Part 1188

"Just when or by whom the acts and proceedings of New Haven colony were first stigmatized as Blue Laws, cannot now be ascertained. The presumption, however, is strong that the name had its origin in New York, and that it gained currency in Connecticut, among episcopalian and other dissenters from the established church, between 1720 and 1750. … In the colony of New Haven, before the union with Connecticut, the privileges of voting and of holding civil office were, by the 'fundamental agreement,' restricted to church-members. This peculiarity of her constitution was enough to give color to the assertion that her legislation was, pre-eminently, blue. That her old record-book contained a code of 'blue laws' which were discreditable to puritanism and which testified to the danger of schism—became, among certain classes, an assured belief. To this imaginary code wit and malice made large additions, sometimes by pure invention, sometimes by borrowing absurd or arbitrary laws from the records of other colonies. And so the myth grew—till the last vestige of truth was lost in fable. The earliest mention of the 'New Haven Blue Laws' that I remember to have seen in print, is in a satirical pamphlet published in 1762, entitled; 'The Real Advantages which Ministers and People may enjoy, especially in the Colonies, by conforming to the Church of England,' etc. … From the manner in which this allusion is introduced it is evident that reproach of New Haven for her 'blue laws' was already a familiar weapon of religious controversy. A few years later—in 1767—William Smith, Chief-Justice of New York, had the curiosity to inspect 'the first records of the colony of New Haven, vulgarly called the Blue Laws.' In the continuation of his history of New York, he gives (p. 93) the result of his examination: 'A note ought not to be suppressed concerning these records, to correct a voice of misplaced ridicule. Few there are, who speak of the Blue Laws, … who do not imagine they form a code of rules for future conduct, drawn up by an enthusiastic, precise set of religionists; and if the inventions of wits, humorists, and buffoons were to be credited, they must consist of many volumes. The author had the curiosity to resort to them, when the Commissaries met at New Haven, for adjusting a partition line between New York and the Massachusetts in 1767; and a parchment-covered book of demi-royal paper was handed to him for the laws asked for, as the only volume in the office passing under this odd title. … It contains the memorials of the first establishment of the colony, which consisted of persons who had wandered beyond the limits of the old charter of the Massachusetts Bay, and who, as yet unauthorized by the crown to set up any civil government in due form of law, resolved to conduct themselves by the Bible. As a necessary consequence, the judges they chose took up an authority similar to that which every religious man exercises over his own children and domestics. Hence their attention to the morals of the people, in instances with which the civil magistrate can never intermeddle under a regular well-policied institution; because, to preserve liberty, they are cognizable only by parental authority. … So far is the common idea of the blue laws being a collection of rules from being true, that they are only records of convictions, consonant, in the judgment of the magistrates, to the word of God, and dictates of reason.' … Occasional allusions to the 'Blue Laws' are found in newspapers and pamphlets printed before the Revolution, but no specimens of the laws so stigmatised seem to have been published before 1781, when 'a sketch of some of them' was given to the world by the Rev. Samuel Peters, in 'A General History of Connecticut, from its First Settlement under George Fenwick, Esq.,' etc.: 'By a Gentleman of the Province:' printed in London, 'for the Author.' … As the sole authority for the only 'New Haven Blue Laws' that are now popularly known by the name, he and his book are entitled here to a larger notice. The late Professor J. L. Kingsley, in the notes to his Historical Discourse at New Haven (1838), was at the pains of pointing out 'a few errors'—as he charitably named them—of 'the work which, more than any other, has given currency to various misrepresentations respecting the New Haven colony:' and in this connection he quoted a remark made by the Rev. Dr. Trumbull, the historian, who was a townsman of Peters and had known him from childhood,—that, 'of all men with whom he had ever been acquainted, Dr. Peters, he had thought, from his first knowledge of him, the least to be depended upon as to any matter of fact, especially in story-telling.' The best excuse that can be made for him is, that he was a victim of pseudomania; that his abhorrence of truth was in fact a disease, and that he was not morally responsible for its outbreaks. He could not keep even his name clear of falsification. It passes into history with doubtful initials and fictitious titles. … In 1774, his obstinate and aggressive toryism rendered him very obnoxious to his neighbors and finally provoked the resentment of the Sons of Liberty. A party of two or three hundred men paid him a visit, threatened him (so he averred) with tar and feathers, handled him somewhat roughly when they detected him in falsehood, and drew from him a promise that he would not again meddle in public affairs. … He found his only comfort in the anticipation that, if his plans of vengeance should succeed, Connecticut might be blotted out: 'the bounds of New York may directly extend to Connecticut river, Boston meet them, New Hampshire take the Province of Maine, and Rhode Island be swallowed up as Dathan.' {3692} In October, 1774, he sailed for England, where he remained until 1805. He obtained a small pension from the crown, and some compensation for the property he professed to have lost in Connecticut: and it was perhaps in the hope of eking out a livelihood, as well as of gratifying his resentment, that he employed his pen in abuse of the colony which gave him birth, and the religion of his fathers. He did not, says Mr. Duykinck, 'carry his point of dismembering Connecticut, but he punished the natives almost as effectually by writing a book—his History of the State.'"

_J. H. Trumbull, Introduction to "The True-Blue Laws of Connecticut and New Haven."_

"In this 'History' were collected all the extravagant stories that had been set afloat during the previous fifty years to gratify the stupidity of those among the lower classes in New York who were descended from the Dutch, or the hatred of the most bitter of the British royalists. This 'History' is the first and the only 'authority' for the 'Blue Laws' which were attributed to the early New Haven colonists. … No person in America who knew anything about the history of his country ever seriously quoted Dr. Peters's 'History' as an authority on any subject whatever. The 'Comic History of England,' or the 'Travels of Baron Munchausen,' would be as little likely to be quoted in England for any serious purpose. And yet this falsehood about the 'Blue Laws,' which was thus first concocted for a purpose, has a vitality which, in some of its aspects, is amusing."

W. L. Kingsley, Blackwood's Magazine on the "Blue Laws" (New Englander, April, 1871), pages 296-299.

BODLEIAN LIBRARY, The.

See LIBRARIES, MODERN (page 2016).

BOERHAAVE, and humoral pathology.

See MEDICAL SCIENCE: 17TH CENTURY (page 2136).

BOLOGNA, University of.

See EDUCATION, MEDIÆVAL (page 696).

"BOMBA," King.

See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849 (page 1862).

BOOTH, Reverend General William, and the Salvation Army.

See (in this Supplement) SALVATION ARMY.

BOROUGH FRANCHISE, English.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1884-1885 (pages 973-978).

BOSTON LATIN SCHOOL.

See EDUCATION, MODERN (page 727).

BOTHWELL, James Hepburn, Earl of, and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1561-1568 (page 2857).

BOWDOIN COLLEGE.

An act of the Legislature of the province of Maine, approved in 1794, incorporated the above-named institution. The management of the college was placed under a board of trustees, with full powers of control. … That the institution might not want for proper support, it was further enacted, 'That the clear rents, issues, and profits of all the estate, real and personal, of which the said corporation shall be seized or possessed, shall be appropriated to the endowment of the said college, in such manner as will most effectually promote virtue, piety, and the knowledge of such of the languages and the useful and liberal arts and sciences as shall hereafter be directed from time to time by said corporation.' Five townships of land, each six miles square, were granted to the college for Its endowment and vested in the trustees, provided that fifteen families be settled in each of the said townships within a period of twelve years, and provided further that three lots containing 320 acres each be reserved, one for the first settled minister, one for the use of the ministry, and one for the support of schools within the township where it is located. These townships were to be laid out and assigned from any of the unappropriated lands belonging to the commonwealth of the district of Maine. The first money endowment was instituted by a general law of Massachusetts, approved February 24, 1814, which reads as follows: 'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court now assembled, That the tax which the president, directors and company of the Massachusetts Bank are and shall be liable to pay to the commonwealth, shall be and hereby is granted to and appropriated as follows, viz: ten-sixteenths parts thereof to the president and fellows of Harvard College; and three-sixteenths parts thereof to the president and trustees of Williams College; and three-sixteenths thereof to the president and trustees of Bowdoin College.'"

_F. W. Blackmar, History of Federal and State Aid to Higher Education in the United States (Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, 1890, number 1), pages 123-124._

The college was named in honor of Governor James Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, whose son made valuable gifts to it.

BRACTON, Henry de, and early English Law.

See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1216-1272 (page 1961).

BRADFORD PRESS, The.

See PRINTING AND PRESS: A. D. 16815-1693: and 1704-1729 (page 2597).

BRAZIL: A. D. 1891. Adoption of the Constitution.

For text see CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL (page 518).

BRAZIL: A. D. 1893-1894. Triumph of the Peixoto government.

"The civil war In Brazil resulted in the complete triumph of the Peixoto government in the spring. During November [1893] the insurgents held their own in the harbor of Rio Janeiro, and in the following month occupied a number of islands in the bay. On December 1 Admiral Mello, their leader, with two of his ships, ran past the government batteries and out to sea, leaving in command in the harbor Admiral da Gama, who up to that time had remained neutral. The latter shortly after issued a manifesto pointing to a restoration of the monarchy as the ultimate purpose of the rebels. This seems to have tended rather to weaken the insurgent cause, and a month later da Gama tried in another proclamation to explain away the interpretation that had been put upon the first. The government, meanwhile, confined itself to strengthening its positions in the city and along the shore so as to make any attempt to land unsuccessful. Desultory hostilities continued throughout December and January, incidentally to which the American commander on one occasion enforced respect for merchant vessels bearing his flag by firing on an insurgent vessel. On February 12 da Gama made his most elaborate attempt to gain a foothold on the main land at Armacao, but was repulsed with severe losses. {3693} By this time the insurgent cause was clearly on the decline. On the first of March a presidential election was held, which resulted in the choice of Prudente Moraes, a civilian. This removed the leading grievance of the rebels, that Piexoto was perpetuating a regime of pure militarism. On the 11th of March the fleet which the government had been fitting out in the United States and Europe appeared at the entrance to the harbor of Rio, and Peixoto gave notice of an active movement against the rebels. Da Gama promptly offered to surrender on certain conditions, which being refused, he and his officers sought asylum on first a French and later a Portuguese war vessel. Thus deserted, the crews of the insurgent vessels surrendered without resistance when the government batteries opened fire on the 13th. Admiral Mello, meanwhile, had been operating with some success in connection with the insurgents on land in the southern states of Brazil. In the first part of April, however, the government forces totally defeated the rebels in Rio Grande do Sul, and Mello, about the middle of the month, surrendered himself and his command to the Uruguayan authorities, by whom they were disarmed."

_Political Science Quarterly, June, 1894._

BREAKSPEAR, Nicholas. Pope Hadrian IV., 1154-1159.

BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LIFE, Schools of the.

See EDUCATION, RENAISSANCE (page 705).

BRISBANE, Albert, and Fourierism in America.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1832-1847, and 1841-1847 (pages 2940 and 2944).

BRITANNIC FEDERATION, Proposed.

See FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (page 1112).

BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY, The.

See LIBRARIES, MODERN: ENGLAND (page 2014).

BROCTON COMMUNITY, The.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1867-1875 (page 2951).

BROOK FARM.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS; A. D. 1841-1847 (page 2943).

BROTHERHOOD OF THE NEW LIFE, The.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1867-1875 (page 2951).

BROWN UNIVERSITY.

"Brown University, the oldest and best endowed institution of learning connected with the Baptist denomination, dates back for its origin to a period anterior to the American Revolution, when in all the thirteen colonies there were less than 70 Baptist churches, with perhaps 4,000 communicants. It is not surprising that, at the memorable meeting of the Philadelphia Association, held on the 12th of October, 1762, when the members were finally led to regard it, in the words of Backus, as 'practicable and expedient to erect a College in the Colony of Rhode Island, under the chief direction of the Baptists, in which education might be promoted and superior learning obtained, free from any sectarian tests,' the mover in the matter should at first have been laughed at, the thing being looked upon as, under the circumstances, an utter impossibility. But lenders at that time, like Morgan Edwards and Isaac Eaton, Samuel Jones, Abel Morgan, Benjamin Griffith, John Sutton and John Gano, were men of faith. … At the time of which I speak, there was graduated from Princeton, with the second honors of his class, a man of wonderful mental and physical endowments, an early pupil of Isaac Eaton at Hopewell, James Manning, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey. To him the enterprise of the college was by common consent intrusted. … The first commencement of the college, which was held in the then new Baptist meeting-house of the town of Warren, on the 7th of September, 1769, has already been regarded as a Red Letter Day in its history. Five years previous, the General Assembly, begun and holden by adjournment at East Greenwich, on the last Monday in February, 1764; after various difficulties and delays, in consequence of the determined opposition of those who were unfriendly to the movement, had granted a charter for a 'College or University in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England in America.' Such is the language of the act of incorporation. But though Rhode Island had been selected for its home by the original projectors of the institution, and a liberal and ample charter had thus been secured, the college itself was still in embryo. Without funds, without students, and with no present prospect of support, a beginning must be made where the president could be the pastor of a church, and thus obtain an adequate compensation for his services. Warren, then as now, a delightful and flourishing inland town, situated 10 miles from Providence, seemed to meet the requisite requirements and thither, accordingly, Manning removed with his family in the spring of 1764. He at once commenced a Latin School, as the first step preparatory to the work of college instruction. Before the close of the year a church was organized, over which he was duly installed as pastor. The following year, at the second annual meeting of the corporation, held in Newport, Wednesday, September 3d, he was formally elected, in the language of the records, 'President of the College, Professor of Languages and other branches of learning, with full power to act in these capacities at Warren or elsewhere.' On that same day, as appears from a paper now on file in the archives of the Library, the president matriculated his first student, William Rogers, a lad of fourteen, the son of Captain William Rogers, of Newport. Not only was this lad the first student of the college, but he was also the first freshman class. Indeed, for a period of nine months and seventeen days, as appears from the paper already referred to, he constituted the entire body of students. From such feeble beginnings has the university sprung."

_R. A. Guild, The First Commencement of Rhode Island College (Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, v. 7), pages 269-271._

Six years after the founding of the University it was removed from Warren to Providence, and its name changed from Rhode Island College to Brown University, in honor of John Brown, of Providence, who was its most liberal benefactor.

_G. W. Greene, Short History of Rhode Island, page 196._

Although founded by the Baptist Church, the charter of the University "expressly forbids the use of religious tests. The corporation is divided into two Boards—the Trustees, 36 in number, of whom 22 must be Baptists, 5 Quakers, 5 Episcopalians, and 4 Congregationalists, and the Fellows, 12 in number, of whom 8, including the President, must be Baptists, and the remainder of other denominations. Twelve Trustees and 5 Fellows form a quorum. The college estate, the students, and the members of the faculty, with their families, are exempt from taxation and from serving as jurors."

_S. G. Arnold, History of the State of Rhode Island, chapter 18 (volume 2)._

{3694}

BRUCHION, Library of the.

See LIBRARIES, ANCIENT (page 2003).

BRUNONIAN SYSTEM, The.

See MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18TH CENTURY (page 2141).

BRYN MAWR COLLEGE.

See EDUCATION (page 743).

BUBBLE ACT, The.

See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1710 (page 1971).

BULGARIANS, The conversion of the.

See CHRISTIANITY: 9TH CENTURY (page 464).

BUREAU OF EDUCATION, The United States.

See EDUCATION, MODERN (page 735).

BURKE, Edmund. Speech on Conciliation of the American Colonies.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (pages 3218-3221).

BYNG, Admiral John, Execution of.

See MINORCA: A. D. 1756 (page 2187).

BYZANTINE TRADE.

See (in this Supplement) COMMERCE, MEDIÆVAL.

CABOTS, Voyages of the.

See (in this Supplement) AMERICA.

C.

CALHOUN, John C., The aggressive proslavery policy of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1837-1838, and 1847 (pages 3375 and 3380).

CAMBOJA.

See TONKIN (page 3114).

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY.

See EDUCATION (pages 701, 706 and 710).

CAMPBELLITES, The.

See (in this Supplement) DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.

CANADA: Constitution of the Dominion.

See CONSTITUTION OF CANADA (page 526).

CANADA: Libraries.

See LIBRARIES, MODERN: CANADA (page 2023).

CANADA: The Ontario school system.

See EDUCATION, MODERN (page 733).

CANALS.

See (in this Supplement) COMMERCE, MODERN.

CANULEIAN LAW, The.

See ROME: B. C. 445-400 (page 2667).

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

See LAW, CRIMINAL: A. D. 1600, and 1660-1820 (pages 1983 and 1984).

CARNATIC, The.

See (in this Supplement) KARNATIC.

CARNOT, President Sadi, The assassination of.

See (in this Supplement) FRANCE: A. D. 1894-1895.

CARTHAGINIAN COMMERCE.

See (In this Supplement) COMMERCE, ANCIENT.

CASHGAR.

See TURKESTAN (page 3130); and YAKOOB BEG (page 3662).

CASIMIR-PERIER, Election to the Presidency of the French Republic, and resignation.

See (in this Supplement) FRANCE: A. D. 1894-1895.

CATHOLIC REACTION IN GERMANY, The.

See (in this Supplement) GERMANY: 16TH CENTURY; also, page 2457.

CAUCASUS, The Races of the.

"One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Caucasus is that, while it has acted as a barrier between the north and the south, stopping and turning aside the movements of population, it has also preserved within its sheltered recesses fragments of the different peoples who from time to time have passed by it, or who have been driven by conquest into it from the lower country. Thus it is a kind of ethnological museum, where specimens may be found of countless races and languages, some of which probably belong to the early ages of the world; races that seem to have little affinity with their present neighbours, and of whose history we know nothing except what comparative philology can reveal. Even before the Christian era it was famous for the variety of its peoples. … No more inappropriate ethnological name was ever propounded than that of Caucasian for a fancied division of the human family, the cream of mankind, from which the civilized peoples of Europe are supposed to have sprung. For the Caucasus is to-day as it was in Strabo's time, full of races differing in religion, language, aspect, manners, character."

_J. Bryce, Trans-caucasia and Ararat, chapter 2._

CELESTINES, CELESTINIANS.

A religious order founded by the hermit, Peter of Morone, who afterwards, in 1294, became Pope, and took the name Celestine V. The rules of the order were austere. It became widespread throughout Europe, but was suppressed in France in 1766.

CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS, in England and Germany.

See PRINTING AND PRESS: A. D. 1695 (pages 2597 and 1602).

CENSUS, United States.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1790 (page 3305); 1800 (page 3324), and after.

CHANCELLOR. CHANCERY.

See LAW, EQUITY (page 1988).

CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE.

See GERMANY: A. D. 687-800, 800, and 814-843 (pages 1436-1438); and (in this Supplement) ROME.

CHARLEMAGNE'S PALATINE SCHOOL.

See EDUCATION, MEDIÆVAL (page 689).

CHARTERHOUSE SCHOOL.

See EDUCATION, MODERN (page 712).

CHASE, Judge, Impeachment and trial of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1804-1805 (page 3329).

CHATHAM, John Pitt, Earl of, and the Walcheren expedition.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1809 (page 947).

CHATHAM, William Pitt, Earl of, Speech on the repeal of the Stamp Act.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1766 (page 3201).

CHICAGO UNIVERSITY, The founding of the.

See EDUCATION, MODERN (page 738).

CHILE.