Note 777 — Chapter XIII · THE REASSERTION OF IMPERIAL CONTROL

Cal. State Pap., Col., 1661-68, p. 18. The New Haven Records are silent as to the case; but the Sylvesters were disliked by New Haven, in part because they sheltered Quakers from persecution. For that reason, and because he was said to have written a “blasphemous” letter against the New England magistrates, New Haven seized £100 belonging to Giles Sylvester until he should give satisfaction, if the charges, which were noted as hearsay, should be proved. Considering that the New Haven settlers were mere squatters without any legal rights, that Sylvester properly denied their jurisdiction over him, and that the amount, equivalent to about $2000 to-day, was illegally seized on merely hearsay evidence that Sylvester had criticized them, the case may be taken as showing the possibilities for strangers of Puritan colonial justice. New Haven Records, vol. II, p. 364.