commonwealth, levied the town's share of the commonwealth taxation, and went "from howse to howse" to notify the freemen of meetings of the general court, and of the time and place of elections of deputies thereto. "The parish," says Selden, "makes the constable; and, when the constable is made, he governs the parish." He might even become the instrument of a legal revolution, in case the governor and magistrates refused to call the regular meetings of the general court, or, on petition of the freemen, a special meeting. In that case, the constitution provided that the freemen were to instruct the constables to order elections of deputies, who were to constitute a general court themselves, excluding the governor and magistrates. This power never was exercised, but it is an extraordinary feature in constitutional law. It was the Connecticut mode of ensuring recognition of the direct representatives of the towns.

This constitution was the first conscious and deliberate attempt to found a commonwealth democracy on this continent, and it lasted in reality until 1818, for the charter changed it in no essential point. It was a system of complete popular control, of frequent elections by the people, and of minute local government. It remained, throughout confiscations, modifications, and refusals of charters in other colonies, the exemplar of the rights of self-government which all the English

colonies gradually came to aim at more or less consciously. In later times the length of service of its officers was again and again cited by Jefferson to prove that, in a real democracy, annual elections were no bar to prolonged tenure of office. The first election of officers under the constitution was held April 11, 1639. John Haynes was chosen governor. Six magistrates were elected. One of the magistrates, Roger Ludlow, was chosen deputy governor; another, Edward Hopkins, secretary; and another, Thomas Wells, treasurer; and these and twelve deputies, or "committees," made up the general court. Until 1660, it was a tolerably steady rule that the governor of one year was the deputy governor of the next, and vice versa. In this period of about twenty years Haynes was governor eight times, and deputy governor five times; and Hopkins was governor seven times, and deputy governor six times. In 1657 John Winthrop began his term of service as governor, which lasted, through the removal of the provision against reëlection, for eighteen years, the longest term of service reached by any of Connecticut's chief magistrates. In the next century, Gurdon Saltonstall held the office for seventeen years, 1707-24, Nathan Gold holding the office of deputy governor during all but the first year of Saltonstall's term. Saltonstall was followed by Joseph Talcott, who also held the office of governor for seventeen years, 1724–

41; having the same deputy governor, Jonathan Law, throughout his entire term. Law succeeded Talcott; and thereafter, until 1818, the rule was that a governor held office until he died or refused to serve longer, when the deputy governor took his place for a like term. Jonathan Trumbull, senior, was governor, 1769-84; and his son, of the same name, held the office 1798-1809.

Reëlection to other offices was never prohibited, and long terms of service in them have been almost too numerous for special mention. John Allyn, for example, became secretary in 1664 and held the office for twenty-eight years, influencing the policy of the colony strongly during the whole period. A more remarkable case is that of the Whitings, who held the office of treasurer for seventy years, Joseph Whiting 1679-1718, and his son and successor, John Whiting, 1718-49. Even this family record was outdone by the Wyllyses in the office of secretary. Hezekiah

Wyllys held the office 1712-35; his son and successor, George Wyllys, 1735-96; and Samuel Wyllys, George's son and successor, 1796-1810, the office having remained in the family but two years short of a century. Length of tenure was the rule in local offices as well. In the first two hundred and fifty years of its history, Hartford has had but twenty town clerks. One of them, John Allyn, held the office, by annual elections, for thirty-seven years, and another, George Wyllys,

for fifty years. Cases of this kind were exceedingly common throughout the commonwealth. William Hillhouse, of New London, served in the general court for fifty-eight years, so that, as elections to the lower house of that body were semiannual, he was sent by his town to one hundred and sixteen successive sessions.

It must be admitted that much of this permanency in democracy was due to the nature of the people; but a large share ought to be credited to their institutions. The people, fully satisfied with the complete control over the government which their constitution had secured to them, were content to allow circumstances to develop the men best suited to government. At the same time, the intense personal interest felt by every citizen in the commonwealth gave all of them a common motive, sharpened their intelligence, united their force, and carried the commonwealth safely through storms which would otherwise have been fatal. So much, at least, Connecticut owes to the constitution of 1639.

CHAPTER VII.

THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

THE settlements of New Haven, Milford, and Guilford probably had their origin in closely connected movements at home, though they took place at different times. Every indication to be drawn from the records shows common characteristics of persons, methods, beliefs, and purposes.

The two most prominent men in the New Haven party of settlers were John Davenport (otherwise Damport or Dampard) and Theophilus Eaton, both Londoners, at least by adoption. Davenport was a Coventry man, an Oxford student, curate of St. Lawrence Jewry, and vicar of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, London. His inclinations seem to have been at first those of a moderately Low Church man, in the modern sense; but Laud's persecutions had converted him into a "dangerous " Puritan by 1633, when he resigned and went to Holland. His acquaintance among Londoners of the middle class and of his own way of thinking was extensive; and it was from this class that the material strength of the New Haven settlement was drawn. Its leading representative was