imself from it without the consent of the whole,
this emigration was suspended. The general court, however, did not
long withhold its assent. The country having been explored, and a
place selected on the west side of the river Connecticut, a commission
was granted to the petitioners to remove, on the condition of their
still continuing under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, some few
huts had been erected the preceding year in which a small number of
emigrants had wintered; and, the fall succeeding, about sixty persons
traversed the wilderness in families. In 1636, about one hundred
persons, led by Pynchon, Hooker, and Haynes, followed the first
emigrants, and founded the towns of Hartford, Springfield, and
Weathersfield. There are some peculiarities attending this commission
and this settlement, which deserve to be noticed.

The country to be settled was, confessedly, without the limits of
Massachusetts; yet Roger Ludlow was authorised to promulgate the
orders which might be necessary for the plantations; to inflict
corporal punishment, imprisonment, and fines; to determine all
differences in a judicial way; and to convene the inhabitants in a
general court, if it should be necessary. This signal exercise of
authority grew out of the principle, solemnly asserted by the general
court of Massachusetts, that the oath of fidelity to the commonwealth
was binding, although the person should no longer reside within its
limits.

There were other difficulties attending the title of the settlers. The
Dutch at Manhadoes, or New York, claimed a right to the river, as its
first discoverers. In addition to this hostile title, Lord Say and
Seal, and Lord Brooke, with some others, contemplating a retreat in
the new world from the despotism with which England was threatened,
had made choice of Connecticut river for that purpose, and had built a
fort at its mouth, called Saybrooke. The emigrants from Massachusetts,
however, kept possession; and proceeded to clear and cultivate the
country. They purchased the rights of Lord Say and Seal, and Lord
Brooke, and their partners; and the Dutch, being too feeble to
maintain their title by the sword, gradually receded from the river.
The emigrants, disclaiming the authority of Massachusetts, entered
into a voluntary association for the establishment of a government,
which, in its form, was like those established in the other colonies
of New England. The principal difference between their cons