University of Virginia Library

MARGARET TO ANNA.

We have had a more considerable alarm, the causes and
course of which I will speak of. Livingston you know has
been the subject of public remark, and perhaps some scandal.
The conduct of our people in military matters has gone
abroad to their prejudice; in addition, Judge Morgridge has
been accused of remissness in duty; it was said that he had
not sent so many convicts to the State Prison as formerly, and
that he shortened the term of such as were committed to the
Jail. It was intimated that we had rendered ourselves obnoxious
to Legislative severity, and some punitive action on the
part of the government was apprehended. A memorial to the

General Court was got up, and signed by nearly a thousand of
our people, men, women and children, setting forth our condition
and most earnest wishes. Deacon Bowker was our
representative at the time; he read the memorial, but added
nothing, only took his seat, and as he said, prayed God to aid
the issue. The Legislature, in a manner that does credit
equally to their prudence and humanity, ordered an investigation
of the case; and a Committee was raised to visit Livingston,
and report at the next session. Two gentlemen with
plenipotentiary powers of inspection came amongst us. They
were here frequently, and in fact spent several weeks of the
year on their object. We sought neither to meal-powder nor
gold-blind them, but showed them the civilities due to all, and
maintained the uniformity due to ourselves. They tell the
story of a young painter, who being very poor, was reduced to
the necessity of converting one of his pictures into lining for
his jacket; and thus exposed his genius by wearing it on his
back. Livingston wears its virtues on its back—and in its
heart too—where they can be seen at a glance:—but to our
history. The Committee made up their report, which having
been printed swells into a large pamphlet. I will give you a
syllabus of it. They say our roads are in fine order, in fact
none are better in the State; that the whole town has a striking
aspect of neatness and thrift; that during all the time of their
visit they saw not one drunken man, while in most towns such
characters appeared without looking for them; that the consumption
of intoxicating drinks has diminished from six or
eight thousand gallons annually to a few scores; that the
amount paid for schools has risen from three or four hundred
dollars to two thousand; that all taxes laid by the State and
County have been promptly paid; that our poor have lessened
three quarters; they say also, that the value of real estate in
Livingston has advanced twenty per cent., and that wholly exclusive
of the improvements on Mons Christi; and that the
mania for removing to the West, which prevails all over New
England, has here subsided. On the charges preferred against
Judge Morgridge, so far as his connection with this town and
vicinity are concerned, they report in the first place that fewer
criminal actions have been brought before him than formerly,
and those of a less malefic nature; and that the number of
prisoners in the Jail has fallen from forty or fifty to eight or
ten, and only one of these belonged to Livingston. They next
inquire if these facts are to be attributed to the official negligence
of the Judge, or to the actual decrease of crime. On
this point, which is elaborated with considerable care, thanks
to those gentlemen, I will give you the results of their observation.
They say that during the last four years since the
enlargement of the Jail, the addition to the comfort of the
inmates, and the practice we have of visiting them frequently,
and attending to their moral condition, the recommitments have
almost entirely ceased; whereas in former times these constituted
nearly one half of the subjects of prosecution; and
they consent that our mode tends really to reform the prisoner,
and restore him a useful citizen to the State; and they say
they see not cause for censuring the Judge who sends convicts
rather to the Jail, where their morals and manners are
amended, than to the State Prison where the reverse is wont
to befall. The Committee came evidently possessed with the
suspicion, which some have taken the pains to create in the
public mind, that we shielded our criminals, and snatched
them from public justice. They say they have canvassed the
whole town, explored by-places, gone into private dwellings,
watched about taverns, traversed the streets by night, and
cannot find any criminals; that the people appear to be industrious,
time-saving, minders-of-their-own-business, and free
from the ordinary tokens of guilt. They speak also of the
absence of petty offences, which exist almost everywhere; and
we could tell them once flourished here, such as unhinging
gates, hanging cart-wheels on trees, plundering gardens and
hen-roosts, shearing horses, etc. etc. They add, pleasantly
enough, that, while they have been in a hundred houses, at all
hours of the day, they have not heard a woman speak scandal,
or scold her children. They remark that a petition for divorce
from Hopestill Cutts and his wife, formerly pending
before the Legislature, has been withdrawn; and here, as all
along, apprehensive of some collusion, they declare they made
such an investigation as perfectly satisfied them these people
were living in harmony and love.

Regarding the nature and extent of the penalty, they say
Judge Morgridge has generally adopted the minimum point of
the law, which he thinks has proved itself to be adequate both
for the protection of the community and the punishment of
the offender. They report a visit to the Jail, where, they say,
they found what appeared to be a radical change going on in
the minds and hearts of the convicts. The fact that none are
recommitted indicates, they say, that the accommodations of
the Prison do not offer a premium on crime. Another circumstance
which demonstrates to their minds the actual cessation

of offences, is the abolition of the use of intoxicating
drinks. The able-bodied poor, who used to waste their time
and aggravate their indolence by liquors, they found soberly
working, and wisely economizing. Our merchants also told
them the people traded as liberally and paid more punctually
than ever, and that they had less occasion for prosecutions.
Thus, in various ways, the Committee profess themselves satisfied
that there is a diminution both in the causes and the sum
of criminality; and they report a resolve which entirely exonerates
the Judge from the charge of infidelity to the laws, and
carelessness of the good of the state.

As regards military drills, our people made a solemn exhibit
to the Committee of what formerly existed here, the intoxication,
profanity, gambling, horse-racing, brawling, dissipation of time,
wreck of morals, etc. the offsprings of those occasions; and
furthermore, they protested, that, as members of Christ-Church,
as Christians, as believers in the Gospel, they could not conscientiously
engage in taking, or preparing to take, the lives of
their fellow-beings, in premeditated battle. “I lost my all in
one war,” said Captain Tuck, “and am prepared to do the
same in another. Take our property, consign us to dungeons,
load us with chains, but do not compel us to violate our consciences.
I am under orders from Lord God Almighty, Jesus
Christ is my Commander-in-Chief, in their service I shall
deem it my highest honor to live, or to die.” Our people
affirmed, in addition, that the military expenses of the town,
taking the matter in all ways, had not been less than one
thousand dollars a-year; some said two thousand; and that
they needed the money for other purposes. They added that
they were willing to pay such taxes as the government imposed,
and they only sought the ability to pay. These facts the Committee
reported without comment. They were present at
several of our Festivals, at Christ-Church on the Sabbath, at
our Town Meetings, and dances, and expressed a general satisfaction
in what they saw.

And now what is the good news I have to tell you?—this,
that in the ultimate decision of the Legislature, it was voted,
nearly unanimously, by both houses, that Judge Morgridge
should not be disturbed in his office, and that the Town of
Livingston should be exempt from all Military duty! It was the
Summer Session, when the resolve was finally passed, and
Deacon Bowker arrived with the glad intelligence Independence
day; our fears took flight in raptures, and our ordinary
good cheer creamed like a tankard of beer. Master Elliman's

toast was quite characteristic; “Our Legislature, a convert
from Thomas Aquinas to Duns Scotus.”

There has been a multiplication of travel hither, the influx
of strangers is incessant and great. One advantage the people
say they begin to realize from their mode of life; that is
money. Mr. Stillwater says his tavern profits exceed by far
those of other years. The people generally speak of increased
sales, on this score. Many orchards, formerly miserable rumlots,
have been converted into productive fruiteries. We have
imported grafts, and new seed, and now they raise choice
apples, pears and peaches, that find a ready market anywhere.
Some of the people, who cannot confine themselves wholly to
cold water, make cider, by an improved process, which Mr.
Evelyn says is equal to the purest wines of France. Dr. Johnson
tells a story of Steele to this effect. The essayist having
one day invited to his house several persons of quality, they
were surprised at the number of liveries that surrounded the
table. One of the guests inquired of Steele how such a train
of domestics could be consistent with his fortune, for he was
known to be poor. He frankly confessed they were fellows of
whom he would very willingly be rid; and being asked why
he did not discharge them, declared they were bailiffs, who
had introduced themselves with an execution, and whom, since
he could not send them away, he had found it convenient to
embellish with liveries, that they might do him credit while
they did stay. How much of the equipage, the appointments,
the furniture, the dress, of the world, is a sort of liveried
bailiff, who as soon as the feast is over will take every thing
from you! Whatever decorations Livingstonians exhibit, are
their own, their debts are paid. Mr. Evelyn has accomplished
a good deal with the somewhat rugged soil of Mons Christi.
Last year he sold, in New York, four hundred bushels of apples,
at an average of seventy five cents per bushel. He raised
also six hundred bushels of rye, corn and oats, potatoes and
other things as many as we want. We have six cows, and
such cream, and butter, and cheese, did you ever taste better?
Our sheep, hogs, turkeys, ducks, hens, are innumerable. In
the Saw-mill, at the Outlet, we have put a run of stone, and
grind our own grain. The Notch through the hill from the
Via Salutaris to the Outlet is now a fine road, and a fine
drive; and that wild and superb scenery back of the highlands
is accessible to all. Balboa, he that discovered the Pacific
Ocean, when he came in sight of it, fell on his knees and
thanked God; then plunging into the water up to his waist,

with his sword and buckler, took possession of it in the name
of his sovereign. We have just reached the edge of this illimitable,
whale-bearing, sky-cleaving Nature; with hoe and axe,
microscope and alembic, love and health, we take possession of
it, in the name of God and Christ, amen. The Chinese carry
their gardens and rice-fields to the tops of their mountains.
What may yet become of New England! The Indians indeed
are gone; what do we in their stead? This suggests to
me that the remains of Pakanawket and his grandchild, after
reposing so long in the depths of the Pond, at last rose to the
surface. We had them buried in the woods which he pointed
out as the home of his grandfather; and over them we put an
antique monument of red sand-stone, on which are sculptured
their effigies in the style of the Middle Ages. In the darkest
woods they lie, but their shrine has as many visitors as that of
Thomas a Becket. What more, what better could we do?