The unqualified and unrestrained oppressions emanating from crowned heads and exercised with impunity in former times, have been shorn of half their terrors by modern light and intelligence. As the genial rays of liberty illuminate the minds of the human family, thrones will be held by a more slender tenure, and monarchies will become more limited if not completely annihilated. In Europe, kingly power has been vibrating for the last century, as if shaken by an earthquake. The love of freedom has never been extinguished in the old world; the same feelings that prompted the pilgrim fathers to tempt the dangers of this western hemisphere, still pervade the bosoms of millions who are writhing under the goring lash of potent sceptres. When our forefathers planted themselves upon the shores of America many of them appear to have understood clearly the principles of a republican government, as appears from the articles of association entered into by several and distinct settlements. Among those who commenced their superstructure upon the foundation of equal rights, the name of Wolcott stands conspicuous. It is closely associated with the history of New England for the last two centuries. Henry Wolcott, the patriarch ancestor of this eminent family, was a native of England, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, as early as 1630. In 1636, he, with several others, founded the town of Windsor, in Connecticut, and established a commonwealth, based on republican principles, consisting of Windsor, Hartford, and Weathersfield. The revised constitution of Connecticut is substantially the same as the one penned by Roger Ludlow, and adopted by this infant colony; a high compliment to the pilgrim fathers—a proud memorial of their virtue and intelligence. During the perils of the Indian wars, during the difficulties with the Canadian French, and through all the various vicissitudes that have pervaded New England down to the present time, the descendants of Henry Wolcott have acted a conspicuous part in the field and in the legislative hall.