had in hand. But Yale College,
under the presidency of Dr. Clap, assumed a more decidedly theological
character than before, and set itself decidedly in opposition to those
who dissented from the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Saybrook
Platform of Discipline. Besides, King's College, which had been lately
founded in New York, drew away some Episcopal students from Connecticut
and made others dissatisfied; and had not the war with the mother
country rudely put a stop to the growth of Episcopacy in the colony, it
would seem that steps might have been soon taken for the establishment
of some institution of learning, at least a school of theology, under
the care of the clergy of the Church of England.

[Illustration: (signature) T. C. Brownell]

[Illustration: TRINITY COLLEGE IN 1828.]

At any rate no sooner was it known that the war was ended than the
churchmen of Connecticut sent the Rev. Dr. Seabury across the ocean
to seek consecration as a bishop; and it was not long after his return
that the diocese, now fully organized, set on foot a plan for the
establishment of an institution of sound learning, and in 1795 the
Episcopal Academy of Connecticut was founded at Cheshire. It was
sometimes called Seabury College, and, under its learned principals, it
fitted many young men for entrance upon their theological studies, and
gave them part at least of their professional training. But its charter,
which was granted by the General Assembly of the State in 1801, did not
give it the power of conferring degrees, and the frequent petitions for
an extension of charter rights, so as to make of the academy a
collegiate institution, were refused. For a time, owing to determined
opposition in the State, to the vacancy in the episcopate, and to other
causes, the project was postponed. But a combination of events, social,
political, and religious, led at length to the great revolution in
Connecticut, in which all dissenters from the standing order united
in opposition to it, and secured in 1818, though it was by a small
majority, the adoption of a State Constitution containing a clause which
admitted of "secession" from any ecclesiastical society and secured
perfect religious equality before the law.

[Illustration: (signature) J. Williams]

[Illustration: STATUE OF BISHOP BROWNELL, ON THE CAMPUS.]

In the following year, while the enthusiasm of the victory was still
felt, the vacant episcopate was filled by the election of