
have  att'jndcd  to  all  the  matter  of  information  which 
you  have  fuggelled.      I  find  it  ii  net  la  my  power  to 


154       HISTORY    O-F,  THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

give  you  the  certainty  af^riformation  required.  I  am 
now  83  years  of  age,  and  hot.  expecting  to  be  interroga- 
ted upon  the  fnbje6t  you  have  mentioned,  I  have  not 
been  particular  in  early  life  of  reirclliing  my  memory 
v/iththc  hiftory  of  my  family.  I  perfedlv  remember 
Illy  grandmother  Dixvvell,  who  after  my  grandfather's 
death,  lived  with  my  m.other  until  ihs  died.  When 
this  event  happened,   I  was  eighteen  years  of  age. 

"'I  remember  of  hearing  her  mention  that  my  grand- 
father, when  he  came  to  /America,  was  a  Tingle  man, 
and  that  he  had  neither  brother  nor  filler  living,  That 
there  were  two  perfons  from  England,  v/ho  were  his 
fi'iends  (whether  they  came  with  him  to  Bofton  or  after' 
him,  I  do  not  remember)  that  he  ftaid  v»ith  them  at 
Hadley,  about  fix  weeks.- 

*'  He  communicated  to  iny  grandmother,  long  be- 
fore his  death  ins  real  name  and  charafter.  Mr.  Pier- 
pont  vv^as  vitli  him  in  his  lalt  iicknef>,  and  mentioned 
to  him,  1  :  was  apprehenfive  that  he  was  ilruck  v/ith 
death,  lie  obferved,  that  it  did  not  furprize  him,  he 
was  prep.'^.red,  and  (hould  m.eet  death  as  a  welcome 
melTengej  ;  and  that  after  his  death,  if  he  would  exa- 
mine cerJaui  papers  in  his  cheft,  he  would  find  his  real 
name,  ar-d  chara6>er.  This  leads  me  to  think  Mr. 
Pierpont  v/as  not  acquainted  with  his  real  nam's,  until 
the  death  of  m.y  grandfather,  *  although  my  grandino- 
ther  was  well  apprized  of  it. 

"  I  can  give  no  information  of  Qo^q  and  Whalley,  as 
to  their  age  or  the  time  of  their  death  ;  although  I  have 
heard,  as  yoi:  mention  in  your  letter,  they  died  at 
Hadley;  but  I  cannot  fay  from  whence  I  had  this  in- 
formation. What  I  have  related  as  from  iT»y  grand- 
iliother  I  have  in  perfe6l  remembrance. 

**  My  uncle  John  Dixwell  went  to  England  injthe 

reign  of  Q^ie.^n  Anne.     He  did  not  obtain  any  thing. 

He  intended  going  a  fecond"  time,  but  did   not.     One 

*  Air.  PUrpmt  knew  certainly  ivho  be  was  in  1685- 


OF  KING    CHARLES     I.  i  r^ 

Bafil  DiKwel],  a  relation  of  my  grandfather,  told  my 
uncle,  that  if  he  ever  had  ilfne  a  fon,  and  Would  call 
him  Bafd,  he  v/ould  make  him  his  heir.  lie  then  had 
a  dai)ghter>  Molly,  who  died  very  young  ;  afterwards 
he  had  a  fon,  whom  he  called  Bafil.  He  never  went 
to  England,  but  died  unmarried  in  1746. 

**  My  uncle  had  all  his  grandfather's  papers.  It  is 
very  probable  the  papers  are  with  fome  one  of  the  fam- 
ily. His  children  are  all  dead,  ciilcfs  it  be  Elizabeth, 
who  married  a  Lathrop,  and  lived  at  New- London. — 
She  is  a  widow,  and  was  living  when  I  leftMiddletown, 
in  1778.  Should  you  write  to  her,  or  her  family,  it  is 
potlible  you  may  obtain  the  neceifary  papers. 

"  As  to  the  property  my  grandfather  may  have  left, 
I  am  apprehenfive  time  has  changed  the  lawful  own- 
ers. I  have  no  expectation  of  receiving  any  part  of  it 
formyfelfor  children.  But  iliould  you,  iir,  receive 
any  information  on  this  'ubje6l,  or  obtain  any  clue  to 
the  hillory  of  Jndge  Dixwell,  that  would  enable  me  to 
give  you  any  further  inibrmationj  you  do  me  akindncfs 
in  communicating  it  to  your  aged  j  but 

Very  obedient  and  humble  fervant, 

Mary  Caruthers* 
To  Ezra  S files. 


Nciv-Haveny  OSJohcr  31,  1 705. 
*^  Thenperfonally  appeared  before  me  John  Allini^, 
the  fubfcriber  hereof^  one  of  the  Ailifiants  of  her  Ma- 
je{>y's  corporation  of  Connecticut,  in  New- England, 
and  juiiice  of  the  Peace,  Willi-nn  Ja.>c^,  Efq^  late 
Deputy-Governor  of  faia  Corporation,  aged  eighty 
^rA  one,  and  made  oath  as  followetli;,  viz. 

*'  Thnt'the  laid   William  Jone?,    deponent,  (iindry 


256      HISTOt^Y    Of    THREE    OF    TH^    JUDGE'S 

years,  feetween  fixteen  hiindren  and  forty,  and  fixtccii 
hundred  and  fifty,  and  in  the  time  of  the  iitting  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  as  it  was  then  called,  was  refident 
at  \Ve(i:min!l:er  ;   And  fo  had  certain  knowledge  of  ma- 
ny noblemen  and   gentlemen  then  converfant  in  court, 
and  particularly  had  certain   knowledge  of  John  Dix- 
%ve]l,  Efq.  and  that  the  faid  Dixvvell  was  a  member  of 
the  faid,  Parliament  fitting  in  Weftminifer,  and  had  in 
honorable  elleemthon  :    And  afterwards  the  faid  depo- 
nent tranfporting  himfelf  and  family  to  New-Haven, 
in  New-England,   was  informed   of  a   gentleman    of 
manifeft  great  education,  who  in  other  parts    of  the 
■country  endeavored  to  lead  a  retired    and  obfcure  life, 
who  called  himfclf  James  Davids.     The  deponent  fur- 
ther affirms,  that  this  Gentleman  called  James  Davids, 
removing  from  one  place  to  another,  afterwards  cams 
to  fojourn  in  faid  New-Haven,  w  hereby  the  deponent 
Jiad  opportiinity  of  perfonal  acquaintance  and  frequent 
converfation  with  him  ;  and  certainly  knew  well  the 
faid  James  Davids  to  be  the  above  named  John  Dix- 
\vell,  whom  he  had  often  feen  and  known  in  Weflmin- 
(ler  :  and  that  for  fome  reafons  he  faw  caufe  to  abfcond 
in  thefe  remote  parts,  and  under  the  name  of  James 
Davids.     Tliis  gentleman  after  fome  time  married  a 
virtuous  maiden,  Mrs.    Bathlheba  How,  by  whom  he 
had  three  children,  as  appears  of  record  in  faid  New* 
Haven,    one  of  which   died  in  infancy,  two,    named 
John  and  Mary,  are  now  living,  and  of  adult  age,  re- 
puted and  known  of  all   the  vicinity  to  be  the  lawful 
children  of  faid  James  Davids,   alias  John  Dixwell. — ^ 
The   deponent  furthermore  afhrmeth,  that   fometime 
before  the  deceafe  of  faid  gentleman,  which  was  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1689,  in  his  lail  and  long  ficknefs,  he 
tincovercd  liimfelf  and  made  it  known  to  his  friends  that 
his  true  and    original  name  was  John  Dixwell :    and 
that  he  had  been  a  member  of  faid  Long  Parliament, 
and  that  for   fundry  reafons  he  hnd   concealed  himfelf 
aijj  changed  his  name  to  James  Davids ;  So  that  heie-  . 


,    OF   -KING    CHARLES     I.  15*? 

-upon  his  relI6l  and  children  have  paiTed  ever  Hncc  under 
the  name  of  Dixweil.  The  faid  deponent  doth  alio 
affirm  and  lellify,  that  the  bearer  hereof,  Mr.  John 
Dixvs^ell,  is  the  only  furviving  fon  of  the  aforelaid  jamof 
Davids,  ahas  John  Dixweil. 

"  The  above  affidavit  taken  the  datefirft  above  me<i- 
tioned.     Pr  me, 

^*JonN  Alling,  Affiilant. 

New-Haven,  January  ij},  1705—6." 

Then  perfonally  appeared  before  me,  Jolm  Ailing, 
the  fubfcriber  hereof,  one  of  the  Affiflants  of  her  Majef- 
ty's  Corporation  of  Connecticut  in  New-England,  and 
Juftice  of  the  peace,  the  Rev.  James  Pierpont  Paf- 
tor  of  faid  New-Haven,  aged  forty-lix,  and  gave  oath 
as  folio weth,  viz. 

That  the  faid  James  Pierpont,  deponent,  being  in 
theyearof  our  Lord  God,  fixteen  hundred  eighty  and 
four,  called  by  the  people  of  New-Haven  to  the  Paflo^ 
lal  work,  obferved  among  them  an  aged  perfon  cf  ma* 
nifell  great  education,  Vv^ho  called  himfelf  James  Da* 
vids,  but  was  generally  fuppofed  to  be  of  another  name^ 
his  obfervable  wifdom  and  great  knowledge  in  the  Eng- 
lilli  Law,  State  policy  and  European  affairs,  made  Joi 
converfation  very  valuable  to  faid  Deponent,  and  ren- 
dered faid  Gentleman  honourable  with  all  that  knev** 
him.  Yet  faid  Deponent  obferved  this  Gentleman 
fiudioufly  to  avoid  public  obfervation  and  employment. 
'After  many  conjeCtures  who  this  Gentleman  fliould  be^ 
the  faid  Deponent  prefumed  he  was  truly  John  Dix- 
■well ;  which,  on  a  fit  occafion,  fuggefiing  to  this  QeiK 
tleman  in  private,  he  feeraed  'conceeding  thereto,  but^ 
obliged  to  fccrecy  in  that  matter  :  Having  been  marri- 
ed as  faid  Deponent  was  informed,  to  a  virtuous  Mai^- 
den,  called  Batbfhua  How  \  this  Gentleman  had  bf 
her  three  children,  one  fon  called  John  the  bearer  here- 
of, and  VNO  daughters^  one  of  whicli  called  tAsLXW  is 
O 


15S       HISTORY   OF   THREE   0?   TH£  JlTDGBS 

now  living  :  The  faid  Deponent  further  affirmeth,  that 
when  Sir  Edmund  Androfs  took  the  Government  of 
Conne6t:icut,  the  faid  Davids,  alias  Dixwell,  brought 
fundry  papers  (as  he  faid  of  importance)  fealed  up,  which 
he  requelled  the  Deponent  to  take  into  fafe  cuftody  : 
and  not  to  fuffer  the  feals  to  be  broken  till  after  faid  Dix- 
vvell's  deceafe,  declaring  it  was  not  fo  fafe  under  pre- 
fent  changes  thofe  wTitings  fliould  be  found  in  his  hand. 
The  Deponent  alfo  affirmeth,  that  the  faid  Gentleman 
lallinginto  a  dropfy  in  theyear.fixteen  hundred  eighty 
and  nine,  whereof  he  at  length  died,  fent  after  faid 
Deponent,  and  fundi-y  times  fully  declared  himfelf  to 
be  John  Dixwell  of  the  Priory  of  Folkeftone,  in  Kent, 
Efq.  and  brother  to  Mark  Dixwell,  Efq.  of  Broom,  in 
the  Pari (h  of  Oakham  in  Kent  :  whofe  relict  was  af- 
terwards the  Lady  Oxinden,  one  of  whofe  daughters 
was  Mrs.  Ehzabeth  Weftrow,  with  whom  faid  John 
Dixwell  held  correfpondence  until  his  death  :  He  fur- 
thermore declared  he  had  been  a  Member  of  the  Long 
Parliament  in  the  reign  of  Charles  L  and  for  what  rea- 
Ibns  he  had  concealed  himfelf  under  the  name  of  James 
Davids,  and  that  his  proper  name  was  John  Dixwell, 
by  whicli  his  reli6l  and  children  are  fmce  called. 

The  above  Affidavit  taken  the  date  firil  above  men- 
'sioned.     Pr  me, 

John  Alling,  AffiO:.  &  Juftice  of  the  Peace.. 

New-Havenj  Jan.  the  iji^  1705 — 6. 

Then  perfonally  appeared  before  me  John  Ailing* 
the  fubfcriber  hereof,  one  of  the  Affiftants  of  her  Ma- 
jeify's  Corporation  of  Connedicut,  in  New- England, 
and  JufHce  of  the  Peace,  Mr.  James  Heaton  of  faid 
New- Haven,  aged  feventy,  and  made  oath  as  follow- 
•eth,  viz. 

*'  That  the  fliid  James  Heaton,  deponent,  living 
•next  door  to  one  Mr.  Ling,  there  came  as  faid  depo- 
nent obferved,  a  gentleman  from  fome  more  obfcure 
parts  of  the  countr}',  lo  fojoura  with  faid    Ling:    faid. 


OF    KING    CHARLE$      I.  I59 

gentleman  called  himfelf  James  Davids  :  his  cloathing, 
deportment  and  manifeft  great  education  and  acconip- 
lifhments,  in  a  little  time  caufed  many  to  conjedurc 
the  faid  gentleman  was  no  ordinary  perfon,  but  for 
ibme  great  reafons  fought  to  conceal  both  his  proper 
name  and  his  chara£l:er,  But  people  could  not  be  de- 
termined in  their  thoughts  until  faid  gentleman  fell  fick 
of  a  dropfy,  whereof  he  died  in  the  year  of  our  Lord, 
fixteen  hundred  eighty  and  nine.  In  that  long  ficJcnefs} 
having  occafion,  in  preparation  for  his  death,  to  lign 
and  feal  fundry  writings,  he  was  pleafed  to  fend  for  th« 
faid  deponent  among  fome  others  lince  deceafed,  to 
fign  as  witneHTes  to  faid  writings  ;  when  he  manifefled 
himfelf  to  be  by  name  John  Dixwell,  and  fo  figned  his 
faid  writings.  This  gentleman  married  with  Mrs. 
Bathfhua  How,  by  whom  he  had  three  children,  one 
fon  and  two  daughters  ;  one  of  the  daughters  died  in 
infancy,  his  fon  named  John  who  is  the  bearer  hereof, 
and  his  daughter  Mary  are  now  living,  and  pafs  und^r 
the  name  of  Dixwell. 

**  The  above  Affidavit  taken  the  date  firlt  above  men- 
tioned.    Pr-me, 

'^  John  Alling,  Affift.  and  Jullice  of  the  Peace. 

*'  Extra£ied from  New-Haven  County  Court 
Records,  b.  2,  p,  2o8." 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Pierpont  to  Sir  Bajll  DixivelL 

"  New-Haven,  May  4.,  1708. 
**  Honorable  Sir, 
"  I  have  the  honor  of  your's  to  Mr.  Henry  New- 
man of  September  4,  1707,  in  anfwer  to  his  of  the  2cl 
of  that  month,  wherein  your  honor  doth  Col.  John  Dix- 
well the  jullice  to  declare  him  in  the  management  of 
your  father's  Eftate,  a  very  honed  gentleman  and  faith- 
ful friend  to  him,  -many  papers  of  his  in  my  hand  man- 
ifeit  the  truth  of  that  charader  ;  that  he  deferved  the 
faixis  and  uuich  hoRQrablc  regard,  Ms  furviving  obleiv- 


r6o       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUD«rS 

ers  cannot  forget.  They  were  doubtlefs  miftaken  who 
informed  your  honor  he  died  in  Switzerland.  Anno 
Domini  1684  Lwas  called  to  the  paftoral  work  in  New- 
Haven,  in  the  colony  of  ConnetSlicut,  New-England, 
quickly  obferved  an  aged  gentleman  Avho  called  himfelf 
James  Davids^  his  accomplifhments  and  accurate  gery^ 
Ulity  Ihewed  him  to  be  no  ordinary  perfon.  People 
generally  fuppofed  there  were  great  reafons  of  his  re- 
jfervednefs.  They  made  their  guefs  ;  but  could  not  find 
liim  out.  The  late.  Hon.  WiUiam  Jones,  Deputy- 
taovernor,  knew  his  perfon  at  Weilminfter  ;  but  could 
iiot  recover  his  true  name  ;  nor  was  it  certainly  known 
till  his  lall:  fickuefs,  which  happened  A.  D.  1689,  and 
;is  near  as  I  can  learn  Anno  Etatis  84.  His  difeaf^ 
fvas  a  dropfy.  He  lay  long  before  it  overthrew  him.-— 
During  which  time  he  often  fent  for  me,  and  fully  de- 
clared himfelf  to  be  John  Dlxivell  of  the  Priory  of  Folkr 
itone  in  Kent,  Efq. — and  brother  to  Mark  Dixwell, 
Efq,  of  Broom,  in  the  parifh  of  Barham  in  Kent, 
V/hofe  relidl  was  afterwards,  if  I  miftake  not,  the  Lady 
OKinden,  one  of  vvhofe  daughters  was  Madam  Eliza^ 
tcth  V/edrow,  who  under  the  name  of  Elizabeth 
jBoyes  held  ccrrefpondence  by  letters  with  him  till  hi? 
(ieath.  He  decbrcd  alfo  that  he  had  been  a  Membei" 
of  the  Long  Parhament,  in  the  reign  of  King  Charley 
^rft,  and  gave  the  reafons  wherefore  he  had  concealecj 
iiimfelf  in  fundry  places,  and  under  the  name  of  Jame§ 
Davids.  He  left  funthy  WTJtings  fealed,  with  order 
they  fiiould  not  be  opened  till  after  his  death  ;  whiclj 
accordingly  were,  and  exhibited  in  the  Office  of  Pro- 
bates :  by  w^hich  doth  appear,  that  he  inufl:  be  truly 
the  above  faid  John  Dixvveil,  that  hs  was  not  only  4 
iiioll  honeft  "and  faithful  friend,  as  your  honor  mofl: 
gratefully  acknowledgeth  ;  but  advanced  great  funis 
for  the  benefit  of  Sir  Bafil  Dixwell's  eflate  during  his 
minority,  which  doubtlefs  he  would  with  fuitable  ac- 
knowledgments have  reimburfed,  ifhis  kind  and  good 
u^ickhadnct  beea  unbappily  ncceilitaied  to  withdra\Y« 


OF    KING    CHARLES     T,  I^t 

Much  more  on  this  head  is  left  under  his  hand  and  feal.. 
Your  honor's  grand- father  died  I  fuppofe  about  1643  ; 
left  three  fons,  Bafil,  Heardfon  and  William  ;  the  tvva 
younger  fons  died  in  adult.  Elizabeth  married  with 
Thomas  Weftrow,  who  died  and  left  her  with  fix  fmall 
children.  Many  other  particulars  I  could  offer  for 
your  honor's  further  alTurance,  that  your  honor's  uncle 
died  under  our  obfervation.  He  left  two  childrea, 
John  and  Mary  Dixwell,  whofe  education  hath  been  as 
good  as  our  country  and  their  fmall  eftate  would  allow  ^ 
and  truly  their  proficiency,  honorable  exemplary  de- 
portment, almofl:  (hews  what  root  they  fprang  from, 
and  declare  them  worthy  of  the  name  of  Dixwell.^"  At 
the  requeft  of  Mrs.  Dixwell  and  her  fon  Mr.  John,  with 
other  gentlemen  and  friends,  I  have  pre  fumed  to  give 
your  honor  the  trouble  of  this  long  letter  ;  but  the  fatis- 
fadion  of  finding  fome  branches  of  your  honorable  fam- 
ily and  name  in  New-England,  who  want  little  favc 
their  father's  eftate,  or  your  honor's  favorable  regards  to 
render  them  valuable  in  Old-England  as  they  already 
be  in  New-England.  Kin  any  thing  may  contribute 
to  your  further  fatisfa£l:ion,  fhall  ready  receive  your  com- 
mands, and  with  utmofl  truth  and  integrity  worthy  m)^^ 
own  name  and  profeilion,  fliall  (hew  that  I  am, 
"  Honorable  Sir, 
"  Your  honor's  moft  obedient  humble  fervant^ 
"  James  Pierpont. 
«*  To  Sir  Bafil  Dixwell." 

Copy  of  a  Letter  from  DoBor  Cotton  Mather  to  Sir  Bafi 
Dlxivell. 
^^  Boftouy  New- England^  Nov.  13,  17 10. 
"Sir, 
'*  From  remote  America  there  now  waits  upon  yoti 
the  only  fon  of  one  who  was   an    uncle  and  a  father  to 
your  honorable  father.     A  word  in  which    I    perceive 
your  honor  already  Pjnfible  of  a  very  moving  and  charm- 
ing oratory.     With  an  irrefiilable  force,   aud  a  patlios 

o  % 


l62       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES' 

beycMid  any  thing  that  we  can  fee  in  the  oration  for- 
Ligarius,  it  pleads  for  a  moH:  afFeftionate  notice  to  be 
taken  of  him.     The  fon  of  fuch  a  father  ! 

"  Sir  Bafil  has  too  wife  and  great  a  foul  to  lei  any  old, 
forgotten,  dubious,  political  confideration  extingwilli 
his  a£x61ion  for  the  memory  of  fo  excellent  an  uncle. 
The  temptations  of  that  day,  when  he  was  on  the  ftage, 
ivere  fuch  on  both  fides,  that  all  generous  andcompaf- 
fionate  minds  eafily  bury  in  a  juft  oblivion  the  differen- 
ces thereby  occafioned.  Alas,  how  many  changes  and 
thwartings  have  you  feen  fmce  tliat  day  !  enough  to 
cool  f  he  mutual  rcfentments  of  what  was  done  in  that 
day.  Impartial  pofterity  will  confefs  there  were  brave 
n^Gn  on  both  fides  ;  braver  than  any  which  efpouf- 
cd  either  Fompey's  caufe  or  Csefar's.  Our  Dixwell 
was  one  of  them.  Owr^  in  regard  of  his  dying  v/ith 
us  ;  and  worthy  to  be  yours  in  regard  of  your  kind  afpect 
on  his  offspring.  He  had  excellencies  that  render  him 
worthy  of  cfleem,  even  from  enemies.  How  much 
niorefiom  a  kinfman  of  fo  polilhed  and  fublimed  a 
charafler,  that  he  perfectly  underflands  how  far  the  ties 
of  nature  are  flrengthened  by  good  quality  and  fuperior 
education. 

**  Though  your  uncle  be  dead  yet  Non  totus  receJJJf 
rcliquit  en'im fAlum.  Do  but  call  an  eye  on  this  his 
only  fon.  Look  upon  him,  Sir,  his  perfonal  merit 
will  fpeak  for  him.  He  is  one  of  ingenuity.  He  has 
a  frenius  elevated  above  the  common  level  of  the  country, 
where  he  had  his  birth  and  breeding.  There  is  in  him,  a 
mcdeft  but  yet  a  fprightly  foul  ;  thoughtful  and  cautious 
cnoui^h  too  ;  and  a  natural  good  ['i'A{<i  agreeable  to  the 
flock  of  which  he  comes.  A  little  cultivation  which 
the  place  of  his  nativity  afforded  him  tiot,  would  have 
made  him  extraordinary. 

**  He  had  no  fhare  in  the  confufions  which  diflurbed 

the  middle  of  the  former   century.      And  he  is  pure 

-'bhnk  to  all  the  modern  dlflurbanccs   on  your   fide  the 


OF   KING    CHARLES     J.  i6;^ 

water.  He  forfeits  nothing  on  thofe  accounts.  Yea, 
I  will  venture  ta  fay  this  of  him,  though  he  has  lived 
fir  near  twice f even  years  in  my  neighborhood^  I  never 
heard  that  he  did  one  ill  or  bafe  thing  in  his  hie. 

*'  He  comes  not  over  becaufe  he  is  in  any  wants  or 
flraits  ;  but  Sir  Bafii  is  known  in  thefe  parts  of  the  world 
and  well  fpoken  of.  It  is  known  that  as  he  is  able  {o 
he  13  willing  to  do  good  unto  many  ;  much  more  to  his 
cwn  klnfman  !  He  isefteemed  a  perfon  of  honor,  figure 
and  virtue.  'Tis  believed  it.  will  particularly,  fhine  in 
his  goodnefs  to  his  own  kin/man  !  People  of  the  bell 
falliion  here  have  adviied  him  to  intermit  his  other  bu- 
fmefs  for  half  a  year  and  wait  upon- his  kinfman  and  fee. 
*Tis  in  obedience  rr)  their  advice  that  he  does  what  he 
does.  His  kinfman '5  reputation  will  be  advanced  in 
thefe  diflant  colonies  by  doing  for  him, 

**  And  among  thofe  who  have  encouraged  him,  from 
an  high  opinion  we  have  of  your  generolity,  be  pleafedy 
Sir,  to  allow  him  to  number  himfelf,  who  is  your  ho- 
nor's unknown,  but  real  and  humble  fervant, 

''Cotton  Mather.-" 

Some  account  of  the  family  of  Dixwell,  taken  front 
fundry  papers  and  fragments  now  in  the  pollellion  of 
Mr.  Samuel  Hunt,  by  Jeremy  Belknap. 

Bopn,yulyiSyi']9Z' 
The  family  of  Dixwell  was  originally   of  Cotton  in 
"Warwickfhire,  where  it  was  fubliifing  in  1733,  in  the 
perfon  of  Sir  William  Dixwell. 

Colonel  John  Dixwell,  a  member  of  the  Long  Par- 
liament, in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  brother  of  Mark 
Dixwell,  of  Broom,  in  Kent,  came  into  New-Eng- 
land at  the  reiloration  of  Charles  \\.  (fuppofe  about 
1660) — His  Oyle  was,  John  Dixwell,  of  the  priory  of 
Folkeilone,  in  Kent,  Efq.  but  for  convenience  alfumed 
-the  name  of  James  Davids.     J3y  this  A?vixie  he  was  mgr- 


164.      HISTORY   OF   THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

ried,.  October  23,   1677,  to  Bathfliua  How,  at  New- 
Haven,  before  James  Biihop,  affiftant. 

Under  the  afTumed  name  of  Davids  he  correfponded 
with  his  niece,  EUzabeth  Weftrow,  in  London,  who 
alTumed  the  name  of  EUzabeth  Boyfe. 

His  other  correfpondents  were  Frances  Prince,  of 
Amfterdam,  J^o  Du  Boisy  London,*  Thomas  Wejimt)ey 
London,!  Humphrie  Davie,  Bofton. — From  this  lalt 
he  received  monies  remitted  by  his  friends  in  England. 
The  following  is  a  copy  of  one  of  the  receipts  : 

**  Received  now  and  formerly  of  Mr.  Hum.  Davie, 
by  the  direction  of  Mr.  Increafe  Mather,  thirty  pounds 
New-England  money,  by  the  order  of  Madam  Eliza- 
beth Weffrow,  in  England.  I  have  figned  two  receipts 
for  this  fum  of  this  date,  for  fear  of  mifcarriage, — 
14  June,  i68'6." 

The  letters  from  his  friends  are  direded  fometimes 
to  Mr.  James  Davids,  rnerchantj  in  New-Haven — 
others  omit  this  addition.  They  contain  chiefly  do- 
me{Hc  and  public  news,  intermixed  with  many  pious 
reflexions.  One  of  them  invites  him  to  Holland,  16895 
but  it  did  not  arrive  till  after  his  death. 

John  Dixwell,  Efq.  died  at  New-Haven,  March 
18,   1689,  aged  82.     Neiv-Haven  records. 

Tejiy  John  JlUngy  recorder. 

John  Dixwell,  fon  of  John  Dixwell,  Efq.  was 
born  1680 — I.  March  6,  was  married  to  Mary  Prour, 
of  New-Haven,  1708;  removed  to  Bolton,  and  was 
chofen  a  ruling  elder  ofthe  New  North  Church,  1717  ; 
weat  to  England  in  1710  ;  correfponded  afterwards 
•with  Sir  Bafil  Dixwell;  died  in  1724,  inteftate.  It 
appears  from  the  church  records  that  he  was  a  man  of 
great  worth,  and  highly  eileemed. 

*  Suppofe  the  hn/hand  of  FJizaheth  IVeJiroiv, 
t  Suppoje  the  Jon  of  EUzaheth  JVejirQW. 


br  KINO    CHARLES     I.  l6^S 

His  children  were,  Bafil  Dixvvell,  born  171 1,  bred 
•s  rilver-fnuth,  then  went  into  trade,  refided  at  Provi- 
dence in  Rhode-Ifland  ;  never  married ;  went  as  a 
Lieutenant  in  the  expedition  to  Cape- Breton,  and  there 
died,  1746. — Ehzabeth  Dixweli,  born  1716  ;  married 
Jofeph  Lathrop  of  Nevv-Londer,  mariner. — John  Dix- 
well,  born  1718  ;  ferved  an  apprenticeihip  with  Wil- 
liam Tyler,  Efq.  merchant  of  Bofton  ;  married  Mary 
Hunt  of  Bofton  ;  died  1749  inteftate  ;  left  two  children, 
and  his  wife  pregnant.  His  fon  John  died  in  three 
weeks  after  him,  as  did  his  pofthumous  child.  His 
•daughter  Mary  furvived  ;  married  Mr.  Samuel  Hunt, 
preceptor  of  the  grammar  fchool  in  Bofton  ;  died  in 
1783,  leaving  four  children,  three  fons,  Samuel,  John 
and  George,  and  a  daughter,  Sufanna,  who  are  novr 
living,   1793." 

If  it  ftiould  fcem  by  Mr.  Pierpont's  letter  that  Colo- 
nel Dix  well's  true  name  was  unknown  to  him  and  Go- 
vernor Jones  till  he  was  on  his  death  bed  ;  it  may  be 
obferved  that  it  was  in  facSl  certainly  known  to  them 
and  fome  others  years  before  this.  To  Mr.  PierponI 
in  1685,  when  he  recorded  his  admifiion  into  ihd 
church  by  his  true  name.  To  Ciarke  and  th^  iwo  All- 
fups,  in  1682,  witneffes  of  the  indentures  of  that  date, 
figned  by  Dixwell  himifelf  with  his  true  as  well  as  aftii- 
med  name.  To  others  alio  witneifes  to  other  inftru- 
ments  figned  Dixwell.  ^  And  the  manner  in.  which  hO 
fpeaks  of  Governor  Joiies  and  his  lady,  to  whom  hos 
confided  his  children  in  his  will,  denotes  an  acquaint- 
ance and  familiarity  implying,  that  however  at  firft  he^ 
could  not  recollect  his  name,  thouo^h  he  did  his  perfon, 
yet  that  he  was  perfe6lly  acquainted  with  both  his  name 
and  character  long  before  his  death.  In  truth  he  knew 
it  long  before  Mr.  Pierpont  came  to  New-Haven. 

Both  the  names  and  characters  of  Dixv/ell  and  the 
other  Judges,  \s  ith  their  concealments,  were  all  along 
duly  knawn  to  fonae  few  perfoas  of  coafideuce.     The 


i66       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

honorable  Mr.  Secretary  Wyllys,  now  living,  venera- 
ble for  age,  and  refpedable  for  family  and  every  per- 
fonal  merit,  has  often  told  me,  and  now  while  I  am 
writing,  tells  me  that  .bis  father  had  feen  yudge  Dix^ 
well.  His  father,  fon  of  Governor  George  Wyllys, 
was  the  honorable  Hezekiah  Wylly?,  an  aliiftant,  who 
after  long  improvement  in  public  life,  died  1741,  aged 
70.  The  Secretary  has  often  heard  him  fay  that  he 
knew  Mr.  Dixwell  ;  that  when  a  boy  he  waited  upon 
iiis  father,  then  an  aififtant  alfo,  from  Hartford  to  the 
General  Court  at  New-Haven  (fay  about  1682)  when 
they  lodged  at  Governor  Jones's  during  the  feffion  of 
the  Ailembly  :  and  one  morning  the  father  in  a  walk 
took  the  fon  and  carried  him  with  him  to  a  houfe  on 
the  outfide  of  the  town,  when  a  grave  old  man  received 
them  at  the  door,  to  whom  his  father  paid  the  greateil 
refpe6l  and  honor,  at  which  he  much  wondered.  His 
father  left  him  to  play  at  the  door  while  he  went  into 
the  houfe  with  this  aged  perfon  ;  and  was  gone  fo  long 
that  the  ion  was  tired  with  waiting.  At  length  his  fa- 
ther came  out,  and  returning  to  his  lodgings,  as  they 
walked  along,  he  afked  the  fon,  who  he  thought  that 
old  gentleman  was  ?  He  faid  he  did  not  know.  Upon 
which  he  further  told  him  it  was  Mr.  Dixwell.  This 
was  doubtlefs  with  defign  that  the  fon  might  afterwards 
recollect  that  he  had  feen  Mr.  Dixwell,  when  in  future 
time  he  might  hear  him  fpoken  of.  This  muil  have 
been  feveral  years  before  Dixwell's  death.  In  fa£t  his 
true  name  and  chara-fter  were  perfe6lly  known  to  Mr. 
Wyllys  and  feme  others  long  before  it  was  formally 
pubHOied  by  him  on  his  death-bed,  to  Mr.  Jones  and 
Mr.  Pierpont  4  which  Mr,  Dixwell  defignedly  then 
did  in  an  open  manyier,  though  among  others  to  perfons 
who  had  been  well  acquainted  with  it  years  before  in  a 
fecret  manner.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  but  that  at  this 
jnter-yicw  he  was  benefitted  by  Mr.  Wyllys's  fecret  lib- 
erality. 


or  KING    CHARLES     I.  167 

Thus  I  have  finiflied  the  hiftory  of  the  Generals 
Whalley  and  GofFe,  and  Colonel  Dixwell,  who  found 
an  afylum  in  the  city  of  New-Haven  and  at  Hadley, 
and  in  other  parts  of  New-England,  during  a  pilgrim- 
age and  concealment  of  twenty-nine  years.  AH  three 
were  of  King  Charles's  Judges  ;  all  three  of  the  Par- 
liamentary and  Oliverian  army  ;  all  three  members  of 
Parliament  ;  two  of  them  of  Oliver's  moft  honorable 
Houfe  of  Lords  ;  and  all  three,  like  Jofeph  in  the  court 
of  Pharaoh,  Daniel  and  Nehemiah  in  the  Court  of 
Perfia,  of  purity  of  morals,  and  eminent  for  piety  and 
virtue. 


CHAP.    IV. 

An  Inquiry  into  the  foundation  of  the  immemorial  furmife 
ofjome,  and  of  the  belief  of  others,  that  Judge  f^Fh al- 
ley alfo  lies  hurled  near  Judge  Dimvelly  in  NeW" 
Haven. 

THE  certain  interment  of  Dixwell  here  has  been 
all  along  of  public  notoriety,  and  univerfaily 
known  by  all  the  inhabitants  of  New-Haven  to  this 
day.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  have  feen  and  all  along 
been  acquainted  with  his  grave  and  the  ftone  fet  up  at  it 
■ — but  all  have  heard  the  report,' and  all  have  believed 
it  without  a  doubt.  Not  fo  with  refpecl  to  Whalley's 
interment  here.  Few  have  heard  of  it  to  this  day, 
and  fewer  IHll  have  believed  it.  But  among  a  fev/  there 
has  been  an  immemorial  tradition,  however  it  origina- 
ted, tliat  a  pair  of  rough  ftones,  marked  E.  W.  Itand 
over  Whalley's  grave,  near  Dixw ell's.  Although  I 
have  been  acquainted  witn  New-Haven  biirying-place 
above  half  a  centiny,  vet  I  never  heard  cf  Vv^halleys 
grave    aad  it  v/a«  tatn^^w  new  to  riie  v/hcu  a  gentle- 


.1-6^       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

man  of  intelligence,  a  native  of  the  city,  firfl  informed 
of  it  in  January  1793.  At  firft  I  gave  no  credit  to  it, 
becaufe  I  well  knew  that  he  died  and  was  buried  at 
Mr.  RuiTel's  in  Hadley,  and  had  entertained  no  idea 
that  his  corpfe  had  been  taken  up  and  removed  hither. 
But  the  confidence  and  ailiirance  of  this  gentleman  en- 
gaged me  to  make  a  thorough  inquiry  among  all  the 
aged  people  in  New-Haven,  to  fee  if  I  could  find  any 
tradition  of  this  kind  ;  I  alfo  endeavored  to  fearch  my 
own  memory,  whether  among  the  numerous  flying  (lo- 
ries and  tranfient  information  I  had  from  time  to  time 
xeceived  concerning  thefe  perfons,  I  could recolle6t  any 
tranfient  anecdotes  concerning  this  matter,  which 
through  unbelief  might  have  paifed  away  without  ma- 
icing  any  lading  im predion.  I  have  alfo  reviewed  all 
the  fcattered  lights  and  traditions  concerning  the  inter- 
ment at  Hadley  ;  and  laid  tliem  together  that  every  one 
might  form  his  own  inductions,  conjedlures  and  judg- 
ment. In  this  deficiency  of  certain  information  fome 
may  be  curious  on  this  fubjeCl  to  fee  whether  any  thing 
can  be  made  of  fables  and  traditionary  rumours,  partially 
imperfectly  retained  by  one  and  another.  All  will  con- 
fiderthc  fa6l  of  Whaliey's  burial  here,  as  unevidenced, 
improved  ;  feme  will  believe  it  ;  a  few  will  confider  it 
probable  ;  in  general  it  will  be  difbelieved  ;  and  none 
will  think  it  certain.  In  difcuding  the  fa bj eft  I  fliall 
indulge  myfelf  in  going  into  more  minutiae  than  may  be 
agreeable,  fo  as  to  become  tedious  and  burthenfome  to 
mod,  while  yet  others  will  hereby  be  furnidied  with 
materials  for  more  curious  fpeculations,  and  indu6lions, 
on  a  fubjedl  which,  fince  the  death  of  the  few  perfons  in 
the  fecrets  of  the  Judges,  can  never  be  duisfaftorily  in- 
vedigated. 

I  fhall  narrate  the  mn,tter  very  much  in  the  order  in 
which  the  information  hjxs  come  to  me.  Since  I  took 
up  the  enquiry,  I  have  recently  converfed  with  almolt 
ail  the  antient  people  in  this  tov*'ri  above  60,  and  find 
that  mod  of  them  know  noihi'ng  of  the  matter,  and  nc- 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  169 

Vlt  heard  of  it,  while  among  a  Tew  I  find  it  has  been 
itnmemorially  prefervcd.  My  firft  information  was 
from  Mr.  Ifaac  Jones,  a  defcendant  cf  Governor  Jone?, 
who  fpeakingof  it  with  a  certainty  that  furprized  rne, 
I  aflred  him  from  \vhom  he  received  it,  and  what  evi- 
dence there  was  for  it.  He  faid  he  had  alv/ays  under- 
ftood  it  fo,  that  the  ilone  marked  E.  W.  was  Edward 
Whalley's,  and  that  he  had  fo  confidered  it,  v/henevef 
he  looked  on  it,  for  many  years  part,  but  could  not 
name  any  perfons  with  certainty  from  whom  he  re- 
ceived it,  as  neither  could  he  with  refpe6l  to  Dixweil's 
{lone,  but  confidered  both  equally  certain.  He  how- 
ever believed  he  was  told  it  by  Mr.  James  Pierpont,  the 
eldeft  fon  of  the  reverend  Mr.  James  Pierpont,  wliich 
would  certainly  be  a  good  line  of  information.  I  then 
examined  the  flcne  niyfelf  with  clofe  attention,  and 
made  inquiry  among  all  the  families  where  I  judged  it 
moft  probable  fuch  a  tradition  might  be  preferred,  but 
with  little  fuccefs.  If  ever  there  was  fuch  a  tradition 
or  furmife  is  was  now  almoft  obliterated  and  loft. — On 
the  little,  however,  which  I  did  colie6t,  the  patience 
of  my  readers  mull:  fufFer  me  to  be  particular  and  pro- 
lix, as  they  can  fave  themfelves  a  further  perufal,  after 
being  notified  that  all  v/hich  follows,  will  prove  as  bar- 
ren, unentertaining,  and  deficient  of  fatisfadiori,  as 
the  difcuiiions  of  hiltorians  on  the  authenticity  of  certain 
letters  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  :  as  indeterminate  as  the 
hifbrical  difcuffions  of  the  queftion,  whether  Fauft, 
Guttemberg,  or  Cofter,  was  the  inventor  of  the  art  6l 
})rinting  ?  or  whether  Columbus,  Huetra,  or  Behenira 
was  the  iirft  difcoverer  of  America,  already  beibre  cer- 
tainly difcovered  and  colonized  by  Modog  and  the  Nor- 
w^egian  navigators  of  the  eleventh  century.  Curiofity 
may  ibmetimes  innocently  lead  us  into  inquiries,  even 
on  fome  fubjeds  on  v/hich  vvc  do  not  expe£l  to  obtain 
full  fatisfadioD. 

As  I  knew  with  certainty  that  Whalley  died  and  was 
:'uried  at  Hadley,  fo  it  occurred  to  me  m  waikin.2:  to 
P 


tyO       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OP    THE    JI/DGES 

the  burying-ground  to  look  for  this  E.  W.  ftone,  that 
the  fame  realons  which  would  induce  MefTrs.  Dixwell, 
Jones,  Biihop,  Pierpont,  Ruifel  and  Tillton  (ihe  only 
men  in  the  world  that  could  be  privy  to  fuch  a  tranf- 
a(?tion)  to  effedt  the  fecret  removal  of  Whalley's  corpfe, 
niight  induce  them  to  remove  GofFe's  alfo,  though  of 
this  I  have  never  found  the  leafi:  furmife  :  I  fay  as  I 
knew  and  confidercd  this,  fo  when  I  came  into  the 
yard,  February  19,  1793,  to  fearch  for  the  one,  I 
fearched  alfo  for  the  other,  as  fuppofmg  the  three  Judg- 
es might  choofe  to  lie  interred  lecretly  together  around 
Governor  Eaton's  tomb-ftone.  I  went  upon  this  fuppo- 
fition,  whether  it  can  be  fupported  or  not,  and  found 
three  graves,  which  for  the  fake  of  inveftigation,  we 
will  put  down  as  Whalley's,  GofFe's  and  Dixwell's. — 
When  I  firft  vifited  the  E.  W.  ftone,  the  mofs  of  an- 
tiquity being  yet  upon  it,  both  by  infpe£lion  and  feel- 
ing the  lacunar  with  my  fingers,  I  read  the  date  16^8, 
thinking  it  a  miftake  of  the  engraver,  w  ithout  once  think- 
ing or  perceiving  that  the  inverted  L  might  be  5.  But 
sftervv-ards  revifiting  it,  I  perceived  that  the  L  was  alfo 
5.  The  mofs  being  nov/  thoroughly  rubbed  off,  the  5 
is  more  obvious  than  the  /I  *  Now  if  it  read  1658,  this 
was  two  years  before  the  Judges  came  to  New-Haven, 
and  about  twenty  years  before  Whalley's  death  ;  which 
would  decide  the  queftjon,  and  fliew  that  the  ftone  was 
not  Whalley's.  The  cxtenfion,  however,  of  the  line- 
al lacunas  in  a  flrait  or  direct  courfe  beyond  the  curve 
of  the  5,  in  theinanner  given  in  the  drawing,  feems- 
laiher  too  much  for  accident,  and  has  the  afpecl  of  de- 
ficrn  and  artifice,  for  deception  and  concealment.  The 
iri^fcription  upon  the  foot-ftone  E.V/.  and  the  three  fi- 
^^nres  16-8,  are  plain  and  diiiindl  on  both  ftones  :  but 
the  interm.ediate  figure  is  obfijure  and  fomewhat  dubi- 
ous on  both.  In  the  date  of  the  foot-ftone,  the  curvili- 
near incifion  5  is  pretty  difrernible  ;  as  difcernible  is 
mc  rectilinear  tail  of  a  feeminq;ly  7,  and  I  think  the 
*  Set 


0F  Kl^G    CHARLES     I.  175. 

upper  line  of  the  7  is  alio  pretty  obvious,  with  every  al- 
lowance for  the  human  mind  under  a  certain  kind  of 
polfible  prepoffellion,  when,  with  Watts,  we  "  guefs 
and  fpell  out  Scipio"  upon  antique  defaced  coins  and 
monuments.  The  whole  feems  to  form  this  odd  com- 
plex figure  Si,  which  confufes  one  at  firft,  and  leavefi 
the  date  to  be  read  either  1658  or  1678,  moreobvioully 
the  former  than  the  latter.  There  muil  have  been  fom.c 
reafon  for  that  intermediate  fignre  being  made  obfcure^ 
and  doubtful,  in  both  ftones.  It  feems  to  be  too  much 
for  accident  in  both  cafes.  That  it  fhoukl  be  fo  is  un- 
accountable if  perfpic^uity  had  not  beendefignedly  avoid- 
ed and  concealed,  when  the  reft  of  the  infcription  is 
rough  indeed,  but  (irong,  clear  and  diftiiidl:.  The 
whole  isreprefentedin  the  Plate  No.  VI.  wherein  the 
numeral  figures  particularly  are  given  at  full  bignefs : 
which  I  took  off  by  laying  a  Iheet  of  paper  over  the 
ftones,  and  imprefling  my  finger  over  it  along  the  lacu  - 
iiDe  or  engraving  ;  and  thus  with  a  pencil  taking  oft 
their  fhape  and  pofition.  The  E.  W.  as  y/ell  as  the 
figures  on  the  head-flone,  are  at  full  bignefs  and  exa6l : 
the  figures  only  on  the  foot-flone.  On 'which  therefore 
every  one  may  form  his  own  judgment.  Under  this 
conje£l:ure,  that  the  date  may  be  read  indifferently  1658 
and  1678,  it  may  contain  truth  and  error;  error  or  de- 
ception if  read  1658,  and  truth  if  1678  :  as  this  might 
have  been  the  true  year  of  Whalley's  death,  not  other- 
w^ife  certainly  known.  He  was  alive  1674,  and  dead 
before  1679,  according  to  GofFe's  letter  to  his  wife. 

Upon  the  fame  principle  of  defigned  deception,  it 
may  be  fufpeded  that  the  M  on  the  litde  ftone  eight 
feet  well:  of  Dixwell's,  may  be  taken  for  an  inverted  W : 
and  thus  W.  G.  bedeilgned  for  William  GofFe,  -and 
the  80  over  thofe  initials  may  be  1680.  And  if  GofFe 
died  alfo  at  Hadley,  as  Governor  Hutchinfon  fays,  it 
is  likely  his  death  was  about  j68o,  for  his  lall  letter 
was  1679,  and  it  is  faid  he  was  no  more,  or  difappeared 
fooFA  after^  and  nut  long  after  Whalley's  death. 


172       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

If  M  G  be  William  Gofl'e,  the  80  at  the  top  mud 

be  1680,  and  not  the  age  :  for  Gofte  married  Whalley's 
daughter,  and  entered  the  civil  wars  and  army  a  young 
man  about  1642  :  and  fo  he  muii  have  been  born  about 
1 01 3  or  1&20,  and  confcquently  could  be  but  60,  ce 
thereabouts,  at  his  fuppofed  death,  1680.  The  figures 
therefore  of  80  muft  be  1680,  if  they  referred  to  Goffe. 

Upon  this  I  repaired  to  the  town  records,  and  exam- 
ined the  book  which  contains  the  births,  deaths  and 
marriages  in  town,  in  which  they  are  regularly  entered 
from  1649  to  the  end  of  the  century.  At  1654,  indeed 
I^  found  the  death  of  Mr.  Edward  V/igglefworth,  an- 
ceilor  of  the  profeiTor.  I  found  that  in  the  year  1658, 
there  was  but  one  death  in  town,  Thomas  Naih,  who 
died  May  12,  1658,  But  E.  W.  couM  not  be  tha 
initials  of  his  name.  Such  was  the  healthinefs  of  th& 
thil:  fettlement,  as  is  ufual  in  new  countries,  that  the 
<icaths  were  few  and  feldom,  though  probably  500  fa- 
milies now  in  town,  for  there  were  208  freemen  1644, 
and  333 freemen  in  1660;  and  fo  there  is  the  more, 
reafon  to  think  the  entries  would  be  accurate.  I  took 
out  the  number  ol  deaths  yearly  for  thirteen  years,  as 

fC'IioWS  ; 

1 649-^^3.  ^^3^ — ^' 

i6-o — 5.  1657 — I.  Gov.  Eaton, 

;^65i— 5.  1658—1.  Tho.  Nafa., 

1652—2.  1659— 2.  _ 

16^:^3 — I,  1660 — 4..  . 

.  1654—4.  1661—2. 

1655—2. 
.  I  then  examined  the  year  1 678,  and  found  two  deaths 
only,  viz.  Samuel  Miles  and  Timothy  Tuttle.  Nei- 
ther was  E.  W.  the  initials  of  their  names.  It  feems 
then,  if  thefe  records  arc  accurate,  that  no  perfons 
died  at  New-Haven  either  in  1658  or  1678,  the  initials- 
of  vvjiofe  names  were  E.  Vv  .  This  favors  the  fuppo- 
filion  of  an  interment  from  abroad,  be  the  dubious  ti> 
^.  guic^  5  or  7.     This  as  to  the  Whallcy  llcne, 


OF    RING    CHARLES     I.  1 7;^ 

Astotheconjeaural  GofFe  ftoiie,' it  Is  to  be  obfer- 
ved  that  the  engraving  or  incifion  is  plain  anddiftrn^l, 
with  this  linsjular  circumflance,  that  a  deep  {Irong  line 
is  drawn  along  under  the  M,  thus  M,  moil  evidently 
not  by  accident,  but  with  defign.  In,  the  records  oi 
deaths  1680,  I  found  the  names  (land  thus  : 

Ephraim  How, 

Jofiah,  {'on  of  John  Paine, 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  John  Harriman, 

John  Punderfon. 
But  neither  of  thefe  names  have  their  initials  M.  G. 
Nor  do  I  find  thefe  initials  in  the  deaths  entered  for  fe- 
veral  years  hereabouts.  Which  indicates  that  if  the  8© 
be  taken  for  1680,  this  corpfe  muft  alfo  have  come 
from  abroad,  which  would  accord  with  the  conjedure 
that  thefe  two  graves  might  have  been  GofFe's  and 
Whalley's  whofe  naines  could  not  have  been  expecbed 
to  be  found  in  New-Haven  town  records  of  deatlis. 

Againft  all  this  there  are  two  very  material  objec- 
tions :  I .  The  honorable  Matthew  Gilbert,  of  New- 
Haven,  one  of  the  Affiftants  and  Deputy-Governor  of 
the  Colony,  died  here  1679 — 80,  fo  this  ftone  might  bs 
his.  2.  As  his  death  is  omitted  in  the  records,  {o  this 
invalidates  our  confidence  in  the  records.  I  am  not 
able  to  foK^e  this  laR  objection.  I  cannot  account  for 
thisomiffion  of  fo  diPcinguifhed  and  refpedlable  a  cha- 
ra6ler.  But  of  this  I  am  fure  that  he  was  fo  honored,  -. 
acceptable  and  reverenced,  that  it  was  by  no  means 
'defigned,  but  perfe6cly  accidental.  We  know  that 
omillions  fometimes  take  place  undefignediy,  and  by  an 
unintentional  neglecl  in  thofe  public  records  which  are 
mofl  faithfully  kept.  The  records  of  New-Haven, 
efpecially  the  firft  and  moH:  ancient,  appear  to  have 
been  kept  with  great  care  and  accuracy.  I  chufe  to 
ftare  this  in  the  ih'ongefl:  manner.  So  confpicuous  a 
perfon  no  one  would  think  of  omitting  defignedly.  But 
as  it  was  an  immemorial  ufage,  and  required  from  tlie 
P^ 


174      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGE* 

beginning  by  law,  for  the  friends  to  procure  the  record- 
ing of  births,  deaths  and  marriages,  and  never  was  the 
recorder  obliged  to  do  it  ex  offlcls  until  brought  to  him, 
^o  this  omifhon  mud  have  happened  through  family  ne- 
glect. And  though  this  might  pofTibly  take  place  iii 
other  inftances  alfo,  yet  fo  eftablilhed  was  ihe  general 
lifage  of  that  early  day,  that  it  is  very  unlikely  tbislhould 
liave  happened.oFten  :  fo  that  there  may  be  a  general 
reliance  upon  the  veracity  of  the  records,  this  notwith- 
ftanding.  "Whether  this  or  any  better  reafon  for  the 
omiffion  was  the  true  one,  muft  be  fubmitted. 

It  is  poflible  then  that  this  M.  \V.  (lone  may  be 
Matthew  Gilbert ;  it  is  polfible  it  might  have  been 
Mary  Good,year,  or  fome  other  perfon  v/hofe  initials 
tverc  M.  G.  Let  us  conlider  the  probability  of  its  hav- 
ing been  Matthew  Gilbert's.  Now  the  80,  if  denoting 
Id8o,  agrees  well  with  the  time  of  his  death.  The 
contemptible  and  defpicable  appearance  of  the  ftone  is 
aoainftit.  It  will  ever  be  difficult  to  perfuade  a  Nev/- 
Haven  m.an,  and  cfpeciaiiy  one  of  tlie  family  of  Gilbert, 
tliat  fo  fmall  and  infignificant  a  (lone  was  put  up  at  the 
grave  of  fo  honorable  an  anceftor,  and  lO  diftinguiihcd 
-a  perfon  in  civil  hfe  as  Governor  Gilbert.  Further, 
tilthough  his  grave  and  (tone  are  not  now  to  be  found , 
yet  none  of  t^ic  family  or  friends  think  of  his  having  been 
buried  in  that  fpot.  Tliey  Ihcw  a  very  different  and 
tliilant  part  of  the  burying  yard  as  the  original  place  of 
ihe  fcpulcres  of  their  ancellor  and  of  the  family  of  Gil- 
bert, viz.  at  and  about  the  S.  W.  corner  of  the  brick 
aneeling-houfe.  Kereabout  lie  many  of  the  Gilbert  fa- 
mily, vv'liofe  grave-ftones  remain  to  this  day,  and  here 
ihey  tell  mc  Governor  Gilbert,  llicir  common  anceftor, 
was  buried.  -  But  his  (lone  is  not  now  to  be  found. — • 
•Captain  John  Gilbert  vvas  {lain  by  the  enemy  at  the 
invaiion  of  New-Haven,  Ju.^y  5,  1779.  His  friends 
fought  a  place  for  his  grave,  and  buried  him  in  that  part 
i>fthe  vard  where  the^Gilbert  family  he  buried.  His 
fjD;  Mr^Jciftf  Giibi-rt,  %  Uiiu;  of  tJiit^rprife^  curiolity 


OP    KING    CHARLES     I.  175 

aad  information,  tells  me  that  when  he  was  feiting  up 
a  iiont  at  his  father's  grave,  he  took  pains  to  look  for 
that  of  his  anceflor,  the  Governor.  Not  being  able  to 
find  it,  he  enquired  of  a  Mr.  Jofeph  Brown,  the  New- 
Haven  antiquarian,  remarkable  for  embofoming  in  his 
fcrong  memory  more  of  our  antiquities  than  any  man  I 
was  ever  acquainted  with.  He  was  born  1701,  and 
lately  died  aged  90,  in  the  full  poiTeilion  of  his  mental 
powers,  his  memory  being  good  to  the  lafc.  Mr.  Brown 
told  him  he  well  remembered  Mr.  Mattiiew  Gilbert's 
grave- lion e,  and  that  it  {lood  in  that  part  of  the  burial- 
grouiiii  where  the  Gilbert  family  were  generally  buried 
— that  at  the  time  of  building  the  brick  meeting-houfe, 
which  was  about  1754,  they  encroached  upon  the  eafl:- 
ern  fide  of  the  coemetery,  and  took  down  feveral  grave- 
ftones,  and  among  others  this  of  Mr.  Matthew  Gilbert, 
the  antient  Alliilant  and  Deputy-Governor  :  and  that 
he  ihould  judge  from  his  recolle6lion,  that  this  grave 
was  diredlly  under  the  S.  V/.  corner  of  the  brick  meet- 
ing-houfe.  Adjacent  and  quite  contiguous  to  this  S.  W. 
corner  of  the  meeting -houfe,  has  been  the  immemorial 
place  of  the  Gilbert  family.  This  I  confider  as  deci- 
liveproof  that  the  M.  G.  (lone  in  queuion,  ten  rods 
N.  W.  is  not  that  of  the  honorable  Matthew  Gilbert, 
Efq.  though  he  died  in  the  winter  of  1679 — 80.  As  to 
which  M.  G.  ftone  there  is  no  light  either  from  the  bill 
of  mortality  or  traditicn.  It  might  be  Golte's  •  it  might 
have  been  fomeotlierp::ifon's  ;  but  it  certainly  v/as  not 
Mattiiew  Gilbert's.  And  there  being  no  perfon  of 
thofe  innuials  in  the  bill  of  mortality  for  1680,  leaves 
room  tor  a  fufpicion  or  conjecture,  that  like  E.  W.  it 
might  dehgnate  an  inlerment  from  abroad. 

Mad:>m  Wliitilefey,  aged  60,  reli'£i  of  the  late  re- 
verend Chauncy  Whitllcfey,  tells  mc,  fhc  has  oiten 
heard  Mr.  Prour,  tlie  aged  genileman  treafurer  of  the 
college,  whom  I  have  hereioforc  mentioned,  narrate 
the  llory  of  the  three  Judges  :  v.vaI  among  other  things 
he  i?,idf  xh^i  Vawdi  died  here^  \md  iiS  tg  Ui-q  oih^r  twi?^ 


176       HISTOnV    OP    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

one  of  ihera  died  and  was  bnried  at  Hadley  m  Mr.  Ruf- 
fel's  celler,  and  the  other  they  knew  not  what  became 
of  him  ;  but  fonie  faid  that  he  came  off  to  the  weft  ward, 
and  fome,  fays  he,  have  fuppofed  that  he  lies  buried  in 
our  burylng-yard  ;  but  of  this,  fays  he,  no  one  knows 
any  thing  with  certainty.  However  new  and  unthought 
of  this  was  to  me  when  Mr.  Jones  firll  told  me  of  it, 
y@t  upon  converfmg  with  many,  and  hearing  fo  much 
faid  upon  the  matter,  I  fet  myfelf  to  recoliedl  whether 
I  had  ever  come  acrofs  any  thing  of  the  hke  before, — 
And  I  do  recoile6l  that  fome  time  or  other  above  forty 
years  ago,  or  1750,  when  Mr.  Prout  firft  Ibevv^d  me 
Dixwell's  grave,  he  added,  **  and  fome  have  thought 
that  another  of  thefe  Judges  lies  buried  fomev/here  in 
ourburying-ground,  but  where  is  unknown."  But  I 
have  no  remembrance  that  it  Vv^as  he  that  furvlved  and 
came  off  from  Hadley.  It  made  fo  tranfient  an  impref- 
fion  upon  my  entirely  incredulous  mind,  that  it  has 
been  for  many  years  totally  obhterated.  And  though  I 
ROW  clearly  recolle6l  the  iiying  fable,  yet  I  felt  and  con- 
Iidered  it  as  a  vague  rumour  or  furmife,  wholly  without 
foundation,  I  gave  not  the  lead  heed  or  credit  to  the 
furmife. 

Some  pcrfons  are  of  a  Angularly  tenacious  and  reten- 
tive memory,  and  treafure  up  things  in  converfation 
which  evanilh  from  others  who  hear  them  with  curfory 
inattention.  Such  is  Mrs.  Beers,  confort  of  Ifaac  Beers, 
Efq.  born  in  this  town  1746,  and  now  aged  47.  She 
is  well  read,  is  an  excellent  hiilorian,  and  is  veifcd  in 
the  family  anecdotes  and  antiquities  of  New-Haven. — 
She  is  of  the  Mansfield  family,  and  a  lineal  dsfccndant 
from  Major  Mofcs  Mansfieltl,  her  great  grand-father,. 
who  died  1703,  aged  63,  and  Vvho  was  one  of  the  ap- 
prif^'rs  of  Dixwell's  eflate,  and  made  up  his  inventory 
for  the  probate  office,  and  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  hiiiory  of  Dix.well  after  his  death,  and  I  pre- 
furae  with  the  hiifory  of  vVhallcy  and  Colte.  Her 
grand  -mother  was  of  the  family  of  AUing,  the  alTiibnt, 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  I77 

about  the  clofe  of  the  laft  century,  alfo  well  acquainted 
with  the  ftory  of  the  Judges.  The  honorable  John  Ai- 
ling, Efq.  had  three  daughters,  fenfible,  very  worthy, 
and  venerable,  and  fociable  matrons,  one  of  whom 
was  Mrs.  Beers's  grand- mother.  They  often  met  to- 
gether on  focial  viiits  at  her  grand-father,  deacon  Manf- 
field's,  fon  of  the  Major,  who  was  born  1684,  or  four 
years  before  Dixwell's  death,  who  was  alfo  full  of  the 
lloryof  the  Judges.  This  vifiting  circle  and  family 
connection  had  tiie  greatefl:  efteem  and  veneration  for 
the  Judges,  and  in  their  vifits  together  were  often  talk- 
ing over  the  llories  about  them.  Mrs.  Beers,  when 
young,  was  often  among  them  at  her  grand-mother's^ 
and  heard  thefe  good  ladies  converfe  on  thefe  matters, 
and  tell  ail  the  anecdotes  concerning  them.  She  ufed 
to  fit  and  lillen  to  them  with  attention,  while  the  other 
grand-children  took  little  notice  of  the  difcourfe.  So 
different  are  the  taftes  of  children,  that  what  ftrikes  one's 
curlofity  will  not  touch  another's.  Mrs.  Beers  was 
born  an  hiftoric  genius,  and  curiotis  narratives  vv^ere 
food  and  delight  to  her  mind.  I  think  this  particularity 
in  defcribing  chara6lers  necelfary.  In  this  cafe,  towards 
making  the  rnoft  or  bell  of  w^hat  otherwife  might  he 
deemed  information  too  flight  to  have  any  v/elght. — * 
Mrs.  Beers  has  from  this  fource  as  much  of  the  inter- 
efting  hlftory  of  the  regicides,  not  only  of  DIxwell,  but 
GofFe  and  Whalley,  as  mod  perfons,  and  narrates  fe- 
veral  anecdotes  with  fmgular  precifion  and  accuracy  ; 
but  as  they  coincide  with  what  I  have  gone  over  before, 
from  other  more  certain  fources,  I  do  not  repeat  them. 
But  v/hat  I  prlncipj^lly  aim  to  avail  myfelf  of  from  her, 
is  what  refpe6ls  more  than  one  of  the  fu.'/^es  being  buried 
in  New-Haven.  From  the  converfation  of  her  grand- 
father, and  thefe  pious  matrons  among  themfelves,  fhe 
was  as  indelibly  ImprelTed  with  the  idea  that  **  they  all,'^ 
that  Is,  all  the  other  Judge?,  lay  buried  here,  as  that 
DIxwell  was  here,  and  had  no  more  doubt  of  the  one 
than  the  ether.     She  car^^ot:  diHiadly  rsniec^ber  i^ie 


I7S       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

heard  this  or  the  other  of  the  women  fay  fo  ;  bat  theif 
repeated,  long  and  uniform  converfation  left  this  im- 
preffion  on  her  mind.  She  always  fuppofed  that  the 
reft  of  the  Judges  lay  here.  She  had  not,  however, 
been  (liewn  the  graves  till  fince  {lie  grew  up  and  was 
married.  But  about  the  beginning  of  the  war,  or  1776, 
upon  gentlemen's  being  engaged  to  vifit  the  Judge's 
grave,  llie  had  a  curiofity  to  vifit  not  it,  but  them  alio, 
for  hitherto  (he  confidered  all  of  them  lying  here.  Ac- 
cordingly walking  with  Mr.  Beers  into  the  yard,  he 
ihewed  her  Dixwell's  ftone  ;  and  after  viewing  and 
reading  the  infcription,  (he  turned  about  and  faid, 
**  and  where  are  the  others  ?"  Upon  being  told  there 
was  no  other,  Ihe  could  fcarcely  believe  it,  as  fhe  had 
always  conceived  from  the  converfation  before  mention- 
ed, that  the  others  lay  there  alfo.  She  faid  the  others 
inuft  be  there  :  but  being  aifured  there  v/ere  no  other^j 
though  (lie  faid  fhe  felt  difappointed,  and  knew  not  how 
to  account  for  her  miftaken  idea,  yet  (he  gave  it  up  as  a 
miitake.  But  to  this  day  the  impreilion  made  by  th& 
women  and  her  grand-father  refpeccing  not  only  more 
than  one,  but  all  of  them  lying  there,  is  ftrong,  and 
yield  only  to  the  hhloric  evidence,  which  fheconfiders 
certain,  that  the  others  died  at  Hadley.  But  her  in- 
formation feels  to  her  to  this  day  as  if  all  were  buried 
here.  But  how  they  fhould  come  here  ihe  has  not  the 
leaft  trace  of  information,  conceiving  in  her  own  mind 
that  they  had  all  died  here.  She  never  heard  any  thing 
about  any  removal  of  the  corpfes  from  Hadley  hither, 
and  never  was  impreffed  with  any  fuch  thought,  nor 
heard  a  fuggeftion  of  the  kind  :  while  yet  till  that  time 
Ihe  had  no  doubt  but  all  of  them  were  here.  This, 
however,  iliews  that  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  it  was 
in  the  idea  of  fome  that  more  than  DixwcU  was  here. 
A  member  of  Congrefs,  now  living,  when  pafling 
through  New-Haven  to  Congrefs  in  1774,  vvas  fhewu 
Dixwell's  and  Whalley's  ftones  at  the  fame  time,  with 
fuch  information!,  that,  in  1793)  he  faid  he  doubted 
not  that  both  lay  here. 


©F  KING  Charles   r.  tyg 

It  has  always  been  in  public  fame  that  of  the  twc* 
Judges  at  Hadley,  one  died  there  and  was  buried  in  the 
minillei'sceller  ;  but  which  this  was,  was  never  faid  , 
and  that  the  otb.er,  to  cfcape  Randolph's  dangerous 
fearches,  difappeared,  and  was  fuppofed  to  have  gone 
off  to  the  weft  towards  Virginia,  and  was  heard  of  no 
more.  This  I  perfe^lly  remember  to  have  been  the 
current  ftory  in  my  youth'.  No  one  in  converflition  pre- 
tended to  defignate  which  was  which,  until  1764,  when 
Governor  Hutchinfon  iirft  pubhfhed  his  hi  (lory.  Ever 
fmce  this,  for  now  about  thirty  years  paft,  the  public 
rumour  has  fometimes  fpoken  with  more  precifion  and 
accuracy,  defignating  Whalley  as  the  firll  that  died  at 
Hadley,  and  that  he  that  fame  confidered  as  going  off 
to  the  weftward  was  Goffe.  It  is  neceiTary  to  diftin- 
guifh  the  two  periods,  that  from  1680  to  1764,  and 
that  for  the  laft  thirty  years,  as  the  fame  reports  are 
fpoken  of  with  different  information  in  the  two  periods. 
When  therefore  Mr.  Prout  and  others  ufed  to  fpeak  of 
one  going  off  to  the  weftward,  no  one  before  1764 
thought  of  its  being  Goffe  more  than  Whalley.  Since 
1764  every  one  might  know  it  w'as  Goffe  if  either,  and 
certainly  not  Whalley.  Hence  the  few  here  who  have 
immemorially  had  the  idea  ot  Whalley's  ftone,  had  not 
the  refutation  at  hand  till  1] nee  1764,  that  it  could  not 
be  his,  becaufe  he  was  the  one  that  died  at  Hadley.  It 
feems  to  have  been  the  idea  of  Mr.  Prout  and  the  few 
others,  that  the  E.  W.  ftone  denoted  him  that  went  off 
from  Hadley  weftward,  and  was  overtaken  by  death  at 
New-Haven,  and  fecretly  interred  here  by  his  friend 
Dixwell,  v/ho  had  the  fam'i  reafon  for  fecrcting  E.  W.. 
as  himfeif.  And  yet  the  information  of  Hutchinfon, 
does  not  feem  to  have  been  fo  accurately  attended  to, 
even  by  fome  few  judicious  perfons,  as  to  have  abolifh- 
ed  this  traditionary  conhdcace  ftili  to  this  day,  that  this 
is  Whaliey'.s.iEone  :  and  moft  of  tlie  people  in  New- 
Haven  t£.lk  to  ihis  day  only  with  the  tradidonary  know- 
ledge antecedent  to  1764. 


l80       mSTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JL'BGES 

When  I  fiiy  that  the  public  did  not  diuinguiili  liil 
1764,  I  v^/ould  excty;t  the  Riiii'd  family  at  lead,  and 
perhaps  the  Tillton  family.  Ent  there  is  reafon  to 
think,  while  accuracy  was  foon  loil:  in  other  familieg, 
fome  of  which  might  be  poiTeiled  of  particular  inform- 
ation, the  truth  v/as  kept  up  the  longed  in  the  Ruffel 
family,  which  was  the  depofitory  of  a  trunk  of  manu- 
fcripts  of  Goffe's  and  Whalley's,  which  came  down 
imdifperfed  till  fmce  1760,  remaining  and  preferved 
at  Barnflable  from  foon  after  the  death  of  the  Judges  to 
that  time.  Tvlrs.  Otis,  of  Barnftable,  a  grand-daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  Rufiel  of  Hadley,  as  I  ha\'e  before  obferved, 
fpent  much  time  in  reading  thefe  manufcripts,  as  fae 
has  told  m.e,  and  gave  me  much  account  about  them, 
being  thorou.ghly  verfed  in  the  hifrory  of  tlie  Judges.  I 
do  conceive  that  Mr.  RulTel  of  Barfiftable,  and  Mr. 
Ruflel  of  Eranford,  both  minifters  and  fons  of  the  Had- 
ley Ruifel,  were  perfe6lly  acquainted  with  all  thefecrets 
of  this  hiftory  beyond  any  men.  Others  had  it  partially, 
thefe  perfedly.  I  had  it  in  my  power  thirty  years  ago 
to  have  become  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  fubjedt, 
and  now  regret  that  my  curiofity  w^as  not  ftrong  enough 
to  have  excited  me  to  improve  an  opportunity  now  loil 
by  death  ;  which  has  buried  much  certain  information 
in  an  oblivion  from  wliich  it  can  never  be  recovered. 

In  this  failure  oi prhnary  and  certain  evidence,  and 
nvhile  v/e  are  left  to  avail  ourfelves  only  o^fecondary^  tra- 
ditionary and  derivative  i-nformation,  I  think  not  im- 
proper to  fiate  the  dangers  during  the  lives  of  thofe  con- 
temporaries who  were  in  tlie  fecret  of  the  Judges,  with 
v;hojn  all  certain  information  perilned,  and  to  ihew 
that  fure  and  certain  information  has  continued  the 
longeft  in  the  RulTel  family,  from  whom  it  is  poIPible 
tlie  tradition  of  the  burial  of  another  or  the  other 'judges 
in  New- Haven  may  have  derived.  A  repetition  of 
fome  circumftances  and  fav^s,  may  be  pardoned,  as 
fubft-Tving  different  applications  and  ufes  in  the  courfe 
of  tills  hiiiory. 


©F    KING    CHARLES     I.  l\h: 

1  have  already  obferved  the  dznger  that  srcfc  lo  the 
judges  and  their  proteclors  from  Randolph,  during  the 
period  of  thirteen  years,  from  1676  to  1689.  All 
which  time  he  was  an  infidious  fpy  upon  New-Eng- 
land, with  Argoseyes,  and  with  the  zeal  and  acrimony 
of  an  in^uihtor-general.  By  his  crafty  and  incedaiH 
fearches  for  mifdemeanorSj  became  acrofs  fome  lights 
concerning  thefe  Judges,  Jong  thought  by  the  minHhy 
to  have  been  dead  in  foreign  lands.  Whalley  died  ihon 
after,  or  about  the  time  of  Randolph's  firll  arrival,  fay 
I-67§  or  1676;  and  Goffe  evanilhed  after  1679.  In 
1684  was  Randolph's  moft  vigorous  fearch  ;  but  it  feems 
it  was  judged  not  prudent  and  fafe  to  inform  him  of 
their  death,  undoubtedly  becaufe  the  perfons  of  their 
concealers  were  in<langer  of  being  called  in  qiieflion  by 
his  inveterate  malice,  or  kaft  violence  fhould  be  don'c 
to  their  graves.  It  is  probable  he  never  had  any  notice 
or  fufpicion  that  Dixwell  was  here,  Whalley  being 
under  fuperannuation,  might  feel  no  alarm,  if  livings 
and  he  certainly  was  dead  before  Randolph's  exertions. 
But  GofFe  and  Dixwell,  and  their  concealers,  mud 
Imve  been  greatly  alarmed.  We  may  confider  all  the 
three  Judges  alive  1678,  Goffe  and  Whalley  dead  by 
1680,  and  ail  w^re  dead  by  1689. 

Such  was  the  vigilance,  a6livityand  malice  of  Ran- 
iiolph,  that  the  two  adually  furviving  Judges  had  rea~ 
fon  to  think  that  both  their  perfons  and  afhes  would  not 
efcape  his  malicious  vengeance,  if  difcovered.  There 
was  therefore  a  fufficient  and  very  powerful  inducement 
for  the  concealment  both  of  their  perfons  and  places  of 
interment.  And  the  danger  of  fome  accidental  difco- 
very  might  induce  a  removal  of  the  bodies  of  Goffe  and 
Whalley  from  Hadley  to  New-Haven,  in  the  danger- 
ous period  about  1680  to  1684,  while  the  ravenous 
Randolph  was  making  inquifition.  And. although  the 
ftorm  was  in  fome  meafure  blown  over  foon  upon  the 
death  of  Dixwell,  and  thefeizure  of  SirEdmond  An- 
ckofs  one  month  after,  or  April  18,  1789  ;  yet  thecon«* 


iSa      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

cealers,  who  were  liable  to  be  profecuted  and  adjudged 
aiders,  abettors,  and  acceflfaries  in  treafon,  would  not 
feel  eafy  under  the  poffibility  of  detection,  during  their 
lives  ;  and  woiild  have  every  motive  to  continue  the 
concealment  of  as  much  of  the  affair  as  pollible.  To 
ihew  the  danger  of  concealing  traitors  and  obnoxious 
pcrfons,  knowing  them  to  be  fuch,  we  need  only  ad- 
vert to  the  execution  of  Lady  Alicia  Lille,  reli^l  of  one 
of  the  regicides  who  died  abroad:  a  fa6l  well  known 
jit  the  time  by  the  accomplices  concerned  in  the  con- 
cealment of  the  Judges  in  New-England.  This  pious 
and  venerable  lady  furviving  her  confort,  and  living  in 
peace  for  many  years,  **  wast-ried  in  1685,  by  thatdif- 
grace  to  human  nature,  Judge  Jeffries,  for  concealing 
a  Mr.  Hicks,  a  diifentingminilter,  and  Mr.  Nelthorpe, 
who  attended  the  Duke  of  MoniPiOuth,  when  he  made 
his  expedition  into  .England."     *'  She  was  beheaded  at 

Weftminder   univerfally  pitied. [Noble's  Memoirs 

ff  the  Cromwell  family.   V.  2.  P.  471. 

This  came  over  to  New-England,  and  though  an 
event  after  the  death  of  Whalley  and  GofFe,  muft  have 
excited  terror  in  Dixwell,  Rulfel  and  Tilton,  and  the 
arentlemen  in  New-Haven  then  hving  and  conceahng 
jDixwell  ;  and  confequently,  ifdetedled,  more  obnox- 
ious than  Lady  Lille.  It  ir.ufl  have  made  them  very 
caution?.  Every  thing  therefore  continued  to  be  kept  a 
profound  ferret ;  nor  do  I  think  that  Hadley  itfelt  had 
any  knou  ledge  that  they  had  embofbmed  and  enter- 
tained angels,  till  after  the  feizure  of  Androfs,  and  the 
news  of  the  revokition,  if  indeed  till  after  the  death  of 
their  miniiter,  Pvlr.  Paillel,  in  1692,  or  the  recording 
of  Dixvveli's  papers  in  169 1  ;  after  which  the  affairs  of 
the  Judges  began  to  be  more  freely  talked  of. 

After  the  revolution  and  extirpation  of  the  Stuart  fam- 
ily, 1688,  and  ths  halcyon  days  of  the  new  charter  of 
Mallachiifctts,  in  1692,  from  King  William  IIL  and 
efpccially  aft^r  the  public  probate  of  Dixvvell's  will, 
168^^  :ind  recording  of  his  indentures,    1691,  figiici 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  183 

James  Davids,  alias  John  Dixwcll,  and  his  avowal  up- 
on his  death- bed  of  his  being  one  of  the  Judges,  it  be- 
came impollible  to  keep  up  an  entire  concealment  ot 
their  refidence  and  prote6lion  at  Hadley  and  New-Ha- 
ven. Yet  even  in  thefe  open  times,  and  when  fo  much 
of  their  hiftory  was  got  abroad,  fome  reafons  or  other 
operated  both  againft  the  full  developement  of  the  affair, 
and  of  the  perfons  concerned  in  the  prote<5lion,  and 
alfo  for  the  continuance  of  the  concealment  of  the  places 
of  the  interment  of  GofFe  and  Whalley. 

The  reverend 'Mr.  Ruffeland  Mr.  Tillton  knewv^'lth 
certainty  what  was  become  of  Whalley  and  Goffe  :  and 
it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  Dixwell,  Pierpont,  Jones^ 
and  Biihop,  knew  the  fame  thing  with  a  derivative  cer- 
tainty. They  could  have  as  eafily  communicated  the 
certainty  of  the  place  of  interment,  as  of  their  refidence 
and  death.  There  was  a  reafon  of  weight  with  them 
why  they  did  not,  or  if  they  did  at  all,  that  it  fnould  be 
confidential,  and  not  for  the  public.  Should  we  m.if- 
takein  conjeduring  the  reafon,  it  is  of  no  moment.— 
Enough  for  us  to  know  that  there  v/as  one,  and  that  it 
wrought  too  efficacioudy.  Perhaps  it  was  partly  to  pre- 
ferve  the  bodies  of  the  deceafed  from  violence,  and  prin- 
cipally to  feciire  the.  perfons  of  the  proteiSlors.  Thi,s 
ialt  endured  till  the  death  of  Mr.  Pierpont,  at  leaft  1714 
— and  yet  tlie  moil  of  the  gentlemen  a6live  and  in  the 
fecret,  died  before  and  about  the  revolution.  Govern- 
or Jones  and  Mr.  Pierpont  furvived  the  longed.  Let  lis 
/late  the  perfons  in  danger,  and  the  times  of  their  deaths. 

The  reverend  Mr.  John  Davenport,  ob.  March  15, 
1670,  aged  72. 

The  revej:end  Mr.  RulTel,  ob.  December  10,  1692,. 

Honorable  Peter  Tillton,  Efq.  ob. 

Governor  Leveret,  ob.  1678. 

Governor  Leete,  ob.   1687. 

Governor  Jones,  ob.  Odjtober  17,   1706,  aged  82. 

His  Lady,  ob.  April  4,   1707,  aged  74. 
Deput) -Governor  Biihop,  ob.  June  24,  1691. 


1^4      HtSTORY    OF    THREE    O?    THE    >UDGES- 

judge  Dixwell^  ob.  March  1 8,  1688 — 9,  aged  82V 
Reverend  Mr.  Pierpont,  ob.  Nov.  22,  1714,  M  55a- 
Mr.  Richard _SaltoniiaIl  went  to  England  1672,  re- 
turned 1680,  went  to  England  again  1683,  and  died 
there  April  29,  1694. 

The  moft  of  thefe  v/ere  deceafed  by  1602.  Certaia 
information  furvived  into  this  century  only  with  Jones 
m\<\  Pierpont,  and  the  two  brothers,  RulTels,  of  Barn^ 
liable  and  Branford,  and  poflibly  fonne  few  others  un- 
known to  me  ;  and  after  173 1,  only  with  him  at  Barn- 
ilable,  and  expired  whh  his  death,  1758,  unlefs  it  fur»^ 
vived  with  his  brother,  honorable  Judge  Jofeph  Rulfcl> 
^^  Briflol,  who  died  about  1775. 

It  may  be  proper  to  diftinguifli  the  degree  and  ftate  of 
information  under  three  different  periods  :  that  from  the 
^cceilion  of  the  Judges  to  America,  1660,  to  1690,  or 
xather  the  death  of  Mr^Ruffel,  1692  ;  that  from  thence 
to  the  death  of  his  fon  at  Branford,  1731,  and  laftly,; 
Che  period  from  thence  to  the  prefent  day. 

I.  The  jF.rfl  may  be  called  the  period  of  fccrecy  and 
l^ublic  ignorance.  For  though  witiiin  this  fpace  of  about 
the  iirfl  thirty  years  there  was  a  little  open  knowledge  of 
them  at  the  beginning,  vet  they  foon  fo  evaniilied  and 
fcuiied  themfelves  from  the  public  view,  that  excepi 
ibme  little  apprehenfions  of  them  in  1664  and  1684, 
•whicli  foon  pafl'ed  off,  they  were  i'o  1o(l  that  the  body  of 
fe  people,  the  magiflrates  and  miniilers,  thought  and 
knev/  no  more  oi  them  than  if  they  had  been  in  Swit- 
zerland, and  really  fu])pof?d  they  had  abdicated  the 
continent.  They  Were  willingly  and  really  ignorant. 
All  the  knowledge  there  was  oi  thera  was  certain,  but 
it  was  confine^l  and  fniit  up  in  the  endangered  bofoms 
cjf  the  itw  confidents  immediately  concerned  in  aiding 
in  their  conceahmcnt  ;  and  thefe  few  were  fome  of  thvj 
iK-Il  and  moft  excellent  charadters  in  the  country,  both 
civilians  and  minider?.  It  may  be  faid  therefore  that 
the  yesr  16(^0  fouad  the  country  anid  world  in  total  igno- 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  185 

ranee.     Two  had  been  now  dead  for  ten  or  a  dozen 
years,  and  the  other  was  alfo  then  deceafed. 

2.  The  fecond  period  opened  with  a  certain  portion 
of  corfimunication  or  degree  of  pubhc  difcovery,  which 
fpread  in  a  general,  vague  and  bUnd  manner  through 
New-England,  and  has  continued  much  the  fame  to 
this  day,  with  only  this  difference,  that  the  means  of 
certain  information,  as  far  as  the  information  was  ac- 
tually imparted,  continued  in  being,  and  could  at  any 
time  be  appealed  to,  by  fufficient  numbers  to  fupport 
and  eftabhfh  the  public  affurance,  during  that  term. — 
This  expired  with  the  death  of  the  RuiTels.  A  part  of 
their  hiftory  was  communicated,  and  part  (till  conceal- 
ed to  the  end  ;  and  this  was  done  with  thoroughly  me- 
ditated defign  and  counfel.  That  they  had  all  along 
lived,  and  that  two  of  them  died  in  the  country,  and 
the  places  of  their  concealed  abodes,  were  difclofed  and 
afcertained.  But  for  fome  reafon  or  other,  the  flight  or 
death  of  GofFe,  and  the  graves  and  places  of  interment 
of  two  of  them  were  concealed,  though  equally  known 
to  the  few  in  the  fecret.  The  reft  of  their  hiltory  was 
fufficiently  and  defigncdly  communicated.  I  fay  fuf- 
ficiently,  although  with  a  cautious  avoidance  of  a  too 
particular  account  of  the  refpedlive  agency  of  each  par- 
ticular perfon,  and  the  fources,  mode  .  nd  inftruments, 
through  which  fupplies  and  comforts  were  adminiftered 
to  perlbns  attainted  and  fubje6led  to  the  PerdueUionis  ij 
Icejce  Majejiatis  Pcena, 

It  being  determmed  to  conceal  the  graves,  it  became 
neceffary  to  frame  and  adjuft  a  narrative  accordingly,, 
adhering  to  the  truth  as  far  as  any  thing  was  pofitively 
communicated,  and  leaving  the  public  to  their  own  de- 
du6lions,  inferences  and  conje6lures  for  the  reft,  which 
fhould  be  fuppreffed.  Thofe  in  the  fecret  were  very 
"willing  to  let  the  public  bewilder  and  deceive  ihemfelves 
on  a  matter  as  to  which  they  had  no  right  to  informa- 
tion; on  which  information  might  induce  danger  totli9 


i8y       HISTOPV    OF    THREE    OP    THE    JUDGL.? 

bones  of  tlicir  deceafed  friends,  if  not  to  ibme  furvivorg^ 
We  may  then  diilinguirh  the  ftate  of  the  public  in- 
formation during  this  period  into  what  was  certain,  and 
what  was  MwrnW?; ;  and  again  the  fee  ret  knowledge 
preferved  among  a  few  at  fu-il:  equally  certain,  but  now 
Io/9.  I  have  already  faid  that  there  was  pubHc  certain 
information,  l.  As  to  the  places  of  the  actual  refidence 
of  all  three.  2.  That  one  died  at  Hadley,  and  was 
buried  in  Mr.  RulTel's  cellar  or  garden.  3.  The  An- 
gel ilory.  4.  That  the  other  one  di (appeared  from  Had- 
ley foon  after  the  death  of  the  firft.  5.  The  time  of 
Dix well's  death,  and  the  place  of  his  grave. 

The  information  or  conje6lures  which  were  left 
vague,  undetermined  and  uncertain,  and  which  were 
^•ithin  the  certain  knowledge  of  a  few  durinsc  this  period, 
v.ere,  i.  The  remaining  hiftory  of  GofFe,  and  the 
place  and  time  of  his  death.  2.  The  removal  of  the 
L'.idies  of  GotTe  and  Whalley  to  New-Haven,  if  this 
was  fa 61.  Thefe  things  were  once  within  the  certain 
knov/ledge  of  Ruifel,  Tillton,  Dixv^^ell,  Pierpont  and 
Jones,  Thereafons  which  induced  them  to  withhold  aE 
ficlaircifTement  upon  thcfe  fubjc6ls  continued  to  their 
d«?aths,  and  with  them  all  primary  certain  infoi-mation 
terminated.  In  truth  there  occurred  no  time  during 
their  lives  in  which  tlie  full  development  of  the  hiftory 
of  the  judges  would  not  have  endangered  the  dilturbance 
of  their  bones,  a  thing  frequently  threatened  even  down 
to  the  prefent  day,  and  which  was  probably  the  ulti^ 
mate  and  commanding  reafon  for  concealment.  Sa 
late  as  the  laft  French  war,  1760,  fome  Britifh  officers 
pafling  through  New-Haven,  and  hearing  of  Dixwell's 
grave,  vi filled  it,  and  declared  with  rancorous  and  ma- 
licious vengeance,  that  if  the  Britifh  miniftry  knew  it, 
they  would  even  then  caufe  their  bodies  to  be  dug  up  and 
riliiied.  Often  have  we  heard  the  Crown  Officers 
afpcrfingand  vilifying  them  ;  and  fome  fo  late  as  1775 
Yifitcd  and  treated  the  grave  vvith  marks  of  indignity  too 
indecent  to  bs  mer)UOj*ed;     It  was  clpecially  dangerous 


OF    KING    CH-ARLES     I.  187 

in  Qiiecn  Anne's  time,  and  even  during  the  Hanoverian 
family,  there  has  been  no  time  in  which  this  grave  has 
not  been  threatened  by   numerous  fycophantic    crown 
dependants,  with  indignity  and  miniilerial  vengeance. 
All  which  will  flicw  that  the  reafon   for  concealment 
of  the  graves  of  Goffe  and   Whalley  continued  to  the 
end  of  the  hves  of  thofe  who  were  polTefled  of  primary 
certain  knowledge.     In  confequence  of  which  all  that 
they  left  from  them  to  the  public,  was  with  **  it  is  faid," 
and  **  fome   fay,"    and   "  fome  have   believed,"    and 
^*  fome  have  fuppofcd" — that  one  was  buried  in  Mr. 
Ruffel's  cellar  or  garden  ;  that  the  other  was  buried  in 
Mr.  Tillton's    garden,  or  went  oiF  weftward  towards 
New-Haven,    Virginia,  &c.     This  was  what  came 
from  the  really  knowing  ones,  when  preifcd  with  the 
queftion.  Where  were   Goffe  and  Whalley  buried  ? — ■ 
They  left   the  public    perfe6lly  uncertain  ;  although  I 
believe  they  left  or  knew  the  pubhc  to  conceive  with 
one  general  confent  that  they  were  both  buried  privately 
in  fome  place  unknown  in  Hadley.     Nor  had  the  pub- 
lic the  lead  idea  of  their  removal.     If  Randolph  had 
found  out  their  deaths,  which  took  place  in  his  time, 
and  had  been  empowered  to  dilturb  their  graves  at  Had- 
ley, he  mjght  have  been  pointed  to  the  places  in  which 
they  had  been  truely  buried,  and  leaked  his  malice  up- 
on earth  then  uncharged  with  fuch    precious  relicls. — 
The  Judges  were  Oliverians,  and   might   have  placed 
an  illufion  of  their  enemies,  as  the  Protector  is  faid  to 
have  done,  by  enclofing  the  decapitated  Charles  in  3 
coffin^  infcribed   with   his   own  name,  in  the  certaia 
forefight  of  future  indignity. 

During  this  fecond  period,  or  the  period  of  certainty^ 
the  lew  perfons  of  primary  certain  information,  might 
take  efFe6lual  care  to  impregnate  a  feled  few,  with  de- 
rivative d^ndjecondary  certain  information,  that  it  might 
be  fecurely  tranfmitted  to  the  times  of  fafety.  That  is 
Mr,  RulTel  of  Branford,  Governor  Jones  and  Governor 
Jiiliop,  perfoDS  of  primary  certainty,  might  «)nfiden'> 


tSB      HISTORY   OF   THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

tially  impart  it  to  Major  Mansfield,  the  Ailing  and 
Trowbridge  families,  with  whom  Governor  Leete'> 
family  had  become  connected  by  marriage,  and  a  few- 
others  at  New-Haven,  to  continue  the  tradition.  And 
if  the  bodies  were  in  fa6l  removed,  thefe  might  be  thus 
pofTeffed  of  a  Jecondary  certain  information  of  the  fa6^, 
and  of  the  place  of  their  graves  in  our  burylng-yard. — 
And  yet  death  might  have  overtaken  them  before  the 
timeof  fafety  for  public  promulgation.  In  which  cafe 
the  next  generations  mult  be  left  to  fable  and  the  vague 
and  unevidenced  traditions  of  the  prefent  day.  Thus  I 
have  gone  through  the  ftate  of  information  to  1731,  or 
the  death  of  Mr.  RulFel  of  Branford. 

3.  The  third  period  maybe  that  from  1731  to  the 
prefent  day.  In  the  beginning  of  this  period  and 
down  to  1748,  the  death  of  Samuel  Bifhop,  Efq.  aged 
82,  fon  of  the  Governor,  there  were  ftill  means  of 
continuing  certain  and  authoritative  information  from 
them  who  were  firft  concerned.  But  whether  the  thing 
grew  into  defuetude,  or  whether  they  communicated  it 
to  perfons  of  unawaked  curiofity  or  heedlefs  inattention, 
or  from  whatever  canfe,  the  thing  is  fo  gone  from  us, 
that  from  a  very  diligent  inquiry  at  Hadley  and  New- 
Haven,  I  have  not  found  3  iingle  perfon  that  can  fay- 
that  whatever  knowledge  they  now  have,  they  received 
it  fiK)m  any  of  thofe  ancient  perfons  now  dead,  whom 
I  know,  or  have  reafon  to  think,  to  have  been  polIelTed 
oi  i\\Q  fecondary  certain  information.  I  have  reafon  to 
think  indeed  that  fuch  perfons  of  a  third  defcent  in  de- 
rivative evidence  have  been  to  be  found  here  till  1775. 
And  I  believe  about  that  time  the  line  of  authoritative 
information  ceafed.  None  now  living  can  fay  that  they 
were  told  by  Mr.  Samuel  Biiliop,  fon  of  the  Governori, 
or  by  any  other  perfon  poilefTed  of  certain  derivative  in- 
formation where  GofFe  died,  or  whether  the  bodies  ot 
Whalley  and  GofFe  were  removed,  or  where  finally  de- 
pofited,  either  at. Hadley  or  New-Haven.  As  to  thefe 
things    all  authoritative    iuforniation  is   at    an^  end^ 


O?  KING    CHARLES     f*  itq^ 

all  terminates  in  immemorial  tradition.  I  mean  this 
with  refpe^l  to  that  fecreted  information  which  was 
long  prelerved  and  tranfmitted  among  a  few,  but  never 
left  authenticated  ;  not  with  refpeil:  to  thofe  certain 
fa£ls  before  ftated,  as  given  forth  at  the  firft  promulga- 
tion of  the  hlilory  of  the  Judges,  about  1692  ;  of  whicb 
authentic  documents  are  preferved  in  Hutchinfon,  as- 
well  as  in  unq.ucftionable  tradition. 

4.  There  remains  however  fome  traditionary  noti* 
fias,  which  after  the  failure  of  the  Hne  of  certain  in-- 
formation,  fome  may  have  the  curiofity  to  attend  tOj 
and  expend  fome  little  pains  in  attempting  to  account 
for,  or  perhaps  adventure  fome  dedu61:ion5  and  inferen- 
ces from  them.  I  (hall  therefore  reprefent  airJ  (late 
them  at  large,  leaving  every  one  to  mrl'e  their  ow» 
improvement  of  them. 

I  have  obferved,  that  though  heretofort  unknown  i& 
fne,  I  have  lately  found,  that  there  has  been  an  imme-- 
morial  tradition  anx^ng  fome  veryfewperfonsin  New- 
Haverr,  that  more  of  the  Judges  than  Dixwell,  and 
that  particularly  Whalley,  lies  buried  in  New- Haven* 
The  moft  of  the  inhabitants  now  Hving  know  nothing 
of  it,  nor  have  ever  heard  of  fuch  a  furmife.  I  have 
converfed  with  almoft  all  the  very  aged  inhabitants  now 
living,  and  with  above  fifty  aged  60  and  upwards  to  90 
— and  have  not  found  above  two  or  three  who  feem  to 
have  ever  had  the  idea.  I  have  converfed  with  num- 
bers under  this  age,  and  have  found  but  five  now  living 
who  have  had  this  idea  ;  but  thefe  have  it  flrongly  ana 
immoveably.  The  firft  of  thefe  was  Mr.  Ifaac  Jones  j 
and  though  a  defcendant  from  Governor  Jones,  he  dees 
not  pretend  to  derive  it  from  the  Jones  but  the  Pierpont 
family,  which  is  equally  original.  This  is  only  as  to 
the  E.  W.  ftoneas  Whalley 's,  but  not  a  wordof  GofFe's 
being  here.  Two  others  I  can  trace  to  the  Mansfield 
and  Ailing  families,  of  derivative  and  fecondary  cer- 
tainty. One  I  trace  to  a  diretSt  and  immediate  deriva- 
tioa  from  Samuel  Bifhop,  Efc]^.  {qh  of  the  Governor^ 


19^       HISTORY    OF   THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

ivho  was  of  primary  information,  and  undoubtedly  af- 
fifted  in  the  removal  and  interment  of  Whalley  here, 
if  indeed  he  ever- was  interred  here.  The  derivation 
from  Mr.  Fierpont  refj^eds  Whalley  ;  that  from  Manf- 
field,  Ailing  and  Bifhop,  aflerts  that  other  and  all  the 
Judges  lie  buried  together  here.  But  when  I  afked 
how  they  came  here,  thefe  informants  knew  nothing 
of  the  matter,  and  not  one  of  them  feeraed  to  have 
turned  it  in  their  thoughts  ;  -^nd  particularly  upon  my 
affuring  them  that  Whalley  certainly  died  at  Hadley, 
and  muft  have  been  taken  up  and  lemoved,  they  all 
dechire  they  never  heard  any  thing  about  fuch  removal, 
nor  could  recolle6l  tlie  leaft  furmife  of  the  kind.  Mr. 
Jones  is. particular  and  confident  as  to  "^Vhalley  being 
here,  but  nf:ver  heard  of  GofFe  being  here,  nor  of  any 
removal.  The  others  never  difcriminate.'  the  names  of 
either  GoJe  or  Whdley,  but  only  that  all  the  other 
Judges  befides  DixwU  lay  here,  as  v>'ell  rs  Dixweli. 
Mr.  1/Iofes  jM!ansfield,  now  living,  a  great- rravid-fon 
of  Majox-  Mofes  Mansfield,  received  informajoii  not 
only  in  the  'MansHeld  and  Ailing  families,  from  both 
of  which  he  is  defcended,  but  mod  particularly  from 
Mr.  Job^Eifhop,  f()n  of  Samuel,  and  gr.^nd-fon  of  the 
Governor.  I.lr.  Job  Biihop  was  curious  and  of  reten- 
tive memory  in  thefe  matters,  and  was  full  of  the  anec- 
dotes and  memoirs  of  the  Judges,  andufed  even  to  old 
age  to  talk  of  them,  and  narrate  the  ftories  about  them 
with  a  very  feeling  and  interefting  fenfibility.  Their 
fate  and  hillory  had  made  a  deep  and  lading  impreffion 
upon  his  mind.  He  died  about  1786,  aged  81.  Often 
has  Mr.  Mansfield  fat  and  heard  him  tell  their  hiftory. 
And  among  other  things,  he  perfectly  remembers  that 
Mr.  Bifhop  ufed  to  fay  that  **  they  all  lay  buried  here 
with  Dixweli."  I  wilhed  him  to  reconfider  :  he  did  ; 
and  remained  certain  that  Mr.  Bilhop  faid,  "they  all 
Jay  buried  here."  But  he  never  thought  how  they  came 
here,  nor  did  M--  Biiliop  fay  any  thing  that  he  remem- 
bers about  any  removal.     Nor  did  he  ever  turn  it  in  his 


OF   KING    CHARLES     I.  t^t 

mind,  or  advert  to  the  circumftance  that  one  at  lea(t 
died  at  Hadiey.  This  concurs  with  Mrs.  Beers,  in  a 
derivation  from  the  AUing  and  Mansfield  families,  that 
the  otjier  Judges  lay  here  as  well  as  Dixwell.    , 

Walking  the  Green  in  this  city  one  evening  lately,  I 
met  another  perfon  aged  75,  who  was  born  and  lived 
many  years  on  the  eai?  fide  of  the  Green,  about  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  rods  from  thefe  graves  ;  which  graves,  he 
faid,  he  always  knew  from  a  boy,  and  that  the  Judges 
were  buried  there.  I  aiked  him  if  all  three  lay  there  r 
he  faid,  no  ;  there  were  but  two  there.  I  afked,  if  cer- 
tainly moT^t  than  Dixwell  ?  Yes,  two,  I  fay  ;  there 
were  two,  and  only  two.  He  was  a  frank,  plain,  blunt 
fpoken  ruLiic.  Who  were  they  ?  Dixwell, — and  I 
don't  remember  the  name  of  the  other  :  but  there  was 
another,  and  there  was  only  two — I  can't  certainly  re- 
member his  name — but  I  think  it  was  one  Do6lor 
Whalley.  Did  you  never  hear  that  three  lay  here  r  — 
No,  I  tell  you,  there  were  only  two;  and  go  along  with 
me,  and  I  will  (how  you  their  graves.  It  was  in  the 
duOc  of  the  evening,  between  eight  and  nine  o'clock,  in 
May,  and  I  omitted  it.  When  was  your  firfl:  know- 
ledge of  thefe  ftones  and  graves  as  the  Judges'  ?  I  know 
not — always — from  a  boy- — I  don't  know  when  I,  did 
not  know  it — I  always  knew  it — I  have  known  it  all 
my  life  long.  This  I  confider  as  evidence  that  it  is  not 
a  modern  or  late  furmife,  but  that  it  was  fo  rumoured 
feventy  or  eighty  years  ago,  when  perhaps  it  was  trite 
among  a  great  number  of  the  inhabitants,  and  in  many 
families,  though  now  loft  in  all  but  two  or  three  ;  and 
almoft  extin6l  in  them. 

In  connexion  with  and  In  addition  to  this,  is  the  uni- 
form tradition  among  the  grave-diggers,  particularly 
of  one  family,  not  that  all  the  Judges,  but  that  one  be- 
fides  Dixwell,  lies  buried  here,  and  that  this  am  was 
Whalley,  and  that  the  ftone  E.  W.  was  Whalley 's— 
This  IS  efpecially  to  t)e  found  in  one  particular  braapit 


jg2       HISTORY    OF   THREE    OF    THE   H'1>GE^ 

of  the  family  of  Tuttle.  All  the  Tuttles  in  and  akoiit 
ih'is  town  have  derived  from  Mr.  William  Tuiile,  one 
of  the  firlt  planters,  and  among  the  more  wcahhy  fet- 
tlers  of  New- Haven  in  1^37.  it  is  in  one  fubfeouent 
branch  that  this  tradition  is  to  be  found,  that  of  Caleb 
and  his  defcendants  ;  as  I  cannot  find  it  am'ong  any  of 
the  other  defcendants  of  the  firfl  William.  Mr.  Caleb 
Tuttle  was  the  fon  of  Thomas,  fon  of  the  original  an- 
ceflor,  WilHam.  He  was  born  about  1670,  and  died 
about  1750,  fo  very  aged,  as  to  have  been  grown  up, 
and  perhaps  aged  18  or  20  at  Dixwell's  death,  and  fo 
muft  have  perfonally  known  him.  I  formerly  knew 
fundry  aged  perfons  here,  who  knew  and  were  acquaint- 
ed perfonally  with  Dixw<ill,  and  with  his  charadler 
from  its  firft  promulgation.  This  Caleb  Tuttle  was 
the  firftof  the  grave-diggers,  or  fextons,  of  this  name. 
From  one  of  the  Tuttle  family  born  in  New-Haven, 
1708,  and  now  living,  ?ged85,  as  well  as  indeed  from 
feveral  other  aged  perforis,  I  have  learned  the  names  of 
all  the  grave-cli^:gers  here  during  his  life.  When  he 
was  a  boy,  Nathaniel  Tharp  was  the  firft  he  remembers, 
who  died  1716  very  aged,  when  he  himfelf  was  aged 
8.  Smce  that  there  have  been  Dawfon,  Butler  and 
others,  while  all  along  without  interruption,  to  the  pre- 
fent  day,  the  principal  of  the  bufinefs  has  been  done  by 
Caleb  Tuttle  and  the  branch  defcendant  from  him. — > 
Caleb  began  before  Tharp 's  death,  and  continued  to 
within  my  memorv,  and  as  his  foris  and  grand-fons 
grew  up  they  took  the  bufmefs  down  to  the  prefent  time. 
The  fucelhon  in  this  family  has  been  thus. 

Grave-Diggers, 

Old  Mr.  Caleb  Tuttle,  lay  from   17x0  to  1742. 

His  fon,  James  Tuttle,  from  about  1735,  to  1770. 

Abraham,  brother  of  James,   1760,  to  1780. 

Ricliard  Tuttle,  fon  of  Abraham,  1768  to  1792. 

Richard  tells  me  that  he  received  the  (lory  of  the  E. 
W.».ltone,  as  well  as  Dixwell's  fione,  from  his  fathec 
and  his  uncle  James,  and  they  from  his  graad-fatbef, 


"OF   K.1NC    CHARLES     I,  l^^ 

"^aleb  ;  a  plain,  good  man,  whom  I  well  knew,  a 
man  of  integrity,  very  intimate  with  Governor  Jones's 
fon,  they  having  married  iifleis.  But  whence  Caleb 
got  it,  Richard  knovt'Snot.  Caleb  was  acquainted  with 
'Governor  Jones  and  Major  MaiiSneld,  was  born  and 
all  his  days  uved  a  near  neighbor  to  them  both,  and  to 
the  late  Samuel  Bilhop,  Efq.  fon  of  the  Governorj 
which  Mr.  Bilhop  lived  to  1748,  when  he  died 
aged  82,  and  mult  have  been  aged  23  at  Dixwcli's 
-death.  Thus  he  was  all  his  life  cotemporary  with  Mr. 
Bifhop,  v/ho  was  perfectly  acquainted,  partly  of  him- 
felf  and  partly  from  his  father,  with  ail  the  anecdotes 
refpe6ling  the  Judges.  .  Caleb,  as  I  have  fuid,  w-as  a 
fon  of  Mr.  Thomas  Tuttle,  who  with  Major  Mans- 
field, was  an  appraifer  of  Dixweli's  eftate  in  1689. — 
Thomas  I  have  been  told  affiiled  in  laying  out  Mr. 
Dixwell ;  and  there  is  fome  reafon  to  believe  that  he 
was.  the  very  perlcii'  that  privately  dug  Whalley's  grave-, 
and  alTifted  at  his  fecret  interment  here.  If  fo,  it  is 
no  wonder  that  his  defcendants  ihculd  be  charged  and* 
ifrongly  impregnated  with  this  iamily  idea  and  defigKa- 
tion  of  Whalley's  grave.  Thus  Caleb  from  his  father, 
and  by  his  intimate  connexion  with  Governor  Jones's 
family,  Mr.  Bilhop  and  Mr.  Pierpont,  was  certainly 
on  the  way  of  fecret  information  fufficient  for  the  pur- 
pofe  of  this  impregnation,  at  lead:  that  Whalley  as  well 
as  Dixwell  was  buried  here,  and  for  the  defigiiation  of 
their  graves.  He  v/as  a  zealous  religioniii,  and  warm- 
ly captivated  and  carried  away  with  characters  diilin- 
guiflied  for  holinefs  and  piety  :  and  according  to  my 
idea  of  the  man,  whom  1  well  remembrr,  he 'would, 
I  lliould  think,  have  liilciicd  to  ilie  anecdotes  and  hiito- 
ry  of  thefe  pious  and  heroic  fuffereis,  with  avidity  and 
curious  and  feehng  attention.  I  doubt  not  he  knew  more 
about  the  lubjeft  than  all  his  poitcrity.  And  he.  is  the 
fource  cf  the  information  concerning  the  Whalley  ftone. 
The  original  knowing  ones,  might  judge  it  one  cf 
tbe  fafefi  and  fureft  means,  befides  oral  tiadition  amcns 


K 


194       HISTORY    OK    THREfi    OF    THE    JUDGES 

a  few  families,  of  tranfmitting  and  perpetuating  the 
mennonal  of  Whalley,  by  impregnating  the  grave-dig- 
gers in  this  line  with  the  information.  However  they 
got  it,  they  have  immemorially  had  it,  certainly  for 
cisjhty  or  ninety  years  ;  and  have  often  pointed  it  out  to 
lin believing  fpe^ators,  for  few  ever  believed  or  realized 
it  to  be  the  grave  of  the  true  Whalley.  And  hundreds 
o.oubtiefs  confidered  it  as  only  a  fable  :  while  the  grave- 
diggers  have,  for  no  reafon  indeed  which  they  can  ad- 
duce, ftcadily  believed  it  with  the  moft  confident  affu- 
rence.  They  no  more  doubt  Whalley's  than  Dixvveli's 
— t'ney  arc  equally  pofitive  as  to  both. 

Air.  Prout  might,  and  doubtlefs  often  did,  hear  it 
from  tliC  grave-diggers  :  but  I  do  not  learn  that  he  ever 
fpake  of  it  as  derived  from  them.  Indeed  he  derived 
it  eifcwhcre.  His  age  and  connexions  enabled  him  to 
have  recourfe  to  much  higher,  even  original  authority. 
He  was  always  in  the  Dixwell  connexion  from  his 
■»outhup  ;  he  v/as  pcrfonally  acquainted  with  Mr.  Pier- 
'  3nt,  ivlr.  RulTel,  Major  Mansfield,  Mr.  Ailing  and 
Ir.  Biihop,  and  indeed  with  Governor  Jones  himfelf ; 
-.uid  indeed  v/ith  sil  thofe  few  chara6lers  at  the  beginning 
r)f  the  prefent  century,  who  were  mod  intimately  con- 
r.erned  in  this  affair.  His  fifrer  Mansiield,  confort  of 
•therifr  Mansfield,  ion  of  the  Major,  was  a  v.^arm  ad- 
snirer  and  great  venerator  of  the  Judges,  and  verfed  in 
^hcir  hifiory.  Her  daughter,  Madam  Throopc,  aged 
■75,  relisSI:  of  the  reverend  William  1  hroope,  tells  me, 
4 hat  once,  when  a  girl,  riding  with  her  parents  together 
*jn  ach.aife,  or  calaCi,  they  palTt^d  by  Dixwell 's  houfe, 
r,er  mother  defired  Mr.  Mansfield  to  ftop,  and  while 
fitting  in  the  carnage  file  mourned  over  and  lamented 
}Vim,  as  a  pious  and  holy  irian,  and  enlarged  in  his  praif- 
lio  and  commendation,  faying  many  holy  prayers  had 
^ten  made  in  that  houfe.  From  lier  1  was  afcertained 
ihc  place  of  Dixwell's  houfe,  which  was  (tandingtill 
^756.  Her  brother  Prout  had  the  fame  veiieration  for 
V;Rfi;gocd  inc-F..     And  tc  ©Id  age,  r.nd  even  forty  yeari 


iv 


OF    ICING    CHARLES     f.  li):i{ 

ago,  heufed  in  converfation  with  me  to  fpeak  of  ilie  ai'- 
fair  and  hiilory  of  thefe  Judges,  with  the  mofl  engaged 
and  interefled  feehng,  beyond  any  man  f  h.ave  ever 
heard  fpeak  of  it.  He  had  alnioit  their  whole  hiilory 
famihar  to  him,  and  was  full  of  it,  and  delighted  to  tel! 
it,*and  to  dwell  upon  it.  He  never  faid  any  ill  lag  about 
their  removal.  But  in  his  frequent  and  veiboiecfjnvcr- 
fations  with  the  reverend  Mr.  Cjiauncey  Whitteifcy,  ci 
this  city,  upon  theiiibje61:  of  the  Judges,  after  nicntiojv- 
ing  that  one  died  and  was  buried  in  Mr.  RulTel's  cclin-, 
hefpake  with  the  fame  caution  that  the  RuiVels  and  the 
other  confidential  cotemporaries  muR  have  been  ukxl  io 
fpeak — •"  as  to  the  other,  it  is  not  known  what  became 
of  him  ;  fome  faid  he  went  off  from  Hadley  to  the  weft- 
ward  towards  Virginia  ;  fome  have  fuppofed  that  \\^ 
lies  buried  fomewherc  in  our  burying  yard."  This  hig 
faid  to  Mr.  Whittelfey  and  others.  I  do  not  find  from 
fundry  that  have  heard  Mr.  Prout  fpeak  of  the  matter, 
that  he  ever  fpake  of  n^orc  than  one  of  the  other  Judg&s 
being  fuppofed  to  be  buried  here  befides  Dixwell.  In- 
deed though  he  was  perfonally  acquainted  with  originals, 
I  (hould  not  judge  that  their  difcretion  would  have  fe- 
ie6led  him  for  confidential  and  plenary  fccrets,  while 
he  was,  on  account  of  his  focial  and  communica- 
tive difpofition,  a  very  proper  perfon  through  v.'hom  to 
tranfmit,  preferve  and  dilFufe  important  information, 
ire  was  the  gendeman  and  the  chriftian.  He  was  born 
in  New-IIaven  November  19^  1689,  and  died  here 
Apri  1  4,   1 7  7  6 ,  aged  8 7 .  4- 

But  fuppofing  Whalley  buried  here,  whence  came  it 
that  tradition  fixed  upon  t-ie  ftone  E.  W.  for  Whaliey's 
monument,  with  1658  ciigraved  over  it,  when  the  very 
date  mull  refute  it,  being  two  years  before  the  Judges 
camxe  into  this  country  ?  This  is  a  quefiion  I  leave 
every  one  to  fjlve  for  liimfelf :  as  well  as  to  reconcile  it 
with  the  archives  of  Nevv'-Haven,  in  whofe  obituary 
no  fiich  initials  are  to  be  found  at  that  year  ;  as  neitheV 
^ic  they  at  th/S,^  fuppofing  the  date  to  be  To  TQm,.     I 


!()&■     HISTORY    OF    THR25    OF    THE    JUDGES 

leave  It  alfo  with  every  one  to  account  for  the  dubiouf-. 
ne(s,  to  fay  the  lead  of  that  figure  in  both  the  head  and 
foot  fiOHes,  if  in  either  it  mi^ht  be  afcribed  to  accident 
and  cafualty.  How  llionld  the  cafiiaity  happen  to  both, 
efpecially  when  the  other  figures  are  plain  ?  If  any 
fhoiild  rather  ai'cribe  it  to  intentional  and  defigned  ar- 
tifice fjr  concealment,  it  might  comport  with  that  vi- 
gilant, preconcerted  and  unremitted  caution,  which 
has  certainly  been  pra6lifed  in  this  v^/hole  affair,  by  the 
few  who  were  certainly  knowing,  and  even  perfectly 
knovv'ing  to  the  whole  affair,  and  could  have  put  the 
matter  out  of  all  doubt,  but  defignedly,  and  moft  induf- 
trioudy,  and  too  efncacioully  concealed  it,  fo  as  evea 
to  become  totally  lod,  as  never  to  be  inveftigated,  until 
the  refurreclion  of  the  juft.  I  leave  it  further  for  every 
one  to  account  in  his  own  way  for  the  uninterrupted 
tradition  of  the  grave-diggers  in  the  line  of  the  Tutd© 
family.  How  flibuld  it  originate  ?  For  that  it  has  fub- 
fifted  feventy  or  eighty  years  at  leaff,  and  even  from, 
the  beginning,  or  immemorially,  I  confider  as  proved^ 
Although  new  to  me,  I  have  upon  Inquiry  found  with 
certainty  that  fuch  a  furmife  and  tradition  has  all  along 
been  to  be  found  here  among  a  icw,  while  the  main 
body  of  the  inhabitants  now  living,  have  all  along  heard 
nothing  of  it,  or  at  lead  never  noticed  it.  Whence 
could  It  otiginate  ?  Mad  it  been  faid  in  Hadley  that 
they  were  buried  in  this  ar^d  the  other  pl;ice,  vv'e  might 
confider  it  a  conje6lure  of  ignorance:  After  knowing 
itey  died  tlicre  it  was  natural  to  inquire  the  places  of 
their  graves,  and  in  their  ignorance  tlicre  v/asroom  and 
occafion  for  uncertain  conjeclure.  But  when  nobody 
ever  thought*,of  their  dying  at  New- Haven,  nor  of  their 
removal  hither,  what  (hould  have  given  occaiion  amidil 
their  ignorauce  alfo  at  New-Haven,  to  even  the  fur- 
mi  f?,  much  more  to  the  pofitively  fixing  on  the  very 
grave?  and  on  account  of  the  date,  one  of  the  molt 
improbabb  graves  in  the  y-iid  ? 


OP    KING    CHARLES     I.  197 

Till  within  twenty  years  paO:  there  have  been  peribui 
of  intelligence  alive  in  town  who  w^ere  derivatively  pof- 
felled  of  all  the  Ruffel  information,  and  could  have  an- 
nulled tlie  E.  W.  ftone.  Among  the  inhabitants  of 
New- Haven  were  thefe  :  Mrs.  M'Ncil,  a  daughter  of 
Mr.  Ruffel  of  Branford,  a  very  fenfible  woman,  and  an 
adept  in  the  hiltory  of  GofFe  and  Whalley  ;  which  (he; 
faid'fhe  learned  from  her  father  ;  and  as  to  the  Judges 
lying  here  or  not  (he  undoubtedly  knew  all  that  her  fa- 
ther knew.  Samuel  Mansfield,  A.  M.  and  Samuel 
Cook,  A.M.  who  married  fnerilF  Mansfield's  filler, 
v.- ere  full  of  the  family  information.  Mr.  Cook  had 
not  only  the  Mansfield  information,  but  that  of  his  fa- 
ther, the  reverend  Samuel  Cook,  of  Stratfield,  who 
had  lived  many  years  in  New- Haven  the  beginning  of 
this  century  ;  was  an  intimate  acquaintance  and  con- 
nexion of  Judge  Dixwell'sfon,  Mr.  Pierpont  and  Mr. 
Rufiel,  and  ardently  interefted  in  the  fateof  the  Judges. 
Thefe,  befides  other  branches  of  the  Mansfield  and  Ai- 
ling fiimilies,  who  were  perfectly  acquainted  with  Mr. 
R-iiifel,  furvived  to  wiihin  thefe  fifteen  or  twenty  years. 
In  this  circle  the  hiilory  of  the  Judges  was  frequently 
converfed  upon.  And  among  them  all,  there  miiii 
have  been  knowledge  enough  to  have  refuted  the  mif- 
take.  It  is,  I  find,  certain  that  they  knew  this  E.  W. 
.ftone  was  fpoken  of  by  fomc  as  Whalley's,  and  none 
ever  heard  them  contradidt  it.  They  certainly  enter- 
tained and  fuiferedthis  idea  at  times  to  pafs  from  them, 
that  other  Judges  befides  Dixwell  lay  buried  here.  I 
was  form^erly  acquainted  with  all  thefe  perfons,  and 
have  often  heard  the  molt  of  them  with  great  engaged- 
nefs  converfe  on  the  fate  and  anecdotes  of  thefe  Judges  ; 
and  I  doubt  not,  if  they  were  living,  they  could  throw 
fufficient  light  upon  the  fubjeft.  But  their  knowledge 
is  buried  with  them.  They  were  the  lad,  and  there 
remain  no  more  prefent  means  of  fatisfa6fory  informa- 
tion. I  have  been  tohi  much  that  thefe  and  other  an- 
cient pcifons  have  faid  and  narr^itsd  about  the  Juds;es, 
K  2, 


lOS        HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

I  have  been  told  that  IheriiF  Mansfield,  a  very  relpecia^ 
ble  character, j^ia  the  year  1774  (hewed  a  member  of 
Congrefs,  of  another  (late,  Dixvvell-s  ftone,  at  the  fame 
tiras  iheweJ  him  the  E.  \V.  (lone,  and  aifured  him 
that  this  was  Whalby's ;  fo  that  this  gentleman  to  this 
day  remains  eqnah'y  imprelied  with  the  equal  ceriainty 
of  bcith,  the  one  as  well  as  the  other.  And  iheriff  Mans- 
field knew  it,  if  Mr.  Rulfelof  Branford  knew  it. 

Still  therefore  purfning  the  fuppontion  that  Vvhalley 
lies  buried  here,  though  by  no  means  confidering  it  as  a 
tiling  that  can  ev^er  be  proved  :  it  mull  follow  that,  af- 
ter his  undoubted  fepultnre  at  Hadley,  he  was  taken  up 
and  fecretly-removed  to  New- Haven.  But,  as  I  faid, 
I  can  find  ilo  tradition  at  New-Haven  or  Hadley  of 
iuch  a  removal.  In  this  phce  I  thiiik  proper  to  iniert  a 
i-ttcr  which  I  received  from  the  reverend  Samuel  Hop- 
kin?,  miniiier  of  ffadley,  in  anrwer  to  my  letter  of  ia- 
€|uiry  upon  the  fubjecl;  of  the  Jiidge?. 

Hud!cyy  March  26,  1 79  3. 
'*  Reverend  Sir, 
**  Since  I  received  yours  of  nth  lilt.  I  have  taken 
pains  to  enquire  of  the  oldeft  people  a-nong  us,  what 
they  heard  faid,  by  the  eldeff  peik-ns  in  town  fince  their 
remcm.brance,  refpe£ting  V/jialley  and  GofFe,  their 
relidence  in  this  toun.  The  tradition  among  all  of 
them  is,  that  both  of  them  v/ere  fecreted  in  the  town  ; 
th^t  the  inhabitant.:;  at  that  time  knew  very  little  of  them, 
or  where  they  were  concealed,  except  thofe  in  v/ho(e 
houfes  they  were.  And  the  tradition  amiong  them  in 
general  is,  that  one  of  them  died  in  this  tov/n  (thofe 
who  remember  wdiich,  fay  Whalley) — that  the  other, 
Goffe,  after  the  death  of  Whalley,  left  the  town,  and 
that  it  was  not  knovv'u  where  he  went.  With  refpeiSt 
to  the  one  who  died  in  tins  town,  the  tradition  in  gene- 
ral is,  that  he  was  buried  in  Mr.  Tillton's  cellar. 

'*  Mod  of  whom  I  have  enquired  li)r  tradldon^f^^y,  that 
Vvhilc  they  were  here  the  Iridianr>  made  an  aii?iu.lt  upou 


©K  KINO    CHARLES     I.  I99 

tlietown:  that  on  this  occafion  a  per!o?i  unknown  ap- 
peared, animating  and  leading  o'a  the  inhabitants  againil 
the  enemy,  and  e;iciting  them  by  his  adtivity  and  ar- 
dour ;  that  when  tiie  Indians  were  rcprJJed,  the  fi:ran- 
ger  difappeared— was  j^one — none  cvc^r  knew  where, 
or  who  he  was.  The  above  is  the  general  tradition 
among  us. 

"  I  Ihail  now  notice  fome  things  which  were  in  the 
tradition,  as  given  by  fome^  differing  from  the  abuvcj 
or  adding  fomewhat  to  it. 

"  According  to  the  tradition  given  by  {owie,  V/hal- 
ley  and  Go^fe  were  not  concealed  the  wliole  of  the  time 
at  Mr.  RnT?rsa!id  Mr.  Tiluon's,  but  part  of  the  tima 
at  one  Smitifo.  This  I  had  in  the  family  of  tiie  SmithSo 

*'  An  old  m.an  nmon:^  us  fays,  he  reme-nbers  to  have 
heard  th2  old  people  my,  there  was  a  frnitlefs  iearch 
(by  order  of  the  government,  as  I  underfcand  it)  of  all 
the  houfes  in  Hadlcy  ;  but  tint  they  (to  u[e  his  words) 
fearched  as  if  tliey  fearched  not.  That  afcer  Wludley's 
death,  Goii^:  went  cf^  hr-l  to  ilarlibrd,  afterwards  to 
New-Haven,  wliere  lie  v/as  fuipeifed  and  in  daiigerot 
being  known,  by  his  evtraordmary  (ijxtsrity  with  thc^ 
fword  :,  lhewn^(as  he  tells  tiie  ftory)  on  a  particular  oc- 
caiion.  And  in  appreheniion  of  danger,  he  went  off* 
from  New- Haven.  Here  tradiiicn,  according  tahim^ 
ends  with  refpecl  to  Gone. 

*'  Another  iiill  older  lay?,  that  he  heard  both  his  fa- 
ther and  h-  •  — -  '  -r:;t-?r  fay,  that  WlialJey  and  Goffe 
were  both  r   ivir.   Ruilers  r.t  hrft  ;    vv^ho   for 

their  lecuriiy,  in  fafi  of  ic.irch,  mac'c  a  retreat  -for 
them  betwen  hisch:^mbcr?,  ^lA  bf-hir^d  his  chimney. — 
Th'cit  one  of  them  died  r  fs,  and  was   bu- 

ried behind  his  barn.     "^   ,    .  death  (joffe  went 

oiFinto  liie  NarrL;i:at-.{ett  ;  wastii^re  fit  upon,- and  in 
danger  of  bein:'-  ■:iki::^  :  v/eni:  ircm  thence  to  the  i()oth- 
wiird  ;  v.ashe.  Tar  as  Pennlylvania,  or   Virgi- 

nia, and  nethi;;  :  ...^.^.'..l  iurther  of  him. 


O.t)0       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    J»UUGES 
"  The  tradition  among  fome,  conncded  with  the  U- 

milyofthej'viarfhes,  is,  that  Whailey  and  Goffe  both 
died  i  a  Had  ley, 

*^  Not  many  years  after  my  fettlement  in  Hadley 
(1754)  one,  who  was  then  quite  an  old  man,  told  me, 
among  other  things,  that  the  tradition  of  the  one  that 
died  in  town  was,  that  he  was  buried  in  Mr.  Tillton's 
garden,  or  in  his  cellar.  With  refpecl  to  the  place  of 
his  burial,  I  am  of  opinion,  that  it  was  kept  fecret,  and 
was  unknown.  It  feemsto  have  been  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture among  the  inhabitants  • — in  Tillton's  cellar, — ■ 
in  his  garden— or  behind  his  barn — as  they  imagined 
mcft  probable.  Of  his  being  buried  under  a  fence  be- 
tween two  lots,  I  do  not  find  any  thing  ; — nor  of  his 
being  afterwards  removed.  I  have  fearched  for  his 
monument,  and  do  not  as  yet  by  any  means  find  the 
time  of  Tillton's  dc-ath.  Sliould  I  hereafter,  I  will  in« 
lortn  you- 

'^Samuel  Hopkins." 

I  was  at  Hadley  May  21,  1792,  making  inquiries 
only  for  gratifying  my  own  curiofity,.  and  without  a 
thought  of  compihng  this  hiflory.  The  reverend  Mr, 
Hopkins  carried  me  to  Mr.  Ruifel's  houfe,  ftiil  Hand- 
ing. It  is'a  double  houfe,  two  {lories  and  a  kitchen. 
Although  repaired  withadditiorvs,  yet  the  chamber  of  the 
Judges  remains  obviouily  in  its  origijial  ftate  unmutila- 
ted,  as  when  thefe  exiled  Worthies  inliabitted  it.  Ad- 
joining to  it  behind,  or  at  the  north  end  of  the  large 
chimney,  was  a  clofet,  in  the  floor  of  which  I  fawltiil 
remaining  the  trap  door,  through  which  they  let  them- 
felves  down  into  an  under  clofet,  iind  fo  thence  decend- 
ed  into  the  cellar  for  concealment,  in  cafe  of  fcarch  or 
furprife.  I  examined  all  thofe  places  with  attention, 
and  with  heart-felt  fympathetic  veneration  for  the  me- 
mories of  thofe  long  immured  fufferers,  thus  fhut  up 
and  feciuded  from  the  vvorM  for  the  tedious  fpace  of 
fourteen  e^f  fi^t&en  years,  in  this  voluntary  Ballile.— • 


OF    KING    CHARLES    I.  26f. 

Tlisy  mnd  have  been  known  to  the  family  anddomef- 
tics  ;  and  miifl:  have  been  frequently  expofed  to  acci- 
dciita]  dircoveries,  with  all  their  care  and  circumfpec- 
,tion  to  live  in  ftillnefs.  That  the  whole  iliould  have 
been  e[Fe6tiially  concealed  in  the  breads  of  the  knowing 
ones,  is  a  fcene  of  fecrecy  truly  aftonifliing  ! 

Mr.  Hopkin^;  and  others  p;ave  me  the  fame  account 
as  in  the  preceding  letter.  He  (hewed  me  the  place- 
where  the  oki  meeting  houfe-ilood,  1675,  at  the  Indian 
invafiOD,  about  eighty  rods  north  of  Mr.  Rufiel's  houfe. 
I  viev/ed  alfo  the  pofition  of  Mr.  Tillton's  houfe,  ftill 
rtanding,  about  a  cuarter  of  a  mile  below  Mr,  Ruf- 
fel's.t 

On  my  return  n-om  Hadley,  pailing  through  We- 
thersheld,  on  the  25th  of  May,  I  viiited  Mrs,  Porter, 
a  fenfible  and  judicious  woman,  aged  77,  in  full  polTef- 
fion  of  good  mental  powers,  and  particularly  of  memo- 
ry. She  was  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Ebenezer  Marfh,  and 
born  at  Hadley  17 15,  next  d'oor  to  Mr.  TiUtoti's,  one 
of  the  temporary  and  interchanged  refidences  of  the 
Judges.  This  honfe  was  in  her  day  occupied  by  deacon 
Eaftman.  She  had  the  geiieral  itory  of  the  Judges,  but 
faid  (lie  knew  nothing  with  certainty  concerning  diem, 
but  only  that  it  was  faid  they  fometimes  lived  at  Mr. 
RuITei's,  and  fometimes  where  deacon  Ea-tman  lived. 
There  were  many  iiying  (lories,  ihefaid,  but  (o  uncer- 
tain that  nothing  could  be  depended  on — as  among 
others,  that  one  was  buried  in  Mr.  Ruifel's  cellar,  and 
another  in  Mr.  Tillton's  lot,  in  t!^e  dividing  lence  be- 
tween Tillton's  lot  and  her  father's.  Mer  father  died 
1772,  aged  85,  and  fo  born  in  Hadley  1686,  at  his, 
father  Daniel  Marin's,  a  few  rods  n.  w.  from  Till- 
ton's  ;  and  always  lived,  as  did  his  fatlier,  in  that 
neighborhood.  As  (lie  faid  (he  had  nothing  certain,  I 
preffed  her  for  fabulous  anecdotes.  She  faid  ihe  was 
afliamed  to  tell  young  people's  whim.s  and  notions, 
VYhich  had  nothing  in  them.  But  in  the  couffe  of  coia-= 
•    t  Si£  Plate  /f  . 


2d2       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDC^S 

verfalion  flie  faid,  that  when  (he  was  a  girl,  it  was  the 
conftant  belief  among  the  neighbors,  that  an  old  man< 
for  fomc  reafon  or  other,  had  been  buried  in  the  fence 
between  deacon  Eaftman's  and  her  father's  ;  and  thai- 
the  reafon  why  they  buried  him  in  the  line  of  the  fence 
was,'  that  the  poifeirors  or  owners  of  both  lots  might 
each  be  able  to  lay,  he  was  not  buried  in  his  lot  ;  but  why 
he  (hould  be  buried  in  the  lot  at  all,  and  not  in  the  pub- 
lic burying-placc,  flie  had  never  heard  ^ny  reafon  or 
tradition.  She  faid  the  women  and  girls  from  their 
houfe  and  deacon  Eaftman's  ufed  to  meet  at  the  divid- 
ing fence,  and  while  chatting  and  talking  together  for 
amufement,  one  and  another  at  times  would  fdyy  v/ith 
a  fort  of  (kittifh  fear  and  laughing,  "  who  knows  but 
that  we  are  now  ftanding  on  the  old  man's  grave  r"  She 
knd  other  girb  iif^^d  to  be  fkittifh  and  fearful,  even  in 
walking  the  ftreet,  when  they  came  againft  the  plsc^ 
of  that  flip pofed  grave  ;  -though  it  was  never  known 
whereabouts  ill  that  line  of -fence  it  lay.  She  herfelf 
imagined  it  lay  a  Utile  beyond  the  barn^  eight  or  ten 
rods  eaft  from  the  great  fireet  tliat  runs  through  Had- 
ley,  and  perhaps  eight  or  ten  rods  from  her  father *s 
houfe.  But  ihe  fuppofcd  the  whole  was  only  young 
folks'  foolifli  notions  ;  for  fome  were  much  concerned 
left  the  old  man's  ghoft  ihould  appear  at  or  aboufthat 
grave.  But  this  lady  was  very  relu6>?.nt  at  narrating 
thefe  circumftances  and  ftories,  to  which  ihe  ^ave  na 
heed  herfelf ^alnd  which  f;ie  confidered  as  trifling  and 
imimporiant. 

In  repeatedly  villting  Hadley  for  many  years  pafi:, 
nnd  in  converfation.with  perfons  born  and  brought  up 
in  Hadley,  but  fettled  elfewhere,  I  have  often  perceiv- 
ed a  concurrent  tradition  that  both  died  there,  and 
were  buried  fomcwhere  in  Hadley  unknown,  though 
generally  agreeing  tliat  one  was  buried  at  RuiTers.  And 
two  peribns  born  in  Hadley  tell  me  that,  many  years 
ago,  they  were  poifelTed  of  the  idea  and  furmife/  or  of  a 
liiile  glimmenng  of  uncertain  tradition,  but  hovi^  they 


« 


PlctteTmjU209,. 


M H- 


'iMar^hM 


HADLEY 


iM   Rev'^Jokft  Rufcels 


V  \ 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  203 

■Game  by  it  tliey  knew  not,  that  tliough  burled  there, 
they  ware  afterward  fecretly  taken  up  and  removed,  they 
knew  not  where.  This  is  the  only  fiiriTjire  of  the  kind 
that  I  ever  came  acrofs :  and  the  informers  defired  me 
not  to  rely  upon  it  :  as  upon  my  re.quelilng  their  re- 
attention  and  recoiicclion,  tliey  faid,  it  was  fo  faint 
and  tranficnt  an  idea,  that  they  felt  at  a  lofs,  and  could 
by  no  means  be  confident.  Yet  they  infiited,  that  a 
faint  idea  or  imprelTion  of  fuch  a  report  and  furmife, 
-imbibed  in  youth  at  Hadlev,  ftill  remained  on  their 
minds. 

One  perfon  in  New-Haven,  aged  70,  is  certain  of 
having  immemorially  heard  that  one  of  thefe  good  men, 
befides  Dixweli,  lies  buried  here  ;  and  has  the  tkjating 
idea  that  this  perfon  v/as  Goffe.  Upon  my  aiking  if. it 
was  not  Whailey  ?  it  was  replied.  No,  but  GofFe. — 
Upon  afking  whether  he  died  here  r  it  v/as  ^replied, 
that  he  did  not  die  here,  but  after  living  at  a  diftance  up 
the  country  fecreted  a  longtime,  he  came  on  a  vi fit  to 
Dixvvell,  and  wnndered  about  and  lived  in  fecret  places 
round  about  New-Havt?n,  and  died  fomewherc  not  far 
from  New-Haven,  and  v/as  fecretly  burled  here.  This 
was  the  floating  idea,  but  of  no  certainty  as  toeitlicr  the 
f26ls  or  derivation  of  information-.  This  hovv^ever  fecm- 
ed  certain  and  without  a  doubt,  that  anoth.er  befides 
Dixweli  lay  here  4  a  little  at  a  lofs  about  the  name,  but 
feemed  to  adhere  to  Goffe,  never  heard  of  its  being 
Whailey,  nor  of  Whailey 's  fi.one,  or  if  it  had  been 
heard  of,  it  was  forgotten  and  loft.  And  yet  this  per- 
fon has  through  life  lived  in  the  atmoftphere  of  good 
traditionary  and  fabulous  intelligence  concerning  the 
Judges,  with  however  but  flight  and  tranficnt  irnpref-  ' 
fion,  or  with  imprelTions  nov/  much  confuied  and  loi^ 

Poliibly  upon  General  Gofre's  danger  increafmg  af- 
ter Whailey 's  death,  he  and  his  friends  at  Kadlev  mi^ht 
plan  an  illufion,  for  a  foundation  of  faying  truly,  that 
after  Whal ley's  death,  Gofi^e  went  oft'  to  tiie  weltward 
towards  Virginia.     So  Goftc  might  kvave  I-Iailey,  vifit 


a04  HISTORY  OF  THREE  01-  THE  JUDGES 
r>ixwell,  wander  about  fecretly  and  lofe  himfelf  for^ 
lime  in  fome  of  his  old  recelies  round  about  New -Ha- 
ven, and  perhaps  then  concert  v.  iih  his  Iriend  Dixvvell 
the  removal  ol  VVhallc)  's  cerpfe  cut  of  the  reach  and 
inveliigation  of  Randolph.  Durirjg  v.  hich  time  it  might 
be  truely  And,  "that  afier  Whalley's  death,  the  other 
went  off  to  the  vveilward  tovsards  Virginia,  and  that 
it  uas  not  known  where  he  was,  nor  what  became  of 
him."  When  however  iie  might,  after  a  lliort  excur- 
ii  I],  return  to  Hadley,  be  there  foon  overtaken  hy 
death,  and  be  buried  hrii.  at  the  old  man's  grave,  near 
Tii'ton's,  andbeaitervvardswith  Whallev  taken  up  and 
remxovcd  to  New^-Kaven.  This  is  but  conjeclural,  and 
left  in  laicertainty  ;  though  it  would  have  been  good 
Oliverian  generalfnip.  The  Ilcry  of  one  going  off  to 
the  weitward,  after  the  other's  death  at  Hadley,  is 
fpread  all  over  New-England,  and  is  as  trite  at  Rhode- 
iiland,  at  this  day,  as  at  New-Haven  and  Kadley. 

I  think  fome  ufe  ir.ay  be  made  of  all  thefe  fparfe, 
and'Unconne6Led  traditionary  lights,  all  perhaps  alluding 
to  truth,  if  rightly  underitood,  towards  fupporting  the 
conclufion  of  Governor  Hutchinfon,  that  both  the 
Judges  died  at  Hadley. 

I .  That  Whalley  died  at  Hadley,  I  confider  as  evi- 
denced fully  by  Goffe's  letters  ;  that  he  was  buried  in 
Ruirers  cellar,  or  under  his  hearth,  or  in  his  garden,  or 
about  his  houfe,  is  evidenced  by  almolt  univerfal  tradi- 
tion, by  the  uniform  inibrmation  in  the  Ruiiei  family, 
and  the  tradition  which  can  be  traced  to  tliem.  Mrs. 
Otis  and  Mrs.  M'Neii  conilantly  affirmed  this.  If 
fo,  it  was  not  Whali-y  tl-at  was  butitd  at  Tiilton's. — 
Mr.  Hopkins's  recent  inquiry,  indeed,  makes  the  one 
that  died  at  Hadley  to  have  been  buried  at  Tiilton's. 
But  laft  fprirjg,  and  heretofore,  both  Mr.  Hopkins  and 
others  at  Hadley,  have  told  me,  what  I  liad  always  re- 
ceived before,  that  the  firft  v/as  buried  at  Ivlr.  Raifei's, 
ahhough  the  traditionary  idea  at  rfadley  at  this  day  may 
lixii  at  Tiilton's.     This  however  I  v»'0uld  confider  as 


♦  !•  l:  i  K  G    G  H  A  R  L  tZ     U  2  05 

■"CenfylDg  the  idea  tbiit  there  was  indeed  a  buri?.l  at 
TiUton's.  And  as  I  liave  no  doubt  but  that  one  was 
■buried  at  Rulfers,  this  would  conchjdcin  both  dying 
and  being  buried  in  Hudley.  And  tliis  I  believe  was 
jeaily  the  truth.  It  is  to  be  obferved,  that  the  ninvcrfal 
tradition  at  Boi'lan,  Barnftable  and  New-Haven,  hzs 
been,  that  one  of  the  Judges  died  at  Mr.  RulTel's,  and 
was  buried  in  his  cellar,  or  under  his  hearth.  We 
know  from  GofFc's  letter  that  this  was  Vv'halley. 

2.  That  another  Judge,  befidcs  Whallcy,  died  at 
Hadlcy,  and  was  buried  at  TiUton's.  There  is  a  tra- 
dition, with  fome  variation,  that  one  was  buried  in  his 
garden,  behind  his  barn-,  in  the  line  of  dividend  fence  ^: 
all  confpiringto  render  it  probable  that  one  was  buried 
there.  And  if  Whalley  was  buried  at  RufTers,  this 
mufl  have  been  GofFe.  And  fo  both  died  and  were  bu- 
ried at  Hadley,  agreeable  to  Governor  Hutchinfon, 
which  he  perhaps  received  from  the  Leveret  family, 
who  were  in  the  fecrets  of  the  Judges.  The  leaving 
the  manufcripts  at  Hadley  in  the  Ruffel  family,  indi- 
cales  both  the  Judges  dying  there,  and  finiihing  their 
'days  at  Hadley,  fay  about  i68o-,  for  we  hear  and  trace 
nothing  of  them  after  this  time,  only  that  foon  after 
the  death  of  Whalley,  the  other  went  off  to  the  weft- 
Ward  towards  Virginia,  and  was  no  more  heard  of.—- 
This  might  be  true  if  he  died  at  TiUton's,  and  by  his 
friend  Dixvvell  and  others  conveyed  to  New-Haven, 
which  was  weftward  towards  Virginia  :  which  might 
have  been  done  to  elude  the  fearches  of  Randolph,  who 
would  doubtlefs  have  procured  the  execution  of  ven- 
geance upon  the  relict<i  and  graves  of  the  perfons,  could 
tl^ey  have  been  found.  If  both  died  at  Hadley,  and 
Whalley  was  reraoviid,  will  any  one  doubt  that  GofFe, 
if  buried  at  Hadley,  v/as  removed  alfo  ?  And  thus, 
though  in  an  oblivion,  into  uhich  there  remains  novr 
no  traceable  liglit,  all  the  three  Judges  may  lie  depo- 
fited  together  hi  the  buryrnq-yard  at  New-Haven.     1 

s 


2C6       HISTORY    OF    THREE    O^    THE    JUDGES 

know  thefe  are  ftrong  and  perhaps  unfupported  deduc- 
tions, but  in  reference  to  fuch  a  conclufion,  vvhethe? 
decifive  or  not,  thefe  difconne6led  and  feemingly  fabu- 
lous accounts  and  furmifes,  however  iritiing,  mayfeem 
to  be  not  altogether  inappofite. 

I  have  indulged  myfelf  in  an  enlargement  on  this  in- 
quiry, not  fo  much  for  afcertaining  the  unfupported 
conclufion  that  Whalley  lies  buried  in  I'Tew-Haven,  as 
for  bringing  together  and  exhibiting  in  one  view  thefe 
fabulous  narratives,  and  ftatement  of  circumftances, 
Vv'ith  their  indudive  connexions ;  that  fo  whoever  may 
curforily  and  tranfiently  hear  of  them  at  any  time,  may 
be  fatislied  that  he  is  poiTelTed  of  all  the  fcattered  infor- 
mation poffible  to  be  obtained,  and  judge  for  himfelf 
hov/  much  or  how  little  weight  and  confidence  may  be 
given  to  them  ;  and  alfo  for  giving  opportunity  to 
others  to  purfue  and  trace  thefe  lights  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  together  with  any  t>ther  circumftances, 
which  may  verify  or  perfe£t  thefe  accounts,  and  con- 
tribute to  any  further  elucidation  of  the  pilgrimages  and 
hiftory  of  tliefe  Judges.  On  the  whole,  I  conlider  it 
by  no  means  certain,  yet  rather  probable  that  they  all 
three  lie  buried  in  New-Haven.  Of  this,  however, 
every  one  will  form  his  own  judgment,  having  belore 
him,  I  believe,  all  the  light  and  information,  that  can 
ever  be  poflibly  obtained  on  the  fubjedl. 


OF    KING    CHARLES   I.  ^0? 

CHAP.    V. 

Jujlificat'ion  of  the  Judges,  with  reflections  on  the  Fno-. 
iijh  Polity  and  government, 

CONNECTED  vvith  the  hidory  of  the  Judges,  will 
be  an  inquiry,  iiiimediately  arifing  in  every  mind, 
whether  the  High  Court  of  Juftice,  which  paiTed  fen-- 
lence  upon  the  King,  is  to  be  juftified  or  condemned  i' 
And  this  queftion  has  been,  and  ilill  will  be  determin-r 
ed  by  each  one  lor  him-elf,  very  much  according  to 
each  one's  decifion  and  judgemewt  upon  the  previous 
queftion,  Whether  a  fovereign  is  amenable  to  the  com- 
jnunity  which  he  governs  ?  To  thqfe  who  are  fix!  ar.il 
decided  in  the  defpotic  principles,  that  Kings  can  d^ 
no  wrong,  that  no  tribunal  can  be  authoritatively  eredl- 
ed  but  by  the  King,  who  can  never  be  fuppofed  to  con- 
fent  to  the  eredling  one  for  the  trial  of  himfelf;  and 
who  of  cofifequence  believe  and  hold  for  law  that  no 
King  can  or  ought  to  be  tried  at  any  earthly  tribinial  ; 
and  w4io  finally  hold  that  a  King,  however  guilty  of  the 
crimen  Traditionis  ReipubliccSy  cannot  bejuftly  j)iinilli- 
ed  by  death  ; — To  fuch  I  Irave  nothing  to  fay.  7\mong 
thofc  who  have  previoufiy  fettled  in  their  minds  the  re- 
fponfibility  of  Kings  to  their  rubje6ls,  fonie  condemn 
this  particular  tranfaclion  in  the  cafe  of  Charles  I. 
jt  is  not  to  convince  or  make  converts  of  any  of  thefe 
that  I  write.  But  that  bodyof  whigs  in  England,  arid 
their  American  offspring  and  defccnclants,  who  for  a 
century  and  half  have  approved  the  a6t,  and  the  Parli- 
amentary w^ar,  have  a  right  to  adduce  their  reafons.—- 
This  body  is  increafmg  in  the  nation,  and  their  prin- 
ciples are  fpreading  in  the  world.  Europe  has  another 
and  the  lait  conflidl:  to  fuifain,  in  the  prefent  w^ar  of 
Kings  ;  and  it  will  be  a  vigorous,  fevere  and  bloody 
one.  The  Englifli  nation  are  fo  enlightened,  fo  tena- 
cious and  underflanding  of  their  rights,  fo  enthuiiafli- 
cally  impregnated  with  tlie  inextinguilhable  love  of  civiF 


ao8  HISTORY  OF  THREE  ©F  THE  J¥DGB5 
liberty,  that  they  will  never  fubmit,  they  will  never 
clefpo.ir.  The  convi(9-ionrs  ah'eady  publicly  eftabliihecf- 
of  the  impol7ib:iity  of  the  coexiflence  and  cohabitation 
of  their  righ-?  an.l  liberty  with  the  pei-manency  of  an 
hereJitary  ariftocracy  and  foyereignty,  and  that  the  per- 
petuity of  the  on><^  inifi:  be  attended  with  the  ultimate 
downfall  and  -xtirp;:*'on  of  the  other.  In  the  confiidH 
of  the  patrician.^  and  plebeians  at  Rome,  the  former 
yielded  and  {oivcd  themfelves.  But  the  confidence  and 
tenacious  firinner<^,  even  to  blinded  obflinacy,  of  the 
prefent  hereditary  ariftocracies  through  Europe,  and  in. 
England  among  the  other  powers,  \^ill  never  give  v/ay. 
Tr^7  expe.fl  to  ftand,  but  they  will  a ffu redly  fall.  The 
pontiff  and  conclave  at  the  Reformation  had  no  doubt 
but  that  tii^y  fhould  infiJiouny  compafs  and  effe£t  a 
reunion  ?»nd  refubjngation  of  the  Proteftants  :  but  two 
ctntiiries  and  a  half  iiave  elapfed  without  any  other  ef- 
fe(5L  than  a  convi(5lion  now  generated  and diffufed  through. 
Europe,  and  the  Court  of  Rome  itfelf,  that  the  Hie- 
rarchy is  ruined,  and  the  Pontificate  is  no  more.  The 
ethnical  worihip  was  ages  in  dying,  nor  did  the  Gen- 
tile priefthood,  nor  the  civil  powers  of  the  three  firfl  cen- 
turie?,  believe  that  their  opulent  and  pompous  idolatry 
v»'as  fatally  (fruck  with  a  death  wound  in  the  apoftolic 
age,  and  yet  it  fell,  not  by  arms,  but  before  the  con- 
victions of  chriliianity  in  the  filth  and  fucceeding  cen- 
turies. When  eflabliOied  fyfleras  arrive  at  a  certain 
height  of  corruption,  they  become  incurable,  the  ex- 
perience of  all  ages  fliews  that  they  cannot  be  reformed, 
and  their  fall  and  extirpation  become  inevitable,  in  the 
natural  courfj  of  events.  In  England,  thatdelufory 
fhadow  of  liberty,  the  femblance  of  a  Parliament,  once 
a  wifeiaflitution,  is  fo  effeclually  fubdued  to  the  irre- 
i-lilable  influence  of  the  Crown,  and  the  omnipotence- 
ofa  Prime  Mi'nifter,  who  conftantly  afligns  to  one  of 
the  privy  council  the  bufmefs  of  managing  the  Com- 
mons, that  is  corrupting  and  fecuring  a  venal  majority 
git  his  wifl  and  diclatiire^  that^  fupported  by  an  heredi*. 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  20<) 

tary  aridocracy  always  at  the  will  of  the  Crown,  go- 
vernment bids'defiance  to  every  exertion  for  liberty,  and 
completely  modifies  and  renders  the  dominion  independ- 
ent of  the  nation,  who  feem  to  enjoy  feme  liberty  be- 
caiife  they  ele£l  their  reprefentatives  to  be  fent  to  mar- 
ket for  certain  corruption  to  betray  their  rights  and  im- 
munities. This  every  man  in  the  nation  believes,  and 
more,  he  knows  it.  This  new  modification  of  powei* 
imd  crown  dominion  commenced  at  the  happy  revolu- 
tion. It  was  a  court  device,  after  it  wms  found  and 
eftabliflied  that  a  King  could  not  ruJe  England  without 
a  Parliament.  But  it  as  efFe6lually  fubjugates  a  nation 
to  the  will  of  one,  as  did  the  former  mode  of  exercifmg 
royalty  under  the  Tudors  and  Stuarts.  Now  this  can- 
not be  broken  up  but  by  the  diiTolution  of  monarchy 
and  hereditary  ariilocracy  or  nobility.  They  fee  th.Js, 
will  never  yield,  but  will  rifque  the  moil  arbitrary  and 
defpotic  exertions  of  power  for  their  fupport.  This  h?.% 
all  along  been  ken  by  many,  and  yet  fcarcely  believed 
and  realized  by  the  nation  at  large  to  this  day. '  Howe- 
ver, the  convi6lion  is  now  growing  and  eftablilhing, 
and  the  miniftry  are  undefignedly  accelerating  and  pre- 
cipitating the  crifis  of  an  univerfal  conviction.  The 
crifis  is  near  at  hand,  and  it  muft  be  a  bloody  one.  Thti 
prefent  modified  government  can  never  recede.  It  can- 
not re£lify  itfelf :  it  has  neither  authority  nor  will  to  do 
this.  It  cannot  be  done  but  by  the  nation  at  large,  it 
having  become  now  known  to  ,be  abfurd  for  a  legilla-^ 
ture,  which  ftands,  or  ought  to  ftand,  on  a  conllitu- 
tion,  to  make  its  own  conltitution.  And  adminidra- 
tion  dare  not  rifque  the  calling  a  national  convention,  to 
amxcnd  the  Commons'  Houfe,  lead  under  the  idea  of 
ledreding  grievances  and  redlifying  acknowlegcd  defe6ls, 
ihey  Ihould  endanger  the  fubverlion  and  overthrow  of 
the  whole  prefent  polity.  The  prefent  fydem  of  polity 
therefore  mud  ftand  and  remain,  unamended,  corrupt 
and  defpotic  as  it  is.  There  is  left  to  the  nation  then 
DO  alteruative  between  q^aiet  and  tame  fubmiilion  to  the 


s 


21©        HIST©RY    ©F    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

prefcnt  unqueftionable  defpotlfm,  and  a  recoiirfe  to  the 
old  principles  of  1 641,  the  principles  of  Hampden  and 
Sidney  ;  principles  which  piirfiied  and  a£led  out  to  their 
.fnll  operation,  would  terminate  in  the  juTtification  of 
the  Judges,  Thefe  principles  will  rife  into  energetic 
o^ijeralion,  and  a  buritof  the  public  fpirit  will  fooneror 
later  elTedl  ihe  downfall  of  ariftocracy  and  monarchy  ; 
and  out  of  thefe  ruins  will  arife  an  ekclive  republic. — 
Li  order  to  this,  recourfe  will  be  had,  as  I  have  faid,  to 
acknowledged  principles  of  law  and  jullice,  and  to  the 
extraordinary  precedents  in  the  Englilli  hilfory  ;  and 
ainong  the  red  to  this  of  the  Judges.  The  main  body 
of  the  whigs  now  lately  anexing  themfelves  to  a  motly 
miniliry  :)nd  parliament,  and  through  an  unhappy  mif- 
take  defe/ting  the  caufe  of  liberty  for  a  feafon,  will  af- 
ter finding  themfelves  duped,  like  their  brethren  at  the 
revolution,  refume  the  principles  which  they  fet  up  at 
tile  RciioratJon.  They  will  refume  them  not  partially, 
but  wholly,  and  go  ail  the  lenghts  of  their  operation 
And  confequenccs,  as  they  have  been  all  along  avowed 
v.\  the  Engliih  nation  and  conrtitution,  though  over- 
whelmed, finothered  and  fubdued  in  their  operation, 
^nd  £v;.n  nullified  by  court  artifice,  intrigue  and  venal- 
ity. This  hoodwinked  policy  being  overthrown,  every 
E'nglilhman  will  ever  afterwards  know  and  feel  that  de- 
li liion  no  longer,  but  that  law  and  liberty  is  his  birth- 
vioht.  Th:f  events  in  France  have  efFe6led  fuch  a 
thanrc  in  tfie  public  fpirit  in  England,  that  the  Epif- 
copai  whigs  have  defertedthe caufe,  joined  ths- miniftry 
»o  the  wifhes  of  tcryifm,  now  as  vigorous  as  ever  In  the 
nation,  and  left  the  Diifenters  to  inherit  and  fuftain  the 
»j.pprobriiim  of  civil  liberty,  under  the  pretext  and  im- 
putation of  anarchy  and  the  principles  of  rebellion.  The 
penal  laws  of  Qi^ieerv  Elizabeth  yet  hang  over  them, 
iiut  I  believe  the  miniftry,  however  they  may  threaten, 
will  hardly  have  the  temerity  to  gofo  far  as  to  enforce 
Them,  an  enforcement,  however,  which  1  doubt  not 
they  would  fuilaia  with  the  exemplary  and  chi;ii^i3« 


©F  KING    CHARLIES     T.  2tt 

fortitude  of  their  anceftors.  But  in  every  other  refpetSt 
the  DilFenters  have  now  to  become  the  fcape-goat  of  ci- 
vil a.s-  v^ell  as  rehgious  hberty.  And  they  will  endure 
till  the  eyes  of  the  whigs  are  again  opened  to  perceive 
that  they  a  third  time  have  been  unhappily  deceived  and 
deluded  to  facrifice  a  caufe  they  by  no  means  intended 
to.iurrender.  But  finding  themfelves  caught  and  en- 
fnared,  they  will  turn  about,  refume  their  old  princi- 
ples, and  a6l  with  united  energy  in  regenerating  a  pub- 
lic polity,  ifi  which  liberty  and  the  rights  of  citizen- 
fhip  fliall  be  efffdually  fecured.  In  the  mean  time, 
through  every  ftorm,  a  fucceflion  will  furvive  of  thofe 
who  will  fleadily  approve,  and  advocate  the  juilice  of 
the  war  of  1641,  and  the  fentence  upon  Charles  I. 
not  from  the  principles  of  rebellion,  with  vvhich  they 
are  afperfed  and  villified  by  the  prclent  E^ngliih  Moun- 
tain, but  from  uncorrupted,  enlightened  and  fober  judg- 
ment. And  .cis  in  the  darkell  times  they  have  uniform- 
ly perfifled  in  the  avowal  of  their  principles,  though 
with  an  unavailing  qWq^  under  overpowering  corrup- 
tion, or  everpowering  miilake  of  their  fellow  citizens  ; 
fo  in  this  age  of  liberty,  and  in  the  prefent  ilage  and 
progrefs  of  the  prevalence  of  truth,  they  ever  (land 
ready  to  ftate  the  reafons,  which  to  them  now,  and 
perhaps  in  time  may  to  the  world  extenfively  appear  fuf- 
fjcient  to  legitimiate  the  tribunal  which  arraigned 
Charles  I.  and  not  only  to  exculpate,  but  intirely  to 
juftify  the  Judges. 

Nor  are  they  deftitute  of  fupports  by  precedents. — 
Says  a  modern  writer — **  We  read  in  Rapin  how  Ed- 
ward II.  when  conquered  and  made  prifoner  by  his 
wife,  was  tried  by  the  Parliament,  whicli  decreed'that 
he  had  done  all  poffible  wrongs,'  and  thereby  forfeited 
his  right  to  the  crown.  The  Parliament  tried  and  con- 
victed Richard  III.  Tlnrty-one  articles  of  impeach- 
ment were  alledged  againft  hi'm.  The  Parliament  de- 
^ofed  Henry  VI.  declared  Edward  IV.  a  traitor,  con- 
iifcated  ]iis  efFe£ls,  and  afterwards  rcifored  kina  in  fe» 


212  HISTORY  OF  THREE  OF  THE  JUDGES 
profperlty.  In  regard  to  Richard  III.  he  certainly 
had  committed  more  wrongs  than  all  his  predecefTors. 
He  was  another  Nero,  but  a  politic,  courageous  Nero  : 
and  hence  the  prudent  Parliament  did  not  declare  the 
Wrongs  which  he  had  done  until  after  his  death. 

**  In  later  times  the  Reprefentatives  of  the  Enghfli 
nation  brought  to  trial  and  condemned  Charles  I.  to 
lofe  his  head  on  ihe  block — declared  James  II  to  have 
done  the  greatefr  wrongs,  and  inconfequence  dethroned 
him."  xA.ll  this  has  been  done,  though  by  the  concur- 
rence of  both  houfes  of  Parliament,  except  in  the  lafl 
inftance,  yet  by  tribunals  not  erefted  by  the  King. 

A  few  inflances  in  ancient  ages,  multiplied  in  the 
two  or  three  la'l  centuries,  of  Parliamentary  controul 
on  Kings,  and  of  transferring  the  hereditary  fucceflion 
of  princes  to  other  family  branches,  has  at  length  eita- 
blilhed  a  principle  in  the  Englifh  government,  that  a 
concurrence  of  parliament  is  neceiVary  to  ratify  the  he- 
reditary fuccelTion  — which  may  fet  it  afide  ;  and  even 
proceed  to  ihepuniOiment  of  criminal  Majeily,  as  well 
as  criminal  nobles  :  while  the  fame  principle  purfued 
might  lead  to  elections  in  all  cafes,  both  of  princes  and 
nobles,  in  the  room  of  thofe  who  violate  the  obligations 
of  the  hereditary  character.  And  even  the  hereditary 
idea  itfelf  .may  be  fet  afide  and  abolilhed,  when  ail  the 
reafons  for  hereditary  dominion  fiiall  at  length,  in  the 
public  conviclion  appear  to  be  futile  and  milfaken,  as 
being  in  favl  founded  in  a  fubfervicncy  to  the  aggrandife- 
ment  of  particidar  families,  and  opprcilion  of  the  com- 
munity, rather  than  in  the  public  weal.  But  it  requires 
a  traft  of  ages  for  the  truth  to  ftruggle  into  public  re- 
ception and  prevalence  :  and  many  facrifices  lie  in  the 
road  to  the  triumphs  of  truth,t  While  fome  changes  are 
fudden  and  rapid,  others  require  a  longer  time,  both  to 
prepare  the  public  mind,  and  to  combine  and  draw 
forth  the  exertions  of  tb.ofe  popular  powers  in   {lates^, 

^  IFichlif,  Savananhi,  Hujs,  Jerome,  I-FhaUey,  Goge. 


aP   KING    CHARLES     I.  21^ 

laecejTary  towards  tftabiilning  fome  great  principles  of 
public  right  and  utility.  When  the  lafl  at  length  takes 
place,  it  excites  a  new  retrofpeAive  idea  upon  tlie  for- 
mer exertions  and  charaderp,  few  and  rare  at  firfl:, 
and  overvvlielmcd  by  prevailing  powers  not  yet  brokea 
lip.  Witnefs  the  public  leni'Q  on  WicklifF,  Hufs,  and. 
Jerome  of  Prague.  The  fubferviency  of  thefe  rare 
though  fpirited  examples  of  facrifice?,  preparatory  to  the 
bringing  on  of  the  ultimate  happy  crilis,  will  then  be 
ken  and  admired.  An  evil  Tnay  be  oppofed  ior  ages, 
and  many  fall  in  the  conflidl  and  oppofition,  without 
fuccefs  ;  but  a  continued  feries  of  vigorous  exertions 
may  at  length  bring  on  a  luiited  and  vigorous  burrt:  of 
the  public  fplrit,  terminating  in  the  ultimate  falvation, 
of  the  public. 

To  return  to  the  furvey  of  the  lafl  century.  The- 
main  body  of  the  nation,  wearied  out  by  the  ftrjggles 
with  tyranny,  and  being  by  the  time  of  the  revolution 
1688,  glad  to  recover  fo  much  true  liberty,  or  feeming 
liberty,  as  they  did  under  the  houfes  of  Orange  and 
Hanover,  rather  chofe  to  leave  thefe  uncomfortable 
matt€r.s  to  go  into  oblivion  ;  and  having  thus  far  fecured 
their  hberty  and  rights,  have  everfmce  iilently  permit- 
ted a  court  fa£lion  and  crown  intereff,  mixt  with  de- 
fcendants  of  hereditary  defpotic  caviliers,  the  Filmers  and 
vociferous  advocates  for  high  government  and  arbitrary 
power,  to  call  an  odhimand  afperfion  on  the  adjudi- 
cation of  Charles,  and  on  the  period  of  the  Protector- 
ate. In  confequence  of  which  the  two  or  three  lad 
feneratiens  have  grovvn  up  even  under  the  houfe  of 
lanover,  rather  impreded  with  a  doubt  of  the  iperfecSI: 
legality  of  thofe  tranfa6lions  ;  and  in  a  fort  of  fubmif- 
five  and  unconvinced  acquiefcence,  that  they  were  not 
altogether  nor  radically  juflifiabls  :  even  fo  as  to  prQi. 
(luce  a  prefent  generation,  who  either  generally  difap-. 
prove  and  repudiate,  or  reluctantly  fpeak  of  a  tranfac- 
tion,  which  they  rather  think  fnould  be  condemned, . 
The  national  aftd  annual  afperfons  of  the  Temple  upon 


v:r4     iiistour  of  three  ©f  the  judg^gs 

this  period,  have  contribated  to  this  filent,  tame,  and 
half  convincec]  acquieicence,  even  of  the  real  and  iirm 
and  uncorr Lipted  friePids  of  cu'il  liberty.  But  aifide  from, 
the  compromife  and  acquiefcence  of  political  parties, 
and  their  union  in  a  fiippofed  well  controuled  and  lim- 
ited monarchy,  let  it  be  fairly  inquired,  whether  thofe 
principles,  which  the  united  body  of  the  whigs  in  the 
nation,  both  thofe  who  approve  and  thofe  who  difap- 
prove  this  acl,  have  to  this  day  uniformly  avowed,  and 
liuve  never  given  up,  and  never  will  give  up,  v;ill  not 
involve  the  vindication  :ruid  juftification  of  the  Judges  ? 
They  performed  a  great  work,  a  dangerous  work,  a 
a  work  and  enterprize  in  which  they  periihed  :  was  it 
a  Vv^ork  of  righteoufnefs,  or  unjuftifiable  rebellion  ? 

It  is  necelTary  to  look  into  the  defecls  and  perfeftion 
of  the  Englifh  conflitution  tov/ards  making  a  judgment 
on  thefe  matters.  Let  us  fuppofe  the  pra61ical,  though 
not  written  conflitution  of  England,  of  a  government 
by  King,  Lords,  and  Commons,  to  be  excellent  :  and 
liberty  to  be  fecure  while  the  three  branches  a6led  fe- 
parately,  and  truly  independently,  and  uninfluenced  by 
one  another,  by  any  thing  but  the  public  weal.  But 
let  an  undue  influence  of  one  over  the  other  be  introdu- 
ced, and  prevail  to  any  confiderablc  height,  freedom  of 
difquifition,  and  freedom  of  a6ting,  are  at  an  end,  and 
the  conflitution  violated.  This  was  done  by  Charles  L 
adding  independent  of  both  houfes,  and  for  twelve  years 
without  either  houPj.  England  thought  this  was  reme- 
died at  the  revolution  by  an  eriabliihment  that  the  King 
iliould  not  rule,  but  with  the  concurrence  of  the  two 
houfe<^.  By  the  bill  of  rights  they  thought  their  rights 
and  liberties  were  fafe.  They  were  fo,  while  the  hou- 
fes were  really  independent.  But  corruption  has  found 
a  way,  from  one  of  the  acknowledged  and  conceded  pre- 
rogatives of  the  Crown,  the  appointment  of  all  officers 
through  the  realm,  and  the  crown  appropriation  of  re- 
venues granted  to  the  King's  Cifpofal  for  their  fupport 
fpr  fecret  fervices  and  for  penfions,  ;to  originate  a  new 


OF    KINti    CHARLES     I.  21^ 

mode  of  influence,  effedually  fubduing  both  houfes  to 
the  King's  will.  It  was  not  thought  at  the  revohition, 
that  this  could  have  arifen  to  the  prefent  enormous  and 
pernicious  height.  But  fo  open  is  this  tranfa6tion  now, 
that  it  is  become  the  dire£l  objeft  and  bufinefs  of  one 
of  the  King's  privy  council,  by  the  diftribution  of  offi- 
ces in  the  revenue,  the  army  and  civil  departments, 
and  by  penfion?^,  to  manage,  that  is  fecure  a  majority 
in  the  houfe  cf  Commons  :  the  fame  for  the  Lords;  fo 
that  both  are  fecurely  held  at  the  King's  plcafure  :  tho' 
by  the  good  providence  of  God,  it  has  happened,  that 
the  fucceiiion  of  fovereigns  lince  the  revolution  has  been 
well  affe6lioned  to  their  fubje^ts,  and  difpofed  to  rule 
with  wifJom,  ji.frice,  and  clemency.  A  clemency 
and  facility  however,  which  has  permJtted  a  Bute,  a 
Hillfborough,  a  North,  and  even  a  Pitt  to  plunge  the 
nation  into  the  mod  unwife,  fanguinary  and  defpotic 
projeds,  which  can  bring  odium  and  dilhonor  on  regal 
government.  Thus  the  excellent  government  and  con- 
ititution  of  England,  is  by  the  avidity  and  foliy  of  min- 
ifters  under  a  lenient  but  yielding  crown,  again  changed 
into  indeed  a  new  modelled  but  efiicacious  and  real  ty- 
ranny :  a  tyranny  which  will  not  be  long  endured,  but 
as  afiuredly  hadens  an  awful  crifis  as  did  the  defpotifni 
of  Charles  I.     It  mull  and  will  be  re6lified. 

This  evil  might  be  re61:ified,  but  it  will  not  be,  by 
the  officiary  power  being  Ihared,  for  the  appointm.ent 
of  the  principal  officers  and  penfiOnarics  of  all  defcrip- 
tions,  between  the  Crown  and  the  two  Houfes  of  Par- 
liament, implead  of  a  council  of  minifters  of  the  King's 
fole  appointment.  And  with  this  re6lification  the  gov- 
ernment of  England  would  be  excellent,  even  with  the 
retention"  and  continuance  of  the  two  other  great  defe6ls 
of  the  conltitution,.  an  hereditary  and  ufelefs  ariilocra- 
cy,  and  an  unequal  reprefentation  in  the  commons :  both 
of  which  ought  to  be,  and  will  be,  by  a  future  fponta- 
neous  national  convention,  reclihed  in  a  reform  and 
a  melLoraiion  oftheconititiiticnto  an  ele6live  and  per- 


Cl6       HISTORY   OF    THREE    OF    THfi    JUDGES 

ftSi  polity.  Hereditation  of  dominion  in  Nobles  arit! 
Princrs  is  the  iiiTtftcp  to  dcfpotifm.  This  ruined  this 
republic  of  Venice.  This  modi Hed  and  converted  the 
leiidal  fyilem  into  a  cornplt'x  tyranny.  This  was  gra- 
dually and  but  partially  introduced  into  England.--^ 
**  Earl,  comes,  was  not  originally  hev'editary,  nor  a 
degree  of  dignity,  but  of  office  and  judicature.  They 
fat  and  judged  with  the  BiOiop.  At  length  grew  into 
government,  but  not  hereditary.  There  vv'as  not  at  the 
entry  of  the  Saxons  a  feudel  and  hereditary  earldom  iii 
all  Chriftendoni."  Even  in  AL'Ved's  tim.e  A.  D.  90a, 
not  yet  hereditary  in  England,  but  fupplied  by  appoint- 
ments as  officers  in  the  army,  or  judges  of  Courts.-^ 
See  Spelman's  Feuds  and  Tenurer,  c.  vi.  p.  13.  The 
fame  appears  in  Montefquicu  and  Vattel.  Their  re- 
covery back  to  their  original  officiary  inflitution,  would 
be  a  radical  relief  to  the  Engliih  conltitution.  The 
Engliih  conftitntion  is  not  incurable,  it  contains  prin- 
ciples which  if  fuffered  to  operate  and  to  be  acted  out 
would  cure  itfelf;  but  this  operation  will  be  obitrufted, 
and  it  never  v/iil  be  cured.  There  is  no  alternative  but 
"its  demolition. 

After  a  vigorous  and  fuccefsful  Rruggle  with  the  Stu- 
art family,  a  partial  refcue  of  liberty  has  be*n  obtained  ^ 
and  It  has  been  i'ettlcd  ever  fmce  the  glorious  revolution 
that  Kings  Ihall  not  rule  without  law,  nor  without  par- 
liament. Tlie  fn'ercigns  of  the  houfes  of  Orange  and 
Hanover  having  learned  wikK^m  by  the  example  of  the 
preceedinghoufeot  Stuar^,  have  given  up  the  conteit ; 
and  the  old  principles^  the  old  energetic  fpirit,  are  in 
fome  degree  gone  to  li-ep  and  become  dormant.  Nor 
need  they  be  awaked  and  called  forth  into  energetic 
loperation,  but  upon  prelliisg  and  great  occafions  ;  while 
a  general  vigilance  Vyill  be  ever  nccelfary  and  fufficient 
for  the  ordinary  confervation  of  liberty.  But  wdienever 
thefe  great  occafions  offer,  and  op.e  already  begins  ta 
^hevv  itf-^lf  and  will  not  be  baffled,  tl.efe  principles  wilE 
be  recurred  to,  and  this  national   fpirit  reawakened.--^ 


©F  KING    CHARLES     I,  ^^7 

In  the  mean  time,  as  in  the  prefent  period,  three  quar- 
ters of  the  nation  fiiiFer  the  other  quarter  to  talk  and 
write  hcentioully,  and  to  broach  defpotic  and  dangerous 
poUtical  do6lrines  with  impunity,  which  the  nation  will 
never  fufFer  to  be  reaHzed  and  carried  into  pra6lice,  and 
which  they  know  they  have  'power  to  controul.  The 
femblance  of  a  parliament  has  hitherto  produced  a  na- 
tional acquiefcence.  But  it  will  at  length  be  found  that  a 
king  ruling  parliament,  or  more  truely  the  King  being 
a  cypher,  and  aminifter  oneof  his  fubje£ls  ruling  par- 
liament and  his  fellow  fubj  e6ts  with  the  defultory  def- 
potic and  wild  politics  of  the  late  minifters,  who  have 
fooHlhly  loft  the  King  one  third  of  his  realm,  and  have 
plunged  the  kingdom  into  unmeaning  wars,  enormous, 
and  oppreffive  augmentations  of  the  national  debt  ;  I 
fay,  at  length  it  will  he  found  that  a  King  ruling  parha- 
ment,  and  a  King  ruling  without  ptirliament,  are  one 
and  the  fame  thing.  And  let  the  experiment  be  tried  by 
any  future  King,  that  King  Charles  tried,  and  aifured- 
iy  it  will  not  fail  to  v^^ake  up  the  fpirit  of  1641,  and 
would  as  affuredly  go  the  lengths  of  1649,  if  tyranny 
could  not  be  otherwife  fupprelfed.  Nothing  but  the 
certainty  of  its  going  thefe  lengths,  fecures  England 
from  the  open  unmodified  defpotifm  of  monarchy.  But 
Englifli  Kings  know  where  the  matter  would  end,  and 
fo  their  temerity  is  reprefied,  and  they  arc  happily  con- 
trouled.  I  appeal  to  all  acquainted  with  the  fpirit  of 
Engliflimen  Irom  Alfred,  and  even  from  C^far  to  this 
-day  ;  I  appeal  to  half  the  lories  themfelves,  for  toryifm 
remains  as  vigorous  in  this  as  the  laft  century  :  I  appeal 
to  the  united  and  coliedive  body  of  the  whigs^  as  well 
ihofe  who  difapprove  or  approve  of  it — whether  they 
have  the  leaft  doubt  of  fuch  an  ilTue  in  fuch  a  conflict, 
and  on  the  fuppofed  CKperiment  repeated  on  the  nation  ? 
Such  an  experim.erit  would  not  fail  to  bring  the  nation, 
though  now  quiefcent,  to  an  explicit  avowal  and  re- 
fiimption  of  their  old  and  never  ddifcarded  principles — 
principles,  on  which  may  be  eftabhlliedthe  juftification 
T 


Cli8        HISTORY    OF    THRI-E    OF    THE    JUDGES 

of  the  Judges  of  Charles  I.  both  as  to  the  legality  of  the 
court,  andthe  juftice  of  their  fentence.  Let  fuch  n 
confli6l  and  ftruggle,  through  the  iolly  of  princes,  be 
repeated  a  fecond  and  a  third  time,  in  diftant  cenUiries, 
and  the  point  would  at  length  be  fettled  as  eifedually,  as 
the  demand  of  the  commons  kept  up  for  ages,  has  at 
length  now  for  a  long  time  fettled  and  finifhed  the  quef- 
tion  of  the  equity  and  judice,  of  tlieir  privihrge,  and  right 
to  their  place,  power  and  importance  in  parliament. 

Mow  long  w^as  it  contefted  that  the  confuls  Ihould  be 
rcbfted  from  the  patrician  order  only,  until  at  length 
this  honor  v^-as  by  the  immortal  Cicero  opened  to  the 
plebeians  and  became  no  more  controverted  ?  Other  mu- 
tations of  power  have  required  long  and  dillant  periods. 
How  long  after  the  efficacious  fettlement  of  the  Saxons 
in  England  before  the  coalefcence  of  the  Saxon  Heptanly 
under  Alfred  ?  How  long  before  the  admiflion  of  the 
A^ommons  as  adiflinftorder  into  the  Wittena  gemot? 
Hgw  long  before  the  Norman  parliam.ent  fucceeded  the 
legiilature  inflitued  by  Alfred  ?  How  long  before  the 
immemorial  principle  of  the  Saxon  government,  that  no 
property  fhould  be  taxed  without  the  confent  of  its 
Lord  or  owner,  could  be  gotten  to  be  extended  to  the 
commons  after  that  great  property  had  Oiifted  into  Ple- 
beian pofleilion  r  The  fiin'ie  obfervation  holds  refpe6ling 
the  mutations  in  law  and  policy,  many  of  which  have 
required  ages  for  their  eflablifliment,  as  is  manifeft  in 
the  eife6l  which  the  aft  of  parliament  had  ^c  donis  con- 
diiionallbus.  It  has  taken  ages  to  educe  and  I'ettle  fome 
points  and  principles  of  national  jullice,  which  at  length 
ceafe  to  be  controverted,  are  nowacquiefced  in  by  ail, 
and  are  become  iiri,Tily  edabliOied  principles  in  the  pub- 
lie  polity,  though  for  a  time  condemned  and  reprobated. 
And  with  how  much  difficulty  have  many  long  eifab- 
iiihed  principles  of  jurifprudence  as  well  as  polity  had  to 
j^iuggle,  and  while  m.any  have  been  loit  in  Norman  and 
olher  infraftions  ;  with  how  fevere  and  long  a  conliidt 
tiavefome  furvived,  and  after  iivir^g  through  many  at? 


OF    KING    CHARLES     t.  ^l? 

facks  and  ftorras,  2t  length  gained  a  fixt  eRabliHiment  ? 
Grotius,  Pufrendorf,  and  Montefquien,  and^Yattel, 
inform  us  of  a  number  oflhefe  in  various  parts  of  Europe  : 
and  Spelman,  Selden  and  Blackftone,  with  the  writers 
on  the  Feudal  Tenure?,  inform  us  the  fame  thing  lor 
England.  The  taxation  of  foreign  nations  is  to  tins 
day  without  confent  of  fubjecl;  :  a  vigorous  flrnggle  for 
ages  has  deforced  this  power  from  the  crown'in  England  : 
but  was  it  poffible,  there  remains  enough  in  the  prefent 
ariQocracy  to  refume  it.  The  impoilibiUty  is  the  only 
fecurity.  What  ftruggles  have  juries  h?A  with  arbitra- 
ry power  and  crovv'n  law,  once  primeval  and  almoil 
iniiverfal  in  Europe,  now  for  ages  abolifhed  every  wher<^ 
e?^xept  in  England  and  Sweden:  but  in  England  and 
the  United  States  too  firmly  eftablifhed  ever  again  to  be 
overthrown,  and  probably,  may  be  refumed  through 
Europe.  Abfolute  monarchs  formerly  feized  and  im- 
prifoned  fubjedls  at  pleafure.  How  long^  time  did  it 
take  in  England  to  deforce  the  concefTion  from  Kings, 
that  no  man  ihouid  be  arrelted  and  im.prifoned  at  the 
willof  the  Prince,  nor  be  arrefted  but  by  law?  How 
longto  eftablifii  the  habeas  corpus  a£l:  and  the  bill  of 
rights  ?  Even  now  that  thefe  principles  are  efi:abliihed 
into  law,  we  (liil  daily  fee  the  operative  influence  of 
crown  and  minifterial  efforts,  to  evade,  elude  and  defeat 
thefe  laws.  So  many  pillar  principles  however  oi  pub- 
lic right  and  juftice  are  at  length  become  eftabliihed  i?i 
England  by  the  bill  of  rights,  that  any  great  attack,  any 
direcSl  effort  for  their  fubverilon  would  coil  an  Enali^i 
fovereign  the  price  not  of  his  crown  only,  but  of  his 
life.  Thus  alfo  the  right  of  fubjecls  to  judge  their 
King  will  at  length  be  univerfally  acknowledged  or  not 
fuffered  tobe  difputed,  after  the  prefent  war  of  Kings 
.fh all  have  had  its  full  courfe  and  termination,  and\ 
few  more  royal  Tyrants  have  had  their  deferts.  In 
fuch  an  exigence  however  unprovided  with  a  regular 
tribunal,  either  by  prefcription  and  ufage  or  conftitu^ 
tion,  the  Englilh  natiga  would  find  a  way  to  orif^inate.^ 


220        HISTORY    ©F    THREE    ©F    THE    JUDGES 

.Jnftitute,  authorife  and  legitimate  a  tribunal  which 
WQuld  dare  to  judge  and  execute  jurtice  on  io  great  an 
occafion.  Every  fuch  tranfadlion  \voiild  inure  to  the 
liiiliiication  of  Charles's  Judges.  The  nation,  or  the 
ipirit  cf  the  nation  did  it  in  the  indance  of  Charles  T. 
and  they  will  ever  repeat  it  and  do  it  again  in  every  fimi- 
iar  emergency.  They  H'ill  not  only  arfurediy  do  it,  but 
will  be  more  convinced  that  herein  they  fhould  do  right,. 
r?s  the  United  States  are  that  they  did  riglu  in  the  de- 
claration of  independency.  Liberty  ius  endured  too 
fuccefsful  a  (Iruggle  v^dth  tyranny,  and  too  fn mly  fixt 
the  pillar  principles  of  the  conditution  in  England,  ever 
topermit  again  their  fubmiffion  and  fubjngation  to  the 
tyranny  of  the  houfes  of  Stuart  or  Tudor,  or  to  the 
haughty  defpotifm  of  any  other  reigning  family  or  line 
of  Princes. 

But  it  is  faid  in  the  given  cafe  of  Charles  now  before 
us,  that  the  majority  of  parliament  in  1647  were  ready 
to  enter  into  a  pacification  with  the  King.  It  is  true  : 
and  they  certainly  had  a  right,  that  is  authority  to  do 
tills  ;  but  they  might  have  made  a  miftaken  ufe  of  this 
power,  and  Oliver  might  have  feen  this  miflake.  Had 
they  feen  it  as  he  and  fome  other  patriots  did  they  would 
not  have  liftened  to  the  King's  delufory  propofals,  which 
he  certainly  never  intended  to  fulfil.  The  queition  is, 
what  was  in  reality  fafe  and  for  the  public  good  at  that 
time  :  not  what  was  deemed  to  be  fo,  for  the  wifefl: 
legiilators  or  councils  may  be  undefignedly  and  honeftly 
miftaken.  Now  to  invedigate  this,  let  us  fiippofe  that 
providence  had  continued  the  lives  of  all  the  members 
of  the  long  parliament,  and  that  the  fame  members  had 
always  been  chofen  till  1688,  and  ken  and  acceded  to 
the  reconciUation  of  the  King  and  the  accellions  of 
Charles  II.  andjam.es  II.  and  that  Charles  I.  would 
have  ruled,  as  all  have  no  doubt  he  would  have  ruled, 
had  he  been  conciliated.  Now  would  they  not  have 
found  themfelves  to  have  been  deceived  ?  Woidd  they 
not  have  acquired  a  conviciion  t!.'.t  they  had  erred^  or 


OF  KING    CHARLES     T.  221 

in  1647,  in  voting  that  the  King's 
terms~were  a  proper  foimdation  for  a  treaty  which  was 
Me  to  the  liberties  of  the  nation  ?  I  think  it  may  be  lei'c 
with  the  mod:  prejudiced  advocates  for  Charles  to  judge 
what  would  have  been  the  opinion  of  the  parliameiit 
both  lords  and  commons^  inconfequence  of  forty  year^ 
experience  of  Stuart  infidelity  and  intradlibility.  They 
would  at  once  fay  that  they  were  unvvife  to  have  reced- 
ed from  their  firit  voting  for  the  abolition  of  Kings, 
that  Oliver's  judgment  was  right,  that  there  was  no 
fafety  in  truftingthe  King,  and  therefore  he  ought  ti> 
liavc  been  difcarded  as  James  II.  was:  that  is,  that 
tlie  judgment  of  the  defpifed  parliament  was  v/ife  and 
juft.  Andiffo,  they  would  be  at  no  difficulty  in  judg- 
ing that  the  a6l3  of  this  parliament  and  of  the  judges 
which  a61ed  under  their  authority  were  right.  Efpeci- 
nlly  as  the  vote  of  the  parhament  about  to  be  put,  preci- 
pitated and  riecellitated  the  King's  deftruftion,  v^^ho 
otherwife  perhaps  might  have  been  perniitted  to  abdicate 
andefcape.  Bat  this  alternative  v/ould  have  been  cat 
oiTbyavote  for  negotiating  with  him.  All  are  nov/ 
convincedthat  had  the  nation  then  pardoned  the  tyrant, 
the  tyranny  would  have  been  re-eftablilhed.  Why  was 
it  not  time  then,  and  why  not  juft  to  cut  him  off? 

In  all  fovereigntles  judiciary  tribunals  have  been  ira- 
inemorially  provided  for  the  trial  of  criminal  fiibjects, 
from  the  loweft  plebeians  to  the  highcft  noble?,  and 
dependent  feudatory  princes.  But  an  High  Court  of 
Juftice  for  the  trial  of  delinquent  Majeily,  has  hitherto 
been  excluded  from  the  politics,  conl.litutions  and  laws 
of  nations.  The  hereditary  indefeafible  rights  of  Kings, 
their  inviolability,  "  the  right  divine  of  Kings  to  go- 
vern wiong,  and  their  being  unamenable  to  the  laws, 
and  accountable  only  to  God,  have  fo  prevailed  among 
fovereigns,  and  the  hereditary  arillocracies  inoft  gene- 
rally combined  with  them,  that  Kings  have  been  ef- 
i'e6tually  fcreened  and  fecured  from  judiciary  trials. — • 
Thefe  do6trines  and  pr-inciples  have  gained  the  force  of 


222       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

laws,  by  the  deliberate  opinions  of  many  of  the  able  ft 
civilians andwriters  on  polity  and  government,  and  by 
the  folemn  decifions  of  learned  and  upright,  but  mifta- 
ken  Judges,  until  the  iniquity  of  thrones  has  been  efla- 
blifhed  by  law,  and  this  without  remedy.  All  other 
wrongs  have,  or  ought  to  have,  a  remedy  by  law,  but 
regal  injury  and  wrong  are  without  remedy.  In  the 
future  ameliorations  and  perfection  of  the  public  poli- 
cies throughout  Europe  and  the  world,  provifion  will 
doubtlefs  be  made,  and  tribunals  conRitutionally  defined 
and  eftabliihed  for  the  trial  of  royal  criminals,  of  fu- 
preme  magiflrates,  emperors,  kings,  and  fovoreigii 
princes.     This  aera  is  now  commenced. 

In  the  middle  ages  the  pontifical  power  had  ufurped 
fuch  an  afcendency,  in  all  the  dates  of  Europe,  that 
cardinals,  bifhops,  and  the  dignified  clergy,  became 
exempt  from  civil  juriitli6lion.  "  There  have  been 
times,  fays  Vattel,  when  an  ecclefiaftic  could  not  be 
brought  before  a  fecular  tribunal  for  any  crime  whate- 
ver." It  was  once  dangerous  for  a  civil  judge  *'  to 
punilh  an  ecclefiadic  with  death,  though  a  rebel  or 
malefadlor." — '*  Hiftory  affords  a  thoufand  examples 
of  biihbps,  that  have  remained  unpuniilied,  for  crimes 
which  ccft  the  hves  of  the  greateft  lords.  John  de  Bra- 
ganza,  King  of  Portugal,  caufedthofc  lords,  v^ho  had 
confpired  his  dcitmilion,  to  be  juiily  puniOied  ;  but 
he  did  not  dare  to  put  to  death  the  Archbiihop  of  Braga,. 
the  author  of  that  deteftable  plot."t 

Ages  of  conflifl  and  ftruggle,  between  the  fecular 
and  ecclefiailical  powers,  among  the  nations,  produr- 
ced  and  exhibited,  at  iirll  a  few  rare  examples  of  ec- 
clefiaPacs,  la  capital  cafes,  rendered  amenable  to  civil 
judicatories.  Similar  inllances  were  repeated  and  mul- 
liplied,  until  this  amenability  is  at  length  recovered  and. 
eltabliilied  through  Europe.  But  Kings  Ivave  hitherto 
efcaped,  ^nd  held  thernfcves  as  exempt  from  criminivl 

-t  fuif/^r^  Law  Njt.  £.  I.  C.  iz. 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  223 

judiciaries,  as  formerly  were  archiepifcopal  maIefa61:ors, 
A  few  more  inflances  of  adjudications  upon  criminal 
Kings,  will  bring  on  the  fame  eflabliihment  for  them. 
And  then  the  preceding  examples  of  thofe  tribunals, 
which  have  poiteifed  the  refokuion  and  fortitude  to  do 
juftice  to  a  delinquent  monarch,  will  be  contem.plated 
with  approbation,  reverence  and  honor.  Then  the 
heroic  and  high  example  of  the  High  Court  of  Juilice, 
which  fat  and  paifed  fentence  upon  King  Charles  I. 
will  be  recurred  to  and  contemplated  with  calm  im- 
partiality. And  however  it  hath  been  overwhelmed 
with  infamy  for  a  century  and  a  half,  it  will  hereafter 
be  approved,  admired  and  imitated,  and  the  memoirs 
of  thefe  fuffering  exiles  from  royal  vengeance  be  im- 
mortalized. 

Much  has  been  faid  concerning  the  mode  of  Inftitu-' 
ting  this  court,  and  the  authority  of  it  when  indituted  : 
And  it  has  been  generally  condemned  as  irregular  and 
illegal.  All  concur  that  extraordinary  public  exigen- 
cies neceffitate  and  jufiify  extraordinary  meafures.  All 
will  allow  that  thefe  extraordinary  meafures  m^ay  be 
fometimes  violent,  injurious,  and  inconfillent  v/ith  the 
public  good,  and  fometimes  vv'ifely  adapted  to  fecure 
the  public  welfare. 

Criminal  judiciaries  may  be  ere6led  hy  law  and  con- 
fl:itution  :  fach  are  tliofe  of  the  EngUfh  nation  for  fub- 
jecls.  Thefe  may  btfianding  and  permanent  \nh\M\2\Sy 
like  that  of  the  Areopagus  at  Athens,  or  the  Senate  of 
Carthage,  ar  the  Court.s  of  Weilminiler  ;  or  they  may 
be  occajionaJly  injlitutedhy  the  authority  tacitly  fuppofed 
to  be  veiled  in  the  King,  as  was  that  for  the  trial  of 
the  regicides,  1660.  The  King  had  the  power  to  in- 
ftitute  Star  Chamber  and  other  courts/r<j  re  nata  through 
the  realm.  This  as  all  other  powers  may  be  abufed,  or 
may  be  exercifed  wifely.  Bui  whence  Kings  derived 
this  power  is  not  to  be  found.  No  man  can  trace  the 
Englifh  ccnflitution  to  vyxiting.     An  explicit  coiiicnt 


224-      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

to  certain  fiindainental  principles,  or  rights,  has  been 
at  different  times  deforced  from  unwilling  Kings  ;  but 
even  magna  charta  is  not  a  complete  fyliem  of 
rights  and  liberties.  In  its  jumbled  compofition,  it 
contains,  however,  principles,  which  purfued  to  their 
extent  and  jufl:  compreheniion,  would  eftabliOi  the  fyf- 
tcm  of  univerfal  right.  The  criminal  code  in  particu- 
lar, and  the  courfe  of  adjudications  in  felonies  and  all 
kind  of  crimes,  for  the  commons  and  unenobled  uib- 
je6ls,  has  been  for  ages  well  fettled  in  England.  As 
well  ellablidied  is  the  criminal  and  judiciary  laws  for 
the  trial  of  nobles,  though  in  a  different  mode.  For 
while  In  civil  matters  and  the  lower  felonies  they  are  ame- 
nable with  other  fubje6ts  tothe  ordinary  courts  of  juftice, 
and  efpecialiy  to  the  fupreme  courts  of  Wedminfter, 
in  high  crimes  and  mifdemeanors,  and  in  acculations 
for  treafon,  they  are  by  impeachments  to  be  brought 
before  their /»^/-^ J,  that  is,  a  court  of  nobles,  or  the 
whole  houfe  of  the  barons  of  the  realm.  There  is  in-" 
deed  no  written  conilitution  for  this,  but  imm.em.orial 
ufage  has  edabliihed  this  mode  of  judiciary  for  nobles. 
Juftice  we  may  fuppofe  is  as  well  done  in  this  as  in  any 
other  mode.  And  it  might  have  been  as  well  done  by 
tribunals,  or  felciSled  nobles,  inftituted  pro  re  natd  by 
the  fovereigns  thernfclves  alone,  or  h'j  them  and  Jhe 
Houfe  of  Lords  conjunclly,  had  ufage  and  cuftom  eRa- 
bliflied  it.  Any  of  thefe  modes  had  been  equally  legaJ^ 
regular  and  authoritative,  Provifion  is  however  made 
for  an  efficacious  profecution  of  criminal  nobles.  And 
it  is  well.  Happy  had  it  been,  had  ufage  alfo  eftablifh- 
ed  a  judiciary  for  Kings, 

There  have  been  great  variations  in  the  judiciaries  of 
nations  in  a  fuccefficn  of  ages:  inoft  of  which,  though 
feemingly  irregular  at  firft,  have  at  length  grown  into 
regularity,  and  obtained  with  full  and  legal  force,  till 
fuperfeded  and  laid  afide  for  a  new  change,  which  has 
been  toned  by  experience  fome  times  for  the  public  be~ 
nent,  and  fometimes  to  public  detriment.     We  fee  this 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  225 

in  the  republics  oF  Grece,and  in  that  of  Rome,  and  the 
liates  which  arofe  all  over  Europe  t  upon  the  dilTolution 
oi  the  Roman  empire. 

In  the  Romnn  government,  '*  the  judiciary  power 
was  given  to  the  people,  to  the  fenate,  to  the  magii- 
flrates,  to  particular  judges,"  under  various,  combined 
and  often  changing  modifications  of  authority.  *'  The 
confulshad  the  power  of  judging  after  the  expulfion  of 
the  Kings,  as  the  praetors  were  judged  after  the  con- 
fliis."  Afterwards  the  confuls  were  *'  fatisfied  with 
naming  tlie  judges  and  wqth  forming  the  fsveral  tribu^ 
nals."  *'  The  Kings  referved  to  themfelves  the  judg- 
ment of  criminal  affairs,  and  in  this  they  were  fucceed- 
ed  by  the  confuls.  It  was  in  confequence  of  this  au- 
thority that  Brutus,  the  conful,  put  ids  children,  and 
all  thofe  who  were  concerned  in  the  Tarquinian  con- 
fpiracy,  to  death.  This  was  an  exorbitant  power." — 
This  produced  a  new  change  in  the  criminal  judiciary  ; 
it  gave  rife  to  the  Valerian  law,  by  which  it  was  m.ade 
lawful  to  appeal  to  the  people  from  every  ordinance  of 
the  confuls  that  endangered  the  life  of  a  citizen.  The 
confuls  after  this  had  no  longer  a  power  of  pronouncing 
fentence  in  capital  cafes  againft  a  Roman  citizen,  with- 
out the  confent  of  the  people."  But  this  was  doubtlefs 
judged  by  the  confuls  and  fenate  as  irregular,  as  was  the 
high  court  of  jufiice,  in  1649,  by  the  Parham.ent  of 
1660.  "  In  the  firll:  confpiracy  tor  the  reftoration  of 
the  Tarquins,  the  criminals  were  tried  by  Brutus,  the 
conful,  in  the  fecond  the  fenate  and  comitia  were  af- 
fembled  to  try  theoi."* 

The  Judges  were  chofen  from  the  order  of  the  Sena- 
tors till  the  time  of  the  Gracchi  Tiberius  Gracchus  ef- 
fe6ted  the  change  that  they  fhould  be  taken  from  the 
equeflrian  order.  Some  of  thefe  changes  were  for  the 
public  good,  efpecially  for  the  fecurity  of  life,  others 
were  not  fo,  but  all  legal.     I   might   fhevv  the  fam3 

t  Monte fq.  Sp.Laws.   B.  27  and 2^. 

*  Montejq,  Sp,  Laws,  B.ii,  C,  i8. 


■12G      HISTbRY    OF'   THREE    OF    THS    JUDGES 

mutations  in  the  criminal  jodiciaries  of  Athens  and 
Sparta,  and  of  all  ancient  and  modern  Itate?,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  Norman  judiciary  in  England.  And' 
unjuflitiable  violences  have  attended  almolt  all  of  them, 
at  firfl  even  the  changes  v/hich  have  proved  the  moil 
wife  and  falutary.  What  llniggles  and  violences  has- 
the  coniiidl  of  EngliHi  liberty,  that  political  jewel,  en- 
dured from  Alfred  to  this  day,  in  the  m.utation  of  the 
Witena  Gemot,  the  rcduclion  of  the  Meycle  Gemote, 
and  the  fubititution  and  introduction  of  the  commons 
to  an  efficatious  participation  in  the  Englifli  parliament, 
or  national  council  and  Ipgidature,  For  ages  thefeper- 
fevering  exertions  of  the  public  fpirit  were  reprefented 
and  treated  as  refractory  tumultuous  and  rebellious,  by 
the  Kings  and  Barons,  while  at  length  vi-flory  has  de- 
clared on  the  fide  of  liberty,  and  the  opprobrium  of 
ariflocrats  is  taken  off,  and  fucceeded  by  the  approba- 
tion of  the  wife  and  the  admiration  of  the  world. 

With  the  candid  and  liberal  ideas  which  arife  from 
alarge,  full  and  comprehenfive  view  and  comparifon  of 
the  criminal  judiciaries  of  nations,  and  thecaufesand 
reafons  which  might  have  necrllitated  and  certainly 
brought  about  their  changes,  we  may  be  prepared  to 
makeup anhiftorical  judgment  on  the  legality  and  jufli- 
fiablenefs  or  expediency  of  any  given  inftance,  exam- 
ple, or  event,  either  antient  or  modern,  which  m.ay 
Gome  under  our  contemplation.  We  may  contemplate 
the  inftance,  or  fliall  I  fay  the  inftances  in  England  the 
laft  century,  with  calmmefs  and  juftice.  Certainly 
great  were  the  exigencies  in  thecontiicl:  of  liberty  with 
royal  tyranny.  For  the  v/arm.eft  advocates  for  the  Stu- 
art family  and  high  government,  admit  their  govern- 
ment was  a  tyranny.  Few  contend  but  that  the  Eng- 
lifli monarchy  is  a  governmient  by  laws  ;  and  that  it  is 
herein  diilinguilhed  from  defpotifm,  which  is  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  monarch  by  will  zuithout  law.  t  The  mo- 
narch of  England,  and  originally  all  monarchs  by  their 
coronation  oath?,  are  to  rule  not  h'j  will,  but  by  the  Ici'xn 
t  Montcjc^.  r.l,  B,  II.  C.  4. 


OF    KING    CHARLES  T.  227 

tj  the  land,  the  lexfcripta  and  nonfcripta.  It  remains 
then  for  him  to  inveftigate  thefe,  and  by  thefe  to  riile^ 
His  coronation  oath  obHgcs  him  to  this :  and  a  wife 
King  would  wifh  no  greater  power,  l^  therefore  in  his 
avidity  for  power,  he  Ihould  tranfcend  the  hmits  and 
boundaries  of  the  laws,  and  by  high  and  overt  a£ls 
ihould  violate  tlie  laws  and  Hiew  himfelf  afpiring  to  a  gov- 
ernment of  infidioufncfs  and  abfolute  will,  he  becomes 
dangerous,  and  is  guilty  of  a  high  crime,  anc  a  viola- 
tion of  this  filemn  pa6l  with  the  community  of  his  fub- 
je6ls.  And  if  the  crimes  of  fubje6i:s  ought  to  be  judged 
and  condemned,  no  one  can  (hew  a  reafon  why  this 
grsat  crimen  regale  ought  not  fomewhere  to  find  a  trial, 
judgment  and  condemnation  alfo.  But  though  the  co- 
ronation oaih  implies  that  the  violation  of  it  fhould  be 
judged 'in  forne  tribunal  or  other,  yet  this  judiciary  is 
faid  not  to  be  provided  for  in  the  Englifh  conftitution. — 
Be  it  fo,  though  this  is  queftionable  ;  yet  (hail  the  pati- 
ence of  fubjedls  endure  the  oppreffion  of  Kings  forever  ? 
Shall  the  caufe  of  liberty  be  given  up  as  lofl  and  irre- 
fumable  ?  Can  no  expedient  be  found  to  remedy  this 
evil  of  Kings  ?  Are  fubjects,  are  millions  made  for 
Kings,  or  Kings  for  fubjecls,  for  millions  ?  Is  there 
not  wifdom  and  power  enough  in  every  fovereign  fcate 
to  devife  and  execute  this  emancipation  ?  And  Ihall 
they  be  deterred  from  the  exertion,  or  fuch  exertion 
condemned  for  want  of  precedents,  or  provifion  in  the 
conftitution,  if  fuch  a  political  conilitution  can  be 
conceived:  What  principle  of  political  or  moral  right 
forbids  their  even  originating  a  precedent  in  this  in- 
ilance  ?  And  this  may  be  by  one  united  effort  or  burft- 
ing  forth  of  the  national  fpirit — or — if  the  body  of  the 
nation,  by  intimidation  or  intriguing  delulion,  or  a 
junction  of  ariilocratical  official  and  other  interefls, 
Ihould  be  prevailed  upon  to  hug  their  chains  and  fit  dill 
in  ilavery  :  in  fuch  an  exigency  fhould  fome  fpirited 
phalanx  arife  and  fpontaneouily  alTumie  upon  them  the 
vindication  cf  liberty,  rufuon  the  throne  and  feize  the 


.228       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OP    THE    JUDGES 

-defpot,  what  could  be  faid  againft  it  ?  Even  fhould  they 
light  iiponhirn  hke  bees,  and  fall  upon  him  t"'llhedied, 
as  did  the  citizens  upon  Phalaris  of  Agrigentum — this 
:rnight  be  well — it  certainly  would  be  juil.  But  fnould 
they  in  this  tumultuous  and  dangerous  exigency,  retain 
fuch  noble  and  manly  poifellion  of  themfelves,  fuch 
controul  and  reftraint  of  the  pubhc  pafhon,  as  to  with- 
hold them  from  this  fudden  though  merited  violence, 
andfo  as  to  give  opportunity  of  a  fair  and  open  trial, 
that  the  condemnation  fhould  proceed  on  real  juftice  : 
and  thereupon  by  their  own  afiumed  authority  inititnte 
and  erecl:,  and  empower  a  court  of  trial  fulTiciently 
qushned  and  numerous :  let  the  judges  be  men  of  com- 
mon integrity,  and  difcernment  adequate  to  the  deter- 
mination of  a  plain  miatter  of  fa£t  upon  evidence — for 
let  it  be  rememibered  this  trial  of  a  King  for  the  breach 
of  a  coronation  oath  by  overt  a61:s,  is  not  a  quisflio  juris 
which  might  require  profound  law  knowledge,  but  a 
qucrfiiofaBi^  as  to  which  all  the  honi  homines y  the  very 
elders  of  the  gate,  are  competent  judges  :  If  fuch  a 
court  thus  eftabliOied  and  authorized,  after  a  fair  and 
open  examination  of  evidences,  fhould  pafs  upon  a 
King,  that  he  is  guilty  of  treafon — and  he  be  executed 
accordingly  : — If  this  procedure  fhould  be  had  by  thofe 
who  voluntarily  ailumed  the  falvation  of  their  country 
upon  themfelves,  would  they  not  honor  their  intrepidi- 
ty, jufliceand  patriotifm,  in  the  hiftory  of  nations  ? 
Would  they  not  have  done  a  glorius  w^ork  ?  Should  the 
nation  how  ever  through  any  fatal  verfatility,  be  again 
duped  into  the  re-admillion  of  tyranny,  and  throw  op- 
probrium on  their  fpontaneous  benefactors  and  deliver- 
ers :  would  not  their  enchained  pofterity,  upon  regain- 
ing liberty  in  a  fubfequent  period,  contemplate  their 
memories  with  veneration  r  and  the  long  protracted  re- 
proach be  vi^iped  away  and  turned  into  laiiing  honor 
m-)d  applaufe  ? 

Let  us  then  fee  whether  any  thing  like  this  has  beea 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  ^229 

drfplayed  in  the  civil  wars  of  1641,  and  the  decollation 
of  Charles  I.   1649. 

After  feven  years  war  againfl:  his  parliament  and  fub- 
je(Sls  he  was  at  length  apprehended,  atid  undoubtedly 
<5iight  to  be  tried  by  fome  high  court.  Had  both  houfes 
of  parliament  mutually  and  unanimoully  concurred  in 
jnftituting  andere6ling  fucha  court,  we  fliould  not  at 
this  day  queftion  its  legality,  though  no  fuch  provifion 
is  made  in  the  Englifh  conftitution.  Yet  this  aflump- 
tion  of  power  would  have  been  acquiefced  in.  But  this 
was  not  the  cafe.  In  thediifonance  of  the  houfes,  in 
this  great  exigence,  every  one  fees  the  caufe  was  gone, 
had  there  been  no  other  expedient. 

A  tribunal  might  have  been,  ere6led  as  I  have  faid,  in 
the  conftitution  ;  in  magna  charta  ;  in  long  ufage,  in 
•an  antecedent  a61:  of  parliament  completed  with  the 
King's  aiTent,  if  fuch  ailent  could  even  be  fuppofed  to 
have  been  obtained  j — Had  this  provifional  court  for 
the  trial  of  Majefty,  been  defined  to  have  been  both 
houfes  of  parliament,  or  a  fingle  houfe,  cither  of  the 
lords  or  the  commons  ;  orafele6led  number  of  judges, 
nobles  and  commons  mixt  ;  it  might  have  been  equally 
well,  and  none  cou.ld  have  juftly  difputed  or  doubted 
its  legality.  But  no  fuch  provifion  is  made  ;  every  ef- 
fort for  this  has  been  hauled  ;  it  has  been  kept  off  by 
the  Kings  themfelves,  ever  delicate  and  jealous  of  their 
prerogative  of  inviolability.  Indeed  in  the  hiftory  of 
England  there  have  been  cafes,  ^s  I  have  faid,  \^  herein 
parhament  have  aftumed  upon  themfelves,  to  judge 
Kings  and  transfer  hereditary  fuccefhons.  But  this  was 
an  aifumption  of  exigence  and  necelTity,  and  not  by 
virtue  of  written  and  denned  conftitution.  And  when, 
as  in  the  inftance  of  Charles,  the  parliament  themfelves 
were  divided,  the  aifumption  mull  be  left  to  others,  or 
a  criminal  King  go  unpuEiihed. 

If  jufiice  ought  not  to  be  eluded  :    and  Kings  ought 
to  be  tried,  as  few  doubt  it,  it  became  neceifary  that  the 
U 


2-;0       HISTORY    OF    THREH    OF    THE    JUDGES 

patriots  fliculd  come  forth  openly,  and  honorably  origi- 
3iate  a  court  without  precedeat.  The  refolution  taken, 
i:  became  proper  that  the  judicial  procedure  alllimed 
not  by  parliament,  but  by  the  fubjeiSls  of  the  community 
at  large,  or  by  any  refpeclable  ailbciated  body  of  them, 
or  as  in  the  prefent  inltance  by  the  army  in  concurrence 
vviih  thebcufe  of  commons: — it  becam.e  proper  that 
the  procedure  fhould  be  conformable  to  the  regular  and 
iifual  forms  ol  the  trial  of  fiate  criminals  ;  or  perhaps  in 
th^  fame  manner  as  the  whole  body  of  fubjecls  duly  en- 
lightened would,  if  convened,  have  approved,  direfted 
and  authorized.  It  ought  to  be,  a  civil,  not  a  military, 
nor  ecclefiallical  tribunal.  One  may  conceive  various 
modes  of  forming  fuch  a  court.  If  the  whole  legiila- 
tive  order  fhould  have  afliurjed  and  confidered  them- 
felves  empowered  ;  or  one  houfe  ;  or  ffiould  a  commif- 
fion  of  feie6ted  individuals  be  pitched  upon  ;  it  might 
be  well.  Any  and  all  of  thefe  are  but  fo  many  ???Qdes  of 
aji'.dicia?'^,  would  be  regular  and  fuOicient  to  fecure  the 
great  end  of  a  formal,  open,  fair,  and  impartial  trial 
and  adjudication.  Each  of  them  are  at  an  equal  re- 
move both  from  anarchy  and  defpotifm.  And  the  au- 
thority of  Judges  acting  on  either  of  tiiefe  modes  of  ap- 
pointment would  be  equally  legal  and  right  in  the  eye 
of  eternal  jullice  and  reafon,  provided  their  decifions  and 
adjudications  were  founded  in  proof  and  juftice.  A  na- 
tional tribu.nal  of  feven  hundred  and  fifty  Judges  fyfte- 
ariatically  appointed  by  the  voice  of  twenty-live  million 
people,  is  indeed  another  mode  ofjudiciary,  and  equally 
legal,  and  according  to  the  original  law  of  nature  and 
reafon  applied  to  the  nationalftate  of  fociety,  regularly 
empowered  and  veiled  with  full  authority  to  fit  in  judg- 
ment and  pafsTentence  on  a  King.  A  legal  and  jull 
tribunal,  even  one  filled  with  able  and  upright  Judges, 
may  err,  may  judge  wrong,  may  judge  right.  The 
high  court  which  fat  on  Charles,  I  conlider  as  legal  in 
that  national  exigency.  There  remains  then  only  to 
confider,  whether  their  judgment  was  right  r  Whether 


OF  KING    CHARLES     1.  23 1 

it  was  that,,  which  a  fuppored  unqiieftionably  legal  court 
ought  to  have  rendered  ?  This  is  all  the  queftion  that  is 
worth  the  attention  of  civilians  and  nations.  However 
both  the  regularity  of  this  high  court,  and  the  jutlice  of 
its  fentence  may  be  further  confidered. 

The  public  fenfe  may  be  miilaken,  it  may  alio  be 
right.  The  judgment  upon  this  muft  be  configned  and 
demandated  to  pofterity  and  the  calmer  ages.  There 
is  however  a  right.  The  public  councils  may  not  al- 
ways be  pofrdTed  of  this  right  :  they  may  hold  it  a  long 
time  :  they  may  be  perverted,  corrupted,  deluded  to 
their  ruin.  Nations  as  well  as  factions  have  been  de- 
luded, and  afterwards  corre6led  themfelyes.  It  took 
the  nation  forty  years  to  learn  by  dear  bought  experi- 
ence, that  a  treaty  or  compact  with  the  Stuart  family 
was  nugatory.  Inwrought  in  them,  and  riideiible  were 
principles  totally  incompatible  with  the  Saxon  Engliih 
ideas  of  public  right  and  national  liberty. 

Was  the  parliamentary  war  of  1641  right  ?  Few 
EngUflimien  will  dare  to  deny  it.  hti  the  caufe  then, 
for  which  they  fought,  be  confidered  as  juft  and  defen- 
fible.  By  1648  the  fame  national  council,  which  had, 
with  heroic  fortitude  purfued  the  vindication  of  liberty, 
partly  by  becoming  tired  out  with  war,  partly  by  the 
impohtic  divifions  and  alienations  of  contending  fe6ls, 
but  principally  by  corrupting  intrigue,  became  dif- 
heartened,  and  were  going  to  give  up  the  caufe,  and 
return  to  their  former  vaffalage.  They  were  hearken- 
ing to,  and  were  daily  ripening  for  a  clofure  with  the 
infidious  offers  and  promifes  of  a  King,  who,  as  all 
the  world  now  believe,  would  have  certainly  deceived 
them,  and  have  refumed  his  former  tyranny,  as  did  his 
fon  at  the  reftoration.  The  army  and  a  num.erous  bo- 
dy of  the  nation,  probably  an  intereft  equal  to  three 
quarters  of  the  nation,  or  that  united  body  confifting  of 
the  eftablifhed  church  and  diifenters  which  afterwards 
became  ditlinguifhed  by  the  appellation  of  the  Whigs, 


0-32       HISTORY    ©P  THREE    ©F   THE    JUDGES 

the  great  favlonrs  and  vindicators  of  liberty  at  the  revolu^ 
tion^  and  the  fupporters  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  and 
the  Hanoverian  Family  to  this  day,  and  the  only  pre- 
fent  defenders  of  liberty  in  the  Englifli  nation:  I  fay 
the  army  and  a  numerous  body  of  patriots  both  in  and 
cmt  of  parliament  faw  the  fnare,  dreaded  the  lofs  of 
liberty,  and  wifhed  an  effort  for  the  falvation  of  the  na- 
tion from  Stuart  ilavery.  They  boldly  did  that  which 
was  done  at  Rome  in  the  inlianceof  Tarquin,  at  Agri- 
gentum  in  that  of  Phalaris,  and  what  the  parliament 
did  at  the  revolution,  and  America  and  France  have 
done  in  recent  inftances.  They  adventured  upon  an 
extraordinary  meafure,  which  preffing  exigencies  only 
juftified  ;  and  which,  as  of  neceffity  it  mult  have  been, 
%vas  devious  from  the  ordinary  courfe  of  redreffing  evils, 
2nd  according  to  the  long  ufage  and  the  eflabliflied  courfe 
of  criminal  procefs,  illegal.  Thus  one  people  illegally 
dethroned  a  King  of  Rome  ;.  another  inltituted  an  ille^ 
gal  Congrefs  :  and  the  Englifli  patriots  illegally  did 
that,  which  ought  to  have  been  done  by  the  conflitu- 
tion — they  inliituted  a  high  court  of  juffice  for  the  trial 
of  a  King,  who  was  in  the  confeflion  of  all  men,  by 
his  foHy  and  tyranny,  the  caufe  of  all  their  calamities. 

The  commons  at  this  time  might  confifl  of  three 
hundred  befides  the  fecluded  members.  The  awfulnefs 
of  the  work  they  were  going  upon,  not  the  army  (which 
however  deterred  but  a  few)  fo  intimidated  them,  that 
t[iou;;h  a  quorum  yet  fewer  tiian  fifty  members  were 
jjrefentat  infiitLiting,  and  nominating  a  high  Court  of 
fuftice,  confifling  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  Judges. 
This  acl  of  the  commons  was  non-concurred  by  the 
rcliiSl  of  the  Lords  Iloufe,  which  to  defeat  the  work., 
adjourned  to  a  dilhmt  day.  The  commons  deferted  by 
tlie  lords,  did  that  in  this  exigency,  which  both  lords 
and  commons  had  done  when  deferted  by  the  King  ; 
they  took  the  matter  upon  themfelves,  as  did  both  lords 
and  commons  again  without  the  King  afterwards  at  the 
revolution  i683,    \\hQn  they    invited    the  Prince  of 


OF  KING    CHARLES     I.  233 

Orange,  approaching  them  alfo  with  an  army.  Both 
according  to  uiual  forms  illegal  and  irregular,  both  le- 
gal and  regular  from  the  extreme  prelTure  of  the  occa- 
fions. 

Inftead  of  queftionlng  then  the  legality  of  the  high 
court,  inftituted  with  this  original  deliberate  formality, 
refolution  and  folemnity,  the  attention  of  poilerity  and 
the  world  fliould  be  called  only  to  two  things,  the  abiliiy 
and  qualifications  of  the  Judges,  and  to  th^  jujiice  or 
injujiice  of  their  fentence.  As  to  their  abilities  ;  if 
fome  were  of  as  llender  abilities  as  even  the  nobiUty  of 
all  nations  generally  are,  which  they  were  not,  the 
moil  rigid  and  prejudiced  mufl:  all  own  that  there  were 
men  in  this  commifhon  of  capacities  fufficient  to  con- 
du6t  a  court-trial  with  jural  dignity  and  impartiality, 
fufficient  for  an  accurate  examination  of  evidence  and 
judging  on  fa6ls,  and  fufficiently  learned  in  the  law  to 
judge  on  treafon  in  fo  plain  a  caufe,  where  fortitude  was 
more  wanting  than  great  abilities.  Abilities  however 
they  had.  There  was  a  Serjeant  Bradiliaw,  a  Lord 
Grey,  a  Harrifon,  a  Temple,  a  Hallerigg,  a  Whal- 
ley,  a  Lord  Say  and  Seal,  a  Blackifton,  a  Ludlow,  an 
Ireton,  a  Cromwell  ;  and  an  ample  fufficiency  of 
others  abundantly  adequate  to  the  work.  Let  not  the 
abiUties  of  the  Court  then  be  doubted.  I  will  fay  little 
on  th^.jujiice  of  their  judgment  or  Jentence,  but  leave 
every  one  to  hijnfelf.  Had  it  palTed  on  a  duke  or  a 
marquis  upon  the  fame  proofs  of  treafon,  it  would  have 
been  approved  of  by  all  men.  A  King  of  England, 
that,  diilblving  the  Parliament,  dares  to  rule  the  King- 
dom without  the  Parliament,  for  twelve  years,  and 
without  their  confent  deforce  loans,  levy  fliip  money, 
and  be  guilty  of  the  other  arbitrary  and  oppreflive  enor- 
mities, which,  by  the  united  and  uncontroverted  tefti- 
mony  of  all  the  hiftories  ofthofe  times,  King  Charles  I. 
was  guilty  of:  fuch  a  King  by  an  impartial  and  juft 
tribunal,  ought  to  be  judged  guilty  of  treafon,  tradia 
lihertatis  ]uriumque  reipiiblicce.  And  if  plebdsn  and  no- 
li 2 


234-       HISTORY    0F    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

bility  treafon  merits  death,  royal  treafon  or  fovereigu 
paricideagainil  the  (late,  mofujuftiy  mtnis  tyrannicidi- 
'iim^  ortiie  death  of  deaths.  Charles  might  have  been 
'A  faint,  iit  for  a  pontifical  canonization,  and  Ganga- 
nelli  faysjt  that  all  fuch  are  real  faints,  and  fo  was  Tho- 
mas a  Becker,  and  if  he  was  the  author  of  the  Icon-Ba- 
filihc^  he  is  gone  to  heaven,  but  he  was  an  arbitrary, 
''•aiighty  and  tyrannical  monarch.  But  had  he  for  his 
fuppofed  though  dubious  piety,  m.erited  all  the  high  eu- 
logiums  vi^hich  have  been  annually  lavillied  upon  his 
memory,  had  his  moi'al  charader  been  Immaculate, 
vet  was  he  fo  deeply,  fo  fmcerely  principled  in  defpot- 
ifm,  fo  haughty,  atrocious  and  arbitrary  were  the  overt 
ads  of  an  erroneous  mind,  fo  enormous  and  intolerable 
tlie  violences  and  oppreflionsot  his  governm-ent,  which 
tvas  one  continued  titfue  of  folly  and  tyranny,  one  in- 
ceilant  infraction  on  civil  rights  and  religious  liberty, 
that  he  loft  and  extinguifhed  the  confidence  of  his  fub- 
je61s,  excited  national  hatred  and  horror,  forfeited  his 
crown,  and  juftly  merited  his  deplorable  and  exempla- 
xy  fate.  However  it  required  a  fnigular  fortitude  to 
ftand  forth,  and  ref:)lutely  do  that  great  work  of  public 
juflice.     It  v/as  done.     And  it  was  well  done. 

The  (late  and  fpirit  of  the  parties  in  thefe  times  was 
perhaps  nearly  this.  The  Dilfenters,  at  leaft  a  fifth 
part  of  the  realm  of  England,  were  indeed  fomewhat 
divided,  but  collectively  friends  to  civil  and  religious 
Siberty.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  Parliament 
Avas  generally  Epifcopal,  but  difgufted  with  the  tyranny 
of  bilhops  courts,  the  difquifitions  which  led  them  to 
vote  out  the  biihops  from  the  houfe  of  lords,  terminated 
in  eftabliihing  Prefbytery,  not  but  that  they  would  have 
prefered  Epifcopacy  and  Monarchy,  had  it  been  mode- 
rate and  not  inimical  to  civil  liberty,  on  which  they 
were  firm  and  rivited.  But  rather  than  give  up  civil  li*- 
beity,  they  W'Ould  let  both  Epifcopacy  and  Monarchy 
go,  though  they  knew  the  Venetian  Republic  admitted 
Epifcopacy.  But  at  the  revolution  they  returned  in  th^ 
^  Gang.  Lett.  V.    . 


OF   KING    CHARLES     I.  2^^ 

hearts  to  both.  P'or  a  time,  however,  thefe  ideas  per- 
vaded three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  of  England,  who 
were  thus  united  in  repubHcan  ideas.  Church  and  Dif- 
fenters  thus  coincided  and  coalefced  in  the  defence  of 
liberty.  The  reft  of  the  nation  were  loyahfts  and  high 
church,  and  never  changed  nor  moderated  ;  but  they 
were  a  minority,  though  a  brilliant,  a  powerful  and 
infidious  minority.  The  revolution  broke  up  the  union 
of  church  and  diifenters,  detached  the  church  patriots 
into  a  union  with  high  church  and  loyalifts,  and  left  the 
diiTenters  ruined.  The  body  of  the  church  were  mo- 
derate, and  differed  from  the  high  church,  not  only  a.s 
to  rigid  epifcopacy,  but  as  to  high  principles  of  civil 
government,  and  did  not  pretend  to  doubt  the  rights  of 
the  people  even  to  controul  Kings.  This  produced  a 
fet  of  writings  in  which  a  vigorous  political  controverfy 
was  carried  on  among  themfelves  on  the  principles  of 
civil  and  abfolute  government.  Many  ol  thefe  mafterly 
produdions  do  honor  to  that  age,  and  wrought  up  the 
public  mind  into  fixt  principles  of  liberty  in  a  limited 
monarchy.  Befides,  this  intereft  was  uniformly  Pro- 
teftant.  The  high  exertions  of  prerogative,  and  the 
confpicuous  Papifm  of  James  II.  brought  on  again  a 
coalefcence  of  the  friends  of  liberty,  church  and  diilea- 
ters,  leaving  high  church  and  papifts  united  by  them- 
felves ;  out  of  the  body  of  whom  fprung  up  that  large 
united  intereft,  v/hich  at  leagth  received  the  malevolent 
appellation  oi  Whigs,  an  invidious  name  given  to  the 
diiienters  and  the  main  body  of  the  church  of  England, 
who  in  their  turns  gave  the  name  of  Tories  to  the  high 
church  and  papillrs,  now  united,  and  thofe  royalifts  wha, 
regardlefs  of  religion,  were  advocates  for  the  divine 
right  oi'  Klpgs,  their  indefeafible  hereditary  rights,  and 
inviolability,  and  joined  in  arbitrary  meafures,  and 
fupporiing  the  crown  in  oppofition  to  the  people  and 
parliament.  The  royal  opprefticn  became  fo  lieavy, 
that  the  vvhigs  among  the  church  once  m.ore  called  la 
the  dilfemers,  a  fifth  of  the  realm,  to  their  airiilancc. 


236      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGED 

And  though  they  had  been  duped  and  foleninly  deceiv^ed 
at  the  reltoratJon,  yet  upon  the  promife  of  redreis  they 
joined  the  whirs,  nnd  this  reconjoined  foixe  becanle  an 
impregnable  buivvark  for  liberty,  ogaind  papacy,  and 
the  royal  or  crown  interell  o^  defpotifm,  efi:ei£led  the 
revolution.  But  the  poor  dilfenters  were  agiin  forgot- 
ten, and  have  been  forgotten  ever  fi nee,  while  in  every 
exigency  and  party,  again  in  Q_ieen  Aar.e's  time,  and 
at  the  Flanoverian  acceffion,  they  never  failed  lo  join 
in  the  caufe  of  civil  liberty.  An  unparralleled  inftance 
of  perf^vering  fidelity  to  the  rights  and  liberties  of  Eng- 
land— while  they  themfelves  continue  to  this  day,  tho' 
the  mo.'l  hearty  and  genuine  protedants,  deprived  of 
civil  liberty,  and  disfranchifed  from  all  civil  affairs  thro' 
the  realm.  Now  all  this  has  grown  out  of  the  fpirit  of 
1641.  Thebodyof  the  nation,  the  minority  of  tories 
only  excepted,  have  all  along  down  to  the  prefent  day 
been,  and  dill  are  fuch  hrm  friends  lo  civil  liberty,  that 
they  will  never  give  it  up.  And  the  prerogative  having 
acquired  flrength  in  a  new  mode  fmce  1688,  by  cor- 
rupting both  houfes  cf  parliament  by  peeragjes,  pen- 
fions,  and  didributions  of  a  fydem  of  lucrative  offices, 
the  nation  is  preparing  and  ripening  for  a  newburd  of 
tiie  fpirit  of  liberty,  and  reditication  or  purincation  of 
the  national  policy,  which  v/ill  affuredly  take  place. — 
The  reformation  of  the  houfes,  neceffary  in  the  con- 
feliion  of  themfelves  and  all  men,  leading  the  nation  to 
firft  principles,  v/ill  convince  them  that,  however  de- 
layed, it  mud  fooner  or  later  be  done  ;  and  that  the 
iegidatiire  have  no  authority  to  make  the  conditutlon, 
or  any  part  of  it,  on  which  they  dand  themfelves  ; — 
tiiey  will  therefore  fee  the  neceffity  of  a  national  con- 
vention, empowered  by  the  people  for  theexprefs  pur- 
pofe  of  rectifying,  altering  and  amending  it.  And 
when  tliey  fhai!  be  aifembled,  wdio  can  fay  how  far 
they  will  go  ?  They  will  go  fo  far  as  to  put  an  ef- 
feciual  dop  to  the  poiTibility  of  the  parliament  being 
bouglit  up  by  the  crown.— This  will  bring  on  not  only 


OF    KING    CHARLES  I.  I^f 

the  modification  of  the  commons,  but  of  the  lords,  an 
exchange  of  hereditary  for  an  elecSlive  ariftocracy,  and 
afcend  to  the  touching  of  fovereignty  itfelf ;  and  as 
England  is  a  mixt  monarchy,  controulable  by  lavv, 
magna  charta  and  parliament,  the  King's  power  of 
appointing  all  officers,  civil,  military  and  ecclefiaftical, 
muil  necelfarily  be  rertri6led  and  modified.  One  can- 
not fee  how  many  changes  may  take  place.  Twenty- 
years  ago  the  parliament  might  have  reformed  thcm- 
felves,  and  the  people  would  have  acquiefced.  This  is 
now  become  impoiiible  ;  or,  if  parliament  Ihould  do  it^ 
it  will  only  bring  on  thofe  national  agitations  on  the 
queilion  of  their  power,  which  will  terminate  in  a  na- 
tional convention.  A  revolution  in  Britain  is  certain, 
and  all  the  policy  of  the  miniftry  cannot  avoid  it.  All 
this  has  grown,  and  will  grow,  out  of  the  parliamentary 
war,  1 64 1. 

It  is  necelTary  to  trace  out  this  (late  of  the  political 
parties  in  order  to  difcern  the  raiftake  of  the  cardinal 
friends  of  civil  liberty,  and  the  temporary  change  this 
miftake  produced  in  the  time  of  the  Prote^lorate  ;  and 
in  order  to  judge  whether  Oliver  difcerned  and  judged 
right  or  wrong,  and  alfo  w^hether  the  execution  of  the 
King,  even  fuppofe  it  to  have  been  contrary  to  die  then 
mift aken  fenfe  of  the  nation,  was  what  poilerity  ought 
to  approve  or  difapprove.  For  certainly  this  event,., 
with  the  fubfequent  violent  dilfolution  of  parhament, 
and  elevation  of  Cromwell  to  the  protectorate,  with  the 
apprehenfion  that  the  nation  was  about  to  be  ruled  by  a 
{landing  army,  were  among  the  principal  caufes  that 
efFe£ted  the  difcordance  and  alienation  of  the  public  fen- 
timent,  and  reconciled  the  nation  to  a  return  to  mo- 
narchy, and  to  concur  in  a  general  obloquy  upon  thofe 
times,  as  a  period  of  the  grand  rebellion.  We  do  not 
fufficiently  didinguilh  between  the  general  obloquy  ; 
both  tories  and  whigs  agreeing  in  obloquy,  but  meaning 
very  different  things.  While  both  agreeing  in  general, 
though  not  univerfally,  in  anathematizing  the  ex,eca- 


^38       HISTORY    OF    THREE    0F    THE    JUDGES 

tion  of  the  King  and  the  adminiflration  of  the  prote6tof- 
2te,  the  genuine  whigs  in  all  fucceflions  to  this  day, 
would  never  fuffer  or  endure  that  the  parliamentary  re- 
liftanee  to  Charles  I.  ihould  be  fiigmatized'  or  vilified 
with  any  afperfions.  They  to  this  day  give  the  par- 
liament and  patriot  army  co-operating  with  them,  the 
higheil  applaufes,  the  firmefl:  and  moil  decided  juftifi- 
cation  :  not  fafficicntly  yet  adverting  or  confidering  that 
in  reality,  what  will  juftify  them,  will  juftify  the  whole 
courfe  of  procedure  through  the  prote6torate,  until  the 
giving  up  the  caufe  at  the  reftoration.  When  the  par- 
liament altered  their  minds,  the  army  became  formida- 
ble, not  before. 

Through  the  whole  period  from  1641  to  1660,  the 
army  continued  faithful  and  uniformly  devoted  to  the 
republican  intereft  for  which  they  took  up  arms,  till 
corrupted  by  Monk,  the  Dumourier  of  Britain.  The 
parliament  ilood  firm  for  the  republican  caufe  fix  years  : 
they  began  to  waver  in  1647,  when  there  was  no  need 
of  it,  and  when  they  had  already  accompliihed  their 
end,  and  thereby  endangered  the  caufe.  The  patriot 
army  flood  firm,  interp^jfed,  and  gave  the  finiihing 
ftroke  to  tyranny.  But  four  years  after,  inftead  of  eftab- 
lifhing  the  liberty  they  had  gained,  by  a  certain  fatality 
attending  the  noblefl:  caufe,  miftaken  ideas  of  perpetu- 
ity bv^came  confpicuous  in  many  truly  fincere  and  pat- 
riotic charadlers  in  parliament,  and  manifefted  itfelf  in 
bringing  forward  a  bill  for  fiUing  up  vacancies  only,  in 
the  commons  or  parliament,  by  the  people,  as  they  fell, 
inflead  of  diifolving  themfelves,  and  calling  triennial 
parliaments,  or  otherwife  eflablilhing  a  liberal  confti- 
tution.  Thus  the  national  government  would  foon. 
have  grown  up,  into  a  polity,  not  very  dillimilar  to  the 
Venetian  ariftocracy,  and  very  abhorrent  from  that  for 
which  the  nation  and  army,  and  parliament  itfelf,  had 
taken  up  arms  and  fo  vigoroufly  contended.  What  did 
the  pubhc  good  require  in  this  exigency  r  This  defec- 
tion from  the  original  grand  caufe  of  liberty  nrd  feized 


OF   KING    CHARLES     I,  239 

the  parliament,  not  the  army,  which  perfevered,  keep- 
ing the  firll  great  pbje6l  accurately  in  view.  Without 
any  umbrage  given  by  the  aj-my,  ever  faithful  to  the 
national  intereji,  and  the  caufe  of  liberty,  for  which  they 
bad  taken  up  arms,  \)\^  parliament  frjl  conceived  ivith- 
cut  reafon  a  jealoufy  -of  the  array,  the  only  or  principal 
obftacie  to  their  afcending  into  this  noxious  ariliocracy. 
This  miilaken  jealoufy  began  the  alienation  and  oppo- 
fition  betv/een  the  army  and  parliamicnt.  The  army 
had  Ihviwn  no  difpofition  either  to  perpetuate  themfelves 
or  to  fibjugate  the  parliament.  T.\hev  continued  faith- 
ful fervants  to  the  parliament  till  they  perceived  by  the 
overt  a6c  they  were  about  to  pafs,  which  tended  to,  and 
inevitably  would  have  terminated  in  perpetuating  them- 
felves. For  themfelves,  the  army  might  have  been 
fecure  under  fuch  perpetuation,  but  the  caufe  of  liberty, 
all  muft  fee,  was  gone.  They  faw  it.  How  ought 
they  to  aft  as  a  patriotic  army  ?  They  were  not  dange- 
rous to  the  nation,  nor  to  a  polity  (landing  on  the  elec- 
tion of  the  people.  At  the  fame  time  ideas  friendly  to 
iTiornarchy  were  growing  and  prevailing  in  parliament : 
all  which  was  laying  the  foundatian  of  that  coalefcence 
of  republicans  and  loyalifts,  which  Oliver  had  the  faga- 
city  to  forefee  would  defeat  all,  and  that  the  republicans 
would  be  duped  and  deluded  by  the  royalifts,  finally 
tobring  in  Majefty.  Both  thefe  parties  now  joined  in 
exprefTmg  loudly  their  fears  ot  the  arm.y,  and  by  irri- 
tating themfelvs  vvith  fanciful,  vvith  fhadowy,  and  ideal 
dangers,  rendered  the  great  w^ork  of  the  confervation 
.of  regained  liberty  exceedingly  critical  and  difficult. 

How  miifaken  thefe  alarms  were,  are  better  judged 
by  pofterity  and  the  world,  than  by  the  patriots  them- 
felves, in  the  day  of  deception.  The  generality  of 
the  nation  faw  it,  even  in  that  day,  as  appears  from 
their  acquiefcing  and  rejoicing  at  the  violent  dilTolution 
of  the  long  patriotic  parliament  ;  and  we  in  this  day 
fee  the  miffake,  in  not  calling  a  new  parliament  im- 
mediately upon  the  death  of  the  King.     To  fuch*a  par- 


£40  HISTORY  OF  THREE  OF  THE  JUDGES 
liament,  undoubtedly  the  army  would  have  been  faith- 
ful and  obedient,  in  every  thing  but  the  recalling  a 
King.  But  a  perpetuating  parliairient  muft  feel  an  a- 
larm  from  an  army  originally  raifed  againft  the  continu- 
ance and  perpetuation  of  any  power,  whether  royal, 
ariftocralical  or  parlimentary,  beyond  a  period  neceifa- 
ry  for  redrefs  of  grievances,  when  the  general  public 
obje'fl  was  a  fettlement  of  public  liberty.  But  as  I  faid 
thefe  alarms  were  without  foundation  ^  and  were  fo  feen 
both  by  a  great  part,  the  minority  ofparUament,  and 
by  the  nation  in  general.  We  can  now  more  eafily 
fee  that  the  parliament  were  fufpicious  without  juft  foun- 
dation, than  they  in  that  day  could.  Nor  would  the 
parliament  have  had  any  fuch  apprehenfions,  had  they 
not  firft  changed  their  fentiments  :  changed  I  believe  at 
firft  with  fmcere  and  honeft,  but  miftaken,  judgment. 
The  patriots  and  friends  of  liberty,  even  at  this  day, 
entertain  the  fame  apprehenfions  refpecling  the  danger 
of  an  army.  May  I  be  permitted  as  patriot,  to  fay, 
that  I  have  for  a  long  time  been  freed  from  fuch  terrors 
and  apprehenfions. 

An  army  cannot  pofiibly  be  dangerous  to  an  elective 
republic,  which  would  be  fupported  by  the  ele£lors  or 
people.  The  national  council  by  withholding  pay  and 
ibpplies,  could  eafily  difband  and  dilTolve  even  the  vet- 
eran army  of  a  Casfar.  Should  they,  like  his,  turn 
their  arms  on  the  fenate  ;  let  it  be  remembered  that  the 
Englifh  fenate  was  not  then  compofed  of  hei-editary  or 
perpetual  patricians,  but  was,  or  ought  to  have  been 
elective.  Nor  would  Caefar  have  fucceeded,  had  the 
patricians  been  conftitutionally  ele6live,  or  had  the  peo- 
ple been  as  habituated  to  annual  or  frequent  ele6lion  of 
the  whole  fenate,  as  they  were  of  the  confuls.  Had 
Oliver's  army  attempted  to  deforce  their  pay  and  fup- 
plies  by  military  contribution  enforced  on  the  yeoman- 
ry, on  the  people,  whofe  commons  had  in  a  Rruggle 
for  ages  gained  from  the  feudal  ariilocracy  the  poTeilion 
of  three  quarters  of  the  lands  of  England,  either  in  fee 


©F    KING    CHARLES     I.  241 

©1"  in  freehold  tenancies  for  life  or  lives,  tliey  would 
have  met  a  warm  reception,  and  would  have  begun  a 
conteft  which  would  have  aifiu-edly  terminated  in  thei? 
overthrow  and  difibliition.  It  will  prove  next  to  im- 
poiiiblefor  a  itanding  army  to  etlabliili  conquell  over 
an  eledive  republic ;  or  to  overlay  the  liberties  of  a 
people  among  whom  property  is  equ:illy  diitufed. — 
Even  in  a  monarchy  this  cannot  be  efFecled  unlefs  a 
great  portion  of  the  feudal  fyftem  remains  m  its  con- 
ititution.  Indeed  whatever  be  the  policy,  v/hether  mo- 
narchical or  republican,  of  a  nation  poiTeiTedof  diifufive 
freehold  property,  it  can  never  be  laftingly  fubjugated 
either  by  a  foreign  or  domeftic  army.  The  difrufion 
of  property  among  fo  great  a  part  of  the  people  oF 
PVance,  by  fecularizing  the  church  lands  to  the  amount 
of  one  quarter  of  the  whole  territory  of  France,  and  the 
allodial  diilribution  of  it  among  the  peafants  or  occu- 
pants, will  engage  fo  large  a  body  to  defend  their  pof- 
feffions,  as  will  eite6lualiy  fecure  their  liberties  and  re- 
publican independency.  This  policy  will  efFeiluall/ 
and  permanently  turnifh  a  fpontaneous  hoft  of  bold, 
courageous,  and  unconquerable  defenders.  Property 
has  been  fo  diffufed  among  the  commons  of  England, 
that  it  has  not  been  in  danger  from  armies  for  feveral 
ages.  The  comm.ons  will  fight  pro  agris  as  well  as  pro 
aris  i!S  focis.  The  relidl  of  a  tenure  of  property  fomc- 
what  fnnilar  to  the  feudal  fyftem,  tenancies  at  will  or 
for  terms,  retained  a  foundation  of  danger  :  but  already 
has  fuch  an  ag^^regate  of  property  fhifted  into  the  hands 
of  fubdantial  yeomanry  as  will  prove  an  efFe6lual  bar- 
rier againd  the  conqueil  by  armies  interior  or  exterior. 
Oliver  wifely  filled  his  army  with  fubftantial  and  liardy 
yeomanry.  And  whenever  the  yeomanry  are  invaded, 
let  us  be  aifured  they  will  itand  on  their  defence. 

The  original  reafons  of  the  beautiful  feudal  fyflem 
now  ceafe  in  Europe.  It  was  excellently  adapted  to 
hold  the  dominion  of  a  conquered  country  ;  but  now 
that  the  conquerors  and  conquered  are  bscome  mixt  an?! 

V 


24-2        KISTOP.Y    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

incorporated  together,  tliroiighout  Europe,  the  reafon 
of  the  policy  ceafes  ;  and  it  would  v.ork  no  mifchief  or 
injiiftice  to  the  holder?  of  fiefs,  or  danger  to  the  pnbhc, 
if  the  fieis  were  diifolved,  and  fales  were  permitted  ; 
■^vviich  vvouid  foon  alienate  and  diffufe  the  property,  and 
render  it  allodial.  Let  the  peafants  of  Poland  be  veRed 
wlih  allodia]  property,  and  they  may  be  truiled  with 
Piiilha,  Auftria  and  Ruilia  :  and  I  lliould  not  doubt 
tfieir  reuimption  of  liberty.  See  the  effed  of  this  allodi- 
•al  tenure  or  land  in  America.  Vv^e  have  been  witneiTes 
that  in  thirty  hours  from  the  moment  of  ibedding  the 
iiril:  blood  at  Lexington,  thirty  thoufand  fubftantial  free- 
.holders  were  fpontaneoiilly  in  arms,  and  in  full  march 
from  all  parts  of  New-England.  Let  the  experiment 
be  tried  all  over  the  world,  and  the  eflecl  will  be  the 
Tam.e.  Freehold  property  has  too  much  footing  in  Eng- 
land, after  all  the  great  ?ggregate  of  tecanciea  at  will  or 
for  years,  without  reference  to  day-laborers,  mecha- 
nics and  manufadurers,  of  no  property,  to  permit  uhi- 
mate  danger  from  armies. 

It  is  among  thefe  that  an  army  muft  be  fought  for 
efncacious" defence.  Ten  thoufand  of  tliefe  are  worth 
three  times  th-e  number  lalfed  in  the  ufual  inanner  of 
confcribing  venal  armies.  .This,  much  more  than 
religion,  vv'as  I'le  ft-crct  of  the  iuvincibility  of  Oliver's 
and  the  American  army..  They  had  a  motive  to  fight 
for  liberty  aud" property.  France  has  now  got  enough 
of  thefe  men  to  deiend  her  republic.  And  they  will  do 
it  efFedually. 

But  the  contemiplation  of  the  Alexandrine,  Roman, 
C'toman,  and  other  national  armies,  has  occafioned 
th,e  abieit  civilians,  the  mod  firm  and  enlightened 
friends  of  liberty,  to  be  greatly  terriued  with  the  danger 
2nd  fear  of  armies,  and  to  anticipate  their  cvcrlion  of 
conitiUitions,  as  in  foreign  nations  .and  ancient  ages  ; 
not  fiilhciently  perhaps,  adverting  to  that  whicli  has 
rendered  them  dangerous  -the  In^poUcy   of  forming 


OF  KING    CHARLES      I.  24.3 

frreat  divifions  of  ianded  property  into  fief;:^,  fo  as  to  be 
occupied  by  the  body  ofinhabitants  in  a  very  depend- 
ant tenure.  There  needs  no  agrarian  law,  arbitarily 
to  make  a  new  divifion  of  territory,  a;id  give  it  away  from 
the  old  poirellors,  and  diftribute  the  property  of  great 
land  holders  among  the  people.  Let  the  Triuariots  of 
Turkey,  the  Barons  of  Germany,  the  Staroftas  of  Po- 
land, be  only  permitted  by  lav/  to  fell  and  alienate,  let 
there  be  a  public  law  that  entails  fhall  tej'minate,  and 
fiefs  and  all  hereditary  property  Ihall  veil  in  the  prefent 
jj.ireffors  in  what  the  Engliih  lavv^  calls  fee  fimple  ;  and 
in  lefs  than  a  century  fo  much  of  the  territorial  property 
will  become  allodial,  or  transfered  from  the  hereditary 
ncblelfe  and  ariilocrats  to  the  common  people,  or  to 
the  community  at  large,  as  will  render  them  unconquera- 
ble, and  beyond  the  danger  of  armies,  elpecially  if  the 
citizens  of  the  community  be  formed  into  militia,  or 
even  if  the  citizens  are  not  prohibited  arms.  The  game 
attt  in  England,  in  the  time  of  James  I.  and  in  France 
in  the  time  of  Henry  IV.  operated  completely  to  dif- 
arm  the  common  people.  The  repeal  of  this,  and  the 
abolition  of  laws  reftricling  the  people  all  over  Europe 
from  purfuing  wild  game^  defigned  by  the  God  of  na- 
ture to  be  untamed  and  unappropriated,  and  like  the  air 
^.r  ocean  free  for  the  common  ufe  of  all  mankind,  and 
the  people  would  foon  be  armed.  An  armed  people 
are  capable  of  being  formed  into  a  defenfibility  which 
would  preferve  them  from  invafion.  Even  Oliver's 
army  would  not  be  dangerous  fo  a  country  whore  inlia- 
bitants  were  poireiled  of  diffufive  property,  and  were 
regularly  formed  into  a  fyftsmaticai  mih"tia.  I  know 
indeed  that  many  of  the  beft  and  wifeit  patriots,  and 
the  firmeft  friends  of  liberty  are  of  a  different  opinion, 
and  I  muft  therefore  fubinit  it.  I  my  fell'  confider  Oli- 
ver's army  powerful  and  viclorious,  but  not  dangerous 
to  liberty  in  England,  though  they  were  fo  to  Scotland 
and  Ireland,  in  the  unjuflitiable  war  he  carried  on  in 
tkofe  two  kingdoms.     And   here  I    wiili  to  infert  this 


244      HISTORY    OP    THREE    OP    Tilt  JtTD-&E^ 

general  apology.  If  there  fhould  be  any  miftakes  m 
thefe  hiiloricai  touches,  and  ftatements,  they  can  be 
eafily  cnr'--:c>cd  by  referring  to  the  authorities.  Ta 
this  correclion  I  do  and  oi.ght  readily  to  fiibnaft,  as  I 
write  more  from  the  lefuit  and  recol'edtion  of  former 
reading,  than  from  recent  reviews  of  the  hiftories. 

Oliver  is  generally  conddered  as  a  tyrant  and  an 
lifurper,  full  of  religious  enthufiafm,  and  of  unexam- 
pled diflimulativin  in  religion  and  politics.  The  time 
has  been  when  1  tntertained  fuch  ideas,  not  from  the 
Clarendons,  the  Sacheverels  and  Atterbiirys,  but  from 
the  Hoilises,  the  Hales,  the  liarnets  and  the  Lockes.. 
And  yet  upon  more  thorouglily  entering  into  the  genius 
and  fpirit  of  his  character,  I  have  altered  my  fenti- 
uients.  With  refpeil  to  diflimalation,  I  never  found 
a  man  freer  from  it.  Indeed,  like  all  difcerning  and 
wife  men,  in  different  circumilances,  upon  new  views, 
and  upon  new  evidences  he  altered  his  mind  ;  but 
when  he  uttered  himfelf  he  never  diffembled  ;  he  fome- 
times  concealed,  but  when  he  fpake,.  he  ever  fpake  his 
mind,  and  no  man  more  decifively  and  unequivocally.. 
No  man  ever  mifunderftood  Oliver  ;  they  dreaded  him, 
but  they  knew  what  he  meant,  and  what  is  more,  with- 
out deception,  they  relied  upon  it  that  he  intended  ta 
do  it,  and  ftill  more  that  it  w^ould  be  done.  He  was 
ever  clearly  underftood.  Unambiguous  precifion,  clear- 
Tiefs  and  perfpicuity  were  apparent  in  all  his  public 
fpeeclies.  By  his  bold  and  mallcrly  generalfhip,  by  his 
fubtilty  and  difcernment,  he  eluded  the  intrigues 
and  (Iratagems  of  his  numerous  potent  enemies.  He 
could  not'have  accomplifhed  it  by  hypocrify.  He  did 
it  by  well  concerted  and  deep  policy.  He  was  a  match 
for  the  v.'orld,  and  efpecially  for  ail  the  cabinets  of  Eu- 
rope. He  led  others  to  deceive  themfelves,  but  lie  never 
deceived  them.  Hypocrify  was  unnatural  t^o  him,  it 
was  abliorrent  to  his  very  nature.  He  needed  it  not. — 
He  was  too  fincere  and  open  in  religion  to  need  hypo- 
crify for  ingraciating  himfelf  with  the  religioniQs.  They 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  24.5 

knew  him  well,  and  they  had  his  heart,  an^  he  had 
their's  :  and  he  was  too  wife  to  expend  a  iifelefs  hypo- 
crify  upon  thofe  who  could  never  be  brought  into  his 
meafures.  Away  then  with  the  ftupidity  of  charging 
Oliver  with  hypocrify.  He  had  too  much  courage  to  be 
a  hypocrite  in  rehgion  or  politics. 

As  to  his  religion  he  was  a  fincere  Puritan.  In  his 
youth,  while  at  the  univerfity,  and  until  aged  twenty- 
hve,  he  was  thoroughly  vicious  and  debauched,  un- 
principled in  morals,  of  turbulent,  of  haughty  and  fe- 
rocious manners,  and  abandoned  to  a^ll  licenlioufnefs. 
He  was  then  feized  by  the  energy  of  Omnipotence,  and 
fo  ftrongly  impreifed  with  the  awful  folemnitiesof  reli- 
gion and  eternity,  as  efFe6lually  changed  his  heart,  gave 
anew  and  decided  diretlion  to  the  purpofes  of  his  life, 
reformed  his  morals,  and  recovered  him  to  exemplary 
piety  ;  in  which  he  refolutely  perfevered  through  life, 
unfullied,  unpolluted  by  vice,  by  the  fplendor  of  courts, 
or  by  the  luxurious  living  ufuaily  attendant  upon  the 
elevation  to  which  he  afcended.  Like  a  citizen  of  the 
univerfe,  he  was  ever  feeking  the  Lord,  as  did  King 
David,  and  the  lord  chief  juflice  Hale.  If  the  ten 
Kings  of  Europe  had  now  a  pious  David  among  them, 
who  was  always  fmging  pfalms,  praifu^g  God,  praying 
and  feeking  the  Lord,  as  that  religious  King  ufed  to  do, 
they  might  denounce  him  an  enthufiaRic  religious 
hypocrite,  with  as  much  juftice  as  Oliver.  Oi.'ght 
Daniel  to  be  afliamed  of  worlhipping  the  God  of  heaven, 
left  he  fliould  incur  the  imputation  of  hypocrify,  which 
he  certainly  would  have  done  in  the  licentious  deiftical 
age  of  Charles  II,  ?  Shall  Oliver  be  vilified  for  feek- 
ing wifdom  at  the  Fountain  of  Wifdom  ?  At  lead  is 
not  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  long  enough  to  cad  re- 
proach and  derifion  upon  a  maa  for  afldng  counfel  of 
his  God  upon  every  iuiportant  emergency  ?  Good  God  I 
Ihali  it  be  a  difgrace  for  mortals  to  fupplicate  thy  throne  ? 
Or  do  we  find  ourfelves  in  a' part  of  the  creation,  where 
it  is  infamy  and  reproach  for  a  ■  hnite  limited  miiid  to 


2^6      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Gonfuit  Infinite  Wifdom  and  unerring  rectitude  ?  O 
Oliver  !  how  I  love  thine  open,  thine  unabafhed,  thy 
undiifembied  and  undifguifed  rehgion  ! 

He  beheved  in  the  moral  government  of  tlje  Moft 
High,  regarded  it,  and  reverenced  it.  He  l3elieved 
the  grand  leading  principles  of  it  were  difplaycd  and 
developed  in  at  lead  one  (ingle  inftance,  the  feries  of  the 
divine  treatment  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  which  he  had 
feletSled  as  a  fpecimen  of  his  whole  moral  government 
of  nations,  and  of  the  nniverfe' itfelf,  and  particularly 
as  an  example,  in  which  all  might  look,  and  thence 
form  a  decided  judgment  of  God's  a61ual  treatment  of 
all  nations,  all  fpontaneous  fovereignties,  however 
formed,  that  it  fliould  be,  always  had  been,  and  always 
would  be  moll  exa^lly  according  to  their  moral  ftate 
for  religion  and  virtue,  or  the  reverfe.  As  he  believed, 
fo  he  really  faw  God  carrying  on  this  government 
:among  all  nations  :  and  that  the  reclification  of  the 
moral  ftate  of  a  people,  and  fupprefling  vice  and  irreli- 
(;ion,  was  co-operating  with  God,  and©ught  to  be  the 
pole-ftar  of  political  fovereigns.  Hence  he  ftudied  the 
law  of  the  Lord  ;  an  antiquated  work,  very  valuable  it 
might  be  fuppofed  as  iffuing  from  Infinite  Wifdom,  a 
work  liowever  like  the  antient  Digeft  of  Juftinian, 
grown  obfolete  and  very  little  attended  toby  modern  ci- 
vilians and  princes,  but  like  the  Pande6ts  when  found 
at  Amaifi,  greatly  valued.       The  facred  Pande6ls  were 


ceply  uudicd  by  Oliver,  to  learn  from  thence  the  prin- 
ciples by  which  the  fovereign  monarch  would  govern  a 
nation,  govern  a  univerfe,  and  as  the  great  exemplar 
for  his  fubordinate  imitation.  Tlius  he  fludied  the 
principles  ot  the  divine  government  in  the  Bible, 
which  w^as  the  man  of  his  connfel,  as  it  was  David's, 
rather  than  in  the  unprincipled  deiftical  views  of  the 
ftate  of  nations,  in  which  he  could  learn  little  more  than 
the  corrupt  ancl  diabolical  principles  of  a  machiavelian 
policy,  if  at  any  time  miftaken,  he  made  it  however 
his  iiitimate  view  and  endeavor;  to  acl  his  part  under- 


OF    KING    CHARLES  I.  247 

the  God  of  heaven  with  integrity  and  fidelity,  and  vvitR 
unawed  refolution  to  profecute  this,  and  at  all  events  in 
his  perfonal  and  governmental  chara61:er  to  approve 
himfelftohis  God.  In  great  and  numerous  instances 
he  appears  to  have  been  the  felf  denying  and  difintereft- 
ed  patriot.  He  adled  with  a  magnanimity,  a  purity 
and  greatnefs  of  character,  in  many  trying  inftances, 
fcai-cely  to  be  equalized.  He  was  a  Phoenix  of  ages. — 
The  more  his  charadcer  Is  examined,  even  with  the 
feverity  of  the  mod:  rigid,  but  difpaffionate  juftice,  the 
more  will  this  idea  force  itfelf  upon  us,  and  evince  that 
it  will  live  and  fnine  with  a  permanent  and  abiding 
glory.     This  for  his  religion  and  hypocrify. 

Oliver  is  ridiculed  for  ftudying  the  fcriptures,  and 
especially  for  modeling  his  lavv^s  and  government  by 
them.  Unhappily  this  is  too  much  coniidered  as 
abfurd  and  ridiculous  by  chrlftian  civilians  and  politi- 
cians, who  fmcerely  take  the  Bible  indeed  for  the  direc- 
tory to  heaven,  but  not  for  civil  life,  and  leail  of  all  for 
law  and  government.  With  avidity  we  feize  the  fcat- 
tered  fcraps  and  reliqui^  of  the  antient  legiflators,  and 
the  law  codes  of  ftates  and  nations.  With  avidity  we 
learn  wifdom,  we  learn  the  principles  of  law  and  go- 
vernment, from  the  hiftories  of  nations,  from  the  frag- 
ments of  the  XII  tables,  of  the  inflitutes  of  Numa 
Pompllius,  of  Lycurgus,  Solon,  Zoroafter,  and  Con- 
fucius, and  even  of  the  profoundly  wife  code  of  the 
Gentoo  laws.  Ail  v/hofe  inftitutes,  however,  alfo  pre- 
tended to  have  been  of  divine  original,  yet  by  European 
civilians  are  now  imiverfally  confidered  as  fouiided  in 
the  refearches  and  inveftigations  of  reafon,  often  falli- 
ble, various  and  contradictory. 

TbeEdda,  Offian,  any  rellqui^  of  the  inflitutes  of 
Odin,  are  read  Vv'ith  admiration.  Could  a  book  of  the 
Druids  be  found,  purporting  to  be  tv/o  thoufand  years 
old  and  written  by  a  Druid,  as  the  Penteteuch  by  Mo- 
ibs,  defcribing  the  facriiices  and  priellhood,  the  laws 


24B  HISTORY  OF  THREE  OF  THE  JU0GES 
and  hiftory  of  the  Druidical  {]/ftem,  a  Burgoyn  v/ould. 
lay  hold  of  it  with  rapture,  and  would  neither  bltifh  nor 
diillain  to  learn  from  thence  ihe  otPicc  of  priefthood, 
though  defpifing  the  Mofaic  ^nd  Chriftian  priefthood. 
And  even  Hume,  Gibbon,  Voltaire  and  Rolteau  would 
read  it  with  avidity  and  admiration,  and  deduce  from 
thence  with  triumph  as  from  the  Koran  a  contraft  for 
the  depreciation  of  chriftianity. 

With  infinitely  greater  juftice  might  we  admire  and 
profit  by  the  code  of  Bramin  laws,  as  delivered  by  the 
Pundits  and  learned  Jurifts  of  India  ;  in  vvhich  are  to 
be  found  many  excellent  principles  of  law  and  equity. as 
v/ell  as  governm.ent,  worthy  to  be  adopted  into  the  ju- 
rifprudence  of  all  nations.  Conld'  we  find  the  code  of 
Alfred  it  would  be  read  with  valuable  inftru£tion.  If 
the  reading  and  admiration  of  th^fe  antique  corapofi- 
tions,  are  applauded  as  indicating  high  tafte  and  dif- 
cernment  ;  why  fhould  the  reading  of  the  facred  code 
be  reprehended  ?  In  the  Mofaic  code,  if  we  except  the 
inftitutes  peculiar  to  the  fuccefiions  in  family  inheri- 
tances, in  the  tribual  divifions  of  territory,  and  the  fa- 
crihcature,  there  will  be  left  a  very  valuable  body  of 
laws  of  contra6ls  and  commutative  juftice,  as  well  as 
of  criminal  law,  having  the  advantage  of  being  afcer- 
tained  by  God  to  be  founded  in  eternal  reafon,  and  the 
univerfal  immutable  law  of  nature.  It  muft  therefore 
be  worthy  of  the  contemplation  of  political  governors 
and  judges  who  are  fmcerely  deiirous  of  inveftigating 
and  eftablifcing  righteoufnefs  and  juftice  in  their  admft- 
niftration.  To  Deifts  this  would  be  of  no  moment ; 
but  to  Revelationift  Civilians  it  muft  be  of  unfpeakab}e4 
utility  and  confolation.  With  peculiar  profit  and  ad--' 
vantage  may  Kings  and  fovereign  rulers  look  to  the  cha- 
racter of  David  and  Jehofaphat,  Vizirs  and  Prime 
Miniftersto  that  of  Daniel,  and  Judges  to  that  of  Sa- 
muel ;  entering  into  the  fpirit  of  then*  examples  ;  a- 
voiding  their  errors  and  that  wherein  they  were  diiap- 


«P   KING    CHARLES^     I.  24^ 

jarroved  of  God  ;  and  imitating  their  efiGellencies  and 
virtues  :  with  the  fingular  heartfelt  confolation  of  know- 
ing with  preciiion  that  herein  they  are  fo  far  ading  to 
the  approbation  of  the  Moft  High,  by  whotn  Kings 
reign  and  Princes  decree  juftice.  Judge  Hale  w^as  thus 
adluated.  If  a  human  fyftem  of  national  law,  the  prin- 
ciples of  polity  and  govermental  adminiftration  welt 
digefted,  and  compiled  on  the  experiment  and  wifdom 
of  ages,  be  thought  worthy  theftudy  of  a  Judge,  a  Staef- 
men  and  Legiiiator,  or  Politician  ;  how  infinitely  more 
w^orthy  of  our  fuidy  and  contemplation  a  code  of  divine 
lawandjurifprudence,  (jould  we  tind  fuch  an  one  in- 
ftituted  by  God  for  any  nation  on  earth  ?  Oliver  found 
fuch  an  one  ;  he  faw  this  in  that  of  the  Hebrew  nation. 
And  under  this  view,  deceived  or  not,  how  confident 
and  rational  and  juft  for  him  to  ftudy  it  with  the  greateft 
diligence  r  For  befides  that  it  afcertains,  as  he  was 
weak  enough  to  believe,  the  way  to  a  better  world,  it 
gives  innumerable  important  declarations  and  decifions 
in  national  law  and  equity,  educes  the  principles  of 
juftice  in  numerous  gjreat  law  cafes,  with  a  divine  at- 
teftation  and  afcertainment,  thereby  fuperadding  a 
weight,  of  which  the  pande6ls  and  laws  of  all  other  na- 
tions are  deftitute.  In  the  bible  we  are  not  only  afcer- 
tained  of  laws,  but  government.  Of  what  immenfe  ad- 
vantage is  it  that,  in  the  general  examples  of  Kings 
and  rulers  and  flatefmen,  even  under  all  the  humaa 
corrupt  mutilations  of  the  original  polity  givea  by  God, 
we  may  learn  what  Kings  and  Potentates  may  and 
may  not,  ought  or  ought  not  to  do,  what  God  has  ap- 
proved and  what  difapproved,  in  civil,  military  and. 
pohtical  adminiilration  :  and  how  fovereigns  and  fu- 
bordinate  rulers,  in  what  manner  foever  elevated  to  rule 
and  dominion,  ought  to  condu6l  government,  both  for 
the  welfare  of  fociety,  and  the  acceptance  of  the  Mod 
High.  I  will  not  commit  m.yfelf,  nor  furrender  my 
own  difcenimxcnt,  I  will  not  temporize  fo  much  in  an 
eafiuefi  of  conctlhcn  t-o  Qthers^^  though  of  the  firll  eru- 


250       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

dition,  and  higheft  literary  and  profeffional  abilities,  a^- 
to  make  Reveiatioii  a  queftion.  They  well  know,  kovv 
much  foever  they  may  fmil©  at  our  credulity,  that  vve^ 
believe  it  with  firmnefs,  and  that  there  are  among  be- 
lievers men  of  equal  abiUties,  and  even  of  fuperior, 
more  profound,  and  more  comprehenfive  erudition: 
nor  are  they  to  conceive  that  theynionopolize  all  the. 
fair  inquiry  in  the  world.  I  ftouid  as  readily  fiirrender 
the.  demonflrations  of  the  Newtonian  philofophy  and 
aftronom.y,  as  the  demonftrations  of  revelation  to  fan- 
ciful phibfophic  theorilis  and  viiionaries.  V/e  hava 
not  followed  cunningly  devifed  fables  in  believing  the 
iyftem  of  revelation.  For  a  flate  or  civilian  that  be- 
lieves it,  Ihall  it  be  turned  to  their  reproach,  that  tliey 
attend  to  it  and  ufe  it  accordingly  ?  that  it  fhould  be- 
come the  daily  ufe  both  of  Princes  and  fubjedls  ?  a  ufe, 
which  the  difciples  of  Confucius  and  RoiTeau  would 
themfelves  applaud  and  announce  worthy  to  be  adopted 
and  recommended,  the  moment  they  fhould  fee  it  a* 
we  do,  a.divine  Verity.  Let  Oliver  then  be  no  longer 
reviled  for  reverencing  the  iavy  of  his  God,  as  a  legijla- 
i(^r  ^^d  politic i any  ^s\^Q.\l^StL  chri/iian. 

And  as  to  his  tyranny :  let  us  once  be  determiiied, 
that  the  dilTolution  of  the  long  parliament  was  juft  and 
neceifary  ;  necellity  will  then  require  fome  chara6ler  to 
do  it,  and  that  fome  fuch  head  fhould  arife  to  do  the 
work,  and  alTume  the  government.  Thus  necefiity  re- 
quired the  American  reiiitance  to  parliament ;  neceility 
required  a  Congrefs,  an  Adams,  a  Hancock,  a  Ran- 
dolph, a  JcfFerfon,  a  Rutledge,  a  pious  Gadfden  ;  ne- 
cellity required,  legitimated  and  juitified  the  a£l;  of  in- 
dependency, and  the  diflTiCm-berment  of  the  United 
States  i>om  the  Britilh  empire.  Oliver  was  elevated  to 
the  fovereignty  of  the  commonwealth  by  a  necefiity, 
both  as  it  refpe(Sled  himfelf  perfonally  and  the  republic, 
which  precludes  and  annihilates  all  ideas  of  ufuipation. 
He  enterprizcd,  and  by  his  fortitude  united  with  heroic 
wifdom,  he  did  that,  which,  in  a  polity  unviokted  by 


©F  KING    CHARLES      T.  25I 

its  governors  andadaiiniflrntors,  would  have  been  ufur- 
patioa  ;  but  iii  this  int racled  and  tumultuous  period, 
was  a  glorious  xieliverance,  refcue,  and  confervatioii 
of  liberty.  He  fcizcd  the  hehn  and  laved  the  fhip, 
when  the  courfc  its  pilots  (leered  was  !o  certain  ruin  and 
-deIbu6lion.  At  one  bold  llroke  he  dcilroyed  the  per- 
petuation of  the  parliaj.nent,  and  h(t  all  open  ior  a  free 
republican  erlabliiliment.  And  it  was  foon  manifcft  that 
.this  diifolaTion  was  very  grateful  and  acceptable  to  the 
great  majority  of  the  people.  Thus  he  brought  the  na- 
;tion  to  the  very  obje6t  of  the  parliamentary  war.  Every 
-thing  was  nov/  open  and  prepared  for  the  nation  to  form 
its  own  conftitution,  founded  on  the  rights  and  liber- 
ties of  the  people.  But  the  nation  was  not  ripe  for  de- 
liverance. It.  was  not  ripe  for  the  unnatural  union  and 
confolidation  of  the  three  kingdoms,  on  which,  as  to 
■fubjugation  by  force,  Fairfax  was  right  and  Oliver  er- 
red. It  was  ripe  for  a  republican  polity  for  England, 
and  no  more  at  that  time.  But  the  neceiTary  light  and 
wifdom  v/as  withheld  from  them.  The  comprehen- 
five  views  of  Croniwel  and  the  patriots  grafped  at  too 
iPiUch,  at  more  than  was  prepared  then  to  hold  togeth- 
er. Their  uniting  three  kingdoms  was  a  then  imprac- 
ticable and  deiufory  cbje6l.  Had  the  convention  par- 
liament of  16^3  made  England  only  theobje<5lof  their 
republican  polity,  they  might  perhaps  have  fucceeded. 
.Scotland  could  not  then  bear  to  bury  their  fo vereignty  as 
an  Independent  kingdom,  in  the  comxmonweakh  of 
England. 

The  principles  of  the  conflitutlon  vs'ere  good.  The 
work  was  well  begun,  but  never  periedled.  It  was 
v/Cil  done  in  part,  that  is  for  the  delufn^e  protectorate, 
and  an  elective  triennial  and  well  apportioned  h^^ulc  ot 
commons,  faving  iisohjecl  was  too  extenfive,  the  con- 
folidation of  three  kingdoms  then  impradticable':  It  al- 
(o  well  regulated  as  to  the  elecStive  and  fucceilion  of  the 
other  houfc,  or  houfe  of  Lords,  making iheni  in  a  cer~ 
tain  mode  dependent  upon  the  houfe  of  comir.ons. — • 


0^:2  HISTORY  OF  THREE  OF  THE  JUDGES 
Upon  this  conftitution,  which  was  regularly  brought 
into  uf^y  the  elevation  of  Oliver  to  the  Prote61:orate  was 
regular,  and  legal,  and  no  ufurpation.  He  was  no 
ufurper,  but  legally  and  conftitutionally  invefted  with 
the  ibpremacy  in  dominion. 

However  the fe  h-appy  beginnings  were  never  firmly 
finifhed,  and  the  whole  fabric  was  overturned  at  the 
Relloration  ;  yet  the  great  work,  and  tlie  whole  great 
enterprize  of  the  Long  Parliament  and  Prote6lorate, 
make  an  important  and  glorious  period  in  the  hiftory  of 
England,  by  far  the  moll:  diiiinguidied  and  glorious  in 
the  Englifh  hilkTy  from  Alfred  to  the  prefent  time. — 
This  memorable  confii£l  and  ftruggle  has  proved  the 
means  of  theconfervation  of  all  the  liberty  remaining  in 
the  EngliiTi  conftitution  ;  and  furnifhed  an  example  for 
the  contemplation  of  ages,  and  to  v/hich  the  Englifh 
nation  will  ever  have  recourfe,  until  in  fome  future  pe- 
riod, animated  by  the  examples  of  thefc  patriots,  and 
.refuming  their  principles,  they  will  ail  them  out  to 
their  full  extent,  reform  and  perfeft  their  policy,  and 
work  out  the  falvation  of  liberty.  And  fo  great  will  be 
the  future  benefit  of  the  example  of  this  period,  it  will 
abundantly  repay  all  the  blood  and  treafure  expend- 
ed in  the  glorious  conteft  with  tyranny,  from  1641  to 
1660,  inclufive  of  the  twenty  or  thirty  regicides  who 
were  inglorioufly  facrificed  at  the  Reftoration.  Had  it 
not  been  for  the  parliamentary  oppofition  to  Charles  I. 
no  man  doubts  but  his  tyranny  would  have  been  in- 
creafed,  till  the  parliament  would  have  been  no  more, 
or  reduced  to  a  cypher,  and  the  governm^ent  become  as 
arbritary  and  defpotic  as  that  of  France  or  Spain.  This 
gloijous  ftruggle  gave  a  check  to  it  ;  and  though  abor- 
tive by  the  return  of  defpoiifm,  will  be  revived  again 
and  again  in  the  nation,  with  redoubled  and  redoubling 
force,  until  it  fhall  at  length  ePiabhfh  an  enlightened  and 
happy  polity.  There  will  the  meritorious  characlers 
v-.hich  fhone  and  dlfplayed  themfelves  in  the  antecedent 
periods,  of  efforts  le:;d:ng  on  to  this  great  and  glorious 


OF  KING    CHARLES      I.  253 

event,  receive  the  lading  tribute  of  perpetual  eftimation 
and  honor. 

No  more  will  the  immortal  Oliver  then  be  confider- 
cd  as  a  tyrant  and  ufurper,  but  as  one  who  was  legally 
and  regularly  inveftcd  v^ith  the  prote6lorate,  and  as 
one  executing  that  high  betruflment  with  integrity  and 
ability,  and  with  an  unexampled  equity  and  benevo- 
lence. Being  inftalled  in  office,  "  he  proceeded  to  the 
exercife  of  his  auihority,  which  he  ufed  at  home  with 
great  moderation  and  equity,  but  fo  eP/e6lually  aiTerted 
at  all  foreign  courts,  that  he  foon  made  the  greatefl:  fi- 
gure in  Europe,  aud  recei\^ed  marks  of  refpedl  from  all 
the  fovereigns  in  Chriftendom,  who  trembled  at  his 
power,  and  courted  his  friendihip,  at  the  fame  time 
that  they  hated  ins  perfon."t  He  reform.ed  the  laws, 
and  for  this  end  joined  and  availed  himfelf  of  the  afhil- 
ance  of  perfons  of  the  greateil  integrity  and  ability,  to 
confider  how  the  laws  might  be  made  plain,  fhort  and 
ealy.  He  took  care  to  put  into  feats  of  juftice  men  of 
the  mod  known  integrity  and  ability  ;  he  reformed  the 
chancery  ;  he  was  of  great  difcernment  in  charailcrs, 
and  filled  all  the  offices  of  every  department,  civil,  mi- 
litary and  naval,  with  the  beft  fet  of  officers  ever  known 
in  the  nation.  And  when  he  had  done  this,  he  awed 
them  into  fidelity.  He  fet  them  to  work,  and  lie  faw 
that  the  work  was  done.  They  knew  he  would  not  be 
trifled  with,  they  all  knew  it  mull  be  done,  and  it  was 
done.  Never  was  the  whole  fydem  of  interior  govern- 
ment carried  on  with  more  firmnefs,  judice  and  ordei-, 
or  freer  from  corruption,  opprellion  and  injuftice.  He 
Was  a  terror  to  evil  doers,  and  a  praife  to  them  thad  did 
>vcll.  He  eilablilhed  liberty  of  confcience.  His  go- 
vernment was  impartial,  peaceable,  mild  and  moderate, 
but  energetic  and  efficacious,  and  firm  as  the  moun- 
tains. Il  was  excellent.  He  appointed  Major-Gene- 
rals  to  fuperintend  the   inferior  magidrates    in    every 

4.  RevicTV  Life  0.  C.  bj  a  Gent.  MU,  Tan.  P.  I'S;, 


234        HISTORY    OF    THx^EE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

CQiinty.  *^*It  was  hardly  poffible  for  any  governor  to 
fhew  more  regard  than  Cromwell  did  for  the  riijhts  and 
prop.ertiesof  private  men,  He  fupplied  the  benches  at 
vVeihninfter  v/ith  the  ableft  lawyers,  whom  he  had  in- 
vited to  the  public  fer-cice.  JVIaynard,  Twifden,  New- 
diga.te,  Wii'.dham,  arid  other  gentlemen  of  great  in- 
tegrity and  learning,  were  made  by  him  Sergeants  at 
Lav«\  and  Mr.  Matthew  Hale,  afterwards  the  famous 
lord  chief  jultice  Sir  Matthew,  was  advanced  to  be  a 
juPiice  of  the  common  pleas.  Milton,  the  great  Mil- 
ton, was  Latin  Secretary,  a  man  that  would  have 
done  honor  to  the  mightieii  monarch,  to  the  moft  polite 
nnd  learned  court  in  the  beil  ages." — "  Nor  can  we 
better  fum  up  the  chara£ler  of  the  civil  government  at 
this  time,  than  in  the  following  extrad,  which  is  chiefly 
taken  from  Echard,  a  moll  virulent  enemy  of  the  Pro- 
'tec%r  and  his  friends." — 

**  Cromwell,  though  he  proceeded  in  an  arbitrary 
manner  againfl:  thofe  who  conteited  his  authority,  yet 
in  all  other  cafes,  where  the  lite  of  his  jnrifdicfion  was 
jiot  concerned,  he  feemed  to  have  a  great  reverence  for 
the  law  and  the  conilitution,  rarely  interpohng  between 
party  and  party  :  and  to  do  him  jufrice,  there  appeared 
in  liis  government  many  things  that  v^  ere  truly  great 
and  praifeworlhy.  Juiiice,  as  well  diftributive  as  com- 
mutative, was  by  liim  reftored  almoli:  to  hs  anticnt  grace 
and  fplendor  ;  the  judges  executed  their  oiiice  without 
T:ovetoufnefs,  according  to  law  and  equity,  and  the 
lav.s,  except  fome  few,  where  hi mfelf  was  immediately 
concerned,  being  permitted  to  have  their  full  force  upon 
all,  witheut  impediment  or  delay,  men's  manners,  outi 
wardly  at  leait,  became  likewife  reformed,  either  b'y 
removing  the  incentives  to  luxury,  or  by  m.eans  of  the 
antient  lav/s  now  revi\ed,  and  put  in  execution.  There 
was  a  ftricl  difcipline  kept  in  his  court,  where  drun- 
kennefs,  whoredom  and  extortion  were  either  banifhedy 
or  feverely  rebuked      Trade  began  again  to  jjouriih  an«I 

^  Rcvicvj  0.C.    F.  192.  "^i  tnorngyjbfifiiggiiaioil- 


OF  KING    CHARLES      I.  2^^ 

profper,  and  mod  things  to  put  on  a  happy  and  pro- 
mi  ilngafped.  The  Protedor  alfo  Ihewed  a  gie:it  re- 
gard to  the  advancement  of  learning,  and  was  a  great 
e/icouragcr  of  it.  The  Univerfity  of  Oxford  m  parti- 
cular, acknowledged  his  Highnefs's  refpefl  to  them  in 
continuing  their  cliancellor,  and  beitowing  on  the  pub- 
lic library  the  twenty-four  Greek  manufcripts,  and  mu- 
nificently allowing  one  hundred  pounds  a  year  to  a  di- 
vinity reader.  He  alfo  ordered  a  fcheme  to  be  drawn 
up  for  founding  and  endowing  a  college  at  Durham, 
for  the  convenience  of  the  northern  fludents.  Towards 
all  who  complied  with  his  pleafure,  and  courted  hispro- 
te£lion,  he  manifefted  great  civility,  generofity  and 
courtefy.  No  man  feemed  to  be  more  tender  of  the 
clergy  than  himfelf,  though  he  would  not  lift  himfeif  in 
any  particular  fe6l:,  faying  "  it  was  his  only  willi  to  fee 
the  church  in  peace,  and  that  all  would  gather  into  one 
ibeepfold,  under  one  fhepherd,  Jefus  Chrift,  and  mu- 
tually love  one  another."  Though  the  pu.blic  u^t  of 
the  common  prayer  was  denied  to  the  Epifcopal  party^ 
yet  he  allowed  the  uk  of  their  rit5s  in  private  houfes : 
and  milder  courfes  were  then  taken  than  under  the  ty- 
ranny of  others."  Ideas,  how  juil,  liberal  and  noble  ! 
how  becoming  the  dignity  and  benevolence  of  the  head 
and  father  of  a  republic  1  An  example  how  woi  thy  the 
emulation,  the  imitation  of  all  fovereigns  ! 

The  purity  of  his  principles  are  called  in  queftion, 
or  rather  now  with  one  confent  reprobated  by  all.— ~ 
Shall  we  fay  it  is  impoilible  for  a  man  to  be  ultim.ately 
actuated  by  the  views  of  patriotifm  and  public  weal? 
Had  any  other  man  done  half  the  good  and  excellent 
things  for  the  regulation  of  the  public  welfare,  he  would 
have  left  his  chara6ler  for  real  patriotifm  unproblema- 
tical.  Not  only  vtere  his  adions  the  mod  wifely 
ada^^tad  and  efficacious  for  the  public  good,  but  he  ap- 
pears as  uniformly  aduated  by  a  fixt  regard  to  public 
juRice  and  right,  as  it  appears  pofhble  for  a  charader 
whofe  aggrandizement  arofe  out  of  the  aggrandizement 


256  HISTORY  OF  THREE  OF  THE  JUDGES 
aWtrue  glory  of  the  flate  he  governed.  It  Is  infidion^ 
t^6'<%rcrrt)e  ali  to  linifler  and  feparateperfonal  views  in 
acHarader  offo  much  public  ufefulnefs.  But  it  is  faid 
her  once  put  the  queuion  to  VVhitelock,  *'  What  if  a 
man  fhould  take  upon  him  to  be  King?'" — letting  out 
t^ie  fecr-et  that  ambition  and  luft  of  dominion  vA-as  his 
rtiling  ^^aflion  and  ultimate  view.  He  faw  further  than 
Whitdock :  he  knew  the  nation  and  parliament  were 
ripening  into  ideas  of  the  neceflity  of  Kingfhip,  and 
knew  that  it  would  be  fatal  to  republicanifm,  his  great 
idol.  And  what  if  founding  the  public  fentiment,  and 
being  too  knowing  for  Whilelock,  he  took  him  in  v/ith 
this  fublil  queilion,  and  by  it  unlocked  ail  Whilelock 'b* 
heart,  without  difclciing  his  own.  Very  ini^ruflivG 
and  ufeful  was  this  converfation  to  Cromv/ell,  who 
left  his  friend  to  deceive  himfelf  and  the  world,  as  if  he* 
afpired  to  the  crown,  when  nothing  v/as  more  abhor- 
rent to  him.  The  experiment  was  made  upon  him  r 
the  crown  and  title,  with  all  it  flattering  glories  were  of- 
fered to  him,  and  with  the  greateft  importunity  preffed 
upon  him,  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  a  misjudging 
ppi! lament,  joined  vvifn  the  firft  law  cliara5i:ers  in  the 
nation.  He  was  wifer  and  faw  farther  than  all  the  parr 
iiament.  He  faw  that  by  accepting  the  title  the  object 
for  which  he  and  the  nation  had  been  contending,  a. 
free  (late,  w^ould  be  given  up,  and  this  v/as  as  dear  to 
Iiina  as  to  a  Wafhington.  The  national  objedl  would 
be  now  changed  into  a  fam.ily  perfonal  conteii",  whe- 
ther Cromwell  or  Stuart  fliould  be  King.  Cromwell 
could  have  been  King,  but  his  idol  liberty  and  the 
commonwealth  muft  be  given  up.  Not  the  gratifica-- 
tion  of  ambition,  but  faithfulnefs  to  his  country's  caiif:i 
operated,  and  he  nobly  declined  the  proffered,  the.  de^^ 
hifory,  the  ruinous  glory.  In  this,  as  well .  as  in  the^ 
uniform  tenor  of  all.liis  conduct,  when  critically,  juftiy 
and  candidly  exam.ined,  he  ever  appears,  to  a  diftin- 
guiflied  degree  of  fidelity  andperfeverance,  to  have  been 
decidedlv  actuated  by  pure  and  patriotic  motives,  Ncr 


OF    Klx\G    CHARLES  I.  2^7 

\vas  it  bcc-Aife,  under  the  name  of  Proteclor  he  had  got 
the  fubftance,  and  was  pofTeOed  of  equal  power  with  ^ 
King,  which  was  not  the  truth  ;  it  vvas  becaufe  lie 
faw 'i hat  hereby  the  eaiife  would  be  given  up,  and  the 
government  return  to  a  tyranny.  And  his  ideas  were 
verified  at  the  Reiloration.  Let  repubhean  hberty  arid 
the  eftabiifhment  of  the  colledive  body  of  the  people  in 
the  podeilion  of  their  laws  and  rights,  be  coniidercd  a-? 
Ohver's  ruling  motives,  and  all  his  conduct  may  be  re- 
folved,  without  having  rccourfe  to  corruption,  venality, 
ambition.  He  would  thereby  be  prom.pted  to  all  the 
daring,  the  [^reat  and  heroic  actions  which  adorn  and 
immortalize  his  characler.  The  more  thororjghly  this 
character  is  examined,  even  with  a  rigidly  ju(.i,  but  un- 
acrimonious  feverity,  the  m.ore  v/iil  it  approve  iifelf  as 
an  high  example  af  purity  in  gove-rnmentai  and  political 
life. 

I  have  faid  that  Oliver  was  tried  with  the  title  of  a 
King,  and  declined  it.  Many  of  the  true  patriots  fin- 
cereiy,  as  well  as  others  from  e-nfnaring  views  to  recon- 
cile the  nation  to  a  return  to  monarchy  and  revocation 
of  the  royal  family,  were  fond  that  Oliver  ftiould  have 
afTumed  the  name  of  a  king.  But  he  h\v  beyond  thein 
all,  that  it  was  time  to  lay  the  name,  as  well  as  the  thing 
afide.  Such  and  fo  various,  fo  complicated,  perplext 
and  indefinite  had  become  the  airociation  of  ideas  con- 
nected with  that  name,  that  its  further  ufe  was  danger- 
ous, under  the  moll:  ^xprefsly  defined  and  well  limited 
defcriptions.  No  man  knows  the  prerogatives  of  the 
crown  with  precifion,  in  any  ftate  in  Europe  to  tbisday 
— AH  is  loll:  in  clouds  and  incomprehenfible  myftery.-— 
Like  the  title  of  Bifhop,  which  has  becoine,  in  the  no- 
torious conteffion  of  all  men,  a  very  different  thing  from 
the  original  fcripture  billiop.  All  the  world  know^s 
that  the  fcripture  bilhop  differs  from  the  titular  biiliop. 
of  the  middle  and  fubfequent  ages,  by  the  additions  pa- 
raphernalia of  civil,  political  and  ecclefiaftical  powers, 
and  even  in  fojne  initances  of  fecubv  fovereignty  in  ci^ 


25S       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

vil  dominion,  as  Mentz,  Cologne,  andOfnaburg;  as 
v/ell  as  in  the  twenty-fix  Engliih  bifhops,  and  in  moil 
of  theepifcopacy  of  the  Latin,  and  in  feme  inftances, 
of  the  Greek  chuich  particularly  in  Ruffia.  While  all 
along  through  every  age  have  been  to  be  found  all  over 
ChriRendom,  amidfl:  the  general  fliip-wreck  and  prof- 
titution  of  the  Apoflolic  inftitution,  the  fcattered  re- 
mains of  the  prim(xval  fcripture  epifcopacy,  in  the 
paftorate,  or  primacy  in  the  coequal  elderihip  of  a  fin- 
gle  congregational  church.  Papa,  or  pope,  was  the 
common  and  univerfal  appellation  of  the  clergy,  both 
bifiiops  and  prefbyters,  throughout  Chriftendorn,  in 
the  fecond  and  third  centuries,  and  continues  to  be  fo 
to  this  day  in  the  Ruffian  Greek  church.  But  though 
originally  fignifying  only  Father^  it  has  acquired  fuch 
odium  and  infamy  in  Weftern  Europe,  that  there  is 
not  a  proteftant  bilhop  but  would  now  abhor  and  dif- 
dain  it.  After  the  prefent  war  of  Kinf';s,  the  very  name 
King  will  become  equij^ly  odious  and  infamous. 

Suppofing  Chriftendom  at  a  given  time,  as  the  pre- 
fent, ihould  confift  of  130  miilioDs  of  nominal  chrif- 
tians  ;  and  thefe  refolved  into  130  thoijfand  churches, 
or  congregations,  of  a  thoufand  fouls  each  ;  and  that 
each  of  thefe  congregations  were  furniflied  and  organi- 
zed with  a  prefbytery,  and  each  a  bifliop  or  paftor  at 
its  head,  that  is  a  bifnop,  prieds  and  deacons  for  each 
congre^^ation  ;  this  would  be  the  fcripture  model  and 
polity  lor  the  ciiurch,  and  thus  jure  divino.  Now  for 
the  purpoljs  of  fraternal  communication  both  of  the 
minillers  aiid  churches,  what  kind  of  artificial  polity 
they  might  agree  for  prudential  and  w^ife  reafons  to 
ihrow  themfeives  into,  whether  into  an  hierarchy  con- 
fiding oi  various  grades  and  fubordinations  under  one 
pontif",  ore  number  of  hierarchies  under  diirerent  pon- 
tiffs, or  independent  fupreme  heads,  or  however  they 
-  Ihoukl  modify  themfeives  into  prefoyteries,  ciaifes  or 
alfemblies — all  of  it  mud  beconfidered  as  only  human 
counfcl,  and- act  at  all  ywrt'  dlvlno.     In  the  candor  of 


€rF    KING    CHABLES      I-  2,59 

-ev'Ciy  mind  they  iniift  be  ftriptof  all  this,  towards  dif- 
cerning  the  true  fcripture  biihop.  It  furely  is  not  a 
little  fmgular,  that  neither  the  omnifcient "  Jefus,  who 
certainly  forefaw  the  growth  and  multiplication  of  'his 
churches,  nor  the  infpired  apoftles,  fhould  ever  have 
fuggeiled,  nor  have  left  any  dire61;ions  for  the  arrange- 
ment and  formation  of  any  fyftematical  hierarchies,  or 
indeed  of  any  combinations  or  polity  at  all,  out  of  a 
particular  congregation,  if  they  had  feen  it  necelTary  or 
expedient,  for  the  well  being  of  the  Catholic  or  univer- 
fal  church.  The  prefumption  is  (Irong,  that  Chriftdid 
not  fee  it  to  be  neceifary  ;  and  from  the  apoftolic  pre- 
di6iions  of  an  ecclefiaftical  apoftacy,  he  certainly  fore- 
faw, as  Clement  informs  us,  that  it  would  be  danger- 
ous, as  it  has  proved  in  hiilory.  In  reviewing  the  Hate 
cf  the  church,  we  ought  carefully  to  diftinguiih  what 
is  of  divine  and  what  of  human  wifdom.  We  do  this 
vvith  refpe61:  to  the  infpired  books,  and  the  uninfpired, 
with  clear  and  certain  precifion.  With  fuch  adiltinc- 
tioR  and  analyfis  we  may  eafily  difcover  the  fcripture 
biiliops,  which  when  (Iript  of  all  additions  parapherna- 
lia, will  all  become  fratres  brethren,  and  fcarcely  dif- 
tinguifhable  from  the  humble  paftors,  the  untitled 
common  minifters  of  the  churches.  But  if  any  fe6):  or 
body  of  chriftians  are  pleafed  with  a  facerdotal  hierar- 
chy, afcending  through  various  gradations,  dignities 
and  eminencies,  "  from  the  dirt  to  the  fkies  •"  t  yet  let 
them  all  ceafe  to  think,  there  is  any  jus  divinum  in  fuch 
a  poHty. 

In  like  manner,  v^^e  are  not  to  infer  the  primoeval 
meaning  of  a  King,  or  title  of  the  chief  ruler  of  a  So- 
vereignty among  the  nations,  from  the  meaning  to 
vvhicii  it  has  long  grown  up  by  ufe  in  the  ages  of  tyran- 
ny and  ufurpation.  Kings,  Mdakim^  leaders,,  rulers 
were  primoeval  in  all  nations  and  countries  around  the 
terraqueous  globe,  and  muft  have  been  from  the  fpon- 
taneous  nature  of  univerfiil  fcciety.      The  firlt  feventy- 

t  Mayhew, 


a6o       HISTORY    0F    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

two  nations  immediately  after  Babel  had  them.  But 
what  ^Acre  thefe  primoeval  Kings  ?  Not  defpots,  rulers 
by  their  own  will,  but  aclors  forth  of  the  counfel  and 
will  of  the  people,  in  what  for  the  public  weal  w^as  by 
the  people  confided  to  their  execution,  as  prinii  inter 
pares  confillarios^  the  firil:  or  chief  baron  in  the  teutonic 
policies,  of  a  preiidential,  not  autocratical  authority, 
the  organ  of  the  fupreme  council,  but  of  no  feparate 
and  disjoined  power.  Early  indeed  among  the  Orien- 
tal nations  fprung  up  a  few  Ninufes,  while  in  general 
for  ages,  particularly  in  Europe,  they  were  what  they 
oi]ght  to  be.  If  we  recede  back  into  early  antiquity, 
and  defcend  thence  even  late  into  the  martial  ages,  wc 
fhaii  find  the  rellquicB  of  the  original  policies,  efpe- 
cially  in  Hefperia,  Gaul,  Belgium  and  Britain,  and 
plainly  difcern  the  Duces,  the  Reges,  the  heads  of  na- 
tions, by  whatever  appellation  defignated,  ftill  xh^paires 
patriae.  The  additions  powers  annexed  to  their  titles 
afterwards,  caufed  them  to  grow  up  to  tyrannic  go- 
vernors of  will.  Not  fo  in  the  begmning,  when  they 
were  like  the  Sachems  of  Indian  nations.  And  per- 
haps the  primoeval  polities  may  have  fubfifted  and  fur- 
vived  with  purity  in  the  Indian  fachemdo:^:!^',  which 
however  hereditary,  are  fo  in  a  mode  unknown  to  the 
reft  of  the  world,  though  perfectly  underftood  fey  them- 
felves  ;  nor  is  any  man  able  with  our  prefent  ignorance 
to  comprehend  the  genius  of  their  polity  or  laws,  which 
I  am  perfuaded  are  wife,  beautiful  and  excellent,  rightly 
and  fairly  underftood,  however  hitherto  defpifed  by 
Europeans  and  Americans.  We,  think  of  a  Sachem  as 
an  European  King  in  his  little  tribe,  and  net:ociate 
Vv'ith  him  under  miflaken  transatlantic  ideas.  And  {o 
are  frequently  finding  them  cyphers  to  cci-tain  purpofes 
without  the  coUediive  coiiacil  of  warriors,  who  are  all 
the  m.en  of  the  nation,  whofe  fubordination  is  fettled 
and  as  fixt  as  that  in  the  feudal  fyftem.  At  times  we 
fee  a  Sachem  dictating  with  the  f^eming  authority  of  a 
defpot;  and  lie  is  obeyed  becaufe  of  x\\<^  united  fenfe  of 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.     ^  -  26 g 

the  nation — never  othervvife.  On  their  views  of  foe  iety^ 
th^ir  policy  is  perfect  wifdoni.  So  alniiejit  Kingfhip 
and  council  monarchy  in 'Afia  and  EnrojDej'was  like' 
thai  of  Melchifedek,  lenient,  wife  and  e-licacious,.--*' 
This  flill  lives  in  Africa  and  among  foiPie  of  the  hordef: 
of  Tartars,  as  it  did  in  Montezuma  and  Mango  Capac,' 
But  ihtCe  pri?77i  infer  pares  foon  grew  up  to  beiaiis  of 
prey  ;  until  ages  ago  government  has  been  conilgned 
to  the  will  of  monarchs,  and  this  even  with  the  confent 
of  the  people,  deluded  by  the  idea  that  a  father  of  his 
people  could  not  litic  but  with  afiedion  and  wifdom.. 
Thefe  in  Greece  and  Sicily  were  called  Tyr^tnni,  to 
diftinguifla  from  Archons,  Princes  and  other  rulers  by 
council.  A.ll  government  was  left  to  will,  hoped  and 
expe£led  to  have  been  a  wife  will.  But  the  experiment 
raifed  fuch  liorror  and  deteftation,  and  this  official 
title  has  for  ages  become  fo  difguftful  and  obnoxious, 
that  Kings  themfelves  cannot  endure  it.  Never  will  a 
King  hereafter  aiTumc  the  name  of  a  tyrant,  nor  give 
the  name  of  Baftile  to  a  national  or  (late  prifon.  The 
brazen  bull  of  Phalaris  was  ufed  once  ;  has  been  difufecf 
two  thoufand  years  ;  and  will  never  be  ufed  again.  So 
the  name  of  a  King  now  excites  horror,  and  is  become 
as  odious  in  Europe,  as  that  of  Tyrannus  at  Athens, 
Syracufe  and  A;:{rigentum.  The  name  and  title  of 
King  will  foon  become  as  difguftful  to  fuprenie  m.agif- 
trates,  in  every  polity,  as  that  of  tyrant,  to  vyhich  it  \s 
become  fynonimous  and  equipollent.  It  may  take  a 
century  or  two  yet  to  accomplilh  this  extirpation  of 
title  ;  but  the  die  is  caft,  Kinglliip  is  at  an  end  ;  like  a: 
girdled  tree  in  the  foreft,  it  may  take  a  little  time  to 
wither  and  die — bsit  it  is  dying — and  in  dying,  die  if, 
mud:.  Slaying  the  moniter  was  happily  begun  by  Oli- 
ver :  but  the  people  fpared  its  life,  judicially  given  up  by 
heaven  to  be  whipt,  fcourged'and  tormented  vvith  it 
two  or  three  centuries  more,  unlefs  it  may  be  now  in 
its  laft  gafps.  Novv  there  n-iuft  be  a  fupreme  and  chief 
ruler  in  every  fociety,  in  every  polity  :    and  was  it  nut 


262       KISTORV    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

for  the  compleK  alTociation  of  infidioiis  ideas,  ideas  oi 
dread  and  horror  conneiled  with  the  appellation  King, 
or  could  it  be  pursued  and  redored  to  the  pi^rity  of  antiJ 
quity,  it  might  dill  be  fafely  ufed  in  a  rcpubhc.  But 
this  can  not  be  done  : — It  mull  therefore  he  relegated 
into  contemptuous  neg]e61.  And  a  new  appellation: 
muft  be  taken  up — very  immaterial  what  it  is,  fo  it  be 
defined  to  be  but  primus  inie-r  pares^  ccnfiUariQSy  Hand 
on  frequent  election,  and  hereriitation  for  ever  repudia- 
ted and  banifiied.  The  charm,  and  unintelligible  myf- 
teries  wrapt  iip  in  the  name  of  a  King  being  done  away, 
the  way  would  be  open  for  all  nations  to  a  rational  go- 
vernment and  policy,  on  fuch  plain  and  obvious  gene- 
ral principles,  as  v/ould  be  intelligible  to  the  plainell 
ruftic,  to  the  fubdanfial  yeomanry,  or  men  of  landed 
eftates,  which  ought  to  be  the  body  of  the  population. 
Every  one  could  underftand  it  as  plain  as  a  Locke  or  a 
Camden.  And  whatever  the  Filmers  and  Acherlys  may 
fay,  the  common  people  are  abundantly  capable  and 
fufceptible  of  fuch  a  polity.  It  is  greatly  wife  there- 
fore to  reje6i;  the  verv  name  of  a  King.  Many  of  the 
enlightened  civilians  of  the  Long  Parliament  and  Pro- 
tectorate faw  this.  Oliver  faw  it.  And  who  fh all  fay, 
this  was  not  the  governing  reafon  of  his  reje£ling.it. — 
From,  reading  his  ienfible  and  mafterly  an fvver  to  Parli- 
ament, I  believe  it  was  his  X."\\t  and  only  reafon.  If 
acllng  on  fuch  a  motive  is  ever  pofTible  to  the  efforts  of 
humanity,  Oliver,  of  all  men,  was  the  man  to  do  it. 
Certainly  he  could  have  exercifed  more  power  under 
the  title  of  a  King,  than  under  that  of  a  Proteclor, 
which  was  far,  very  far  more  limited,  befides  thecer-^ 
tain  hereditation  of  the  crown  in  his  family.  It  is  irri^. 
poilible  juflly  to  afcribe  his  refufal  to  avidity  for  p9W^r 
oriamily  honor.  -x".^;,  ,=^,,,  ,,j.  .,-,  i 

In  the  courfe  of  this  difauifition,  and  efpecially  in 
this  chapter,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  I  am  not  to  be 
confidered,  as  tjie  fimple  hiftorian,  but  as  profefTedly 
sdvocating  the  caufe  of  the  Judges  and  the  general  cauTe 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  2^3 

©fliberty,  and  as  adducing  hiftmical  tertimonies  and 
IHteiTients,  to  be  applied  in  illuflrating  and  ertabliihing 
flich  a  defence.  To  this  end  a  review  of  the  principles 
of  the  long  parliament  and  prote6lotatc  beconies  neccira- 
ty.y  in  every  mind,  for  with  them  thecai}fe  of  the  Judg- 
es (lands  or  falls. 

I  proceed  then  and  fay,  that  Oliver  was  again  tried 
in  a  fecond  capital  inllance.  Connected  with  the  am- 
bition for  royalty,  would  naturally  be  that  oi  an  am- 
bition for  heriditating  this  honour  in  his  family.  Tlie 
prote£lorate  was  by  the  conftitun'on  for  life  indeed,  but 
eledlive.  It  was  doubdefs  in  Oliver's  power  to  ha\e 
made  it  hereditary.  Through  the  whole  courfe  of  his 
adminitiration,  does  he  ever  difcover  any  intrigues  and 
movements  this  way  ?  Do  we  ever  hear  of  his  neg!)ci- 
ations  this  way  ?  Yes,  it  is  faid,  that,  at  his  death,  he 
conlented  that  his  fon  Richard  ihould  be  proclaimed  as 
his  fucceifor.  This  was  true.  And  this  is  all  ;  and 
perhaps  this  v/as  after  death  had  invaded  his  mental 
powers.  Had  Oliver  felt  his  wilh,  and  had  he  perceiv- 
ed the  general  fenfe  of  the  nation  for  it,  and  had  he 
forefcenthat  fuch  an  eftabliflmient  woiild  have  received 
j^ational  fupport>  vv^e  will  for  the  prefent  fay,  that  he 
would  have  hefitated.  If  not  clofed  In  with  the  mea- 
fure  ;  he  would  have  been  corrupted,  if  in  fuch  a  ftate- 
ment  it  would  have  been  corruption.  But  we  in  vain 
conje6lure,  what  he  would  then  have  done  :  he  might 
have  heroically  difplayed  a  frelh  proof  of  his  dinntereif- 
ed  and  incorruptible  patriotifm,  and  have  rejected  it. — 
It  is  in  vain  however  to  amufe  ourfelves  with  conjec- 
tures upon  fo  fagacious  a'cha,ra6ler,  as  Oliver's.  Let, 
us  rather  fubiVitute  ourfelves  in  his  cafe,  and  judge  hpv«F 
fo  difcerning  and  wife  a  man  as  Ohver  would  havera^] 
ed  in  the  then  prefeiit  circumilances.  He  plainly  faw 
fiich  a:  grovi'ingand  ipreading  inclinati0.r!  in  the  nation 
for  the  return  of  monarchy,  and  even  ot  the  Stuart  fam- 
ily, that  however  he  might  have  hoped  to  have  warded 
it  odn  1653,  3^et  by  1658  ne  as  clearly   and  fatlstac-" 


264^'      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

torily  fbrefaw  the  inevitable  dc'lrnclicn  of  the  caufe, 
an<i  the  reiloration  of  Charles  II.  by  the  linion  of  the 
monarchical  menibers  and  open  royalHls,  as  if  he  had 
rqceived  it  by  prophecy.  He  f^ivy  the  tide  was  turning 
and  would  overwhelm  all.  In  tliis  to  me  indubitable 
dftfpairofa  good  but  loft  caufc,  what  heart  vvculd  he 
hav,e, ,  had  he  been  as  ambitious  as  CisEi.r,  for  concert- 
ing and  enterprizing  plans  for  tl;e  hereditat-ion  of  the 
prote6torate  r  Add  to  this,  that  had  fuch  a  thing  be^n 
his  wifii,  he  too  well  difccrned  and  judged  of  charac- 
ters, even  thofe  of  his  own  family,  not  to  knovF,  that 
the  pacific,  mild  and  inoffenfive  Richard,  had  neither 
a  fortitude  nor  wifdom,  nor  fpirit  of  enterprize  equal 
to  fuch  a  crifis.  Indeed  his  family  Situation  Vv' as  very 
peculiar  and  trying.  He  had  four  daughters  and  two 
fons.  He  was  fo  effectually  deferted  by  them,  that  he 
could  not  pofiibly  have  entertained  any  hereditary  hopes 
or  profpe^ls.  ^   f 

Bridget — v/as  againft  m.cnarcliy  and  the  prote6^orate, 
even  in  her  father. 

Elizabeth— againft  her  father's  religion — a  pious 
cpifcopalian  ;  a  friend  and  partizan  for  both  Charleses. 

Mary — for  monarchy  and  tlie  reitoration. 

Frances— willing  to  liave  married  King  Charles  II  : 
to  which  her  mother  confented  with  earneiintfs,.  and 
was  for  having  Oliver  fign  the  chorte  Llmicbe,  'wif^ 

So  the  prote61or  and  his  caufe,  given  up  and  deferted 
by  his  wile,  and  all  his  daughters.  Nor  were  the  two 
fons  very  tenacious  of  the  caufe.  He  therefore  never 
had  a  ferious  thought  tliat  Richard  could  poliibly  fuc- 
cccd.  And  could  he  have  forefeeri  the  continuance  and 
perpetuity  of  Ins  beloved  commonwealth,  to  which  he- 
jcditation  he  kne^v  vi^as  a  poifon,  I  believe  fj-om  the 
tenor  and  firmnefs  of  his  iormer  conduft,  he  v/onld 
have  given  a  new  and  lingular  proof  of  his  patriotiim, 
and  liave  difcouxitenancccrandrejeded  the  ele6lion^of 
hisWrtfen,^  leail  it'lhoiddVbaVe  1(fd  on  to  iKis^bail6liil 


OF    KING    CHARLES    I.  265 

fiercditution.  But,  as  I  faid,  he  knew  that  the  reRr)ra^ 
tion  would  foon  take  place,  and  therefore  difcovercd  no 
fniitlefs  intrigues  againli:  it.  He  well  knew  that  what- 
ev-er  might  be  done,  notking  could  prevent  it.  Hh 
council  and  parliament  were  perfeclly  at  a  lofs,  what 
were  his  wilhes,  and  he  never  difclofed  to  any  naaii 
this  defpair,  which  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  he  felt  to  the 
heart.  The  election  of  a  prote6lor  was  with  the  lords 
of  the  council  :  they  judgetl  or  conjectured  that  it  would 
be  agreeable  to  him,  to  be  fucceeded  by  his  fon  :  and 
juft  as  he  was  expiring,  and  had  done  with  the  world, 
they  fimply  afKed  h/im  his  pleafure,  w^hether  Richard 
•fhould  be  proclaimed  r  and  without  the  leail  comment 
<or  dire6tions,  he  as  (imply  juft  anfwered,  yes  ;  on  what 
%is  fagacity  knew^,  if  he  had  any  fagacity  left,  would 
>be  perfeQly  nugatory.  Had  they  afked  him,  even  in 
his  fenfes,  whether  fay,  Defliorough,  Whalley  or 
Fleetwood,  fhould  have  been  proclaimed,  his  anfwer 
juight  have  been  the  fame.  He  had  heroically  fought 
through  and  fuftained  the  caufe,but  he  knew  it  termin- 
ated w^ith  his  death.  Oliver,  if  any  man,  ought  to  be 
credited  in  his  declarations  offmcerity,  necellity  and 
obedience  to  the  calls  ij^^/v  af  God  and  his  country  :  fori 
^believe  he  w^as  fo  thoroughly  fick  of  the  world,  even  be- 
fore he  afcended  to  the  protectorate,  that  it  had  no 
charms  for  him  ;  and  that  he  w^ould  gladly,  ifpoflible, 
have  efcaped  the  burdenfome  and  dangerous  honor,  and 
evanifhed  from  public  life  into  retirem.ent  and  obfcurily. 
And  efpecially  long  before  he  left  the  world,  he  was 
fubdued  and  brought  to  feel  this  humility  and  felf  annihi- 
lation. Forcertainly  fuch  a  ftate  of  mind,  and  efpeci- 
ally of  a  fagacious,  circumfpe6live  and  experienced 
mind,  may  be  generated,  and  has  in  fome  inilanees 
:been  generated,  Vt^itnefs  Bslifarius,  by  a  comparitive 
.and  even  anticipated  view  of  the  goods  and  evils  of  of- 
fice, that  neither  honoiu'  nor  riches,  nothing  but  dufy 
to  God  and  man  would  be  left  the  really  intluential  mo- 
tive of  an  ofiice  even  of  the  higheft  power,  dignity  and 
X 


.£66       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

i:;reemiiience,  I  will  not  fay.,  to  wifh  and  dcfire  it,  hixt 
.tvcn  tc^Jubmit  to  its  burdens  and  dangers.  God  is  able 
to  make  this  poilible  even  t?o  man,  and  I  doubt  not  it 
has  fometimes  been  the  fa6i:.  That  men  are  generally 
thus  afFe(51ed,  I  will  by  no  means  afiert.  But  among 
the  few  inftances  wherein  men  have  been  thus  difmter- 
eftlv  influenced,  I  do  not  heiitate  to  place  Oliver  ;  ful- 
ly I  think  evinced  in  his  fenfible,  intelligent  and  m.ofl 
maPierly  anfwer  to  tr.e  comnnittee  of  the  houfe  of  com- 
mons in  1657,  who  waited  upon  him  with  the  addrefs 
of  parliament,  requefting  him  to  alTume  t lie  office  and 
title  of  King.  **  I  hope,  fays  he,  that  the  honefty  of 
my  intentions,  and  the  purity  of  my  heart,  will  not  be 
miiiakcn.  I  hope  that  nehher  hypocri fy  nor  artifice 
■will  be  imputed  to  my  open  declarations,  and  fincere 
profeffions  ;  declarations  and  profeilions,  which  I  make, 
nothaftily  and  negligently,  bat  with  care  and  reflexion, 
and  deliberate  caution,  in  the  prefence  of  Almighty 
power,  by  whofe  providence  I  have  been  guided,  and 
in  whofe  prefence  1  fcand.  I  hope  it  will  not  be  ima- 
gined, that  I  reject  the  title  of  King  from  fondnefs  for 
ihar  of  Proteclor,  a  name  and  office,  to  which  I  was 
i'jr  from  afpiring,  and  which  I  only  did  not  refufe  when 
it  was  offered  me: — ^The  only  motive  by  which  I  was 
induced  to  engage  in  K)  arduous  and  invidious  an  em- 
pioym.ent,  was  the  defire  of  obviating  thofe  evils  which 
1  faw  impending  over  the  nation.  1  therefore  could 
not  but  accept,  what  the  fam.e  time  I  could  not  ardently 
{lefifw  For  nothing  can  deferve  to  be  purfued  with 
Qagernefs  and  affiduity  but  the  power  of  doing  good,  of 
confering  real  and  fohd  benefits  upon  mankind.  And 
iiirely  while  the  only  end  for  which  greatKefs  and  autho- 
rity are  defired,  is  public  good,  thofe  defires  are  at 
leait  lawhil,  and  periraps  w^orlhy  of  applaufe  ;  they  are 
certainly  lawful,  if  he  that  entertains  them,  has,  by  a 
long  and  diligent  exairanation  of  his  own  heart,  an  ex- 
ji«mination  ferious  and  fmcere,  without  any  of  thofe  fal- 
lacious arts,  by  which  the  confcience  \s  too  frequently 


OF  KING    CHARLES-     I.  2^ 

deceived,  fatistied  hlmfelf  that  his  uUimate  views  are 
not  his  own  honor  or  interelt,  but  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind, and  the  promotion  of  virtue,  and  that  his  advance- 
ment will  contribute  to  them."  If  it  be  poilible  for  ;i 
man  in  Oliver's  fitiration  to  be  fincere,  he  might  have 
been  that  man.  We  certainly  may  have  fnfficient  rea- 
fon  to  believe  it,  even  though  it  Ihould  never  in  ia£t  be 
believed  by  prejudiced  mortals,  till  the  revelation  of  the 
■  fecrets  of  all  hearts  :  when  it  is  poiiifele  that  Oliver, 
may  be  found  in  this  clafs  of  undiirembled  fincerity.  To 
us  on  this  fide  the  vale,  it  cannot,  it  ought  not  to  b.^ 
wondered  at,  that  araidil  fuch  high  proofs  of  intcgriiy, 
there  fhould  be  found  fome  approvers  and  admirers 
even  of  a  charafSler  very  generally  defpifed  snd  treated 
with  infamy  and  contempt.  There  are  thofe  who  tra- 
cing the  life  of  Oliver  through  its  whole  career,  are  con- 
vinced that  the  public  welfare  generally  governed  him, 
that  the  caufe  he  was  in  was  righteous  ;:  that  the  prin- 
ciples which  actuated  his  general  conduclj  and  that  of 
his  compatriots,  were  jufliHable  and  glorious  ;  and  that 
*hQ  purity  of  his  intentions  v^2iS  confpicuous  to  the  laft. 
On  the  fame  principles  we  may  vindicate  and  juftify  the 
Judges,  and  others  concerned  in  that  abcriive  work,  in 
the  great  and  memorable  events  of  that  day. 

Oliver  Cromwell  once  faved  the  nation  ;  and   upon 

deliberate  confultation  with  both  the  army  and  parha- 

ment,  and  with  the    concurrent   hearts  of  certainly  a 

very  large  and  refpe6lable  body,  even  the  main  body  of 

the  divided  nation,  devifed  and    provided   a  very  excel- 

;'lent  confiiitution,  in  the  form  and  fpirit  of  it  very  nearly 

j.refembling  that  afterwards  adopted  or  conceived  by  the 

1  United  States.     The  coniiitution  by  1654,  andefpeci- 

., rally  by  1657,  was  ripened  to  this,  that  the  government 

j.;:be  a  commonwealth  ;  the  national  legillature  to  confift 

j.^of  a  prote<5lorj^,and  two  houfes  ;  all  ele6live  and  none 

5  hereditary..,,  -i,'  '. 

This  conflitution,  it  is  faid,  was  the   produ6lion  of 
three  days,  and  conceived  and  fabrica,t£d  t?j.thc  officers 


268        HISrOltY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

of  the  army.  Be  it  fo.  This  redounds  to  thehonoiir 
of«lle  army."  'Fl?  has  been  conceived  that  the  ideas  atid 
ijfages  of  defporifiTi  in  mihtary  hfe,  ill  qualify  for  jnft, 
Cqifitablej  civii  dominion,  and  free  government.  But 
this  ini'lance  is  in  point  to  the  contrary  ;  fhewing  the 
moft  equitable  and  Jiberai  poHty  conceived  by  men  innr- 
ed  to  command^  and  to  the  arbitrary  domination  of 
milirary  life.  An  alTembly  of  Baronx  or  hereditary  no- 
bility would  never  have  devifed  a  civil  polity  (o  hb'eral 
and  rational,,  fo  lenient,  juft  and  friendVy  to  all,  fo  well- 
adapted  to  p^romote  the  order,  felicity  and  good  govern- 
ment of  a  common vvealtli,  or  republican  fovereignty. . 
It  is  worthy  of  inquiry,  hovv  this  lingular  phaenomeno® 
of  wifdom  arofe. 

An  army  eonfcribed,  like  the  European  armJes  of 
modern  ages,  of  "  the  gleanings  of  the  loweft  rank  at 
people,  ferving  men  difcarded,  and  miCchanics  with- 
out employments,  ??ien  ujed  to  injults  and Jerviliiy  jrotiv 
their  cradles,  without  principle  or  honor,  or  induce- 
ments to  overbalance  the  ^enk  of  immediate  danger,'** 
though  officered  with  men  of  military  fkill  indeed,  and 
well  verfed  in  every  branch  of  tactics  and|  in  the  whole 
art  of  war — officers  taken  from  the  nobility  or  their  fub- 
iTiiffive  connexions,  principled  in  tyranny  :  fuch  offi- 
cers, inured  to  arbitrary  and  defpotic  command  of 
Haves,  might  govern  and  difcipline  an  army  well,  but 
would  give  a  dangerous  tinge  to  civil  polity.  But  let 
us  choofe  men,  fays  Oliver,  ^'  warm  with  fegai^  "to 
religion,  men  who  tliink  it  a  high  degree  of  impiety  to 
fly  before  the  wicked  and  profane,  to  forfake  the  caufe 
of  heaven,  and  prefer  fatety  to  tfuth  ;  and  our  enemies 
will  quickly  be  fubdued."  Accordingly  he  eonfcribed 
an  army  of  men  of  diffei-entdefcription,  freemen  above 
the  menial  feehngs  and  ferviiity  oi"  vaffals,  men'of  alio- 
■<iial  and  ofher  property,  fubftantial  yeomenry,  and  iti- 
telligent  gentry,  ofncered  with  men  of  information  knti 
principle,  and  poffelFed  of  the  feelings  of  liberty  an4 
*  O.   CrQm,  Speech. 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  269 

rational  freedom.  And  when  *'  thefe  men  v/ere  les.d 
to  the  field,  no  veterans  could  ftand  before  them,  no 
oblirudions  could  retard,  or  danger  affright  them  :  and 
to  tliefe  men,  fays  Cromwell,  are  to  be  attributed  the 
vidories  that  we  have  gained,  and  the  peace  ws  enjoy." 
Such  men  did  the  Am^erican  army  furnifti,  men  great 
in  the  field,  and  great  in  the  fenate.  Such  men  feel 
and  fpeak  the  (cniQ  of  a  free  community.  Such  were 
the  men  that  formed  Oliver's  policy,  and  inftrument  of 
government.  Such  an  army  as  Olivers  furnillied  men 
of  intelligence,  ability  and  political  knowledge,  of  high- 
ly improved  and  fcientific  characters,  who  ruilied  t^ 
arms  for  the  defence  of  liberty,  of  infeparable  fidelity  to 
the  public  weal,  whofe  interefts  were  elTentially  inter- 
woven with  that  of  the  body  of  the  people  ;  fo  that  they 
were,  we  find,  abundantly  qualified  for  an  extempora- 
neous production  of  a  policy,  which  however  came  pre- 
pared to  their  hands  by  fourteen  years  previous  digcf- 
tion,  a  policy,  which  will  hereafter  become  the  admira- 
tion, the  adoption  and  imdtation  of  ages.  But  v/hcever 
invefiigated  the  Oliverian  polity,  honored  their  coun- 
cils abilities  and  patriotifm  to  contemplative  pofterity. 
For  in  the  regeneration  of  policies,  throughout  Europe, 
all  will  find  themfeives  infenfibly  led  to  an  aOijmption 
©f  the  leading  and  commanding  principles  of  this  policy, 
efpecially  in  ele<5live,  and  unhereditary  reprefentation. 

Very  difFereut  indeed  would  be  the  policies  devifed  by 
the  different  and  feparate  defcriptions  of  men,  into 
which  fociety  in  thefe  ages  has  becom.e  artificially  divi- 
ded ;  fliould  any  one  or  few  of  them  hear  the  formation 
of  a  polity,  it  would  be  very  different  from  one  devifed 
by  the  people  or  population  at  large.  But  very  uniforrai 
and  almoft  identical  would  be  that  which  would  iffue 
from  indivilibility,  equality  and  the  united  fenfe  of  foci- 
ety at  large,  in  e\rcry  independent  community  and  fove- 
reignty  on  earth.  Human  nature  and  the  rights  of  m.an 
would  every  v>'here,  if  permitted,  fpeak  the  fame  lan- 
guage, the  fame   policy,    all   around  the   terraqueous 

X  2, 


^7*'      HISTOR'f    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGhS 

globe.  All  nations  wo'iiiJ  agree  in  the  downfall  of  lie- 
jeditary  government,  and  in  thefnbllitution  of  cledtive 
government.  But  if  particularities  iliould  inuitute  po- 
licies, they  would  be  diiTerent.  Let  a  convemio?i'  of 
bafliaws  and  Weft  India  negro-drivers  devife  a  policy, 
?.nd  how  different  it  would  be  from  one  deviled  by  the 
Dixwells,  the  Hampdens,  the  Sidneys,  the  Whaiieys, 
the  De/boroughs,  and  the  Fairfaxes?  Commit  this 
formation  to  a  diet  of  PoliOi  nobles,  familiarized  to 
fell  and  transfer  their  peafants,  their  Hock  of  men,  as 
their  ftock  of  cattle  ajid  horfes,  with  the  leafing  of  thtir 
grounds,  or  fale  of  their  22.000  eftates,  charged  with 
a  population  of  eight  or  nine  millions,  of  whom  all, 
but  tlieir  nobles,  devoid  of  allodial  property,  and  like 
the  inhabitants  of  Uie  Hebrides  or  the  north  of  Scotland, 
tied  down  and  reltncled  to  the  territorial,  domains  of 
their  lords,  who  abforb  and  devour  the  fruits  of  their 
laborious  induilry.  In  a  word,  let  a  Congrefs  of  Eu- 
rc^gan  or  Afiatic  princes  and  nobles,  looking  down 
"vvith  fovereign  contempt  upon  their  fubjecls,  the  nu- 
merous depauperated  indigent  populace  •  let  them,  I 
fay,  make  a  policy  for  dependent  millions — How  dif- 
ierent  would  it  be  from  one  devifed  by  their  equ.als  and 
brethren  in  general  ;  by  thofe  taken,  either  from  the 
\arioas  orders  and  claffes,  into  which  fociety  liappens 
to  have  become  artificially  and  imfortunately  divided, 
or  from  feeling,  fubftantial  and  enlightened  charaders 
among  them,  with  here  and  there  a  William  Tell,  a 
Muir  and  a  Palmer,  intermixt  among  them  :  no  one 
can  diOubt  the  different  polity  they  would  inftitute  ;  no 
one  doubt  vvhofe  polity  would  be  moft  friendly  to  the 
general  rights  and  liberties  of  focietyj  to  the  welfare  of 
.nine-tenths  of  any  aiid  every  community.  Nor  irKieed 
need  it  be  doubted  which  polity  would  prove  the  moit 
firni  and  durable,  as  well  as  extenfively  equitable  and 
juit.  It  v/ould  undoubtedly  beeletSlive  in  the  one  cafe, 
and  heretlitary  in  the  other.  The  firmnefs  and  dura- 
bility oi  the  former,  would  infinitely  furpafs  the  fuppo- 


OF    KING    CHARLES     li^JOt^ff^       '^yi 

fed  fiiTiliiefs  and  durability  of  dominion  from  t lie  per- 
manency and  perpetuity  of  heieditary  fuperiorities.  It 
would  be  a  government  of  laws,  which  would  gain,  not 
the  deforced  acquiefcence,  but  cheerful  concurrence  of 
the  colletlive  body  of  the  citizens,  and  combine  them 
into  a  union  of  force  futHcient  to  fupport  and  render  it 
erhcacious,  and  internally  fortify  the  union  againfl 
^\  ci  fioD,  from  interior  or  exterior  aggreilion. 

It  is  eafy  to  try  ail  political  chara6lers  :  Thofe  par- 
ticularly who  have  the  formation  of  a  polity  ;  and  from 
tlicnce  either  to  predii5l  the  complexion  of  a  polity,  or 
m  one  new  formed,  difcern  the  force  and  defign  of  cer- 
tain traits  interfperied  in  it.  What  are  the  chara6)'ers 
and  events  in  hiflory,  which  they  approve  or  diC- 
approve,  or  which  are  to  the  taite  of  individual?, 
or  to  the  collective  body  of  the  framers  ?  Select 
the  hifiories  or  anecdotes  of  defpotifm,  and  contraft 
thefe  with  thofe  of  liberty.  The  admirers  of  the  one 
will  inftantly  be  perceived  to  deteft  the  other,  and  re- 
fpe6lively  give  dilFerent  complexions  to  the  conceived 
polity.  Their  refpedive  ideas  will  be  refpedlively 
ftam.ped  upon  it.  Try  all  kings  and  nobles  with  Cato, 
Cicero,  Brutus  and  Caffius,  in  the  Roman,  and  hmi- 
Isr  chara61crs  in  the  Grecian  hiftory  ;  try  them  with 
the  events  in  France,  Poland,  and  the  United  States  ; 
try  them  with  the  hillory  of  Holland,  Venire,  Switzer- 
land'— They  will  uniformly  deteft  thefe — while  the  pa- 
triots throughout  the  world  will,  ftrike  unifon  with  a'l 
the  great  charade rs  ,  and  heroic  examples  of  emanci- 
pation into  civil  liberty,  and  unite  in  detefting  tyranny. 
l^'C-iciro  has  been  obnoxious  to  nobles,  kings  and  empe- 
-  tors,  ever  fince  he  boldly  forced  the  way  for  plebeians 
through  the  patricians  up  to  the  confuiate.  They;h'aVe 
never  been  reconciled  to  fifch  a  precedent  or  examp'ltri^f 
fuccefsful  bppoiition  to  defpotifm  and  priv/^ eged  Oi'dW^.. 
They  contemplate  with  an  evil  eye,  with  abhorrejrice, 
every  inflahce  of  this  kind  in  miiverfal  hiflory.  In 
fpite  of  king",  eloqueneeperhaps  more  than  rcpublicaii 


^72  HISTGRV  OF  TliREE  OF  THE  JUDGES 
fentiments,  has  procured  immortality  to  the  works  of 
Tully,  which  hve  in  the  univerfal  reception  of  claffic 
reading.  But  eighteen  ages  have  not  fufficed  to  de- 
force from  princes  and  hereditary  nobles  the  edimation 
due  to  the  patriotic  merit  of  the  immortal  orator  ;  be- 
caufe  he  cannot  live  without  furviving  an  opprobium  to 
patrician  tyranny,  and  a  friend  to  hberty. 

So  again  monarchs  contemplate  Jacobin  Societies 
with   horror  and  dread,  and  this  with  great  reafon. — 
They  need  not  be  fo  viewed  by  republics.  The  Jacobin 
Societies  have  proved  the  falvation  of  France.      They 
have  been  the  bulwark  of  liberty.      Their  exceifes  are 
to  be  coerced  by  government  ;    but  their   fuppreflion 
and  extindion  is  unnecefTary  and  impoffible.     *^  The 
popular  focieties  are  the  columns  of  the   revolution. — 
They  fii all  not  befkaken,"  faid  prefident  Cambeceres. 
Violent  and  unjufi  in  many  things  they  may  be,  and  f© 
fometimes  are  congreffes,  aflemblies,  parliaments,  not 
therefore  to  be  diifolvcd,  for  they    may   be  generally 
right.     Would  it  be  wife  to  wifli  the  extin6lion  of  the 
winds,  which  are  falutary  and  beneficial  for  navigation 
and  for  clarifying  the   atmofphere,  becaufe  fometimes 
attended  with  hurricanes  ?  They  maybe  let  upagainft  _. 
a  good  government  indeed,  but  their    efforts  againft  itrn 
Kuft  ultimately  be  inefficacious  and  harmlefs.    Becaufe  i 
they  fometimes  fucceed  in  overturning  a  tyranny,  wili 
it  follow  that  there  is  even  a  pofTibility  of  their  fucceed- 
ing  againft  a  good   policy  ?     The  experiment  is  yet  to 
be  made.     Hitherto  there  has  exifted  no  good  polity  to 
try  them  upon.      In  the  nature  of  things  they  will  be- 
come felf-corre6lors  of  their  own  irregularities  and  exr  "' 
Gefies  ;    and  harmonization  of  the  public  fentiment  m.ufl".' 
refult  from   their  diaisfive  deliberations.      Nay,    the'^l;; 
llrcngth  of  a  general  and   ur>iform  fupport  to  the  admi-*' 
niliration  of  2  good  policy  muftarife.  Their  difculfions, 
circulation  of  mtelligence,  and  communication  of  light, 
muil  eventually  form,  digeft   and   unify  the  national 
judgiTirjnt.     None  but  tyrants  need  fear  them.     The 


OF  KING    CHARLES     I.    ,  ,,,       ^7$^ 

ziationai  conventiar»  has  not  feared  them,  Uut  EejjtW?(|'V 
intlierrfupport.      Congrefs   in    1775  did   not  fear  t%r} 
body  of  the  people  in  America,  though  fometimes  wildj^,  ^ 
and  anarchical.     A  policy  which  tj)ail   have  fiiilained,.' 
their  ventilation  and  dirciillion,  will  he  firm.      The  end,, 
being  anfwered,  and  the  care  of  the  public   conf.gncd 
into  the  hands  of  conllitutional  governnient,,  thefe  foci-;.,  _, 
eties  will  fpontaneouily  difappear  •,    nor  rife  again  unr- " 
hk  called  forth  on  great  occaiions  worthy  their  attea-r 
tion.  ,:tT 

I  faid  that  men  would  j^^dge  of  liiftorical  events  ac- 
cording as  they  are  principled  in  politics.  Monarchies 
of  all  modes  are  contemplated  with  a  fufpicious  eye,  by 
Gommnnities  at  large  ;  which  in  their  turn  contemplate 
repubiics,  of  any  and  almoil:  every  form,  with  aUen- 
tion  and:  ple'afure.  There  once  vA^as  a  time,  and  it  is 
not 'yet  pad,  When  tile  fovereigns  of  Enrope  could  not 
contemplate  but  with  horror  and  difguft,  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  and  Holland,  dilTolving  their  feudal  fubmiflioii 
to  their  lord  paramoimt,  the  revolt  of  the  houfe  of  Bra- 
ganza  from  Spain,  the  more  recent  erection  of  the  felf- 
created  kingdom  of  Prullia,  or  the  ftjlf- created  republics 
of  Switzerland^  and  the  United  States.  But  all  thefq; 
exafnples  come  up  into  operative  and  efficacious  vie\^^ 
in  I'he  prefent  age  ;  and  ai*e  contemplated'  with  fympa- 
theti'c  cdnfolation  by  Hates  ftruggling  with  the  tyranny 
of 'kings. 

,Self-erei5led  fovereignties,    whether  momarcHcal  ox 
republican  bid   fair  for  confiderable  duration  ;    while 
popujar  focieties,,  are  either  defeated,  or  go  to  refi:  .of . 
courfe,  when  their  ead  is  accomiplilhed.     Their  comi<;;- 
Ced^  extinclion   would  prove  as  fatal  to  liberty  and  tlifef> 
rights   of  man,  as  the  forceable  fuppreflion  or  e,\tiaC4x; 
tion  of  letters  or  the  Kberty  of  the   prefs.      Both  cv^nr.. 
have  done,  and  ever  will  do  much  rnifchief  ;  both  dd*  1 
kifinitely  more  good  :  both  are  the  combined  confery^a-* 
tors  0^  J  he  £ujbli.c^,  liberty,,  in  philofopliy,  religion,  po.- 


2'74  HISTORY  OF  THREE  OF  THE  JUDGES' 
Mtics.  They  are  excellently,  adapted  to  frame  the  pub-' 
he  mind  to  wifdom,  and  to  an  acquiefcence  founded  in' 
diffufive  conviiSlion  and  information  of  that  whereia 
confills  the  public  interell:,  the  general  welfare  of  focie- 
ly.  There  is  no  alternative  between  their  right  to  af- 
fcmble,  and  the  abolition  of  liberty..  Extinguifh  this 
right  in  England  and  in  every  fovereignty,,  and  the 
people  are  ilaves.  If  at  any  time  extravagant,  a  pru- 
dent infertion  ofcounfel,  and  circuktion  of  it  through 
the  popular  focieties  may  generally  correal:  and  rc6lify: 
.thcfe  extravagances,  exce'fes  into  which  they^  are  ufual- 
ly  betrayed  by  falfe  brethren  or  enemies  mafqued.  It  is 
their  unalienable  right  to  meet  and  dehberate,  even  for 
the  purpofe  of  fyftematically  altering  the  policy,  pro- 
vided they  peaceably  fubmit  to  obey  the  policy  and  laws 
in  being,  until  regularly  altered  by  public  confent.  If 
aflembling  even  for  this  open  and  direct  purpofe  is  to 
be  adjudged  treafon,  the  change  and  re61:ification  of  the 
molt  tyrannous  polity  can  never  be  efFeded,  but  hj 
fpontantious  recourfe  to  the  tremendous  alternative  of 
arms.  If  the  popular  focieties  foanetimes  err,  it  is  not 
always,  it  is  not  ufualiy  from  mahcious  and  inimical 
views,,  but  from  defe61:ive  and  partial  information 
among  thofe  the  beft  difpofed  for  the  public  good,  or,  as 
I  faid,  from  tories,  which  covertly,  infidioully  and  una- 
wares infert  themfelves  as  marplots.  If  well  informed, 
it  is  impoffible  the  community  at  large  can  be  inimical 
to  the  public  good.  Enough  of  this  general  difpofition 
for  the  public  good  may  be  found  in  every  community 
at  large,  to  countera6l  and  nullify  the  injuries  of  fac- 
tions. And  the  common  people  will  generally  judge 
right,  when  duly  informed.  The  general  liberty  is  fafe 
and  fecure  in  their  hands.  It  is  not  from  deficiency  of 
abilities  to  judge,  but  from  want  of  information,  if 
they  at  any  time  as  a  body  go  wroHg.  Upon  informa- 
tion from  an  abundance  of  enlightened  chara6lers  al- 
ways intermixt  among  them,  they  will  ultimately  al- 
ways judge  right,  and  be  in  the  end  the  faith.ful,gug|rdL- 


-'juq  ;>nT 'h       ^OP    KING    CHARLES     1.  ^75 

■^fean3'fof)port  and  fecurity  of  government.  Nothing 
•will  kill  a  fadion,  like  the  body  of  a  people  ifconfulted. 
A  fa6tion  nmay  beat  a  faction,  at  a  pretty  fair  and  even 
<:onfli6l:  ;  but  in  a  fair  and  full  contefl,  it  can  never 
beat  the  people.  The  great  art  of  factions  is  to  keep 
the  decifion  from  the  body  of  the  people.  But  let  a 
matter  be  fairly  brought  before  the  people,  and  they 
will  not  only  determine  it,  but  will  judge  and  determine 
Tight.  Itis  the  inlidious  art  of  parties  and  politicians 
to  keep  things  concealed  Irom  the  people,  or  if  they  are 
alarmed  and  aifemble,  to  excite  parties,  fowdillentions, 
and  prevent  as  much  as  pofTible  the  queftion  from  com- 
ing up  fairly  before  them,  inftead  of  harmonioufly  en- 
deavoring in  a  fair,  open  and  candid  manner,  to  lay 
•things  clearly  before  them,  and  thus  honellly  endeavor- 
ing to  r3rm  and  obtain  the  public  mind.  And  thus  they 
ever  attempt,  and  are  too  fuccefsful  in  deceiving,  in- 
ilead  of  a  fr&nk  and  open  appeal  to  the  people.  But 
fhall  this  cunning  prevail  forever  ?  Politicians,  with  too 
■much  reafon,  fay  it  will.  I,  who  am  no  politician, 
but  a  prophet,  fay  it  will  not.  Almoft  all  the  civil 
polities  on  earth  are  become  fo  corrupt  and  oppreffive, 
as  thaMhey  cannot  Hand  before  a  well  formed  fyilem  of 
revolutionary  foiceties.  Thofe  of  the  United  States 
and  France  will  fuftain  them  without  injury  or  ever- 
fion.  The  reformation  of  all  others,  muil  commence 
in  aifociations,  which  by  government  will  be  confider- 
ed  and  treated  as  fa6lionary  and  treafonable,  but  will 
enlarge  and  fpread  into  a  fyftem  of  revolutionary  focie- 
ties.  In  all  (lates  thefe  will  be  frowned  upon,  and  fap- 
preired  as  treafonable.  Their  fupprelfion  and  pcrfecu- 
tion  v/ill  pour  oil  on  the  flame.  They  will  buril  out 
again  and  again,  till  they  will  carry  all  before  them, 
till  real  treafon  fhall  be  accurately  defined  not  to  the 
{cn(c  of  arillocrats  or  theprefent  ufurped  reigning  pow- 
ers, but  to  the  general  fenfe  of  the  community.  And 
fuch  a  law  of  treafon  will  be  infallibly  fupported  by  the 
community.     This  done  every  affociatioi^  will  know 


;^76        HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

what  it  may,  and  what  it  may  not  do,  with  impunity 
Till  this  is  done,  the  fpirit  of  enlightenefl  liberty  is  be-- 
come  fo  great,  and  ready  to  burft  forth  under  opprefTivc 
2nd  intolerable  irritations,  that  it  will  rifque  all  confe- 
■quence?,  until  all  the  prcfent  policies  fhali  be  fairJy 
brought  to  the  tribunal  of  the  public  {en{e.  Then  no 
one  can  doubt  the  refult.  Fadionary  locieties  begun 
even  with  the  primary  and  dire6l  defign  of  overturning 
government,  if  the  government  or  polity  be  fupported 
by  the  general  fenfe,  will  fall  :  otherwife  they  will 
bring  on  and  adduce  at  length  extenfive  difcuilions  which 
enlighten  the  public,  defeat  infidious  and  partial  cun- 
ning, and  bring  forward  an  open  and  firm  fupport  of 
good  and  acceptable  government.  Should  they  at  any 
time  furrender,  or  duped  and  outwitted  by  counter  fac- 
tions, be  prevailed  upon  to  betray  the  public  V.berty, 
the  community  will  deferve  fiavery  a  little  longer,  un- 
til again  sroufed  to  energy,  unity,  wi^-om..  Thus 
England  has  now  for  a  century  been  fuiTering  a  nation- 
al punilliment  or  chaRifement,  brought  upon  them^  by 
their  own  folly,  for  being  duped  by  the  infidious  cavali- 
er faclion,  which  overturned  the  happy  conftitution  of 
Oliver's  republican  polity.  When  at  length  brought  to 
their  fenfes,  and  a  convidion  of  their  national  folly,  they 
will  break  out  and  burd  forth  with  united  and  irrefnlablis 
vigour,  and  recover  and  rectify  themdclves.  The  French 
have  for  ages  been  duped  by  court  fa6Lions,  but  have  at 
length  recovered  their  national  rights  and  liberties,  by 
a  voluntary^  united,  bold  and  daring  exertion,  by  an 
effort  which  makes  all  Europe  to  tremble.  So  it  will 
he  in  England.  The  forcible  fuppreffion  of  focieties 
there  will  only  accelerate  their  revolution  and  political 
regeneration.  More  muft  bedone  far  the  fatisfadioa 
of  the  national  fenfe  and  fpirit  of  liberty,  than  parlia- 
ment ever  can,  or  ever  will  do,  unlefs  they  ilia  11  call  a 
■national  convention,  Avhich  they  never  will  do.  The 
i^ational  fpirit  impreiled  with  defpair  of  redrefs,  will 
become  defparate.     All  confidence  i'n  oarliament  loii.: 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  277 

then  to  your  tents,  O  Ifrael  !  The  national  intereft  and 
welfare  will  take  care  of  itfelf;  and  this  with  an  un- 
conquerable violence  and  impetuofity  ! 
9i''The  Englifh  nation  flattered  themfelves  at  the  Ref- 
tei-ation — revolution — accefTion  of  the  Houfe  of  Hano- 
ver : — Have  been  deceived  and  difappointed  at  each 
epoch,  and  find  themfelves  as  before,  or  rather  more 
clofely  enchained  and  baftiled.  The  fame  convidlion 
feizes  the  patriots  of  the  prefent  as  of  the  laft  century. 
Never  has  the  nation  really  defpaired  of  all  poffibility 
of  redrefs  till  now.  Now  at  length  nationally  defpalr- 
fw^of  the  prefent  polity,  they  will  be  filled  with  very 
energetic  feelings.  They  feel  anew  what  was  felt  of 
old.  New  wine  put  into  old  bottles,  may  poflibly  burit 
the  bottles. 

In  every  ftate,  good  or  bad,  there  will  alvvays  be  a 
number  of  reftlefs,  fubtil,  crafty,  turbulent  and  un- 
governable fpirits;  who  by  writings  and  intrigues, 
will  be  exciting  difcontent  and  ftirring  up  mifchief: 
and  will  moleft  and  embarrafs  the  beft  as  well  as  the 
.worfl:  adminiftration.  Society  will  always  have  to  en- 
counter fuch  characters.  But  calm  difcullion,  and  giv- 
ing time  for  infidious  proje6lionsto  take  their  courfeand 
run  their  race,  they  may  be  wifely  managed,  contra- 
vened and  defeated,  efpecially  after  the  public  have  feit 
and  tafted  fome  of  the  ill  confequences  into  which  they 
are  plunged  by  fuch  artifices  and  delufory  ftratagcms. 
And  perhaps  voluntary  aifociations,  without  noticing 
them  as  feditious,  are  as  proper  theatres  for  them  to 
difplay  and  fpend  themfelves  upon  as  any  other.  Fac- 
tion may  be  turbulent  and  fuceefsful,  applied  to  monar- 
chy and  ariftocracy — felf-defeated,  when  applied  to 
community  at  large.  .  Experiments  in  the  old  govern- 
ments, in  the  Grecian  and  Roman,  in  antient  and  mo- 
dern hiflory,  will  be  no  precedent  to  count  upon,  in 
pdging.  their  effecl  on  the  new  republican  polities. — ' 
jThe  public  will  nut  be  ultimately  duped  by  fidions  or 
Y 


27S       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

fa61ionary  focieties,  though  aiTembling  with  the  great- 
ell  freedom.  They  will  be  harmlefs,  till  they  arm,  and 
then  they  become  amenable  to  the  laws,  which  if  made 
by  the  public,  the  public  will  effcilually  fupport,  even 
iinally  by  military  coercion. 

Abfolute  raonarchs  have  in  all  ages   permitted  indi- 
-/idiials,  fiihje6ls  and  ilaves,    to  K)etition  their  King. — 
Even  theDey  of  Algiers,  the  Sultan  of  Conftantinople, 
ilie  Sjphi  of  Perha,  will  receive  the  petition  of  Ilaves. 
The  fame  thing  is  permitted  in  England  ;    where  it  has 
jiitherto  been  alfo   permitted,  efpecially  fmce  the  fnp- 
j)reiIion  of  villainage,  for  fubjects  aifembled  in  popular, 
iind  even  fyftematical  focieties,  to  petition  the  King  or 
Parliament  for  redrefs  of  grievances,  for  or  againd  bills 
tlepending  in  parliament, -for  or  againff   the   repeal  of 
laws  already  enacSted.      So  far  they  may  go  with  impu- 
i]ity,  and  without  liability  to  criminal  proceifes  for  fedi- 
tion  ortreafon.     This  is  a  conceded  right  in  England. 
But  to  a-femble  for  the  dire6f  piirpofe  of  altering  the 
tonftitution  of  King,    Lords  and  Comimons,  is  by  fta- 
tute,  fedition,  and  arming  in   confcquence,  treafon. — 
Thus  it  follows  that  reformation  by  the  people  is  im- 
poffible.      Let  the  conditution  become  corrupt  into  the 
mod  abfolute  and  conjuccf  tyranny,  it  is  hovvever  invi- 
olable.    There  then   cxiils   a  cafe,  in  which  tyranny 
ought  not,  cannot  be  jufily  and   legally  corrected  and 
abolifhed  by  the  people.      Will  net  the  fame  reafoning 
apply  for  the  perpetuity  and  irreformablenefs  of  any  the 
mo.1  defpotic  governnients  ?    Will  not  thefe  principles 
terminate  in  the  univerfal  cverfion  of  libeity,    in   the 
univerfal  effabliiliment  of  univerfal  tyranny?     And  is 
tiiere  no  juilifiable  expedient,  no  public  mcafurc  of  re- 
drefs, whofe  alTumpiion  and  adoption  may  be  juflihed 
wpon  the  high,  tranfcendant  and  paramount  principles 
ot  public  juUice,  right,  liberty  ?   If  there  is,  it  will  lead 
to  and  terminate  in  the  jufliucation  of  voluntary  fccie 
ties,  aficnibled'to  confult  the  public  good,  augmehtiri-j;, 
multiplying  and   diifullng  ihemfelves   into  a  Alteiii  oi 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  2/9 

popular  affemblies,  for  enlightening,  forming,  digcft- 
jng,  and  collecting  the  general  fenfe  of  thecommnnity, 
w'hofe  polity  needs  amendment.  It  ihould  feem.  there- 
fore, that  however  iniquitions  and  pernicious  fomc 
may  be,  yet  all  alFemblies  for  the  exprefs  purpofe  of 
altering  and  changing  the  polity,  are  not  to  be  reproba- 
ted, as  unjuPiifiable,  feditious  and  traitorous.  It  re- 
mains to  fettle  this  point  for  all  nations,  that  it  is  as 
jijftifiable  to  aircmble  for  altering  the  polity,  as  for  pe- 
titioning a  national  council,  whofe  polity  and  conllitu- 
tion  the  whole  nation  approve,  without  the  leail  defire 
of  fubverting  or  altering  it.  When  this  fhall  hi^ve  be 
come  the  univerfal  convi6lion,  national  aflemblics  wiM 
become  univerfal  :  and  inch  polities  as  v^ill  not  fuRaiii 
their  revifion  and  difcullion  mnft  fail.  Thus  it  may  be 
i'cQu.  all  the  prefent  corrupt  polities  are  gone.  But  it  is 
fiiid,  by  parity,  popular  aflemblies  may  be  inftitnted 
againft  the  new  conceived  pohties,  in  endlefs  progrefs, 
ad  iujinitiim.  Very  true  :  and  let  them  be  fo.  If  upon, 
revifion,  they  find  the  polity  found  and  good,  one  to 
fatisfa^lion,  as  fooner  or  later,  after  a  few  revifions, 
they  will  find,  they  will  ofcourfe  leave  it  untouched, 
return  home,  report  and  diffufe  and  generate  univerfal 
acquiefcence,  fatiffa61ion  and  fubmiilion  \  and  thn=j 
ftrengthen  the  whole  community  into  one  firm  and 
united  bulwark  for  its  fupport  and  defence.  After- 
wards they  will  feel  no  occafion  for  popular  aiTemblies, 
unlffs  upon  agitated  bills,  and  very  feldom  for  this  end, 
all  readily  acquiefcing  in  the  determination  and  ena6t- 
ment  of  the  national  council,  if  frequently  ekcled, 
which  can  have  no  otiier  intereff  but  that  of  the  people. 
The  very  notion  of  petitioning  parliam.ents,  national 
councils,  or  kings,  for  rj,y,hts  and  liberties,  is  a  badge 
of  flavery,  founded  on  the  fuppofition  that  they  have  both 
the  power  and  difpofition  to  counteraft  the  intereft  cf 
the  governed.  This  i*boliihed,  petitionmg  dies  ofcourfe  ; 
and  will  be  fecurely  confined  to  the  wifdom  and  fidelity 
They  are  empowered,  emrutted  and 


(zio       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

confided  in  for  this  very  purpofe.  A  good  policy  will 
generally  ena6l  wife  and  good  laws,  to  which  obedi- 
ence ought  to  be  exaded,  if  liecelTary  among  turbulent 
jpirits,  by  the  united  military  force  of  the  citizeos,  not 
ioreign  force.  Yet  former  good  legiflators  have  erred, 
:ind  thcfe  of  a  bed  polity  may  err  again,  and  ena£l:  laws 
%vhich  ought  to  be  difobeyed  and  refilled.  What  rnuft 
be  done  in  this  cafe  r  Agreeable  to  the  cuftom  of  all  the 
kings  and  nobility  throughout  Europe  in  the  m.iddle 
ages,  Evenus,  a  King  of  Scotland,  caufed  a  law  to 
pdf?,  by  which  ail  the  wives  and  daughters  of  noble- 
men v/ercfubjecled  to  his  Inft,  and  thofe  of  the  plebe- 
ians to  the  lull  of  his  nobility.  **  Tiiitt  legem  hvanus 
t'.t  cuivls  licef'ety  pro  opibus  quot  alere  poffcf,  uxores  dii- 
cej-e  ;  ut  rex  nuptlas  jponjarum  nohiliuriiy  nohiles  plehei- 
arum  proeliharent pudicit'iam^  id  plebeiorum  uxores  cum 
nohil'itate  communes  efj'ent.'"  Could  it  be  fuppofed  pof-- 
fible  that  Congrefs  ihoiild  re-enacSl  fuch  a  licentious 
law  in  favor  of  privileged  orders,  of  any  defcriptionof 
men,  it  would  exafperate  and  unite  fo  many  plebeian 
hulbands,  and  in  the  United  States  even  wives  too,  ia 
refiftance,  and  even  arming  for  defence,  as  that  it  would 
be  wife  to  reverfe  it.  Elere  refinance  would  bejuftifia- 
ble,  even  to  arming  and  civil  war.  In  this  cafe,  whe- 
ther fuccefsful  or  unfuccefsful,  the  refiftance  would 
be  jufi.  But  from  a  few  fuch  luppofed  cafes  and  ex- 
traordinary inftances  of  error,  we  are  not  to  infer  that 
we  are  juftifiable  in  refilling  any  and  every  law  which 
we  think  and  feel  to  be  oppreffive.  In  ele61ive  repub- 
lics there  is  another  way  always  open,  which  will  aU 
ways  be  effecSlual  for  the  redrefs  of  even  real  grievances. 
Defer  and  endure  till  the  next  ele^lion,  and  then  fend 
up  men  that  fhall  abolifli  the  law.  They  will  either 
^^  it,  or  b^ing  back  reafons  which  will  convince  their 
condiments.  Numerous  have  been  the  inftances  of  this  ia 
the  New-England  republics  the  laft  and  prefent  century 
— and  the  public  have  been  fatisfied.  There  is  no  need 
to  alter  the  polity  for  this  end.      In  an  elective  republic 


OF    KING    CHARLES  I.  'Ml 

fa£liona!y  refiftance  and  infurredion  ought  to  be  te- 
preiTed  by  military  coercion,  not  by  foreign  troops,  but 
by  citizens,  who  will  cheerfully  lend  their  aid,  in  the 
fupport  of  an  ad:  agreeable  to  the  general  fenfe  of  the 
community.  If  not  agreeable  to  the  general  fenfe,  it 
ought  to  be  repealed,  till  by  becoming  convinced  of  its 
expediency  they  fliall  re-ena6l  it.  But  it  is  next'  to 
impoflible  thatfuch  a  thing  can  be  enacled  by  a  national 
council  Handing  on  biennial,  or  triennial,  or  fhort 
elections.  DiiTati stations  may  and  will  arife,  will  be 
manifeited  ;  and  if  general,  yet  there  is  no  need  of 
arming  for  refinance,  which  would  be  and  muft  necef- 
fariiy  be  treated  as  fedition  and  treafon.  If  general 
among  the  conftituents,  and  they  cannot  be  enlightened 
to  fee  the  reafon  and  juftice  of  the  law,  the  obnoxious 
a6t  will  be  reverfed,  even  by  the  exifling  fenate.  If 
not,  the  next  election  will  return  members  who  will 
cancel  and  re6lify  the  error,  if  there  is  one.  It  is  there- 
fore next  to  impollible  to  fuppofe  a  cafe  in  an  ele6live 
republic,  wherein  refiftance  can  be  juftifiable.  Becaufe 
redrefs  may  be  at  all  times  efFe6led  in  another  and  more 
peacable  and  fatisfa6lory  way,  without  endangering  the 
public  tranquility,  or  difturbing  the  public  order  of  the 
general  government,  and  efpecially  without  everfien  of 
the  conititution. 

But  although  infurre6lion  and  refinance  may  perhaps 
never  be  juft  in  an  ele6live  government  ;  it  will  not  fol- 
low but  that  they  maybe  fometimes  juftifiable  in  a  dt{- 
potic  government,  and  efpecially  when  the  polities  and 
conftitutions  are  fo  radically  corrupt,  as  that  the  very 
polity  itfelf  ought  to  be  changed  and  redlified.  And 
here  refinance  is  juftiftable,  whether  fuccefsful  or  not. 
Whether  the  attempt  and  enterprize  fliall  be  prudent 
and  wife,  may  be  a  queftion,  when  we  confer  vvith 
iie(h  and  blood,  but  whether  juft  in  the  view  of  ij^ht 
reafon,  need  not  to  be  queilioned.  The  polities  of  all 
the  European  nations  are  become  fo  radically  corrupr 
and  opprelfive,  that  the  welfare  of  mankind  requires 
y  2 


;8:i       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

tliat  they  fhould  all  be  renovated.  This  would  be  beft 
lt)r  human  roclety.  Why  fhould  defpotifm  and  oppref- 
fion  be  entailed  to  fubfequent  generations  ?  Why  is  it 
not  juft  that  the  ages  of  tyranny  fliould  be  fucceeded  by 
the  ages  of  liberty  r  Under  the  obftinate  and  perfevering 
oppolition  of  the  reigning  powers  this  emancipation 
cannot  be  made  but  by  the  people.  This  rnufl:  com- 
mence, as  I  have  faid,  in  popular  focieties,  connected, 
fpreading  and  growing  up  into  a  general  popular  exer- 
tion. If  opprefTion  occafions  their  rife,  they  muft  take 
their  fate.  The  enterprize  is  arduous,  but  combined 
national  enthufiafm  in  the  caufe  of  liberty  is  of  great  and 
awiul  force.  All  Europe  is  ripening  with  celerity  for 
a  great  revolution  ;  the  ^ra  is  commencing  of  a  gene- 
7Yil  revolution.  The  amelioration  of  human  fociety 
muil:  and  will  take  place.  It  will  be  a  confli6l  between 
Kings  and  their  fubje6ls.  This  war  of  Kings,  hke 
that  of  Gog  and  Magog,  will  be  terrible.  It  will,  for 
there  is  no  other  way,  it  will  commence  and  originate 
in  voluntary  aflbciations  among  fubjetSls  in  all  kingdoms. 
Eluded  fuppiications  and  petitions  for  hberty,.  will  be 
followed  by  armaments  for  the  vindication  of  the  rights 
of  human  nature.  The  pubhc  ardor  will  be  kindled,, 
and  a  national  fpirit  and  exertion  roufed,  which  undif- 
couraged,  unfubdued  by  many  defeats,  will  ultimately 
carry  away  all  before  it.  So  that  popular  focieties  will- 
be  attended  \v\\.\\  very  different  effeils,  when  directed 
againft  an  unjuft  and  tyrannous  pohty,  from  thofe  which 
will  attend  them  Vv^hen  direded  againil  a  found  and  well 
conltrudled  one.  In  the  one  cafe  they  will  prove  in- 
noxious and  harmlefs  ;  in  the  other  alarming  and  terri- 
ble. In  popular  governments  they  m.:\y  foraetimes 
proceed  to  operate  on  election?^  reverfe  wife  and  excel- 
lent laws  for  a  time,  and  lay  ailde  excellent  charaders,. 
fome  of  their  beft  and  mou  ufeful  friends,  and  reward 
their  merits  with  public  ingratitude  ;  but  they  will  fub- 
ftitute  others  in  their  room,  who  colle6lively  will  do  well,, 
and  the  polity  will  go  on,  and  the  government  proceed, 


'  '^aOtlUpF  KING    CHARLES     I.  283 

regularly,  though  in  new  hands.  But  they  will  gene^ 
rally  preferve  a  Tucceffion  of  worthy  characters.  In  the 
other  cafe  they  will  demolidi  polities,  overturn  thrones, 
eje6l  aridocrats,  and  inftitute  nev*^  eleilive  governments 
— differently  policied  perhaps,  but  uniformly  elective. 

When  popular  focreties  are  fet  on  foot,  if  the  polity 
be  fo  well  fettled  to  the  general  fenfe,  as  that  they  ihall' 
turn  out  but  a  minority,  and  yet  this  minority  fhould 
be  fo  confiderable  and  daring  as  to  arm  againft  the 
conftitution,  civil  war  or  a  war  of  citizens  enfues,  and 
there  remains  no  umpire,  until  vidory  declares  it.  In 
that  exigency  it  becomes  of  necelTity  that  the  lav/  of  the 
ftate  Ihould  declare  fuch  alTociations  feditious,  traiterous 
and  rebellious.  And  the  fame  muft  take  place,  be  the 
polity  juft  or  unjuft,  provided  the  majority  of  the  com- 
munity concur  in  it.  But  it  remains  to  be  experi- 
mented by  future  ages,  whether  there  will  often  if 
ever  exift  fuch  a  minority  combination  againft  a  polity 
once,  and  efpeci  ally  repeatedly  fettled  with  faiisfa6lory 
revifions,  by  the  colledtive  body  of  the  people,  efpeci- 
ally  v/here  frequent  revifions  arc  appointed  and  provided 
in  the  conftitution  ;  and  whether  an  infurredlion  gene- 
rally difcountenanced,  will  not  give  way  and  be  eaftly 
fupprelfed  with  or  without  force,  and  perhsps  only  by 
hght  and  the  fraternal  perfuafions  of  fellow-citizens. — 
Againft  a  generally  acceptable  polity,  every  popular 
effort  of  minority  alTociations  Vv'ill  die  away  and  come 
to  nothing,  terminating  in  the  confirmation  and  ftrength- 
ening  the  polity  to  an  impregnable  inviolability.  A- 
gainlt"  fuch  a  bulwark  of  the  united  people,  the  efforts  of 
a  clufter  of  popular  focieties  will  prove  but  briita  fuimi- 
nay  harmlel's,  and  felf- defeated  as  \^  ell  as  felf-created. 
But  if  the  polity  be  a  bad  one,  fuch  a  clufter  maybe 
fubdued,  may  poilibly  increafe,  acquire  irrefiiiible 
ftrength  and  carry  all  before  it.  The  httle  quarrel  of 
the  Ivl arli  brought  on  the  helium  Joclale.  Not  all  the- 
Baftiles  nor  Botany  Bays,  no  enforcement  of  the  exlit- 
ing  laws  sg.unii  (edition,  can    preveRt  the  fpread  and 


2§4       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

progrefs  of  this  convi6lion  of  the  poiTible  right,  utility 
and  neceffity  of  popular  alTemblies  at  leaft  to  contem- 
plate the  public  ft  ate,  and  in  given  cafes  even  to  rege- 
nerate the  policy.  And  when  this  (hall  have  become  a 
little  more  the  general  con vi6i:ion  of  nations,  they  will 
burft  forth,  and  originate  and  devife  modes  of  public 
exertion,  adequate  to  the  accomplifhment  of  a  com- 
plete revolution  in  any  polity.  Nor  will  the  prefent 
age  of  light  and  liberty  reft  in  any  thing  fnort  of  this. 
The  nations  will  never  fit  down  content  with  this,  that 
a  defective  conftitution  is  irremediable.  They  will  not 
defpair  ;  they  will  find  a  remedy  fomewhere,  an  effi- 
cacious remedy  not  to  be  defeated  by  aulic  manoeuvres 
and  circumventions  either  oi  policy  or  force.  No 
ineafuresof  any  aftual  exifting  government  can  ulti- 
mately defeat  this.  Every  Botany- Bay  decifion  in 
England  will  contribute  to  the  acceleration  and  infur- 
ance  of  fuch  an  event.  And  perhaps  England  will  be 
the  next  to  try  the  political  experiment,  after  France  ; 
even  in  the  fure  lOrti'QQn  road  to  liberty,  being  marked 
with  horror  and  blood.  Exafperated  defpair  will  be 
fruitful  in  expedients,  and  bold,  adventurous,  and  fuc- 
cefsful  in  enterprize.  The  public  fenfe  on  the  prefent 
ftate  of  the  Englifh  conftitution  muft  fooner  or  later  be 
tried.  It  can  be  tried  only  in  thefe  aftem.blies  in  the 
nature  of  things.  Thefe  might  for  this  end  be  called 
by  the  exifting  ruling  powers.  But  the  ruling  powers 
certainly  never  y^'ill  do  it.  It  can  then  never  be  done 
but  by  fpontaneous  origination.  This  is  the  only  al- 
ternative. This  clofed,  liberty  is  gone,  tyranny  is 
inviolable.  Will  the  world  lit  down  quiet  and  fubmif- 
five  under  this  laft  gloumy,  folitary,  fwinifh  conclu- 
fion  r  In  the  fpirit  of  prophecy,  I  fay,  nay! 

Should  the  exprefs,  real,  true  and  only  objed  ofthe 
voluntary  focieties  in  England,  or  the  recovery  oi  an- 
nual parliaments  and  univerfalfuffrogey  they  would  be 
guilty  ot  no  crime  againft  the  laws  or  the  ftate.  But 
liiould  they  aim,  that  moment  it  becomes  fedition— » 


OF   KING    CHARLES     I.  285 

6hd  punlfliable  as  fuch — If  the  exifting  powers  fhall 
prove  able  to  fubdue  an  armed  minority,  which  may  at 
length  become  an  armed  people.  In  this  event  all  is 
reduced  to  holHlity  and  civil  war  :  a  coniii£l:  enfues  till 
vidory  declares  itfelf.  *'  Univerfal  fuffrage  and  annu- 
al parliaments  are  legitimate  and  conilitutionai  objedis 
of  purfuit." 

A  reform  in  parliament  is  necefTary  in  the  public 
convidlion,  even  of  the  parliament  itfelf  as  well  as  the 
nation  at  large.  How  far  it  fliould  proceed  is  a  doubt, 
whether  by  an  equitable  appointment  of  the  reprefenta- 
tion  to  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  thoufand  eleftors  of 
fliires,  cities,  and  boroughs  ;  or  by  univerfal  fuffrage  ? 
Mr.  Pitt,  as  well  as  Burke,  Fox,  and  others  were 
once  for  a  reform  in  the  commons  ;  and  Pitt  publicly 
avowed  in  parliament,  annual  parliaments,  and  uni- 
verfal fuffrage,  the  very  principles  avowed  in  the  Brit- 
ilh  convention  at  Edinburgh.  But  the  French  revolu* 
tion  changed  their  minds,  or  rather,  affected  that  now 
was  not  the  proper  time,  or  that  it  ought  to  be  pro- 
craftmated  to  a  time,  which  he  now  forefeescan  neves- 
be  found,  which  is  in  effed  convincing  him,  that  what 
he  once  advocated  ought  never  to  be  done,  becaufe  he 
now  forefees  it  never  can  be  done,  without  the  fure^ 
danger  of  the  demolition  of  royalty  and  nobility.  The 
haughtinefs  of  high  dominion  can  never  give  up,  until 
it  is  too  late.  It  is  intended  by  court  politicians  that 
the  diffonance  of  opinion  as  to  the  mode  of  reform  fliall 
nullify  the  whole.  They  are  content  to  have  the  quef- 
tion  mod:  liberally  agitatpd,  but  never  to  be  fettled  and 
determined  :  that  the  partizans  fliculd  difcufs  them? 
felves  out  of  breath,  as  in  a  chancery  fuit,  and  in  def- 
pair  to  leave  all  to  an  uti  poJpJeUi.  Circulating  this; 
^7//;«/7/«w  among  all  the  partizans  of  the  minillry,  it  is 
purpofed  and  alTuredly  expected  to  worry  out  the  public 
jpirit,  and  go  on  with  the  prefent  fyftcm,  until  all  ihali 
feel  it  incurablcj  and  tamely  acc|uicfce. 


286      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

The  national  debt  is  confidered  as  combining  anel 
holding  all  logether.  It  is  AippGred  to  be  fatally  endan- 
gered by  a  revolution,  and  erpecially  by  the  change  of  a 
monarchy  into  a  republic.  But  it  is  as  eafy  to  fecure 
a  national  credit  in  the  one  as  the  other.  Holland, 
Venice,  America,  and  I  believe  France  will  ihew  that 
national  credit,  flocks  and  funds  may  be  as  feciire  in  a 
republic  as  in  a  mor.archy.  If  in  a  revohition  it  lliall 
be  provided  that  the  public  debt  lliall  be  taken  upon  ihe 
new  polity,  all  v^ould  be  fecure,  unlefs  the  debt,  as  it 
may  be,  (hould  be  fo  heavy  as  to  be  impollible  to  be 
fupported.  But  how  powerful  fcever  a  public  debt  may 
be  towards  confolidating  and  holding  the  polity  toge- 
ther, there  are  great  exigencies,  in  which  it  will  lofe  this 
force.  A  debt  of  three  hundred  miUions  ilerling' did 
■not  withhold  the  Roman  empire  from  dilToiuiioiV 
when  its  fate  was  expired.  There  are  certain  political 
tempefts  which  carry  away  all  before  them.  1'he  na- 
tional debt  of  England  v*'ill  not  repel  a  revolution,  whea 
the  body  of  the  people  are  brought  to  exert  their  fofce  ; 
which  th^y  certainly  v/ill  do,  when  thoroughly  fick  of 
their  polity  :  a  crilisvery  fall  approachi-ng. 

But  if  a  reform,  contrary  to  all  court  intention  and 
expectation,  mui\  come  on  ;  the  quefticn  will  arife, 
I'hall  the  parhament  do  this,  or  the  people  ?  The  par- 
liament may  feem  to  attempt,  think  to  am.ufe  the  na- 
tion, but  dare  not  to  advenuire  a  reform  even  of  one 
houfe,  and  much  lefs  of  both.  And  therefore  from  a 
concurrence  of  various  motives,  both  houfes  feeling 
themfelves  to  ftand  or  fall  together,  will  unite  in  the 
moil  firm  and  decided  oppofuion  to  it,  and  rifque  the 
moil  fanguinary  meafures  to  defeat  every  attempt,  and 
prevent,  ob(lru61:,  and  fupprefs  every  movement  effica- 
cioufly  tending  to  a  real  reform  ;  unlefs  it  may  be  they 
may  propofe  fo  trilling  and  fo  ineffedual  a  reform,  as 
will  rather  mock  and  irritate,  than  give  national  fatis- 
fadUon.  Add  to  this,  that  though  they  allow  the  peo- 
ple to  fancy  and  conceive  that  they  have  rights  and  liber- 


©F  KING    CHARLES     I.  ^87 

ties,  and  fufFer  them  to  boaft  of  them,  declaim  upon 
tlieni  and  glory  in  them,  as  long  as  the  politicians  fee 
them  chained  and  fettered  ;  yet  really  in  their  hearts 
•^nd  fecret  counfels,  they  at  bottom  mod  cordially  hold, 
that  the  herd  cannot  govern  themfelves  ;  and  as  to  par- 
ticipation in  government  the  fwinifh  multitude  have  no 
lights  and  liberti-tt,  or  which  is  the  fame  thing,  none 
originally  and  independently,  none  but  what  are  held  at 
the  ccnc'einon  of  the  King  and  parliam.ent.  And  the 
few  afcendiiig  from  the  piebt-ians  in^::  parliament,  foon 
lofe  their  plebeian  principles  aiul  become  allimilated  to 
the  ariflocracy.  The  two  hiiiidrcd  and  fifty  nobles 
therefore  and  l^ve  hundred  and  fifty  commons,  or  their 
venal  majoriri,  .■,,  become  a  combined  Phalanx  againft  ■ 
the  people,  fct  and  firmly  united  againR  any  ultimate 
andrealrh:  .-ration  or  reform  of  the  polity.  There  re- 
mains tl  -efore  that  the  (Iruggle  rauit  be  given  up.  "It 
will  not  De  given  up.  The  feelings  of  ariftocracy  are 
totally  diirerent  from  the  feelings  of  the  people.  The 
prepoiteroiis  condud  of  the  miniftry  andparharnent  for 
now  almod;  half  a  century  have  fo  involved  and  oppreiT- 
ed  the  nation,  as  to  precipitate  a  revolution,  A  na- 
tional inquiry  is  unavoidable.  It  has  taken  place  in 
France  ;  it  will  take  place  in  every  fovereignty  in  Eu- 
rope ;  it  v/ill  take  place  in  England  fooner  or  later. — 
Tfie  mode  cannot  be  predicted,  faving  only  that  it  will 
be  a  popular  one.  A  real  Saxon  meycle-gemot  mull 
be  refumed. 

The  Englifn  parliamient  is  fugh  a  mockery  onrepre- 
fentation,  that  the  nation  will  never  reft  in  its  piefent 
itate.  And  it  muft  fooner  or  later  be  altered.  The  agi- 
tations for  erTe6ling  this  mevitable  akeration  will  bring 
on  and  advance  other  political  difcuiiions,  terminating 
in  a  republican  renovation.  So  abfurd  and  difpropor- 
tionate  is  therepjrefentation  in  parhament,  that  it  ftrikes 
ail  withdifguft,  as  an  infult  on  the  majefty  of  the  peo- 
ple. 'Gf  the  five  hundred  and  fifty  members,  it  ap- 
pear.^ that  in  England,  two  thoufank  fix  hundre-d  and 


288       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

eleven  perfons  ele£l  and  return  three  hundred  and  twen- 
ty feven  members  ;  and  in  Scotland,  of  the  forty-five 
members  to  reprefent  two  millions  of  people,  niqety- 
eight  perfons  ele6l  one  third,  and  the  other  thirty  are 
elefted  by  about  one  thoufand  four  hundred. 

When  the  prcfent  national  dorm  is  a  little  over,  par- 
liament will  attempt  to  app/afe  the  public  fpirit  by  ap- 
portioning the  reprefentation.  So  far  it  will  be  well. — 
But  they  will  fee  that  this  will  not  fatisfy.  They  will 
enlarge  the  ele6lion,  but  will  not  proceed  to  univerfal 
or  general  fufFrage.  This  may  reft  the  national  fpirit 
for  the  prefent,  and  refpire  further  popular  exertions, 
perhaps  for  another  generation,  perhaps  not.  Howe- 
ver they  will  by  both  thefe  meafures  give  the  precedent 
of  a  principle,  on  which  the  public  will  prefcribe  for 
further  enlargements  and  amendments.  Liberty  muff: 
be  difputed  and  gained  by  inches.  The  cure  of  the  na- 
tional diforder  is  not  yet  effe6led.  The  defignation  of 
all  public  oi^ces  is  to  be  regulated.  If  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  monarch,  fole  appointment  will  ever  give  him 
power  TO  command  and  fubjecl  both  houfes  to  his  will. 
The  podibility  of  this  autocratical  controul  in  the  crown 
remains  to  be  extinguifhed.  The  nobility  will  be  with 
the  King.  All  this  will  ultimately  fooner  or  later  bring 
on  a  flruggle  with  ariftocracy,  which  mufl  be  fought 
out  with  blood,  and  then  the  nation  will  become  a  re- 
public. Half  a  century  will  complete  this.  Or  at 
leaft  it  will  be  accompliilied  in  fome  given  time. 

Politicians  fhould  loo!:  upon  irritated  human  nature, 
and  confider  the  extent  of  paffive  national  endurance. 
They  may  view  it  in  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  hiffo- 
ly  of  the  reformation  from  the  pontificate,  in  the  Eng- 
lilh  hirtory  from  king  John  to  this  time,  in  the  Baron's 
wars,  in  the  endurance  of  the  Duke  of  Alva  ;  in  fhort 
in  a  thoufand  funilar  inftances  in  the  hilbries  of  na- 
tions. Look  at  the  French  revolution,  look  at  the 
American  revolution  ;  in  dead  of  looking  to  Ccefar,  to 
the  vanquilhments  of  tyranny,    to  the  invafion  of  the' 


OF  KING    CHARLES     I.  2§9 

Gauls  by  the  Franks.,  the  Saxon,  Danifh,  and  Nor- 
man conquefls,  the  Enghlh  illegitimate  conqueft  of 
Ireland,  and  the  other  fiiccefsful  confii6ls  of  tyranny  : 
and  in  numerons  other  examples,  they  may  fmd  that 
tyranny,  however  adventurous,  is  not  always  fuccefs- 
ful.  But  they  vi'ill  be  taught  by  none  of  thefe.  They 
will  find,  however,  that  tfie  temerity  of  incenfed  Eng- 
liihmen  will,  as  in  the  lalt  century,  rifque  blood  and 
every  confequence.  The  coniiicl  once  begun,  though 
none  can  forefee  themsans,  yet  it  requires  no  fpirit  of 
•prophecy  to  forefee  the  event.  The  end  will  be  acconi- 
plifhed,  as  fure  as  the  downfall  of  the  Rom.an  empire. 
The  road  however  to  this  end  mud  be  ftrcwed  with 
Llood.  But  will  any  madly  adventure  this  ?  They  will. 
And  there  muft  and  v/ill  arife  more  Cromwells,  Kofci- 
ufkos,  Whalleys,  Fairfaxes  ;  more  Warrens,  Muirs, 
Palmers,  and  Geralds,  mud  fuffer  martyrdom.  Three 
or  four  more  hereditary  monarchies  and  ariflocracies 
muft  be  fought  and  hunted  down,  before  the  reil  will 
fubmit  to  the  empire  of  liberty,  law  and  reafon.  Oh 
Parliament !  O  Englifh  Nation  !  you  have  before  you 
to  fight  out,  not  whether  a  Stuart,  NalTau,  or  Brunf- 
wick,  this  or  that  family,  fhall  reign  ;  no  longer  a  war 
among  Kings,  a  confiidl  between  interfering  and  claim- 
ing fovereigns-^but  a  more  interefling,  real  and  folema 
confiift  av/aits  you — a  confliit  between  the  people  and 
fovereigns  and  hereditary  arillocrats,  and  in  connexion 
with  them  in  England,  a  plebeian  aiTeoibly,  or  delufo- 
ry  (hadow  of  hditious,  popular,  unreal  reprefentation, 
tacked  on  -fallaciouily  to  fupport  them.  But  let  us  bs 
allured  the  confli<St  will  be  fevere  and  bloody — it  will 
however  aifuredly  take  place — and  its  end  will  be  glori- 
ous !  During  the  fiery  trial,  we  of  ihc  United  Stales^ 
fhall  contemplate  this  ilruggle  with  heart-feeling  foh- 
citude,  and  Ihare  with  the  parent  ilate,  from  which  wc 
Hill  glory  to  have  defcended,  in  the  joys  and  exultations' 
of  the  final  triumphs  of  liberty.  We  fprang  Irom  Eng- 
land, and  lull  read  and  fiudy  her  hillories  with  as  much 
Z 


^l^O       HISTORY  OF  THREE  OF  THE  JUDGED 

.attention  and  rympathetic  feeling,  as  our  brethren,  from 
ivhom  we  have  been  crr.eily  difmen?ibered.  And  our  ^ 
refiexlons  are  niacfe  and  uttered  here,  with  the  mod  li- 
beral, uncmbarraircd  and  unbounded  freedom,  a  free- 
dom unknown  even  \\\  England,  that  land,  of  all  the 
.tranfatlantic  regions,  the  land  of  free  difcuffion  and 
Jibert)/. 

It  is  not  alien  or  foreign  from  our  purpofe,  but  di- 
reclly  in  point  to  adduce  thcfe  flridures  and  bbferva- 
i.ions,  or  to  attend  to  the  prefent  fiate  of  things  in  Eng- 
land and  Europe  ;  becaufe  they  have  i'Jued  from  1641, 
tind  are  but  the  progrefs  of  tlye  conlli61:  of  ages;  an^- 
.i)ecaufc  in  their  l.truggles  with  tyranny,  the  nation  find 
themfelves  obliged  to  recur  to  the  principles  of  the  lafl 
.centur)^  and  refume  the  v^ork,  w-hich  Oliver  and  the 
Judges  once  atchi^ved  before  them,  and  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  "ation,  and  vv'hich  they  were  fooliiTily  du- 
ped to  give  back  and  furrender  to  the  flattering  and  ever 
delufory  promifes  of  tyranny.  \'i  the  cxifting  polities 
will  not  reform  themfelves,  as  they  certainly  will  not:, 
\\\  mull:  come  to  the  conclufion  of  the  enlightened  pa- 
tiiots  of  pad  ages,  t  and  efpecially  of  the  lal!:  century^, 
w-ho  were  more  deeply  ftudied  in  the  principles  of  polity 
'CiViA  dominion,  than  the  civilians  tliat  any  otiver  oge 
ever  produced.  After  every  the  moll  profound  diici: f- 
iion  of  the  fi.ibject:,  every  one  muft  finally  come  to  a 
conchifion,  which  their  progenitors  clearly  difcerned 
.and  boldly  announced,  that  in  fuch  an  exigence,  there 
remains  the  only  ahernative  of  fubmiliion  or  rebellion. 
And  though  every  other  reb.:l]ion  is  unjuiiifiable,  yet 
fuch  an  exigence  may  be  adjudged  to  neceffitate  and 
juitiry  rebellion — for  it  is  faid,  "  rebellion  to  tyrants  is 
.obedience  to  God." 

f  Sceor.eof  the  rnoil- profound  an^  learried  productions  of  human 
rat'jr;3 .  an  anonymous  treatife,  De  'furc  Mjgijiratuum  :n  Jubditos  &" 
.officio  JuhiVitonan  erg.i  Mng'iftratus ;  printed  at  Lyons,  1576,  in  which 
•'xht  limits  of  obedience,  ani  forne  of  th:  cafes  cf  jaSlifiable  reiidance  are 


OF  KING    CHARLES      Z.  2gt 

But  to  return. — Oliver  Cromwell  once  faved  the  na- 
tion ;  and,  as  I  have  fiud,  upon  dehberate  confuliation 
both  of  the  army  and  parliament,  and  with  the  concur- 
rent hearts  of  certainly  a  very  large  and  refpe^lable  body 
of  the  divided  nation,  devifcd  a  very  excellent  confii- 
tiition,  in  the  force  and  fpirit  of  it  very  nearly  refem- 
bling  that  afterwards  conceived  and  adopted  by  the 
United  States: — "  0 forlunatos  nhniiun jua  ft  bona  no- 
rlntl''  The  conftitution  by  1657  was  ripened  to  thisy 
that  the  government  be  a  commonwealth,  and  the  na- 
tional legiflature  confift  of  a  Prote6lor  and  two  houfes, 
all  eie6live  and  none  hereditary.  Herein  it  is  provided, 
I.  That  the  Protedor  be  for  hfe.  The  fucceffion  to 
be  kept  up  by  the  els(Slion  of  the  upper  houfe.  2.  That 
thisconfiitof  forty  to  fifty  members,  to  be  alfo  for  life, 
amoveable  however  for  mifdemeanDr.  The  fucceflion, 
either,  by  the  houle  of  commons  ele6ting  fix,  out  of 
which  the  other  houfe  fele6t  two  ;  from  which  the  Pro- 
te6lor  to  ele6l  one  ;  or,  if  the  commons  omitted  their 
nomination  for  twenty  days,  the  lords  to  proceed,  no- 
minate and  choofe  three,  out  of  whom  the  Protedor  to 
take  one.  3.  That  the  houfe  of  commons  confift  of 
460,  trienniaily  cle61ed  by  the  people,  in  a  judicious 
and  proportionate  manner.  4.  A  concurrence  of  the 
two  houfes,  by  their  refpeclive  majorities,-  to  make  an 
a6l  of  Parhament ;  not  fubje6led  to  the  veto  or  negative 
of  the  Proteilor.     This  is  the  outline  of  the  polity. 

But  hke  Ifrael,  the  nation  wilhed  for  a  King  ;  wiili- 
ed  to  return  to  Egypt.  They  returned,  and  God  lent 
them  a  King  in  his  anger  ;  they  returned,  and  went 
into  llavery  ;  felt  themfelves  caught  and  difappointed, 
and  in  twenty  years  became  fo  w^earied  out,  that  tlie 
public  mind  again  changed,  and  became  prepared  for 
the  partial  expulfion  of  tyranny  in  1688.  They  might 
have  faved  themfelves  thirty  years  lofs  of  liberty,  had 
they  banifned  hereditation  cutofthe  Englifh  government 
— had  they  perfevered  in  the  republican  formdevifed  by 
tiie  diicerniiig  enlighiened  Prote6lor,  and  thofe  of  his 


aCjt       HISTORY    OP    THREE    ®F    THE    JUDGES 

coiTipatriots,  ever  faithful  to  their  country's  welfare. — 
Kua  his  vv^ifdom  dire6red  him  to  have  left  his  other  houfc 
elective  by  parhament,  or  by  the  people  in  almoft  eve- 
ry mode,  as  he  had  made  the  houfe  of  commons  to 
Itand  on  local  elections,  he  would  have  left  a  polity  fo 
perfecl:,  fo  adapted  to  univerfal  human  nature,  that 
notv/iihftanding  the  ingenious  Neckar's  allov^'ances  for 
the  geniufes,  habits,  and  various  diilributions  of  pro- 
rty  in  nations  to  be  policied  into  new  conftitutions. 


I 


altered  it.  But  even  his  new  nobility,  although  in  the 
firfl"  inftance  by  direction  of  parliam.ent,  at  his  own  evo- 
cation, and  vvhofe  fucceilion  was  left  too  indefinite, 
were  of  efficacious  operation,  a  powerfully  controuling 
balance  in  the  polity  of  the  fupreme  kgiflature  :  and" 
bid  fair  to  haveembofomed,  and  did  infant  embofom, 
iPiOre  wifdom,  as  well  as  patriotifm^  than  Heaven  ufu- 
ally  imparts  to  an  hereditary  nobility,  ever  ignorant, 
debauched,  effeminate  and  devoid  of  underftanding,  or- 
elfe  counterafting  and  overlaying  the  really  great  and' 
fuperior  wifdom  of  a  fmall  number,  a  fmall  fcattering 
of  fenfible  and  meritorious  chara6lers,  always  to  be- 
found  among  the  lords  or  nobility  of  every  nation.  Thus 
merit  would  be  ccnftantly  afcending  and  ftreaming  up 
into  the  national  council.  This  with  an  ele6l:ive  Pro- 
te6lor  at  its  head,  had  been  nearly  a  perfed  policy.  Had 
the  Prote6lor  lived  twenty  or  thirty  years  longer,  or  had 
the  nation  been  pofTefTed  of  patience  and  ftability,  Oli- 
ver's polity  might  have  grown  up  into  this  firm  and. 
beautiful  perfedion.  May  I  be  indulged  with  dating 
my  idea  of  a  perfed  polity  ? 

Corifpe^Lis  of  a  perfeB  Polity. 
We  may  aiTume  a  territory  of  five  hundred  miles 
fquare,  populated  with  five,  ten,  or  twenty  miUions  of 
inhabitants,  univerfally  free,  according  to  their  various 
induifry  poffeffing  allodial  property.  On  this  field  of 
dominion  a  polity  is  to  be  erecled,  v/hich  they  will  nsver 
\\  ifli  to  alter  or  aaitnd.  It  may  be  a  public  national  coun- 


OF    KING    CHARLES      I.  293. 

cil  confifting  of  a  double  reprefentative  with  a  head,  aiL 
lianding  upon  the  eledion  of  the  community  at  large  ;  .- 
and  fo  modified  as  that  every  member  ihall  eHicacioully 
feel  his  dependance  upon  the  people  at  large.  Letthefe 
branches  receive  any  appellation  at  pleafure.  Fofth& 
pre fent  theory,  let  them  b©  denominated  the  Protestor* 
and  the  upper  and  lower  houfes  :  the  one  to  confift  of 
about  five  hundred,  ip.ore  or  lefs  ; ,  the  other  of  fiity  or 
one  hundred,  more  or  lefs.  In  this  council  colledively; 
fnall  refide,  under  prefcribed  and  defined  modifications, 
not  only  legillation,  but  dominion  and  fupreme  govern- 
ment. For  this  double  reprefentation,  the  populated- 
field  of  dominion  may  receive  a  double  partition  into 
five  hundred  and  into  fifty  diftrids,  confifiir^g  as  near 
as  may  be  of  about  an  equal  number  of  inhabitants,  fub- 
ie6l  to  revifion  according  to  the  variation,  increafe  or 
diminution  of  population.  Each  of  the  five  hundred 
local  difiri6ls  to  ekcl  a  fingle  reprefentative,  for  forming 
the  lower  houfe,  or  a  houfe  of  reprefentatives  of  local 
difiriiSls.  Thefe  will  brin^  up  into  the  national  coun- 
cil a  perfect  information  of  the  local  dilfri(5is.  The 
election  of  this  branch  to  be  triennial.- 

For  the  upper  houfe  of  reprefentatives  fiandrng,  not' 
on  local,  but  univerfal  eledlion,  the  fifty  larger  dillridls 
to  ele6l  one  for  each  ;  but  fothat  each  member  flands, 
not  on  the  election  of  that  diftriiSl  only,  but  on  univer- 
fal election — and  that  in  this  manner : — Although  the 
citizens  vote  in  diftri£ts,  yet  they  fliall  vote  each  for  but 
one  member  in. his  own  diftri6t,  and  for  one  in  each  of 
thQ  other  diftri^ts  :  all  the  citizens  in  every  diltrid  fhall 
vole  for  fifty  members,  but  they  Ihall  be  taken  one  in- 
each  diftri6t ;  fo  that  by  thefe  means  all  the  fifty  fhall 
feel  themfeives  to  ftand  on  univerfal  eledion.  Let  the 
Protector  alfo  ftand  on  univerfal  eledbion.  A  certificate 
from  each  di(tri6t  Ihall  be  fulficentto  afcertain  the  elec- 
tion of  the  ditlri6t,  both  for  the  Protestor  and  both 
houfes.  The  pluraHty  of  votes,  not  majority  of  all  the- 
votes,  to  determine  all  thefe  elections.  The  Protector 
Z  2 


^94       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

to  be  ele6led  once  in  fevQn  years  :  the  upper  houfe  once 
infix  years,  with  a  rotation  as  in  the  Senate  in  Con- 
grefs  ;  and  the  lower  houfe  once  in  three  years.  The 
pubhc  gcwd,  and  permanency  or  ftabiHty  of  dominion, 
requires  that  there  (hould  not  be  a  pofllbility  of  a  total 
change  of  the  national  council  at  any  given  time  ; — • 
while  the  citizens  will  have  power  and  opportunity  to 
make  a  thorough  change,  if  they  think  belt,  within  a 
fufficiently  fhort  period  for  the  prevention  of  public 
mifchief  and  the  fecurity  and  perpetuation  of  liberty. 
The  national  council  thus  ele6led,  are  to  form  them- 
felves,  and  ftand  completely  and  conftitutionally  inve-ft- 
ed  with  all  the  powers  of  dominion  and  government. — 
In  them  *fefides  the  ordinary  and  a6live  fovereignty  of 
the  republic.  Except  in  the  rotation  in  the  upper 
houfe,  rione  to  be  excluded  from  re- eled ions  into  either 
houfe,  as  long  as  he  can  approve  himfelf  to  his  fellow- 
citizejis.  Should  it  be  judged  more  convenient  that  the 
Prefident,  or  Prottdor,  lliould  fland  on  the  eleftion  of 
both  houfes,  inlicad  of  the  people  at  large,  it  will  be 
perfectly  fafe,  as  even  in  this  mode  he  muft  feel  his  de- 
pendence not  on  a  part,  but  the  whole  people,  and 
cannot  fail  to  feel  himfelf  the  tender  father  of  the  re- 
public at  large.  A  rotation  in  the  lower  houfe  is  not 
equally  neceiiary  as  in  the  upper  houfe.  Death  and 
human- verfatility  will  make  fufficient  rotations  in  the 
lower  houfe  :  befides  that  the  interefts  of  a  fingle  local 
ditiri6t  is  but  of  fubordinate  importance  compared  with 
the  univerfal  intereft.  Changes  in  this  will  not  be 
equally  dangerous  with  too  great  and  frequent  changes 
in  an  houfe  itariding  on  univerfal  ele61ion. 

In  this  frame  of  government,  this  polity  of  the  two- 
houfes,  the  one  will  primarily  feel  the  local  interefts, 
andfecondarily  the  general  intereft  ;  the  other  mulf  ir- 
refirrably  feel  for  each  and  all  the  interefts,  not  fepa- 
rately,  but  colle6lively,  and  their  primary  and  only 
motive  muft  be  the  public  good,  the  univerfal  intere:i 
©1  thev/huie,.  or  majority  of  the  community.    The  one 


OF    KING    CHARLES  I.  2.95 

will  be  the  faithful  confervators  of  the  local  intcrefts,  as 
Avell  as  attend  well  to  the  general  intereft  alfo,  and  in 
the  moft  cafes  when  his  own  diftri£l  is  out  of  the  quef- 
tion,  which  will  be  the  cafe  in  raoft  inftances,  will 
judge  innpaitialiy  and  faithfully  for  the  public  good  : 
tlie  other  detached  Irom  all  particularity,  can  have  no 
obje6l  but  the  univerfal,  or  at  lead  the  general  good, 
with  which  his  own  perfonal  interefl:  is  infeparably  con- 
necled. 

The  powers  of  the  houfes  are  not  mixed,  but  fepa- 
rate  and  concurrent.  Thefe  with  the  quorum  of  each 
to  be  defined  and  fettled  in  the  conf^itution.  They  fit 
and  deliberate  feparalely,  and  their  votes  are  of  inde- 
pendent and  feparate  import.  The  concurrence  of  the 
two  houfes  in  their  votes  to  conflitute  an  a6l,  and  there 
can  be  no  public  a6l  of  the  national  council  without 
this  concurrence.  A  few  other  declarations  regulating 
the  exercifnig  their  powers  and  authority  in  tranfa£ling 
bufmefs,  may  be  defined  in  the  conftitution,  the  reit 
may  be  fafely  confided  to  their  united  wifdom.  But  in 
cafe  the  two  houfes  fliould  ever  hereafter  concur  in  any 
vote  for  the  hereditation  of  any  offices  or  their  perpetu- 
ity in  any  family  line,  or  for  the  hereditation  and  per- 
petuity of  the  Proteclor  and  upper  houfe,  the  conifitu- 
tion  fliould  be  thereby  ipfo  fado  diffolved.  In  which 
eafc  it  fhould  be  provided  and  effablilhed  in  the  confti- 
tution, that  the  republic  reverts  to  a  fiate  of  nature  ; 
when  any  of  the  500  di(fri6ls  may  affum.e  upon  them- 
felvesto  circulate  a  coiTimunication  among  therr:feives, 
ana  originate  by  fpontaneous  delegation  from  the  dif- 
tricts,  a  republican  convention,  lor  the  exprefs  purpofe 
of  regenerating  the  policy  and  conftituting  a  new  repub- 
lic ;  and  if  neceifary  may  arm  for  the  purpofe  without 
criminal  rebellion. 

Before  we  define  the  powers  of  the  Prott(Sfcr,  and  * 
order  to  difcern  what  portion  of  authority  Ihould  be  * 
ifgned  and  eatrufled  to  the  fupreme  executive,  v/e  r*^ 


ag&       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Biake  an  experiment  of  this  policy  ;  from  whence  we 
may  difcern  the  laihty  of  thefe  b^ilanceG,  and  the  obvi- 
ous preference  of  the  double  to  a  Tingle  reprefentation, 
or  indeed  of  vePiing  the  whole  goyernment  in  one  houie,., 
or  a  fenateor  council  .)j  one  order  only  of  local  repre- 
fentatives  ;  snd  indetd  lis  preferablenefs  to  a  fmgle  or- 
der itandi  ng.  on  univerfal  election,  modified  as  above, 
both  in  point  o(  ample  and  accurate  information  of 
every  part,  and  diffufmg  the  kno\vledc>;e  of  chara6lers 
amor.g  their  condituents,  for  future  eiedions,  through 
the  Community.  At  the  fame  time  that  conjoined  with 
perftct  local  information,  there  is  provided  a  natural 
and  unfailing  fccurity  of  tidelity  to  the  public  and  gene- 
ral welfare.  To  proceed  with  the  experiment, — Let 
a  bill  be  brought  into  the  lower  houfe — -upon  reading  it, 
each  member  will  run  home  in  his  own  mind,  and 
think  how  it  will  aifecl:  his  own  diftridl,  hisimmx- 
d:ate  conflituents  ;  and  he  will  be  faithful  to  his  dif- 
tria  ;  this '^i!l  be  hislirft  care«  If  it  does  not  affecl 
tiVdt  otherwife  than  as  it  is  involved  in  the  univerfal  in- 
tc'relf,  then  the  public  good  becomes  equally  his  caie^. 
and  indeed  fole  object.-  Again  in  this  houfe  v/ill  una- 
voidably be  room  for  facLion  or  jundlon  of  dillriit  or 
vicinity  intereils,  andclubbing  with  diftricls  in  differ- 
ent parts  towards  carrying  votcs;  This  cannot  fo  eafily 
take  place  in  the  other  houi'e.     The  great  advantage 


Oi 


local  reprefentations,  is  for  obtaining  perfe6l  informa- 
tion, and  for  having  the  diilrid  fatished  that  they  have 
a  iaithfcd  advocate  in  the  national  council,  for  its  parti- 
culiM"  intereil,  Bfjth  thefe  are  matters  of  gieat  moment. 
Biit  it  may  be  poffible,  and  often  happens,  that  a  biii 
palles  in  this  houfe  rather  from  a  junAion  of  particular 
local  intereils,  the  interefls  of  a  part  of  the  community,- 
than  from  the  public  good.  It  needs  then  to  be  con- 
r:p'atej  and  aftcd  upon  by  a  houfe  whofe  only  or  pri- 
!r\  ciiid  governing  obje6f  muff:  be  the  public  welfare^ 
b'^-.hfe  it  I'iands  not  on  local,  ubiquitarian  eledlion. — 
LeViie  bill  be  read  here,  and  initead  of  the  members 


OF    KINO    CHARLES     I.  297 

ji^nning  to  a  local  or  a  few  local  Interefls,  they  feel  them- 
felves  irrefdlibly  conftrained  to  contemplate  the  whole 
field  of  dominion,  the  public  welfare.  A  bill  then 
hav'ing  had  this  confiderationand  review,  and  thereupon- 
having  the  concurrence  of  the  local  and  univerfal  re- 
prefentatives,  may  be  confided  in  as  having  received  a- 
well  informed  and  thorough  difquifition,  and  as  faith- 
ful a  deciiion  as  can  be  had  from  erring  man. 

And  now  as  the  Head  or  Prote6lor,  by  the  fijperenii- 
nency  of  his  ilation,  may  be  juftly  fupppfed  to  have  a 
circumfpedlive  view  of  the  public  intereft,  efpecially 
when  furniihed  whh  all  the  lights  of  both  houfes,  and: 
by  his  dependence  on  univerfal  ele£lion  alfo  himfelf,. 
effeftually  fecuredfrom  partiality,  every  one  will  fee 
the  fafety  and  utility  of  another  reviflon  by  the  father  of 
the  republic  :  not  indeed  to  his  final  negative  or  veto, 
which  might  be  em.barraffing  and  dangerous,  though 
not  of  lading  and  irremediable  mifchief,  as  he  cannot 
ceafe  to  teel  a  reference  to  a  future  eledlion.  It  will' 
therefore  be  for  the  perfe6lion  of  the  polity,  that  he 
fliould  have  the  power  of  a  tem.porary  negative  with  a 
limited  time,  and  a  reference  to  a  reconfideration  with 
his  reafons.  He  may  have  difcerned  fomething  of  mo- 
ment which  may  have  efcaped  both  houfes,  at  lead  he^ 
will  have  his  feelings  upon  ir,  and  the  feelings  of  a  cha- 
ra6ler  fo  fituated  m.ay  not  be  unworthy  the  attention  of 
the  wifeft  and  mo(\  enlightened  alfembiy.  His  reafons 
and  obfervations  in  a  revifion  of  the  whole,  may  be 
found  beneficial,  and  may  occafion  amendments,  or 
falutary  alterations,  or  even  abolitions.  But  if  after 
this  the  views  of  the  two  houfes  lliall  continue  the  famiC, 
and  they  adhere  to  their  former  opinion  and  judgment 
after  revifion,  it  may  be  juftly  confided  in,  that  they 
are  right,  the  bill  having  had  a  due  courfe,  and  as  com- 
plete a  deliberation  and  decifion  as  human  wifdom  ad- 
mits, before  it  palfes  into  a  public  law.  Thus  thefe 
balances  in  the  polity  are  demonftrably  wife,  and  I 
thiuk  conftit'jte  perfetSlion. 


^8       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Bf  cenfidering  the  juftiy  elevated  fituation  of  the 
Prote6tor,  his  connexion  with  the  national  council,  his 
relation  to  the  whole  community,  his  being  the  pi^htical 
head  of  a  diiliri£l  fovereignty  among  the  fovereignties 
of  the  world,  and  the  communications  and  intercouiTe 
with  other  dales  in  peace  and  war,  we  may  be  enabled 
to  judge  with  what  power  he  ought  to  be  invelled,  with- 
out laying  a  foundation  of  his  becoming  a  defpot. — 
thefe  powers  I  Ihall  not  detail.  Thofe  who  frame  the 
conftitution  will  do  it  with  careful  attention.  I  mean 
only  to  fuggeif  the  outline  of  the  political  ccnftitmion. 
He  mull  be  the  organ  of  the  republic,  through  which 
all  com-munications  muft  be  had  with  furrounding  (lates,,- 
v/hich  Vattel  conhders  as  fo  many  moral  perforis  fuf- 
Geptible  of  a  variety  of  national  relations,  from  whence 
arife  thofe  fitnefies,  propriety  of  treatment,  and  focial 
obligations  which,  with  the  treaties  and  compacts 
among  thefe  political  moral  perfons,-  become  the  laws 
of  nations,  four^ded  in  principles  of  moral  right,  ac- 
cording to  Grotius  and  Putiendorf,  and  of  a  reditude 
and  obhgation  as  immutable  as  the  eternal  laws"  of  na- 
ture. The  whole  national  aiTembly  will  be  called  to 
cortf]der  thefe  things,  and  none  more  than  the  head  of 
the  republic.  The  command  of  the  navy,  army  and 
militia,  muft  and  may  be  fafely  confided  to  him,  while 
the  national  council  hold  the  appropriation  of  the  re- 
venues in  their  hands.  The  making  of  war  and  peace 
are  both  m.atters  of  too  great  moment  to  be  left  in  the 
hands  and  at  the  will  of  a  fmgle  perfon.  It  is  undoubt- 
edly wife  in  tlie  conftitution  of  the  United  States,  on 
thefe  great  fubje6ls  the  Preddent  cannot  a6l  alone,  but 
mull:  have  the  couiifel  and  concurrence  of  the  Senate. — = 
The  defignation  and  appointment  of  officers,  civil,  mi- 
litary, judicial,  and  in  the  revenue,  would  be  danger- 
ous in  his  hands.  With  this  pov/er,  like  the  King  of 
England,  he  would  not  fail  to  corrupt  a  majority  of 
both  houfes,  and  reduce  all  to  a  depcMidance  on  his  vvillj, 
or  the  didlature  of  a  ininifter.     The  proiufioii  of  lower 


OF    KING    CHARLES      T.  2^9 

and  uiilucrallve  ofnces  may  be  left  to  his  dlreflion  with 
fafety.  B'.it  an  ample  felection  fhculd  be  made  of  all 
the  gre^t  offices,  efpecially  of  high  emoluments,  and  in 
general  of  offices  in  every  department,  to  the  amount  at 
leait  of  three  quarters  of  the  aggregate  value  of  all  the 
offices  in  the  republic  fhould  be  guarded,  by  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  Pi'oteclor  and  concurrence  of  both  houfes. 
1  his  is  a  matter  of  vaif  moment.  It  will  thus  become 
impofiible  for  the  fupreme  magillrate  to  corrupt  both 
houfes.  Other  regulations  refpeiling  the  powers,  au- 
thority and  necelfary  prerogatives  of  the  protcclorate., 
may  be  of  imiportance  to  define  and  limit  in  the  con'ii- 
tution,  while  others  and  perhaps  more  temporary  pow- 
ers adapted  to  exigencies,  may  be  fafely  left  to  the  na- 
tional council,  which  by  their  acSls  may  Iroiii  time  to  time 
impart  to  him  the  necelfary  powers,  and  revoke  them. 
Whde  a  guarded  vigilance  Ihould  be  held  that  fo  im- 
portant, and  ufeful,  and  necelhiry  a  charadler  jhould  not 
grow  up  to  fo  powerful  an  independence  and  controul, 
as  in.time  to  overwhelm  and  proitrate  the  hberties  of  the 
republic. 

It  has  become  fafhionable  to  call  the  national  coun- 
cil, this  fupreme  body  by  thenameof  a  Legislature, 
as  if  this  was  theii  ..imeand  principal  bufinefs.  If  a 
perfe6l  and  complete  fyftem  of  law  and  jurifpriidence 
was  once  provided  and  eftabliihed  for  a  ilate,  legiilation 
would  be  at  an  end.  This  was  the  cafe  in  the  Mofaic 
-inititution,  whofe  laws  never  needed  addition  or  amend- 
iiient.  God  never  altered  this  law  from  the  days  of 
Sinai  to  the  days  of  Zorobabel.  Human  legillation 
cannot  be  at  hrit  perfect,  complete  and  comprehenfive. 
But  though  it  will  require  fome  time  to  inveftigate  and 
eilab'iilh  a  body  of  laws  adapted  .to4he  genius  and  cir- 
curnftancesof  a  people;  yet  after  a  vvhile  a  fyitem  or 
code  of  lav/s  v/ili  grow  up  to  a  magnitude  and  compre- 
henfion  of  cafes  fufficieat  for  the  adminiilration  of  juf- 
^tice  in  thcUate,  and  for  the  deteimination  of  all  caufes 
Xivil  and  criminal.     And  altliou^h  mutations  and  altera- 


300       HISTORY    OF    THREE    GF    THE     TUCGES 

tions  of  laws  according  to  the  exigencies  of  fociety  will 
in  fome  degree  be  always  taking  place,  yet  after  a  while 
in  a  well  fettled  government  legiilation  will  employ  but 
a  imaJl  part  of  the  attention  and  labors  and  a  national  af- 
fembly.  The  other  tran  fad  ions  in  government  y  and 
political. adminiflrat ion y  \^■ill  foon  become  far  more  vo- 
luminous than  the  code  of  laws  or  llatutes.  When  the 
national  council  ad  in  law-making  they  are  properly 
Jegijlators  ;  in  all  other  tranfa61ions^^/^'^r;;2t'^2A•7/. 

Future  legiflators,  am.ong  other  things,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  while  tliey  may  redify  the  whole  fyftem  of  jn- 
rifprudence,  will  particularly  corred  the  penal  code 
which  in  all  nations  has  been  lavish  in  capital  puoifh- 
ments.  It  cannot  be  fuppofed  that  the  fl:ate  of  human 
fociety  requires  the  feverity  of  the  enaded  punilhment 
for  fecurjngj)eace,  order  and  obedience  to  lawr-  ao.'  gov- 
ernment. For  the  confervation  of  the  peace  and  fup- 
port  of  the  laws  in  England,  jud^e  Blackftone  informs^ 
us  that  one  hundred  and  iixty  crimes  and  felonies  are 
capital  by  the  ftatutes.  And  among  five  or  fix  million 
people  have  been  above  feventy  tf-oufand  capital  execu- 
tions the  century  pa(i.  In  Connctticut  for  the  pad 
-Century  have  not  been  above  fifteen  or  twenty  execu- 
tions, and  for  all  New-England  probably  not  exceeding 
fixty  or^feventy  ;  and  the  peace  and  good  order  of  focie- 
ty has  been  wtjl  preferved  among  lialf  a  miiUon  to  ^ 
million  of  fouls. 

LegifiatLon  and  government  mufc  by  the  confiitution 
be  ever  lc;ft  with  the  national  fovereignty.  But  a  fu- 
"^.Ktxn^ judiciary  is  of  fuch  great  and  momentous  impor- 
tance that  it  may  be  eftab'ilhed  in  theconflitution  itfelf. 
It  is  the  intereit  oi"every  individual  in  the  community, 
that  there  beeftablilhed  one  pure  and  uninfluenced  tri- 
bunal for  the  ultimate  dtcilion  on  civil  and  criminal  tri- 
als and  adjudications.  And  to  this  end  the  conllitulion 
lliould  elhiblifn  it  that  the  judges  of  the  fupreme  court 
of  the  republic  ihould  be  nieii  of  diflinguifhed  abilities 


•  F  KING    CHARLES     I.  30t 

and  great  law  learning,  and  of  un corrupted  iritcgilty, 
limited  to  judge  not  according  to  trieir  difcretion,  but 
according  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  that  they  hold 
their  offices  qiiamdhife  bene gcfj'erint :  t\\?ii  treafoQ  in 
the  prote6lor  and  corruption  in  the  judges  be  puniOied 
with  death.  A  high  court  fhould  be  provided  and  au- 
thorized, not  by  the  legiflature,  but  by  the  conflitution, 
for  the  regular  trial  of  fuch  high  delinquents.  All  other 
■courts  for  the  diftribution  o^  juftice  through  the  land 
may  be  inftituted  by  the  Icgifiature. 

This  is  the  general  idea  of  a  perfeft  policy.  The  title 
or  appellation  of  this  public  body  may  be,  Congrcjsy 
Senate,  General  Council^  or  h' at  tonal  AJfembly,  I'he 
name  is  very  indiiTercnt,  and  will  have  no  efficacy  on 
their  public  acls  and  operations.  The  etymologies  of 
the  three  laftdo  not  primarily  lead  to  power  and  autho- 
rity. The  congrejfus  optimatum  brings  up  with  it  both 
power  and  council  united  :  and  feems  the  moft  natural 
for  a  republican,  unhereditary,  eleilive  ariftccracy. — 
The  whole  national  alTembly  is  an  ariilocracy,  while  in 
office,  not  hereditary  but  eleflive.  They  continue  in 
this  elevation  and  fuperiority  to  their  brethren,  while  by 
them  entrufted  with  the  high  authority,  and  until,  hav- 
ing run  their  race,  and  difcharged  their  great  and  iifeful 
betruftment,  they  revert  back  into  the  order  of  common 
fellow-citizens.  This  auguft  body  during  their  eleva- 
tion are  to  receive  all  honor  and  refpecc,  fubmifiion 
and  free  obedience  from  the  whole  union.  While  in 
office  let  them  be  treated  with  the  honors  of  the  office. 
'There  is  a  weighty  obje6lion  to  this  polltj.  The  uni- 
verfal  eleftion  will  be  obje6led  to,  both  for  the  Protector 
and  the  univerfal  branch,  as  unwieldy,  impracticable, 
impoffible.  To  this  it  may  be  replied,  that  perfonai 
acquaintance  is  not  neceifary.  Inform.ation  will  be 
fu fficient  with  refpe61  to  eminent  and  confpicuous  cha- 
radlers.  Experience  has  fiiewn  us,  that  the  people  at 
large  in  ^vQcy  the  mofi  diltant  part  of  the  United  States, 
for  inlhnce,  aie  Uiiiverrally  informed  concerning  fifty 
A  a 


^02       HISTORY    O?    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

or  one  hundred  chara£):ers,  or  more,  all  over  the  ftate?, 
among  which  they  are  able  to  inalce  a  wife  and  judicious 
choice,  or  election.  The  men  who  are  qualified  for 
flich  high  ftations  will  foon  be  extenfively  known. — 
They  llionld  be  thofe,  who  either  by  having  been  long 
in  the  national  fervice,  or  by  fonie  diUinguifiied  atchieve- 
mentof  public  utility,  have  approved  themftlves  qualified 
v/ith  wil'dbm,  experience,  and  a  perfe6l  acquaintance 
with  public  afrairs,  by  v^hich  their  abilities  and  fidelity 
will  become  extenfively  known  to  all  the  tribes  through 
the  union  and  community.  This  will  fupply  an  ample 
fuificiency  of  worthy,  patriotic  and  excellent  perfonages, 
Cil?."a61ers  of  ability  and  public  confidence,  of  diffufed 
3-eputation,  and  univerfal  notoriety,  from  wdiich  the 
community  in  general,  will  be  enabled  with  good  dif- 
cernment  and  judgment,  to  ele6l  thofe  fuperior  and 
imiverfal  members. 

Finally,  let  that  inePtimable  jewel  and  prefervative 
be  infertcd  inthe  conffitution,  the  power  of  revision, 
alteration  and  amendment,  after  certain  ifated  periods, 
until  the  polity  become  To  perfectly  fatisfactwy,  as  that 
to  the  feelings  and  fenfe  of  the  cominunity,  it  needs  no 
further  amendment  :  when  tlie  ufe  of  the  revifionary 
powers  would  go  into  defuetude  of  courfe  ;  unlefs  call- 
ed up  at  diftant  periods  to  rectify  and  reform  corrup- 
tions, which  may  in  time  be  infmuated  into  the  admi- 
niftration  of  the  belt  polity. 

This  is  the  view^  of  an  Utopian  polity,  which,  whe- 
ther right  or  wrong,  will  always  reft  in  harmilefs  idea. 
Its  refutation  and  abfurdity  will  never  appear  by  an  ac- 
tual experiment,  for  fuch  an  experiment  will  never  be 
•nade.  Not  that  it  is  impollible  :  for  notwithftanding 
the  ingenious  ideas  of  the  great  patriot  Neckar,  that 
rcoubiics  mult  be  difrerentiy  pohcied  according,  to  the 
cxifling  diverfjticsof  national  fociety  on  which  they 
Ihall  be  formed,  as  to  cuftoms,  laws,  ufages  and  maa- 
nsrs,  ranks  and  order?,  yet  this  polity. may  be  fucccfs- 


OF    KING    CHARLES   I.  303 

fully  applied  to  all  the  kingdoms,  empires_  and  fove* 
i-eignties  on  earth,  under  all  their  exiillng  diverfities— ■ 
leaving  otherwife  all  the  dittinctions  and  tenures  of  pro- 
perty, dignities,  titles,  honours,  orders  and  inequali- 
ties, comprehended  and  untouched,  even  the  heredlta.  y 
honors,  if  they  have  not  power  combined  with  them  : 
only  adopting  liberty  and  equality  to  their  extent,  that 
the'accefs  up  into  the  fupreme  national  council  be  open 
to  all  the/Vi^^««////^j- of  fociety,  fo  that  upon  confiitu- 
tional  election  princes  and  nobles,  dukes,  marquilfes, 
earls,  vifcounts,  barons,  governors,  generals,  cccle- 
fiadics,  civilians,  merchants,  gentlemen,  yeomen, 
profeffional  characters,  and  the  literati,  are  all  equally 
eligible,  and  all  meet  and  fit  and  act  together  as  equals^ 
with  a  ^^  Noshicuna  sedemus  iifi  Barones..^*  As  all 
grades  of  nobility  are  pares  in  the  hcufe  of  nobles,  fo 
nobles  and  plebeians  pares  in  national  council.  The 
houfe  of  commons  in  England,  and  the  national  aiTem- 
bly  in  France  have  exhibited  and  realized  tliis  equality 
amldd  inequality.  Adopting  this  commanding  idea, 
this  polity  might  be  readily  and  v,  ich  facility  applied  to 
all  the  diverfihed  kingdoms  on  earth.  As  eafily  might 
a  republic  be  formed  out  of  the  intricate  and  confufed 
hotch  potch  of  the  Germanic  empire,  and  the  empires 
of  Turkey,  Perfia,  or  Indoftan,  as  out  of  the  plain  co- 
equal yeomanry,  freeholders  and  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  All  the  diverfified  nations  are  fufceptible  of  a 
regeneration  into  the  fame  uniform  republican  policies, 
with  a  fuperfedure  indeed,  but  not  deilrufSLion  of  or- 
ders. But  all  this  will  be  treated  and  rejedted  as  only 
the  impra6licable  theories  and  fpeculations  of  the  fludy, 
the  fanciful  reveries  of  reclufe  an.d  unexperienced  life. 
Indeed  fo  many  exiftingcircumftancesmuil  and  willbs 
attended  t®  in  the  reformation  of  the  old,  corrupt  and 
worn  out  governments,  and  in  the  forming  of  new  ones, 
or  in  the  regeneration  of  the  fovtreignties  of  the  world 
r.^ow  already  begun,  that  my  idea  will  not,  and  in  ef- 
fect cannot  be  realized.     But  perhaps  an  approximation 


,304.       HISTORY    ©F    THREB    ©F    THE- JUDGES 

to  the  leading  features  and  capital  principles  of  it,  efps-j 
cially  as  ioeleSfion,  h-m\[\\\ughereditatiQn  of  pozver,  and 
providing  re'mfany  already  begun  and  arifen  among  the 
Jiatlons,  begun  in  the  unfuccefsl'ul  efibrtsof  1641,  and 
iLvxefsfully  realized  in  1796,  may  reftore  the  prefent 
policies  to  a  good  degree  of  amelioration,  effect  th<5 
ends  of  liberal,  efficacious,  juil  and  happy  government, 
•and  fecure  the  reign,  the  dominion  of  law,  rights  and 
liberties,  iis  far  as  can  be  expected  in  the  prefent  flats 
of  man.  But  this  perfect  idea  will  never  be  realized. 
The  nearc'l  refemblance  to  it,  wliich  I  have  found,, 
among- all  tlie  policies  that  have  exifted  fince  the  firil 
difperiion  of  the  nations,  was  in  the  moft  beaiitiful  and 
ivell  organized  republic  of  Ireland,  fpontaneouily  form- 
ed by  the  emigration  from  Norway,  and  fiouriihing  in 
tlie  tenth  century. 

Undoubtedly  in  the  future  flfu6iure  of  policies,  there 
will  be  a  great  variety  :  while  moil  probably  hereafter 
•iiicy  will  all  agree  in  the  reje<5lion  of  monarchy,  and  in 
a  governm.ent  by  a  national  council,  or  fenate  of  one  01' 
more  orders,  conuru6led  in  fome  mode  or  other.  The 
lefs  complicated  the  more  fimple,  fyitematical  and  in- 
telligible to  the  body  of  the  people,  the  better.  It  re- 
mains to  be  verified  by  experiment,  whether  a  republic 
ruled  by  one  order  of  co-equal  fenators,  and  this  elec- 
tive, can  be  permanent  and  lifdng.  At  prefent  the 
fpeculation  is  that  it  cannot.  But,  the  tumultuous,  f^lf- 
defeating  confufion  of  the  little  republics  in  Italy  not- 
vvithflanding,  I  believe  future  trial  will  exhibit  a  proof 
that  its  durability  is  poffible,  and  that  it  may  well  an- 
fwer  the  ends  of  liberty  and  permanent  government  ; 
and  vet  be  by  no  means  equal  in  excellency  to  the  ba- 
lances of  tvv'o  orders  in  the  national  fenate.  The  poli- 
cies of  permanent  republics  may  be  as  various,  as  thofe 
have  been  of  permanent  monarchies.  The  ten  exiiting 
kingdoms  of  Europe  are  all  differently  policied,  no  two 
imllar,.  kalt  of  all  exactly  ahke,  unlefs  in  monarchy. 


OF    KING    CHABLES     I.  3C5 

Of  the  half  a   dozen  republics  in  Europe,  no  two  are 
alike,  all  are  of  diverfifieci  policies. 

A  republic  fafe  for  liberty,  laws,  and  energetic  go- 
vernment, may  be  formed  upon  different  modification;-. 
It  may  be  formed  of  ele£live  or  hereditary  ariftocracie?, 
for  while  in  office  and  cloathed  whh  power  and  autho- 
rity, they  are  an  ariltocracy,  whether  an  ele6f  ive  or  he- 
reditary, and  the  conflitution  may  be  equally  perma- 
nent. The  fenate  may  confifl:  of  uneledive  hereditary 
patricians,  as  Venice,  which  has  fubflfled  for  ages, 
with  great  firmnefs  and  wifdom.  Or  it  may  be  formed 
of  one  order  elected  from  the  people  or  citizens  of  the 
community  at  large,  and  this  for  life,  the  fuccefiion  in 
cafe  of  vacancies  by  death  to  be  filled  by  ele6lion  of  the 
people.  Or  this  fenate  of  one  order  may  conftitp.tion- 
ally  ftand  on  triennial,  feptennial,  or  frequent  ele6lions, 
the  elections  to  be  made  out  of  citizens  of  all  orders 
and  defcriptions  prom.ifcuoully,  or  all  to  be  indifferently 
eligible  into  the  national  fenate  of  one  order.  Perhaps 
fomething  like  this  may  be  that  which  will  in  facl  take 
place.  Or  a  policy  may  be  formed  in  another  mode. 
The  whole  body  of  the  citizens  may  be  refolved  into 
centuries  and  claffes,  as  among  the  Romans,t  and  ba- 
jaacing  one  another  :  that  is,  there  may  be  one  clafs  of 
hereditary  nobility,  another  of  citizens  of  high  opulence, 
a  clafs  of  merchants,  and  claffes  of  other  defcriptions, 
and  poilibly  in  fome  ftates  the  clergy  and  univerfities 
may  make  another  clafs  :  and  all  thefe  to  be  reprefented 
by  ele6lion  in  their  refpedlive  claffes,  and  form  a  na- 
tional fenate  of  two,  three  or  more  negativej^,  or  vetos, 
as  once  in  Sweden  ;  or  form  one  co-ordinate  body,  or 
otherwife  be  differently  modified,  as  circumftances  and 
prevailing  coalefcences  may  indigitateand  point  out,  or 
as  may  arife  on  contingen.ee  and  compact  andfubmiffive 
acquiefcence.  But  an  elective  fenate  of  two  balancing 
orders,  (landing  on  local  ^nd  general  elections,  would 
be  the  moft  fimpie,  intelligible,  and  pertecl.  Howe- 
t  Livy  A  a  2 


Qod       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

yer  a  repiiblic,  anc^  even  a  monarchical  republic  might, 
in  fome  or  any  of  thefe  modes  be  conftruded,  in  which 
liberty  and  the  public  weal  might  be  to  a  very  good  de- 
gree fecured,  and  eftabliOied  with  a  very  durable  fatis- 
fadlion.  We  all  have  our  feelings,  and  national  and 
perhaps  fpeculative  preferences.  Among  thofe  who 
are  fmcerely  principled  and  difpofed  to  liberty  in  gene- 
ral, one  from  education  or  judgment  will  feel  a  lift  to 
monarchical  and  ariftocratical  ideas,  another  to  mixt 
and  balancing  republican  ideas  of  equality  as  to  eligi- 
bility. The  future  formation  of  policies  may  poffibly 
exhibit  feveral  of  thefe  diverfified  forms.  Which  will 
really  approve  itfelf  the  moll  friendly  to  right,  liberty,, 
and  the  public  weal,  mult  be  left  to  the  experiment  of 
two  or  three  ages  \  when  upon  a  comparifon  and  hiflo- 
ryofail  thefe  liberty  policies,  it  may  appear  vv^hich  is 
beft.  I  that  have  been  educated  in  repubhcan  ideas^ 
as  was  Vattel,  and  at  a  diliance  from  nobiUty  eminen- 
cies,  feel  very  w^ell  iatisfied  with  equality  in  the  na- 
tional council,  and  think  it  bids  fair  to  fucceed  the 
beft.  Montefquieu,  educated  in  high  monarchical  and 
ariftocratical  ideas,  could  not  enter  into  the  fpiritofa^ 
republic.  A  genuine  Englifhman  will  ever  think  dif- 
ferently on  the  fubjecl  of  rights  and  liberties  from  the 
jeft  of  the  world.  There  is  no  umpire  in  this  matter 
but  the  experiment  of  ages,  at'ter  various  polities  have 
been  tried.  Monarchical  polities  in  ail  their  variety 
have  been  abundantly  tried  ^  republican  polities  remain 
to  be  tried. 

Fsr  am  I  from  thinking  that  the  wifefL  and  beft  po- 
licy can  efcape  the  impreflions  of  corruption.  Let  us 
not  expe6l  but  that  it  will  break  in  with  a  conftantly 
difeann2  iniiuence.  Wc  have  only  to  find  which  i& 
rufccptible  of  the  leaft.  Vv^hatever  the  polity  be,  wher- 
ever the  pov/er  refls,  wherlier  in  a  monarchy,  arifto- 
crac),  or  the  people,  let  us  count  upon  it,  let  us  be 
aiTurcd  corruption  will  apply  itfelfvv-iih  an  infidiousand. 
ccu^l  dexterity.     PJy  only  hope  ^is,  that  it  may  be  en- 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  3Q7 

'^rvated  by  having  a  large  and  difFufive  obje'51:  to  Ipcnd 
itfelfupon,  and  by  the  frequency  of  eledions.  Even 
in  a  republic  univcrfally  eieclive,  great  will  be  the  cor- 
ruption, in  defiance  of  all  laws.  Nobles  and  men  of 
opulence,  as  well  as  indigent  popularity,  by  money  and 
intrigue,,  and  difpofition  of  offices  through  union  of 
fa6lLon5r,  will  have  full  and  overbearing  weight,  to  ren- 
der into  the  national  council  m.en  whole  perfonai  inter- 
feils  will  not  coincide  with  thofe  of  the  public.  One 
opulent  man  will  corrupt  or  influence  a  thoufand  ple- 
beian elccSlors.  We  fee  it  in  the  Englilli  parliament, 
where  popular  corruption  conftantly  renders  a  very 
great  number  of  nobles  into  the  houie  of  commons,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  lords.  Already  of  live  hundred  and 
fifty  members,  tv/o  hundred  and  fifty,  perhaps  two 
thirds,  are  noblemen,  and  '.vf  enobled  blocxh  And  it 
tnay  poinbly  come  to  pafs,  that  no  longer  liiall  the  com- 
mons be  reprei'ented  by  commions  according  to  the  ori- 
ginal inrention  of  that  houfe,  but  the  commons  be 
wholly  reprelented  by  nobles,  Engliih,  Scotch,  or  Irifh^ 
fo  both  become  a  double  honfe  of  nobles,  one  heredi- 
tary the  other  eledive.  A  fimilar  corruption  is  taking 
place  to  at  leaff  in  a  fmall  degree  in  the  ele6lions  of  the 
United  States.  Our  only  fafety  is  in  diffufling  light  and 
knowledge  through  the  common  people  and  body  of 
the  citizens  at  large,  to  guard  them  from  being  bribed 
or  influenced  againil  their  own  interelt,  for  each  citi- 
5ien  has  an  intereff  in  the  public  interell  ;  and  by  making 
the  cbjeiSl,  on  which  corruption  is  to  operate,  as  diifu- 
five  as  poilible.  On  the  whole,  we  feem  to  ftand  the 
beft  chance  of  gatliering  the  greateif  quantity  of  v/ifdom 
and  public  fpirit  into  the  council,  by  eleSlion^  with  all 
its  corruptions,  than  by  hereditary  ignorance  and  folly. 
And  under  all  the  pf)pular  rautabihties,  a  fucceilion  and 
permanency  of  vvifdam  and  patriotifm  is  far  n}ore  fecure 
;ind  certain  in  an  ele£live,  than  hereditary  ariitocracy 

I   have  hitherto   faid  nothing   concerning  religion^ 
which  feenis  to  be  agreed  to  be  ihut  out  of  modem  po- 


308      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

licies.  The  mifchiefs  of  fe6lanan  tefts,  the  injuftic^ 
of  the  elevation  of  any  one  {c£i  in  particular,  to  the  ex- 
clufion,  disfranchifement,  or  dertru61ion,  or  even  mo- 
icllation  oi  the  reft,  as  in  England,  Poland  and  Hol- 
land, have  incHned  all  to  a  grovi'ing  concurrence  in 
leaving  them  out  of  civil  fociety.  And  fome  enlight- 
ened minds  have  proceeded  the  lengths  of  fo  daring  a 
liberty,  as  even  to  expunge  the  exiftence  of  a  God  out 
of  his  own  creation.  A  very  liberal  Catholicifm  ought 
certainly  to  be  cultivated  among  all  fe6ls  of  chriftians, 
upon  the  principles  of  policy  as  well  as  of  our  holy  re- 
ligion, our  common  chriftianity.  But  I  do  not  fee 
that  a  chriftian  republic  ought  either  to  renounce  chrif- 
tianity, on  the  one  hand,  or  on  the  other  hand,  to  ex- 
tend charity  to  the  equality,  indifference  and  nullifica- 
tion of  ail  religions.  I  am  in  decided  oppofition.  to  the 
deiftical  ideas,  which  have  ufurped  too  much  influence 
in  the  reformation  of  polities  at  this  day,  as  if  to  put  hea- 
ven to  another  trial,  rvhetker  it  can  »naintain chriftianity, 
as  it  did  the  three  firft  centuries.  Chriftianity  will  up- 
hold itfelf,  be  the  policies  of  ftates  as  they  may.  But  a 
chri'ftian  ftate  ought  exprefsly  to  acknowledge  and  em- 
bofom  in  its  civil  conftitution,  the  public  avowal  of  the 
being  of  a  God,  that  Moft  High  and  Holy  Sovereign, 
upon  whom  all  depends,  and  the  avowal  of  chriftianity. 
In  this  period,  of  taking  great  liberties  with  the  perfon 
and  religion  of  Jefus,  of  conceited  wifdom,  of  bold  and 
illiberal  invectives  againft  revelation,  during  the  prs- 
fent  rage  and  enthufiaftic  mania  of  deifm.,  I  fear  not  to 
rifque  the  offence  and  vociferous  repudiations  of  the  dif- 
cipl@s  of  the  open  Voltaire  and  Rofteau,  or  the  covert 
deiilical  Gibbon,  notwithftanding  their  public  honors 
in  the  recent  apotheofes  af  the  newly  refumed  ethnical 
idolatry,  and  their  repofitation  among  the  colledion  of 
Gods  in  the  motly  pantheon  of  the  Temple  of  Reafon. 
The  blaze  of  this  little  political  diafpora  of  extravagant 
and  felf-opinionated  philofophers  (a  fraternity  bringing 
that  honorable  name  into  contempt,  as  it  did  in  the 


©F   KING    CKAELES-     U  ^^ 

fourth  century)  will,  like  other  momentary  lamps  of  er- 
ror, burn  down,  go  out  and  evanrlh  ;  and  the  worlds 
inftead,  of  public  conviction  or  general  converfion^ 
will  ftion  write  upon  it,  meKe,  iekel,  Thefe  men  oi 
eafy  virtue,  and  generally  of  eafy  morals,  from  infidi- 
oufly  inferting  themfelves  into  the  various  departments- 
of  the  political  admin  id  rat  ion  of  Hates,  will  foonfind  it 
expedient  in  a  chrifHan  community  to  bend  and  mafic 
their  principles,  under  the  pretext  of  becoming  favor- 
able to  chriftian  morals,  and  perhaps  to  become  hypo^ 
critical  advocates  forthe  canfe  of  the  Redeemer.  Mucb 
better  however  for  a  chriftian  republic,  to  take  care  in* 
their  eledions,  that  they  are  ruled,  not  by  covert  deifts^ 
but  by  real  chriftians,  rather  than  by  dubioiK?  charac- 
ters ;  characters  whofe  covert  duplicity  cannot  but  often 
break  out  and  difcover  themfelves  on  a  thoufand  occa- 
lions. 

i  atn  the  more  open  artd  explicit  ijpon  this  fubjeCt  ; 
for  it  would  ill  become  me,  who,,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
have  been  fnatched  and  refcued  from  deifm,  by  the? 
v/eighty,  the  prevailing  force,  the  omnipotent  convic- 
tions of  truth,  to  apologize  to  men  of  half  finifhed  dif- 
quifitions,  to  the  ignorance  of  my  brother  fmners,  or 
even  to  the  moft  Enlightened  philofophers  of  deified  rea- 
fon,  for  moft  freely  and  openly  avowing  and  advocating 
the  canfe  of  revelation.  I  make  no  apology  :  I  tem- 
pori2:e  not  in  concelilons  to  the  learned  or  unlearned. — 
After  having  been  by  heaven  carried  through  the  whole 
inquiry,  through  the  fcrie*  and' train  of  proofs,  up  to 
conclufive  and  certain  demonftration,  I  fubmit  not  t»> 
t}Cit  frjppofition  of  uncertainty,  or  of  the  poiTibili'ty  of 
miftake,  in  a  matterof  fuchfuperlativety  high  PKoOf^ 
and  of  as  certain  evidence,  as  that  for  the  exiftence  of  a* 
God.  I  could  as  eafily  apologize  for  believing  thCre  i^ 
a  God,  as  for  the  belief  of  chriftianitv.  Under  demon- 
ftrative  conviction  of  both,  my  mind,  my  confcioii^ 
intelligence,  efpecially  at  certain  times  of  intenfe  con- 
femplation)  ftruck  and  overcome  with  the  poweifol 


3TO       HIST0RY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES      . 

ifnpreflions  of  evidence,  could  as  eafily  nnd  readily  give 
up  the  one  as  the  other.  I  could  fay  as  truly  under  iiiW 
perception  of  its  truth,  that  the  pythagoric  problem, 
or  the  hlgtiefl:  demonftrations  in  Euclid,  were  dubious 
and  falfe,  as  that  chriilianity  is  a  dubious  and  erroneous 
iilufion  ;  when  the  confcious  perception  of  my  mind 
fees  and  knows,  that  it  came  down  from  the  Gvd  of 
infallible  truth.  That  great  jurift  and  civilian,  Minu- 
tius  Foelix,  could  tell  thefe  men  of  light  ai>d  reafon,  a 
TertuUian,  that  learned  jurifperite  of  Carthage,  who 
refigned  the  toga  of  the  forum  for  the  facerdotal  pallium, 
could  tell  them,  that  greater  juriH:  than  both,  I  mean 
Father  Paul  of  Venice,  and  a  greater  civilian  and  hif- 
torian  than  thefe,  the  immenfely  learned  Selden,  cha- 
raclers  which,  for  com^prehenfive  collocation  of  evi- 
dence, deep  difcernment,  folidity  and  accinacv  of  judg- 
ment, would  weigh  down  a  thoiifand  Gibbons  and 
Montefquieiis,  and  olliers  of  fuperficial  and  curfory  dif- 
cuilionof  the  fubjcfl:,  a  fubje<51:  hov/ever  whofe  evidence 
lies  equally  level  to  the  capacities  of  the  vulgar  and 
learned,  in  this  as  well  as  the  apoftolic  age  : — thefe,  I 
fay,  can  tell  us,  that  the  evidences  of  chridianity  have 
blazed  convivSlion  into  their  minds,  with  as  clear  and 
irrefiuible  a  force,  as  thofe  for  the  being  of  a  God.  The 
fmwle  fail  of  the  refurrecSlion  and  afcenfion  of  Jefus 
fupports  the  whole  :  and  this  is  as  highly  proved  as  his 
crucifixion,  and  is  as  indubitable  as  the  exiftence  of  a 
God.  The  refurre£l:ion  of  Jefus  being  eftablillied, 
the  whole  fabric  cf  revelation  is  fupported  thus. — None 
can  doubt  but  that  Chrift  and  his  apoflles  believed  the 
jnfpiration  of  the  whole  old  teftament.  If  God  fliould 
raife  up  an  holy  prophet  from  among  men,  which  de- 
lfts will  allov/  poffible,  and  infpired  with  documents  and 
authority  from  on  high  ;  Ihould  he  lay  his  hand  on  Mo- 
fes  and  the  Prophets  (it  would  be  believed  ihould  I 
fay,' on  the  writings  of  RoiTeau  and  Voltaire)  and  in 
the  name  of  God  announce  them  infpired,  their  infpi- 
ration  would  at  once  be  authoritatively  fettled,  and  evea 


OF  KING    CHARLES     I.  3H 

delils  wcuild  candidly  renounce  aud  give  \ip  the  conteft. 
Now  Jefus  was  that  holy  prophet,  evidenced  by  the 
miracles  of  his  life,  paiTion  and  refurredion.  He  and 
the  difciples  have  declared  this  of  Mofes  and  the  pro- 
phets. Both  their  antiquity,  authenticity,  and  real  in- 
fpiration,  are  thus  at  once  fettled  and  afcertained. — 
Thofe  who  have  got  fo  far  as  to  believe  this,  will  have 
no  diiiicidty  as  to  theinfpiration  of  the  New  Teftament. 
They  w^ill  eafily  find  a  way  to  get  rid  of  all  their  fcru- 
ples  and  cavils  at  the  bible.  I  will  freely  and  cheer- 
fully truft  them  with  themfclves,  only  admitting  the 
refurre£tion  of  Chrid:  with  all  its  circumftances  and  con- 
nexions, knowing  ajTuredly  what  will  be  the  refult, 
even  nothing  lefs  than  a  firm  and  indubitable  belief  of 
revelation.  But  at  bottom,  none  of  the  deifts  believe 
the  fa61:  of  the  revelation  of  Chiift.  This  is  the  great 
dilHcuity  with  them. 

If  they  receive  a  profufion  of  fmiling  indulgence,  and 
even  the  molt  cordial  and  rapturous  applaufes,  for  per- 
petually interlarding  their  writings  on  policy,  law,  and 
governmentj  on  feciilar  and  political  hiftcry,  with  for- 
eign matter,  witii  hum.ourous  invectives  and  farcalfical 
percullions  of  revelation  ;  they  can  have  no  jull:  objec- 
tion at  receiving  in  return  the  far  more  weighty,  vigor- 
ous and  repulfory  reprehenlions  of  revelationiils.  fianc 
veniam  damns  petlmusque  vlchs'im,  I  have  read  mod 
of  the  deiilical  authors,  or  at  leall  fo  many  of  the  prin- 
cipal ones,  that  from  thence,  and  my  own  fpeculations 
and  feelings,  I  conceive  m.yfelf  poffeired  of  ail  their  ar- 
guments, and  of  the  vv'hole  force  of  deifm  :  and  I  never 
found  one  that  I  thought  had  digefted  the  fubje6l,  any 
more  than  Cofmas  that  of  the  fphericity  of  the  earth, 
on  which  he  wrote  fo  zealouily,  learnedly  and  volumi- 
nouiiy,  to  no  other  efrc61  than  to  difplay  erroneous  li- 
terature^ and  a  pious  but  intemperate  ardou.r  on  a  mif- 
taken  fubjeci,  of  which  he  was  finally  ignorant.  The 
fame  with  deifm. 


3.12      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

If  chriftians  or  delfts  (hould  believe  the  refiirre^liom 
€>f  Lazarus,  they  would  mot  therefore  believe  him  to  be 
a  prophet.  Hence  it  is  faid  that  miracles,  if  fatSls,  do 
rvit  prove  revelation.  I  attempt  not  the  refutation  of 
this  conf?quence,  which  however  admits  of  conclufivc 
refutation-:  but  fay  that,  this  notwithftanding,  if  de- 
jfts  believed  the  refurre<5lion  of  Jefus  (and  efj?ecially  if 
in  conjunction  with  this  they  alfo  believed  the  reality 
of  tlie  "three  years  and  a  half  miracles' afcribed  to  him) 
thepe  is  not  one  of  them  would  hefnate  to  believe  and 
know  him  to  be  a  prophet.  Never  was  there  a  believer 
of  the  refurre^rion  of  Chrift,  who  doubted  the  hiftory 
of  his  miracles.  With  fuch  an  orie  all  the  critical 
raticeinia  on  the  invalidity  and  conclufivenefs  of  mira- 
cles, would  evanifh.  They  would  condder,  not  the 
mida  miruciila,  hni  the  connexions  and  purpofes  with 
which  thev  were  operated,  and  become  abundantly  fa- 
tisHed.  I  never  read  of  hut  one  man,  R.  Becai,  who 
believed  the  reality  of  Chrifl's  refurre6Lion,  that  did 
not  at  the  fame  time  believe  even  the  MeiT3:ih{]iip,  and 
he  was  convinced  by  it  that  Jesus  was  a  holy  prophet. 
If  therefore  his  r.efurre6lion  proves  him  a  prophet,  it 
eftablifljes  the  whole  fuperftrnclure  and  lyftem  of  reve- 
lation. Without  being  neceiTitatfed  to  it;  I  however 
refttl^e  whole  fupport  of  revelation  upon  this  lingle  and 
fnoft  moincntous  fa  (St. 

The  rife  of  deiftical  chara-fters  into  fupremacy  'm 
European  and  American  polities,  t  gives  them  an  eclat, 
which  is  improved  towards  exciting  a  general  defpiur  of 
the  chriftian  caufe,  and  towards  a  popular  pcrfuaiion 
that  deifm  is  fpeedilv  becoming,  if  not  alreadv  become 
generally  prevalent  throughout  Chriftendom.  Rut  with- 
out obfen'ing  the  providence  and  promife  of  God  is 
againft:'  It,  as  focm  might  we  aboliih  printing,  letters, 
or  the  Newtonian  aftronomy.  Indeed  the  recent  tranf- 
a(9:ions  which  have  been  fufi-ered  to  pafs  in  the  naiional 
councils  of  France,  have  countenanced  thi'n  idea,  artd 
are  con  fide  red  as  implying  that  th-.v  have  gen  era  Uv 
i  Ncckar        '  .  ^  - 


OF    KING    CHARLES   I.  31-^ 

ab'andoned  religion  there,  as  well  as  in  England  anci 
Germany.  Bnt  is  this  implication  jud  ?  Though  they 
fuffer  atheifls  anddeifts,  and  nnprincipled  charai:l:er5  to 
.join  in  the  fighting  their  martial  and-  pohtical  battles, 
in  fupporting  what  they  arcall  concerned  in  as  a  com- 
mon caufe  ;  and  the  nation  may  have  gone  too  far,  as 
they  certainly  have  8;one  too  far  in  gratifying  and  in- 
dulging this  lict^mious  defcription  of  men,  in  fom.e  of 
thQ  meafures  they  '^iive  brought  forward,  for  theinfidi- 
■ons  abolition  of  icligav:^,  and  the  re-eliabliOiment  of 
ethnic ifrn ;  yet  I  make  no  doubt,  thay  deceive  tliem- 
felvesand  the  public  in  reprefenting  a  general  defection 
from  reHgion. 

Perhaps  the  picture  which  the  Abbe  Barruel  has  giv^ 
en  of  Paris,  may  apply  to  London,  and  the  other  capi- 
tal cities  oi  Europe.  "  The  nobility  of  Paris  too  gene- 
rally fupported  the  doclrine  of  thcfe  feds,"  meaning 
the  atlieifticai  and  deiftical  fe6ls  of  the  philofophers, 
**b©caufe  they  had  long  adopted  thediifolution  of  their 
manners.  They  abandoned  the  churches  to  the  peo- 
ple, inftead  of  encouraging  them  by  their  example  to 
frequent  them  :  fervants  mimicked  the  vices  of  their 
mailers,  and  the  contagion  foon  fpread  to  the  humble 
cottage  of  the  peafant.  The  citizen,  the  merchant,  and 
his  clerk,  a-ll  afF^^ed  to  be  witty  on  religious  fubjc^s. 
The  magirtrates,  Vv'ho  were  themfelves  not  free  from 
infeftion,  winked  at  the  infradion  of  the  laws,  and 
fiifFered  the  poifon  to  fpread  through  all  ranks  of  the  peo- 
ple. France  was  finking  into  an  abyfs  of  impiety  and 
corrupt  ion. 

*'  The  clergy  ftrove  i-ri  vain  to  fiem  iho  torrent.— 
They  were  not  all  exempt  from  the  vices  of  the  age. — - 
This  order  of  men  mny  be  ranked  in  two  claires" :  the 
one  little  acquainted  vvitli  the  duties  cf  the  priefthood, 
borp  the  name  and  part  of  the  ecclefiafiical  drefs  :  too 
didipated  to  be  confined  to  the  iervice  of  the  altar,  they 
were  not  ina'Slive  in  fohciting  the  favor  of  courtiers  who 


^4       HISTORY    QF    THREE     OF    THE    JUDGES 

■lad  the  nomination  to  church  preferment.  They  were 
a  fcandal  to  religion,  and  difhonored  the  caufe  initead 
of  fupportingit. 

"  The  other  clafs  ftill  more  numerous,  was  compof- 
f  d  ol  priefls  employed  in  the  care  of  fouls  and  of  eccle- 
iiaftical  functions.  This  was  properly  fpeaking,  the 
b(vJy  of  the  clergy.  Iliey  were  generally  well  inform.- 
f.d  of  their  duties.  Iffome  of  them  panted  after  the 
Kins  of  the  church,  the  greater  number  were  ferioully 
attached  to  the  faith,  and  very  kw  feemed  difpoftfd  to 
I)etray  it.  The  generality  had  not  been  \\earied  with 
religion.  Sophiltry  and  impiety  had  infedled  a  great 
number  in  every  clafs  of  citizens,  but  fiill  the  French 
people  in  general  were  fmceiely  attached  to  the  catho-- 
lie,  icligion.  Nothing  could  reconcile  them  to  the  po- 
litical revolution,  but  the  ftrongeft  alTurances,  that  no 
changes  ihould  be  made  in  its  doctrine  or  worlTiip.'^* — 
This  is  agreeable  to  an  account  given  me  by  M.  Mar- 
bois,  fecretary  to  the  Chevalier  de  Luzerne  in  1779. — 
111  a  converfation  with  him,  I  ailed  him  whether  Deifm 
was  fo  prevalent  in  France  as  that  the  body  of  the  na- 
tion had  become  impregnated  and  carried  away  with 
it  ?  He  then  replied  that  many  of  the  nobility  and  dig- 
nilied  clergy  indeed,  with  others  of  the  higher  and  low- 
er orders  freely  and  openly  went  into  it  ;  but  that  the 
moilof  the  bi (hops,  and  the  body  of  tne  ecclefiaftics, 
with  the  main  body  of  the  people,  were  not  only  not  d,e- 
illical  or  difbelievers  oi  revelation,  but  were  even,  as  he 
exprelFed  it,  fuperftinouily  devoted  to  religion.  Ac- 
cordingly of  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  bifhops  and 
iixty-iour  thoufand  curates  or  parochial  clergy,  -  only- 
£ve  prelates,  and  perhaps  not  a  iixih  of  the  clergy,  took 
the  civic  oath,  the  reli  refuHpg  a  coniormity  io  the 
new  civil  and  ecclefiaiUcal  regs.lations ;  which  'wQjjld 
fcarccly  be  credible  had  they  been  eife<R;ed  with  the  pli-t 
able  indilferentifm  which  a  general  deifm  would  have 
?^enerated.  And  the  very  general  ave.riien  of  the  people. 
*  Bsj-rifieTs  hi/}.    Frefich  clergy,  p.   6.   22. 


OF   KING    CHARLES      I.  3.15 

at  the  thoughts  of  piirtuig  with  the  parochial  religion 
throughout  the  realm,  and  the  immediate  neceility 
\vhich  the  politicians,  faw  of  fiipplying  the  dcrelid  .pa- 
rifhes  with  a  new  clergy,  and  leaving  the  people  to  en- 
joy their  old  rehgion,  evince  that  the  i>ody  of  the  nation 
were  not  become  deifts. 

Many  data  areneceiTary  towards  jiidicioiiJJy  forming 
general  eftimates.  Let  the  matter  be  fairly  and  accu- 
rately explored,  let  it  be  brought  to  the  trml,.  let  ihert^ 
be  a  perte6l  liberty  of  declaring  for  and  againft  chriOi- 
aniiy,  without  incurring  penalties  or  the  lofs  of  im- 
munities, place  the  mind  in  the  moft  perfe-fl  e(]uilibri- 
um  and  deliberate  freedom,  and  examine  hearts  ;  it 
would  foon  be  found  that  the  colle6live  aggregate  of  this 
learned,  this  philofophic  and  licentious  defcription, 
would  prove  a  fmall  and  inglorious,  though  brilliant 
minority  :  and  that  fo  ftrong  and  fo  general  an  adhe- 
rence to  the  gofpel  would  appear,  that  of  twenty-five 
Jiiillions  in  France,  above  twenty-four  million5,  and 
perhaps  nine  tenths  of  the  other  million,  v/ould  nov/  be 
found  chriftians.  From  the  unhappy  omlffion  of  the 
exiftence  ofaGod,  andofchriftianity,  in  the  conftitu- 
tionofthe  United  .States,  through  deiftical  influence, 
and  that  the  road  might  be  kept  open  for  deifts  to  afcend 
into  Congrefs,  though  to  do  the  Convention  juflice  this 
was  not  the  principle  that  a£iuated  them  :  but  from  this' 
omiHion  however-.effe£led  or  occafioned,  as  well  might 
it  be  inferred  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States 
were  generally  heathen,  generally  atheifts  and  deills, 
w^hen  nine  hundred'and  ninety-nine  out  of  a  thoufand 
would  fhudder  at  the  thoughts  of  renouncing  their  Re- 
deemer. So  they  are  generally  tenacious  ofchriftianity 
in  France,  both  from  the  habit  of  ages,  and  from  the 
proofs  and  convi6lions  tranfmittcd  with  chrillianity. — 
And  if  the  fubjecl  was  examined  with  attention,  I 
doubt  not.  the  fame  would  be  found  to  be  the  facSl  thro'- 
out  Europe  and  chHftian  Atr.erica.  Be  afiured  that 
chriftianity  v/ill  ever,  and  every  where  find  able,  leam- 


3^6       HIST0RY    ©F    THREE    OF    TH2    JUDGES 

ed,  potent,  weighty,  and  in  the  confiivSl  irrefiftible  ad- 
vocates and  defenders.  The  uhimatedecifion  muft  be 
referred  to  fLitiirity.  For  a  long  time  during  the  pre- 
fent  ^ra  of  confii6t,  as  in  that  for  eftabhfhing  the  repub- 
lics of  PqUnc\  and  France,  and  as  amoqg  the  combatants 
in  the  ponlihcial  controverfy,  the  trumpet  of  \i£tory 
will  continue  tobe  Ciinded  e;c  uiraque  phala?2ge.,  on 
i;oth  iides.  In  ihe  mean  time  the  defenders  of  revela- 
licra  have  no  rcad^n  to  be  alliamedof  the  proof  of  their 
armour,  or  of  the  goodnefs  of  their  caufe  :  and  may 
con  fide  in  it,  that  among  all  the  defedions,  this  of  re- 
nour.cingthe  gcfpel  will  bethe  lall:  to  become  generat 
in  Europe  or  America.  Would  to  God,  we  all  lived 
it  better.  SafRated  bubbles  of  fcience  and  conceited 
y^ifdom,  fome  balloon  geniuifes  attack,  impinge  upoli 
it,  and  fall  one  after  another.  The  more  chnftianit.y 
isiittaclied,  the  more  firmly  it  ftands,  .with  an  increaf- 
ing  and  growing  llrength,  not  on  power,  not  on  thjs 
iiipport  of  temporahties,  or  civil  government,  generally 
2Tiore  fatal  than  beneficial,  bat  on  the  calm,  and  weigh- 
ty, and  irrefiftible  convi61ions  of  truth.  Dieifm,  likie 
the  Serpedo,  will  fpread  and  die,  will  blaze  its  day, 
cverfpread  Europe  and  the  world-,  fpend  itfelf,  flit  away 
and  evaniih  from  the  globe,  like  the  ethnicifm  ofan- 
tient,  or  the  t^yrannies  cf  modern  ages.  And  its  great 
sndihining  advocates  will,  in  the  future  hiftories  of 
natrons,"  rank  with  the  Democrituses  and  Pyrrhos,  and 
other  philofophical  flambeaux  of  the  luminous  Grecian 
ages.  TheFe,  with  the  other  emineneies  of  fallacious 
delufion,  will  be  given  up  in  the  ages  of  light  and  rea- 
Ton  ;  v/hich  will  marvel  tliat  preceding  erring  ages 
Ihould  be  caught  with  tl:ij:)re  tlimfy  delufiotis^  which  by 
the  weighty  blaO:  of  truth,  will  everitualiy,  like  the 
thin  goiftimer,  ;bediliipated  aoil  puffed  iiito  their  great 
^ndunmiportant  nothings. 

Let  us  beaflTuredthatthechriftian  ftates  are  not  going 
to  give  up  religion.  Nay,  it  will  be,  it  cannot  but  be, 
with  literature,  jufticcand  moral  reditude,  patrcmi^ed 


or  KING  e'HARLlf  T^^^Teui  1^ 
by  the'civil  powers  themfclvfi?.  Let  the  dei^Ical  pQli- 
ticians  bring  the  matter  to  a  criOs  ;  ^^^  ^'^^-iJ^  adventure 
the  trial,  and  afiiixedly  they  will  not  fail  of  receiving 
ample  fati.€acticn  on  the  fubject.  l^'en  doute%  pas, 
^liintinsy  la  Religion  a  s&$  Heros.  ^olignac  ? Anti- 
LucrciC,     L.J.*      ''"'     '■''■] 

rhavefmiftied  my  idea  of  a  perfe£t  republic.  This 
I  believe  to  be  the  arrangement  of  the  grand  monarchi- 
cal republic  of  the  nniverfe  :  with  this  difference,  that 
in  the  one  immenfe,  aU-comprehenfive  government  of 
the  Omnipotent,  the  power  emanates,  defcends  and 
ip reads  abroad,  from  the  Independent  Unity,  and 
iinderived  fource  of  all  power  and  authority  ;  in  the 
other,,  in  our  htlle  minutefimal  polities,  the  power  is 
left  and  ordained  by  the  God  of  nature  to  derive  from 
<jod,  and  to  afcend  through  t|:ie  people,  up  to  the  fove- 
reign  council,  and  from  thence,  in  its  beneficial  influ- 
ences and  operations  to  be  diffufed  through  the  commu- 
nity. Other  important  matters  here  omitted,  will  fall 
'n  as  auxiliary  and  fupplemental,  and  perhaps  with  con- 
iiderable  admiffible  variety,  in  conflru6ting  and  confti- 
tuting  this  polity,  this  edifice  of  public  liberty.  But  it 
is  conceived  thefe  are  the  effcutial,  and  I  believe,  all- 
Ht^omprehenave  outlines  of  one,  which  wouU  approve 
•itfelf  a  government,  not  of  will,  butoflavys;  wherein 
the  liberties  and  rights  of  mankind,  both  perfonal  ^nd 
focial,  would  become  too  firmjy  eftablifhed,  ever  to  be 
©verthrown  .*  for  confident  I  arn,  that  upon  experiment, 
it  would  gain  the  univerfal  acquiefcence  and  confidence 
-ol  all  embofomed  and  comprehended  in  it. 

Comparing  with  this  the  Belgic,  the  Hoelvetic,  the 
Venetian  republics,  or  the  antient  republics  of  Grece 
and  Rome,  or  the  modern  ones  of  France  and  Poland, 
and  Egypt,  with  the  monarchical  repubhc  of  England, 
for  according  to  Sir  Thomas  Smith  this  is  a  reputlic, 
~;md  efpecially  that  of  the  United  States  of  America  ; 
everyone  will  eafily  perceive,;  what  ideas  I  muithave 

Bh  z 


.318       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

vi^kli  re(|>e<5l  to  their  different  approxirtiations^toithis 
l.'derribf  perfedion.  And  what  I  had  principally  in 
V  <  \  they  will  eafily  perceive  and  fee  the  reafon  why 
}  fl'^  .i  entertain  fo  high  an  opinion  of  the  fatttv  and 
peri.  .lOn  of  Ohver's  republic  ;  which  I  muft  think 
will  more  and  more  approve  itfelf  to  contemplative  pof- 
te;ity,  to  have  been  excellent,  and  worthy  the  great, 
comprehenfive  and  deep  difcernment,  the  noble  efforts 
and  exertions  of  fo  great  a  genius  as  Cromwell's. — 
No  wonder  he  was  enamoured  of  it,  idolized  it,  and 
reje(SI:ed  a  crown  for  its  fake.  No  wonder  he  was,  with 
Cato,  giieved>  whenhe  forefaw  the  certain  ruin  of  fo 
noble  a  fabric,  fo  glorious  a  caufe.  Examined  in  this 
vlevv,  we  fhall  perceive  the  neceility  of  the  bold,  ad- 
venturous and  heroic  meafures,  of  firft  bringing  the 
King  to  juflice,  and  afterwards  of  diilblving  the  long 
iind  felf- perpetuating  parliament.  And  in  a  word,  the 
jullice  and  reditude  of  m.oil  of  the  infra dlions  and  viola;^ 
tions  of  tl.e  corrupt  order  of  a  defpotic  policy,  that  on  its 
ruins  fo  beautiful  a  frabric  of  libeity  might  be  erecled. 
And  when  in  the  fame  light  vyc  examine  the  caufe  of  thfe 
Judges  in  the  high  court  of  juutce,  we  may  at  length 
fee  them  vindicated,  and  completely  juilified. 

We  m^y  fault  the  tribunal  of  Charles  I.  and  falik 

the  judgment  :   while  there  are  and  will  be  thofe,  who 

will  believe  of  both,  that  they  were  authoritative,  juft 

«nd  right.     The  republic  of  France  is  fuffering  the 

fame  public  obloquy  at  prefent  ;    but  they  may  here.J- 

ter  be  judged  to  have  fet  forth  and  exhibited  an  heroic 

inftance  of  public  juilice,  for  the  terror  of  Kings,  which 

.  *nay  learn  them  to  tranfacl  in  future  with  their  fubje6is 

|vith  fidelity  and  Sincerity.    If  two  things  appear  proved 

^|>f  Loui^  Capet,  a  fovereign  juflly  efieemed  _and  lov-^d 

;1>y  America,  his  fate  was  ju ft.'    If  he  fecretiy  coinci- 

ijed,  negociated  and  intrigued  vvith  foreign   cabinet^, 

.excited,  abetted  and  promoted  the  coalition  of  foreign 

'j>ower5,  for  the  exprefs  purpofe  of  bringing  a  combined 

srmy  of  Bo, 000  men^  againft  his  cwn  republic,- S'vlth 


OF  KING    CHARLES     i.  3X9 

the  direct  objeftive  purpofe  of  its  everfion  :  -and  i^jji^ 
paid  3000  forces,  or  the  Swifs  guards  at  Goblentz,  in 
that  army  while  in  aSfual  invufton,  be  was  guihy  of 
XxtTiioviy  Traditionis  Reipubliccc  reus.  Now  the  national 
Gonventiofi  of  750,  was  aifembled  from  the  83  commu-i 
nities,  into  which  France  had  been  regularly  and  con- 
ftitutionally  partitioned,  and  by  them  exprefsly  and  in- 
tentionally charged  and  empowered  to  three  important 
works. — I .  To  form  a  conftitution  for  the  public  recep- 
tion and  ratification.  2.  In  the  mean  time,  upon  the 
voluntary  dilfolution  of  the  national  alfembly,  to  take 
the  whole  government,  the  national  defence,  the  whole 
adminiftration,  civil  and  military,  into  their  hands. — 
And,  3.  To  judge  the  King.  They  were  a  new  tri- 
bunal indeed,  and  very  differently  modified  from  any 
before  ere6led  on  earth  ;  but  certainly,  if  twenty  million 
people  could  regularly  elecf,  legitimate,  authorize  and 
empower  one,  this  was  juftly  and  legitimately  vefted 
with  this  auguft  power  and  authority.  Its  regularity 
and  authority  cannot  be  difputed.  It  was  doubted  but 
by  few  of  the  members  themfelves.  The  only  remain- 
ing queffion  then  is,  whether  they  jtidged  right,  whether 
they  did  juliice  ?  All  the  world  pitied  and  compallionaf 
ted  the  mild  and  clement,  the  misguided,  the  unhappy 
Louis.  But  what  faith,  not  compaHidn,  in  the  ears  of 
Judges,  butjuitice?  Did  he,  or  did  he  not,  thus  be- 
tray his  people  ?  Seven  hundred  men  examined  the  evi- 
dences, and  pafTed  fentence  upon  him.  Perhaps  thirty 
or  forty  were  intimidated  and  awed  by  the  populace,  or 
the  Mountain  ;  but  700  were  unawed  V  they  ireely  co- 
incided with  the  very  general  fenfe  of  the  nation,  pan 
we  fuppofe  they  were  all  devoid  of  wifdom,  or  To  blind- 
ed with  pallion,  as  to  be  unable  to  judge  on  the  eviden- 
ces of  fads  r  No  profound  law  erudition  was  requifite  ; 
but  if  To,  thfv  had  it :  they  embofomed  a  tre:ifury  of 
law,  v/ifdom,  and  criminal  jurifprudence,  in  t-liat  illuf- 
trious  aiTembly.  It  is  impoliible  to  conceive  700  meti;, 
upon  deliberative  enquiry,  unanimaus  in  judging  a  la6l> 


2^0       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

unlefs  they  faw  the  evidence.     The  inftance  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  hiftory  of  man  ;  it  is  impoffible.      Nor  did 
the  King's  defence  deny  the  facts,  but  eluded  theni 
by  afcribing  them  to  his  miniftry,  though  his  own  fig- 
natures  were  fuliicient.     Could  he  hav^  fhewn  he  had 
not  been  privy  and  knowing,  and  by  his  own  overt  and 
real  a£ls  confenting  to  and  approving  his  miniftcrs,  he 
would  have  flood  acquitted,  approved  and  vindicated, 
by  that  aliembly,  and  they,  and  the  fympathizing  re- 
publican vvorid  would  have  rejoiced.     But   after  a  fo- 
lemn  enquiry  and  deliberation,    the  queflion  was  put, 
*'  lb  Louis  guilty,  or  not  guilty  of  high  treafcn,  or  in 
other  words,  of  confpiracy  againft   the   liberty  of  the 
nation,  and  of  attempts  againft  the  general  fafety  of  the 
ftate  ?"     Of  735  voters,  of  which  42  were  abfent,  6g^ 
voted  for  the  affirmative,  and  fentence  was  accordingly 
announced,  ^'  guilty."     Such   a  concurrence  I   thinfc 
impoifible  on  deficient  evidence.     "  I  know,  faid  Gf- 
felin,  thiit  Louis  paid   his  guards  at  Cobientz  ;    I   do 
therefore  pronounce    him    guilty."       Said    Lafource, 
**  Louis  mufi:  ekher  reign,  or  be  put  to  death.      I  vote 
for  death."     Said  Anacrarfis  Cloots,  "  In  the  name  of 
the  human  race,  I  vote  for  the  death  of  Louis."  Tho- 
mas Paine,  *^  I  vote  for  the  provifional  confinement  of 
Louis,  and  for  his  expulfion  after  the  war."    This  w^as 
humane  and  compairionate,  the  other  jufi,  though  ftrixSl 
and  rigid  juflice.     It  would  have   been   humane  and 
compaffionate,  it  would  have  been   magnanimous  and 
fafe,  to  have  found  him  guilty,  dethroned^  and  pardon- 
ed him,  and  out  of  refpedl  for  a  family  they  had  honor- 
ed lor  ages,  and  in   pity  to  the  mis-ffep  of  an   embar- 
raifed,  and  otherwife  clement   and  jult  King,  to  have 
fettled  upon  him  a  pen  Hon  of  j^50,6oo  a   year,  turned 
him  loofe  among  his  brother  Kings,  and  left  him  at 
liberty  to  dwell  in   France,  Germany,   or   any  other 
part  of  Europe  ;  and  rifque  his  ftirring  up  princes,  who 
could  have  done  no  more  with  their  united  firength  or 
impotence,  than  they  have  done,  and  that  moll  aire<^- 


._  ^_    OF    KING    CHARLES,  I.  ^2^ 

h/f  to  this  only  good  pui-pofe,  of  -accelerating  the  eman^' 

cipation  of  nations,  the  humiliation  of  Kings,  andtfe 

-downfall  of  Kingfnip,  throughoat  Europe,  '  :.•; 

After  the  abnoil  unanimous  vote  of  **  guilty,"  the 
qucilion  of  puniilimeat  arofe  :  and  after  a  difcuflion  in 
an  airembiy'of  722  voters  preient,  befides  others  who 
voted  variGufiy,  :^  19  voted  for  iiriprifonment  and  ban- 
-ifhnient,  and  366  for  death  ;  and  of  the  other  '34.,  atl 
but  two  for, death  with  delay.  Finally,  of  748  meni- 
'bers,.  befides  thofe  Tvho  were  abfent,  and  thofe  who 
did  not  vote,  310  voted  for  delaying  execution,  and 
3^0  againil  delaying  it.  The  fentence  was  executed, 
and  the  King  was  decapitated  January  21,  1793. 

We  ought  to  view  things  in^ a  j\ift  and  candid  light. 
It  is  a  gi-.2at  riling 40  fee  through  an  enterprize,  and  to- 
anticipate  confequences.  The  truth  is,thiit  Louis  was  of 
lenient  ipriaciples  in  government,  and  was  difpofedto 
yield  to  his  fubjeds  a  rational  and  lefsdefpotic  govern- 
ment than  that  of  his  predeceiTors,  and  to  come  into  ^ 
plan  and  meafures  which  would  ^irve -fsitisfa^lion  to  his 
fubje<51:s.  Whether  this  was  owing  to  his  con.templa- 
tion  of  theabiirad  .principles  ot  government,  fo  lib.^ral- 
ly  difcuiled  in  the  'prefent  age,  to  his  view  gi  the  com- 
paratively happy  government  o-f  Ei^gland  in  hisiviciaitf^ 
or  to  the  principles  ol  the  American  r<3\'olution,  or  t^ 
all  thefe  collectively,  fo  it  was,  that  he  wiOied  to  be'-aa 
Antoninus,  and  to  govern  with  lenity  and  wifdom.— 
There  was  a  time  when  Louis  XVL  and  the  Emperor 
really  had  thefe  beneficent  ideas,  and  were  endeavoring 
to  carry  them  into  execution  in  the  happy  amelioration 
of  their  refpedlive  governments.  The  difficulty  of  en- 
tbrciiig  the  r^giderhig  of  royal  ediSis  in  the  parliaments- 
of  France,  and  converting  thefe,  like  the  aritient  im- 
peratorial  edifts,  into  laws,  ufurping  upon  and  fuper- 
iedingthe-aittisnt7«i- f/f/Vf,  and  giving  efficacy  to  law's 
di<Etated  by  the  will  of  the  prince,  appeared  to  him  fa 
^biirary,  as  to  induce  liim  to  adopt  a  method  n\  whick 


322       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

the  laws (liould  infa£l  be  founded  in  deliberate  wirdoiii 
and  confultation  of  the  n:iinds  of  the  public,  and  that  ia. 
efFe6l  the  public  iliould  have  an  efE-cacious  (liare  in  the 
general  polity.  This  by  the  advice  of  patriots  he  thought 
might  be  accomplifhed  by  convoking  the  old  aiTerably 
,of  notables,  or  more  confpicuous  and  influential  perfon- 
ages  of  the  third  eftatc  of  the  commons,  as  Vvell  as  of 
the  nobility  and  dignified  clergy.  Neckar  perfuaded 
him  that  with  refpect  to  finance,  taxes,  revenues,  and 
the  principal  general  laws  and  rules  of  adminillralion, 
this  would  give  fatisfa-ilion  ;  though  herein  he  misjudg- 
ed. Thereupon  the  King  ailembled-the  notables,  and 
conftituted  a  national  council  of  the  efficacy  of  three 
eftates,  the  King,  the  "aridocrats,  or  nobles,  and  digni- 
fied clergy,  and  the  tiers  et'it;  or  third  eflate  of  the 
commons.  Immediately  they  were  difpofed,  inflead 
of  an  amicable  confuhation,  in  the  firit  inftance,  to 
throw  themfelvcs  into  true  balancing  bodies,  the  nobi- 
lity, the  clergy  and  tiers  etat.  If  they  fat  in  three  cham- 
bers, the  nobles  and  clergy  would  always  out  vote  or 
controul,  and  the  others  become  fubfervient  and  over- 
rided  cyphers.  Here  the  feparation  of  the  nobles  and 
plebeians  begun.  Both  divilions  contained  ecclefiaflics 
and  civilians  ;  moft  of  the  dignified  ccclcfiaffcics  took 
iide  with  the  nobihty  ;  fome  of  the  nobihty  laid  down 
their  honors,  and  in  equality  took  fide  with  the  third 
tflate. 

Before  I  proceed,  I  will  colle£l  and  throw  together 
feveral  difconneded  extrads  from  the  hiflory  of  the 
French  revolution  by  Rabaut,  and  its  continuation 
which,  under  different  afpefts  and  applications  may 
cafi:  light  on  the  feveral  events  in  the  great  political  pha;- 
nomenon  of  France  at  the  prefent  day. 

**  In  fa61:,  what  an  aftonifhing  combination  would 
a  minifter,  nay  a  monarch,  have  had  to  encounter, — ■ 
Sixty  thouj and  nobles y  poffeffed  of  all  the  connexions  of 
the  feudal  fyftem,  and  that  hoji  of  dependents  which  was 


©F   KING    GHARLES     I.  323 

fed  by  them  :  thofe  of  the  military  profefTion,  all  noble, 
or  what  is  ftill  worfe,  pretending  to  nobility  :  a  hmi'^ 
dred  thoujand  privileged  perfons  all  leagued  to  fiipport 
their  prerogative  of  not  paying  fuch  or  inch  an  import  ; 
"^Pwo  hundred thoujayid  friefts,  unequal  indeed  as  to  in- 
come, but  all  uniting  in  one  common  fyftem,  forming 
but  one  whole''  : — ^^Jtxty  thoujand  perfons  leading  a 
rnonafiicXxi^'.  " — \!\\Qfarmers  gcnerrd^  '^\i'ik\^  agents  of 
the  revenue,  with  their  army  of  fifty  thoiifand  men" — 
**  finally  all  thofe  belonging  to  the  long  rohcy  thofe  par- 
liaments, rivals  of  kin;i^s": — **  the  inferior  courts',  which 
w'ere  in  iubordi nation  to  the  parliaments  ;  and  that 
fwarmof  pra^firioners,  who  all  taken  together,  levied 
a  tax  upon  the  kingdom  which  imagination  is  afraid 
to  calculate.  This  formidable  mafs  of  men  was  in  the 
poffelTion  of  all  France :  they  held  her  by  a  thoufand 
chains  ;  they  formed,  in  a  body,  what  was  termed  la 
halite  nationy  all  the  reft  v^as  the  people.  Thefe  are 
the  perfons  whom  we  have  fmce  fecn  uniting  their  voi- 
ces and  their  clamours  againit  the  national  aflembly  ; 
becaufe  with  a  refolution  unexampled^  it  hath  fupprell- 
ed  all  the  abufes  on  which  they  depended  for  their  ex- 
i(fencb/'t 

The  people,  the  nation,  demanded  dates  general, 
which  (liould  not  be  vain  and  illufive,  like  thofe  of 
which  hillory  made  miention.  This  whole  hoft  of 
arilfocratic  and  crown  connexions,  wifned  no  fuch 
thing,  but  if  it  muft  be  convoked  they  ''  were  def^rous 
offtateS  general  fimilar  to  thofe  which  had  fit  irl  16 14." 

**  But  the  third  eftate,  that  immenfe  portion  of  an 
enlightened  and  celebrated  nation— took  fire  at  being 
afiiniilated  to  the  commons,  newly  enfranchi fed  in  the 
rdgn  af  Philip  le  Bed,  and  at  the  attempt  to  reftri6fc 
them  in  1788  to  forms  eftabliihed  for  the  clowns  and 
demi-ilavesot  1302." 

** 'A  confiderable  number  of  military  officers,    whs 
t  Rahaiifs  Hifc.Revol  p.  43.  Amer.   Ed't, 


324       HISTORY    OF  "three    OF    THE    JUDGES 

had  affifted  at  the  revolution  of  the  United  States,  had" 
brought  home  with  them  an  indelible  remembrance  of 
the  charms  of  eqijality  ?nd  liberty,  which  they  had  be- 
held in  a  natiopi  of  brothers.  Thefe  men  who  were  all 
nobles,  had  learned  tojudgeof  the  vanity  of  fiichatitie, 
when  compared  with  that  of  citizens." 

"  The  notables  were  for  the  mofi  part,  either  prin- 
ces or  nobles,  or  perfons  in  high  office." 

The  council  decreed  ^*  that  the  deputies  of  the  ftates 
general  fhould  amount  to  at  leaft,  the  number  of  one 
tlionfand  : — and  tliat  the  number  of  the  third  eilate, 
Ihould  be  eqrjai  to  that  of  the  two  other  orders  taken 
together.  Thefe  deciilons  formed  the  bafis  of  the  con- 
vccations."  **  The  coalition  of  the  two  firft  orders  with 
the  court  was  well  known."  It  was  the  determination 
of  thefe,  at  the  fird  meeting  of  the  flates  general,  that 
they  ihould  fit  aiid  a6l  in  three  different  chambers,  and 
that  the  crown,  with  the  two  fuperior  chambers  of  the 
nobility  and  clergy,  fliould  controul  the  Vvhole,  and 
thus  reduce  the  third  eilate  to  a  cypher  or  tame  and  fub- 
miffive  acviuiefccnce.  The  third  eRate,  refoived  a- 
gainft  infignihcance,  immediately  infilted  on  equality. 
An  altercation  arole,  which  Neckar  v/iihed  to  have 
avoided,  hoping  that  all  m.ight  acquiefce  in  fome  mo- 
difications, very  immaterial  to  h.im,  previded  in  fome 
manner  or  other  their  unitedHvifdoui  could  bring  them 
tn  amicable  agreemeiit  in  the  objeit  of  their  convoca- 
tion, a  reformed  fy.'lem.  oF  tin ance  and  lav/s,  agreeable 
to  the  general  fen fe  of  tlie  nation  collcdiiveiy.  But 
this  he  could  not  effec):.  And  as  the  tvvo  fuperior  or- 
ders perfitced  in  their  fuperierity,  the  commons  or 
third  eftate,  deemdng  themfelves  the  true  and  real  repre- 
fentativesof  the  people,  and  fo  of  the  body  of  the  na- 
tion, came  to  an  ahnoil:  unanimous  refolution,  to  ere6t 
themfelves  into  the  national  council,  and  to  declare 
themfelves,  inflead  of  thtes  general  **  the  nation.il-  ai- 
fembly."  This  was  done  by  June  1789.  Tlsus 
France  in'oneday  loH:  the  ilates  general-,  and  tlie   thir'S 


J,       'OF   RIl^    CHAPttS    1.  .  325- 

eftate  became  the  "national  aiTembly."  ■  ImtncdiateJ^ 
the  chamber  of  the  clergy,  by  a  majority  of  one  hun-r 
drc'l  and  forty-nine  voices  againlt  one  hundred  and 
tvventy-lix  determined  to  join  the  afTembly  as  equals, 
aiid*a  union  of  the  orders  feeraed  probable.  The  King 
afFe61ed  to  favor  it  ;  but  allerabled  troops.  **  On  the 
2othofjune  three  days  after  the  national  alTembly  had 
been  conllituted,  the  members  of  the  clergy  were  to 
join  it."  Court  meafiires  were  taken  to  prevent  and 
elude  this:  and  on  the  12th  July  about  three  weeks 
after  the  formation  of  the  affembly,  Neckar,  not  fuf- 
iiciently  coming  into  the  idea  of  the  two  fuperior  orders, 
wasdifmiiTed  and  retired  to  Switzerland.  He  forefaw 
the  fanguinary  meafure  refolved  on  at  court  i>i  which  he 
would  not  be  concerned.  The  ailemblage  of  the  mili- 
tary force  at  Verfailles  by  the  King,  alarmed  Verfailles, 
the- national  alTembly,  and  Paris.  It  was  intended  to 
difpatch  a  number  of  the  patriots  to  the  Baftile,  and  to 
difperfe  the  national  allenibly.  This  was  the  court 
politics.  Sixty  thoufand  Parifians  deftroyed  the  Baftile, 
and  the  national  aiTembiy  was  in  fafety.  The  alfembly 
framed  the  conftitution,  made  the  diftribution  of  the. 
realm  into  eighty-three  communities,  abolifhed  the 
feudal  tenures,  and  the  whole  was  ratified  by  the  King's 
•acceptance  on  the  4th  of  Auguft. 

The  policy  of  one  or  three  Orders  was  difcuiied.— 
Whether  the  national  affembly  fhould  confift  of  two  or- 
ders or  one,  was  the  quefiion.  **  The  equilibrium  of 
three  povver?^,  wliich  balance  one  another,  and  prevent, 
the  encroachment  of  any  one  upon  the  refi:,  became  thp: 
object  of  admiration.  But  thofe  who  favored  the  idea 
of  an  undivided  aHembly,  conlidered  this  equilibrium, 
in  the  conftitution  of  England,  no  odierwife  than  as  a 
treaty  of  peace  between  three  exifting  powers.  "The 
dignified  clergy  were  inclined  to  two  chambers" — '*  A 
large  party  of  the  nobles  was  likewile  for  the  two  cham- 
bers :  but  the  queftion  concerning  the  peerage  prefented 

C    G 


32^        HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

itfeir,  and  they  became  divided  ;  for  the  provincial  no- 
bility underftood  that  the  whole  order  fhoiild  freely  ap- 
point its  reprefentiitives,  while  the  nobles  of  the  court, 
were  fecretly  indulging  the  notion,  that  the  dignity  of 
the  peerage  oiight  to  be  appropriated  to  ihemfelves." 
'*  The  naajority  of  the  deputies  of  the  commons  could 
fte  nothing  in  the  upper  chamber  but  a  conititutional 
refuge  for  arillocracy,  and  the  prefervation  of  the  feu- 
dal fyftem."  A  majority  of  the  clergy,  and  forty-feven 
of  the  nobility  had  joined  the  commons  in  undivided 
unity  and  equality.  "Neither  did  any  fufficiently 
comprehend  the  fyllemof  a  fenate  for  life,  compofed  of 
perfons  taken  from  every  clafs  of  citizens  ; — nor  of  a 
ienatc  appointed  for  a  itated  time,  and  fele6ied  from  the 
•whole  aiTembly."  In  fme,  the  ailembly  decreed,  by  a 
majority  of  nine  hundred  and  eleven  voices  againil  eigh- 
ty nine,  that  there  lliould  be  no  more  than  one  cham- 
ber. It  decreed  moreover  that  the  legiilative  body 
ifliould  be  renewed  every  two  yeai's  by  eledtions."  Thus 
mnch  for  the  conftiuition. 

Among  other  regidations,  was  that  refpe6ling  the 
fecularizing  of  theccclefiaftical  eftates.  It  was  "de- 
creed that  the  eccleiiaiHcal  edates  were  all  at  the  dif- 
pofal  of  the  nation,  fubje£t  however,  to  the  charge  of 
providing  in  a  proper  manner  for  the  expences  of  public 
worlhip,  for  the  maintenance  of  miniilers,  and  lor  the 
relief  of  the  poor.  It  was  ordered  that  no  parifh  mini- 
fter  lliould  have  lefs  than  tv/elve  hundred  livrrs  a  year, 
exclufive  of  the  houfe  and  gardens  annexed  to  that  par- 
fonage.  This  celebrated  decree  palfed  on  the  2d  of 
November  1789."  "  The  ecclefiaftics  accufed  the 
national  ailembly  of  an  intention  to  deiiroy  religion." — 
*^The  aifembly  difconcerted  this  confpiracv,  by  mak- 
ing conflant  proteitation  of  its  union  with  the  pope,  as 
head  of  the  chriiiian  church,  with  regard  to  fpiritual 
concerns,  and  of  its  fidelity  to -the  religion  of  our  fore- 
fathers." *'  The  ailembly  at  length  decreed  that  its 
5ittachment  to  the  catholic  religion  of  Rome  could  not  be 


OF    KING    CHARLESI.  1527 

called  in  queftlon,  at  a  time  when  that  worfiiip  was 
placed  by  the  aiTenibly  at  the  head  of  various  articles  of 
public  expence,  and  that  the  majedy  of  religion,  and 
the  profound  refped  due  to  it,  did  not  allov/  of  its  he- 
coming  a  fubjed  of  debate,  fince  the.  aifembly  had  no 
power  over  confciences."  **  It  had  fufpended  the  mo- 
naftic  vows,  it  finiOied  with  fupprefiing  them, .  and  fix- 
ed the  m.odeof  treatment  to  be  obferved  wdth  refpe6lto 
thofe  who  had  belonged  to  any  of  the  religious  commu- 
nities," by  providing  penfions  for  life.  Thus  far  from 
St.  Etienne. 

ExtraSis  from  the  Continuation  of  the  HiJ}.  Revolution, 
V.  2.    P.  III. 

*'  The  extreme  point  on  which  the  two  parties  dif- 
fered, was  that  of  pure  democracy  on  the  one  part, 
and  the  inftitution  ot  an  upper  chamber,  fimilar  to  the 
Britilh  houfe  of  peers,  on  the  other.  Such  an  inflitii- 
lion,  as  a  remnant  of  ariftocracy,  was  regarded  by  the 
French,  with  almoft  as  much  abhorrence  as  abfolute 
monarchy  itfelf  ;  while  the  eltabliibment  of  it  was  con- 
lldered  as  the  great  objedf  with  the  court,  as  a  pielimi- 
nary  Hep  to  the  annihilation  of  liberty.  The  middle 
party  was  Hill  numerous  ;  and  it  was  judged  that  there 
were  many  who  might  fecretly  incline  either  to  the 
court  or  the  republicans,  who  would  be  well  difpofed  to 
facrifice  foraething  of  their  prejudices  to  the  prefervation 
of  peace  and  order,"  In  this  flate  of  minds  in  the  na- 
tional ailembly,  Lamourette,  the  patriotic  biihop  of 
Lyons,  by  an  inftantaneous  impulfe  and  without  con- 
cert, fuddenly  propofed  to  the  aifembly,  "  Let  all  who 
hold  in  equal  deteftation,  a  republic  and  two  chambers, 
and  who  wifh  to  maintain  the  conftitution  as  it  is,  rife  !" 
The  whole  aflTembly  rofe  from  their  feats.  This  fhews 
two  things  on  which  they  were  as  yet  equally  unanimous : 
I.  In  having  a  King.  2.  \n  reje6ting  a  fecond  chamber 
— adhering  to  an  eledive  afiembly  of  one  order  only, 
w  ith  a  limited  monarch  at  its  he-ad.     All  were  recon- 


3^§,,    HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

ciled,;,'  "and  had  the  King  continued  faithful  io  this  ex- 
periment of  the  public  mind,  aU  had  been  vvell.  This 
was  tlie  beginning  or  7lh  of  July,  1792,  Yet  in  the 
courfe  of  thib  month,  the  public,  either  \vit:h  or  without 
reafon,  became  extenfrvely.  impreifed  with  the  idea  of 
the  iufinceriry  and  duplicity  of  the  King,  and  that  he 
vvas  in  fa 61  in  concert  with  the  combined  fovereigns, 
V. hofe  obje6>  was  nothing  lefs  than  the  reftoration  of  the 
King  and  former  government.  This  was  heightened 
by  tlie  tranfadion  of  Fayette.  And  huiii  forth  from 
the  national  people  in  the  bold  declaration  of  Petion, 
mayor  of  Paris,  on  the  3d  of  Auguft,  at  the  bar  of  the 
aifcmbly  demanding  the  depofition  of  the  King  The 
die  was  caft.  This  was  followed  and  fupported  by  fuch 
numerous  petitions  from  every  part  of  the  nation,  as  to 
leave  it  without  a  doubt  that  the  body  of  the  nation  were 
heartily  weaned  from  not  only  Louis  X  VI.  but  the  very 
idea  oi  a  King,  and  that  the  general  voice  was  that  their 
policy  lliouM  be  a  national  afiembly  of  one  order  only, 
Avhole  head  fhould  be  temporary  Prefidents,  but  with- 
Crtit  a  King  and  without  a  nobility.  •  This  was  the  mind 
of  France,  and  has  continued  fo  to  this  day. 

Xhc  following  decree  thereupon  immediately  pafte^.". 
*'  The  national  allembly,  conndering  that  the  warit  of 
cor^fidence  in  the  executive  power,  is  the  caufe  of  all 
our  evils,  and   that  this  want  of  confidence  has  called 
forth  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  a  wifhthat  fhe  au- 
■thority  entrujled  by  the  conflhutlon  to  LsuisJJjouId  be  re- 
vjhd^  and  that  the  only  means  of  reconciling  what  they 
pv/e  to  the  fafety  of  the  people,  with  their  own  oath, 
' cf  net  ihci-egjing  their  own  pow3r,  are  to  fubmit  to  the 
ibvctei^n  will  of  the  nation,  decree  (among  other  things) 
**  1.  The  people  are  invited  to  form  a  national  conven- 
tion.  2.  The  executive  power  is  prov\{ion2l\y  fujpefided.'* 
^  And  Auguft  13,  ^*  The  national  alTembly  declares,  that 
'  the  King  is  fufpended  ;    and  that  both  himfelf  and  fa- 
mily remain   as  hoftages,''    And  on  the  fame  day  the 
national  allembly  proclaimed  the  convocation  of  '*a. 


OF    KING    CKA-RLES      I.  329 

national  convention,  foraied  of  rcprefenlalivc?,  invefled 
by  them  (the  people)  with  iinliniited  powers.'"'  On  the 
aid  of  September,  1792,  the  national  aiTembly  diiTol- 
ved,  and  the  fame, day  the  national  convention  afTem- 
bled  from  the  83  communities  into  which  France  was 
divided,  convened,  the  monarchy  ceafed,  and  the  re- 
public commenced.     This  from  the  continuation. 

Returning  and  afTuming  the  fubje6t  we  were  upon 
before  wc  infcrted  thefe  extrads  ;  the  firft  political 
convocation  of  the  dates  general  confificd  of  1200  mem- 
bers. The  nobility  300,  the  clergy  300,  the  tiers  etat 
6do.  It  was  the  immediate  and  original  intention  of 
the  two  firft,  that  the  ftates  general  (hould  fit  and  a£l 
in  three  feparate  chambers,  and  that  the  concurrence 
of  two  fliould  be  the  a6l  of  the  whole,  fubje6lcd  how- 
ever to  the  veto  of  the  monarch.  It  was  from  the  be- 
ginning the  intention  and  refolution  of  the  lafl  and  mod 
nemerous,  that  all  fhould  Rt,  deliberate  and  a6t  together 
as  pares  or  equals  ;  and  that  the  majority  of  votes  in 
this  coalefced  body,  iljould  be  the  public  a(5i.  This  re- 
duction of  the  nobility  and  dignified  and  ennobled  clergy 
to  an  equality  with  the  commons,  was  difpleafing. — - 
And  an  altercation  immediately  arofe  en  the  queftion 
whether  they  fhould  (k  in  three  cr  perhaps  two  cham- 
bers, or  be  confolidated  into  one  coequal  and  fraternal 
"  body  r  At  length  above  half  the  ccclefiaftics,  and  a  part 
of  the  nobles  renounced  the«-  claim?  of  fiiperionty, 
came  over  and  joined  the  thiroeftate  as  coequals.  And 
thus  the  national  alTembly  was  formed. 

The  conteft  had  arifen,  which  Neckar  could  not 
com^pofe,  though  he  v/ifned  to  have  avoided  it;  and 
the  commons  were  determined  to  proceed  by  themfelves, 
and  not  to  be  loft  in  balancing  commixtures.  The  no- 
bles, both  fecular  and  ecclefiaftical,  were  divided.  The 
king  had  not  foreieen  this  ftate  of  things.  It  was  now 
too  late.  There  was  no  alternative  between  a  very 
new  andpc'.cnt  inftucnce  in  governm.cnt,  and  bregkirsg 
•        ..  .        C  c  ^ 


33°       HISTORY    OFT    KREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

up  of  •the  commons,  now  already  joined  by  Fayette  and 
a  number  of  the  nobles  and  biliiops,  and  other  ecclefi- 
adics,  Vv'ho  with  rerpe6l  to  the  nacionai  council  openly 
declared  for  an  equality  of  nobles  and  commons  ;  an 
equality  as  to  eligibility  into  the  national  council,  w'^s 
the  only  equality  ever  aimed  at  by  France.  The  Baf- 
tile  was  defliDed  to  have  decided  and  determined  this 
alternative.  For  this  purpofe  the  King,  whofc  other- 
wife  benevolent  and  well  intentiojied  heart,  now  re- 
pented him  to  have  convoked  the  dates  general,  now 
terminating, in  a  national  afTem.bly,  acceded  to  a  cruel 
idea  :  and  as  he  was  not  prepared  for  thefe  lengths,  he 
adopted  the  idea  of  a  diffolutionof  the  affembly  by  force j. 
and  ofrefuming  the  old  government  ;  doubtlefs  deter  - 
mining  ftill  toadminilter  it  with  the  utmoil:  lenity  and 
juflice.  This  millalce  le4  the  King  fecretly  to  call 
arcund  him  and  cclie6t  the  Svvifs  guards  and  a  military 
force  at  Verfailles,  and  to  i- cede  to  the  fevere  difci- 
pline  of  the  Ballile  for  a  nuiTiber  of  the  patriots  in  the 
aiTembly,  fufhcient  to  break  up  and  difperfe  it.  Rather 
than  go  to  the  Baitile,  to  which  they  perceived  they 
were  defiined,  the  patriot  leadt-rs  in  theaikmbly,  with, 
the  vocifci-uus  concurrence  of  the  citizens  and  populace 
of  Paris,  itifolved  upon  fei-zing  the  perfonof  the  King, 
Tlie  people  flew  to  arms,  and  led  by  the  illuftrious  and 
hitherto  patriotic  Fayette,  who  had  voluntarily  facrificed 
his  nobility,  they,  undjUf  his  leading,  feized  the  King, 
brought  him  to  Paris,  and  imm.uredhim.  and  the  royal 
famiiy  in  the  Thiiillcries.  The  national  afTembJy  form- 
ed a  coniiitution,  which  was  eftablilhed.  It  was  pre- 
fented  to  the  King,  and  his  confent  deforced  or  gained^ 
henceforth  to  rule  the  realm  by  a  King,  with  ftill  very 
■great  powers,  though  much  abridged,  and  an  ele61ivc 
national  airemb:y  of  one  order  only,  in.  which  nobles 
and  commons  reduced  to  equality,  fhoukl  lit  ^n  the  k- 
giilat-urc  as  pares  or  equals,  and  the  whole  realm  in  fu- 
lure,  as  one  great  republic,  be  governed  by  laws  pro- 
ceeding: from  this  aifcmbiv.      This  v/us  pcrfcdlv  me 


^     '  OF  KING    CHA?JLES     t.  j^.§t 

idea  and  idol  of  the  Marquis  de  la  Fityett^.  But  tHe- 
body  of  the  noblelTe  and  the  royal  princes  and  connex^ 
ions,  endeavored  to  coiintera6l  and  break  up  this  fyf-* 
tern,  and  prevent  its  taking  effect:  ;  and  imaiediately  . 
applied  to  the  emperor  and  furroundin^  Kings  to  bring 
on  a  combined  army,  with  a  view  of  reitoring  the  ori- 
ginal government,  and  replacing  the  King  on  tne 
-throne  wqth  his  former  authority,  or  perhaps  with  a 
-national  affembly  of  two  houfes,  that  of  the  nobles  and 
that  of  the  tiers  etat.  England  would  have  rejoiced 
in  this,  becaufeit  fo  nearly  refembled  their  own  confii- 
ftution  ;  and  the  emperor  would  not  have  been  averfc 
to  having  fucli  an  example  fet  before  Auitria  and  Eu- 
ropCy  for  there  was  a  time  w/hen  he  was  really  friendly 
to  the  liberties  of  the  people  and  the  rights  of  fubje£ls. 
But  the  burying  and  overwhelming  the  nobilityand  arif- 
•tocrats  in  an  ailembly  of  one  order,  they  could  not  en- 
-dure,  'And  at  all  events  the  King  determmed  upon  the 
-eveiflon  and  ruin  of  the  Gallic  republic 

In  this  the  King  concurred  in  heart,  wiihed  to  get 
from  confinement,  while  it  was  accompliihed,  favv  a 
.profpe6t  of  its  being  accomplifned  by  the  combined 
army,  attem.pted  to  efcape  and  abdicate  ;  but  was  ta- 
ken, and  in  efle^l  pardoned  and  reflcred,  although  by 
the  conftitiition,  this  attempt  to  efcape  was  a  forfeiture 
of  his  crown.  Being  reftored  to  his  former  (late,  here 
he  m.ight  have  relied.  But  a  powerful  army  flanering 
and  cheriihing  his  hopes  of  ultimate  fuccefs,  he  fiuTered 
himlfeif  to  be  afterwards  guilty  of  betraying  thecaufe  by 
the  overt  a6ls  of  concerting  with  -he  Kings  and  foreigti 
cabinet?,  and  the  cidevant  prince:;,  :;iid  by  paying  a 
'  corps' in  the  army  of  actual  layalion.  This  bv;ii}g  de- 
te£'ted,  what  co!;]d  lave  him  ?  This  was  his  error,  and 
it  \vas  tatal  to  a  King  w^ho  wiibedto  rule  with  clemency 
andjuftice,  but  wh'-fe  abilities,  dilcernment  and  vvii- 
dom,  were  unequal  to  lb  cridcal  and  momentiious  ^ 
iituation. 


2yZ      HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Fayette  and  other  patriots,  feeing  the  nation  aliena- 
ted from  the  King,  and  ripening  for  a  government  with- 
out a  King,  found  their  views  of  Hberty  were  tranf- 
cended  :  and  fixt  in  the  impoiTibihty  of  a  polity  without 
a  King,  now  turned  about,  and  in  effect  united  with 
the  ci-devant  princes  and  foreign  Kings  in  the  proje6t 
of  fupporting  a  King  at  all  events  ;  but  with  very  differ- 
ent views.  The  ariftocrats  were  for  recovering  the  old 
government ;  Fayette  and  the  patriots  for  keeping  in- 
deed the  King,  and  believing  they  could  modify  the  po- 
lity, and  accomplidi  the  acquiefcence  of  the  nation  in 
a  royal  republic  of  one  order,  with  a  King  at  its  head  ; 
while  others  went  for  a  tripartite  divifioii  of  the  realm 
into  three  republics,  confederated  under  a  national  af- 
fembly  fiill  with  a  King  ;  among  thofe  for  an  indivifi- 

=^ble  republic,  fome  \yere  for  a  balance  of  nobles,  either 
hereditary  or  eie(51ive,  perhaps  compofed  of  both,  be- 
tween the  King  and  third  eltate.  Thefe  various  ideas 
fecm  to  have  been  among  thofe  which  agitated  and  di- 
vided excellent  patriots,  as  well  thofe  who  were  not  for 
a  King,  as  thofe  who  were  for  one.  Thefe  are  faid  to 
have  been  among  the  ideas  of  Condorcet,  Autun,  Bo- 
veau,  and  other  genuine  patriots,  as  concurring  in  a 
republic  without  monarchy,  though  differing  on  the 
form  of  a  republic.  In  this  diverfity  of  views, -fome 
mud:  give  way  to  th^t  any  one  polity  which  ihould  in 
facl  prevail  and  gain  the  afcendency.  No  wonder  Fay- 
ette and  other  excellent  patriots    fhould  take  miftaken 

•  2nd  involving  fleps.  To  fave  the  King,  he  entered 
deeply  into  the  fecret  councils  of  the  King  and  the  royal 
family,  and  iq,  far  aded  in  concert  with  them",  as  to 
become  obnoxious  and  really  dangerous  to  the  prevail- 
ing counfels  of  the  exiaingalfembly  ,  tenacious  of  a  re- 
public one  and  indivillble.  ,  His  attempts  to  fecure  the 
King's  fecond  efcape,  with  fpeeches  and  conducSi:  offen- 
five  to  the  Jacobin  Societies,  which  he  at  iirll:  fet  up, 
a  fyilem  of  fraternities  now  diitufed  through  the  realm, 
the  great  conferyators  of  liberty,  and  aiiuming  great 


OF    KING    CHARLES     I.  335: 

liberties  in  announcing  and  di£lating  to  -a  hationit  ^af- 
fembly,  very  v/illing  to  be  dilated  and  fupport^d  by 
them,  broMglit  on  a  crifis  dangerous  to  Fayette,  who 
him  (elf  efcaped  and  was  unfortunately  taken.  His  ideas 
for  monarchy,  which  I  once  learned  from  his  own  lips 
in  a  perfonal  though  tranfcient  acquaintance  and  con- 
verfation  with  him,  were  fo  fixt,  that,  although  asfixt 
for  a  republic  of  one  order  arv.1  equahty,  and  e!e<flive,. 
he  could  not  proceed  and  go  on  with  his  compatriots,  he 
mufb  counteract  them  ;  and  until  he  could  get  over  his 
ariifkken  idoa  about  a  King,  he  md\  become  totally 
ufelefs  and  unfit  to  take  a  fart  in  meafures  which  muft 
unavoidably  be  profecuted  by  a  body  weaned  fromi 
Jvings.  Fayette  was  loft  to  the  caufe  of  liberty,  v/hich 
he  adored,  and  died  a  martyr  to  the  whim  of  a  ^King. 

The  ftate  of  the  King's  mind  was  fuch,  and  fuch  his 
]a^ive  fecret  views  and  coincidences  with  the  enemies 
of  the  republic,  that  he  became  unfit  for  the  monarchy, 
they  would  have  all  acquiefced  in,  could  the  nation  have 
ilepended  upon  the  King's  fincerity.  But  all  confidence 
in  him  was  loft.  This  gave  birth  to  thoughts  and  de- 
.vices  how  he  fhould  be  difpoled  of,  and  laid  afide,  as- 
ht  was  now  ufelefs  and  dangerous.  The  nation  were 
,%  this  time  polfeifed of  evidence  of  his  not  only  pre^ 
meditated  but  overt  J-reafon.  They  did  not  want  to 
take  the  King's  life,  could  they  have  avoided  the  dan- 
ger of  hisintriguiflg  with  the  combined  powers  without 
it.  But  this  they  thought  could  not  be  done.  And  as 
there  was  not  clearly  a  provifion  in  the  conftitution,  ex- 
cept in  the  cafe  of  an  abdicated  King,  they  refolved  to 
call  a  national  convention  to  decide  the  queftion-of  the 
ICing,  perfe61l  the  conftitution,  and  take  the  govern- 
■ment  upon  them.  To  this  convention  as  foon  as  form- 
ed the  national  afieaibly  furrendered  the  Vv-hole,  and 
ditiblvedthemfelves.  The  convention,  vefted  wkh  ail 
-tl^  authority  twenty  million  of  ptople  can  give,  have- 
adjudged  the  King,  and  the  juftice  of  their  fentenceis. 
saw  committed  to  pofterity  aiid  to  the  world. 


334       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

It  may  aflifl  us  towards  conceiving  aright,  and  with 
fairnefs  and  candor  upon  great  pohtical  tranfaftions  and 
events,  to  contemplate  jfimilar  events  in  different  ilates, 
and  the  operation  of  human  nature  under  f^milar  cir- 
cumftances.  Such  are  the  fellow  feehngs,  fiich  the 
fraternal  fympathy  of  repubhcs  in  diftrefs  and  in  the 
^'onfli6l  for  hberty,  and  fuch  the  inflrudicn  and  con- 
folation,  which  arife  in,  contemplating  the  meafures 
which  preiling  neceility  di6lates,  that  thefe  reflexions 
on  the  French  revohjtion  feem  not  inappofite  to  the 
cafe  of  the  Judges.  And  it  may  ftill  furnifli  hght,  to 
look  a  little  further  back  upon  the  origin  and  progrefs 
of  regal  defpotifm  in  France,  as  that  has  had  its  opera- 
tion on  the  crown  of  England,  and  brought  on  the  par- 
liamentary ftruggle  of  1641. 

The  Kings  of  France  difcontinued  the  national  af- 
femblies  of  the  ftates  generals  fo  long  ago  as  the  begin- 
ning of  the  lafl  century,  and  ruled  without  convoking 
them  for  one  hundred  and  feventy  years  ;  with  a  grow- 
ing encroachment  on  the  parliaments,  to  the  total  abo- 
lition of  liberty,  and  the  eftabliiliment  of  rule  by  royal 
edidls,  regiflered  in  the  parhaments  by  royal  violence, 
and  enforced  by  banilliments  and  the  omnipotence  of 
the  Baftile  ;  until  at  length  the  endurance  of  the  public 
was  ^xhaufted,  came  to  a  crifis,  and  buril:  forth  even 
in  the  reign  of  an  otherwife  beneficent  King,  and 
obliged  him,  as  we  have  feen,  to  convoke  an  alFembly 
of  notables,  for  the  purpofe  of  allenting  to  taxes  and 
revenue  laws,  and  fome  general  regulations  for  the  pub- 
lic good,  and  no  more  ;  and  then  to  bedilTolved.  But 
the  aifembly  of  notables,  like  that  of  the  long  parlia- 
ment, inilead  of  voting  taxes  and  doing  no  more,  went 
upon  other  miatters  than  the  King  or  his  miniffry  in- 
tended. The  King  faw  his  error,  and  meditated  their 
diliblution.  E-.it  it  was  too  late.  He  had  fhewn  the 
people,  or  nation  how  to  alfembk  by  reprefentation. — 
Thefe  reprefentatives  refolving  not  to  be  configned  to 
the  Baftile  intended  for  them,  commenced  the  uncon.- 


OF  KING    CHARLES      I.  335 

ftitalional,  but  juftiiiable  exertions  which  have  termin- 
ated in  a  republic. 

The  Kings  of  France  had  difcontinued  thp  national 
afTemblies  from  1614.  It  is  proper  to  remark  this  date 
or  epoch.  This  example  had  not  been  fet  before  the 
houfe  of  Tudor  :  but  it  was  recent  and  in  full  view  of 
the  houfe  of  Stuart.  James  I.  felt  it,  and  difcovered 
his  longing  after  the  fame  boon.  Charles  I.  emula- 
ting and  avidous  of  the  abfolute  power  and  defpotifm  of 
the  houfe  of  Bourbon,  firtl  adventured  in  imitation  of 
France,  and  but  fifteen  years  after  the  houib  of  Bour- 
bon had  fet  the  example,  to  difcontinue  parliaments, 
and  had  the  temerity  to  adventure  to  rule  without  them 
for  twelve  years  :  and  could  he  have  difTolved  and  broken 
lip  the  newly  convoked  parliament  of  1641,  England 
would  have  loft  the  uk  of  parliaments  forever,  as 
France  had  loft  the  aiTemblies,  and  Spain  the  ufe  of  the 
cortes  :  unlefs  relumed  and  wrefted  out  of  royal  hands 
at  theexpence  of  a  violent  and  bloody  revohition.  The 
then  recent  examples  of  France  and  Spain,  in  their 
Kings  getting  rid  of  the  controul  of  national  councils, 
made  an  indelible  imprellion  on  the  minds  of  the  Stu- 
arts, vv'ho  meditated  and  afpired  after  nothing  lefs  for 
England  ;  and  they  never  believed  but  that  they  Qiould 
finally  accomplilh  it,  and  eftabhfti  an  uncontrouled  def- 
potifm. They  were  miftaken.  The  convening  the 
parliament  of  1641,  as  of  the  national  aifembly  of 
1789,  brought  on  difquifitions  and  convulfions,  which 
involved  the  death  of  Kings  indeed,  vv^hile  the  recovery 
of  long  loft  liberty  v/ill  juftify  the  vigorous  public  exer- 
tions in  both  cafes.  And  though  many  tumults  and 
cruel  events  may  arife  in  the  caufe  01  a  juft  revolution, 
which  would  be  unjuftifiable,  and  which  no  friend  to 
order,  no  judicious  and  upright  civilian  would  juftify, 
but  reprobate,  in  an  ordinary  and  righteous  coiirfe  of 
government  :  yet  the  caufe  iifelf,  and  evsry  thing  rtpn- 
tlaUy  juhjervlcnt  to  it,  is  juftifiable  on  the  higheli:  prin- 
ciples of  public  right.     The  caufe   i-s  good,  tliough  it 


336      KISTORV    OF  TH,REE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

{hould  ibmedmes  be  improperly  carried  on,  and  ev€?> 
though  it  fhould  be  unfucceisful  and  defeated.  I  think 
this  collation  of  the  houfes.  of  Stuart  and  Eourben  in 
point  to  juftify  refiflrance  to  the  Stuarts. 

Pofteri^y  muil.jiKige,  or  rather  we  may  now  judge 
©nrfeives,  whether  the  negociation  between  tiie  parHa- 
ment  and  Charles  J.  in  164^,  and.  pacification,  was 
then  fafefor  liberty  ?  Whether  fuch  being  the  delufory 
heart  of  Charles,  that  like  his  fon,  he  would  have  du- 
ped the  nation,  and  necelhtated  the  refuming  a  future 
llruggle  tor  the  recovery  of  their  rights  ?  and  in  a  word, 
M^hether  it  would  not  have  undoubtedly  taken  effe£l,  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  patriotic  and  eve:r  faithful  army  ; 
and  fo  have  defeated  the  end,  the  juftiliable  end,  for 
which  the  parliament  had  taken  up  arms  ?  >^o  man 
now  doubts  it. 

Such  was  the  change  in  the  minds  of  the  patriots 
themfelves  in  parliament,  who  herein  coincided  witk 
the  cavaliers  and  royalifls,  all  the  while  m  parliament, 
that  even  Cromwell  and  Ireton  defpaired  and  gave  up 
the  caufe  as  gone,  and  would  in  1648  have  acceded  to 
terms  of  peace.  Happy  was  it  that  at  this  critical  time, 
Ireton  difccvered  in  the  faddle  the  King's  letter,  which 
informed  their  certain  deftiny,  and  that  of  their  mofl 
courageous  and  a£live  com.patriots.  This  with  the 
fenfe  of  the  ever  faithful  army  turned  the  tables,  and 
produced  {he  refolute,  the  violent  and  daring,  the  jut- 
tifiable  ref  )lution  of  the  army  to  purge  the  houfe,  and 
by  the  refiduary  parliament  toinilitute  a  high  court  of 
jiiftice,  and  bring  the  King  to  a  triah  Liberty  and 
the  caufe  were  overthrown  aud  goqe,  unlefs  fome  effi- 
cacious and  extraordinary  meafures  vv^re  adopted  by 
enterpriziiig  and  courageous  patriots.  EfrecSlual  mea- 
fures then  oiighit  in  that  cafe  to  be  taken,  conf^itutional 
and  regular  if  polfible,  otherwife  if  this  was  impollible 
as  it  was,  then  irreguhr  but  at  all  events  effe6lual  ones 
became  judifiable  and  fo  ultimately  regular.  Such 
nicafures  were  adopted.     And  the  realbns^of  them  will 


^,F    KING    CHARLES   I.  337 

jiiPiiry  and  vindicate  the  purgatioif  bf  [-Uuli^ment  by  vio- 
lence ;  the  inftitution  of  the  higli  'cc^iirt  of  jullice  by 
three'  hundred  members  Mt,  though  dcferted  by  the 
Lords  ;  and  the  Judges  in  the  trial  and  jufi:  condemna- 
tion of  the  King.  **  There  is  but  one  ftep  between 
pardoning  a  tyrant,  and  pardoning  tyranny  .*'t  Charles 
was  a  tyrant  in  heart,  Louis  XVL  was  not. 

In   contemplating  this  fubjedl   and  its  appendages 
compreheniiveiy,  and  in   tb.is  variety  of  views,  in  the 
lights  of  the  hi/lory  of  nations,  and  on   the  great  princi- 
ples of  public  right,  it  appears  that,  in  great  revolutions 
and  national  exertions  for  the  refcue  and  recovery  of 
imqueftionable  and  acknowledged  but  loft  rights,  crim- 
inal tribunals  muft  be  inftituted  in   a   different   mode 
from  that  of  their  ordinary  appointment  :  and  that  there 
being  no  alternative  between  their  juflification  and  the 
furrendry    of    liberty,    they   become    legal,    juft   and 
right  :  that  Charles  I.  for  renouncing  and  ruling  with- 
out parliament  for  twelve  years,  for  levying  taxes  with- 
out the  confent  of  the  people,  and  for  other  violations 
of  the  public  laws  of  the  realm,  and   for  levying  a  v/ar 
againft  a  legal  and  regular  parliament,  forfeited  not  only 
his  crown  but  his  life  :  that  if  a  King  of  England  was 
now  to  do  what  he  did,  the  nation  would  not  doubt  but 
ithat  he  merited  death,  and  would  certainly  originate  a 
•revolutionary  tribunal  andinfii^l  it  :  and  that  if  neither 
lords  and  commons  conjundly,    nor  either  feparately 
would  dare  to  do  it,  there  muft  be  fome  other  manner 
pra61ical  and  legal  ;  in  which  cafe  it   would  reft  v,ithi 
the  people  to  do  it  ;  and  that  almoft  any  manner  of  in- 
itituting  it,  with  the  general  voice  of  the  community, 
would  render  it  legal  and  authoritative.     It   is  idle,  ia 
this  age  of  light,  to  con^ibat  and  elude  the  legality    of 
fuch  a  tribunal  by  arguments,  whofe  force  will  conclude 
in  nothmg  ihort  of  an    abfolute  and  certain   everlion, 
proilration  and  furrendry  of   liberty.     In  a  reviev/  of 
the  wholr,  tl'is  is  the  fdmrnary  refuu". 

t  Fo/:t,  Ihit.  E-roi).    1792,  /•.  961. 
'  D  d 


33^       HISTORY    OFT    HREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

1.  That  the  judiciary  tribunals  in  difFerent  policies,, 
and  in  the  fame  policy  in  different  ages,  have  been  ve- 
ry differently  inftituted,  while  yet  any  or  all  of  them 
muft  be  deemed  legal  and  authoritative. 

2.  That  in  great  revolutions,  and  national  refcues  of 
partial  and  entire  liberty,  thefe  tribunals,  may  be  and 
have  been  as  differently  inftituted,  and  yet  become 
vetoed  and  cloathed  withjuA,  legal  and  plenary  autho- 
rity :  and  that  the  high  court  of  1649  vvas  fuch  a  legal 
tribunal.     And 

3d.  That  their  fentence  v/as  righteous  and  jud.  All 
which  v/ill  inure  to  the  juflification  of  the  Judges. 

•  They  atchieved  a  great  and  important  work,  and  it 
was  well  done.  Four  years  after  this  legal  expulfion 
of  tyranny,  a  national  convention  furnilhed  the  nation 
with  Oliver's  exctrllent  polity,  which  fubfiiled  till  his 
Heath  in  1658.  But  fuch  was  the  fatal  and  miftafeen 
vcrfatility  of  the  nation,  that  they  av^uled  not  themfelves 
of  this  noble  foundation,  fo  happily  laid,  on  principles 
which  Engliihmen  will  ever  revere  and  in  every  exi- 
gence recur  to,  and  ultimately  eftabliih.  And  with 
the  downfal  and  overthrow  of  this  beautiful  polity,  they 
brought  down  upon  thofe  illufcrious  heroes,  who  had 
cnterprizcd  the  glorious  though  unnnifned  work,  and 
.^iverw helmed  them  v/itii  a  load  of  mfamy  and  reproach 
which  a  ccnlury  and  half  has  not  been  fulficient  to  re- 
i-iove,  Thus  the  volcano,  deluge  and  eruptions  of 
W'fuviuF.  buried  in  ruins  the  beautiful  Herculaneum  : 
whicli  after  having  been  loft  for  feventeen  ages,  is  now 
einergit>g  into  light  and  admiration.  So  likevvife  the 
jjrft  chriTtlan  martyrs  were  covered  with  infamy  and 
ethnical  reproach,  until  the  fourth  century  gave,  their 
?-ncrits  opportiinit\'  to  relieve  and  ihine  vv'ith  ^lory  ih 
ihc  public  efrimation  ever  iince.  The  republican  mar- 
tyrs and  heroes  of  llie  twe.-ity  years  period  from  1640  to 
1660,  are  now  in  refurrecrion  in  France,  Poland,  and 
America  ,  they  arc  beheld  v.  ith  iprcading  eftimation. 


?.?!&GfTftOF  KING    CHARLES      I.  339' 

^nd  will  In  future  be  contemplatedvvitli  juillce  and 
veneration  by  all  nations,  who  in  the  vindications  ot 
their  Hberties,  will  find  themfelves  neceffitated  to  have 
recourfe  to  the  fame  great,  eternal  principles  of  public 
right,  which  a6luated  thefe  great  patriots.  Among 
thefe  will  be  confidered  the  enlightened  upright  and  in- 
trepid Judges  of  Charles  I  ;  who  will  hereafter  ga 
down  to  pofterity  with  increafmg  renown,  among  the 
Jepthas,  the  Baracks,  the  Gideons,  and  the  Wafhing- 
tons,  and  others  raifed  up  by  providence  for  great  and 
momentous  occafions  :  whofe  memories,  with  thofe  of 
all  the  other  fuccefsful  and  unfiiccefsful,  but  intrepid 
and  patriotic  defenders  of  real  liberty,  will  be  felefted 
in  hiliory,  and  contemplated  with  equal,  impartial  and 
merited  jullice  :  and  whofe  names,  and  atchievments, 
and  SUFFERINGS  will  be  tranfmitted  with  honor,  re- 
nown and  glory,  through  all  the  ages  of  liberty  and  of 
man. 

CHAP.     VI. 

^:i  Memoirs  (j/"  Theophilus  Whale.    . 

THERE  was  a  very  fingular  man,  who  lived  and 
died  at  Narraganfet,  whofe  hiflory  arrefled  my 
attention,  when  I  firft  fettled  at  Newport,  1755  ?  ^"^ 
upon  whom  I  have  fpent  much  pains  in  making  inqui- 
ries, becaufe  he  is  univerfally  confidered  there  as  one 
of  the  regicides,  and  I  always  and  uniformly  diibelieved 
it.  I  was  told  much  about  him  by  Jeremiah  Niles,  Efq. 
the  honorable  Simon  Peas,  of  Newport,  the  reverend 
Mr.  Jofeph  Torry,  miniifer  of  South  Kingfton,  and 
the  honorable  Francis  Willet,  on  whofe  farm  Whale 
lived,  and  who  knew  him  v.ell.  VvHien  detained  from 
time  to  time,  efpecially  about  1758  and  1760,  at  Nar- 
raganfet ferry,  I  ufed  often  to  talk  with  a  Mr.  Smith 


2if.      KISTORY,:.0£  iT-ffRSE    GF    THE    JUDGES 

of  ihai,'{VBd5nit}5 vaad  :oth£i?  aged  perfons,  wlio  kfi^^ 
Whale,  and  believed  him  to  have  been  one  of  the 
liie  Judges.  They  all  laid  lie  came  there  from  Virgi- 
nia, at  the  beginning  of  the  Petaquamfcot  fett]ement> 
which  was  foon  alter  Hhilips'  War,  165*^,  and  the 
G:iieat..Sv/2iTrp  Fis;ht.  But  as  my  bell  infonnationcame 
ijom  IDtilpiiel  WiUet,  I' will  give  feme  account  of  this 
gemleraao^ydi?*  ?i:rr. 

Colonel'  Francis"  Willet,  of  North  Kingdon, 
Rhode- liland,  died  and  was  buried  in  the  family  bury- 
ing place  on  his  own  eflate,  one  mile  north  of  Narragan- 
fet  ferry,  February  6,  1776,  aged  83.  He  was  de- 
fcended  froin  Thomas  V/illet,  the  hrll  mayor  of  New- 
York,  who  died  at  Barrington,  Rhode-Ifland,  1674, 
2gcd64.  He  came  a  young  merchant  to  Plymouth, 
1629,  was  converfant  in  the  fur  and  Indian  trade  of  the 
whole  coafifrom  Kennebec  to  Hudfons  River,  became 
very  opulent,  and  fettled  on  a  plantation  at  Swanzey^ 
iiowRarrington,  where  remains  his  grave  fix  miles  be- 
low Providence.  Being  an  intelligent  and  refpe^lable 
j^erfon  he  went  as  a  counfellor  on  board  Col.  Nicola* 
fleet,  at  the  redudion  of  Manhados  1664  ^  and  was  by 
him  appointed  mayor  of  the  new  conquered  city.  He 
owned  houfes  in  New- York  and  Albany.  The  Dutch 
lefuming  the  government.  He  afterwards  returne4  to-; 
hi,i  fettlement  anddied  at  Barrington. 

Qnihe  ftones  athis  grave;  tli^c  is  this  infcriptioe. 

{Head Slsnr.)  (Feop  Shne^^''^^^\ 

....  Lyli  N  Zi\  i 


..       ^'^1674. 

i'A    Mer£  Jyeth  the  Body 
,f'£;        &f  the  worthy 
Thomas  Willet,  Efq. 

,  1^0  died  Aug.  the  jth, 
v4m::<^j&.  64th  year  of  h'n  age, 

:;nV'       Anno." 

-  He  had  three  fons,  Hezekiah,  James  and  Andrew,, 
by  his  wife  Mary  the  daughter  of  John  Brdwn,  \Efq;l 


P^ho  was  the^   ' 

FIRST    MAYOR     , 

ij/' New- York  ; 
Andtivicedid      ' 
Jujiaiii  th&ppleicei^*- 


rs?na.UT©F  KING  CHARLES  ^i.Y-BOiaiH  J4I: 
Hezekiah  was  killed  by  the  Indians  16^5.  James  lived 
en  the  paternal  eftate.  Andrew  was  nrft  a  merchant  in 
Bofton  till  1680  :  he  then  removed  and  fettled  on  Boftoii 
Neck  at  Narraganfet  ferry  and  died  there  1712,  M  56, 
leaving  two  fons  Francis  and  Thomas,  and  a  daughter. 
Thomas  died  a  batchelor  and  left  the  whole  family 
eftate  to  the  polfeffion  of  Col.  Francis  Wiliet,  who 
married  and  died  without  iflue.  This  is  the  gentlemaia 
with  whom  I  was  intimately  acquainted.  He  was  edu- 
cated a  merchant,  but  did  not  purfue  com.merce.  He 
had  a  good  genius  and  was  a  man  of  much  reading  and 
information.  And  fettling  himfelf  on  his  paternal 
eflate,  being  very  opulent  he  lived  the  life  of  a  private 
gentleman  ;  he  was  hofpitable  and  generous,  of  excel- 
lent moral,  and  a  very  eilimable  and  highly  refpe6led 
characSler.  The  fine  tra6l  of  Bofton  Neck  was  princi- 
pally owned  by  the  Sewalls  and  other  gentlemen  in  Bof> 
ton.  This  with  his  father's  former  refidence  in  Bofton, 
andtranfa6ling  bufmefs  for  thefe  Bofton  landholders 
and  for  Harvard  College  brought  him  into  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  firft  characters  at  Bofton,  who  often  vifit- 
ed  him  thro'  life,  and  gave  him  great  public  information. 
Once  a  year  thefe  gentlemen  vifited  their  eftates  and  at 
his  father's  houfe;  and  after  his  father's  death  1712, 
the  management  and  fuperintendance  of  thefe  eftates 
and  of  the  college  eftate,  together  with  the  extenfive 
Wiliet  family  acquaintance  fell  unto  Col.  Francis  Wil- 
iet, whofe  aunts  had  married  into  minifter's  families, 
Wilfon  in  Maifachufetts,  and  Hooker  in  Conne6licut. 
The  Wiliet  farm  was  atra61:  extending  from  Narragan- 
fet ferry  northward  perhaps  one  mile  and  an  half  in 
length,  on  the  Bav>  ^nd  about  one  mile  or  more  eaft 
and  weft  Jrom  the  Bay,  acrofs  to  the  oblong  pond  called 
Peteqnam feet,  and  was  the  original  feat  of  the  great 
Sachem,  Ivliantinomy.  At  the  north  end  of  this  pond 
and  on  the  Wiilet  farm,  was  fettled  Theophilus  Wha- 
ley,  or  '1  heophilus  Whale,  who  came  there  from  Vir- 
gininia,  about  1679,  or  1680.  He  affected  to  live  ia 
D  d  2 


'^4,2       KIST0RY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

poverty  an<l  obfcurity  and  retirement  :    and  built  him- 
ieif  a  little  under-ground  hut   in  a  high   bank,  or  fide 
hill,  at  the  north  end  or  head  of  the  pond,  and  fubfifted 
by  fifhing  and  writing  for  the  Petequamfcot   fettlers.— * 
He  wiis  foon  found  to  be  a  man  of  fenfe  and  abilities  ; 
and  it  was  a  matter  of  wonder,  that  he  refufed    to  live 
otherwife  than  in  a  mean  and  obfcurc  manner.       From- 
his  name  he  was  early  fufpecled  to  be  the  regicide  ;  and 
being  queftioned  upon  it,  his  anfvvers  were  fo  obfcure 
and  ambiguous,  that  they  confirmed   his  acquaintance 
in  that  belief  ;  which  I  found  fixtand  univerlal  at  Nar- 
ragrtufet  in  1755,  and. which  remains  itill  fo  there  and 
at  Rhode- liland  to  this  day  ;  awd  among  the  reft,-  in- 
dubitable in  the  mind  of  the  fenfible  and  intelligent  Co* 
lonel  Willet,     This   made  me  curious  to  inquire  the 
hiftory  of  this  fmgular   good  old  man,  as  the  Colonel 
lifed  to  call  him,  and  of  whom  he  talked  Vv'ith  great  pioa-^ 
fure,  and  feemed  as  if  he  could    never  fay  enough  of 
him.     He  told  me  many    anecdotes.        And  whetl^  I; 
ufed  to  fay  that  Whalley  died  at    Hadley,  he   always 
denied  it,  faying  that  one  indeed  of  the  Judges  diedat: 
Hadley,  but  the  other  v/ent  off  to  the  weft  ward,  fecret- 
ed  himfelf  awhile  at  Virginia,  but  being  in  danger  there, , 
he  fecretly  fled  and  buried  himfelf  in  Narraganfet  woods, 
and  lived  a  reclufe  life  to  the  end,  an<i  that  this  Theophi- 
lus  Whale  was  the  man,,  notwithitanding  the  change- 
of  the  chriftian  name,  which  the  Colonel  fuppofed.he. 
did  defignedly.     In  confirmation  of  this  opinion,  he 
told  me  many  anecdotes.    When  he  was  a  boy,  he  laid, 
feveral  Bofton  gentlemen  ukd  once  a   year  to  make  an 
excurfion  and  vifit  at  his  father's  houfe.      As  foon  as 
they  came  they  always  enquired  eagerly  after  the  wel- 
fare of  the  good  old  man  :   and  his  father  ufed  to  fend 
him,  When  a  boy,  to  call   hira  to  come  and  fpend  the.- 
evening  at  liiv  houfe.     As  foon  as  Mr.  Whale  cameiii: 
the  gentlemen  em'braccd  him  with  great  ardour  and  ■af- 
fection ^  and  exprellcd  great  joy  at  feing  him,,  and  tr€?at- 
ed  him  with  great  friendlhip  andTefpeS.     .Tigej^rfj^nti' 


?3r  OF    KING    CHASLES     t.  24l' 

tfie  even!  rig  together  uiththe  moftendeaWng  familiarity,, 
fo  that  the  Coloriel  faid,  he  never  fav/  any  gentlemen' 
treat  one  another  with  fuch  apparently  heart- felt  cordi- 
ality a-rid  refpe^.  He  ufed  to  wonder  at  it,  and  could 
Rot  account  for  it.  They  kept  flint  up  irv  a'  room  by 
themfelves,  and  there  feemed  to  be  an  air  of  fecrecy 
about  the  m^atter.  Their  interviews  were  in  the  everi- 
ingonly,  and  continued  late  in  the  night.  J uli  before 
they  broke  up,  he  ufed  to  obfervethat  one  of  gentlemen 
would  take  Mr.  Whale  by  the  hand,  and  tthey  walked 
0ut  into  the  lot,  and  returning,  another  took  him  out,, 
andfo  all  the  others  fingly  andby  them.felves.  He  did 
not  know  for  what  reafon  this  was  done.  But  when  the 
gentlemen  were  gone.  Whale  always  had  plenty  of 
money.  And  the  Colonel  told  me  that  he  did  not  doubt 
but  that  they  all  gave  him  money  in  this  private  and  fe- 
cret  manner.  He  frequently  mentioned  the  names  of 
the  gentlemen,  and  they  were  forae  of  the  firll  charac- 
ters in  Bofton  about  the  beginning  of  this  century.  The 
Secretary  was  one,  and  Judge  Sevvall'another.  Whale 
never  let  Colonel  Willet  know  his  true^hiftory;  but 
comparing  this  frngular  treatment  with  Whale's  mari- 
jner  of  life,  he  was  convinced,  he  faid,  that  he  was  a 
fecreted  regicide. 

'  Colonel  Willet  told  me  that,  in  Q^ieen  Ann's  war,  he 
j*emembered  a  ihipof  warcame  up  the  Bay  and  anchor- 
ed before  his  father's  door.  The  name  of  the  captain 
was  Whale,  and  he  was  a  kinfinan  of  Mr.  Whale, 
who  lived  but  one  mile  oft,  and  made  him.a  vifit,  when 
they  recognized  one  another  with  the  affe61ion  of  kin- 
dred. After  an  agreeable  interview,  the  captain  invi- 
ted PvTr.  Whale  to  dine  with  him  on  board  ftiip  ;  he  ac- 
cepted the  invitation,  and  promjifed  to  comfe.  But  ypoii 
confidcring  further  of  it,  he  did  not  adven  tore  on  board, 
rendering  as  a  reafon,  that  this  was  truely  his  confm^ 
yet  he  did  not  know  but  poflibly  there  might  be  iofcie 
fnare  laid  for  him  to  take  him.  Colonel  Wirict;'^<as 
perfonally  acquuiiiicd  with  this  fadl,  and  indeed  il  was 


344       HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

known  to  all  the  inhabitants  around,  who  tell  of  it  t© 
this  day;  This  confirmed  them  ail  that  this  was  Whal- 
iey  the  regicide. 

Manv  other  anecdotes  he  has  told  me,  and  that  he 
wrote  Whale's  will  ;  tliat  he  lived  to  a  great  age,  and 
that  he  died  104  years  old  ;  that  a  little  before  his  death 
he  removed  to  his  daughter's,  about  ten  miles  off,  where 
he  died  and  was  buried. 

Governor  Hutcnin Ton's  hiilory  was  firft  printed  1764, 
and  Colonel  Wtllet  foon  read  it.  Dining  with  him 
f'jcn  after,  he  faid  to  me  at  table,  **  Tell  Governor 
Hurchinfon.  I  know  more  about  Whalley  than  he  does 
— I  penonaliy  knew  hirn,  and  was  intimatel5^  acquaint- 
ed with  him — he  hved  afid  died  at  Narraganfet,  and  not 
at  Hadley."  As  I  had  a  correfpondence  w'ith  the  Go- 
vernor, who  had  fent  me  his  book  ;  I  wrote  and  in- 
formed him  what  his  friend  Willet  faid.  The  next  year 
the  Governor  was  on  a  vifit  to  Newport,  and  brought 
with  him  a  volum?  of  Goffe's  original  journal  and  an 
original  letter,  and  (hewed  me  and  convinced  me  what 
I  did  not  doubt  before,  ,that  Whalley  lived  and  died  at 
Hadley.  This  he  alfo  iliewed  to  Colonel  Willet,  who 
became  convinced  that  Theophilus  Whale  was  not 
Edward  Whalley  ;  but  never  to  his  death  gave  up  the 
belief  that  Whale  was  one  of  Charles's  Judges,,  altho' 
why  he  Ihould  upon  changing  his  name  affume  that  of 
fo  obnoxious  a  perfou  as  V/halley,  was  to  him  a  parad-ox. 

I  have  often  converfed  with  him  upon  it.  And  we 
went  into  the  fuppofition  that  Whale  was  really  GcfFe, 
whom  general  tradition  fpoke  of  as  leaving  Hadley  and 
going  off  weftward  toward  Virginia,  and  fo  from  thence 
migln  abdicate  into  P^hode-Illand.  But  the  name  was 
an  infapcrable  diSciilty.  I  converfed  with  fcveral  of 
the  defcendants  of  Whale  at  different  times  for  a  dozen 
years  after,  but  could  get  no  fatisfa6tory  lights.  Hutch- 
inl'on  left  vyitb  me  for  half  a  year  an  original  letter  of 
GoiFe  to  his  vvifc;  that  I  might  compare  tlie  hand  wri- 


SOT?.  IK 


41^ 


i'lai^.JXl 


WAR^^ICK 


Gov.  Greene- , 


W.  Green 


s  Groove'  of 
0  TheoWhaSe 


E.Greexivtcch 


®F    KING    CHARLES      I.  345' 

ting  With  fome  of  Mr.  Whale's  among  the  people  of 
Narraganfet,  where  Colonel  Willet  told  me  it  might 
eafily  be  found,  and  engaged  to  procure  me  one  of  his 
deeds.  He  did  not  do  this'till  GoiFe's  letter  was  feiit  for 
and  I  returned  it.  Since  that  I  have  made  fundry  fruit- 
lefs  attempts  to  fee  fome  of  his  writing  with  his  name  to 
it  :  andfo  long  ago  as  i'766,  one  of  the  family  brought 
me  a  piece  which  he  faid  was  his  grandlather's  writing, 
but  there  was  nothing  which  proved  it,  and  1  doubted 
it.  I  did  not  give  up  the  inquiry  till  1785.  The  de- 
fcendants  of  all  the  families  fpringing  irom  Theophilus 
■Whale  univerfally  believe  their  anceilor  was  one  of  the 
regicides,  but  concur  in  it  that  he  never  revealed  it  to 
his  family  or  any  one  elfe.  Colonel  Willet  ufed  to  teli 
me  of  a  Mrs.  Spencer,  about  90  yeai"S  old,  a  daughter 
of  Mr.  Whale.  She  furvived  101793.  I  always  in- 
tended to  have  feen  her,  but  never  did.  I  got  her  fon- 
rn-law,  Qthniel  Gorton,  Efq.  to  inquire  of  her  in  her, 
Kfe  time,  who  fcnt  me  word,  fhe  did  not  doubt  her  fa- 
ther was  one  of  the  Judges,  but  that  he neverreveaks^ 
himfelftohisfamdly. 

At  length  turning  out  of  my  way  on  a  journey,  I  vi- 
f^ted,  in  1783,  Samuel  Hopkins,  Efq.  aged  81,  (ii-f 
Weil  Greenwich,  a  grandfon  of  Whale,  and  livingon 
his  grandfather's  farm.  He  was  a  man  of  good  feiife 
and  accurate  information,  had  been  in  civil  improve- 
ment, a  member  of  alfembly  and  judge  of  the  court. — 
He  freely  and  readily  communicated  all  he  knew.-— 
From  his  raoiuh  I  wrote  down  the  following  iniormar. 
tion  : 

Mr.  Theophilus  Whale,  aiad  Elizabeth  his  wife* 
came  from  Virginia  and  fettled  in  Kingilon  in  Nanra- 
ganfet.  He  married  bis  w\ie  in  Virginia  ;  her  name 
V'as  Elizabeth  Mills.     Their  children  were,, 

Joane  Whale — ob.  aged  60  or  70. 

Anna  Whale — ob.  (ingk,  no  iilije. 

Theodoii^  Whale,  maiiT i«4  RabfiEt  Spencer,  oh.  ho^ 
fore  1 741. 


3^6       HISTORY    OF    THRfiE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Elizabeth  Whale,  married  Charles  Hazelton.  ob. 

Martha  Whale,  married  Jofeph  Hopkins,  father  of 
Judge  Hopkins,  and  then  marrieil  Robert  Spencer,  ob. 
-^773?  ^§>^^  93 — ^^  born  i68o,  and  born  in  Narragan- 
fet,  as  the  Judge  told  me. 

Lydia  Whak,  married  John  Sweet,  ob. 

Samuel  Whale,  married  lil  Hopkins,  2d  Harrington. 

Judge  Hopkins,  Ton  of  Martha  Whak,  was  born  in 
Kingiton,  January  1705,  and  is  now  aged  81,  (1785) 
and  remembers  his  grandfather  Whale,  who  died  aged 
103,  the  year  he  could  not  afcertain,  but  it  was  when 
the  Judge  was  a  young  man  grown,  of  age  16  or  18. — 
He  faid  his  grandfather  talked  Hebrew,  Greek  and 
Latin,  as  he  well  remembers  often  t©  have  heard  him  ; 
that  he  had  a  Greek  bible,  which  he  conllantly  ufed, 
and  which  has  been  in  Judge  Hopkins's  keeping  almolt 
ever  fmce,  but  is  now  loft,  or  he  knows  not  what  is  be- 
come of  it.  He  had  a  great  delire  to  teach  his  grand- 
fon,  Samuel  Hopkins,  Latin  and  Greek  when  a  boy, 
and  uied  to  try  to  perfuade  him  to  learn  it,  and  did  begin 
to  initru6t  him  in  it  ;  and  that  he  wrote  much  in  the 
Petaquamfcot  purchafe  j  and  alfo  that  he  was  a  large 
tall  man,  fix  feet  high  when  ioq  years  old,  and  then, 
walked  upright  ;  not  fat,  but  thin  and  lathy ; — an  of- 
ficer, a  captain  in  the  Indian  wars  in  Virginia,  and 
had  been- an  officer  in  the  parliamentary  army  in  Eng- 
land. 

Judge  Hopkins  remembers  his  grandmother  Whale, 
a  fmart  tight  little  v/oman,  a  mighty  do61;refs,  as  he 
faid.  She  died  aged  perhaps  70  or  60,  and  perhaps 
{even  or  ten  years  before  Mr.  Whale,  and  was  buried 
in  Kingfton  not  far  from  the  church.  After  his  wife's 
death,  Mr.  Theophilus  Whale  removed  «p  to  Weft 
Greenwich  to  his  daughter  Spencer  and  died  there,  and 
was  buried  in  Judge  Hopkins's  lot,  where  he  Ihewed 
me  his  grave,  but  cannot  remember  the  year  of  his 
/death,  though  he  well  remembers  his  attending  his  fu> 


P3,--         OF  KING    CHARLES      ^r-JfOT^H        34-J 

Eheralarid  faw  him  depofited  in^iis  grave  ;, he  was  bun ed 
with  great  refpcdl,  a:..d  the  Judge  told  me  with  military 
honors-  His  grave  lies  in  Weit  Greenwich,  about  fix 
miles  nearly  due  Ibuthwert  from  Eaft  Greenwich  conrt- 
houfe  and  Narraganfej  Bay,  one  mile  weft  from  Eail 
Greenwich  hne,  and  a  mile  north  of  Exeter  line.  It 
has  no  (tone  or  monument. 

The  Judge  told  me  his  chief  refidence was  at  the  head 
of  Petaquamfcot  Pond,  at  the  north-weft  corner  of  Col. 
Wdlet's  farm,  and  that  there  he  brought  up  his  children. 
For  his  writing  for  the  north  Patafquamfcot  purchafe, 
the  proprietors  g:ivQ  him  a  tra6l  of  land,  the  farm  on 
which  the  Judge  now  lives,  of  1 20  acres,  lying  in  Weft 
Greenwich,  though  then  a  part  of  Eaft  Greenwich. — 
He  Ihewed  me  the  original  deed,  dated  1709,  under  the 
hands  and  feals  of  perhaps  fifteen  or  twenty  proprietors  : 
Indorfed  with  an  aftignment  dated  February  20,  171 1, 
to  his  fon  Samuel  Whale,  by  Theophilus  Whale,  in 
his  own  hand  writing,  in  which  he  figned  his  name 
Theophilus  Whale,  in  good  free  v/riting,  but  his  wife 
figned  by  her  mark.  It  was  indorfed  with  another  af- 
fignment  under  it,  on  the  fame  deed,  by  exchange 
from  Samuel  Whale  to  Joihua  Hopkins,  the  Judge's 
father  ;  but  Samuel  Whale  ftgned  by  his  mark.  As  this 
was  the  iirft  certain  writing  ot  Theophilus  Whale  which 
I  had  ever  feen,  I  viewed  it  with  clofe  attention,  to  fee 
if  I  could  recognize  the  writing  of  GotFe's  letters  ftiewn 
me  by  Governor  Hutchinfon  near  twenty  years  before, 
but  I  could  not  recollecl:  a  fimilitude.  This  was  afliarp 
running  hand  ;  Gofre's,  according  to  my  memory,  was 
more  of  a  blunt  round  hand. 

:■  ;  ,5:; 

The  Judge  told  me  tlrat  old  Mr.  Whale  never  wQiild^ 
tslf  his  true  hiilory.  The  moit  he  talked  about  asj.tai 
liinifeif  was,  that  he  was  of  good  defcent  and  education 
in  England,  and  I  think  of  univerfity  education  ;  that/ 
in  Virginia  he  was  much  in  the  Indian  wars,  and  an  , 
otiicei-',.  thaths  there  married  a  young  wile  when  he  . 


34^        HISTORY    OF    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

was  old,  but  no  tradition  that  he  was  ever  married  be- 
fore in  England  or  America  ;  that  he  had  fome  difficuky 
in    Virginia  about  the  diiTcnting  way  of  worlhip,  but 
was  pernriiited  to  come  away,  as  Mr.  Hopkins  exprell- 
cd  it,  who  alfo  laid  he  was  a  Firft  Day  Baptiii.     For 
the  firft  years  of  his  living  at  Narraganfet  he  followed 
fjhwg  m  Petaquamfcot  Pond — at  length  weaving,  and 
in  this  he  fpent  moil:  of  his  life.       Alter  about  thirty 
years  his  children  fettled  off  and  left  him  alone.     His 
wife  ufed  alfo  to  make  long  vifits  to  her  daughters,  efpe- 
cially  Spencer,  and  leave  the  old  man  to  fnift  for  him- 
felf.     He  at  length  was  to  have  a  dozen  acres  of  land 
off  the  Northorp's  farm,  not  far  from  the  head  of  Peta- 
.quamfcot,  who  were  to  build  a  houfe  for  him  ar»d  his 
wife,  and  he  was  to  keep  fchool  for  the  Northorp  fami- 
ly.    But  his  wiie  dying  perhaps  about  1715,  he  gave 
up  the  project  of  the  houfe  and  fchool,  and  went  to  \\\t 
with  his  daughter  Spencer  at    Greenwich,    where  he 
died.      His  laft  vears  were  fpent  in  folitude  and  without 
labour  ;  yet  his  body  and  mind  were-  found  to  the  laft. 
The  Judge  cou"ld  not   recover  the  year  of  his  death, 
though  his  age,  he  faid,  was    103  when  he  died.  This 
is  the  fubftance.of  the   Judge's  information.      He  faid 
that  Joane  and  one  or  two  01  the  firft  children  were  born 
in  Virginia. 

Judge  Hopkins  further  told  me  that  Samuel  Vv^hale, 
the  only  fon  of  Theophilus,  fettled  and  lived  and  died  at 
So?.th  Kingflon,  on  a  farm  which  liis  father  Hopkins 
exchanged  for  Samuel's  farm  in  Greenwich;  upon 
which  his  father  r-emoved  and  fettled  on  the  Whale  farm, 
in  Greenwich,  and  Saniuel  fettled  in  Kingfton  towards 
Point  Judith.  He  faid  lliat  Samuel  married  two  wives, 
firii  Hopkins,  and  then  Harrington.  By  the  firft  or 
Hopkins  venter,  he  had  children,  fons,  fur  he  fiud  no- 
thing of  daijghiers.t 

^  M'fs  Nclh  Hc'zelfon,    living    1^9'^,  J^^vs  Sa;:uiel 
JVhaie  had  five  Jo-ii  (lud  i\v^  ddngrier'i. 


OF  KING    CHARLES     1.  349 

SS^^at'      }By  Hopkins  venter. 
Theophilus  Whale,  "] 

James  or  Jeremy  Whale,      vBy  Harrington  venter. 
John  Whale,  J 

And  that  from  thefe  all  the  Whales  in  Narraganfet  and 
'Conne6i:icut  defcended  :  and  there  is  a  number  of  families 
of  this  name,  feveral  of  whom  I  havefeen  and  converfcd 
with,  but  their  family  information  is  only  general  and 
not  accurate  ;  although  they  all  believe  their  anceftor 
was  one  of  Charles's  judges  to  this  day,  for  none  of 
^em  have  accurately  inveltigated  the  matter. 

Mr.  Spencer  married  two  fifters,    firft  Theodofia 
Whale,  and  after  her  death  he  married  her  fifter,  widow 
Martha  Hopkins,  mother  of  the  Judge,  and  mother  of 
the  wife  of  Othniel  Gorton,  Efq.  with  whom  fhe  died. 
There  was  indeed  another  Whale  from  Theophilus, 
but  not  from  Samuel.      Joane,  the  elded  daughter  of 
old  Theophilus  never  was  married  :    yet  had  two  chil- 
•^ren,  who  went  by  the   name  of  Whale,   Lawrence 
Whale  and  Mary  Whale.    Lawrence  lived  many  years 
in  Narraganfett,    and  afterwards  went  away  towards, 
Hudfon's  river.  Judge  Hopkins  did  not  know  his  birth,, 
"but  if  then  living  in  1785,  he  judged  he  would  be  aged 
•QC,  orcertainly  12  or  15  years  older  than  Judge  Hop- 
kins was,  and  fo  his  birth  about  1690.     Doaor  Torry, 
%vho  was  born  OSlober  19,  1707,  was  well  acquainted 
\^ith  Lawrence,  and  judged  him  15  years  older  than, 
l^imfelf,  which  would   bring  his   birth    1692,   which 
ihews  Toane  of  the  age  of  parturition,  1692,  aged  15  or 
20   implying  her  nativity  as  far  back  as  1670,  or  1671, 
for  Elizabeth,  her  fifter,  younger  ^han  Joane  was  born 
in  Virdniaabout  1672,  fhewingthat  Theophilus  Whale 
was  married  in  Virginia  fo  long  ago  as  1670,  or  before. 
Though  Tudp^e  Hopkins  knew  itnot,  yet  Mr.  Northrop, 
of  North  Kingfton,  afterwards  told  me  that  Lawrerice 
died  before  the  war  I775>   ^^^^  Ticonderoga,  and  A 
E  e 


15s     ttisreRY  of  three  of  the  judges 

think  was  never  married,  fo  that  no  Whales  proceeded 
from  him  ;  "but  all  the  New- England  Whales  defcend- 
ed  from  Samuel,  of  South  Kingfton,  the  only  fon  of 
Theophilus.  Judge  Steplien Potter,  of  Coventry,  was 
perfonally  acquainted  with  Samuel  Whale,  and  told 
me  that  he  died  about  17B2,  aged  77,  fo  born  1705. 
Yet  I  believe  he  M^as  of  age  171 2,  when  he  made  thd 
alignment  of  his  farm,  and  fo  was  born  1691,  the  laft- 
cf  Theophilus's  children.  As  we  can  get  no  records 
or  family  writings,  w€  are  obliged  to  life  thefe  deduc- 
tions and  inferrences  from  traditional  ages. 

Upon  my  requeft,  Ray  Green,  Efq.  fon  of  Governor 
Green,  of  Warwick,  fent  me  this  mformation  in  a  let- 
ter, dated  September  30,  17  B5 — "  The  grand-daughter 
Nelly,  by  Elizabeth  Hazelton,  a  communicative  old 
maiden,  informs  me  that  Mr.  Theophilus  Whale,  her 
grand-father,  was  derived  of  a  very  genteel  family  in 
England,  and  very  opulent ;  but  through  fome  mis-flep 
he  was  fuppofed  to  be  difaffeded  to  royalty  ;  which  oc- 
cafioncd  his  quitting  England  and  retiring  to  Am.erica  ; 
in  a  province  of  which,  Virginia,  he  married  Elizabeth 
Mills,  and  removed  to  Narraganfet  ;  having  firft  had 
two  children  in  Virginia,  yoane  and  Elizeibeth.  The 
other  children  were  born  in  Narraganfet,  except  Mar- 
tha, the  place  of  whofe  nativity  is  uncertain.  Eliza- 
beth, who  married  a  Hazelton,  lived  to  the  age  of  79, 
and  died  in  175-.  The  old  gentleman  having  loft  his 
wife  and  fettled  his  children,  refided  the  remainder  of 
his  days  with  his  daughter  Hopkins,  afterwards  Spencer, 
ifn  V/eft  Green v/ich,  where  he  finifhed  his  days  at  1 10 
years." 

October  29,  1782,  I  fell  in  with  the  aged  Mr.  Ha- 
milton, aged  86,  at  North  Kingfton,  fo  born  1696, 
who  told  me  he  Vv-as  at  the  funeral  of  old  Theophilus 
V/hale,  who  died  when  he  was  a  young  man,  though 
married,  and  then  aged  about  23,  fo  about  17 19  to 
1722,  that  he  was  about  too  years  old,  and  had  fivs 


(5f   king    CHAFLES     I.  3^1 

ffaughters,  whom  he  well  knew:  and  that  Mrs.  Spen- 
cer (once  Hopkins)  died  at  Eafl  Greenwich,  Auguft 
J782,  aged  98,  or  would  have  been  98  in  September 
1782,  that  Ihe  always  enjoyed  good  heahh,  and  died  a 
Quaker.     Her  fou  fays  ihe  died  1773,  aged  93. 

Col.  Wilkt  and  the  reverend  Mr.  Torrey  ufed  to 
tell  me  many  other  anecdotes  of  Theophilus  and  his 
wife.  The  wife  was  a  notable  woman,  a  woman  of 
high  fpirits,  and  often  chaftifed  her  hufband  for  his  in- 
attention to  domeftic  concerns,  and  1  pending  fo  much 
of  his  time  in  religion  and  contemplation,  negiecliing 
to  repair  and  cover  his  houfe,  which  was  worn  out  and 
become  leaky  and  let  in  rain  in  heavy  ftorm^s,  which 
«fed  to  fet  her  a  ftorming  at  him.  He  ufed  to  endea- 
vor to  footh  her  with  placid  mJldnefs,  and  to  calm  her 
by  obferving  in  a  ilorm,  while  the  rain  was  beating  in 
upon  them,  that  then  was  not  a  time  to  repair  it,  and 
that  they  fhould  learn  to  be  contented,  as  it  was  better 
than  fmners  deferved,  with  other  religious  reflexions  ; 
and  when  the  Itorm  was  over,  and  flie  urged  him,  he 
il^'Guld  calmly ^nd  humouroufly  reply,  it  is  now  fair 
^iveather,  and  when  it  did  not  rain  they  did  not  want  a 
better  houfe.  He  was  often  alked,  why  he  always  lay 
on  a  deal  board,  and  refufed  a  feather  bed  ;  he  replied, 
that  a  feather-bed  was  too  good  for  him,  for  he  was  a 
man  of  blood,  and  ought  to  mortify  himfclf.  He  led 
a  pious,  but  reclufe  and  auftere  life.  He  had  not  many* 
books.  This  from  Colonel  Willet.  He  fometimes 
faid  that  when  he  was  young  he  was  brought  up  deli- 
cately, and  that  till  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  he  knew 
not  v/hat  it  was  to  want  a  fervant  to  attend  him  with  a 
filver  ewer  and  knapkin  whenever  he  wanted  to  w^alli 
his  hands.  The  true  charader  of  Whale  remains  un- 
known. It  is  moil:  probable  that,  like  Axtel  and  others, 
he  had  a  comm.and  among  the  guards  that  attended  the 
King's  trial  and  execution,  and  was  very  a61ive  in  com- 
palTmg.  the  King's  dctith.     That  afterwards,  like  Lord> 


352       HISTORY    OP    THREE    OF    THE    JUDGES 

Say  and  others,  he  relented  and  confcientioufly  con- 
demned himfeli,  thinking  he  had  committed  a  heinous 
crime    aad  that  blood  gnihinefs  was  upon  him,  which 
made  him  go  mourning  all  the  reft  of  his  days  with  for- 
row,  contrition  and  penetential  humility.    Others  con 
cernedinthattranfaaion  were  afterwards  deeply  af> 
teded  in  the  fame  manner  all  their  days  ;  while  thofe     1 
who  are  fatisfied  the  canfe  was  good,  and  the  fentence      ? 
on  the  King  was  highly  juft  and  righteous,  will  as  hum- 
biy  truft  and  confide  in  it  that  thefe    immediate  a^ors 
nave  long  ago  lound,  at  the  tribunal  of  Eternal  Juiiice, 
that  their  heartfelt  and  fmcere  repentance  was  founded 
m  rmfi-ake  and  niifconception  of  atrocious  w  ickednefs 
aiid  high  criminality,  in  what  was  owq  of  the  mod  me- 
ritorious a6b  of  their  lives. 

And  now  that  I  am  colleaing  the  ffying  rumours  an^- 
anecdotes  concernaiig  Whale,  I  will  m  this  connexion 
bring  together  fcattered  rumours  concerning  fome  others 
—In  different  parts  of  the  country  we  come  acrofs  fly- 
ing traditions  and  fur«nifes  ventilated  abroad,  of  three 
otlier  perf  ;ns  believed  by  fome  to  have  been  aifo  Charles's 
judges  who  fled  to  America.  One  was  <korge  Fleet- 
wood, who  was  tried,  condemned  and  pardoned,  and 
certainly  came  over  to  Bofton  and  lived  there  in  an 
open  manner,  and  died  in  Bolton. t  He,  and  Whalley 
and  Goffe  and  Dixwell,  v/ere  unquefiionably  of  the  real 
judges,  and  thofe  four  were  the  only  real  and  true  judg- 
es that  ever  have  been  known  to  have  come  to  America, 
it  is  however  believed  by  fome,  that  Adrian  Scrooped 
who  certainly  lived  at  Hartford  in  Conneaicut,  1666, 
and  foen  after  returned  to  England,  was  the  real  judge 
Scroope.  In  evidence  of  which,  this  is  adduced.— Su- 
peradded to  a  certain  inftrument  or  deed,  dated  March 
2f,  1663—4,  recorded  in  Hartford  records,  is  an  at- 
teftation  dated  March  8,  1666—7,  and  recorded  March 
II,  1666—7,  %ned  by  the  names  of  Robert  Peirce  and- 
A^irian  Scroope,  as  witaeires,  with  their  o\N'n  hand 
t  No  Me  l\  2,   334. 


OF    KING    GHARLE3     I..  T^^J 

Thus  I  have  colleaed  and  brought  together  all  the- 
various  and  fcaitered information  to  be  found  concerning 
thisfingular  perfon  :  whofe  hiftory  is  not  even  hitherto 
known  by  his  family  and  the  inhabitants  of  Rhode- 
llland,  nor  by  any  one  elfe,  in  the  hght  in  which  I 
have  now  fet  it  i  while  however  I  truft  I  have  exhibited 
fuch  documents  and  proofs  as  will  enable  every  one  to 
make  a  decided  judgment,  diat  Mr.  Theophilus  Whale,, 
whoever  he  was,  was  not  one  of  King  Charles's  Judge*.. 


E    R    11    A    T    Ao 

PAGE  43, 1.  29,  for  College,  r.  Colony— 44,  27,  Eyres,  r.  AyerS"=. 
71,  32,  dele  with— 76^  1 1,  Providence  Hill,  r.  Weft  Rock— 
73,  30,  &  74,  28,  dele  Providence  HilJ-.-79,  9,  houfe,  r.  farm—- 
86,  13,  after  cellar,  dele  period— -93,  27,  Providence  Hill,  r.  W» 
Rock— -181,  38,  1789,  r.  1689---187,  27,  placed,  r.  planned— -2249 
24,  or,  r.  of— -225,  9,  judged,  r.  judges— 232,  27,  dele  but— 233^ 
37,  tradio,  r.  traditio-— 234,  35,  rivited,  r.  united— 336,  8,  party, 
r.  particularly--- 14,  affairs,  r.  offices-— 237,  19,  Cardinal,  r.  cordial 
— -251,  32,  delufive,  r.  cledivc— 35,  after  it,  add  was— 36,  eleftivej 
r.  eledion---252,  2,  ufe,  r.  efle— 34,  there,  r.  then"-a56,  1,  infi- 
dious,  r.  invidious— -257,  34,  additions  r.  addititious— 259, 21,  idem 
—  260,  18,  additions,  r.  additional— -263,  20,  his,  r.  this*-— 269,  30, 
hear,  r.  have---273,  i,  rejoined,  r.  rejoiced— 284,  3,3,  dele  fwiniflio 
296,  32,  after  local,  add  but — 299,  24,  name,  r.  main — 300,  4, 
and,  r.  of— 303,  7,  their,  r.  this— 304,  5,  1796,  r.  1766—14,  Ire- 
land, r.  Iceland— -311,  16,  Revelation,  r.  Refurreftion-— 314,  9, 
Reins,  r.  Riches— -322,  18,  true,  r.  three— 331,  18,  king,  r.  kingSo 
338,  30,  relieve,  r.  relive. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

As  the  size  ef  this  book  is  altered  from  that  mentioned  In 
the  propofals,  although  the  quantity  of  type  condensed  in  a 
pagey  and  the  contents  of  the  whole  are  the  Jame  ;  it  is 
but  -ju ft  that  the  fuhfcrihers  Jhoidd  he  left  at  their  liberty 
to  take  the  booksy  or  not,  as  they  pleaje.