the liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus, which we now profess, as also the discipline of the churches, which, according to the truth of the said gospel, is now practiced amongst us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to such laws, rules, orders, and 'decrees, as shall be made, ordered and decreed, as followeth: . . . Forasmuch as the free fruition of such liberties, immunities, privileges, as humanity, civility and Christianity call for, . . . . hath ever been and ever will be the tranquillity and stability of Churches and Commonwealths; and the denial or deprival thereof, the disturbance, if not ruin of both : 12. It is thereof ordered by this Court and authority thereof, that no man's life shall be taken away; no man's honor or good name shall be stained; no man's person shall be arrested, restrained, banished, dismembered, nor any way punished; no man shall be deprived of his wife or children; no man's goods or estate shall be taken away from him nor any ways endamaged, under color of law, or countenance of authority; unless it be by the virtue or equity of some express law of the country warranting the same, established by a General Court, and sufficiently published, or in case of the defect of a law in any particular case, by the Word of God."

Agreeable to the Constitution, the freemen convened at Hartford on the second Thursday in April, 1639, and elected their officers for the year ensuing. John Haynes, Esq., was chosen Governor; Roger Ludlow, George Wyllys, Edward Hopkins, Thomas Welles, John Webster, and William Phelps, Esquires, were chosen Magistrates. Mr. Ludlow, the first of the six magistrates, was Deputy-Governor. Mr. Hopkins was chosen Secretary, and Mr. Welles, Treasurer.

Mr. Haynes entered upon his duties as first Governor of the Colony, and was elected to the office every alternate year, which was as often as the Constitution permitted, till his death.

An ancient manuscript, according to Cotton Mather, refers thus to Mr. Haynes. "To him is New England many ways beholden. Had he done no more but stilled a storm of dissension which broke forth in the beginning of this government, he had done enough to endear our hearts unto him, and account that day happy when he took the reins of government into his hands."

Said Rev. John Trumbull of Mr. Haynes: "He appeared to be a man of eminent piety, strict morals, and sound judgment. He paid attention to family government, instruction and religion."

He was twice married, and had eight children, five sons and three daughters. His son, Joseph, was ordained pastor of the First Church in Hartford.

EBENEZER HAZARD.

POSTMASTER-GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, 1782-1789.*

SAMUEL HAZARD, father of Ebenezer, was an Elder in the Wall Street Presbyterian Church, New York; removed to Philadelphia, and was a merchant in that city; originated a notable scheme for the moral and spiritual good of the Indians; married Catharine, daughter of Mathew Clarkson and Cornelia De Peyster, of New York.

Ebenezer Hazard was born in Philadelphia, Penn., January 15, 1744; died there June 13, 1817.

He was a student of Rev. Dr. Finley, the distinguished preacher and instructor, at Nottingham Academy, Maryland, and graduated at Princeton College in 1762.

He was skilled in the languages, and corresponded with Dr. Benjamin Rush in Latin, and when Charles Thompson was making his translation of the New Testament, he regularly sent the manuscript to Mr. Hazard for review.

Entering upon business, the publishing firm of Noel & Hazard was established in the city of New York.

In 1774, he became Postmaster of the city of New York, and in 1782 he became Postmaster-General of the United States, at a salary of twelve hundred dollars, and held the office until the. adoption of the Constitution in 1789.

The following are selections from his revolutionary correspondence. To General Gates he writes from New York, July 5, 1776:

"Since my last, the British fleet has arrived. About seventy sail are within the Narrows, at the watering place, under Staten Island shore. They have

"Magazine of American History," 1885; Force's "American Archives"; Sprague's "Annals of American Pulpit"; Hazard's "Historical Collections."

EBENEZER HAZARD.

267

landed their men, and taken possession of Staten Island, cattle and Tories, and that I hope will be all they will do. . . . It was last night reported at the coffee house (and I believe the report may be depended on), that the Congress had determined on a Declaration of Independence, and that the vote was unanimous, except New York, whose Delegate, not being instructed, could not vote."

To the same, July 11, 1776.

"My only design at present is to introduce to you my very particular friend, the Rev. William Tennent, of Greenfield, in Connecticut. He was solicited by General Waterbury to accept the Chaplaincy of a regiment, and is now on his way to Crown Point for that purpose. Since the commencement of the present dispute, he has uniformly supported the American side. For further particulars, I must refer you to a future acquaintance with him, which will give you a more just idea of him than anything dictated by the partiality of friendship. "Yours affectionately,

To the same, July 12, 1776.

"EBENEZER HAZARD."

"Enclosed is the Congress's Declaration of Independence. It has been proclaimed in the State House at Philadelphia, and in the Army here, and received, as might be expected, with great joy. The King's arms have been burned in Philadelphia, and his statue has been pulled down to make musket ball of, so that his troops will probably have melted Majesty fired at them . . . Have only time to add, that I am

"Yours,

"EBENEZER HAZARD."

During his residence in New York, Mr. Hazard was a Trustee of the Wall Street Presbyterian Church, subsequently a Trustee and Elder in the Second Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia.

To his former instructor, Rev. Samuel Finley, who became President of Princeton College, he pays the following tribute: "He was remarkable for sweetness of temper, and politeness of behavior. He was given to hospitality; charitable without ostentation; exemplary in the discharge of all relative duties, and in all things showing himself a pattern of good works. As a divine he was a Calvinist in sentiment. His sermons were not hasty productions, but filled with good sense and well digested sentiment, expressed in language pleasing to men of science, yet perfectly intelligible by the illiterate. They were calculated to

inform the ignorant, to alarm the careless and secure, and to edify and comfort the faithful."

Mr. Hazard published his "Historical Collections," two volumes, in 1792-'94. In his preface he says: "It was the compiler's original intention to visit each State in the Union, and remain there a sufficient time to form a complete collection of such materials for its history, as had escaped the ravages of time and accident. His design was honored with the approbation and patronage of Congress, whose recommendation of it gained him immediate access to the archives of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, including those of the Colony of Plymouth and the Province of Maine; but before he could proceed further, an appointment as Postmaster-General of the United States obliged him to reside at the seat of Federal Government, and prevented his continuing the work in the method he at first proposed." He thus closes the preface to the second volume: "While . . . . the philanthropist will lament that bigotry should anywhere enslave the human mind, he will with pleasure recollect that the liberal Constitutions of the United States of America afford an opportunity of escaping from its chains; and the citizens of these States will glory in the example of catholicism which their country first dared to exhibit to the world, and will rejoice in the prospect of giving an asylum to millions of the oppressed." This work has been largely consulted by historians, is now scarce except in the older libraries, and highly valued.

Mr. Hazard married, in 1789, Abigail Arthur. His son, Samuel, published "Annals of Pennsylvania." His daughter married Ebenezer Rockwood, of Boston.