CHAPTER XLIII.

THE CHARTER OAK.

"A song for the Oak, the brave old Oak,

That has ruled in the greenwood long."

As one of the interesting relics now in Inaependence Hall, a piece of the great Charter Oak, at Hartford, Connecticut, deserves especial notice. This tree was blown down in a heavy storm on the 21st of August, 1856, and the people of that State "mourned as though a friend had fallen." A short sketch of its history is germain to our task; for, as Mr. Desmond says, dearer to posterity and to history, that mother of experience and nurse of truth, are the memories connected with that relic of the past, than those which are recalled by the royal oak which concealed the fugitive Stuart, Charles II., the bestower of the charter of the colony, or than those with which Shakspeare has immortally made green the haunted tree of Herne the Hunter in Windsor Forest. In the memories of men, the old Charter Oak has preserved the record of the invincible courage and inflexible firmness of those patriots who, with a high sense of public duty, stood in the hour of peril

"With hearts resolved, and hands prepared,

The blessings they enjoyed to guard.”

This celebrated relic of the original forests of New England, the Charter Oak of the city of Hartford, in

the State of Connecticut, stood on the northern declivity of the rising ground on which was situated the ancient mansion house of the Wyllis family, and on his estate, now in possession of Hon. Isaac W. Stewart. Long before the empire of Montezuma was overthrown by Cortez and his Spaniards, ere Columbus knelt on the shore of the newly-discovered country, it spread its green honors thick about it, and the red man held his council beneath its embowering shade; generations passed away, yet still it appeared unimpaired in its vigor, undecayed by time, which destroys mighty empires within the years which must elapse before this monument could have reached its maturity. The charter for the colony of Connecticut arrived in Hartford in the month of September, 1662; it was publicly read to the people, who displayed their sense of the favor with gratitude and rejoicing, appointing a committee to take charge of it, under the solemnities of an oath, to preserve this palladium of their rights and privileges. It was the organic law of Connecticut till the present constitution took its place in 1818. The Assembly met, as usual, in October, 1687, and the government continued according to charter until the last of the month, when Sir Edmund Andros, the Governor of New England, came to Hartford and demanded the charter. He came with his suit and more than sixty regular troops, and declared the government dissolved. The Legislature being in session, a debate on that demand ensued. The assembly were extremely reluctant and slow with respect to any resolution involving the surrender of the charter or any motion to bring it forth. The tradition is, that Governor Treat strongly represented the great expenses

and hardships of the colonists in planting the colony, the blood and treasure which they had expended in defending it, both against the savages—the red men of the forests of New England-and foreigners; to what hardships and perils he had himself been exposed for that purpose, and that it was like giving up his life to surrender the patent and privileges so dearly bought, and so long enjoyed. The calm dignity and firmness of this Hampden of the Assembly, made an impression on the hearers which prolonged the debate until evening, and kept them in suspense. The charter was at length brought out, and laid upon the table where the Assembly were sitting. By this time great numbers of deeply interested people were met, and there were patriots sufficiently bold among them to enterprise whatever might be necessary or expedient. The lights were at once extinguished, and Captain Wadsworth, one of the members from Hartford, in the most silent and secret manner-as Prince Henry removed the crown from his sleeping father's couchseized and carried off the charter, and secreted it in the large hollow tree fronting the house of the Honorable Samuel Wyllis, then one of the magistrates of the colony. The people appeared all peaceable and orderly, with a demeanor which is not rare on those great occasions. The candles were relighted, but the patent was gone, and no discovery could be made of it, or of the person who conveyed it away. Sir Edmund assumed the government, and the records of the colony were closed at a general court held at Hartford. On the abdication of James, in 1689, and on the 9th of May of that year, Gov. Treat and his associate officers resumed the government of Connecticut, the charter

having been restored to the colonial executive, and is still preserved in the archives of that State. The tree measured on the ground, in 1823, thirty-six feet in circumference. The hollow in its trunk formerly visible, was closed, "because," remarked a daughter of the late secretary, Wyllis, "it had fulfilled the divine purpose for which it had been opened-to receive the Charter of Connecticut." Several years ago

some boys built a fire in the hollow of the tree, which burned out the punk, but it survived, and fresh sprouts sprung out the next Spring. At this time the recess was so large that a fire company of twenty-seven fullgrown men stood up in it together. The tree appeared to have lost its upper trunk, as it was not so high as many oaks of more recent growth. The form of the tree was, however, extremely elegant, and its foliage remarkably rich and exuberant. About four or five feet from the ground (according to the Historical Collections edited by Mr. J. B. Moore, and published at Concord twenty-three years ago) an enlargement of the trunk commenced, and gradually increased until it met its surface, which caused its enormous size when measured on the ground. The pilgrims to the fallen shrine are innumerable, and bring away with them such relics as Mr. Stewart permits. At the celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims, at Plymouth, the old Charter Oak was never forgotten.

This piece of the Charter Oak was presented to Independence Hall, by J. W. Stewart. And, as we gaze upon it, we realize what an important part the parent from which it was taken performed in perpetuating the liberties and rights of a sister State. Since its fall many keepsakes and national tokens have been manufactured out of its branches, trunk, etc., in order

that they might be preserved as sacred relics of the early days of the State of Connecticut. A grateful posterity should carefully guard these mementoes. The Hartford Times once spoke as follows concerning this famous tree: "All of our citizens venerate the Charter Oak, the grand old tree that so completely shielded the written Charter, which continued to be our organic law till 1818. In song and story, the old Oak is made famous, and thousands of strangers from abroad annually visit it. The tree stands upon the Wyllys Place, now owned and occupied by the Hon. J. W. Stuart, who has kindly cared for it. A few years since some boys kindled a fire within its trunk, which burned out most of the rotten parts of it. Mr. S. soon discovered the fire, and at once had it put out. He then, at considerable expense, had the hollow enclosed by a door, with lock and key. He also had the stumps of branches that had been broken off, covered with tin and painted. The tree, from this time, seemed to be imbued with new life, each succeeding Spring dressing itself in a richer and denser foliage. On the 22d inst., the New Haven Fire Company, who came up to join their brethren in Hartford on the occasion of their annual muster, visited the famous Oak. They were of course kindly received by Mr. Stewart. To show them the capacity of the tree, he invited the firemen to enter the hollow trunk, when twenty-four of the men belonging to Captain McGregor's company, (Neptune, No. 5,) entered together. They came out, and twenty-eight of Capt. Thomas's Company, (Washington, No. 7,) then entered. By placing twenty-eight full-grown men in an ordinary room of a dwelling, one may judge of the great size of the famous old 'Charter Oak.""