Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1890-02-08
PITCHED INFO PURiTANS.
Judge Moran Contributes Some Information
About the EARLY Inhabitants of the John
l. SuliUan District.

Judge Moran Contributes Some Information
About the EARLY Inhabitants of the John
L, Sullivan District.
In the course of a masterful address
on the Puritans at Madison Street
Theater, Judge Moran spoke as fol-
lows: Did the current of human his |
tory turn aside in its course, he said,
when the social compact was entered |
into in the cabin of the Mayfower? In
other words, did the event which the
friends and advocates of the Puritans
have claimed to be the commencement
of our system of government-did that
event SOW the seed of free State and
free Republic? OF late years it has
come to be a fashion among certain
people to ascribe everything that is
good III our Constitution to Puritanic
origin. Historians have given detailed
accounts of the landing of the Puri
tans, and have drawn conclusions from
the early history of the Puritan colony
totally unwarranted by the facts
Forefathers' Day has been made the
occasion to put forward the claims
that our present liberty is a legacy
from the early New England settlers.
In order to disprove these claims it
viii be necessary to briefly look into
the civil and religious institutions es-
tablished by the Puritan colonists"
At the time of the landing of the
Puritans there was, the speaker said,
a growing feeling throughout the
world in favor of a more extended
civil and religious liberty. That was
more natural in a newly settled colony
where facilities for freedom were
greater. How far that sentiment gov
erned the actions of the Puritans was
: best shown By the laws in force in the
settlement of Massachusetts Bay, char
tered under an English act of Parlia-
ment That was probably the best
embodiment of the genuine Puritan
idea of government which could be
, found. And the basic principle of the
I government of the Massachusetts col
ony was the total deprayity of the en-
tire human race with the exception O
, the regenerated Puritans. Everybody
else was out of the fold and, being on
of the fold, had no rights, civil or re
ligious Anabaptists were the first t.
fall under the lash of the grim Puri
!, tans, and the lash was no metaphor
1t was applied to bare backs, tied t.
!, carts or chained to public whipping
- posts. And when the Anabaptists lie
off, the Quaker began his dose of pun
y ishment For the latter there wer
the pillory, the ear-splitter and tn
80 gibbet, or worse death at the hand
=. of the Indians. Even the orthodo
! English churchman Jared but littl
: better than his Protestant brethren q
- the hands of the morose Puritans.
70 In regard to civil liberty, Judg
Moran showed how many agtators ina
- tried to obtain n vote in the affairs c
the commonwealth, but we're denieC
~ because they were not members of tn
~. sect. To such a length did this OF
preston go that in 1864 an appei
taken to the English Parliamei
ne brought forth a strong remonstranC
t. from the King of England against ii
ce measure in force against the non-Pur
ce tan population of Massachusetts,. Fro
IN 1864 TO 1884 this matter was the su
pm iect of continual exchange OF messag
Int between London and New Englan
he aud the result was that the Engli.
Gee King finally abrogated the charter.
'r And the act Of an English Kin
he more hberal-minded than the Pu
,'. taus. forever blotted ont the only 60
eminent appointed on purely PuritI
", principles"
' The speaker concluded bs drawing
comparison between Che rypressi
+" enactment. oi che New England HiI
Court tpi tht statute PASSED 40 q
amu umr bl che irstHfuieut Ml
land While ths mImf refused o.