Morning journal and courier., 1889-06-27
THE MASON MONUMENT.

was the dedication of the monument to Gap
 tain John Mason, the Indian fighter who
 slew the Pequots and thereby conferred an
 inestimable benefit upon the then feeble
 colony and upon the cause of civilization in New England. The village was gaily deco-
 rated for the occasion, and everyone vied in furnishing hospitality. Thousands of visi- tors were here assembled from all parts, of our little commonwealth. By special train l arriving at Il o'clock came Governor Bulke-
 ley and staff, escorted by the Governors Foot Guard of Hartford and four companies of ! the Third infantry. The monument stands on Pequot Hill and there the formal exercises | took place.. Charles E. Dyer, chairman of l the commission, opened the exercises, and l Rev. 0. J. Hill of Stoniegton offered prayer. \ The statute was then by MT. Dyer turned ' over to the State of Connecticut, and received | by Governor Bulkeley, who said:
 ADDRESS BY THE GOVERNOR.
 Memorials hastily erected to commem- ! crate patriotic deeds or distinguished services are not always best evidences of gratitude of
 nation or state or an unquestioned test of \ true merit. The deeds or services which are ' intended to recall the history of nation, written or unwritten, transmitted from one generation to another recounting unselish \ devotion, self-sacrifces, patriotic zeal of her ! children Is broader and higher ground from I which to form judgment of the men and scenes of time in which they were partici- pants. We have met to-day after lapse of more than two centuries to recall to ouEmiYids a man so prominently Identified with the his tory of the littla colony which developed into the great and prosperous State of Con. necffcnt that his acts and daring deeds have survived these centuries and become part of kI l. .k1 of k1o Hate kaer lo through it's government directed this memo- rial statue to be erected here amid scenes of which Major John Mason was the leader and the daring spirit; the skillful band of the designer has we'll displayed in silent bronze the brilliant, daring Indian fighter. MT. President, on behalf of the State I accept the \ charge of this monument and extend hearty | thanks for the fidelity with which the con- | mission has discharged it's trust.
 THE GRAFTON.
 The oration was by Isaac H. Bro.aley. He \ first sketched the causes which lea up to the | famous Pequot war. The vast importance of the work accomplished by John Mason was referred to. On this spot was turned the tide which threatened to overwhelm the ' small beginnings of New England civilization which 15O years later became the vital force of 8 new nation. Fearful was the struggle, but it set bounds to barbarism and cleared the way to forty years of peace. Con- necticut, as then constituted, was then de- scribed by the speaker. Eight hundred white people in the State were constantly menaced by the savsges, numbering from 5000 to 4,O00. Most of them were unfriend- ly, and some strictly hostile. The history of the Pequot war was then graphically and tersely told, and how Mason's heroic little band of 77 white men, 60 Mohegans and 200 Nsrragansetts destroyed these Pequots in heir fha oif nf ha monument which yesterday was unveiled. Clearly, this was bloody days work; a day of fire and slaughter. It is not altogeth- CT pleasant to think of, though two hundred
 everywhere, in all it's immediate aspects, is repulsive. War is waste. Its wissst economy
 is often prodigality. It stops not to count
 with exactness nor measure to the line, but
 scatters with reckless profusion and rends
 its fabrics with tooth and claw. It is well
 to remember, too, that from the beginning of
 history, all progress has been in the wake of
 war, and every forward step in our boasted
 Christian civilization has been in it's bloody
 footprints. And this was war in its worst
 form; 0 war of extermination on the one side,
 of self preservation on the other. It was
 short, sharp and decisive-none ever more so.
 And this Is one comforting feature of it, that
 bloody and terrible as it was it resulted in
 an enormous saving of human life, and the
 prevention of barbarities besides which what
 happened here would have seemed but
 tender mercies.
 It is not strange, however, that long after
 the event, when the conditions and sur
 ization had begun to ameliorate in some
 measure the horrors of war, the conduct of the fight should be criticised and the hu- nanity of Captain Mason called in question. It did not occur to Mason's associates, or the general court under whose orders he acted, hot A1aro f0r ~Sk Mason made no excuses or explanations. The enthusiasm with which he was received on his return was unstinted; the general court raised no "committee on the conduct of the war;" but signi6ed it's approval thereof and it's confidence in Mason by appointing him to the chief military command of the colony.
 Looking simply at the numbers engaged, the resources of military science displayed, and the duration of the action, the fight on
 this hill takes no rank in the annals of war.
 Peouot Hill does not appear in the list of
 historic battle fields, nor John Mason's name
 among the worlds great captains. But it is
 not by the numbers engaged, the skill with
 which they are handled, or the stubbornness
 of the contest, that the importance of such a
 struggle and triumph as this can be rightly
 measured. The decisive battles of the world have been those on which the fate of races or the destiny of nations hung; the turning points of history. Such were the triumph of Arminius that broke the Roman yoke and created Ger many, the rout of Attila at Chalons that arrested the Hunnish invasion and saved Eu- ropean civilization, the defeat of the Sara cens by Charles Martel at Tours that turned back the march of Mohammedanism over Europe, the battle of Hastings which peo- pied with new race the British Islands It is the decisive character of such events as these as shown in their results, that gives them their highest importance. No less de- oisive and no less important in its conse- quences than any of them, or than the de- struction of the Armada or the battle of Wa terloo was the speedy and effective work done by John Mason on this hill two hum dred and ffty-two years ago.
 Returning to Hartford, Mason WAS appoint ed by the general court the chief military l officer of the colony, with the rank of major, office he held for the remainder of his life, thirty-fivs years. When the fort at the l mouth of the Connecticut was transferred to l the jurisdiction of the colony Mason WAS l placed in command and removing there be- | came one of the first settlers of Saybrook | In 1859 he led in the first settlement of I Norwich, where he resided until his death I in 1859.
 To the story of Mason's life and public I services, distinct as 1t is in outline, though l scanty in detail, few words are needed in I characterization of the man. It is in that | quality or combination of qualities that we call balance of mind, certain intellectual l squipoise, that he excels all his contempora- ries. A trained soldier, his whole life with | the exception of the brief intervals in which he was engaged in his sharp and decisive en- counters with the Indians, was devoted to the pursuits of peace. The thirty-fv years in which he held the chief military command of the colony were years of peace. A Puritan of the Puritans, he was no bigot In the din of ecclesiastical controversies with which the colonies were filled his only word was that we look up to God to help us to see our evil and great folly in our needless strife and contention" A rigid disciplinarian, he did not hesitate to disobey the orders of the general court in an emergency, in spite of the fate of Grubbendunk. Resolute and un- daunted in danger, he was yielding and con- ciliatory when the danger was passed. With an indomitable will that surmounted all ob- stacles, and courage that could inspire his seventy followers to march against seven hundred, he combined that rare modesty and of which later periods fur- nished such shining examples in Washington and Grant