. For his seat of government he chose a
beautifully shaded spot, not far from the strait between Staten Island
and the main, called the Kills, where he found four English families
living in as many neatly built log cabins with gardens around them. The
heads of these four families were John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke
Watson and one other not known, from Jamaica, Long Island, who had
bought the land of some Indians on Long Island.

In compliment to the wife of Sir George Carteret, the governor named
the place Elizabethtown, which name it yet retains. There he built a
house for himself near the bank of the little creek, and there he
organized a civil government. So was laid the foundation of the colony
and commonwealth of New Jersey.

The restoration did not so materially change the New England colonies as
might have been supposed, considering that they were hotbeds of
Puritanism. In the younger Winthrop the qualities of human excellence
were mingled in such happy proportions that, while he always wore an air
of contentment, no enterprise in which he engaged seemed too lofty for
his powers. He was a man whose power was felt alike in the commonwealth
and the restoration. The new king had not been two years on the throne
when, through his influence, an ample patent was obtained for
Connecticut, by which the colony was independent except in name.

After his successful negotiations and efficient concert in founding the
Royal Society, Winthrop returned to America. The amalgamation of New
Haven and Connecticut could not be effected without collision. New Haven
had been unwilling to merge itself in the larger colonies; but
Winthrop's wise moderation was able to reconcile the jarrings and blend
the interests of the united colonies. The universal approbation of
Connecticut was reasonable, for the charter which Winthrop obtained
secured to her an existence of unsurpassed tranquillity.

Civil freedom was safe under the shelter of masculine morality, and
beggary and crime could not thrive in the midst of severest manners.
From the first, the minds of the yeomanry were kept active by the
constant exercise of the elective franchise, and, except under James
II., there was no such thing in the land as a home officer appointed by
the English king. Under the happy conditions of affairs, education was
cherished, religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of
refinement, alike in its application to moral duties and to the
m