Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1910-02-18

response to the words of welcome.
Rev Mr.. McNally spoke of the valu-
able service rendered 70 the future by
collecting and conserving the facts of
the past as this society was doing. 1t
was help to the real progress along
its mental lines, away from the mate
rial which is not the read measure of
progress. He expressed the warInest
appreciation of the opportunities ford
ed the young people of Norwich and
of New London county by the magnih-
cent Slater Memorial and expressed
the wish that some citizen of New Lon
don might have the vision that should
crystalline for New London into such a
building as the Slater Memorial He
congratulated Norwich and New Lon
don upon the way they were working
together in historical and other lines
His pleasing words met with much APP
plause.
ex-Chief Justice Baldwin for his pa
per- upon The Seal of Connecticut,
. which was an exhaustive and scholarly
review of all the facts relating to the
state great SEAL of which he said there
had really been three in the history
of the colony and the state. He de-
scribed the paramount Importance at
tached to the seal in ancient times.
even being more authentic than tne
the seal back to it's origin, brought
Chief Justice Baldwin back to the sub
ject of the Warwick patent. which was
assistant librarian in the Watkinson
library, Hartford, in a paper recently
read before the Hartford Historical So
ciety.
The Seal of Connecticut.
The speaker reminded his hearers
that it was Charles l. who named New
England, and said that the only direct
evidence of the Warwick patent, under
which the Saybrook patentees got their
right to the domain now the state of
Connecticut, is a copy of the. patent:
Mr.. Morgan in his paper took the stand
that the whole matter of the patent
was hoax and that it never existed.
Chief Justice Baldwin upheld the
existence of the patent His theory
of the history of the patent, which
was supported by numerous references
to its existence made by early writer's.
was an original one. 1t was his theory
that the Earl of Warwick got the
patent about 1880. The earl was ~
powerful member of the council of
England at the time and as late as
1882 succeeded in keeping to himself
the necessary power by seal to convey
the rights to himself which were con-
veyed in the patent. 1t was shown by
Judge Baldwin that the recipients of
the benefits of the patent were rela-
tives of the earl and he believed that
the earl had the rights given to him by
the council in order that he might
convey them to his relatives. One rea-
son why it was readily possible for
him to effect the transfer to himself
was the nature of the council 1t was
not always well attended, and it is
known that sometimes not more than
two members attended 1t is likely
that meetings might have been held at
which the earl himself was the only
one present. One member in the lack
of others would constitute a quorum.
The family of the earl soon became
extinct and that reason may explain
why there now exists only a copy of
he r,P he Ton
One thing is certain, and that is that
it was out of the rights belonging to
the Saybrook patenteeS that the state
of Connecticut had its seal. 1t was
given to the colony in 1914 by Colonel
Fenwick of Saybrook, whose rights
came from the Warwick patent. The
mere fact that the Saybrook patentees
made the seal showed that they had
not denied by Charles I. There was
not much ado made by the colonists
when the seal was received, but they
held on to 1T and the seal WAS first
used by. Governor Hopkins in 1647.
When the colony's charter was OBJ
tanned in 1862 the seal was kept in
use.
There were three periods in the
seals history, 1914, I'LL and 1884. In
1914 it was received from the Say
brook patentee. It then bore Is grape
vines and above was a hand reaching
from above, and below the hand was
the motto "Qu IranStul1t SuStlnet.'
The use of the grapevine was account
ed for by the great impression made
upon early settlers by the wild grape
vines of America. No entirely salts
factory reason for the number Is could
be given. 1t possibly had q symbolical
and 1t may have had no
meaning When Governor AndruS came
to rule over Connecticut the seal was
probably destroyed, but the design was
continued and no great change was
made. although the new seal contained
an error in the use of the Latin.
In I'LL the number of vines was re-
duced to three. This number was be-
lieved by Judge Baldwin to signify the
three communities of which the colony
was formed, the Connecticut river
community with Hartford as a center.
the region of the Warwick patentees
with SaybrOok as a center, and New
Haven. The die which was made was
to that made by the SaybrooI
who had theirs made in
The hand was placed in a
stiff attitude.
In 1884 the seal took the form sub
the same as that now in use.
The hand was removed. The seal IT.
self, which was made in 1854, staid
without change in the secretary's Of
flee until 1912. The general assembly
voted In 1910 to have the secretary
look into the matter of making elt--..-
tfons on the seal, but the sec re u -
made no report. The new seal ~
cured in 1912 lasted until 1892 \ Law
of 1889 stated that official envelope