Morning journal and courier., 1884-07-05


 But hardly less marked than this is the change in the character of the population. The people of New Haven a hundred years ago were almost all natives of New England and of unmixed English blood The great immigration to New England which began in 1920 almost ceased after 164O. The people who came were mainly of the sturdy English middle class, who preferred exile to tyranny. A few more of tee same sort joined them after the restoration of the Stuarts in 1860. Thenceforth there was very little immigration of any sort to New England until after the Revolution. These people were int ustrious and soon became pros porous in th1s new land. Their marriages were early and fruitful and they increased and multiplied and their de- scendants constituted almost the entire pop ulation of New England one hundred years ago except for the comparatively small num- Der of imported negroes. As late as 1901, when the population of New Haven was es- timated at 4, 600, the number of persons of foreign birth was 142. And day almost one-haIf of our population are foreign born or the children of foreign-born parents And here we touch upon the cause of the marvel ous development of the city and of the na- tion. Had we had to depend upon the de- scendants of the Americans of the RevoIu- tion for population, we should to-day be weak and small among the nations of the earth But we have been made strong and great by the vast food of immigration which has come to us from foreign lands. These aliens coming to have built up our indus tries. have developed our agriculture, have constructed our railroads, have made us what we are. And ws have welcomed them and made them our brethren and our fellow citizens and they no more aliens among us Wherever in the old world men have felt the stress of over-population or social and political wrong, they
 have turned their eyes with
 hope to this free land, and millions have come to begin new and prosperous life in new and uncrowded world And now they are with us and of us. Their old national names may be remembered for a time, but they are in very deed Americans Who are they who to-day partake in this eel ebration? Some of them are indeed the de- scendants of those who pelitioned for the charter of 17S4, and more are descendants of the old Puritan stock. But the vast propor~ ton are those whose ancestors one hundred yearJ ago were dWellers iu foreign lands, and who had no faintest thought or vision that their children of the third and fourth gener- ations would be Americans. In thus open- ing her doors to the poor and distressed in every land our land has become the benefac- tor of the world and in her benefaction has
 found her own might and greatness. In her has been fulfilled the word of the prophet which he spoke saying, "The gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day UT D1SuG, IGaG men DF1nR unto thee the forces of the Gentiles." And now
 in these latter days seem to be get ting frightened at our own treatness and at the sources from whence it has sprung. When we look about and see what vast number of people there are in the world, and how many of them have set their faces towards our shores, we begin to fear
 that we shall be swamped in the great in- coming tide. And then these foreigners, who make the bone and sinew of OUT nation, have brought great many undesirable persons with them, the offscourings of older nations, and thus make us very uncomfortable. Now fellow citizens, Ann ricans wheresoever born, if we have not the strength and force not to be swamped, we had better gracefully go down and let 8 stronger and abler peo- pie take our place. Furthermore, immigra- ! tion however good, must always bring with it thls wretched and evil class. Even when the Puritan planters of New England came over worthless, depraved rascals, the very dregs | of English society, scamps whom it would be hard to match in any subsequent immi- | grafton, and yet the country has survived it ! so far. I do not know whether | 1t IS because am so old and
 conservative or because l nm so young and so enthusiastic but have 8 firm, unshaken faith that still
 this country, our mighty mother, has room ! about her hearth for all mankind, D and will have for centuries to come. have such be | lief in our institutions, in their beneficence and elasticity and power, that am persuaded | that they can mould into our homogeneous | people all who come to our shores; that we ! have place for any who fees from ! poverty and oppression in other lands anC ! who is able and willing to earn his living, be
 he Parthian, Mede, Elamits or g dweller ir Mesopotamia Therefore, say, "whosoevel \ will let him come"
 In thus reviewing the line along which New Haven has developed 1t is impossible to ie-
 nore that feature of it's life which has giver
 it it's widest fame and which has made il known above so many of it's contemporaries I the fact that it is an academic town. Since | the Collegiate school of Connecticut was re \ moved to New Haven in 1719 and was named \ Yale college, it has always given to the place | 8 peculiar renown which has drawn hithel \ distinguished residents and guests. In 1784 | the college had nominalIy some 260 students but probably the number actually in attend | ence at any one time did not much exceed ! two hundred. The officers of the college | were eight in number including the treasurer | and steward. The growth of the university | since that day, if it has not kept pace ir
 numbers with the city, has certainly kept up with the progress of sound learning and | the rapid increase of scientific knowledge. ! We citizens of New Haven are sroud of the ! long list of illustrious names of those who l have here become famous as scholars and ed
 ucators, some of whom have gone home, but many of whom are with us to-day, and who by their lahors have made | our city known wherever culture and knewl- I edge cherished. And we feel to-day in the air the greetings of the thousands who \ look back to New Haven with affection as 1 the beautiful seat of their beloved alma l mater. The city and the university are now | both too large to fesl that petty jealousy ' and hakr hiah in ofh E7ovC ho6 aft most serious consequences. Time was when dread of collision between the two made life here somewhat uncomfortable Time | was, and not so long ago but what many of | us remember it, whom, instead of firing 8 cannon to celebrate 8 boating victory of Yale ! citizens of New Haven leveled their artillery,
 loaded to the nuzzle, at the college buildings and would have fired, too, had not sagacious public officer spiked the guns But such days are, we believe, over forever. Certainly the feeling which exists between the college and the city to-day is such that each is proud \ of the other. It would be easy and profita- ble to treat the development of the city along I various other lines. To show the growth of professions the increase of various trades, l the upspringing of our educational systems and many other ways in which there have been marked change and advancement l in the last hundred years But for this time fails But I cannot leave the matter
 
 the very root of the colony and rhich l moulded it's life in such peculiar forms. I mean it's religious and ecclesiastical institu- tions. It was for religious and political freedom that the planters of this colony came forth from their own country, not knowing whither they went. For this liberty they forsook homes and lands and friends and here in the wilderness built their homes for conscience sake. They came for their own freedom, and if in it's defence, in
 fear of encroachments upon it, they took
 measures which seem to us intolerant, it is
 not for us to cast stones at their sepu,chers
 If we blame them, little do we know
 "What sorrow of heart was theirs
 Who travaied in pain with the births of God
 And planted State with prayers"
 This ancient church, ip whose house of worship we meet to-day, is coeval with the town. In fact it was the town in the early days.
 None but communicants here were allowed to
 take part in public affairs. These men had
 come hither at mighty cost to themselves in
 order that they might worship God in their own way. This was their place for they had made it, and they proposed to keep it and to
 guard against every possible danger. At great price they had obtained their liberty ard they were free men 'twho knew their rights and knowing dared maintain" And this manly and persistent defense of their own liberty. singularly enough and unexpectedly
 to them, laid the foundation of that liberty