"THE CHARTER OAK.

"This tree grew in Hartford, Connecticut, and it is said that before the
English governor Wyllis went there to live his steward, whom he had
sent on before to get a house ready for him, came near cutting down this
very oak. He was clearing away the trees around it on the hillside when
a party of Indians appeared and begged him to leave that particular
tree, because, they said, 'it had been the guide of their ancestors for
centuries.' So the oak was spared; even then it was old and hollow.

"King Charles II. granted the people of Connecticut a very liberal
charter of rights, which was publicly read in the Assembly at Hartford
and declared to belong for ever to them and their successors. A
committee was appointed to take charge of it, under a solemn oath that
they would preserve this palladium of the rights of the people.

"When James II., the tyrannical brother of Charles II., came to the
throne, he changed the government of New England and ordered the people
of Connecticut to give up their charter. This they refused to do; and
when a third command from the king had been sent to them, they called a
special meeting of the Assembly, under their own governor, Treat, and
resolved to hold on to the charter which had been given them.

"On the 31st of October, 1687, Sir Edmund Andros, attended by members of
his council and a bodyguard of sixty soldiers, entered Hartford to take
the charter by force. The General Assembly was in session; he was
received with courtesy, but with coldness. He entered the assembly-room
and publicly demanded the charter. Remonstrances were made, and the
session was protracted till evening. The governor and his associates
appeared to yield. The charter was brought in and laid upon the table.