General History of Connecticut, from Its First Settlement Under George Fenwick to its Latest Period of Amity with Great BritainPeters, Samuel
History
General History of Connecticut, from Its First Settlement Under George Fenwick to its Latest Period of Amity with Great Britain
Peters, Samuel
Connecticut -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Connecticut -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
The zealous royalists, not finding the judges in New Haven,
prosecuted their journey to the Dutch settlement, and made
interest with Stuyvesant, the Dutch Governor, against them.
He promised them that, if the judges should be found within
his jurisdiction, he would give them immediate intelligence,
and that he would prohibit all ships and vessels from
transporting them.
Having thus zealously prosecuted the business of their
commission, they returned to Boston, and reported the
reception which they had met with at Guilford and New Haven.
Upon this report, a letter was written by Secretary Rawson,
in the name of the General Court of Massachusetts, to
Governor Leet and his Council, on the subject. It
represented that many complaints had been exhibited in
England against the colonies, and that they were in great
danger. It was observed that one great source of complaint
was their giving such entertainment to the regicides, and
their inattention to his Majesty’s warrant for their arrest.
This was represented as an affair which hazarded the
liberties of all the colonies, and especially those of New
Haven. It was intimated that the safety of particular
persons, no less than that of the colony, was in danger. It
insisted that the only way to expiate their offense, and
save themselves harmless, was without delay to apprehend the
delinquents. Indeed, the Court urged that not only their own
safety and welfare, but the essential interests of their
neighbors, demanded their indefatigable exertions to
exculpate themselves.
Colonels Whalley and Goffe, after the search which had been
made for them at New Haven, left Mr. Davenport’s, and took
up their quarters at Mr. William Jones’s, son-in-law to
Governor Eaton, and afterward Deputy-Governor of New Haven
and Connecticut. There they secreted themselves until the
11th of May.
Thence they removed to a mill in the environs of the town.
For a short time they made their quarters in the woods, and
then fixed them in a cave in the side of a hill, which they
named Providence Hill. They had some other places of resort,
to which they retired as occasion made necessary, but this
was generally the place of their residence until the 19th of
August. When the weather was bad, they lodged at night in a
neighboring house. It is not improbable that sometimes, when
it could be done with safety, they made visits to their
friends at New Haven.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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