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among the Wesleyans of England touching the preva lent practice of "lining" the hymns in public worship. The matter, however, seems to have been set at rest by a quotation from the "Minutes of Conference" for 1844, in which year that body fully committed itself to the present custom, and expressed its "serious disapproval" of an innovation that had then been attempted, only to the limited extent of "reading and singing a whole verse of the hymn at once." According to the Minutes of the Wesleyan Conference of South Australia, just published, that Conference has 21,247 members under its care, with 2,585 persons on trial. There are eighty preachers in full standing, and forty on probation.. The Wesleyan Church is gaining ground in France. The Conference is to be held at Lausanne this year. There will be a large increase of Church members, and several new stations, among them Marseilles, will be recommended to conference. With one exception the places of worship have prefectorial authorization. . . The Hon. and Rev. J. T. Pelham, formerly rector of Marylebone, London, and lately elected to the bishopric of Norwich, was publicly consecrated in Jufne last. He is a young man of much piety, zeal, and talent.... The Sunday evening preaching in Exeter Hall, London, by ministers of the Church of England, has proved eminently attractive and beneficial to the class of persons on whose behalf it was commenced. It is denounced by the High Church party, and is sustained by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of London, Norwich, and Ripon... The annual session of the British Wesleyan Conference is held at Liverpool, the sittings commencing on the last Wednesday in July. The stationing and other committees, in accordance with custom, met a week earlier.

The executive committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society have at length decided to open the annual and all other meetings of the society with prayer. The resolution, however, before it can be acted upon, must be concurred in by the society at its annual meeting in May. The Irish Wesleyan Conference was opened on the 25th of June, when Rev. Bishop Simpson and Rev. Dr. M'Clintock were introduced to the Conference by the Rev. Dr. Hannah. Bishop Simpson presented the address of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he and Dr. M'Clintock delivered addresses. They were very kindly and warmly received, and by acclamation the Conference requested the deputation to repeat their remarks at a public meeting on the following Monday morning.. The general secretaries of the English Wesleyan Missionary Society have found it necessary to publish an appeal to ministers to offer themselves for the mission work, so many mission stations being unsupplied. At the late Conference of the Methodist New Connection, held at Nottingham, England, there was reported an increase of 1,047 church members, with 2,004 on trial. At nearly the same time the Primitive Methodists held their Conference at Cambridge. They report 110,683 church members, and 598 traveling and 10,205 local proachers.

POLITICAL AND GENERAL.

On the second of July the Court of Appeals of the State of New York decided (Judges Comstock and Brown dissenting) that the Metropolitan Police Bill, passed by the last Legislature, is constitutional, and therefore valid. On the following day the Mayors of New York and Brooklyn withdrew their opposition to the bill, the former disbanding the municipal police, and the latter instructing the officers of the force to report in future to the Metropolitan Police Commissioners. . . . On the fourth and fifth of July disgraceful riots took place in the city of New York. They commenced on the Saturday morning and were renewed on the Sunday night. The parties to the fighting were two notorious rowdy associations, the "Dead Rabbits" or "Roche Guards," from the Five Points, and the "Bowery Boys" or "Atlantic Guards." The disturbance commenced by the former attacking a small detachment of the new or Metropolitan Police, and the latter taking part with the assailed. Bricks, stones, and fire arms were freely used, eight persons being killed and fifty or sixty seriously wounded. The riot was finally quelled by the appearance of the military in the streets.... Miss Gardiner, who was carried off by the Wa-pe-tu-kak Indians, and retained in captivity for some three months, was rescued by friendly Indians and brought to St. Paul, Minnesota, at the end of June. All her friends were massacred when Miss Gardiner was taken prisoner, and Mrs. Fletcher and

Mrs. Nobles, carried off at the same time, sank under the brutal treatment to which all three were subjected.... A series of test experiments by so-called spiritual mediums, in competition for the sum of $500, at Boston in the latter part of June, proved a complete failure. Dr. Gardner undertook the exhibition, and the committee of award were Benjamin Pierce, Louis Agassiz, B. A. Gould, Jr., and E. N. Borsford. They unanimously report that no one condition of the challenge was performed.

A recent report shows that upward of twelve millions of bushels of salt are annually manufactured in the United States. New York supplies 6,000,000: Virginia 3,500,000; Ohio 1,000,000, and eight other states the residue. The Onondaga Solar Works use 2,000,000 gallons of brine daily for six months in the year, and sometimes 8,000,000 per day. About fifteen million bushels of salt are annually imported. The foreign salt is used almost exclusively for culinary and dairy purposes. The annual consumption of salt for all purposes in the United States is on the scale of sixty pounds to each individual; in Great Britain twenty-five pounds, and in France twenty-one and a half pounds. Taking Onondaga rates as the standard, the price of salt has gradually advanced from seventy cents per barrel in 1849 to $1 40 in 1856. . . . In the years 1856-57 the United States Assistant Treasurer at Boston paid $358,746 for fishing bounties, of which Massachusetts received $192,931, and Maine $161,977.... On the 4th of July navigation was formally opened between Lake Erie and Niagara Falls by the Great Hydraulic Canal. Three steamers, the Signet, Swallow, and Alliance, freighted with passengers, descended the river amid triumphal rejoicings.. The late George Hays, Esq., of Philadelphia, left a large portion of his wealth for founding of a Home for disabled, aged, and infirm American mechanics. Mr. Russell, the well-known Crimean correspondent of the London Times, Samuel Lover, and S. C. Hall, will, it is said, visit the United States during the fall or winter. . . . The Hon. William Larned Marcy, Secretary of State during President Pierce's administration, and for three successive terms Governor of the State of New York, was found dead in his room at Ballston, on the forenoon of the 4th of July. He had entered it in apparently his usual health about half an hour before. Disease of the heart was supposed to be the cause of his death. His funeral took place at Albany on the 8th of July. Mr. Marcy was in his seventy-sixth year. . . . Much of the immigration to our Western States from Europe now comes by way of Canada. A recent return made by the emigration agent at Hamilton, Canada West, shows that of 9,414 immigrants who arrived there in June of the present year, only 2,193 remained in the province, the remaining passing into the United States. Of 12,568 who arrived from January 1 to May 31, only 257 remained in Canada. ... On the 14th of July, the central building of the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica was totally destroyed by fire. The institution contained four hundred and seventy patients at the time, who all escaped, and were mustered under guards in a neighboring grove. None escaped, nor were any hurt. Dr. L. F. Rose of Utica, who was very active in rendering aid, was so much burned that he died from his injuries. The wings of the building were saved, where the patients were afterward reassembled. The fire commenced at eight o'clock in the morning. . . . At the state election in California, to be held in September, a direct popular vote will be taken on the question of paying or repudiating the state debt. The California papers generally express the belief that the debt will be endorsed by the people. The New Granadian minister at Washington has received instructions from his government to settle, on the best terms he can, the difficulty with the United States government, respecting the Panama riots.

GENERAL FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

A fearful calamity occurred on the 26th of June, off Cape Rouge, near Quebec. The steamer Montreal, with from four hundred to five hundred passengers, mainly newly arrived immigrants from Scotland, took fire and was totally destroyed. From two hundred and fifty to two hundred and seventy persons perished in the flames or were drowned. The Hon. Stephen C. Philips, of Salem, Mass., a much respected citizen, was among the lost. . . . The Emperor of Austria has published a decree conceding that at least two thirds of the public functionaries of Hungary shall be natives of the province, and that the national language of Hungary may be used in documents addressed to the government of Vienna. An amnesty for all political

At

The

prisoners is also promised. . Pope Pius IX has
just completed a tour of the Roman states, of which
there is much complaint that the people were not al-
lowed freely to present their grievances to him.
Loretto, after a religious service, the pope ordered a
large number of indulgences, printed or written on
small slips of paper, to be thrown among the crowd.
There was a great rush for them in the belief that the
Holy Father was dispensing charity, and that these
were orders for bread or for small sums of money, and
finding them to be only indulgences, the people's dis-
appointment showed itself in personal disrespect to the
pontiff. The British House of Commons have by
large majority again passed a bill releasing Jews from
the oath which disabled them from entering Parlia-
ment. The measure was so qualified, however, that
no Jew can hold any ecclesiastical preferment or in
any way control church affairs. The bill, however,
as thus modified, has been rejected by the House of
Lords. . . . An idea of the immense magnitude and
resources of the refreshment department of the Crystal
Palace at Sydenham, may be formed from the fact that
on the 17th of June (one of the days of the great
Handel festival, when Victoria was present) the de-
partment, before six o'clock in the evening, had sup-
plied six thousand dinners and luncheons, very many
thousand pints of sherry wine," and eight hundred
quarts of ice cream, without any confusion.
gipsies of England, being crowded out of the road-side
spots, and moorlands, and by-lanes, by the increased
occupancy of vacant lands, are quietly mixing with
the settled population. They prove to be good neigh-
bors and excellent farm servants. . . . Prince Albert,
now created Prince Consort of England, has recently
presided over an Educational Convention with much
earnestness and good judgment. In the course of his
opening address he made the following statement:
In 1801 there were in England and Wales, of public
schools, 2,876; of private schools, 487: total 8,863. In
1851 (the year of the Census) there were in England
and Wales, of public schools, 15,518; of private schools,
80,524: total, 46,042; giving instruction in all to
2,144,878 scholars; of whom 1,423,982 belong to public
schools, and 721,396 to the private schools. The rate
of progress is further illustrated by statistics which
show that in 1818 the proportion of day scholars to the
population was 1 in 17; in 1833, 1 in 11; and in 1851,
1 in 8." We are told that the total population in
England and Wales of children between the ages of
three and fifteen being estimated at 4,908,696, only
2,046,848 attend school at all, while 2,861,848 receive
no instruction whatever. At the same time an analy-
sis of the scholars with reference to the length of time
allowed for their school tuition shows that 42 per cent.
of them have been at school less than one year; 22 per
cent. during one year; 15 per cent. during two years;
9 per cent. during three years; 5 per cent. during four
Therefore
years; and 4 per cent. during five years.
out of the two millions of scholars alluded to, more
than one million and a half remain only two years at
school. From a protest that has recently been
made by Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the new
English House of Parliament, against a decision of the
Lords of the Treasury, on his claims for remuneration,
it appears that the building has been in progress for
twenty years, covers more than eight acres of ground,
contains 1,180 rooms, 19 halls, 126 staircases, and more
than two miles of corridors, passages, etc. More than
£2,000,000 (say $10,000,000) have already been ex-
pended upon it, and £103,861 are appropriated this
year for works in process of completion. It is said
that the sum of £304,000 at least will be required to
complete the building, and that the body of the edifice
is already showing signs of decay. This enormous ex-
penditure was made the subject of an earnest debate
in the House of Commons in committee of supply..
The projected railway to India through Assyria will,
it is expected, ultimately be joined to Egypt by a line
to Alexandria, Should this expectation be realized,
the prediction of Isaiah, says one, will be literally ful-
filled: "In that time there shall be a highway out
of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into
Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria. In that day
shall Israel be third with Egypt and Assyria.".
The elections in France in June, always held on a
Sunday, resulted, with but five or six exceptions, in
favor of the government, as was to be expected.
On Sunday and Monday, July 5 and 6, the elections
took place in Paris for the three districts which failed
to give an absolute majority on the first trial. The
opposition candidates, Cavaignac, Ollivier, and Dari-
mon, were elected over the government candidates by
In the
a majority of about one thousand each. . . .
British House of Commons, on July 7, the motion to

abolish the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was
negatived by a vote of 266 to 115... On the night of
June 29 an insurrection was attempted at Genos, but
was promptly repressed, the government having pre-
vious information of it. It appears to have been
rather personal than political, being directed against
the King of Naples and the pope, and the Austrian
troops in Italy. The conspirators seem to have had
no plan for a government. At a half-yearly meet.
ing of the proprietors of the Eastern Steam Navigation
Company, held in July, it was reported official that
the mammoth steamship Great Eastern would be
ready to launch in September, and would make her
trial trip to Portland, Maine, in the April following.
The net produce of the revenue of Great Britain for
the year ending on the 30th of June, 1857, was
£72,060,821, being an increase upon the year 1856 of
$1,827,042.... The present year will be remarkable
in the annals of British rule in India; the prophecy
so often uttered, that the native army of Bengal would
yet strike the severest blow at British power in In-
dia, being apparently in process of fulfillment. Ad-
vices from India by the overland mail, which brought
up the accounts to the 27th of May, show that from
Calcutta to Lahore the troops of the presidency are
either in open mutiny or verging thereupon, and that
at Meerut, Delhi, and Ferozepore they had thrown
off all allegiance, and had massacred, amid other ter-
rible atrocities, all the Europeans who had fallen into
their hands. A native king had been proclaimed at
Delhi, which city the mutineers held in absolute and
undisputed possession. The cause assigned for the
origin of this mutiny is curious, but there seems to
be ample reason for suspecting that the ostensible
reason for insurrection was but a pretext, and that
the determination to rebel had been for some time en-
tertained. A troop of the third regiment of native
cavalry, who had complained that contrary to their
religious tenets animal fat had been used in the prep-
aration of their cartridges, were ordered on parade to
load and fire with the cartridges supplied from gov-
ernment, but with a specific and distinct assurance
that the complaint they had formerly made was un-
founded. Only five out of ninety men composing the
troop obeyed the order. The eighty-five who diso-
beyed it were tried by court martial and sentenced to
a term of imprisonment varying from five to ten
years. On the 9th of May, before a brigade parade,
the sentence was carried into effect. The eighty-five
troopers were publicly ironed and conveyed to prison.
On the following day, Sunday, May 10, the whole
regiment rose in rebellion, and being joined by the
bazar and town people, as well as by the two native
infantry regiments cantoned in Meerut, liberated
their comrades and some twelve hundred other pris-
oners. Then commenced a horrible massacre. Mee-
rut is a large native military station. It was soon in
flames. Every European officer was shot, and the
European women and children were butchered, after
being the victims of even worse outrages. The mu-
tineers were ultimately dispersed by European troops,
and fled to Delhi, forty miles distant, where even
more horrible scenes were enacted. The garrison of
that city was entirely native. They joined in the
mutiny, a company of artillery, however, stipulating
for the safety of their European officers. The infant-
ry, of which there were three regiments, showed no
such feeling, and their officers were all shot. Every
European who fell into the hands of the mutineers
was massacred. They appear to have carefully ar-
ranged their outbreak. They obtained possession of
the powder magazines, but at the critical moment, a
young officer of the artillery (Lieutenant G. D. Wil-
loughby) fired them, and the explosion produced
fearful destruction among the mutineers. There are
conflicting rumors as to whether Lieutenant Wil-
loughby perished in the catastrophe. The mutineers
also possessed themselves of the treasure in the Bank
of Delhi. The city at the last advices was held by the
insurgents. In this outbreak some ten native regi-
ments, or parts of regiments, making an aggregate of
eight thousand men, have disappeared from the Ben-
gal army. Besides these a regiment of native infantry
at Calcutta has been disbanded as no longer to be re-
lied upon. The government in England are evidently
alarmed at the state of things, as the soldiers dis-
patched to China are ordered to India, in addition to
ten thousand troops from England. Similar mutinous
manifestations had been made at Lucknow, at Lahore,
and at other points. Adequate measures had been
taken, however, by the government against the spread
of the mutiny, and probably for the present it will
be suppressed. But the end is not.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small]

IN

THE VALLEY OF

the olden time, as we are wont to call any period extending back to the earlier memories of that noted personage, the "oldest inhabitant," there stood upon the northern side of West Main-street, in Waterbury, a short distance from Center Square, a house known as "the old Judd House," which was for a long period of years the only inn of the village. The house was red, and a capacious stoop extended across its front; at one corner was a venerable weeping elm. In immediate VOL. XI.-22

THE NAUGATUCK.

proximity to the house, extending along the line of the street, was an ample horse shed, in accordance with the fashion of those days. Altogether the establishment was a good representation of the New England inn of the olden time.

This particular locality is not without a certain degree of interest in the early history of Waterbury. It was upon this spot that the first English child was born in this place, and, indeed, I may say in this portion of the state. This English

child was Rebecca, daughter of Thomas and Mary Richardson, and was born April 27th, 1679.

Captain Judd, the proprietor of this house for many years, was an officer in the French and Indian war. The captain was a decided character, and many anecdotes of him were in circulation a few years since, for the most part unknown to the present residents of Waterbury who are not "to the manor born." The old Judd House was kept as a tavern from 1773 up to the time of the captain's death in 1825.

Captain Judd was a complacent landlord when" the cap was on the right ear," and his unwavering reply to all suggestions was, "That's well, sir." Late in life, after he had become quite deaf, the son of an old friend at a distance called to pass the night. After the usual compliments the captain inquired for his old friend. "My father is dead, sir," was the reply. "That's well, sir," with unmoved composure.

Raising his voice, the man again remarked, "My father is dead, sir."

"That's well," was again the response. A third and last time the man shouted at his highest pitch, "My father is dead, sir." With stolid face the old man looked calmly on, and again reiterated, "That's well, sir," to the entire discomfiture of his guest. Whether this may be entirely attributed to deafness, or a large part to the old man's well-known obstinacy, is a question.

During the war of the Revolution Captain Judd's inn was repeatedly occupied by detachments of the American forces. On one occasion the French troops passed through here eight thousand in number, accompanied by Lafayette and other distinguished officers. General Washington was also here, on one or more occasions. In those days there lived in a house but a few rods west of Captain Judd's upon the ground now occupied by the residence of S. M. Buckingham, Esq., a certain Judge Hopkins, who was one of the leading men of the place, a person of considerable dignity of manner, and doubtless not wanting among other qualities in self-esteem.

The judge was very hospitable, and on the occasions of Washington's and Lafayette's visits here he extended the hospitalities of his house to these distinguished guests. He took a great interest in public affairs, had a keen relish for the cares

66

of state," and liked, I believe, himself (as who does not?) to be of some importance in the commonwealth. On the occasion of Washington's visit he was free in his communicative suggestions, as well as interrogatories in regard to public matters. The general was not disposed to be talkative, listened well, but said little. The judge was rather annoyed; at last the general, with an air of mysterious import, said, "Judge Hopkins, can you keep a secret?"

The judge was on tip-toe; deliberating for a moment to give weight to his assertion, and to show that he did not solicit confidence, "I think," said he, "I think, general, that I can.”

"So can I," said General Washington; and here the conversation ended.

It is a singular fact that all the buildings which belonged to the "Old Judd place" were destroyed by fire. In the first place, the barn and sheds were struck by lightning and burned. On one of the most fearful and boisterous nights of the winter of 1833, the inhabitants of the village were aroused from their slumbers by the startling cry of "fire.” The wind howled pitilessly through the streets, driving the falling snow before its blast. So severe was the storm that many neighbors living in the immediate vicinity of the catastrophe were not awakened from their slumbers. The feeble voice of man seemed lost in the raging of the ele

ments.

At the moment of the first alarm the "Old Judd House" was discovered a mass of flame. With great difficulty a portion of the inmates made their escape, but two beautiful children of Mr. Holmes, the occupant at that time and descendant of the original proprietor, perished in the flames. A young man named John N. Tuttle made an effort to rescue the sleeping children, and lost his life in the attempt. The citizens of Waterbury erected a monument upon the spot where the three victims were interred in the old burial ground. The monument is inscribed on one side to John N. Tuttle, with the following lines from the pen of Mrs. Sigourney:

"Thou who yon sleeping babes to save
Didst sink into a fiery grave,
When the last flame with vengeance dread,
Hath on the pomp of heroes fed,

A deed like this, undimm'd and bright,
Shall stand before the Judge's sight."

The opposite side of the monument is inscribed to the lost children, with the following lines from the same gifted writer :

"The midnight fire was fierce and red,
Sweet babes, that wrapp'd your sleeping bed;
But He who oft with favoring ear
Had bow'd your early prayers to hear,
Received, beyond this mortal shore,
The sister souls to part no more."

The "Old Judd House" thus disappeared, and a more modern edifice was erected in its place, still occupied by the descendants of the original proprietor. An old elm which stood nearly in front of the house, and which had extended its shadow over the heroes of the Revolution, struggled manfully for life after the fire, notwithstanding its seared condition. the one side it presented only a charred trunk, but still it continued to send forth its fresh branches and verdure, but within the last two or three years the old tree has disappeared, and with it the last vestige of "the Old Judd place."

On

"Samuel Hopkins, D.D., an eminent divine, was born in this town September 17, 1721. He lived with his parents, employed in the labors of agriculture, until he entered his fifteenth year; and such was the purity of manners among the youth of this place that he had never heard from them a profane expression.* He entered Yale College in 1737, and was graduated in 1741."

Doctor Samuel Hopkins, a distinguished physician and poet, was also a native of Waterbury, where he was born June 19, 1750. It is said that Doctor Hopkins was led to the study of medicine from observing symptoms of pulmonary complaint in some of his young companions, being aware, at the same time, that there was a hereditary predisposition to the same disease in his own family. It is singular that he should at last have fallen a victim to the experiment of a new remedy in his own case for the same disease.

"Doctor Hopkins was a physician of great skill and reputation. His memory was so retentive that he could quote every writer he had read, whether medical or literary, with the same readiness that a clergyman quotes the Bible. In his labors for scientific purposes he was indefatigable.

A friend of the writer, who flourished at a later period, has suggested to him that Mr. Hopkins's acquaintance must have been limited, or that he could rarely have been out evenings.

The medical society of Connecticut is indebted to him as one of its founders."

Doctor Hopkins enjoyed a considerable literary reputation; in fact, was eminent among the writers at that day. Among his associates were Trumbull, Barlow, Humphreys, Dwight, and others. The "Anarchiad" is said to have been written by Hopkins, Trumbull, and Barlow. "He also had a hand in the Echo,' the 'Political Green-House,' and many satirical poems of that description, in which he had for his associates Richard Alsop, Theodore Dwight, and a number of others." The following quaint epitaph upon a patient killed by a cancer quack, is from the pen of Doctor Hopkins:

"Here lies a fool flat on his back,
The victim of a cancer quack;
Who lost his money and his life
By plaster, caustic, and by knife.
The case was this: a pimple rose
Southeast a little of his nose,
Which daily redden'd and grew bigger,
As too much drinking gave it vigor.
A score of gossips soon insure
Full three score different modes of cure;
But yet the full-fed pimple still
Defied all petticoated skill;
When fortune led him to peruse
A hand-bill in the weekly news,
Sign'd by six fools of different sorts,
All cured of cancers made of warts;
Who recommend with due submission
This cancer-monger as magician.
Fear wing'd his flight to find the quack,
And prove his cancer-curing knack;
But on his way he found another,
A second advertising brother;
But as much like him as an owl
Is unlike every handsome fowl;

Whose fame had raised him as broad a fog,
And of the two the greater hog;
Who used a still more magic plaster,
That sweat, forsooth, and cured the faster.
The doctor view'd, with mooney eyes,
And scowled up face, the pimple's size;
Then christen'd it in solemn answer,
And cried, "This pimple's name is cancer;
But courage, friend, I see you're pale,
My sweating plasters never fail ;
I've sweated hundreds out with ease,
With roots as long as maple trees,
And never fail'd in all my trials-
Behold these samples here in vials,
Preserved, to show my wondrous merits,
Just as my liver is-in spirits.
For twenty joes the cure is done."
The bargain struck, the plaster on,
Which gnaw'd the cancer at its leisure,
And pain'd his face above all measure.
But still the pimple spread the faster,
And swell'd like toad that meets disaster;
Thus foil'd, the doctor gravely swore,
It was a right rose-cancer sore;
Then stuck his probe beneath the beard,
And show'd him where the leaves appear'd;

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