No. 15. 66 "If we refuse to obey His Majesty?" asked the Governor in a quiet manner. "I am prepared to enforce his commands. Will you yield your Charter, gentlemen?" he demanded in a determined tone. Voluntarily, never," replied Governor Treat, firmly. 66 66 the room had been fixed upon the intruder in silent wonder, not unmingled with curiosity and honest indignation. Every mind, from the first, had received an impression as to the true character of the audacious stranger, who had thus broken in upon their councils, though no one dared whisper, even to himself, his suspicion. When the question was put NEVER!" rung loudly through the hall. to him by the Governor, demanding his name Sir Edmund Andross waited till there was and rank, they hung with breathless expecta- silence; then casting a glance of triumph tion upon his reply. When it confirmed their around the room, his countenance assumed a worst apprehensions, there was a general significant expression, which at once drew burst of resentment and mortification. Every attention and excited curiosity. Deliberately gentleman sprang to his feet; many swords taking the roll of parchment from under his flew from their scabbards, and one or two short horseman's cloak, he said, I had anticiwere even levelled at the breast of Andross.pated your refusal, after the answers you have Hold, gentlemen,” cried the Governor; "use no violence. This is a matter to be settled by cool tongues, rather than by sharp steel. In your haste," he added with cutting irony, "you have forgotten to welcome our worthy friends, who stand there, Edward Randolph, and Master Dudley." Randolph frowned, and struck his sword-means, I should possess myself of the patent, hilt. The latter smiled complacently, if not How I got possession of it matters not. It is to secure it before I appeared before you.— with a very little grain of triumph. Andross sufficient that I have it. This mockery of stood perfectly unmoved during the momenasking its surrender was, graciously, to afford tary excitement the declaration of his name had created. The members of the council you the opportunity of quietly resigning it, and in some degree thereby recovering His who had been most forward, at length sullenly replaced their swords, not in the scabbard tion for you has been thrown away, like pearls Majesty's esteem. But my kind consideraindeed, but beneath their arms, ready for use. before- -but, gentlemen, 1 need not remind "Sir Edmund Andross," said Governor you of the text. Behold your Charter!" he Treat, when the commotion had in some de-added, holding out the parchment in one hand, gree subsided, "I demand, by what right you intrude upon this Assembly, with a band of armed soldiers at your back?" "We are not to be bearded to our very faces," cried a voice in a distant part of the room. "He shall atone for his insolence," added another in a still sterner tone. Andross turned from one speaker to the other like a lion at bay. "Peace, gentlemen!" interposed the mild voice of the Governor, waving his hand with authority. "We wait your answer, Sir." "I stand here in obedience to His Majesty's commands," he haughtily replied. "On what intent?" "We know his intentions well," cried sev-|| eral voices. "I entreat you to be silent, gentlemen," again interposed the Governor. "As these Puritan statesmen seem to be so well informed on the subject," said Andross sneeringly, "there is no need that I should reply. But lest they misconstrue my silence, I answer, that I am here to demand, in the name and by the authority of his reigning Majesty, James the Second, the surrender of your Charter." invariably given to His Majesty's writs, of which our mutual friend, Edward Randolph, was the bearer. Therefore, to anticipate any abstraction or concealment of your Charter, when my presence in Hartford should be known, I have thought it expedient in compliance with His Majesty's wish, that, by all and striking it with the gloved fore-finger of the other. "In the name of His Majesty, James the Second, and in this presence, I declare the Government under this Charter dissolved." A dozen swords glittered in the hands of as many gentlemen; the grenadiers threw themselves before their leader, who caught half a score of blades upon his own. "Hold!" he cried; "your doors are guarded-yourselves are prisoners. One word fron me and you will be cut to pieces." "Base craven!" "Villain!" "Coward!" were the epithets that assailed his ear on all sides. "Forbear, gentlemen!-Let us act mildly," said the Governor. "May it please you, Sir Edmund Andross," he added, looking fixedly at the parchment the Knight held in his hand, "to unroll that instrument, that all may be convinced,-for some doubt,-that you hold our Charter." "Assuredly," he replied with confidence. Casting an exulting look around, he unrolled the instrument and displayed it before all eyes. The quiet smile that played about the Governor's mouth, and the broader signs of merriment visible on the faces of the rest, heel. 66 VOL. I hall. As he passed Sir Edmund Andross, that cavalier's fierce glance fastened upon him, but shrunk beneath a gaze full as fierce as his own. "This is very pleasant," he said, as Henry Wadsworth, for he it was, took a seat beside the Governor, and whispered a few words in his ear: "What Puritan Hotspur is this, Sirs? S'death! One would take me for a collector of revenues fallen among smugglers." By whatsoever interposition of Providence, your unjust intentions have been "Sir Edmund Andross,” said the Governor foiled," said Governor Treat, with a dignity strikingly contrasted with the excitement of sternly, "we will no longer submit to your the other, "you are properly punished for re-force of arms, we are perhaps too weak to insolence. If you will take our Charter by sorting to stratagem. Those who have deceived you have proved our friends." "Base woman!" muttered Andross through his closed lips. "This is intentional. 66 Ho, Sir Puritan, or Sir Governor! I am not to be thwarted thus. If your patent be not given up within the hour, you shall each be shorter by the head, than you now stand. I have arguments without, which I think you will listen to." defend it. Gentlemen," he continued in a bly, "as the arguments of this knightly soldier slightly satirical vein, addressing the assemhave placed this question in a new light, I beg the free expression of your thoughts up on it." A long and warm discussion followed.During the debate, was eloquently represented the vast expense and innumerable hard"Colonel Wyllys," said the Governor to a ships suffered by the patentees in settling the noble looking gentleman who stood by his colony; the blood shed, and the treasure exchair, "have the goodness to report the na-pended in defending it. At length, though ture of these arguments." "Doubtless, of this complexion," he replied, glancing at the grenadiers. He went out, and the next moment returned with a flashing eye. at a late hour of the night, the contest terminated, and it was resolved formally to surrender the Charter. A motion was then made to bring it forth. Governor Treat was about to despatch a messenger to this effect, when Wadsworth opened his cloak, and placed it upon the table. Then turning on his heel, he carelessly walked to a window and threw up the sash as if to inhale the cool night air. He then returned to the table. 66 con "It is true!" he exclaimed with animation; "I could not believe him, when he said it and took his words for those of a braggadocio. Sir Edmund Andross," he said, fixing his eyes upon his face, as he came up to him, "I would have staked my life upon it, had not mine This, Sir Edmund Andross," said Govereyes witnessed it, that you could never be nor Treat, placing his hand on the case, guilty of so gross an outrage. Gentlemen, tains the instrument granted to us by His fellow-citizens; a troop of horse and a body Majesty, King Charles the First, and which of Indians are drawn up before the door." James the Second commands us to surrender. This confirmation of what they had been||In obedience to his Majesty's commands, I led to expect, but which they could scarcely credit, created a new and fiercer excitement throughout the assembly. "We are but fifteen swords," said Fitz Winthrop, looking round as if to measure the strength of his party, and then advancing upon Andross. "Were we but one to fifteen," cried a determined voice at the door, "we would try passes with them, ere we surrendered our rights as free British subjects, to this titled minion of a tyrant!" All eyes turned towards the speaker, and rested on a handsome young man, enveloped in a cloak, who had entered behind Fitz Winthrop. With a pale cheek; his dark eyes sparkling with excitement; his arms folded beneath his cloak, and with an air of cool decision such as marks men of bold and deteruined spirits, he walked haughtily up the herewith, formally, and in the presence of these witnesses, surrender it into your trust and keeping." "His Majesty shall, forthwith, be informed of your prompt compliance with his wishes," said the cavalier, with visible irony in the tones of his voice, at the same time drawing forth and unrolling the Charter. "Humph! this is indeed the true instrument Trevor, this portrait within, the initial, C, is the just similitude of His late Majesty; and with much complacency he held up to his survey a correct likeness of Charles the First, done in India ink within the compass of the first letter of his name, which commenced the patent. "The sight of it should lead you to respect his will, conveyed in the instrument which is thus sanctioned," said Colonel Wyllys, whe with the rest of the assembly had been gazing on the scene with mingled emotions of shame, anger, and resentment. "Charles did many foolish things, which the wisdom of his successors must mend," answered Andross carelessly. "Now, Sir Governor, if it be your pleasure, I will change places with you.' 'Twas there we plighted,"Hush! this is no time to play the lover. In the oak is a deep cavity. It will remain there for ages without discovery. Go, Henry! be quick! I will remain here to see that none of the servants see you." From the terrace, the ground sloped to the Governor Treat rose from the gubernato- lane, where it terminated in a low, precipirial chair, in which he had been placed by tous bank. Near the verge of this bank, the colonists; and resigned it to a governor grew an oak, which flung its broad arms half appointed by the King. The new Governor across the lane. Henry soon reached the restored the Charter to the case, carefully tree, and hurriedly but carefully passed his fastened it and laid it upon the table. He then hand over its huge trunk, and at length at advanced to place himself in the usurped the very root, found a cavity with an upward chair. At this instant, while his back was direction into the heart of the oak. He turned, Wadsworth cast his cloak over the thrust a broken limb nearly three feet into it. candles which burned in a branch on the ta- Then enlarging the orifice by reaking away ble, and the hall was instantly in darkness. the decayed wood, he inserted the end of the "Treason! Treachery! Bring lights, vil-case into the opening, and forced it a foot belains!" shouted Andross, seconded by Trevor, yond the mouth. Randolph, and Dudley. Guided by a sudden suspicion, he stretched forth his hand to the table. The Charter was gone! "Guard the door!" he shouted. "Trevor, they have stolen the Charter. On your lives, soldiers, let no one pass out." The extinguished candles were speedily relighted; the hall was searched. But the patent had effectually disappeared. The bold young man, when his cloak, skilfully thrown, fell upon the lights and extinguished them, snatched the case containing the Charter, and darting through an opening in the groups which his eye had previously marked out, he gained the open window and sprang lightly to the ground. With the speed of the deer he fled along the street, till he came opposite the Governor's residence, when he paused as if with indecision. The next moment he resumed his flight in the direction of Colonel Wyllys' mansion. He continued on the main street a third of a mile, and then turning short to his left, entered a dark lane, thickly bordered with trees. Traversing this with undiminished speed, he reached the gate before the house, and without waiting to open it, bounded over and threaded the gravelled walk towards the dwelling. "Thank God!" he said devoutly, as he drew forth his arm, "it will rest safely there, until we get an honest king again." He then carefully replaced the fragments, covered the orifice with a sod, which he cut with his knife some yards from the spot, and neatly swept the grass at the foot of the tree. "Now, if it is discovered," he said, rising to his feet, "it must be the devil himself who gives the information.” VI. We pass over the anger and mort:fication of Sir Edmund Andross, and the quiet exultation of the members of the council, who having fulfilled their obedience to the King's commands by surrendering the Charter, were not held accountable for any of its subsequent gyrations. Notwithstanding this untoward event, Sir Edmund Andross assumed the government of Connecticut, which he annexed to Massachusetts, making Boston the seat of general jurisdiction. He formed' a council composed of forty gentlemen; and otherwise appointed officers according to his own pleasure. Fitz Winthrop and Governor Treat were members of this council. At first, he ruled with mildness and moderation; and his addresses were filled with professions for the happiness of the colonists; and for a time he administered justice according to the laws of the government under the Charter. His first open infringement of the liberties of the people, was by restraining the freedom of the press. This was followed by one upon marriage, which,' says the historian, was far more grievous.' He forbade the performance of this rite, unless the parties gave Catharine placed her forefinger upon her bonds, with sureties to himself, to be forfeited, lip; reflected for the space of half a minute, if it should appear, subsequently, that there and then turned to him with a glad counte- existed any lawful impediment to the marnance. "Do you remember the old oak Hen-riage. Clergymen were forbidden to officiate, and, to the great scandal of the colony, 66 Henry, is it you?" said Kate, meeting him on the piazza, "I have been looking for you. Why, what is the matter?" she inquired, as Henry stood before her panting. In a few words he related the scenes in the council chamber. "Aid me with your woman's wit," he said, as he concluded the relation. ry?" 6 the right of performing the ceremony was given up altogether to civil magistrates, thus taking from the clergy the perquisites with which they were wont to eke out their narrow salaries. Not satisfied with this persecution he suspended the laws which provided for their maintenance, and prohibited all persons from paying any thing to their minister. He fortified this bold position by a menace to the people, if they dared to resist his pleasure, threatening to destroy their houses of worship, or conventicles; he also forbade any one to pay the sum of two pence to a nonconformist minister, on pain of punishment|| by fines and stocks. VOL. ony were effectually defeated. After a concealment of more than fifteen years, the Charter was, therefore, reproduced from its hiding place in the oak, and placed in the archives of the State. We will now bring our tale to a conclusion. Sir Edmund Andross, believing that Helen had intentionally given him the false parchment, withdrew his suit. Helen, out of womanly revenge, changed her political creed, and became as stout a friend to the Charter, as heretofore she had been an enemy to it. Harry Wadsworth and Kate Wyllys were ultimately made one flesh; but not until after the usurper was displaced, and Governor Treat again ruled over Connecticut. It was Henry's wish to be married a year earlier than he was, but Catharine stoutly refused. "I will die an old maid," she said, "before I will be married by one of Andross's slaves. If I am not married by our good old orthodox minister, Mr. Woodbridge, no Justice of the Peace shall make Catharine Wyllys Catharine Wadsworth." We have good authority stating here, that Henry Wadsworth was one of the most active among those who deposed the tyrant. But the mode in which the English Governor managed the affairs of his government are familiar to all readers of history. Under the pretence that the Charter of Connecticut had been vacated, he declared all titles under it of no value, and in a speech in council, said that Indian Deeds were no better than "the scratch of a bear's paw." No pleas, Lowever legally and sacredly based, were of avail with him and his corrupt favorites.-in Not only Connecticut, but all New England groaned under his oppression. The colonists were not men to submit for a length of time to a system of tyranny like this. Eighteen months after his usurpation of the government of Connecticut, the citizens of Boston, where he held his court, and its vicinity, in alliance with Treat, Fitz Winthrop, and oth- The other prominent characters of our roer distinguished Hartfordians, stung with mance are the property of history. We have these injuries, rose in arms, took the castle by already, for a romancer, sufficiently enstorm, seized the person of Sir Edmund An-croached on this, in our, we trust, praisewordross, made prisoners of his council, and re- thy aim, to which the novelist ought always instated the former colonial governor and to have an eye, to combine healthy instruccouncil in the government. The landing of tion with that entertainment which all are the Protestant Prince, William of Orange, at bound to expect in a work of fiction. Torbay, and the promises he held out, doubtless encouraged the colonists to take this bold and decisive step. On the ninth of May, 1689, eighteen months and ten days after the farce of the surrender of their patent, Governor Treat, and the other officers under the Charter, resumed the government of Connecticut. On the twentysixth day of the same month, the news that William and Mary were proclaimed King and Queen of England, arrived, and spread universal joy throughout the land. Trevor, soon after the accession of Andross, returned to England, and at the age of thirty-five, fell honorably in the Spanish wars, with the rank of Colonel. He never married. For the Ladies' Garland. IN THE PARLOR OF A FRIEND. Endeared spot!-how many a blissful hour Have I within these sacred walls enjoyed! Each moment like a freshly blooming flower, New fragrance gave to that which never cloyed. Hearts formed to feel-and minds by Heaven endowed To bring the eventful past to mind once more! "Twas here I form'd those friendships, which to me Are far more precious than a golden mine In 1704, the liberties of Connecticut were Were here combined. Sweet recollections crowd, again endangered by Lord Cornbury, Governor of New York, and Governor Dudley, of Massachusetts, who combined to despoil it of its Charter, and annex it to their government. They were, however, unsuccessful; and to secure the Colony against any further conspirucies of this nature, their magistrates confirmed to it its Charter in perpetuity, and so the machinations of the enemies of the Col Father of Light! I owe these gifts to thee, For every blessing we enjoy is thine! Teach me to value all that thou hast given, And when my cup with bitterness o'erflows, No. 15. To raise my hopes with confidence to Heaven, Chivalry. Temptations strong on every hand prevail, Let not affliction's keenly piercing blast, When my sad heart could not its grief conceal. Though still by deep calamities opprest, Which oft my bosom can but ill sustain, And Friendship smoothes the flinty path of pain. For the Ladies' Garland. CHIVALRY.-BY DR. W. BOOTH. Hitherto we have regarded chivalry summarily in its institutions, as they have become variously modified in their adaptations to times and usages. For more than a century it had made but little progress, though introduced into nearly all the nations surrounding the state which gave it birth, and in which it was cradled and nurtured. 263 ficiently under the control of the sovereigns, for the stability of the government; and upon some occasions, after having deposed a Sovereign, instead of ceding the throne to the rightful owner, the knighthood combined their influence in the establishment of a chivalrous empire, which was subsequently defended by their own arms; the princes naturally became jealous of their new allies, and exerted their utmost ability to overthrow these self created thrones. These movements invariably tended to make chivalry unpopular. From these and other circumstances connected with the unsettled state of governmental affairs, the chivalry of Europe, but for the countenance which it received from the feudal nobility of the country, would have declined; but each independent feudal lord, anxious to reduce his neighbor to a state of vassalage, and to strengthen his own castle, required a continued protection from the cavaliers; thus did chivalry, and the feudal aristocracy, mutually sustain each other; and every daring exploit of a body of gallant knights, by which considerable conquest was gained, gave a new impetus to enthusiasm. Just, however, as it was beginning sensibly to wane for the want of some inaster enterprise, carried on upon chivalrous principles, combined as it was with the feudal system, and with the church, to render it the There were three circumstances which great moving and governing power of Europe, tended greatly to the advancement of a cause there arose from within the pales of the that had as yet exerted comparatively little church, overloaded as she was with superstiinfluence in society, viz.: the semi-barbarous-tion, and decorated with every external and ness of the age in which it existed, but which was well suited to its perpetuation; the feudal system, and the annexation of religious superstition. The feudal system, that had been for centuries, in many states, under their respective sovereigns, the only existing form of government, gave a cheerful reception to a cause that it could make subservient to the purposes of the nobility. Unfortunately there was not sufficient virtue in the state, to restore chivalry to its pristine state; and the church had become too much imbued with the spirit and maxims of the world to be able to effect a decided reformation in the character of her knighthood. The spirit and practice of chivalry, had spread to a great extent in Europe; and most of the wars of different European nations, were carried on under the supervision of the chivalry; in short, they precluded in general the national military establishments. pompous ceremony, a spirit of enchantment that far exceeded the romance of chivalry in the brightest days of the feudal reign. That enterprise, says Fleme, was "The most signal and the most durable folly that ever appeared any age." in This would have been a very precarious kind of defence for any one nation, but that the surrounding nations were similarly circumstanced. Pope Gregory VII. had formed the project of uniting the christians of the western empire, with those of the east, against the Mahommedans, and of recovering Palestine from the hands of the infidels; but his quarrels with the emperor Henry IV., had prevented the enterprise from being achieved become fully matured, and was to be executed during his life; and this project had now by a man whose talents, and whose condition would excite no jealousy, till ample time had been afforded him for laying the awful train that shook all Europe from its foundation, and that terminated the mortal existence of six millions of human beings. One cirfanaticism of the times, was the misapplicacumstance that peculiarly facilitated the tion of certain passages of Scripture, found in the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation; from these words, the leaders of this The command of the chivalry was not suf-deluded age, inferred that the thousand |