The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-04-26

\ livered before the joint meeting of the general assembly and judges of the supreme court at the opening exercises of the Tercentenary celebration at the Bushnell Memorial, Hartford, at noon, today.
 Three centuries ago the land
 we called Connecticut was an utter wilderness. Except for Q few open spaces along rivers ana elsewhere the land was covered with dense primeval forests tra- yersed here and there by Indian trails through thick underbrush dangerous to the white man. Everywhere abounded wildcats, bears. and wolves. Now ana then a wildcat is still seen ana shot; and two bears. l under-
 stand, have escaped the gun TOT three hundred years. But the gray wolves which used to come
 down on the settlers have long since departed.
 Even then as now Connectlcut was A beautiful land to the II white man as he sailed in ms ninnace along the southern shore, exploring bays ana riv, CTS. Above all he was fasclnateu by a broad, winding river wnich X the Indians had named Connee ticut. Posts were esta pllsheu for trading with the Indians a' places since known as Sayprook' Hartford, and Windsor. To the first settlers who, looked do"h unon the river from the terraces, tha valley seemed a lana oL 1 nromise such as had been Vouch. safed to the faithful who hao escaped from a faithless Woriu hevond the sea. They built tneir log cabins on ridges in the mids. of meadows so rich as 10 yielo crops with slight cuitiVatioh. Similar settlements were Inauo bv the sea and afterwards III river valleys to the east and west of the great river. For thirty I years there were two leading T colonies - Connecticut and NC"
 Haven. At length they were
 united in one colony under the F Connecticut name.
 Starvation Meant Little
 Those first settlers who came
 into Connecticut from Plymouth
 and Massa chusetts Bay were d
 hardy. determined race of men and women, never frightened py Threatened starvation. Iney lived as best they could on the land. They soon began to make things in their houses ana sheas and in small mills along rivers I where there was a good 1all ol Il water. From their inVehtlve genius have sprung our sreas industries. They thought less or themselves than of their oe- scendants. Their aim was 10 bu,ld a. lasting commonwealth \ fo- their sons and daughters. lt was too early for them to have
 q vision of the large contrlpu" N tiors which were destined to pc made to our civilization by races other than their own. Ihe' built better than they Knew. 1t is most fitting that the first official event in our Tercentenary \ Celebration should be devoted to \ tha beginnings of our common.
 wealth and to our constitutional \ h;storv. To begin with, our sys-
 tan, of government was some- | thing midway between a oe- noocracy and an oligarchy, re- .ou,hIinp in some respects the deal republic which Plato nau described more than two thou- \ sand years before. They OIL \ parchy comprised the most sup- stantiaI freemen and the clergy. \ Some of them were graduates or | Cambridge University in Eng \ land. which had been for a gen. eration the educational home or \ Inc Puritans. They were near \ contemporaries of Milton, the | great Puritan poet and pamphle- teer. also of their university. \ Connecticut was a strictly Puri" tan commonwealth.
 The Puritan leaders, whose fathers had had some bitter ex- \ perience with the decrees of the I Star Chamber, that secret Eng \ Iish tribunal which had perse- \ cuted their religious sect, were rather afraid of governor. 50 for several years the General Court of Connecticut made no
 nrovision for a governor. They seem to have got along very well
 without him. But when they
 framed the Fundamental Orders
 they decided that they had bet
 ter have a governor. Neverthe-
 less, they took good care 10
 bind him with so hard Knot
 that he could do no harm. Ihe
 governor, who was chosen rom
 a body of magistrates had to De
 "a member of some approved
 Nconpregation"; that is, a man or
 uno,Iestioned piety. He presided
 over the general court, where as
 a sort of moderator it was ms M husiness to assure liberty ol speech and at the same time to
 "sIlence unreasonable and dis. Il orderly speakings, to put all \ thirgs to a vote and in case the \ vote be equal to have the cast a ing voice.. He was gwen "o veto power over legislation. I IAuds Magistrate Court The governors most import 4 ant function was to preside over
 "a court of magistrates who ad-
 ministered justice according 10 1.-the fundamental laws of the commonwealth, and where these failed, according to "the rule or 1.-the word of God". have a per- |lsonal interest in that magistrates ! |lcourt because it fined one of my
 lancestors over in Wethersf1eld 4 forty shillings for having wine f lsold in his house without a