The Hawaiian gazette., 1877-11-28

his imitators, has been made to bear the bur-
den of whatever of illiberal legislation there
may have been in other places, along with
much more that was purely imaginary, was
the one of all others, with the exception posi-
bly, of Rhode Island, most markedly free from
ii. There was, it is true, law against lying,
and we can readily believe that Peters and
others like him must have regarded this as
serious infringemnt on their personal liberty.
An exaggerated and misrepresented truth
sometimes becomes the most mischievous of
talsehoods, there is frequently no lie more
malignant and dangerous than one which has
hidden somewhere i'll it grain Of truth to
give it plausability, and of this fact the case
we are considering is an apt illustration BY
culling from the Legislation of the other colo
MES whatever seemed to him most illiberal
aud obnoxious, adding to this mass of most
preposterous stuff of his own invention and
then saddling the whole thing upon the people
OF Connecticut, whose active patriotism had
made them particularly hateful to him; DIR.
Samuel Peters has been able to achieve the
high position of being one of the most success
full liars of modern times.
OF course We do not pretend that there is
absolutely no truth whatever in any part of
Peters book, nor do we claim that all the
legislation even of Connecticut, though creep
tionaAy ib-rai and t5rogrt ssirs for Mose times,
was such as would please the majority of the
people at the present day, or in all respects
meet our own approval. What we do assert,
however, and what has been abundantly prov
ed and demonstrated by incontestible histori-
cal evidence, is, that this man Peters deliber-
ately and wilfully forged and invented large
number of laws which never existed on the
statute book, and then published them to the
world as genuine and authentic. We regret
that time and space forbid our setting before
our readers the historical evidence on these
points, or pointing out in detail the % laws"
which had their sole and exclusive origin in
Peters prolific Imagination. 1t will suffice,
however, to say that these latter comprise
pretty much all those claws" which have been
commonly quoted under the head of "Blue
Laws of Connecticut" and which have been
put forward as representing the spirit and in
telligence of the Puritans of New England in
general and of Connecticut in particular.
1t is no part of our intention to enter into
any general defense of New England people
or New England laws, either past or present.
New England and her people need no eulogist
and no defender. There are certain indispu-
table historical facts however concerning
Connecticut especially, which may not be
generally known, and which we consider it
would be well to call particular attention to.
The colonists who settled New Haven in
1888 came mostly from the city of London.
They were men who for the most part had
been engaged in commerce, and they were
distinguished among all the colonists who
came at any time to any part of New England
for their superior culture, their wealth, their
knowledge of affairs, the largeness of their
views, and the greatness of the plans which
they had proposed 10 themselves. The laws
and public policy of the colony was such as
might have been expected from the high char
In many important matters of legislation they
were in advanCc, not only of their Puritan
neigllbors to the eastward and the ether colo
MES further south, but in advance of the gene
raj spirit of the age in which they lived
Their zeal in the cause of popular education
and the liberal provision made for its support
is of itself utterly inconsistent with a narrow
ness which could find expression in such legis-
lation as the so-called blue Laws In
their enacments concerning the Indian and
his relations to the colonists. they were excep-
tionally just and humane, while on the subject
of religion and the treatment Of those who
dissented from the dominant faith and wor-
ship, they were so far in advance of the ideas
and practices which prevailed in the mother
country, that England herself has only with :
in the present generation, come up, and in
some important respects has not yet come up,
to the level where Connecticut stood nearly
two hundred years ago. So persistent, syste-
matte, and long continued have been the mis-
representations on this subject that our state
ments will doubtless sound strange to many,
and by some be altogether denied They are
nevertheless strictly true, and their truth can
be easily demonstrated by referring to the re-
cord. A candid study of American Colonial
History will show to any one really DESTROYS
of knowing the truth, that the character of the
New Haven colony as whole and especially
the character of its leading men, was such
that these Claws" could never by any posi-
bility have been enacted There is not a par
ticle of respectable historical evidence that
they ever existed. And, finally, the records
of the courts, and of all other public proceed
ings of the colony, remain in perfect preSerca-
ton TO this day. They have been published
and are, in the United States at least, easily
accessible, and there is no trace in them Of any
Thing of The kind
OF course we have no idea that any amount
of exposure will put an end to the circulation
of this miserable calumny about the Blue
Laws" of the New Haven colony. 1t fur
nishes such a ready and convenient means of
stirring up the ignorant and pandering to the
uile, that it will probably continue TO be re-
peated for a hundred years to come. We feel,
however. that we have discharged duty, in