.wji.i'^tA-'j.^gy' Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032744314 Date Due nvV " jy^b « u DEO 6 1955 K 1 I 1 " m^'G ' JAN id '^-'^ ■ . o ViAA///y '*/ 7 ^^ii«p ^ k an^j ^S'l '""^ ^^ -,^4^ " " /Ai'T" WNgaO! ^ ' Cornell University Library E302.6.J7 B36 Lite and times ,S'„H?«iSlllllM 3 1924 032 744 314 olin '^^ <,' E WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. From 1635 to 1865. Two volumes, 8vo $6.00. Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson, D. D. Missionary of the Church of England in Connecticut, and first President of King's College, New York. One volume, 8vo $?.oo. s ^ // ^' ^9^ o LIFE AND TIMES William Samuel Johnson, LLD., PTEST SENATOR IN CONGRESS FROM CONNECTICUT, AND PRESIDENT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK. E. EDWARDS BEARDSLEY, D. D., LL. D., RECTOR OF ST. THOUAS'S CHUaCH, NEW HAV£N. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON. 1876v PREFACE. No one will think that I have stepped beyond my province to write this volume. The life of a Chris- tian layraan is not an unsuitable theme for the pen of a clergyman ; and the delineation of individual char- acter, when it is made subservient to the cause of morals and religion, is an employment, the impor- tance of which cannot fail to be generally recognized. Undoubtedly it would be better for the youth of our land, if in the multiplicity of books more fondness were shown for those which inculcate the great les- sons of practical duty, and less fondness for works that furnish ideals of goodness and excite the imag- ination without teaching the due restraint of the ap- petites and passions. Biography, rightly prepared, is a species of literature which will impart both pleasure and instruction. It has been said by a great English author that " they only who live with a man can write his life with any genuine exactness and discrimination." If this were true, biographies for the most part would /CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Copyright, 187P, Bt e. edtvards beardslet. RIVERSIDE, CAMBBIDOB : STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H. u. HODGHTON AND COMPANY. PREFACE. vii passages have been taken from them to connect the narrative and support the statement of facts. The book might have been increased in size by pnbHshing more of his correspondence while he was in England acting as the agent of the Colony of Connecticiit ; but the observations and views addressed to Governor Trumbull appear to have been communicated with entire confidence and freedom to his father, and it would have been very much of a repetition to have printed the semi-official papers along with the family epistles. His Diary, begun after his appointment as a colo- nial agent and continued until' his return to Amer- ica, has guided me to some important materials, and enabled me to go in and out with him as he visited the King's Bench, the Houses of Parliament, and the great and good men of the realm, whose acquaintance served to cheer him in his weary sojourn. Though showing to a limited extent the manners and customs of the period, it is almost too fragmentary to pubhsh ; besides, as the better portions of it are given and en- larged upon in his letters, the publication seems to be uncalled for, particularly in a work of this kind. Dr. Johnson lived nearly fifty years after his re- turn from England, and the largest share of the more dignified and interesting events of his public life falls within that epoch, and blends with the sources of our national history. No special information has come into my hands in regard to his connection with Colum- vi PREFACE. be valueless ; for not many have been written with the advantages of personal knowledge. My own in- terest in the history and character of the subject of this volume is of comparatively recent date. It has grown mainly out of readings in the direction of the fortunes of the early Episcopal Church in this country, and especially in Connecticut ; and it seems strange to me that a name so distinguished among the founders of our republic should have been left for more than half a century with no other record of its dfiservings than brief sketches in periodicals or meagre notices in biographical dictionaries. Like his venerated father, Dr. Johnson was in the habit of preserving the original draughts of many of the letters and documents which he penned, and but for these no such picture of his life and times could have been given as that which is now offered to the public. His long residence abroad at a critical period of American affairs makes that part of his correspond- ence highly valuable ; and if new light be not thereby thrown upon the events which led to the Revolution, they will yet be seen from the side of a judicious and careful observer, and present in a new aspect the blind and impolitic course pursued by the govern- ment of Great Britain towards the aggrieved Colo- nies. I have not thought it necessary to introduce in full more than two of the letters which were printed in my " Life and Correspondence " of his father, but CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND BOYHOOD; PRELIMINARY EDUCATION AND ADMISSION TO YALE college; GRADUATES AND BECOMES A LAY READER; LETTERS TO DR. BEARCROPT; RESIDENCE AT CAMBRIDGE AND DEGREE OF MASTER OP ARTS FROM HARVARD COLLEGE; RETURNS TO STRATFORD AND COMMENCES THE STUDY OP law; LEGAL SYSTEM OF CONNECTICUT AND HIS APPEARANCE AT THE bar; MARRIAGE, AND SEPARATION PROM HIS FA- THER A. D. 1727-1755. CHAPTER n. DEATH OP HIS BROTHER; PROFESSIONAL REPUTATION; CORRE- SPONDENCE WITH JARED INGBRSOLL; COLONIAL AGENT AT LONDON; WALLINGPORD CONTROVERSY; DESCRIPTION OP COUNTRY ABOUT LONDON, AND CHARACTER OF WILLIAM PITT 13 A. D. 1755-1761. CHAPTER nr. CHOSEN MEMBER OP GENERAL ASSEMBLY; INOCULATION FOR SMALL-POX ; PASSAGE OP THE STAMP ACT, AND ARRIVAL OF JARED INGERSOLL STAMP-MASTER OF CONNECTICUT; ACTION OF COLONIAL LEGISLATURES; FIRST CONGRESS AT NEW YORK; REMONSTRANCES TO THE KING AND PARLIAMENT; LETTER OF JAMBS OTIS, AND REPEAL OP THE STAMP ACT . . .27 A. D. 1761-1765. VUl PKEFACE. bia College. The archives of the institution are with- out printed or manuscript memorials of him, and I have been obliged to gather the facts I have used concerning his Presidency from the letters and pa- pers of the Johnson family, which have been kindly left in my possession since the publication of my " History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut." The engraving was made expressly for this work from a portrait by Gilbert Stuart, now owned by Mr. Charles F. Johnson, of Owego, New York. My thanks are due to several gentlemen for supplying me with dates and letters which have enabled me to bring the volume to a more satisfactory conclusion. New Haven, November, 1876. CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER IX. THE TAX ON TEA; SIGNS OP A REVOLUTION; GENERAL CON- GRESS OP THE colonies; battle OF LEXINGTON; EMBASSY TO GENERAL GAGE; ACTION OP THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF CONNECTICUT; ARREST FOR TREASON; RELEASE, AND RETURN TO STRATFORD 104 A. D. 1773-1779. CHAPTER X. trial of the susquehanna case; chosen a delegate in congress; letter from his colleague; fearful times; shats's insurrection ; convention op delegates prom all the states, and federal constitution . . .118 A. D. 1779-1787. CHAPTER XI. ELECTED PRESIDENT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE; MEMBER OP THE STATE CONVENTION TO ACT ON THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION; EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND BISHOP SKABURY; ELECTED A SENA- TOR IN congress; JUDICIARY OP THE UNITED STATES; LET- TERS FROM DISTINGUISHED PERSONS; REMOVAL OP CONGRESS TO PHILADELPHIA, AND RESIGNATION AS SENATOR . . .129 A. D. 1787-1793. CHAPTER XII. TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN; RESPONSIBILITY AS AN EDUCA- TOR; ADDRESS TO THE GRADUATING CLASS OP COLUMBIA COLLEGE, AND TIMELY COUNSELS 139 A. D. 1793-1795. CHAPTER XIII. PROPOSITION TO PUBLISH HIS LETTERS WHILE COLONIAL agent; COLUMBIA COLLEGE AND LEGISLATIVE AID; CORRE- SPONDENCE WITH friends; portrait by gilbert STUART ; HEBREW points; RESIGNATION OP THE PRESIDENCY, AND RETIREMENT TO STRATFORD • 149 A. D. 1795-1800. CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. special agent to great britain; degree from oxford university; arrival in London; letters to his father; VISIT to CAMBRIDGE; GRENVILLE's HOSTILITY TO THE AMERICAN COLONIES; CHARLES TOAVNSHEND AND NEW TAXA- TION; APPEARANCE BEFORE THE LORDS IN COUNCIL; HIS ELOQUENCE. 35 A. D. 1765-1767. CHAPTER V. JOURNEYS IN THE COUNTRY: ATTENDANCE AT COURTS; AMERI- CAN bishops; LETTERS TO HIS FATHER; EXCURSION INTO FRANCE; CLERICAL AND LITERARY ASSOCIATES; OPINION OF CONNECTICUT 49 A. D. 1767-1768. CHAPTER TI. THE CASE OF WILKES; DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP SECKER; VISIT TO CANTERBURY; CLERICAL CHARACTER; OXFORD DEGREES; ACQUAINTANCE WITH SAMUEL JOHNSON; TOUR ON THE CON- TINENT, AND VISIONS OF HOME 61 A. D. 1768-1769. CHAPTER Vn. TAXATION OF THE COLONIES; SCHEME OF AMERICAN BISHOPS; LETTER TO HIS FATHER; SEVERE ILLNESS; LETTER TO HIS SON- IN-LAW; ANXIETY ABOUT HIS FAMILY; FINAL HEARING OF THE MOHEGAN cause; RETURN TO AMERICA, AND THANKS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 75 A. D. 1769-1771. CHAPTER Vm. CONGRATULATIONS UPON HIS RETURN; DEATH OF HIS FATHER; LETTERS FROM FRIENDS; APPOINTED JUDGE OF SUPERIOR court; CHIEF JUSTICESHIP OF NEW YORK, AND FOREIGN COR- RESPONDENCE 88 A. D. 1771-1773. CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER IX. THE TAX ON TEA; SIGNS OF A KE VOLUTION ; GENERAL CON- GRESS OF THE colonies; BATTLE OF LEXINGTON; EMBASSY TO GENERAL GAGE; ACTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF CONNECTICUT; ARREST FOR TREASON; RELEASE, AND RETURN TO STRATFORD 104 A. D. 1773-1779. CHAPTER X. TRIAL OF THE SUSQUEHANNA CASE; CHOSEN A DELEGATE IN CONGRESS; LETTER FROM HIS COLLEAGUE; FEARFUL TIMES; SHATS'S INSURRECTION ; CONVENTION OF DELEGATES FROM ALL THE STATES, AND FEDERAL CONSTITUTION . . . 118 A. D. 1779-1787. CHAPTER XI. ELECTED PRESIDENT OP COLUMBIA COLLEGE; MEMBER OF THE STATE CONVENTION TO ACT ON THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION; EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND BISHOP SEABURY; ELECTED A SENA- TOR IN CONGRESS; JUDICIARY OF THE UNITED STATES; LET- TERS FROM DISTINGUISHED PERSONS; REMOVAL OF CONGRESS TO PHILADELPHIA, AND RESIGNATION AS SENATOR . . .129 A. D. 1787-1793. CHAPTER XII. TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN; RESPONSIBILITY AS AN EDUCA- TOR; ADDRESS TO THE GRADUATING CLASS OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, AND TIMELY COUNSELS 139 A. D. 1793-1795. CHAPTER XIII. PROPOSITION TO PUBLISH HIS LETTERS WHILE COLONIAL agent; COLUMBIA COLLEGE AND LEGISLATIVE AID; CORRE- SPONDENCE WITH friends; PORTRAIT BY GILBERT STUART; HEBREW points; RESIGNATION OF THE PRESIDENCY, AND RETIREMENT TO STRATFORD ..... . 149 A. D. 1795-1800. XU CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. LITEBAItT leisure; PRONUNCIATION OP GOOD SPEAKERS; VISIT ' TO THE SUPERIOR COURT OP FAIRFIELD COUNTY; GENUINE PATRIOTISM, AND LETTERS PROM HIS GRANDSON IN EUROPE 164 A. D.' 1800-1817. CHAPTER XV. HAPPY DECLINB; DEATH, AND CHARACTER 179 A. D. 1817-1819. Appendix A 195 Appendix B 197 Appendix C 203 Appendix D . . . 210 LIFE AFD TIMES WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND BOYHOOD ; PEELIMINAET EDUCATION AND ADMISSION TO TALE college; GRADUATES AND BECOMES A LAY READER; LETTERS TO DR. BEARCROFT ; RESIDENCE AT CAMBRIDGE AND DEGREE or MASTER OP ARTS FROM HARVARD COLLEGE ; RE- TURNS TO STRATFORD AND COMMENCES THE STUDY OF LAW ; LEGAL SYSTEM OF CONNECTICUT AND HIS APPEARANCE AT THE BAE ; MARRIAGE AND SEPARATION FROM HIS FATHER. A. D. 1727-1755. On the 14th day of October, 1727, the Eev. Sam- uel Johnson, of Stratford, made an entry in his private journal in these words : " This day, I am 31 years old, and this sevennight (Oct. 7,) it hath pleased God of His goodness to give me the great blessing of a very likely son, for which, and in my wife's comfort- able deliverance, I adore His goodness." What there was discernible in an infant of seven days, to warrant such a description, may not be readily apprehended, but William Samuel, for so the child was christened, proved " a very likely son " indeed, and filled in fut- 2 LIFE AND TIMES OF ure years the vision of his father's highest hopes and anticipations. His boyhood was wholly passed under the parental roof and watched over with the tenderest solicitude. From the dawn of intellect, he was under gentle promptings and a judicious guidance. His mother was a daughter of Col. Richard Floyd, of Brookhaven, Long Island, and the widow of Benjamin NicoU, Esq., by whom she had two sons and a daughter. Her children by the second marriage are the subject of this volume, and William, born March 9, 1731. No parent could be kinder to his own offspring, than was Johnson to his step-children. He superintended their preliminary education, and gave the sons a better preparation for collegiate studies than the schools of the time supplied. He was a skillful teacher, whose training for the employment was begun in Guilford, his native place, immediately after completing his academic course at Saybrook. During the turbulent and unhappy period of transferring the Institution from that place to New Haven and establishing it there under the title of Yale College, he held the office of first or chief Tutor, and only retired from the position upon being ordained to the work of the Congregational ministry in West Haven. The change in his religious views and his Subsequent settlement in Stratford as a Missionary of the Church of England did not diminish his interest in educational matters, and it was natural, therefore, when a family of sons came to his care, that he should wish to instill into their minds the elementary principles of knowledge, and to advance them according to his own model of instruction. In order to make it more pleasant by WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 3 giving them companions, he himself says, that " he took several gentlemen's sons of New York and Al- bany," and thus added to his pastoral labors what many of the clergy of that day were obliged to per- form, the task of becoming classical teachers to fit youth in their parishes for admission to college. When the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Franklin wrote him in 1751, and tried to persuade him to leave Con- necticut and assume the headship of what is now the College of Pennsylvania, afl&rming " that talents for the education of youth are the gift of God, and that he on whom they are bestowed, whenever a way is opened for the use of them, is as strongly called, as if he heard a voice from heaven," Johnson in his reply said, " I have always endeavored to use what little ability I have in that way in the best manner I could, having never been without pupils of one sort or other half a year at a time, and seldom that for thirty-eight years." No extraordinary incidents have been left on record concerning the lads of Johnson's household. Undoubtedly they played on Stratford Green, and had their sports like other boys, but of any pre- cocity or special indication of unusual strength of in- tellect, we are not informed. William Samuel Johnson was entered a member of the Freshman Class in Yale College, and graduated a Bachelor of Arts in 1744, just ten years after his half- brothers — William and Benjamin NicoU — had been admitted to the same degree in the same Institution. He must have been well prepared for the course, since his father said of him, and of his other son, that it was a great damage to them that they entered so 4: LIFE AND TIMES OF young, and that when they were in college they "had so little to do, their classmates being so far behind them." It was a matter of regret with him that he had not previously given them instruction in his fa- vorite Hebrew, a study which it was not possible for them to pursue in college with any advantage, for want of a competent teacher. The father fixed his hopes upon his first-born son becoming a clergyman, and his early religious character gave promise that he might be led ultimately to this decision. The rigid law of the Institution during his connection with it allowed no such indulgence as is now granted to Episcopal students in public worship, but he was permitted to go "home to church, once in three weeks," if possible, or once a month at least, to be at the Communion ; and from a regard to the wishes of his father other little relaxations of the law appear to have been granted him by the Faculty, as far as they were able to do so " without hazarding the resentment of the government that supported them." He was scarcely seventeen years of a^ge when he graduated and received the distinction of being elected a " scholar of the House," under the bounty of Dean Berkeley. When he returned to the parental roof, it was to pursue the studies of which he had only laid the foundation in college, for in a letter to a friend from whom he had expected a visit, written early in the summer of 1746, he speaks of the want of literary society. Two of his classmates resided in the town, but one-'^ of them had married a wife "from such a family as forced him to avoid any very great 1 Agur Tomlinson, who married the daughter of Rev. Hezekiah Gold, Cona;re2;ational minister at Sirattord. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 5 familiarities," and the other was of uncongenial tastes. " For this reason," he said, " I but seldom go abroad, and am obliged to content myself with the company of those who have been long dead ; to search the Latin and the Grecian stores, and wonder at the mighty minds of old." He now added to his other studies that of Hebrew, and aided his father in his missionary labors by acting as a catechist and reader for the church people in Ripton, and received for his services an allowance from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. He penned a characteristic letter to Dr. Bearcrofb, the Secretary of the Society, dated March 27, 1747, which is worth producing in this connection to show the nature of his youthful fidelity. "I beg leave to return the Honorable Society my most humble thanks for the kind notice they have been pleased to take of my services at Ripton, and shall endeavor to answer their intentions and expec- tations to the utmost of my abilities so long as I have the honor to continue in their service. I have now, at the earnest desire of the people of Ripton, read prayers and sermons in that parish a year and a half, where there are above 50 families of the Established Church [Church of England], and catechised their children, which are 150 fit to be catechised. They live so scattering, that I have been obliged to attend them at several places, and almost from house to house the last winter, it being impossible for the chil- dren to come together, by reason of their distance from one another and the badness of the weather ; though I hope in the summer season they may meet for that purpose in the church, which the people 6 LIFE AND TIMES OF have with considerable expense and labor lately plastered, so that it is now comfortable and fit for the performance of service in." About a year after this, he wrote again to Dr. Bearcroft, informing him that when he first obtained the Society's favor, he was undetermined what course of life to pursue, but, having entered upon the study of the law and decided to prosecute it at least for some time, he relinquished the allowance made him as a catechist, and gave notice that he could not serve the Society " longer than till next Michael- mas." The letter was closed with a significant para- graph : " It is not impossible, but I may hereafter alter my views and desire to enter the service of the Church, which, if I should, I shall be extremely obliged to the Society for any future notice they shall be pleased to take of me." It was before he had come to this determination that he set out for Boston, and arrived there on the 30th of May, 1747, intending to spend a month or two at Cambridge, hear a few Lectures, in Harvard College, and be present at the Commencement to re- ceive the degree of Master of Arts. In those days wigs were fashionable, and worn by persons who had no necessity for them, simply because they were fash- ionable. They formed a part of the dress of gentle- men, especially on high occasions. Young Johnson wrote his father from Cambridge, in anticipation of his appearance at Commencement, that he had spoken for a wig, and could not procure one under £10 ; everything being " monstrously dear " in Boston. His Master's degree cost him more than he had an- ticipated, but the grant and the charge were united WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 7 by the Corporation, and if he took the one, he was obhged to submit to the other. The correspondence between the father and the son, at this time, is full of affection, and dwells upon his vocation and prospects in life. Before he re- turned to Stratford, he had made up, his mind what he would do, and planned for the future with the wisdom and forecast of an older head. In entering upon the study of law, he had not the advantage of being directed in a systematic course, or of consulting many text-books and works on jurisprudence and political history. The legal system of Connecticut was then exceedingly crude, and the manner of pro- ceeding in the trial of causes was less definite here than in the province of New York. He addressed a friend-^ in that government, and said he was convinced " that the practice of law must be infinitely easier in New York" than here, and added, "In our plead- ings and arguments, our practicers are obliged to rely upon their own imagination and draw from their own stock, oftentimes a most miserable resource. There," he continued, " industry, application, and a good col- lection of books in general, does the business; here, a teeming fruitful imagination, will make the best figure." He seems to have pursued his studies upon a large and liberal scale of his own devising, and to have prepared himself to enlighten, if he could not change, the irregular equity by which the courts were guided. 1 William Smith, a graduate of Yale College, 1745, author of a history of New York, and a member of the Council of that Colony. Late in the Revolutionary War he joined the cause of the Crown, and finally settled in Canada, where he became a Chief Justice. 8 LIFE AND TIMES OF His first appearance at the bar of Connecticut forms an important epoch in its legal history. Instead of an occasional recurrence to a few of the older com- mon law authorities, which had been respected rather than understood, he cited them frequently and put them in the stronger light of a more complete elucidation. While yet a beginner in his profession, and much in want of books, which were scarce in the country and costly, he saw advertised for sale in New York, Viner's " Abridgment," ^ and mentioning his desire to possess it, his father gave him forty pounds for the purchase. He mounted his horse and rode to New York, and brought back the volumes as far as then published, and at once commenced a thorough study of their contents. " And those books," he said to his son later in life, "were the foundation of my learning in the law." In the New York " Evening Post " of November 16, 1819, a writer, familiar with the incidents and labors of his life, says of him at the period above mentioned : — " Dalton's Sheriff and Justice of Peace, and one or two of the older books of Precedents, " formed the whole library of the bar and the bench. General lit- erature and taste were, if possible, at a still lower ebb among the profession. Mr. Johnson, gifted with every external grace of the orator, a voice of the finest and richest tones, a copious and flowing elocu- tion, and a mind stored with elegant literature, ap- peared at the bar with a fascination of language and 1 Viner's Abridgment — original edition, nineteen volumes folio is still in the library of his grandson, at Stratford, Mr. William Samuel Johnson, from whom the above anecdote was obtained. His grandfather's autograph appears on a fly-leaf of each volume, with the year of the purchase. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 9 manner whicli those who heard him had never even conceived it possible to unite with the technical ad- dress of an advocate. " At the same time, he rendered a still more im- portant service to his countrymen, by introducing to their knowledge the liberal decisions of Lord Mans- field, the doctrines of the civilians, and afterwards (as more general questions arose.) the authorities and reasonings of Grotius, PufFendorf, and the other great teachers of natural and public law." Thus he took at once the highest rank in his pro- fession, and became the renowned and high-minded advocate who was always crowded with cases, and had his clients in New York as well as in every part of Connecticut. The distant seat of the court in another county was reached at that period by the slow stage-coach, or by the traveller's solitary ride in a chaise, or on horseback, and his physical constitu- tion was often in this way put to the severest test. " I have always," wrote his father from New York, on one occasion when he knew his son was absent from home attending court, " a sort of terror at the sound of Litchfield ever since the sickness you got there. I shall long to hear you are well returned." His settlement in the domestic state was a step surveyed from the Christian side, and early taken. He had scarcely passed a month beyond his twenty- second birthday when he married Ann, daughter of "William Beach, of Stratford, a wealthy gentleman, and a brother of the Eev. John Beach, of Newtown, so celebrated for wielding a controversial pen, and for his unflinching adherence to the Church of England during the stormy times of the Revolution. A friend,^ 1 William Smith. 10 LIFE AND TIMES OF to whom he had not previously communicated his matrimonial intention, though his correspondence with him had been quite extended and intimate, was writing him shortly after the event of his marriage, and having first taken him to task for his secrecy, said: "I heartily congratulate you upon your mar- riage with a lady whose fortune, though it has made a considerable accession to yours, did not so much recommend her to your choice as those virtues and graces which made you esteem her the ornament of her sex/" The militia system of the Colony was the right arm of public defense in those days, and the services of the citizen soldiery were held in high and honor- able repute. Influential and prominent men were chosen to the offices of different degrees, and the peo- ple respected them and encouraged the feeling that was alive to ward off danger or to resist the invasion of a foreign foe. Mr. Johnson, apparently as much from a love of it as from necessity, shared in the mili- tary spirit of the time, and was commissioned by the General Assembly, at its May session in 1754, as a Lieutenant in the first company of his native place ; and afterwards, to apply with a verbal change the lines from Cowper's immortal ballad, — " A train-band Captain eke was he, In famous Stratford town." His respect for the wisdom and learning of 'his father was intense, and occasionally they were found mutually advising each other in the work which per- tained to their separate occupations. In 1754, a movement was made in New York to erect King's (now Columbia) College, and the projectors fixed WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. H upon the Rev. Dr. Johnson, of Stratford, for the first President, and sought his aid a-nd counsel in shaping the scheme and putting it into effectual operation. It was designed, to conduct the Institution on the broad principles of Christian liberality ; but the con- tentions which arose before the charter was perfected, and the violent opposition of a few leading members of the Presbyterian persuasion, were discouraging feat- ures in the affair, and exposed it to some peril. As the son would not himself be concerned in any dis- putes with respect to the College, so he desired his father to " stand perfectly neuter," and be ready to go forward or to retreat with honor according as the action of the General Assembly and the final efforts for the establishment seemed to be favorable or un- favorable. In a letter written after his father had been some time in New York, guiding the plans and watching the progress of events, he expressed his pleasure to learn that the opposing party had not gained any strength to defeat so excellent a purpose, and remarked : " With regard, however, to the main question, — your determining to continue there, — we are indeed at a loss. For myself, I find I shall be so much disadvantaged by the removal, that I cannot 'heartily assent to it at any rate, much less on any but the most advantageous and certain terms." The removal was finally accomplished, and then he became separated from the immediate companionship . of the paternal household, and only saw its members at distant intervals, or in the long summer vacation. It deprived him of the opportunity of those personal consultations which had been so freely interchanged between them, and compelled him to the more fre- 12 LIFE AND TIMES OF quent and cautious use of Ms pen as a correspondent. His busy life, as a professional man, did not prevent him from keeping his father informed of every polit- ical event that bore upon the prosperity of his native colony, and he received in return the freshest intelli- gence of any civil or ecclesiastical movements in New York. In this way they mutually aided each other, and supplied, in a measure, the absence of personal intercourse. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 13 CHAPTER n. DEATH OP HIS BEOTHEE ; PEOPEaSIONAL EEPUTATION ; COEEE- SPONDENCB WITH JAEED INGEKSOLL, COLONIAL AGENT AT LONDON ; "WALLINGFOED CONTROVEEST ; DESCRIPTION OP COUNTET ABOUT LONDON, AND CHAEACTEE OP WILLIAM PITT. A. D. 1755-1761. William, his younger brother, was chosen a Tutor in the College at New York, but late in the autumn of 1755 he resigned the office, and in imitation of his father's example, thirty-three years before, embarked for England to receive Holy Orders. His death there, of the small-pox, just as he was on the eve of return- ing to his native land, was a painful disappointment and affliction to the . family, and created stronger bonds of tenderness and solicitude between the father and his surviving son. His father wrote him from New York, on his thirtieth birthday, under the bur- den of oppressive sorrow for his terrible bereave- ment, and having blessed God for preserving his two sons so long to him, added : — " May He preserve you -still, and lengthen out to you a useful life to a good old age, and bestow ten thousand blessings on you and yours. And as I al- ways set my heart upon your being, both, great and public blessings to mankind, and now one is taken 14 LIFE AND TIMES OF away, and some part of your private care is thereby abated, I trust you will be so much the more of a public spirit and lay out your life and talents to the best advantage for public usefulness, and that as much as you can in what relates to the interest of religion as well as justice." The reputation which Mr. Johnson had by this time attained in his profession, brought him promi- nently before the public in the trial of the most dif- ficult cases, and among them those which involved heated religious controversies. In all great legal troubles or suits, unhappily forced upon Churchmen in different parts of the Colony, he was sure to be applied to by them, and secured, if possible, for a counselor, and the utmost confidence was invaria- bly reposed in his judgment and candor. Like other good lawyers of every period in civil history, he was sometimes on the wrong side and failed to gain his case. But as the mortification of losing a suit in a court of justice belongs rather to the client than to the advocate, neither his business nor his fame suf- fered on this account. He was an eager student of English politics and of English literature as well, and early took a deep interest in the relations of the American Colonies to the home Government. When Jared IngersoU, a friend and contemporary of his, and afterwards the famous stamp-master, went to England as an agent for the Colony of Connecticut, he wrote to Johnson from London three months after his ar- rival there a long letter, dated April 17, 1759 ; and having first given a graphic description of the metrop- olis, he proceeded to speak of the delightful country through which he passed for three hundred miles in WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 15 his journey from Falmouth to London, "all green as May ; the full blade and leaf of the spear and clover-grass teeming with vigorous life; the herds and flocks feeding, and the husbandmen plowing ; no waste grounds unless here and there a heath, and even that feeding thousands of young cattle and sheep; all cultivated in the neatest manner, no sunken swamps, no rocky, stony places; the hill and the vale equally covered with a rich profusion of nature's bounty." After this outburst of admiration for the scenery of England, he turned to present a picture of what he knew would greatly interest his friend, and paid him a high and delicate compliment in the compari- son which he made between him and the great Eng- lish advocates whom it had been his fortune to hear. You will naturally suppose that I have improved some of my leisure hours in looking into the several courts ; it was term time when I came ; accordingly I attended some little at the King's Bench, some at Chancery, at the Common Pleas, and at the sittings at Guildhall, — have also been in the House of Commons, and have heard argued several causes on appeal before the House of Lords, and some at the Cockpit before the Council, etc. The late Lord Chancellor Hardwick, the present Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, and the Lord Keeper Henley seem to be very much the Triumvirate who decide all matters of weight at whatever board. If a Committee of the Privy Council be appointed to hear any cause brought by appeal before the King in Council, Hard- wick and Mansfield are sure to be two of them, and to have no iftconsiderable hand in the determination. In the House of Lords, the Lord Keeper brings on no cause of appeal till Hardwick and Mansfield come, and truly the rest of the House seem to take but little notice of the arguments ; and as these gentlemen give their opinion, so the cause is deter- 16 LIFE AND TIMES OP mined. These three personages are great in the law and 't is well no doubt that a deference is paid to their opinion in law matters. I have heard an Attorney and Solicitor General, Advocate General of Scotland, and divers others speak at the Bar of this and '^tother court ; many of them speak well, and yet, was I not afraid of offending your mod- esty, I would tell you that I think I have heard somebody in Connecticut speak as well as any of them, I have not had the happiness of hearing Mr. Pitt speak in the House. He made a pretty alarming speech one day since my arrival ; but I was so unhappy as to be unwell that day. I have conversed with him at his own house. His manner is agreeable, but nothing very peculiar as to oratory is collectible, I think, from his private conversation. And now what shall I say further? If I should undertake to tell you how his Majesty and the several branches of the Royal family look, 't would be no very valuable piece of in- formation ; besides, you know already as much of that matter as you can by hearsay. Should I tell you Mr. Garrick is a very fine actor upon the stage, 't would be no news to you, and what the political world are about I know no more than you, and 'tis well if they all know what they are about themselves. May success attend his Majesty's- arms in America this cam- paign. Oh ! that peace was again restored to the earth. To this letter Johnson made an extended reply, and introduced topics of an exciting public charac- ter which centered in New Haven and its vicinity. It would be a pity to mar his sober view of them by an imperfect quotation, and therefore the whole of that part of his reply, which was dated September 10, 1759, is given in this connection. He began thus : — Deae Sm, — I now return you my hearty thanks for your kind favor of April 17, which arrived in July, while I was in New York ; but I had not the pleasure of reading it till my return home the beginning of August. The letter. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 17 I assure you, gave me great pleasure, both as it acquainted me witli your health and welfare, in which I shall always have the utmost satisfaction, but also, as it assured me that you still retain, amidst all the gayeties and brilliancies of London, some remembrance of us. May our friendship and affection still continue unabated and unaltered by any change of place, time, or circumstances. I should have answered your letter before, but the two last packets were hurried away so suddenly with the happy news of our successes, that we had no notice of their sailing, and since, the circuit has taken up most of my time till New Haven court, from whence I returned sick with the measles, of which I am now recovering. Mrs. IngersoU was the last person I saw in New Haven, who, with your son, was very well. She bears your absence with the patience of a heroine,' though I doubt not, as she says, she is extremely desirous of your return and anx- ious for the happy period when she may greet your return to your native country. The last thing I did at New Haven court was to lose the cause between Mr. Noyes and the society, for his salary, which you will believe I did not much regret. It is said the New Light Party lose ground and apprehend themselves in danger of 'becoming the minor party ; at least it is certain they are very solicitous for a division of the society, which was argued by them last Assembly, and is to come on again in October ; but is rather retarded by Mr. Noyes's party. You will not forget with how much warmth you urged it when we opposed it. The sides seem to be changed, and I, a poor hackney lawyer for bread, am compelled to espouse the cause of parties whose spirit I cannot enter into. But Tempora mutantur you know. In all these af- fairs, however, I endeavor to follow our friend Pope's advice, to retain my native moderation, and only go on as the storm drives. But why do I mention the religious controversies of New Haven when they are so far distanced by the controversy of Wallingford. This is a most high dispute, and engages 2 18 LIFE AND TIMES OF the attention of the whole Colony ; it took up a great part of the Assembly's time last session, and I presume will more of it in October, nothing having yet been done to put an end to it. What pity it is that you are not here to take part in this curious dispute (whether the people or the clergy shall supply the parishes with ministers), that you might gain a thorough understanding of your ecclesiastical consti- tution, the deep mysteries of which I doubt you have never yet looked into. But as the controversy will be in print, I hope you will not entirely by your absence lose the benefit • of those interesting disquisitions and researches which this dispute has occasioned ; and I trust your friends at New Haven will also preserve many curious anecdotes to acquaint you with at your return, as well as for the subject of their letters to you while you remain in England. Once in my life, Mr. Darling tells me, I am on the right side, — what he calls so I need not tell you. But I detain you too long on a subject which, though it bears the name of religion, I know you think very ill deserves the name, and is not of that importance which the zeal of parties would put upon it. Johnson was grateful for the account given of the English courts of law, and pleased to have an insight into the character and influence of the leading Lords in Council, but he rather playfully turned the words which put so high an estimate upon his own eloquence. "Your fine compliment to me," he said, " would indeed have made me blush had I not been prepared to impute it to your fondness for the pro- ductions of your dear native country, and your too partial friendship for me, which will not suffer you to see me in a true light." The next letter from Mr. IngersoU contains so many good things, including a graphic description of the country about London, as it then appeared, and WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 19 of the character of William Pitt, the statesman and orator, that it would not be well presented by ex- tracts. It is dated, — London, 22'1 December, 1759. Dbae Sir, — Your favor of the 10th September came safe to hand the 27th ult. If you knew with how much greediness my eyes devoured every line of what you are pleased to call a long tedious letter, you would not have made it a syllable shorter than it is. My native country, my native and early friends, have gained too strong hold of my affections to be soon forgotten by me; to hear of their welfare, therefore, must be ever agreeable to me, while de- tained at this great remove from them. I do assure you, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to think I shall yet again live with my family, and ride with you to Hartford and elsewhere, in the old round of business. It is true I live here very much at ease ; have enough to eat, drink, and wear ; and, thank God, enjoy a good state of health, and have a good appetite to taste these necessary enjoyments, and the other amusements, as well as the more profitable and instructive entertainments of this grand metropolis. Yet I look upon myself as a traveller only. I can cheerfully stay awhile, and with my present temper of mind, after that, can as cheerfully return to my proper home, and be content to live and die among my American friends. You write me, as do others of my friends, considerable of the religious jars and confusions, yet subsisting at New Haven and Wallingford. I must say to you, as I have to my other friends, if any person be troubled with a disputatious turn of mind in religious matters, let him be sent to London. There is something in the temperament of the air here, at this present day, so efficacious with regard to disorders of that kind, that I dare answer for it nine out of ten, that shall try the experiment, will meet with an effectual cure. You think it a pity I am not at home at this time, to gain an intimate acquaintance with the ecclesiastical condition 20 LIFE AND .TIMES OF of my country; the deep mysteries of which you seem to suppose I am not altogether master of. You know, sir, that people troubled with jaundice see all things yellow. I tell you again, send those yellow-sighted people to London, and they will see all things agreeably, and nothing out of order. The parson here who teaches, and the easy congregations who are taught, to be sure, spy no defect in the blessed con- stitution hierarchical ; and should either happen to discover any little flaw, I dare answer for it they would have more discretion than to disturb their neighbors about it. Nor are the people here in a mood to be disturbed by any such thing. To be serious, sir, you know my sentiments with regard to these things very well ; that not unfrequently the mighty bustle made about ecclesiastical constitution, and wrong steps in ecclesiastical proceedings, are but mere pretexts to cover what is really at bottom, — pride, envy, malice, insa- tiable thirst after dominion, superiority, and the like. I wish to God I may find all those disputes at an end before my return home ; for I do more than ever hate and despise them. Your observation on what I wrote you of the soil of this country, is doubtless very just ; that' the difference of fer- tility in different countries is very much owing to the num- ber and industry of the inhabitants. I mentioned to you the fertility of the grounds round about London. Since I wrote you I have seen much more of them, and when I have observed to Mr. Jackson (with whom I have frequently rode out) the richness of the herbage and produce, he always insists that the land about London on the north side the river, more especially, is naturally of a gravelly, barren kind ; and he has shown me many places less improved, — places dug up, etc., to evince it. Indeed, since I wrote you, I have had much more opportunity than I had before to observe the lands in different parts of the kingdom, and in the sum- mer season. I have been through Surrey, Sussex, into Essex, to Bristol, Bath, and across the Severn into some parts of Wales, and through many whole counties. I find the lands WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 21 different in different parts ; nor do I think any of them ex- ceed naturally, if they may compare with, the Hartford and Wethersfield lands, and perhaps some others in Connecticut. But when you consider that travel as far as you will, and where you will, you see no sunken swamps, no stony, unim- proved lands, nor any barren naked hills or other grounds (except some heath), every kind of soil improved in the proper way ; the more dry for plowing, thousands of acres together ; all the lower and more moist for mowing ; and the high smooth hills, as in Sussex, having neither tree, stone, nor fence, — called Downs, that yield a fine dry grass, im- proved for feeding thousands of sheep ; whatever roughness there was at the beginning, labor and industry have taken away. When you consider this, I say, and that nothing is left undone in point of tillage and manure -that can be done, or that could have been devised as best to be done, through so many hundreds of years, you will think that England is, as it really is, a very garden. Such, however, as I doubt not the western world will be ere long. And oh! that in- stead of knocking one another in the head, ye were employ- ing your hands to that more valuable purpose, in that infant, large, and fine country. Of these things I hope to tell you much more when I have the pleasure to see your face again. You seem desirous of some particular account of the characters of the more distinguished personages here, and of Mr. Pitt in particular. To oblige you I will undertake, according to my best information and knowledge of that good man, to draw his picture somewhat minutely, being confident he would forgive me if he knew it. As to his person, he is tall, rather slender than corpu- lent, not quite straight, but bending forward a little about the shoulders and head ; a thin face somewhat pale ; a Ro- man nose ; his legs pretty small, and almost all the way of a bigness, — his ankles being swelled with the gout, whicli makes him rather hobble than walk when he goes. His elocution is good, his voice clear, soft, and masculine. He delivers himself in the House, in public, in a manner distinct 22 LIFE AND TIMES OP and forcible. If he has any fault I think it is in his lan- guage being a little too much swollen ; seeming to border on bombast and fustian. I use harsh words to convey my mean- ing the better. You are to remember I say seeming to bor- der on that style. One is afraid as he goes along that he will fall into that style ; though I cannot say that he does. However, every one has a taste in these things. He makes use of a great many very brilliant and striking expressions, which, being attended with an air and manner sage and awful as a Cato, make a deep impression on the hearers ; and he may be truly said to be a great orator. I know for myself, I have heard him a good many half hours, and thought them short ones ; at the same time I believe he is a greater speaker than reasoner ; and some will have it that he is not most acquainted with the political state of Europe. Of that I can say nothing. In his temper and principles he is open and determined, polite and easy, with plainness in ordinary conversation ; yet rather blunt than soothing to persons who he thinks are not acting from truly patriotic principles. This, some think a fault ; and that by that means he needlessly offends some persons who may have it in their power to do mischief. However, as to this particu- lar, there are different opinions. If he alters his own opinion in any political matter, he is the first to tell it without any kind of hiding. I have heard him own in terms in the • House, that he had altered his opinion in some measure from what it formerly was, with regard to Continental Measures. That he despises money is most certain ; which gives occa- sion for his enemies to say he is lavish enough with the nation's money. Nor is he at all fond of pomp and show. He is obliged indeed to keep up something of it as a Secre- tary of State, but is never so happy when free from busi- ness as when with his family. I do not believe him insen- sible to the charms of honors ; but I have great reason to believe that his greatest pride, or ambition, is in deserving weU of his King and country ; and in receiving the just plaudits of the same. In a most charming speech he made WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 23 the first day of the session of ParUament, taking notice of some compliments that had been made by other gentlemen who spoke in the House before him, he said : — " If in anything I have contributed to the service of my country, I rejoice. My worthy friend who spoke last, was pleased to pay my services a high compliment, which I im- pute to the partiahty of that friendship with which he has been pleased to honor me. I will own I have a zeal to serve my country, and that beyond what the weakness of my frail body admits of. I hope I am in no danger of having my vanity flattered by any successes, or by any com- pliments made me in consequence. I am sure I think there is no room for it, when I consider how much the events of war depend on what the world calls chance, — a conjunction of incidents which man, short-sighted man, cannot foresee, nor provide against. And when I consider, as I have every day considered since your recess from Parliament, that it is uncertain whether the day shall end in acclamations of joy for good news received, or whether I shall fall a sacrifice to the fury of an enraged multitude, on account of some nota- ble disaster happening to the system of the war, which the world is always ready enough to impute to the want of ability, or faithfulness in those that more immediately assist his Majesty," etc., etc., etc. In a word, he is a great and good man, and has doubt- less from his character, principles, and manner had a very great and happy influence on the conduct and behavior of all ranks of men in the several departments of the war. I find I must break off, as my letter has swelled almost to a volume. As to news it is needless to write you, as you have the whole in public papers. I congratulate you most heartily on the successes in America and here, and hope peace will be the result. There is much talk of a peace, but I can say nothing- vidth certainty about it. Be so good as to call and see my little flock every time you go to New Haven. Remember me to Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Walker and family, and everybody who thinks of me or cares for me. 24 LIFE AND TIMES OF. I will send you a new court calendar as soon as they come out. I have taken a house very near Westminster Hall, where I spend much of my time in the several courts of law and legislation. I take minutes, which I afterwards form into something like reports. I don't know but you may see Ingersoll's Reports on the same shelf with Lord Coke's before you die. I want to see you that I may prattle a thousand such foolish things with you. No more, but that I remain your sincere friend and very humble servant, Jabed Ingeesoll. The correspondence between them was continued during Mr. Ingersoll's stay in London. In a letter dated November 8, 1759, Johnson acquainted him with events which have become memorable in his- tory, and which are alluded to in the foregoing. " When I wrote you last, we were in doubt whether General Wolfe would be able to take Quebec this fall ; but before this or perhaps even that letter comes to hand, you will have heard of the immortal honor which that General acquired on the Plains of Abraham, though with the loss of his life ; and of the surrender of that important capital. There wanted but a little longer time to have completed the conquest of Canada, which will be easily effected in another campaign, if the ministry think fit to con- tinue the war. General Amherst is also returned from his expedition on Lake Champlain, having de- stroyed almost all the marine strength of the enemy there, and secured to himself the fine navigation of that Lake which is of the utmost importance, — but it seems the severity of the weather would not per- mit him to proceed farther. The campaign, which WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 25 has proved a most glorious one in America, is now ended, and the troops are returning into winter- quarters. " Our General Assembly is also just now dissolved, whose resolves, so far as they relate to your agency, you will be acquainted with by his honor. I shall therefore only acquaint you that New Haven and Windsor are at last divided. New Haven on a plan pretty agreeable." The answer to this letter went largely into a scene of " pretty high complimenting " in the House of Commons, of which IngersoU was an eye-witness, and wherein one of the Commissioners of the Admiralty and Mr. Charles Townshend figured, making the re- cent triumph of the British arms in Scotland and Ireland, and the capitulation at Quebec, the text and subject of their encomiums on individual prowess and the militia system in England. " The House," said he, " was quite thrown into an acclamation of joy, and triumph ; it is right it should be so ; praise is the just reward of military virtue ; to be sure we have done brave things lately, and seem to be, as to ourselves, almost ready to leave oflf, as having con- quered enough, — but alas ! though we are nearly out of the wood, I don't know how long we must tarry for our friend and ally the King of Prussia. However, we will hope for the best and await the event." And then glancing back to court proceed- ings in his own colony, he added, — "1 ain glad to find that the weapons of war are at last taken from the contending powers at New Haven and Windsor. Amen and Amen. Walling- ford, it seems, and the King of Prussia, must fight a 26 LIFE AND TIMES OF little longer. I wish they may both very soon meet with a happy issue of all their distresses. And do Jones and Cooke yet stand side by side in the docket of controversy ? Methinks they fight after they are dead. I thought they, that is their cause, had spent the very last breath before I came away ; well, if they love to fight, for fighting sake, let them fight on, I say ; they have money enough, and I am very sure that out of the much they spend, my good friend will have a little. Everybody must be about something. The great Mr. P. and Marshall Belish are striving which shall get most Indian land in America, and Mr. Jones and Mr. Cooke are contend- ing which shall have most of good Mr. Cresswell's old tenor." WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 27 CHAPTER III. CHOSEN MEMBER OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY ; INOCULATION FOE SMALL-POX ; PASSAGE OF THE STAMP ACT, AND ARRIVAL OF JARED INGERSOLL STAMP-MASTER OP CONNECTICUT ; ACTION OP COLONIAL LEGISLATURES; FIRST CONGRESS AT NEW YORK ; REMONSTRANCES TO THE KING AND PARLIAMENT ; LETTER OF JAMES OTIS, AND REPEAL OP THE STAMP ACT. A. D. 1761-1765. In 1761 Mr. Johnson was chosen to represent the town of Stratford in the Lower House of the Gen- eral Assembly at its May session, and again he was elected to represent it at both the May and October sessions of 1765. That year he was first put in nomination as an Assistant, and took his seat in the Upper House at a time when wise and prudent and learned men were especially needed to temper the public mind, and infuse into legislative councils a cautious spirit. Previous to this, however, he had yielded to the wish often expressed to him by his father, that he would consent to be inoculated for the small-pox, that he might escape a disease to which, in his various journeys, he was liable, and which had already brought great sorrow to the fam- ily. This was before vaccination had been discovered by Edward Jenner, and applied by the medical pro- 28 LIFE AND TIMES OF fession as a preventive. Accordingly he went to New York with a friend, and placed himself under the care of a physician, who was giving his special attention to treatment by inoculation ; and with the Divine blessing, he was carried safely through the peril, and returned in good health to his household. Soon after reaching New York, he wrote to his father the follow- ing letter, dated April 2, 1764; which, besides speak- ing of his own " affair," gives other information that is valuable in history : — HoNOEED Sir, — You will see by the papers, that the Packet is arrived with two mails, as well as two other Lon- don ships ; but I do not find they have brought any very material news, except that of the expulsion of Wilkes, and his retiring into France. I have looked over several London papers, and see nothing worth communicating, only that it is said on the 16th of January, the Archbishop was still at Dr. Seekers, at Canterbury (where he had been to depose an offending clergyman), confined by the gout. Several gentle- men have mentioned to me a report as coming by the Packet, that Connecticut is to be divided between New York and the Massachusetts Bay; but I cannot discover any good founda- tion for the story. General Gage is confirmed in his com- mand, and is pushing forward an expedition against the Indians, under the command of Colonel Broadstreet. Mr. Cutting was to come with Davis, but could not finish his affairs soon enough. He is expected in Jacobson, who was to sail five days after. Captain Hopkins has safely arrived in England, but I yet hear nothing of Hubbard, etc. I hear you have letters, but cannot yet come at them. A French clergyman and a Dutch-English minister came in the Packet, and the Dutch congregation express great joy at the arrival of the latter. Mr. Watts has made me a very friendly visit, inquired very kindly after you (as does every- body I have seen), and desired me to send very freely to WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 29 him , for anything I may haTe occasion for. He tells me, by a letter from their agent, it appears very probable that all the colonies will be prohibited (as Connecticut and Massa- chusetts already are) from making any paper bills a tender, in private payments, at vehich they are much chagrined. Dr. Barclay was here last Saturday, though very illy able to go abroad ; he looks miserably, and I very much fear his constitution is ruined. His physicians have recommended riding on horseback to him ; if that or something else does not put him in a better state this spring, I think he must give up. He has a letter from Dr. Smith,i from Ireland, who has been very ill, — ten weeks confined to his bed, and intends soon to return to America, and leave Sir James ^ to take care of the afEairs of the colleges. They were dissuaded from setting on foot any subscription in Ireland, on account of the heavy losses the people have sustained by the excessive rains and floods ; but were advised to apply to Parliament, which they concluded to do, and to that purpose had engaged the assistance and friendship of the Primate, and other great personages. The collections in England had been returned, to the amount of £5,000 for each college, and it was thought in the whole would turn out about £6,000. Mr. Cooper has also been unwell, but is recovering : and skys he intends to make a visit this spring and once a year, as long as he and you live. On this account you will be so good as to let me know before I return how your port wine holds out, that if there should be occasion, I may send you a fresh supply. Mr. Stuyvesant is very well, and as usual verj'- friendly ; he supplies me with milk, on which I live almost entirely. No opportunity has yet offered to say anything of your affair, or of my own projects, as I have hitherto seen all our friends only in mixed company ; and I dare say when- 1 Rev. William Smith, D. D., soliciting funds for the College at Phila- delphia. 2 Sir James Jay, for the College in New York. 30 LIFE AND TIMES OF ever I do mention them, it will be to little purpose, as they seem all to be so engrossed by their own plans of private pleasure or profit, as to have very little time left to attend to anything else. I am very glad to see by yours to Mr. Auchmuty, that you are all well. As to our particular af- fair, we have been every day taking medicine of one kind or other, and this morning took physic. To-morrow the doc- tor proposes to inoculate us. He desires his compliments to you, and says everything has hitherto operated as he could veish. Meantime I am very calm and easy about the affair, have good spirits, and doubt not, by the blessing of God, shall pass safely through the distemper. I am much more concerned for you and my dear wife than for myself ; but hope you will not be anxious. I don't knovv whether it will be safe for me to write after inoculation ; if not shall get somebody else to let you know how we are. The news of the passage of the Stamp Act had reached America, and the Connecticut stamp-master, Jared IngersoU, who had been a second time in Eng- land, had already arrived, and been met with violent and insulting opposition in the attempt to execute the duties of his ofl&ce. It was a vastly disquieting measure, and the popular ferments spread in every direction. Mr. IngersoU, who did not resign as soon as he saw the temper of the country, addressed the General Assembly, convened at Hartford by special order of the Governor, and, after briejfly reciting the history of the act, expressed the hope that tumults would be avoided, and the people of the Colony saved from going into any violent measures. But his address availed nothing towards allayino- the popular uneasiness. It was followed by extraordi- nary resistance, and a declaration was extorted from him to renounce the ofl&ce of stamp-master, — an WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 31 office which, he frankly informed the Board of Com- missioners at home, was " at that time the most odious -of anything that can well be imagined. I have found myself," he continued, " in the most dis- tressed situation between the obligations of my ofl&ce and the resentments of the people ; but hope it will not be long before I shall be rid of both." -^ The Colonial legislatures took up the matter, and hoping that England would have more respect for the opposition and remonstrances of a united body, than for the complaints of private individuals, they accepted a proposition, first suggested by James Otis, of Massachusetts, to hold a Congress of all the Colonies, — a Congress which should consist of com- missioners or committees, appointed by the several General Assemblies, and consult together about the best method of allaying the popular excitement, and seeking relief from various acts of the British Par- liament. This Congress was appointed to meet at New York, on the first Tuesday of October, 1765, which was the first day of the month, and twenty -seven commission- ers from nine of the thirteen Colonies were present ; Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and New Hamp- shire not being represented. Johnson, with Eliphalet Dyer and David Rowland, appeared for Connecticut; and the proceedings, which were not hurriedly entered upon, lasted till three o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th, when the Congress broke up, and the members returned to their homes. It was a body of men that assembled to state the grievances of the Colonies, and not to give utterance to any sentiments of disloyalty to the King and the English Government. 1 IngersoU's Letters, p. 55. 32 LIFE AND TIMES OF The Stamp Act was a measure of Grenville, the minister, who, after the close of the war with France, in 1763, conceived the idea that the Americans ought to support themselves ; and^that being colonial sub- jects, and not free Britons, it was perfectly proper to impose duties upon them, to obtain a revenue with- out allowing them the privilege of a hearing or rep- resentation in Parliament. Chatham, Colonel Barre, and General Conway in vain opposed the measure, and its adoption and enforcement led the Colonists to examine their situation, and finding that they were not deserters from England, or transported for any fault or crime, but that all the settlements were made under express charters from the crown, and by con- sent of the government, they claimed to be British subjects, and to be entitled, under the rights, liberties, and laws of England, to every privilege enjoyed by them in the old country. It was upon these conclu- sions that the proceedings and resolves of the Con- gress were based, and the tax declared to be illegal. Johnson concurred in all, and was a guiding and controlling spirit in the Assembly. He drew up the petitions, and remonstrances to the King and two Houses of Parliament, which the President, Timothy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, refused to sign. This was kept a profound secret, as he could not have returned home through New England in safety had the fact ■ become known. The commissioners or delegates re- ported their doings to the several Colonial Legis- latures, and in Connecticut the thought was enter- tained of sending a special agent to London with the documents, and Johnson was named as a suitable per- son to be intrusted with the duty. A letter to him WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 33 from James Otis, dated at Boston, November 12, 1765, refers to this ; and as it has never been pub- lished entire, and is otherwise interesting as showing the spirit of the times, it may be well to produce it just as it was written : — Dkak Sie, — I received yours, and am very glad to find your Assembly so far approving of the measures taken at the Congress. I could have wished they had sent an agent from among them. I had the pleasure, as I came through the Colony, to hear you named as a candidate. The As- sembly here have done us the honor fully to approve of our proceedings, and have voted the thanks of the House to their Committee. There was a motion to except the Briga dier, our notable President ; but as he was absent, I apolo gized for his strange conduct as well as I could, and the pro- posed discrimination subsided. The people of this Province, however, will never forgive him. We are much surprised at the violent proceedings at New York, as there has been so much time for people to cool, and the outrages on private property are so generally detested. By a vessel from South Carolina, we learn that the people were in a tumult at Charleston, and terrible consequences apprehended. God knows what all these things will end in, and to Him they must be submitted. In the mean time, 'tis much to be feared the Parliament will charge the Colonies with presenting petitions in one hand, and a dagger in the other. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as I do for your prosperity, and am much your friend and humble servant, J. Otis. The petitions and remonstances of this Congress, the continued resistance and disorders in America, and the troubles and commotions in England com- bined to make the juncture a critical one for the government. G-renville was at length dismissed, and a new ministry was formed, with the Marquis of 34 LIFE AND TIMES OF Rockingham as the first Lord of the Treasury, and Conway, a zealous friend to the American cause, as Secretary of State for the Colonies. In just one year after its passage, the Stamp Act-^ was repealed ; and the Governor and Company of the Colony of Con- necticut sent an address to the King, penned again by Johnson, " returning their most grateful tribute of humble and hearty thanks to his Majesty," for the favor, and among other things thus reciting in courtly phrase : " The unshaken loyalty of this Colony, and their warm devotion to your Majesty, and your glo- rious progenitors of the illustrious House of Hano- ver, have ever been the boast of this Colony. Under their auspicious protection, we have enjoyed in their full extent those rights and liberties granted by your Royal progenitors, and established upon the public faith, — which, from smaJl beginnings, have, under God, been the means of rendering this Colony a valuable part of your Majesty's dominions ; and as your Majesty's gracious condescension, upon the late most important and interesting occasion, must in the strongest manner engage the hearts and affections of all your subjects to your Majesty, so we beg leave to assure your Majesty that we think ourselves bound by the strongest ties of religion, loyalty, and grati- tude, to make all the dutiful returns that can be paid by the most obedient subjects to the best and most indulgent Sovereign.' 1 Appendix A. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 35 CHAPTER IV. SPECIAL AGENT TO GREAT BKITAIN ; DEGREE FROM OXFORD UNITERSITT; ARRIVAL IN LONDON; LETTERS TO HIS FATHER; VISIT TO CAMBRIDGE ; GRBNVILLE's HOSTILITY TO THE AMER- ICAN COLONIES ; CHARLES TOWNSHEND AND NEW TAXATION ; APPEARANCE BEFORE THE LORDS IN COUNCIL ; HIS ELO- QUENCE. A. D. 1765-1767. In February, 1766, Connecticut wag cited to appear before the King and Lords in Council, to answer in a matter which had been kept in agitation for nearly seventy years, and concerned the title to a large tract of land that Lieutenant Governor Mason was appointed to obtain for the Colony, from the Mohe- gan Indians. He took the deed to himself, and the fact remained unnoticed imtil after his death ; when the property was claimed by his heirs for services rendered to the Indians, as their agent. It was a part of their suit, too, to oppose the claim of Connec- ticut under pretense of protecting the rights of the Indians ; and they appealed from the legal decisions against them in this country to the highest tribunal in England : while the title to the land was valuable, the most important question was one which affected the chartered rights of the Colony ; for had they suc- ceeded, " the conduct of Mason would have been adjudged fraudulent, and the British Government 36 LIFE AND TIMES OF would have made it a ground for taking away the charter." Dr. Johnson — for by this time the University of Oxford had honored him with the degree of Doctor of Laws ^ — was appointed by the General Assembly, at its October Session, 1766, to proceed to England, and defend in that cause. The time for appearance was short ; but wishing to be personally informed respecting the Indians, he went to Mohegan himself, and with the aid of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor called a council of them, and after care- ful inquiry into their circumstances and condition, found them contented and happy, with no complaints to raise against the government of the Colony. Re- pairing to New York, he went on board the Halifax packet the day before Christmas, and after a bois- terous voyage, arrived at Falmouth, and reached London on the 8th of February, in season to enter his appearance before the Lords in Council, prior to the day assigned. As he had been directed to do by the General Assembly, he consulted Eichard Jack- son, the colony's resident agent, prepared the case for trial, and notified Mason, the representative of the claimants, that he was ready for the hearing. But then Mason declared that he was unprepared, and must have time to send to New England for fur- ther evidence ; and as it was a court without terms, sitting only when business was pressing, and the law lords would attend, Johnson had no means of com- pelling him to a trial, and was, therefore, by various delays and postponements, detained in England far beyond the limit he had expected to be absent. 1 It was conferred January 23(1, 1766. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 37 The following is the first long letter which he wrote to his father after his arrival, and after he had obtained some knowledge of the views and policy of leading statesmen, in regard to American affairs. It was a time when vigorous efforts were in progress to secure the consecration of Bishops for this country, and he quietly used his influence in this direction, but gave his father little or no hope of immediate success, and cautioned him against making public his letters, especially when he took the liberty to men- tion names, and even private conversations. London, April Afh, 1767. Honored Sir, — I have the inexpressible pleasure to find by yours of the 11th of February, that you and my family were then all well, as I have the satisfaction to inform you I have been myself ever since I left you. I hope long before this time you have received my first letter, acquainting you with the very boisterous passage we had to Falmouth, and of my safe arrival here. Nothing very material, either with regard to the public or myself, has occurred since my last, of the 6th and 10th of March, to you, and of the 14th to my wife. The Ministry patched up a temporary peace amongst themselves about that time, and have continued since, tolerably, to save ap- peai^ances ; but from every circumstance it appears that the friendship is not very sincere, and that there is little cordial harmony amongst them ; so that a change is much talked of, and by some confidently expected. Lord Chatham and Lord Shelburne are together ; the Duke of Grafton and Secretary Conway are pretty well agreed ; but do not, it is said, altogether approve of the designs of the two first, and Charles Townshend will be directed by none of them, and is beside so unsteady that he has no fixed plan of his own. The East India affair has taken up all the time of the House of Commons, and is yet as undetermined and uncertain as 38 LIFE AND TIMES OF ever. The 30th and 31st of March, I was present at two very warm debates, in the House of Lords, on American affairs, particularly the refusal of New York to billet the troops, in which the Duke of Richmond, Earls Temple, Talbot, Sandwich, Suffolk, and Lords Lyttleton, Weymouth, Ravensworth, etc., were very severe upon the Colonies, and those lords who last year denied the right of Parliament to tax the Colonies. The Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Graf- ton, and Lord Shelburne endeavored to defend their former opinions, and to soften the resentments against the Colonies, though they would not attempt to excuse the conduct of New York. They all seemed zealous enough to do some- thing effectual upon this occasion, but were by no means agreed what course to take, and there is some reason to im- agine that the difficulties they will meet with, when they set down in earnest to form any plan, will be too many to be got over during the remainder of this session. There is no great danger, I believe, of their meddling with our Charters at present, and you will see by my last that nothing is like to be done while I am here, relating to the affair you mention, so that my countrymen (if they are any of them jealous of me), may make themselves easy as to any mischief they may imagine I might do them ; and I wish I may find it in my power, as much as I am sure it is in my inclination, to do them some service. 1 can make no guess yet when the Mohegan case will come on. We have preferred a petition for the New Hampshire Lands, upon which I have had several audiences of Lord Shelburne, the principal manager of American affairs, who speaks very favorably upon the subject. The Society have also petitioned for a confirmation of their rights, and done me the honor to appoint me their agent in that affair ; so that I have business enough in hand to prevent my acquiring any habits of idleness while I am in England. Some time since I happily met the Bishop of Oxford at Dr. Burton's, and seized the opportunity to give him your and my own thanks for his Prelections, with which he was WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 39 certainly not displeased. As you desired me, I went into a conversation with him on the study of Hebrew. He has never seen Parkhurst's Lexicon, and could tell me nothing about it, and thinks Taylor's Concordance and Lexicon the best, — which, by the way, I will get for you if you would like to have it. When I inquired about the state of the Hutchinsonians, he replied, that whim is very much declining, and going out of vogue, and seemed to think that Dr. Sharpe had sufficiently answered them in those points which he undertook ; but upon the whole I thought he had not very much attended to those matters, nor made any particular examination of the Hutchinsonian principles. He was so kind as to ask me to come and see him, which T did very soon, when he entered into a conversation on the state of religion, etc., both in this country and in America, which fully confirmed me in the opinion which I had before conceived, that in this country there is not much religion amongst the highest and lowest ranks of people, though I hope there is a good deal among the middling sort. The King, the Bishops to a man, and the worthy serious part of the people, were, he said, enough disposed to do everything that could be wished for the in- terest of religion in America. But the great people, and the Ministry, whatever party prevailed, would give no attention to subjects of that kind, partly because they hardly think them worth their attention, having been so long neglected, but especially because the different parties are so continually opposing, persecuting, and perplexing each other, that those in power have always enough to do to keep themselves in place, and in any tolerable manner get along with those af- fairs which are absolutely necessary to be done. Add to this that the changes have of late been so frequent, that if they were ever so well inclined, they were removed before they could have time to digest and execute any plan of importance. His Lordship is as polite and affable as he is learned. When I mentioned his controversy with the Bishop of Gloucester, he answered, it was not a controversy, but an idle squabble, which his Lordship of Gloucester had drawn 40 LITE AND TIMES OF him into, and wliicli he was very willing to forget. Since you are pleased, said he, to take notice of my Lectures in America, I will send you a dozen of my larger confutation of Bishop Hare, for your father, Dr. Auchmuty, Dr. Cooper, Dr. Chandler, and such as you think they may be agreeable to. They are not yet come to hand, but I dare say he will not forget to send them in due time. I hare not seen his Grace since I wrote you, but intend to wait upon him ere long. I have already acquainted you that I had informed him of what you had written m6 relating to the Indian schools, and that I doubt not he has taken in very good part all you have said to him. I am much obliged to Mr. Harrison for his kind letter, and intentions to recommend me to Sir George Savile, with whom I should gladly enough be acquainted, though I have already more acquaintances than I very well know how to attend to, and find it not very difficult to make others, as I may have occasion. If I go into the North I will certainly make a visit to Mrs. Bell, and hope I shall be able to find some traces of the relation which you imagine subsists between us. I am much obliged to Mr. Chapman for his kindness and assistance to my family, and beg he will accept my particu- lar thanks ; and with compliments to him and to all friends, and tenderest love to my wife and children, I remain. Hon- ored Sir, your most dutiful son and humble servant, Wm. Samuel Johnson. Dr. Johnson became somewhat impatient, and, ac- cording to the entries in his Diary, made frequent visits to Richard Jackson, to consult with . him and others upon the Mohegan case. But still the hearing was delayed, and the business of his special agency could not be accomplished. On Friday, the 17th of April, he " set out at four o'clock, with Temple ^ and Palmer, for Cambridge," and was absent from Lon- 1 Appendix B. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 41 don ten days, spending Easter at the seat of that venerable University, and making himself acquainted with Heads of Colleges, and objects of interest. One of the most exciting and important debates on American affairs that ever took place in Parlia- ment was entered upon immediately after his return to the metropolis. Irritating resolutions were pro- posed in the House on the 15th of May, and after an eloquent advocacy by Townshend, adopted without a division. These were followed by other severe measures, and Grenville, in one of his impassioned speeches, looking up to the gallery of spectators, said, " I hope there are no American agents pres- ent ; I must hold such language as I would not have them hear." And yet Johnson dared to sit there, at the risk of being arrested and imprisoned, and to take down the words of the debaters and transmit them to his friends in Connecticut. It should be mentioned here that Grenville and his political connections were hostile to America, and he took every opportunity in Parliament to say harsh things about the Colonies, and to complain of his dismission from the ministt'y, and the repeal of the Stamp Act. He was indirectly the promoter, if not the cause of the second class of taxation, which finally became the ground of the Revolution. According to Johnson, who carefully noted the drift of Parlia- mentary measures, this second taxation originated in a peculiar and unexpected manner. Lord Chatham was Prime Minister at the time, and as is well known, opposed to raising a revenue in America by the im- position of duties ; but unfortunately, at the opening of Parliament (1767), he was seized with a fit of the 42 LIFE AND TIMES OF gout, and went down to Bath, and was confined there and at Marlborough during the whole session. The leadership in the House of Commons was intrusted in his absence to Charles Townshend, one of the Ministry, a young man of fine talents, and an able speaker and manager, — but full of fire and fre- quently off his guard. Whether designedly or not is uncertain ; but Grenville took advantage of his impulsiveness, and one evening when he was declaim- ing as usual on American affairs, he went so far as to say, addressing himself to the minister, " You are cowards; you are afraid of America," repeating the taunt in different language, upon which Townshend took fire, rose and said, " Pear, fear, cowards, dare not tax America. I dare tax America." For a few moments Grenville stood silent and then said, " Dare you tax America? I wish to God I could see it." And Townshend replied, " I will, I will." " Next morning," relates Johnson in his narrative, " I knew from an American and member of Parlia- ment, — a friend of Townshend, with whom he and others had supped, — that at supper he said, ' I have done a very foolish thing to-night, which Mr. Gren- ville's impetuosity has driven me into, to promise to tax America. I love America, and don't wish to harass them ; but cannot you, gentlemen, tell me of some paltry tax to impose, by which I can get out of the scrape, and stop the mouths of these wrangling disputants.' " And so the tax upon tea was afterwards levied, as being least calculated to be disagreeable to the American people. But how little had British statesmen comprehended the true principle which lay at the bottom of the whole controversy ! It was not WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 43 the quantity or the quaUty of the tax — whether it was burdensome or light — that concerned the Colo- nies. They denied the right of England to lay any tax at all upon them, and Grenville's great argument, which he was perpetually enforcing in Parliament, and which the friends of America were least able to answer or oppose, was that the late war, known by us in history as the old French War, had been under- taken at the request of the Colonies, and solely for their benefit j that, though successful in removing from them an enemy of whom they had been greatly in fear, and by whom they had been much perplexed, it had been attended with an immense expense ; and that, therefore, they ought to bear a part of it, as well as to take upon themselves to provide in some degree for the support of their own provincial gov- ernments. Among other letters to his countrymen, giving an account of Parliamentary proceedings, Johnson wrote to his father from London, May 18th, 1767, as fol- lows : — HoNOEED Sir, — We have been for some time in anx- ious expectation of the Parliamentary discussion of Ameri- can affairs, which has been repeatedly postponed till last Wednesday ; when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a Committee of the whole House, opened the plan, which con- sists of these particulars : An Act of Parliament to disfran- chise New York, or in other words, disable them from mak- ing any laws whatever, till they submit to the late Act of Parliament for quartering soldiers : To establish a Board of Commissioners of Customs in America, similar to that here, in order the better to prevent smuggling : To impose taxes upon paper, window-glass, china ware, white lead, and painters' colors, upon wine, oil, lemons, and raisins from 44 LIFE AND TIMES OF Portugal, and permit American ships to proceed directly from thence to the Colonies : And to render the governors and judges in the king's governments independent of the people, by establishing their salaries, the first at £2,000, and the latter at X500 per annum, to be paid out of the Amer- ican revenue. The first of these is already passed, and most of the others -will probably be come into. Several of these regulations, especially that with respect to New York and the independency of the governors, will no doubt be thought, as indeed they are, very severe, and will probably widen the breach between this country and that ; but at present all ob- jections are disregarded ; the spirit is warm against America, and they seem resolved to enforce obedience to the Legisla- ture of this country, and bring the Colonies to what they esteem a proper state of obedience. Mr. Grenville, among other things, proposed a political test for America, that no person should be allowed to sit in any assembly or exercise any office in the Plantations without first subscribing a Dec- laration, nearly in the words of the late Declaratory Act of Parliament, acknowledging the sovereignty of this countrj', and the right of Parliament to tax America. The spirit is greatly changed with respect to America ; last year they were all for favoring and relieving us ; now they are as much engaged to lay burdens upon us, and re- duce us to subjection. So unstable are the counsels of the nation ! They do not choose to attack us all at once, lest the Colonies should again unite, and it was for some time a doubt which to take first, New York or Massachusetts Bay ; but as the disobedience of the first was the most direct, they con- cluded to begin with that Province, and she is to serve for an example to the other Colonies, who, they imagine, not being attacked, will take no part in the dispute. On Friday, the report of the Committee being made to the House, a motion was made for re-committing the resolu- tions relating to New York ; but after a long debate it was approved. Mr. Grenville then moved his Test above men- tioned, which, after a further warm debate, he lost — 43 to WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 45 146. After this he said, since he saw the House would not come into any effectual resolutions in support of their own sovereignty and authority, he hoped they would at least do something for those who had endeavored to support it in America, and had suffered in consequence of their obedience to the Acts of this Legislature, meaning the Stamp Act ; he therefore moved that an humble address should be presented to his Majesty, that he would be pleased to bestow some marks of his favor upon those governors and officers in America who had suffered by their loyalty, etc. ; in which all parties concurred with him, and it was carried, nemine contradicente. He also moved for some Parliamentary fa- vors to the Island of Barbadoes, for their distinguished loy- alty, but this was rejected. Thus you see there is at pres- ent neither inclination nor opportunity to provide for any Americans except those who incurred the resentment of the people of that country, by their conduct relative to the Stamp Act. ' The Chief Justiceship of New York is thought of for Mr. Ingersoll, but it may be best not to mention this at present, as it is not j'et known whether the engagement which had been made of it to another person (I imagine Mr. Gardiner) can be decently avoided, but he and the other sufferers will certainly have the first things that offer. Upon looking into the papers relating to the dispute be- tween the Governors of the College of New York, and Sir James Jay, in which they have desired me to assist Mr. Tre- cothick, I find, as I apprehended, that Sir James intends to make use of the letters he has obtained from you, and of your evidence against the College. They insist that he of- fered his service to them. He says you first applied to him in behalf of the College, and persuaded him to undertake the affair. They say (and so is the Report of the Committee under your hand, you being one of them) that he was to have such an allowance for his trouble, etc., as they should judge reasonable. He insists (and founds himself upon your letter) that they were not to judge of the reward, but that it was to be generous and honorable, and therefore demands 46 LIFE AND TIMES OF a guinea per day for his expenses, and the like sum for his services for two years, amounting to above X 1,500 sterling. It is possible the matter may be accommodated (which I shall labor to effect very sincerely), but in case it should not, your evidence will no doubt be called for; certainly by Sir James, and very probably by the College. I do not indeed imagine that what he has from you already will greatly serve him ; but I mention it to you now, that you may be upon your guard, and write nothing farther to either party, nor give any evidence but in a regular way, and after an exami- nation of the Report of the Committee, which you signed, and the copies of the letters which you have written, which, I shall insist with Sir James if he moves for a commission to examine you, that you shall be furnished with. A change of Ministry is still expected, but it is uncertain when it will take place, or who will turn up. Lord Chat- ham is quite disabled from public business, and it is even believed that his understanding is impaired. The East India affair, which has been all winter in agitation, is yet unsettled, and a very late session of Parliament is expected. You see by my last to my wife, that I have been at Cambridge, and was highly pleased with that University. I intend to go to Oxford as soon as Parliament rises, which I hope may be some time in June. I promised myself the pleasure of letters from you by the Packet which arrived last week ; but am disappointed, and impatient to know how you all do. Blessed be God, I enjoy perfect health, and with tenderest love to my wife and the children, and compliments to all friends, I remain, Honored Sir, your most dutiful son and humble servant, Wm. Samuel Johnson. Mr. IngersoU, to whom he wrote under the same date, informing him of the proceedings in Parhament, rephed on the 23d of July, and expressed his surprise and pleasure that he should be the object of Parlia- mentary attention, and added : " I am very sensible WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 47 of my being indebted for this favor very much to the assiduous friendship and goodness of Mr. Whately as it happens I had written him and you from New York, where I happened to be in the beginning of May, with regard to any royal favor that might be intended for me. I will frame no objections, to the Chief Justiceship of New York, if obtainable, nor to a seat at the new Board of Eevenue, nor to any other that you shall approve of, as I still have a full confi- dence both in your judgment and friendship, of which, indeed, Mr. Whately is pleased to give me new and fresh proofs in his letter that came with yours." He was a keen observer of political events, and said to Johnson : " You must have been in a pretty particular situation when surreptitiously in the House, hearing Master Grenville declaim. I hope he said nothing worse than bad about us ; New York, we imderstand, has complied with the Billetting Act. So has escaped the intended blow." When the time appointed for the first hearing of the Mohegan case had arrived, Johnson was well pre- pared to appear before the Lords in Council. He knew his position. It was a novel thing for an American lawyer to plead in so high a court, and some curiosity was awakened to see how he would acquit himself. The Lords and Statesmen who heard him were not only astonished but charmed by his eloquence, and the impression which he made and the knowledge he displayed, gained him friends among the most cultivated minds of the British realm. An idea may be formed of the simple power of his oratory, by citing here, though a little in an- ticipation of the order of events, an anecdote which 48 LIFE AND TIMES OF is told of him wlien engaged in the trial of the fa- mous Susquehanna case. That was an old contro- versy between Connecticut and Pennsylvania about the jurisdiction of the valley of Wyoming, and late in the autumn of 1782, Commissioners acting under the appointment of the Congress of the United States met at Trenton, to hear the parties in inter- est, and finally determine the question of proprietor- ship. Dr. Johnson was one of the three agents for Connecticut, and the opposing counsel, in the course of his argument, had read some ancient writing, recorded on a long roll of parchment, which was strangely interlarded with passages of Scripture, and with which he made the Commissioners merry and jocose by denominating them puritanical fantasy. When Johnson rose to reply, he was slightly em- barrassed, as appeared by his frequent coughing and expectoration ; but soon recovering himself, and feeling the sting of the reflection upon his native State conveyed in the words puritanical fantasy, he seized the parchment, and reading with his silvery voice and in a tone of marked solemnity the same passages, he infused an awe into the whole audience ; and then suddenly dropping it, and lifting his hands and eyes to heaven, he exclaimed, " Great God ! is all this fantasy ! " That moment the parchment, dis- missed from his hands, rolled as by a spontaneous im- pulse to his feet ; a chill went over the Assembly so perceptible that the narrator declared he could not, at the distance of twenty years, repeat the anecdote without experiencing again the same sensation. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 49 CHAPTER V. JOURKETS IN THE COUNTEY ; ATTENDANCE AT COURTS; AMERI- CAN BISHOPS ; LETTERS TO HIS FATHER ; EXCURSION INTO FRANCE ; CLERICAL AND LITERARY ASSOCIATES ; OPINION OP CONNECTICUT. A. D. 1767-1768. On the 13th of June, Johnson set out in company with Robert Temple and others on a tour into the country, visited Oxford where he spent several days, and then passed on through Stratford-on-Avon, Cov- entry, Worcester, and Hereford, into Wales, and was back again in London by the middle of July, to re- new his attention to the Mohegan case, and watch the interests of the American Colonies. Finding that the business of his special agency would not require his continued presence in town, he joined Temple in an- other excursion, and went to Canterbury on the 17th of September, where he was very kindly entertained by Mr. Lance, a brother-in-law of Mr. Temple, whose " house was situated upon an eminence extremely pleasant," a mile or two out of the city. A week was spent in the County of Kent, visiting various places of historic interest ; and having accom- panied Temple to Gravesend, where he embarked for America on the 24th, and taken leave of him, he returned immediately to London, and entered upon 50 LIFE AND TIMES OP iinother journey into the North of England. Passing through Norwich, Yarmouth, and East Durham, he arrived on the 5th of October at Weasenham Hall, the country seat of Richard Jackson, in Norfolk, and tarried with him a couple of days. From thence he rode to Tittleshall Church, where he " viewed with a kind of reverence the elegant monument of the great Lord Chief Justice Coke;" and proceeded, to Rayn- ham, " the noble seat of the Lord Viscount Town- shend," and viewed the curiosities of that place, and the graves of the family, one of which had been opened just a month before to receive the body of Charles Townshend, the late leader in the House of Commons, whose brilliancy and impetuosity were yet fresh in his remembrance. This journey was extended through the fen coun- try to Lincoln, Kingston-upon-Hull, and Cherry Bur- ton near Beverley, and was undertaken, among other things, for the purpose of inquiring into the origin of his family, whose ancient seat was at the latter place. He wrote an agreeable letter to his father from York, giving an account of his visit, and of his failure to discover the circumstances attending the emigration of his ancestors.-^ On returning to London, October 24th, he found one of his American friends (Captain Robinson) sick with the small-pox, to whom he devoted special at- tention, seeing that all possible care was taken of him, and upon his death he attended his funeral, which was in a church with a sermon, and afterwards sohcited from members of his club money to defray the expenses of the illness and burial. Dr. Johnson 1 See Life and Correspondence of SamuelJohnson, pp. 318-320. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 51 at this time was somewhat unwell himself, and sought medical advice ; but from the 6th of November, the first day of the term, having paid for a seat in the King's Bench for the term, he was in almost constant attendance in Westminster Hall; hearing a variety of cases tried, and listening to opinions of the Court delivered by Lord Mansfield. He was present in the House of Lords on the 24th of the same month, when, as he noted in his Diary, " the King opened the ses- sion of Parliament with a most gracious speech, which he pronounced admirably well." The consecration of Bishops for America was a sub- ject which lay very near the heart of his venerable father, and he could not refrain from making frequent allusions to it in his letters to his son, and hoped he might have some opportunity of using his influence to good purpose in persuading the rulers of the Church of England to grant the boon. In this country, " an Appeal to the Public " in behalf of an American Episcopate had been issued, written by Dr. Chandler, of Elizabethtown, N. J., and though sharply attacked, it had been so well defended that reasonable men here could see no objection to the plan proposed. But the untoward course of public events prevented its execution, and led the Home Government to truckle to the spirit of a dominant and intolerant Independency. The "Appeal" was sent to Dr. Johnson in London, by a young man (Mr. Epenetus Townsend) going over for Holy Orders, and in the following letter he . acknowledged its re- ception, and spoke discouragingly of renewing the effort as things then were : — 52 LIFE AND TIMES OF London, Jan'y 9th, 1768. Honored Sib, — In my last of the 26tli of December to my wife I acknowledged the receipt of yours of the 5th of October by Mr. Townsend and now return you my particular thanks for it, and bless God for the continuance of your health and my own, which remains very good, only I find since my last fall fever I am not quite so robust, and more apt to take colds than I used to be, and am therefore obliged to be more careful of myself, especially since winter set in, which has been quite severe with alternate rain, snow, and frost now near a month. Mr Townsend seems to be a very worthy man, and I dare say will make a useful clergyman wherever he is placed, but there seems to be some doubt about erecting a new Mission for him at Salem ; yet as he seems to have it much at heart, and I think it would be useful, I shall certainly do him all the service in my power, and have some encouragement from Dr. Burton that it may succeed. I am sorry to hear of Billy Nicholls' death, who I hoped, notwithstanding his wildness, might have at last made a useful man. My time was in- deed too short at Oxfoi-d, though I made the best I could of every moment of it, and saw almost everything worth no- tice, but it would give me great pleasure to review the prin- cipal of them again with more leisure and attention, but I am not sure I shall be able to effect it. -The Appeal (which was delivered me by Mr. Townsend) is an excellent performance, and will at least, I hope, tend to soften the minds of those in America who have been averse to this design, as well as stimulate those who have been lukewarm and prepare them against some more fortunate juncture, which may so.me time or other perhaps happen here ; but at present it will I believe have no effect in this country, nor be at all attended to by any of those who can alone effectuate a matter of this nature. You do not know enough (give me leave to say) of the true state of this country, nor its present policy so far as it has any, to judge properly of this affair, nor can I explain it fully, till I see WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 53 you. If I find it has any effect, I will let you know — mean- time continue to practice that Christian patience you have so long exercised, and satisfied that you have now done all you can, make yourselves as easy about it as you can. I have been very unlucky in not meeting Mr. Parkhurst, having been twice at his house in Epsom and he as often at my lodgings without success. But our friend Mr. Berkeley I have had several conversations with. He is a most friendly, communicative, pious man, perhaps a little too severe and warm upon some occasions. He. has a worse opinion of the moral and'political state of things here, if possible, than I have, and makes most grievous complaints of the decay of piety and orthodoxy and the increase of Deism, Socinianism, and Irreligion. The Hutchinsonians, he says, have been im- prudent, and laid too much stress upon trifles in many in- stances; but the general System is by no means decaying, but rather gaining ground, and he thinks must and will flourish. He laments much the situation of Mr Jones, who is declining in health and he thinks cannot live long. He affirms that he is without exception the most learned man now in the three kingdoms. When he wrote upon the Trinity and Natural Philosophy, he had only a poor curacy of about £25 per annum, and was, with his family, chiefly supported by the charity of the Hutchinsonians at Oxford, but has now a liv- ing of £300 per annum in Kent, given him by the good Abp., and being thus at ease had it in intention to have wrote many things would his health have permitted. Home, he says, is steadfast and will never fail ; he thinks him one of the best of men, meek, though zealous, a sincere Christian as well as a most learned man. He likes Parkhurst's Lexicon, and thinks the Greek one of the New Testament, which he is publishing, will be also a very good performance. He has a warm affection for you and for the memory of my dear brother, and bid me tell you that he envies your happiness in America, where he thinks there is much orthodoxy and true piety — bids you in God's name not to be discouraged, but 54 LIFE AND TIMES OF all go on to establish the foundations laid there ; and whether the lukewarm people here will take any notice of you or not, since the cause is of God, it must and will flourish and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it. A departure from the true Faith and the neglect of vital piety has, says he, in a manner undone us here, and if we do not reform will soon complete our ruin ; and the adherence to the one and practice of the other will as surely build you up in America, and render that country the asylum of all good men, even from hence, who will ere long be obliged to fly there from the boundless impiety and approaching destruction of this dissolute and abandoned nation. This is a specimen of Mr Berkeley's general conversation, his particular anecdotes of kings and persons are too many, and most of them too pointed to put into writing, but will serve very well for the amusement of conversation. He is not alone, I find, in his idea of America's becoming a refuge at the ruin of this country ; many of the friends of the Col- onies think they see the period hastening, and rejoice that they have open to them so happy a retreat and are for that reason I believe the more our friends. I have a letter from Mr B. since Christmas, in which he desires me to present you his Mother's, his Lady's, and his own compliments of that holy season, and promises to be in town again sometime in February. My last contained a full account of the late change of Administration (or rather, intended one, for it is not yet completed, though absolutely depended upon), since which nothing material has occurred : Neither the Abp. of York nor the Bp. of Oxford are yet come to town. Mention to me some other pictures, for I find none of those you de- sired can be procured, unless it be the Abp. of York's, and that only as a favor, which, however, I cannot yet obtain, though I expect I shall. Don't by any means send me your Bills, if you have any occasion for them. Dear Billy's good promises give me much satisfaction, and if he performs them I shall think nothing too much for him. I have only to add WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 55 my sincerest duty to you and tenderest love to my wife and children, with compliments to all friends, and remain Honored Sir, your most dutiful son and humble servant, Wm. Saml. Johnson. Scarcely a month had elapsed when he wrote again to his father, to allay any anxiety which he might have about his health, and to inform him that the slow progress of the Mohegan business would pre- vent his immediate return. It sounds strangely in our ears to hear a political election seriously offered as a reason for inattention to a matter which con- cerned only the order and government of the Church of England in America. But it shows how difficult it was, in the peculiar state of the times, for Bishops and Statesmen to separate, in their views of public duty, spiritual from temporal things. The letter was dated, — London, February 6th, 1768. HoKOEED SlE, — I thank you for your kind congratulations on my recovery from my late illness, and hope there is no great danger of my relapsing into those disorders, as you seem to apprehend. The opening the Churchyard might perhaps have some share in my iUness ; my friend Jackson thinks as you do that it had, but I rather fancy not. You may depend upon it, I shall take all due care of myself, and if I should be ill again will have proper help. Your friend Dr. Nicholls I doubt not is equal to any of the profession, but he has left off business and retired to Oxford. The physician I had is very eminent and the best I ever saw, at least in one respect, as he prescribes as few medicines as possible and none but with great caution. But I hope I shall have no further occasion for any of tbem, as at present, I thank God, I am very well, and under His protection have great reason to hope for the continuance of my health, as the weather is now 56 LIFE AND TIMES OF growing every day more and more favorable and spring will soon open upon us. Mason -was indeed dilatory enough, but he some time ago put his business into another person's hands, who seems very desirous of bringing it on, so that the cause will not now be delayed for want of pushing ; and as I mentioned in my last (of the 28th of Jany. to my wife) there is now a good pros- pect of its coming on ere long. But let me still beg that you will make yourselves easy about me. I will do all in my power to hasten my return, and in God's good time hope for a happy meeting with you. I am much concerned at the trouble you have about getting an Assistant, but hope you will make yourself easy in the affair, since having fully done your part towards it, it now remains with the people to sec- ond your endeavors, or bear with patience the inconveniences which may happen for want of one. I am glad the Pam- phlets are agreeable, but I do not wish it should be known here, while I continue in England, that I sent them to America. A large parcel was certainly sent to N. York. A few days ago I waited upon the Abps. of Canterbury and York ; the first is ill with the gout, and I could not say very much to him. As to reprinting the piece you mention, he thought it might be well to be first considered by the So- ciety, or at least by the Bps. at some of their meetings, and as soon as his health would permit he would have it taken into consideration. The Abp. of York received me very kindly ; he is a lively, facetious, sensible, and active man, and went very fully into the subject of your letter (for which he thanks you) ; and after having gone through all the steps he had taken in the affair for several years past, in which it seems he has been very assiduous, and recounted the difficul- ties attending it, he finally fixed upon this — that supposing it possible to get over every other objection, yet the present time was by no means proper to attempt anything of this nature, as it would be utterly impossible to gain any atten- tion to it, while the Ministers, and indeed every body else, were so intent upon the business of the approaching Elec- WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 57 tion, so that some more favorable juncture must be waited for, but when that would arrive he could not foresee. The Bp. of Oxford, whom I waited upon nest, was of the same opinion as to this matter. I presented him your Gram- mar, for which, as well as your letter, he returns you many thanks, and said he was highly honored by it. Parkhurst he had never seen, but would at your request examine it and be able to give some opinion of it. The author of the Notes on his Prelections (about which you desired me to inquire)' he says is a learned, sensible man, of great freedom of sentiment and extent of thought, much superior to the generality of the German Divines. He does not, he says, agree to all he has said in his Notes, but upon the whole they are sensible and ingenious. You will see when Michaelis wrote his first Part, he thought Lowth was dead, though he was afterwards better informed, and they have since had a literary correspondence between them. The Bp. is very glad that the study of He- brew is like to have some footing in America, and pleased with your endeavors to promote it, and will I fancy write to you upon the subject. Faden tells me Pike's Lexicon is simply an abridgment of Parkhurst, and (though he printed it) of no use to those who' have the original. He proposes to send the Lexicons and Grammars as you advise to Parker of N York, by the ships now about to sail. The 2d Part of the Introduction, etc., is now ready for the Press, but it will, he says, be several months before he can print it. He says he will allow you for the Copy, 50 Grammars (besides those already sent you, and half a dozen I have to give away), 25 of which shall be bound and the rest stitched. Those I have I will present as you direct. If you think he does not allow you enough for the Copy tell me and I will insist on more. The Act permitting the importation of salt beef, pork, butter, and bams from America is now passed, beside which nothing material to the Colonies has happened since I last wrote. I got an acquaintance of mine, who is intimate with Lord Lyttleton, to mention you to him as having a value for his writings and wishing to see his picture, and to know of 58 LIFE AND TIMES OF him whether he had any Plate, etc. His Lordship in answer desired his compliments to you, and thanks for taking so much notice of him, but said no picture had ever been taken of him, though his bookseller had requested one to prefix to his Life of Henry II., and perhaps he should consent to it when he had finished that work. Mr. Townsend's affair is settled with great dispatch, agreeable to his wish, and, to use Dr. Burton's expression, pursuant to your recommendation, to which they pay the greatest regard. He is now returning, and by hira I shall send Foster's Hebrew Bible, Michaelis' Notes (which by the way are never bound up with the Pre- lections, of which there has been no other edition but that you have), and as many Grammars as Faden can get ready. I am with the tenderest love to my dear wife and children and compliments to all friends, Honored Sir, Your most dutiful son and humble servant, Wm. Samuel Johnson. His prolonged stay in England, though unexpected by himself and wearisome to his family, gave him an opportunity of traveling in different sections of the country, and of making brief visits on the Continent. From the 15th of March, 1768, to the first week in April, he was on a journey into France, and upon his return to England, heard nothing for some time so earnestly discussed among his friends as the result of the London and Middlesex elections — the latter of which was in favor of John Wilkes, who had been ex- pelled from the House of Commons, four years before, for a libelous attack upon the King, and who was now returned amid much popular tumult in spite of the stigma upon his character. But the chief business of Dr. Johnson, aside from his special agency, and from other pubhc and private WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 59 affairs intrusted to him, was to watch the measures of Parliament, and by conference with leading minds in Church and State to endeavor to discover the temper of Englishmen towards Americans. Governor Trumbull was not sorry for his detention in such critical times, and his letters to him and to his friends are a graphic picture of the progress of events charged as they were with momentous consequences. Saintly Seeker, then Archbishop of Canterbury, the life-long correspondent of his venerated father, and the de- fender of the Church of England in America, the ele- gant and scholarly Lowth, Newton, the Bishop of Bristol, and Terrick, the Bishop of London, these among prelates ; the younger Berkeley, Burton, Home, the Commentator on the Psalms, Jones of Nayland, Parkhurst, Porteus, Stinton, among the clergy ; Barre, Burke, Chatham, Conway, Dunning, Mansfield, Pringle, Wedderburn, among political char- acters ; all were his warm friends, and many of them helped him, as they had the opportunity and power, in the business of his agency. The great English Lexicographer, Dr. Samuel Johnson, who had not yet learned to hate Americans with intense hatred, be- came particularly fond of his transatlantic namesake, and claimed relationship with him, though it is not probable the connection was very carefully traced or very clearly established. The more intimately he associated with English- men, the kinder he found them in their disposition towards Americans. Nothing surprised him so much as their deplorable lack of general information con- cerning the Colonists and the geography of the coun- try. Oftentimes he must have smiled at the measure 60 LIFE AND TIMES OF of ignorance blended with credulity, and once it is believed he could not have refrained from laughing outright when he heard the character of Connecticiit given in a letter from a sojourner in this country to his friend in London. The letter was written in 1768, and the portion which described the character was copied by Johnson, and is too good to be lost even though it should not make " Our ancestry a gallant, Christian race, Patterns of every virtue, every grace. " This London friend seems to have directed inquiries with a view to an investment in the Colony either for speculation or occupancy, and the answer returned was : " "Without mentioning names, I have consulted Mr. about the American affair, who says it will not do : he says he would not give £800 for the whole Province ; that he has been all over it at New Haven and New London ; that they are all mortgaged to the full to the Bostonians and New Yorkers ; that they have all their goods from those two places, and import very little ; very few merchants, chiefly farm- ers, all upon a level, labor very dear, spirit Oliverians, but very great rogues, no money amongst them, and nobody would live amongst them that could possibly live anywhere else ! " WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 61 CHAPTER VI. THE CASE OF WILKES ; DEATH OP AKCHBISHOP SECKEK ; VISIT TO CANTEBBDRT ; OLEKICAL OHARACTEE ; OXFORD DEGREES ; ACQUAINTAJS^CE WITH SAMUEL JOHNSON ; TOUR ON THE CON- TINENT, AND VISIONS OF HOME. A. D. 1768-1769. The popular tumults, the violence, and the mobs occasioned by the election of "Wilkes to Parliament ex- tended into various parts of the kingdom, and one town in Lancashire was fairly desolated and pillaged, not a house being left with windows or doors un- broken. After his election, he appeared on the first day of term in the King's Bench, and in a " set speech " surrendered himself to the judgment and laws of his country, but at the same time accused the Chief Justice (Lord Mansfield) of having illegally and injuriously altered to his prejudice the record upon which he was tried. Subsequently he applied for a writ of error for the reversal of the sentence of out- lawry against him, which was learnedly argued, and " every time," says Johnson, " the matter was moved in court, Westminster Hall and all the aveniies to it were crowded with an amazing concourse of people." Indeed, he added, writing to his father May 14, " we seem here to be almost in a state of anarchy, there being beside this of Wilkes's five other mobs assembled, 62 LIFE AND TIMES OF viz., the sailors (who in a body of six or eight thousand went down on Wednesday and delivered a petition to Parliament, but behaved with much decency), the coal-heavers, sawyers, journeymen hatters, and weav- ers, all complaining of the excessive price of provis- ions, and insisting upon an advancement of their wages. By this rising of the seamen, the maritime trade of London has been several days totally stopped, and no ship can go down the river. These several mobs are yet independent of each other, but .a gen- eral discontent is visible among the people, and if government cannot discover some method to quiet them before they unite, the most fatal consequences may be apprehended." It was thus a good opportunity to stir up strife, and for a man of the " most abandoned principles and dissolute manners in private life," who had in- sulted his sovereign, and as Pitt said, " blasphemed his God," to become for the time being a popular favorite. The judgments against Wilkes were finally, twenty-two months imprisonment, £1000 fine, and surety for good behavior for seven years, which his friends at first thought very severe, but with calmer passions came quiet acquiescence. This disturbed state of affairs at home absorbed the attention of govern- ment, and little consideration was given during its continuance to the interests of the American Colo- nies. Taking advantage of every convenient opportunity to improve the civilities offered to his acceptance, Johnson rode out to Acton and spent Sunday, the 19th of June, with his good friend Dr. Berkeley. He heard him preach in the morning and his curate in WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 63 the afternoon, and after noting in his Diary the events of the day, he added : " The church at Acton was built by Oliver Cromwell, and many of his friends resided there, as Skippon, whose wife had a monument in the church. Mr. Baxter also lived there, and the great and good Chief Justice Hale, whose house I saw, — a large ancient structure. Old Mrs. Berkeley," the late Bishop of Cloyne's lady, — of whom he spoke as very affectionate and kind, and retaining great fondness for America, — " was a Foster, descended from Monck, Earl of Albemarle, and the Doctor has called his eldest son, for that reason, George Monck." His intimacy with this family was one of the bright spots of his sojourn in England, and brought him in contact with many persons of worth and distinction. The Archbishop of Canterbury died suddenly on the 3d of August, 1768, and the Church in both hemi- spheres was deprived of a wise and careful counselor. He was one of the best of men, and had long taken a deep interest in the religious welfare of the Colonies. In a letter to his father announcing the tidings of his death, Johnson said : " Grod can and certainly will take care of His own cause and interest in the world, but in truth I see no prospect that anybody here will make good the Archbishop's ground. Several of the Bishops are very worthy men, but none of them in my opinion by any means so well qualified for that high station as the late Archbishop." The vision of the future was thus to him gloomy, and he had many fears that less attention and aid than fornierly would be given to religion in America. " The Church of England there," said he, in the same letter to his father, " should in fact think more of tak- 64 LIFE AND TIMES OF ing care of itself. The Society will indeed, T trust, still continue to afford their friendly assistance, but even that is a precarious dependence, and I wish my countrymen not to rely too much upon it, but pre- pare themselves as far as possible to stand upon their own ground. The affection between that country and this seems to be every day decreasing, and the growing jealousies en both sides threaten the destruc- tion of all our harmony and happiness ; already there is hardly any other cement left between us beside the interest founded in trade, and even that is declining. Let us look forward and see where these things must end, and consider what must probably be soon the state of that country and this. I was going to im- agine it with respect to religion. But in truth I dare not pursue these reflections farther upon paper." The new Archbishop, Dr. Cornwallis, though a good and noble prelate, did not command the high respect of his predecessor, or wield the same influence in di- recting the operations of the Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. What Johnson feared for the Church, he had begun to fear far more for his country. He could not be blind to the scenes that were enacted around him, and so early as April, 1769, he wrote to Dr. Benja- min Gale, of Killingworth, Connecticut, and foreshad- owed a separation from England. "With regard to American aflfairs," said he in this letter, " we are told nothing farther is proposed to be done in this session of Parliament unless something should occur in Amer- ica to render it necessary. The petitions and appli- cations for a repeal of the laws are all rejected or laid aside, and we are told they must first see that we are WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 65 disposed to submit to Parliamentary regulations, and have given some proofs of our humility and good dis- position towards them before it can be done. Those proofs of submission I do not expect America will give them, and, therefore, they will not I fancy have again so good an opportunity to repeal those acts as they have at present ; and it seems pretty probable that we shall go on contending and fretting each other till your prophecy shall, as it certainly will be, fulfilled, and we become separate and independent empires. That this event is hastening with rapid progress, and that it will be certainly fatal to Great Britain, is so very apparent that one wonders that they do not both see and wisely labor to prevent it. Whether we should wish it or endeavor to prevent it depends on the course we might take 'after such separation should take place. If we were wise and could form some system of free government upon just principles, we might be very happy without any connection with this country. But should we ever agree upon any- thing of this nature ? Should we not more probably fall into factions and parties amongst ourselves, de- stroy one another, and become at length an easy prey of the first invader ? This at least is to be feared, and should teach us as well as Britain to manage the present dispute between us with some degree of moderation and temper." In the lull of political commotions, and while his presence in London was not needed to promote the Mohegan case, he made a visit to Canterbury, and the following letter to his father, though containing severe animadversions upon a portion of the clergy of the Church of England at that period, is too full of 66 LIFE AND TIMES OF interest and pleasant description to be omitted from these pages : — tlANTBRBUKY, Sept. 12th, 1769. Honored Sie, — When I wrote you the 18th of August I acquainted you I should soon see Dr. Berkeley ; accordingly I made him a visit at Cookham, and as he was about setting out to perform his prebendarial residence here, he would admit of no excuse from my accompanying him to this city, where I have now been this fortnight leading the life of an ecclesiastic, at church twice a day, and seeing nobody but Deans, Archdeacons, Prebendaries, and Priests ; very good company you will say and a good employment. They are so, and it is certainly a sober, quiet, good kind of an idle life. The Dean, a son of the late Abp. Potter, is a good, sensible, polite, friendly man, but a good deal out of health, and is now gone to drink the waters of Tunbridge. The Archdeacon and Vice Dean, Sir John Head, is one of the most amiable men I have met with in England, was a particular friend of the late Archbishop, and very highly esteemed by him. As he is a baronet of family and for- tune, besides his preferments in the Church, he lives in much elegance and magnificence, but preserves the character of a serious, faithful divine, as well as of a good man and a polite gentleman. Dr. Walwin, the eldest Prebendary, is also an excellent man, and very learned, but is severely afflicted with an asthma which it is feared will prove fatal to him. Dr. Dampier, Dr. Durell (late Vice Chancellor of the Uni- versity of Oxford), Mr. Benson, etc., whom I have seen, seem also to be very worthy men ; but there are two or three others whom I have not seen nor wish to see, who have been lately preferred through the interest of Lord Granby, whose char- acters are very indifferent, and who, like, alas ! too many of the superior clergy of England, have little virtue and less re- ligion, who obtain their preferments without merit, merely by Court favor, or family connections, and are a reproach to their profession, which they consider solely as a means of procuring wealth to be avariciously hoarded for a provision WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 67 for a family, or vilely squandered in vice and dissipation, or, at best, consumed in luxury, indolence, and ease, while they care no more about religion or the Church, or anything else that is virtuous or praiseworthy, than they do for the mira- cles or mosques of Mahomet, and I fear, believe just as much of the one' as of the other. Alas, how is the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed ! Upon this sad sub- ject I could a Tale unfold, which (in the expressive phrase of Shakespeare) would harrow up your soul, but I cannot bear to give you pain, and decline a subject which makes my own heart ache whenever it occurs. Yet in my own justifi- cation, I must just touch one character. You say you wish to know why I have so indifferent an opinion of his lord- ship of , and ask why I do not apply more to him. Time is lost in paying court to such men. He is in those things wherein you hope he may be useful a perfect Gallio ; he cares for none of them. He is more of a politician and courtier, I fear, than a Christian or a divine ; and yet even his politics are confined to a very narrow sphere. He is, perhaps, the greatest card-player in England. He does not indeed, as far as I know, play deep, as the phrase is, but six hours in six days in a week hardly sujBBce for this favorite amusement. He is — but I forbear — ex pede Herculem — Peace to all such. Yet thank God there are some burning and shining lights yet left in this dark age, by whom the sacred fire will still, I trust, be kept alive, and from whom it may catch and spread into a flame, whenever it shall please God that His Church shall be again bright as the sun in its glory, and terrible as an army with banners, not indeed in the pomp and splendor of worldly power and prerogative, — to which some I fear are apt to apply such expressions, — but spiritually glorious ; splendid by the purity of her faith and institutions; bright by the piety, zeal, and ability of her ministers Tglorious by her influence upon the hearts and lives of all her members, and terrible to all the powers of dark- ness by pushing her conquests into their remotest territories, and confounding their empire by converting their subjects, 68 LIFE AND TIMES OP and changing the children of Satan and slaves of darkness into the sons of God, and heirs of light and immortality. But I forget whom I am writing to, and return to tell you that I have spent a good deal of time here with your old friend Mr. Gosling, one of the Minor Canons, who, though he has been long confined to his chamber, and will be able to go abroad no more, having lost the use of his legs by the gout, is still very hearty, cheerful, and gay. He remembers you with much affection, and my brother with regard for his memory. Here, too (that I may remind you of a scene which must have given you pleasure), I have been more than once into the tower of the Cathedral, where I see your and your friends' names inscribed when you were here, and from whence there is an extensive prospect of one of the finest, richest, and best cultivated counties in England. The Cathe- dral is kept in excellent repair by the Dean and Chapter, and I need not tell you is a most noble structure, though not equal to those of York and Lincoln, which are also preserved in good condition, though not so well as this, — a circum- stance much to the honor of this Chapter, especially when compared with several others in the kingdom, who have rapaciously appropriated to themselves the revenues which should have repaired their churches, by which alone, as Abp. Seeker used to say, they live, and which, having been shame- fully neglected, are hanging in ruins over the heads of those who are sacrilegiously rioting in their spoils. The repairs of this church I find are commonly annually about £1200 ; and yet the Deanery is worth £1000, and the Prebends from £300 to £400 per annum, beside their livings, which they take in succession as they fall, which are from £100 to £200 per annum a piece ; so that the whole annual revenue of this corporation, including the school belonging to it, may be fairly estimated at about £10,000 per annum. A noble foundation ! I propose to leave Canterbury very soon, and shall spend a day or two with Sir George Oxenden, whose seat is in this neighborhood, with whom I have before made an acquaint- WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 69 ance. He is a joyous old knight, who was one of the Lords of the Admiralty during great part of Sir Robert Walpole's administration, and one of his bosom friends ; he is conse- quently a master of all the politics of that period, nor has he been inattentive to what has passed since. He takes pleasure in comparing those times with the present, from whence one may derive both amusement and instruction. He took care (as most of them do) to secure a fortune while he was in power ; and now lives in all the splendor of a prince without caring who are out or in. From thence I shall return to London, where I hope to hear soon of the continuance of your health, and that of my dear family, whom God preserve. I am afraid I omitted to acquaint you, as I intended in my last, that Faden thinks he cannot yet publish a second edi- tion of the Grammar, though he says he hopes he may by and by venture upon it. By some negligence or other it was not published in a long time after it was printed, and you know books of this kind can sell but slowly, as at most the purchasers can be but few. A thousand volumes of politics, novels, or nonsense may be sold to a single one that has a word of Hebrew in it, which instantly frightens three quar- ters of mankind, and is thought by much the greater part of the other quarter not worth their attention. Did I ever tell you that I judged right about the Bishop of Oxford, in relation to degrees? His situation, he inti- mated, gave him no authority, nor his connections any in- terest, which could be employed that way. Indeed, he said, it was even improper for any churchman, other than the Abp. of Canterbury for the time being, to ask favors of that kind, and how far the present Archbishop would be inclined to solicit, he did not know, but thought he would not be backward upon proper occasions. I find the Archbishop is making Lambeth Doctors, so that perhaps he would choose that application should be made to, rather than through him, as the first is attended with some emolument, and there can be none in the latter method. I am, perhaps, almost as deli- 70 LIFE AND TIMES OF cate as the Bishop of Oxford upon this subject, and should not much like to ask the present Archbishop for his interest at Oxford ; but if you think proper to write him such a re- quest, in favor of any friends you would oblige, in your own name, I will venture to deliver the letter and back it, and at least bring you off decently with him, if it does not succeed. But take care who you recommend, for the Oxonians are very nice upon this subject. They refused a degree, you know, to the Bishop of Gloucester, and have repented of many they have given, though I flatter myself of none they have hon- ored us with in America. Those whose degrees cost them £120 sterling, as is commonly the case with those who are created Doctors in the common course, are very jealous, when others obtain the like honors without either expense or labor, and they are to the last degree solicitous that their diplomas especially should not be prostituted as those of the Scotch Universities have been. You know, I doubt not, that these degrees are not merely honorary like those conferred at the public Encoenia, or when great persons visit the University, but entitle, in the language of the diploma, ad Omnia Jura et Privilegia, give a right to sit and vote, upon all occasions, in Convocation^ and for members of Parliament, as well as many other important privileges, so that they have some reason, beside the reputation of it, to be careful who they confer them upon. There is no very material news, and I will not trouble you with a word of politics, about which, though a very fruit- ful subject, everything must be very uncertain till the meet- ing of Parliament, but with my tenderest love to my dearest wife and children, and compliments to all friends, remain Honored Sir, your most dutiful son and humble servant, Wm. Saml. Johnson. His return to London was followed by the resump- tion of his usual duties, and indulgence in his usual entertainments. On Wednesday, the 18th of Octo- ber, he speaks in his Diary of having " made a visit WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 71 to Dr. Jolinson at Whiston's," and the next day he visited him again, and spent all the morning convers- ing chiefly upon literary subjects, and hearing from him " several anecdotes of the late Mr. Richardson, Mallet, Milton, Bishop Lowth, Warburton, King Charles I.," and others. A letter to his father, written about this time, gives a brief account of his first interview with the great man who fills so high a place in English, literature, as well as a sketch of his recent tour on the Continent, which for special rea- sons he had not before communicated : — Westminster, Nov. 2, 1769. .... For the sake of the name, and because I think him one of the best of the modern writers, I made an acquaintance, some time ago, with Dr. Samuel Johnson, author of the Dic- tionary, etc. He was very well pleased with the attention I paid him, had heard of you, and presents his compliments. He has shining abilities, great erudition, exact and extensive knowledge, is ranked in the first class of the literati, and highly esteemed for his strong sense and virtue ; but is as odd a mortal, in point of behavior and appearance, as you ever saw. You wouTd'sat, at first sight, suspect he had ever read, or thought, in his mfe^ or was much above the degree of an idiot. But nulla frokti fides, when he opens himself, after a little acquaintance, you are abundantly repaid for these first unfavorable appearances. It is hardly worth while to say anything to you relating to political affairs. Everything of this kind must be par- ticularly uncertain till Parliament meets, and that, it is be- lieved, is not intended to sit for dispatch of business till after Christmas. In the mean time many counties, pities, and boroughs are zealously petitioning his Majesty for the dis- solution of the House of Commons, and many people begin to think it will take place ; but as it would be a very fatal stroke to the present Ministry, who have great influence 72 LIFE AND TIMES OF with the King, I do not, for my own part, yet think it will be done. The struggles of party continue as violent as ever, and the uneasiness and discontents amongst the people are equally great and general, but how they will end can be but illy guessed at present. There has been much talk of late that the Lord Chancellor (who is, upon the whole, the best man amongst them) would soon be dismissed from adminis- tration, and it is certain there has been some altercation be- tween him and the other ministers, upon the affair of the Middlesex election ; but it rather seems now as if it would blow over. We imagine we are very near the crisis of some considerable political revolutions, but it may nevertheless be some time, perhaps, before anything very decisive takes place. For reasons formerly hinted at, I did not intend you should have known, till my return, any more of my excursion this summer than of that of the last, but I find I can conceal nothing from you. Captain Scott was, however, a little mis- taken. I was not going to France, with which T was satisfied in my former jaunt. It was the tour of Holland, Brabant, and Flanders that I made. I passed from Harwich to Hel- voetsluys, visited all the principal towns, both of North and South Holland ; then went from Rotterdam, by water, to Dort, Williamstadt, and Bergen op Zoom, up the Scheldt to Antwerp, made an excursion to Breda, to see the Prince of Orange, who lay encamped in that neighborhood with 8 or 10,000 men, learning the art of war ; then went by Mechlin, etc., to Brussels, returned by the way of Ghent, Bruges, and Ostend, landed at Dover, and arrived again in London, all in about six weeks. A most agreeable ramble ! And had I known theti as I do now that I could not have finished mj business, and returned this fall to America, I certainly should have gone on, and made the tour of Italy, which I might very well have done, in very agreeable company, and been in England again by this time, without any prejudice to my affairs. As it has turned out, it is, I own, with some regret that I have lost so good an opportunity of treading upon WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 73 classic ground, and visiting a country which has been the scene of so many interesting transactions, and is the reposi- tory of the most curious monuments of antiquity. But the less is said upon this subject in Connecticut, perhaps, the better. Do not, however, imagine that by indulging my curiosity, and being conversant with the grandeur and delicacies of Europe, I shall be tempted to disregard or look down upon America, or that home will appear mean or despicable to me. My attachments there are too strong ever to be relaxed. The true felicities of life, after all, are, in my opinion, of the do- mestic kind, and to be found in moderate situations. Better is the dinner of herbs, and the humble cottage, with one's friends and tender connections about one, than all the splen- dor and delicacies of the gay or great world, without them. I will not have the vanity to impute it to my philosophy, but it is my good fortune, that though I am pleased enough with seeing these things yet they take little hold of my af- fections. I like to look behind the gay curtain, but when I do I find little to admire and less to be attached to. I see it very generally true, that the more people possess the less they enjoy. Riches, state, magnificence, etc., cast a deceitful glare around all objects, both persons and things, which at a distance wonderfully magnifies them, and makes one imagine them to be very desirable ; as we approach nearer, the de- ception vanishes, and we too often find them mean, contempt- ible, and exceedingly deficient in all intrinsic worth. Yet many good uses may be made of these approaches to high life ; and as not the least of them I flatter myself that you will find me less attached to the grandeur of the world by all I have seen of it, and that I shall be the more contented in a humble situation for having passed so much time in higher scenes. My wishes, were they indulged me to the ut- most, would be very limited, and all center in a little ease and independence in the tranquil vales of America. The worst of it is, that I am not like to be very soon gratified even in such humble hopes, and the best way is (to which I 74 LIFE AND TIMES OF hope to bring myself by and by) to have no wishes for any- thing in this world but what we actually possess, or have certainly within our reach. This however cannot be till I return to Stratford. My uppermost wish, at present, is to see you and my dear family, to whom I present my tender- est love, and remain in perfect health (blessed be God), with compliments to all friends. Honored Sir, your most dutiful son and humble servant, Wm. Saml. Johnson. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 75 CHAPTER VII. TAXATION OP THE COLONIES ; SCHEME OF AMERICAN BISHOPS ; LETTER TO HIS FATHER ; SEVERE ILLNESS ; LETTER TO HIS SON-IN-LATV; ANXIETY ABOUT HIS FAMILY; FINAL HEARING OF THE MOHEGAN CAUSE ; RETURN TO AMERICA, AND THANKS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. A. D. 1769-1771. Notwithstanding the disposition in England to lay burdens upon the Colonies and reduce them to subjection, Johnson was inclined to think that it was best for them to be submissive, for a time at least, rather than refractory. He knew the weakness and poverty of his own country, and his personal obser- vations for a period of nearly five years made him acquainted with the strength and resources of Great Britain. In the beginning of 1769 he wrote to his father and spoke of what seemed to be the fixed res- olution of the Administration not to repeal immedi- ately those acts which the Colonies complained of, but to maintain the right of Parliament to impose duties and taxes in America, and to enforce obedience to its laws in the most effectual manner. Four months later, writing again with scarcely pleasanter forebod- ings, he said : " It is extremely unhappy that we ca.nnot on both sides come to a better temper in the unfortunate dispute now subsisting between this coun- 76 LIFE AND TIMES OF try and that. If we ouce get into blood, your con- jecture will undoubtedly be too soon fatally verified ; we shall destroy each other, and become an easy prey to our enemies. Prudent men, on both sides, are aware of this danger, and will, I hope, by degrees gain so much influence as to prevent it. Administra- tion have, since the rising of Parliament, given out that the duty act shall be repealed next year, if the Colonies remain quiet, but one can hardly depend much upon the declarations of ministers." The year rolled away and no material change ap- peared in the policy of the British Government. Johnson wrote to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, on the 16th of October, 1769, and stated how the hope was entertained that " the disagreements of the Southern from the Northern Colonies " might effect the subjection of all to the legislative power of Great Britain. '• In truth," he added, " though my know- ing neighbor says otherwise, I begin to think Parlia- ment will be dissolved. If the Americans unite at this most critical juncture, they may carry their point. If they do not now unite, effectual care will be taken to prevent their uniting to any purpose at any future period." The scheme of sending Bishops to America was one which disturbed the minds of many people in this country ; and when Governor Trumbull inquired what were the intentions in England relative to it, he was answered by the Colony's agent that " it is not intended at present to send any Bishops into the Amer- ican Colonies. Had it been, I should certainly have acquainted you with it ; and should it be done at all, you may be assured it will be in such manner as in WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 77 no degree to prejudice, or if possible even give the least offence to any denomination of Protestants. It has indeed been merely a religious, in no respect a political scheme. As I am myself of the Church of England, you will not doubt that 1 have had the fullest opportunity to be intimately acquainted with all the steps that have been ever taken in this affair, and you may rely upon it, that it never was nor is the inten- tion, or even wish of those who have been most san- guine in the matter, that American Bishops should have any the least degree of secular power of any nature or kind whatsoever, much less any manner of concern or connection with Christians of any other denomination." The state of political affairs was still tumultuous enough in England, and he knew very well that while it lasted no attention would be given to a scheme which had been so much debated and misunderstood as that of sending Bishops to the American Colonies. "When these things will end no man can tell," were words which he wrote to his father on the 28th of March, 1770, after he had been speaking of the dis- orders growing out of the remonstrance of the Liv- ery of London, the King's answer, the address of Parliament thereon, and the remonstrance of West- minster and of the Middlesex freeholders. "We are not to expect, I believe, more for America than the repeal of the duties upon paper, glass, and painters' colors in this session of Parliament, nor consequently can the trade be opened." The business of his special agency " dragged its slow length along," and he grew more and more im- patient under the delays to which he was subjected. 78 LIFE AND TIMES OF His family, now increased by the marriage of his eldest daughter to the Rev. Ebenezer Kneeland, importuned him to return, and it filled them with disappointment and added to his own solicitude for their welfare when his expectations to do so failed year after year to be realized. The following letter to his father shows the depth of his anxieties on the subject, and mentions a severe illness which had left him in no condition to embark for America, even if his business had then been completed : — Westminster, jIkjt. 18 institutions which it was his privilege to have been so instrumental in shaping and advancing. One little circmnstance may here be mentioned to illustrate his religious character. He left behind him in manuscript a book of prayers, which he said was compUed by him in the time of Whitefield, when there was much excitement in the land, and it be- came necessary for every one in his turn, in the families where he resided, to offer prayer. This book was used to assist his memory, and that he might be prepared to offer nothing improper, or inconsistent with the rules of the Episcopal Church, in which, from early life, he had been a devout communicant. There are passages in these prayers which have a strange sound to us at the present day, such as the following, which appear to have been repeated in the time of the old French War in Canada : " Bless thy universal Church, and preserve it from all error. Defend the Protestant cause. Preserve the life of our sovereign. King George: Bless his counsels at home and his arms abroad, and give to him, and all 182 LITE AND TIMES OP other Christian kings, princes, governors, magistrates, and ministers, both of State and rehgion, wisdom, virtue, and integrity, and make them real blessings to mankind in the exalted stations they possess. Send thy blessing upon the British nation and colo- nies in general, and this colony in particular. De- fend us from our enemies now in arms against us, and give us to triumph over them, and to reduce them to reasonable terms of peace." Such a man, living at any time, is a great blessing to his country, but a greater still when he lives in a period of national emergencies that demand the most enlightened judgment, and the soundest principles of political wisdom and virtue. Dr. Johnson had ex- traordinary opportunities to acquire the knowledge necessary to fit him for a noble actor in critical and troublous times, and it was his good fortune for the most part to be joined in council with those who ap- preciated his dignity and attainments and honored the spirit by which he was actuated. He was a wise statesman who favored high maxims of government and cultivated broad and liberal views. With a vig- orous intellect, trained in the contests of a stirring life, he was wont to do for his country under all cir- cumstances precisely what he beheved to be for its true interest and advancement among the nations of the earth. His long residence abroad did not make him any the less an American, though it may have taught him, as already shown, in view of the weak- ness of the Colonies, to place a higher value upon the lessons of prudence and moderation. When he wrote to Eichard Jackson two years after his return home, and gave a gloomy picture of the WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 183 tumults in this country growing out of what were considered to be the cruelty 0,nd injustice of the Ministry, and mentioned the first meeting of a " nu- merous Congress " of all the Colonies in Philadelphia, to concert measures of defense, he added : " I have, in pursuance of your good advice, endeavored care- fully to persuade our people to be calm and moderate, and to prevent their running into mobs and extrava- gances. Some success I have had ; I wish I could say nothing of this nature had happened amongst us, but they have not hitherto been very violent. And though a moderator is indeed a very unpopular char- acter at present, I am resolved to adhere to it, and do everything possible to keep the ardor of my countrymen within bounds, though it is more than probable that I shall thereby forfeit their esteem." This was the spirit of Dr. Johnson in reference to the disputes between the two countries which led to the Revolution ; and yet when he was measuring lances with Lord HUlsborough, and contending for the rights of Connecticut under the Charter of King Charles the Second, he was prepared to lay aside that spirit, and said to him : " I hope that England will not add to our burdens ; you certainly would find it re- dound to your own prejudice." He was a statesman who seemed never to have allowed personal considera- tions for a single moment to swerve him from the strict line of duty. Not an instance can be cited to show that he was ever governed by sinister motives, or endeavored to accomplish an object by dishonor- able means. Loyal to truth and to the honest con- victions of his own mind, he shrunk from any decep- tion, and brushed away those seductive influences 184 LIFE AND TIMES OF which too often warp the judgment of men in public station. As far back as 1772, when writing to his friend Robert Temple, and encouraging him in his gloomy apprehensions to submit to the dispensations of Provi- dence, he said : " For my part, T have seen so much of the follies of the world, particularly the political part of it, ... . that I am heartily sick of politics, and am endeavoring to forget all I have observed upon that subject ; to erase from my mind every political idea as relative to the present conduct of affairs, and to attend to my own duty only as a Chris- tian, a man, and a member of society. When iniquity abounds, the love of many will wax cold. Iniquity does now abound : let us take care that our Christian- ity, though put to the test, as I doubt not yours has sufEiciently been, be not shaken, and that our love for things really good wax not cold." His advancement to great honors was not the re- sult of political management, but rather the sponta- neous tribute of an appreciative and grateful people. Nor did he chng to these honors as if they were his life. He was ready to relinquish them for others less ■exalted, and perhaps less remunerative. Four months after his election to the presidency of Columbia Col- lege, he wrote from New York to his son, then at Bermuda: " I am now to decide with respect to the presidency of the College here, which I am much pressed to accept. I am yet undetermined, as the support is very moderate, and I must give up every other prospect." At the age of sixty, he took the of- fice of a college president, and resigned henceforth all expectations of political preferment, not knowing at WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 185 that time that his native Connecticut would still seek his services by choosing him to be her first Senator in Congress, according to the provisions of the new Federal Constitution which he had helped to frame and put in force. Very little has been preserved of his forensic efforts, or of his speeches in deliberative assemblies and the Senate of the United States. Had he done what oth- ers since his tim.e have done so extensively, — writ- ten out his arguments and carefully revised them for the press, — it is quite certain he would have added to his literary reputation, and enrolled his name among those distinguished orators and diplomatists whose published works are a most valuable part of the legacy bequeathed to their country. Eloquence gathered in public records and enshrined in the pages of history, will not have all the force and freshness of the living orator, but it will still speak to the under- standings of men in times of stormy agitation and bewildering excitemeq,t, as well as in quiet and un- eventful periods. The knowledge of constitutional law and the philosophy of government must be ac- quired by studying the best models and becoming famiHar with the productions of the most eminent jurists and legislators of past generations. But the crowning feature in the character of Dr. Johnson was his Christian faith. It has been seen in these pages how reverently he worshiped God, and how firmly he believed in those truths of Divine reve- lation which are not only the support of the indi- vidual soul, but the strong foundation on which to build the government and laws of a country. He had a keen perception of what he dwelt upon in his 186 LIFE AND TIMES OF public addresses to the graduating classes of Columbia College, that the first great duty of a man is owed to Heaven, to his Creator and Redeemer ; and he prac- ticed that duty in all the posts of honor and responsi- bility which he was called to fill. He was on this account the more noble. For a Christian statesman is the glory of his age, and the memory of his deeds and virtues will reflect a light coming from a source which neither clouds can dim nor shadows obscure. Born in a period of religious history when the Puritanism of Connecticut was most intolerant, and taught by a parent who had learned to battle well for Episcopacy, he became warmly attached to the dis- tinguishing principles of the Church of England, and like his father was of the school of Andrewes, of Leslie, of Potter, of Home, of Jones of Nayland, and of Horsley. In his enlightened mind, however, these principles were not embraced from the prejudices of education, or from reverence of parental authority; but they were the result of an investigation which he did not deem beneath the powers of his acute and vigorous intellect. He had been on intimate terms with some of the greatest and best laymen of Eng- land, and however much he might have disliked the policy of the British government towards his own country, and the State religion which for a long time refused it the Episcopacy, he yet loved the Church, which he considered as a divinely constituted society under Jesus Christ its head. As in civil, so in ecclesiastical matters, his knowl- edge and experience were highly serviceable to the Episcopalians of Connecticut in assisting them, after the Revolution, to organize and adapt themselves to WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 187 their new political condition. When Seabury was in London, trying to feel and find his way through the Parliamentary impediments which surrounded him, he wrote home to his friends, and, for the purpose of re- moving from the minds of English prelates one great obstacle to his consecration, suggested that applica- tion should be made to the General Assembly for per- mission to have a Bishop reside in the State. Dr. Johnson, being then in the full practice of his profes- sion, interpreted for the clergy the general law which had been passed, embracing the Episcopal Church, and comprehending all the legal rights and powers intended to be given to any denomination of Chris- tians. The permission sought for Avas in his view, as in the view of other civilians, quite unnecessary, for opposition to the residence of a Bishop in Connecti- cut, whatever strength it had before the separation of the Colonies from the mother country, was no longer a reality, and could not be set up with any show of reason. The very idea of it was inconsistent with the principles of civil and religious liberty aimed at in the establishment of American Independence. It is often a difficult thing for the men of one household of faith fully to understand and appreciate those of another. Bigotry and intolerance naturally grow out of such misconception and acquire force, until knowledge comes in to help the recognition of truth and the practice of duty. Dr. Johnson had mixed too much with the world, and seen too much of every phase of society, to be of an illiberal spirit. He never appears to have forgotten that those of op- posite sentiments have precisely the same excuse for unbending firmness that they have for inbred dislike 188 LIFE AND TIMES OP of adverse doctrines. On religious subjects he cour- teously paid that deference to the opinions of others which he claimed for his own, and was ready as a public man, and as occasion required, to act in de- fense of individuals from whom he widely differed. He had been a witness to so much bitter controversy in his father's day, that, judging from his letters, he seemed more inclined to sympathize with goodness wherever he found it than to engage in the discus- sion of doctrinal or ecclesiastical questions. His polished humor sometimes cut deep like the wit of Sydney Smith. When the clergy of Connecti- cut, after the death of Bishop Jarvis, were unable to agree upon a successor, and several Conventions had been held without effecting an election, he was gravely asked if he would not name a suitable candi- date — some person of fine culture and shining abil- ities, eloquent as a preacher and attractive as a man — who might be chosen to fill the vacancy. And he replied that he thought " they had better elect his friend Dr. Dwight." ^ The. Chiirch was the subject of his thoughts, and worship in the sanctuary a souirce of enjoyment to him in his closing years, for when, through the in- firmities of age, he could no longer put forth active efforts in its behalf, he was wont to manifest the deepest interest in its state and prosperity. Other men in his physical condition might have sought more privacy, and preferred, the solitude of their chambers for rehgious meditation ; but though un- 1 A Congregational divine, and President of Yale College, wiose pub- lished works in prose and poetry have given his name a high place in the literature of his country. WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. 189 able to hear sermons, Dr. Johnson continued to fre- quent the house of God, and it is recorded of him that he united with the congregation in the prayers of the Liturgy with the most reverent and edifying devotion. He was a layman of whom his Church, hke his country, might well be proud ; and there is noth- ing, perhaps, in the whole of his varied and distin- guished career more to be admired than the perfect beauty of his quiet and saintly life at Stratford. The example of his character not only commends itself to the imitation of those in public positions, but it has a voice of instruction for young men in every age who seek patterns of truth, of honor, of justice, of love and faith. Moral qualities are best seen and appreciated when presented in, human forms. The history of nations is but the history of men — of rulers of the people and leading characters who figure in the different departments of patriotism, govern- ment, learning, science, philosophy, art, and com- merce, so that the faults to be avoided and the vir- tues to be cultivated are substantially the same in each generation. Few indeed are they who wiU not be made wiser by contemplating the conduct of those who have trodden the noble paths in which they themselves aspire to tread, and fewer still, perhaps, to whom such examples will not afford a just encouragement. Young men, who feel the impulses of an honorable ambition in life ; who are determined to be useful to their fellow-beings according to their ability, and to increase their ability by diligent self-culture and the practice of every virtue, will most surely fail to ac- complish their lofty object unless they breathe a 190 LIFE AND TIMES OF healthy intellectual atmosphere, and reject teachings that lead away from the beaten tracks of goodness and greatness. The exclamation which fell from the lips of Aaron Burr, at the close of his notorious life, was alike full of truth and of pathos : " Had I read Voltaire less, I should have known that the world was wide enough for Hamilton and me." Every moral truth is deepened when seen in the light of God, and the higher grades of human character are not formed by shutting out this light and dwelling in darkness and doubt. There is need in our day of a more elevated pub- lic opinion, of more profound respect for religion, and of greater regard for the authority of law and the dictates of conscience. In the chase after wealth, or honor, or pleasure, or power, a high standard is too frequently overlooked, and means to gain an end adopted which dwarf all the actings of the intellect, and thrust from view the sense of moral obligation. Though society be ever changing and new combina- tions of circumstances perpetually occurring, yet there are certain general principles which are of universal application, and the neglect of these, to any great extent, among the thinking, educated classes of the community is pretty sure to be followed by unhappy consequences. A school of reckless, daring men, to whom duty supported by religion is no chosen guide, may make a name for itself in history, but it will not be a name to be covered with lasting honor and glory. Whether in the strife for political ascendency and power, or in calmer pursuits, in the tranquil walks of science and literature, the one thing to be remem- WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON. ig^ bered and sought after is the service of God, in main- taining the standard of moral excellence and promot- ing the advancement and happiness of the human race. Not all are equally well situated for this ser- vice. Public life, for example, has its grievous and manifold temptations, and the time of statesmen is usually so much absorbed in national subjects and the schemes of official policy, that little room is left for quiet and sober reflection upon religious truth and duty. Great characters were grouped around the throne of George the Third, but they were so intent on saving the Colonies to the kingdom, and on assert- ing the power of the government and its right to tax subjects without allowing them representation, that they could not see where the lines of honor and jus- tice ran, and so became the promoters of a seven years* war, which, viewed at the distance of a century, reflects no glory upon the English nation. American youth who study the history of their country will find among the great men who assisted in laying the foundations of our Republic many who were controlled by the sternest rules of political in- tegrity, and by Christian principle as well, and among these stands the name of William Samuel Johnson. The simple story of his life as now told will revive the memory of his virtues, and open up his character to the better acquaintance of readers of American history. APPENDIX. 13 APPENDIX A. The determination of Connecticut to resist the Stamp Act was foreshadowed by Johnson in the following letter, written after the action of the General Assembly upon the petitions agreed to by the Congress. Many mepabers took exception to the manner of acknowledging the " subordination " of the Colonies to Parliament, but the Petitions, without alteration, were approved by a large majority. TO JAMES OTIS, ESQ., BOSTON. Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure to inform you that the Petitions agreed to by the Congress have been approved by the General Assembly of this Colony, ordered to be signed by their Commissioners, and forwarded by his Honor, the Governor. Even due subordination passed. They were not indeed in this respect as well as in some others, perfectly such as they would have wished, but a union of the Petition- ing Colonies, even in language as well as sentiment, was justly thought of more importance than mode of expression or elegance of diction. We truly represented to the House that taking all circumstances into consideration, the Congress could make them no better than they are. After much debate it was concluded not to appoint a new agent upon this business, but special instructions were given to Mr. Jackson to prefer these Petitions, and he is engaged not to admit the power of Parliament, but on all proper 196 ' APPENDIX. occasions to insist upon the exclusive riglit of the Colonies to tax themselves and the privilege of trial by jury, as prin- ciples which we cannot depart from. The Stamp paper is not yet come into the Colony, but we are very generally agreed to submit to all the inconveniences of a total stagnation of business rather than admit the Act : indeed,, many are for proceeding in everything as usual, and taking no notice at all of it, but I fancy we shall lie still for the present. It would give me particular pleasure to know what recep- tion the Petitions meet with at your Assembly, what you do in regard to an agent, and any other steps taken in this most important affair by your very respectable House of Representatives ; and I am with the greatest esteem and regard, sir. Your most obedient and very humble servant. Stkatfoed, Novr. ith, 1765. APPENDIX B. Robert Temple and John, a younger brother, — after- wards Sir John Temple, — were both in England during the agency of Dr. Johnson. He entered in his Diary under date of Feb. 19th, 1767, ten days after his arriyal in London, that he "went with Temple by water to London Bridge," and from that time to the 24th of the following September, they were much in each other's company. The Diary be- gins again with mentions of Mr. Temple, on Saturday, 29th ■of December, 1770, and a week later it is entered : " In evening received a long visit from Mr. Temple, who stayed till 11 o'clock." The Christian name is nowhere used to designate the person. This must be determined by other evidence, and the first letter below will prove that it was Robert who accompanied him in 1767, having placed his son of the same name at school in Norwich before he returned to America. The other, with letters printed in the body of the work, will show that Robert was not in England in 1771, but that his brother John was there, and had obtained an official position under the Crown. TO EOBBET TEMPLE, ESQ. London, November 20, 1767. Dear Sir, — Before this time I hope you are in full pos- session of all the joys of Ten Hills, and that your passage 198 APPENDIX. to that scene of all your wishes has been more agreeable than your fears or the fullness of the ship prognosticated. Nothing Yery material has happened here worth mentioning to you, for I presume you will have heard of the death of the Duke of York and the birth of another prince, and must have earlier and fuller accounts of Colonel Shirley's success than I can give you. Everything, he tells me, has turned out to his wish, and I assure you I take as sincere a part in this good fortune of his as any of his friends, being, as I have told you, in my opinion, not only due to his merits, but in strict justice to the family, which has been but very illy re- warded for their services to the Crown. You will not expect I can tell you anything material rela- tive to politics before Parliament meets, which, however, will now be very soon. Lord North is Chancellor of Exchequer, and it is said Lord Chatham is recovered and will again en- gage in business, — the last, however, is doubted ; no speedy change of administration is at present expected. Mr. W. was much pleased with your honest letter, as he called it, from Canterbury, and showed it, he told me, to Mrs. Grenville, the first time he saw her, who was equally pleased, and re- tains much regard for you, as do all your friends. For myself, I assure you, I found myself much alone after your departure, and in a week's time set out on my northern tour, which served for amusement at the same time that it contributed so much to the Recovery of my health, which I thank God is now yery well restored. At Norwich I had the pleasure to see your pretty son in full health, fine spirits, cheerful and happy, and to find him, in my opinion, in good hands. Mr. Mego is exactly the man you described him ; learned, diligent, perfectly well-dis- posed, and honest, but equally unpolished and unpracticed in the ways of the world, which, however, by no means dero- gates from his real worth as a clergyman and a preceptor ; in the latter of which characters you are much interested in him, and I flatter myself he will not disappoint your expec- tations. His lady and daughter are on the contrary suffi- APPENDIX. 199 ciently polished and conversable, and will answer all your purposes of politeness, so that taking all the family together they have all the qualities, I think, requisite for this early stage of your son's education. I was much pleased with Norwich, its cathedral, castle, etc. When I was at Lady Leicester's and Houghton Hall, I re- gretted much that you had left England without seeing these two magnificent seats. The grand and elegant architecture of the one and the admirable pictures of the other, exceed all description, and are, I believe, as much worth seeing as anything in England. The Cathedrals of Lincoln, York, and Peterborough are certainly very fine, but after having seen Canterbury, Westminster Abbey, etc., one has so good an idea of that species of buildings that there is no great reason to regret the not having seen a greater number of them. Lady Leicester's and Houghton Hall are originals, and so peculiarly excellent that I strongly wished you had visited them. Be sure you don't forget to see them the next time you come to England. Since I came to town I have been but once into the City, but spend almost all my time in Westminster Hall, and be- heve shall continue that course through the winter. Now and then I go to a Play with Palmer (who, by the way, being disappointed of Mr. Wentworth's company, has given up the thoughts of going abroad this winter) and thus I while away the time till, like you, I can return to my dear native country, family, and friends, from whom I think no con- sideration shall ever again so long separate me. Mr. Apthorp, though better, is not yet recovered, and is gone to try the effects of certain waters in Derbyshire by advice of Dr. Fothergil. It is said there are some warm pieces in your late papers. I have not seen them yet, but Whately says they are treasonable, and if they were here, the printers and publishers would certainly be punished. We are impatient to know what reception the Board meets with, and what in general is the state of political affairs in Boston, which you will be sure to let us know, as anything 200 APPENDIX. material occurs. Present my compliments to your brother and Mr. Hutton, Paxton, etc., and to your lady and family whom though I have not the honor to know, yet from the affection I have for you I seem to have some interest in. Upon looking back I see this is a most insignificant letter, and tells you nothing of any kind of importance. Charge this, however, to that barrenness of events since you left us, and let it at least serve to assure you that I am with the most sincere esteem, Your affectionate friend and very humble servant. P. S Poor Captain Robinson died lately of the small-pox. How hard has been his fate ! Driven from his own country by oppression to find his grave in this. Stbatfoed, February 10, 1772. My dear Sik, — I return you my hearty thanks for your very obliging favor of the 20th of January and for the packet and letters forwarded from your worthy brother, for which I beg you will also return him my thanks when you write him. It was business alone that induced me, contrary to my interest, to return to America, by way of New York. I always resolved, as you recollect, to have taken my passage to Boston, that I might have had the great pleasure to have seen once more, you and my other friends there. When I shall have that pleasure, now I know not, as the necessity of my affairs obliges nie, for the support of a numerous family, to engage again deeply in the business of my profession, which in this country leaves a man no leisure for amusement, or tours of pleasure. I long greatly to see you, and wish most heartily with you that kind Providence had placed us nearer together ; but that God in whose hands are all our ways sees, and will do what is best for us ; to his dispensations let us submit with all cheerfulness. For my part I have seen so much of the follies and villanies of the world, particularly the political part of it, where, as you justly remark, the practice is still APPENDIX. 201 the good of the public and the support of Goyernment, while the real object is wealth, or power, or some other dirty selfish view, that I am heartily sick of politics and am endeavoring to forget all 1 have observed upon that subject ; to erase from my mind every political idea as relative to the present conduct of affairs ; and to attend to my own duty only as a Christian, a man, and a member of society. When iniquity abounds the love of many will wax cold. Iniquity does now abound ; let us take care that our Christianity (though put to the test as I doubt not yours has sufficiently been), be not in any degree shaken, and that our love for those things that are really good wax not cold. Most of those things are not worth a wise man's care, and a day of retribu- tion is at hand when all those apparently perverse things will be set right to universal satisfaction. But to return from this preachment. I have seen with real concern the injustice done to your brother, and heartily hope he will prevail against his enemies. I was flattered with the expectation that he would have been appointed one of the Commissioners of Customs in Ireland, a place of £1,000 per annum with valuable perquisites, which was a thing talked of when I left England, but since I hear Gov- ernor Bernard is in that Commission I fear that is at an end, as I apprehend your brother's delicacy will not permit him to accept a seat at the same board with that gentleman. Something else, I hope, will turn up equally acceptable. Your not having heard lately from our friend, Mr. Whately, is, I hope, owing to his want of leisure, not to any coldness, for he always expressed great regard for you. He has been ever since Mr. Grenville's death altogether attached to Administration. That gentleman's decease, whose for- tunes they had followed, he and his intimate friends consid' ered as a total release from their obligations to the Opposi- tion, and thinking it necessary to provide for themselves, they embarked instantly with Administration. Mr. Whately was accordingly, you know, immediately made one of the Lords of Trade, and as soon hs his friend Lord Suffolk became 202 APPENDIX. Secretary of State, was appointed his first Secretary and Sur- veyor of the King's Private Roads, the latter office alone being equal in value to his seat at the Board of Trade. He is, therefore, now quite the man of business, and has not that leisure to see, or to correspond with his friends that he used to have. My daughter Nancy remembers with pleasure the very agreeable hours she passed at Ten Hills, and joins Mrs. John- son and me in most affectionate compliments to Mrs. Tem- ple, your daughters, and you ; and I remain always, dear sir, Your very affectionate friend and humble servant. APPEl^DIX O. Deak Sir, — The death of your truly venerable and much respected father in a manner so suitable to the good- ness of his heart, and the piety and integrity of his whole life, looks more like the flight of Elijah to the mansions of bliss than the melancholy departure of souls less pure and innocent. Nature will force a tender sigh and filial tear ; but reason bids us approve of the death of the righteous as a passage to everlasting repose. Does reason dictate such con- solation ? No, my dear sir, I retract the proud expression. It is revelation, divine revelation, which affords us this heal- ing balm when despair and anguish seize the soul at the parting knell of our beloved friends. This heavenly gift dis- pels the gloomy doubts and fears which perplexed the wise and learned of antiquity, and this alone brings life apd im- mortahty to light. Your father, whose every word and action was benevolence itself, during his residence here, acquired, nay commanded, the love and esteem of all who had the honor of his acquaint- ance. The severity of letters, or of age, was no bar to an intimacy with a soul which embraced in fond affection the whole human race. Good humor, affability and condescen- sion, cheerfulness, and an uncommon liberality of sentiment, sweetened every conversation, rendered instruction pleasing, and attracted the love and confidence of the most unthink- ing. It is no wonder then that I had some place in his friendship, joined as we were in supporting an injured Col- 204 APPENDIX. lege against the furious attacks of malevolent adversaries ; and yet I must confess that I feel more comfort at his leav- ing the world with calmness and serenity, an ease and com- posure worthy of the dignity of his character, and the kind- ness of his life, than distress at a separation which his ven- erable years rendered unavoidable. To you, my dear sir, it must give the most substantial satisfaction to reflect that the most inveterate bigot regarded him with reluctant admiration, and the most abandoned profligate revered him for virtues, which though they could not imitate, they were obliged to applaud. The pathetic manner in which you advocate the cause of the people of Hinsdale does honor to the known goodness of your heart. I can only say that I am much concerned for their misfortune : but looking upon it, for the reasons I as- signed, to be irretrievable, I sincerely wish they would em- brace Colonel Howard's proposals. They will assuredly find delays to be dangerous : when the Colonel leaves this, which will be soon, their hopes of accommodation must vanish. He very lately expressed much chagrin at the indifference with which they appear to contemplate what he, and all here conceive a very generous offer. Governor Hutchinson has wrote to Governor Tryon in their favor ; but placed their defence on a footing very trivial, (to wit) " an argument between Massachusetts and New Hampshire previous to the settlement of their contested boundary in 1739, that the al- teration of jurisdiction should not affect private property." But how can such a stipulation affect lands twenty miles to the westward of Mason's grant, which were not in controversy, and which were determined to lie in neither of the contend- ing Colonies ? On receiving Governor Tryon's answer with a state of the case, and one of the proclamations. Governor Hutchinson candidly confessed, that they left the Govern- ment of New Hampshire, and the claimants under it, with- out excuse ; and assured his Excellency that he should never interpose further in any respect, and that he had acquainted Mr. Hunt, and Mr. Jones, an attorney who accompanied him to Boston, to that eff ' ' = n APPENDIX. 205 I am much pleased that Governor Tryon's proclamation states the conduct of New Hampshire with respect to us in such a light as to leave them in your opinion also without excuse. I wish it may have its proper weight with the people of Barrington, for whom principally it was intended. They have proceeded to such unwarrantable excesses that I fear their destruction will be inevitable. They have already appeared in arms against the posse of Albany County to prevent the course of Justice, and, it is now reported, are training themselves to have a new conflict with the militia or military, if they should be called upon to support the law's authority, which is found already too weak to encounter their madness. And what is most surprising, these violent measures they have been hurried into in the defence of the possession of one Breckenridge, which lies within seventeen miles of Hudson's River, and beyond any claim which the Government of New Hampshire ever pretended to. If you inquire what can induce them to act so rashly, they justify themselves under your letter, and an assurance that ulti- mately the country will be given back to New Hampshire ; and persist in it that they will fight for' their possessions. What can be done with these unhappy men? To suffer the course of justice longer to be trampled upon will render Government ridiculous and contemptible. To have recourse to arms is shocking to humanity. If they consulted their true interest, and would be calm and temperate, everybody here would befriend them. The proprietors of the land would give them easy terms ; or the Government equivalent lands, plenty of which are yet ungranted. I am sure every- thing would be accommodated justly, and to the satisfaction of any reasonable mind ; and the sufferers of them might be made whole. I never heard a proprietor insinuate that he wished to take the least advantage of their improvements. But alas ! if force is used, and they are defeated, — and de- feated they must be, — their ruin, I should think, would be complete. I assure you there is nothing gives me more con- cern than these deluded and infatuated people ; the chief of , 206 APPENDIX. whom have intruded upon these lands with their eyes open, and in the face of proclamations warning and forbidding theru ; though undoubtedly some have been abused by the chicane of the Government of New Hampshire, and suffer for their simplicity. I see you are launched again into the painful Folios of our profession, — for is it not, after all, a farce to spend one's life in an unentertaining drudgery, which affords no other profit than an envied subsistence, and constantly exhibits a melancholy picture of the arts and frauds of our fellow crea- tures, impressing us with the truth of that mortifying ejacu- lation of the poet : oh! auri sacra fames, quid non mortalia peotora cogis f Mrs. Duane joins me in respectful compliments to yourself, and Mrs. Johnson. I entreat you to believe that with the warmest regard, I remain, dear sir. Your most obedient and humble servant, Jas. Dtjanb. New Yokk, February 18, 1772. Steatfohd, March 16, 1772. Mt dear Sie, — My attendance on our Superior Court in an interior part of the country deprived me of the pleasure of your favor of the 18th February, till this morning. I now thank you very sincerely for the kind and tender regard you express for the memory of my Father, who had also a most hearty affection and esteem for you ; and am extremely pleased with those noble Christianlike sentiments which you so elegantly express upon occasion of his death. Such senti- ments can be dictated only by that true Christian philosophy which elevates human nature to the highest perfection it is capable of in this state, and prepares it for consummate felicity in the future stages of its existence. I could not as a man, but feel very tenderly the loss of such a Father and friend, yet I agree with you, that we had much more reason to re- joice in the noble manner in which he finished his course and triumphed over the King of Terrors, than occasion to mourn his departure at so advanced an age. I saw it in that light APPENDIX. 207 and it afforded me a noble consolation. His exit was pre- cisely sncli as a wise and good man would wish for. Let us, my friend, imitate Ms virtues, that we also may be partakers of that joy which through Faith and Patience he has inherited. I am very glad you take in good part the concern I ex- pressed for the poor people of Hinsdale. Let me trespass a moment further upon your good nature. The people of Hinsdale, if they had not a legal title to their township — yet in consideration of their early settlement of the country, their long possession and their two mistaken grants from the Crown, had at least an equitable right to the lands ; and in my opinion ought to have received a confirmation without fee or reward under the seal of New York, whose jurisdic- tion they, acknowledge and to whose laws they are willing to be obedient, instead of having a mandamus located upon their lands. Their case, therefore, seems to me to be ex- tremely hard, nor do I well conceive how Colonel Howard can be thought by gentlemen in New York to have made them a very generou^s offer. Justice must precede generosity. Who is Colonel Howard, and what are his services, that he should be entitled to the sweat and labor of these poor peo- ple ? He knew, when he laid on his mandamus, that they were in possession of the lands. He did it with his eyes open, and how he can ever reconcile it to his conscience, as an honest man, or to his feelings, as a man of honor, to give so much distress to so many innocent people — I know not. There were vacant lands enough for him to have taken up his grant in ; and to demand a large consideration for quitting to the inhabitants their possession, which he should never have meddled with, appears to me too like the generosity of him who demands one half the money in your purse, as a reward for sparing the remainder — he is sure it is generous, but after all it is the generosity of the highwayman, for which he ought to be hanged. I have no doubt, if the people of Hinsdale were in a con- 208 APPENDIX. dition to represent their unfortunate case to His Majesty — the father of his people — and to his ministers, that Colonel Howard would be ordered to locate his lands somewhere else, and receive a severe reprimand for the trouble he has given them. But what can they do at this distance from the throne, which they cannot approach but at an expense which would ruin them. Must they submit to injustice, under the spe- cious name of generosity ? They must probably do so ! I saw Mr. Hunt last week at Hartford, who' told me he intended to set out next week for New York to know their final fate ; and I leave them to Providence — and to you. It gives me real concern that the people of Bennington should pretend to justify their intemperate and ill-advised proceedings under a letter from me. You may rely upon it, they have not, nor ever had any letter of mine save only a copy of one I wrote in June last to one of my neighbors, interested in those lands, which con- tains only a simple relation of the intelligence I had then re- ceived from one of the Lords of Trade, of the substance of the report they had agreed to make, relative to the New Hampshire lands (with which the report itself, which I afterwards saw, generally corresponded), the substance of which as relative to them, was only that the grantees under New Hampshire who had actually settled their lands, and done their duty according to the tenor of their grant, should be quieted ; but mentions not a word about the lands being given back again to New Hampshire. Nor have I since my return given any man the least reason to expect anything of that nature ; on the contrary I have assured all that I have seen that there was not the least probability of it, and have advised them all to pay obedience to the laws of the prov- ince of New York and to apply for grants under that govern- ment, which many of them I know have accordingly done. So little ground have these people for the pretense that I have given any ground for the disobedience to law and dis- regard to authority which it seems they have been guilty of. I have therefore nothing to say for them, unless it be, that APPENDIX. 209 perhaps it may be prudent not to proceed to extremities with them until you know the event of the report of the Board of Trade, relative to the settlement of that country, which will probably put an end to their hopes of further arbitration, and perhaps induce them to a quiet submission to the laws. In the mean time I should be extremely glad to know what is the intention of His Excellency Governor Tryon, with re- gard to granting these lands. Frequent applications are made to me by the proprietors under New Hampshire, and I wish to be able to give them such information as may be of real use to them. I am par- ticularly concerned for the inhabitants of a town called Nor- wich, who appear to be very honest people and disposed to do everything fit for them to do, to secure their lands, but extremely ignorant what course they should pursue for that purpose. They have, indeed, sent a person down to New York, who has prepared a petition to the Governor and Coun- cil, but hardly know what answer he has received or what they were further to do. Will you be so kind, dear sir, as to acquaint me what may be depended upon in this matter, and what can be done to secure to these people their lands, who are willing to submit to the laws, and to do anything that can be reasonably re- quired of them, and will be totally ruined if they are turned out of their possessions. I received some time ago, about £30, in New York money, on a bond due to my late brother NicoU's estate, which I hear with pleasure, is under your conduct. Shall I send it to you, or will it be wanted here for the support of Harry at the College ? Mrs. Johnson joins me in sincere compliments to Mrs. Duane, and I remain with the utmost regard and esteem. Dear sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, Wm. Saml. Johnson. To James Duane, Esq. i4 APPENDIX D. GOVERNOR Trumbull's letter to general gage. Hartford, April 28 (26 '), 1775. Sir, — The alarming situation of public affairs in this country, and the late unfortunate transactions in the Prov- ince of Massachusetts Bay, have induced the General As- sembly of this Colony, now sitting in this place, to appoint a committee of their body to wait upon your Excellency, and to desire me, in their name, to write. to you, relative to those very interesting matters. The inhabitants of this Colony are intimately connected with the people of your Province, and esteem themselves bound, by the strongest ties of friendship as well as common interest, to regard with attention whatever concerns them. You will not, therefore, be surprised that your first arrival at Boston with a body of His Majesty's troops for the de- clared purpose of carrying into execution certain Acts of Parliament, which, in their apprehension, are unconstitu- tional and oppressive, should have given the good people of this Colony a very just and general alarm. Your subse- quent proceedings in fortifying the town of Boston, and other military preparations, greatly increased their apprehen- sions for the safety of their friends and brethren. They could not be unconcerned spectators of their sufferings in that which they esteemed the common cause of this country ; but the late hostile and secret inroads of some of the troops under your command into the heart of the country, and APPENDIX. 211 the violences they have committed have driven them almost to a state of desperation. They feel now, not only for their friends, but for themselves and their dearest interests and connections. We wish not to exaggerate ; we are not sure of every part of our information, but by the best intelligence that we have yet been able to obtain, the late transaction was a most un- provoked attack upon the lives and property of His Majesty's subjects ; and it is represented to us that such outrages have been committed as would disgrace even barbarians, and much more Britons, so highly famed for humanity as well as bravery. It is feared, therefore, that we are devoted to de- struction, and that you have it in command and intention to ravage and desolate the country. If this is not the case, permit us to ask, why have these outrages been committed ? Why all the hostile preparations that are daily making ? And why do we continually hear of fresh destinations of troops to this country ? The people of this Colony, you may rely upon it, abhor the idea of taking up arms against the troops of their Sovereign, and dread nothing so much as the horrors of a civil war.- But, sir, at the same time we beg leave to assure your Excellency, that as they apprehend them- selves justified by the principle of self-defense, they are most firmly i-esolved to defend their rights and privileges to the last extremity ; nor will they be restrained from giving aid to their brethren, if any unjustifiable attack is made upon them. , Be so good, therefore, as to explain yourself upon this most important subject, so far as is consistent with your duty to our common Sovereign. Is there no way to prevent this un- happy dispute from coming to extremities ? Is there no al- ternative but absolute submission or the desolations of war ? By that humanity which constitutes so amiable a part of your character, and for the honor of our Sovereign and the glory of the British Empire we entreat you to prevent it if possible. Surely it is to be hoped that the temperate wis- dom of the Empire might even yet find expedients to restore 212 APPENDIX. peace, that so all parts of the Empire may enjoy their par- ticular rights, honors, and immunities. Certainly this is an event most devoutly to be wished ; and will it not be consis- tent with your duty to suspend the operations of war on your part, and enable us on ours to quiet the minds of the people, at least till the result of some further deliberations may be known ? The importance of the occasion will, no doubt, sufficiently apologize for the earnestness with which we address you, and any seeming impropriety which may attend it, as well as in- duce you to give us the most explicit and favorable answer in your power. I am, with great esteem and respect, in behalf of the Gen- eral Assembly, sir, your most obedient servant. To his Excellency Thomas Gage, Esq. General Gage made a brief reply, and transmitted " a cir- cumstantial account of an unhappy affair," as he termed it, that " happened " in Massachusetts between His Majesty's troops and the people of the country, " whereby," he added, " you will see the pitch their leaders have worked them up to, even to commit hostilities upon the King's troops when an opportunity offered. It has long been said that this was their plan, and so it has turned out." Governor Trumbull's letter and General Gage's answer are printed in " American Archives," vol. ii., pp. 433-439. The letter has been copied from this volume, where it is pre- ceded by the statement, " Read before Congress, May 19 1775." INDEX. Abbott, Justice, 171. Act of Parliament, 43. Adams, John, 110, 112. Albemarle, Earl of, 63. Allen, Ebenezer, 113. America, 39, 41-45, 49, 53,- 55-57, 59, 64, 70, 73, 75, 77-79, 81, 85, 88, 96, 102, 105, 107, 132, 154. American aiEairs, 37, 38, 41, 43, 64, 106. American agents, 41. "American Archives," 212. American artists, 175. American bishops, 76, 77. American cause, 34, 84. American Colonies, 14, 34, 49, 57, 75, 76, 84, 99, 104, 105. American Dictionary, 165. American episcopate, 51, 98, 99. American independence, 177. American liberty, 86, 87. American States, 137. Amherst, General, 24. Andrewes, Bp. Launcelot, 186. " Antiquities of Canterbury," 80. "Appeal to the Public," 51, 52. Apthorp, Rev. East, 199. Arians, 97. Articles of Confederation, 119, 123, 126. Auchmuty, Eev. Samuel, 30, 40. B. Bailey, Justice, 171. Baldwin, Eev. Ashbel, 179. Bancroft, George, 111. Barclay, Eev. Dr., 29. Barnes, Dr., 173. Barre, Colonel, 32, 59. Battle of Lexington, 109. Baxter, Mr., 63. Beach, Eev. Abraham, 152, 163. Beach, Rev. John, 9. Beach, Mrs. Mary, 179. Beach, William, 9. Bearcroft, Dr. Philip, 5, 6. Belden, Esquire, 162. Belish, Marshall, 26. Belknap, Dr. Jeremiah, 149, 150. Bell, Mrs., 40. Benjamin, George, 113. Benson, Mr., 66. Berkeley, Bishop, 4, 91. Berkeley, Mrs., 63. Berkeley, Rev. Dr. George, 53, 54, 59, 62, 66, 80, 81, 86 ; letters of, 92, 93, 96-98, 105-108. Bernard, Governor, 201. BEletting Act, 47. Blatchford, Eev. Mr., 158, 160. Bowden, Rev. Dr. John, 176. British Empire, 92, 211. British Government, 35, 76, 186. British ministers, 104, 105. British Parliament, 108, 134. British Provinces, 154. Broadstreet, Colonel, 28. Brougham, Lord, 173. Burke, Edmund, 59. Burr, Aaron, 190. Burton, Rev. Dr., 38, 58, 59, 94. C. Cathedrals, 68, 199. Chalmers, Dr., Thomas, 172. Chancellor of the University, 151. Chandler, Eev. Dr., 40, 51. Chapman, Mr., 40. Charles I., 71. Charles U., 177, 183. Chester, Bishop of, 174. Chief Justiceship of New York, 45,47, 98. Chief Magistrate of Connecticut, 149. 214 INDEX. Church of England, 2, 5, 9, 51, 55, 59, 63, 65, 92, 186. Clergymen's Corporation, 152. Cockpit, 15, 85, Coke, Lord Chief Justice, 50. Colonial Councils, 108. Colonial Legislatures, 31, 32, 109.. Colonies, 38, 41, 43, 44, 57, 63, 75-77, 91, 92, 99, 102, 117, 124, 130, 182, 187, 191,19.5,196; Congress of, 31- 33, 108, 183, 195 ; petitions, 195, 196. Colony of Connecticut, 10, 14, 30, 34-36, 60, 86, 87, 95, 109, 112, 149, 165, 210, 211. Columbia College, 10, 129, 131, 133, 151-154, 156, 162, 163, 168, 184. Commissioners of the Admiralty, 25. Commissioners of Customs in Amer- ica, 45 ; in Ireland, 201. Commissioners, Meeting of, 125. Congress, 185, 212. Congress of the States, 120-122, 125, 126, 134, 135, 138. Connecticut Bar, 167. Continental Army, 124. Continental Congress, 110, 136. Continental measures, 22. Convention of Delegates, 126-128, 131. Convention of Massachusetts, 111. Conway, General, 32^34, 37, 59. Cooke, Mr., 26. Cooper, Rev. Dr., 40. Cornwallis, Archbishop, 64, 69. Council of Safety, 115, 116. Courts of law, 171. Court of Great Britain, 86. Creswell, Mr., 26. Cromwell, Oliver, 63. Cutting, Mr., 28. D. Dalton's Sheriff, 8. Dampier, Dr., 66. Dartmouth, Lord, 92, 96, 97, 107. Deane, Silas, 108; letter of, 136-138. Debates in Parliament, 83. Declaration of Independence, 95, 112, 126, 153. Declaratory Act, 44. De Grey, Mr., 80. Deism, 53. Deists, 97. Diary, 63, 70, 197. Dimon, ColonelJonathan, 114. Dissenting Act, 175. Dissenters, 174. Duane, James, 91, 129; letter of, 203- 206. Dunlap's History of Arts, 156. Dunning, John, 59. DureU, Dr., 66. Durham, Bishop of, 174. Dwight, Dr. Timothy, 95, 146, 167; 188. Dyer, Eliphalet, 31, 118. E. East India affair, 46. East India Company, 105. Ellenborough, Lord, 171, 174. Ellison, Mr., 151. Ellsworth, Oliver, 126, 131, 133. English Courts, 18. Englishmen, 59. Episcopal Church, 132, 158, 181. Episcopacy, 186. Established Church, 96. " Evening Post," 8. E. Eaden, "W., 57, 58,69. Federal Constitution, 126, 131, 133, 135, 185. Federal Government, 122, 125. Fenno, Eliza, 168, 170. Fenno, John W., 168. Fitch, Colonel Thomas, 122. Fothergil, Dr., 199. French Revolution, 146. French War, 85, 181. Frinsham, Miss, 106. G. Gage, General, 28, 109-111, 210, 212. Gale, Dr. Benjamin, 64, 130, 131. Garrick, David, 16, 166. General Assembly, 10, 11, 25, 27, 30, 31, 36, 86, 87, 95, 109, 131, 150, 177, 187, 195, 210. General Convention, 162. George IIL, 181, 191. " Gertrude of Wyoming," 120. Gibbs, Justice, 171. Gold, Rev. Hezekiah, 4. Gosling, Mr., 68. Gould, James, 167. Governor and Council of Safety, 115, 116. Grafton, Duke of, 37, 38. INDEX. 215 Giaham, Mr., 156, 157. " Grand Committee," 125. Grenville, George, 41-45, 201. Grenville, Lord, 173. Griffith, Rev. Dr. David, 132, 133. Grotius, 9. Guildhall; 15, 171. H. Hale, Lord Chief Justice, 63. Hamilton,! Alexander, 190. Hardwick, Lord Chancellor, 15. Hare, Bishop, 40. Harrison, Mr., 171. Harvard College, 6. Head, Sir John, 66. Hebrew points, 158. * Henley, Lord Keeper, 15. Henry II., Life of, 58. Hillsborough, Lord, 96, 183. Holland, the actor, 166. Home government, 51. Home, George, 53,59, 186. Horsley, Bishop, 186. Houghton Hall, 199. House of Commons, 15, 25, 37, 42, 50, 58, 71. House of Hanover, 34. House of Lords, 38, 51. House of Representatives, 196. Howard, Colonel, 204, 207. Hunt, Mr., 204, 208. Huntington, Governor, 138. Hutchinson, Governor, 204. Hutchinsonians, 53, 160. Hutton, Mr., 200. IngersoU, Jared, 14, 30, 46, 88, 118 ; ■ letters of 15, 16, 19-24. Inglis, Dr. Charles, 153; letter of, 154 -156. Iredell, Judge, 139. J. Jackson, Richard, 20, 36, 40, 50, 55, 182, 195. Jarvis, Bishop, 158, 188. Jarvis, John Wesley, 175. Jay, Sir James, 29, 45, 46. Jenner, Edward, 27. Johnson, Charles F., 157. Johnson, Robert Charles, 157, 179. Johnson, Rev. Dr. Samuel, 1-4, n 203, 206; death, 91. Johnson,- Dr. Samuel, 59, 71, 180; letter, 99, 100. Johnson, Rev. William, 2 ; death of 13. Johnson, William Samuel, birth and baptism, 1 ; graduate of Yale Col- lege, 3 ; lay reader, 5, 6 ; degree of M. A. from Harvard College, 6 ; studies law and enters upon its prac- tice, 7-9 ; marriage, 9 ; captain of militia, 10 ; professional reputation, 14 ; letters to Jared IngersoU, 16-18, 88, 89 ; to his father, 28-30, 37-40, 43-46, 52-58, 66-74, 78-81 ; to Mr. Kneeland, 81-84 ; to Dr. Samuel Johnson, 101-103 ; to Dr. Learning, 133; to Dr. Smith, 160; toN. Web- ster, 166 ; to James Otis, 195, 196; to Robert Temple, 197-202 ; to James Duane, 206-209 ; member of General Assembly, 27 ; vaccinated for small-pox, 28 ; member of Con- gress, 1765, 31-34; agent to Great Britain, 35 ; LL. D. from Oxford University, 36 ; hearing debates in Parliament, 41-43 ; eloquence, 47, 48 ; tours into the country, 49, 50 ; ride to Acton, 62, 63 ; fears for his country, 64, 75 ; sending bishops to America, 76, 77 ; final hearing of Mohegan cause, 85; return home, 86; death of his father, 91, 94; Judge of Superior Court, 9.5, 96 ; events leading to the Revolution, 104-108; embassy to General Gage, 109-112; town meeting in Strat- ford, 113; arrested and sent to Farmington, 114-116 ; resumes the practice of law, 118; counsellor in the Susquehanna case, 118-120; member of Congress, 120, 122 ; public disturbances, 123, 124; mem- ber of Convention to frame Fed- eral Constitution, 126-128 ; chosen President of Columbia College, 129; resigns presidency, 163; delegate from Stratford to ratify Federal Constitution, 131 ; Senator in Con- gress, 133, 134; removal of Con- gress to Philadelphia, and resigna- tion as Senator, 138 ; responsibility as an educator, 139, 140 ; address to graduates of Columbia College, 141 -145 ; proposal to publish his letters, 149, 150; death of his wife, 153; portrait by Gilbert Stuart, loss and recovery of, 156-158; vestryman of 216 INDEX. Trinity Church, 162 ; visit to Supe- rior Court, 166, 167; marriage of daughter Eizabeth, 1 68 ; portraits by Jarvis, 175, 176; second mar- riage, 179; death, 181; character, 181-191. Johnson, Samuel William, 176, 184. Johnson, Samuel William, 175. Johnson, William Samuel, 8, 157. Jones, Mr., 26, 204. Jones, William, of Nayland, 53, 59, 186. Judiciary of United States, 134. K. Kemp, Professor, 1 53. King's Bench, 51, 61. King's Chapel, Cambridge, 173. King's College, New York, 10, 129, 171 ; at Windsor, 155. King, Mr., 128. Kneeland, Eev. Ebenezer, 78, 81, 91, 94. Kollock, Dr., 173. Lambeth Doctors, 69. Lance, Mr., 49, 106. Leaming, Jeremiah, 132, 133. Leicester's, Lady, 199. Lent, Mr., 152. " Leslie, Charles, 186. Loudon elections, 58. Lords in council, 47. Lords of Trade, 208. Lower House, 27, 109. Lowth, Bishop of Oxford, 38, 39, 57, 59, 71, 8.5, 91, 94, 98. Lyttleton, Lord, 38, 57. M Madison, President, 128, 168. Mallett, Mr., 71. Mansfield, Lord, 9, 15, 51, 59, 61, 171. Marsh, Dr., 174. Mason, Lieutenant Governor,.35, 85. Mason's heirs, 35, 36, 56, 85. Mego, Mr., 198. Meredyth, Sir William, 93. Middlesex elections, 58. Middlesex freeholders, 77. Miller, Jeremiah, 84. Milton, John, 71. Mitchell, Stephen Mix, 121, 122, 134. Mitchill, Samuel L., 152, 1.53, 176. Mohegan case, 40, 46, 47, 55, 65, 84, 85. Mohegan Indians, 35, 36. Monchief, Major, 110. Monck, Mr., 98. MonckjEarl of Albemarle, 63. Morris, G., 128. Moore, Bishop Benjamin, 176. N. New Light Party, 17. Nicoll, Benjamin, Esq., 2. Nicoll, Benjamin, 3. Nicoll, William, 3. Nichols, Captain Philip, 113. North, Lord, 105, 112, 198. Northern Colonies, 76. Noyes, Mr., 17. O. Oifice of Induction, 161, 162. Old Bailey, 171. Oneida Indians, 152. Otis, James, 33, 195. Owen, Dr., 97. Oxenden, Sir George, 68. Oxonians, 70. P. Palmer, Mr., 40. Parkhnrst, Key. John, 39, 53, 57, 59. Parliament, 23, 33, 41, 42, 44, 46, 51, 59, 61, 62, 64, 76, 77, 84, 102, 165, 195. Parliament, Houses of, 32. Parliamentary history, 83. Parliamentary taxation, 105. Paxton, Mr., 200. Phipps, Captain Constantine, 100. Pike s, Lexicon, 57. Pitkin, Governor, 149. Pitt, William, 16, 19, 21, 62 ; Lord Chatham, 32, 37, 41, 46, 59, 180, 198. Plantations, 44. Porteus, Eev. Bielby, 59. Potter, Archbishop, 66, 186. Powell the actor, 166. Prelections, 38, 57, 58. Priestley, Dr. Joseph, 93, 152. Pringle, Sir John, 59. Privy Council, 15. Protestant Colonies, 108. Provincial Governments, 85. INDEX. 217 Provoost, Bishop, 133. Puffendorf, 9. Puritanism of Connecticut, 186. Q. Quebec Bill, 107. Quebec, Capitulation of, 24, 25. Quebec, Popish Colony of, 108. E. Ravensworth, Lord, 38. Beigu of terror, 15-1. " Restoration, 83. Revenue, Board of, 47. Revolution, 9, 105, 119, 153, 186. Revolutionary War, 7. Richardson, Mr., 71. Richmond, Duke of, 38. Robinson, Captain, 50, 200. Rockingham, Marquis of, 33, 34. Root, Jesse, 118. Ros'coe, Mr., 174. Rowland, David, 31. Ruggles, Timothy, 32, 33. Russell, House of, 172. Rutledge, Edward, 153. S. Sandwich, Earl, 38. Savile, Sir George, 40. Scott, Captain, 72. Scotch universities, 70. Seabury, Bishop, 132, 187. Seeker, Archbishop of Canterbury, 28, 56, 59, 63, 66, 68, 92. Sergeant, Jonathan D., 124. Sharpe, Dr., 39. Shays, Daniel, 124. Shelburne, Lord, 37, 38. Shelton, Rev. Philo, 158. Sheridan, Mr., 166. Sherman, Roger, 126, 131. Sherman, Roger M., 167. Sherwood, Samuel B. 167. Shirley, Colonel, 198. Simeon, Rev. Charles, 172. Smith, Sydnay, 188. Smith, William, 7. Smith, Rev. Dr. William, College at Philadelphia, 29. Smith, Rev. William, D. D., 176; letters of, 158-162. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 5, 6, 64, 80. Somaster, Mr., 80. Southern Colonies, 76. " Spectator," 165. Stamp Act, 30, 32, 34, 41, 45, 104 Stiles, Dr., 135. Stinton, Rev. Mr., 59. Stockton, Richard, 95. Stuart, Gilbert, 156. Sturgis, Mr., 123. Stuyvesant, Mr., 29. SufColk, Earl, 38, 201. Susquehanna case, 48, 118-120. Superior Court, 166. Talbot, Earl, 38. Temple, John, 106, 197. Temple, Robert, 49, 89-91, 93, 94, 197. Terrick, Dr. Richard, Bishop of Lon- don, 59, 96. " The Vanity of Human Wishes," 180. Thirteen States, 126, 128. Titdeshall Church, 50. Trade, Board of, 202. TreadweU, John, 115. Trecothick, Mr., 93. Trinity Church, New York, 162. Trinity College, 156. Trumbull, Governor, 59, 76, 115, 116, 149, 150; letter to General Gage, 210-212. Tryon, Governor, 112, 113, 204, 205, 209. Toralinson, Agur, 4. Townsend, Mr. Epenetus, 51, 52. Townshend, Lord Viscount, 50. Townshend, Mr. Charles, 25, 41, 42, .50. U. Union, 125, 126, 138. Union College, 151. United States, 116, 125, 185. United States, Confrress of, 48. United States, Constitution of, 127. United States, Senate of, 139. University of Cambridge, 41, 46, 172. University of Oxford, 36, 66, 70, 173. Upper House, 27, 95, 117. V. Van Rensselaer, Estate of, 108. Verplanck, Daniel C, 168. 218 INDEX. Verplanck, Gulian C, 1 68 ; letters of 169-175. Verplanck, William Samuel, 175. Viner's Abridgment, 8. Virginia Delegates, 133. W. Wadsworth, Colonel, 122, 137. Walker, Mr., 23. Wallingford controversy, 17-19, 25, 26. Walwin, Dr., 66. Warburton, Bishop, 71. Washington, President, 140, 162. Watts, Mr., 28. Webster, Noah, 165, 166. Wedderburn, Alexander, 59, 166. Wellesley, Lord, 175. Wentworth, Mr., 199. Westminster Hall, 199. Wetmore, Mr., 152. Weymouth, Lord, 38. Wharton, Dr. Charles, 176. Whately, Thomas, 47, 90, 106, 198, 199, 201, 202. Whately, William, 106. White, Bishop, 133. Whittlesey, Matthew B., 167. Wilkes, John, 28, 58, 61. Wilson, Professor, 1 53. Wolcott, Mr. Erastus, 109-111. Wolcott, Oliver, 113-115; Governor, 177. Wolfe, General, 24, 79. Wyllys, George, 109. Wyoming Valley, 119, 120. Y. Yale College, 2-4, 7, 135, 146, 156, 188. York, Archbishop of, 56. York, Duke of, 198.