It is now more than two years since the melancholy decease of John B. Dwight, Tutor in Yale College. While the author of the wounds, to which his friends attribute his death, was under indictment for "assault with intent to murder," a wish to avoid everything which might, or might seem, to prejudice the trial by affecting the public mind, prevented us from giving such notice of his life and death as the manner of his death and his position and promise demanded. That indictment having, after long delays, been disposed of, without a trial, by the failure to appear and forfeiture of bail by the accused, there is no longer any reason why the brief memoir of Mr. Dwight, long since intended, should be deferred.

John Breed Dwight was born in Norwich, Ct., Dec. 8th, 1821, the son of James Dwight, and the grandson of the illustrious Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College. He was prepared for admission to College, chiefly at the Academy in Plainfield, Ct., by Mr. John Witter, who has for many years filled the important and responsible office of teacher of youth, and to whose accurate and thorough instruction and happy faculty of inspiring his pupils with noble intellectual motives and aims, many eminent scholars and distinguished men in the country gratefully ascribe the first shaping and impulse of their intellectual course and the type of their intellectual character.

At the early age of 14, Mr. Dwight

left Plainfield Academy, and entered Bowdoin College. After spending one year at that institution, he entered the Sophomore class in Yale College, and graduated in 1840, before he was nineteen years old, in the first grade of honors, pronouncing at Commencement the philosophical oration. Just before he took his degree, he united with the College church by a public profession of his faith in Christ.

After his graduation, he taught an Academy in New Britain, Ct., for nine months, and then took the posi tion of instructor of Latin in a High School at Northampton, Mass., which he held until the spring of 1843, when he returned to New Haven and commenced the study of law. At the beginning of the first term in Yale College, in the subsequent October, he entered, with high hopes and promise, on the office of Tutor in that institution, to which he had been appointed in the previous spring. Four days after, he and another tutor, having consulted with other officers of College about some violent disorder that had taken place among the students, went out, at evening, to discharge the duty of preserving order and detecting the violators of College law. They came upon a company of disguised persons, breaking the College windows, who immediately ran. One of them, who afterwards proved to be Lewis Fassit, of the Sophomore class, from Philadelphia, Mr. Dwight overtook, caught and held by a

part of the garment with which he was disguised. Fassit, desirous to escape, according to Mr. Dwight's account stabbed him with a large knife, repeating the blow three times with profaneness, and thus escaped. Mr. Dwight was able to go to the room of one of the tutors. A surgeon was immediately called, who found his wounds serious, but not alarming. After a few days, however, a fever supervened, and he died, October 20th, 1843, aged 21 years. The intellectual character of Mr. Dwight had been manifested, chiefly, while in a course of education. His powers of acquiring knowledge were remarkable. They were quick, readily perceiving the truth; they were acute and accurate, readily distinguishing differences and recognizing resemblances, and comprehending things as they are; thus obtaining clear and exact ideas which he easily expressed in perspicuous and correct language.

Nor was his power of acquisition greater than his tenacity in retaining what he had acquired. His knowledge was so philosophically and methodically arranged in his mind, that he retained, and had at entire command, what he had once learned. His mind held under entire subjection and control its past conquests, while it went forward to new victories.

His powers of acquiring and of retaining knowledge, were kept active and made buoyant by his love of knowledge. They acted not as reluctant but as willing and glad servitors; so that his intellectual life was ever bright and joyful, and he went on his way of intellectual acquisition, with the highest satisfaction. seemed to love knowledge, not only as a means of elevation and usefulness, but for its own sake. He ran along the paths of learning, like a child from flower to flower, always eager, always free, always delighted.

He

His relative intellectual merit is seen in the fact, that, though he was very young in College, having enter

ed when he was fourteen, he had hardly a superior, and took one of the three first honors in a class which numbered 98, and was remarkable for talent.

In his filial relations Mr. Dwight was a model; and all his life, even in those early days when boys are prone to be thoughtless and forgetful of parental precepts, his filial duty, according to the testimony of parents, was h perfect and entire."

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The rise and progress of religion in his soul, might have been best learned from his diary and other private papers. But, some time before his death, he expressed a wish to his mother and obtained from her a promise, that, if she outlived him, his private papers should be all destroyed without being read. Soon after his death, according to his request and her promise, with great reluctance, she destroyed without reading, all those papers, so precious to parental affection, by which, though dead, he might yet have spoken.

His parents testify, that he was early impressed with religious truth, and early manifested what seemed to them a filial fear of God. He himself dated his conversion to God during a revival of religion which occurred in the spring of his senior year in College. At that time, his mind was specially interested in the great subject of personal religion, and then, for the first time, as he thought, he fully consecrated his powers to the high purpose of doing the will of God, and working out the well being of his fellow men, and committed his soul in faith to the Savior of sinners. His conversion was marked by an intense desire and earnest labors for the salvation of others, especially the members of his own famly.

It ought here to be mentioned, to the honor and for the encouragement of maternal fidelity, that Mr. Dwight ascribed his conversion to the faithful efforts of his mother to impress on his mind the unspeakable importance of repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ.

His piety, like his intellectual character, was remarkably sincere; and was accompanied by great severity of judgment respecting himself, and great self-distrust. Indeed his scrutiny into his motives and his analysis of his feelings were so close and so long continued, as, at length, to render him, for a while, confused respecting his real state, and almost unable to recognize the piety that, by God's grace, he possessed. This severity and distrust toward himself delayed for a considerable time his public profession of religion. After taking that important and decisive step, his mind was clear, and he felt more free to give expression to his earnest ness in religion.

Upon leaving College, and forming his plans for life, he wrote to one of his friends, that he "had anew resolved, by the aid of divine grace, to do good, so far as should be in his power, while he lived." The sincerity of this resolution was evinced by his subsequent conduct.

Soon after he had taken charge of the school in New Britain, a revival of religion commenced in that place, of which many of his pupils were subjects. In a letter to his father, written at this time, after stating the facts, he says, "I have hardly ever talked so much on the subject of religion, or felt so deep an interest in it as of late." Not long after this, while on a visit at the house of his uncle in New Haven, he manifested the same interest for the spiritual safety and well being of others, and, as we are told, urged his cousin repeatedly, and with tears, and even till the hour of midnight, to become reconciled to God through Christ.

Mr. Dwight had a low estimate of this life, in itself considered, and valued it chiefly as an introduction to a better state of existence. His friends were often surprised and almost alarmed at expressions from his lips, which evinced that he had no desire to live long in this world. It was in striking accordance with this feature of his character, that, after he VOL. IV.

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was stabbed, and had been placed on the bed of one of his fellow Tutors, he was overheard repeating to himself the hymn, so familiar to our readers, commencing "I would not live alway," &c.

To lose a son, on whom they had expended so much fidelity and prayer, for whose education they had exercised so much self-denial, around whom their affections were so closely entwined, a son of such high promise and inspiring in them such high hopes -to lose such a son, just as he was entering on a wide sphere of usefulness and honor, and to lose him in such a manner, is to his parents a bitter affliction indeed-one which time mitigates but can not remove. Yet, by the aid of divine grace, they bow submissively to the permissive providence of Him who doth all things well, consoled by their confidence in the divine government, and by their faith, that their son is translated to that "blessed clime where life is not a breath," and where is delightfully realized the idea which governed and rejoiced him here, that the acquisitions of this life are chiefly valuable as they reach into, and prepare us for, a higher and better life.

Respecting the assault on Mr. Dwight by Fassit, and his escape, when indicted, from trial, inclination asks us to be silent, but duty forbids. The public interest, the personal security of College officers, and indeed of all citizens, demands free speech.

Mr. Dwight's testimony, given unequivocally, and repeatedly, and with his accustomed accuracy of statement, to his friends, though unfortunately not taken down according to the forms of law, was, that he and another Tutor saw a company of young men breaking College windows. dows. As they approached, the young men, who were all disguised, fled. The other Tutor overtook one and held him fast; Mr. Dwight overtook another, who as it afterwards appeared was Fassit, and held him fast by a portion of the garment worn as a disguise about his neck. Fassit, en

deavoring without success to escape, stabbed Mr. Dwight three times with a sharp instrument, which was proved by the wounds to be a long knife, saying, at each stroke of the deadly weapon, and with bitter emphasis, "God damn you."

Before he was known to be the author of the crime we believe, certainly before he was arrested, Fassit fled to Philadelphia. Having, at the instance of an officer of the law from Connecticut, been put under bonds of $5,000 by the Recorder of Philadelphia, and a requisition having been made by the Governor of Connecticut upon the Governor of Pennsylvania for his delivery to justice, he came on to New Haven. All the eminent lawyers of the city at liberty to be so retained, were retained in his behalf. He was examined before a Justice of the peace on a charge of "assault with intent to murder," and bound to appear for trial before the Superior Court. He was admitted to bail in the sum of $5000, which on application was afterwards reduced by the Justice to $3000. The Grand Jury, after charge from the Judge of the Superior Court, found a true bill on the indictment against him, for assault with intent to murder." But he has never made his appearance. The time has passed, and his bail is forfeited. Fassit's father is a man of large wealth.*

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The influence of facts like this, which are becoming not infrequent, is disastrous. What is the language of this event? It says to young men in the hey-day of passion, many of whom have, through wealthy parents and guardians, command of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars, "you may resist an officer of College, when in the discharge of his duty, and stab him repeatedly with a deadly weapon, for three thousand

* We have been informed that the for

feited bail has not yet been paid; and that, at the last session of the Superior Court in this city, a motion was filed on the docket for the reduction of the amount !!!

dollars." It says to all, "you may assault any citizen with a deadly weapon and escape with a pecuniary fine." It says to the wealthy, “you may assault with intent to murder, and pay for it by an order on your pocket, which is, to you, a trifle light as air." And it says to the poor man, see what a difference wealth and poverty make in the administration of justice."

Lest we should be misunderstood, we say explicitly, that we find no special fault with the officers of the law, who have acted in this case; and the Grand Juror, we think, deserves particular commendation for the ability with which he discharged his duty.

The crime of assault with intent to murder is, by law, bailable. And the bail required in this case, is, we are told, as great as the custom of the courts in Connecticut allows.

But we do find fault, emphatically, with the law, or with the custom of the courts under it. We say, decidedly, either the law is wrong, or the custom of the courts defeats the object of the law. For, what is the object of bail in cases of crime like assault with intent to murder? Surely, it is, or ought to be, to secure the appearance of the accused before the tribunal of justice-to render his trial and the administration of justice certain; while he is allowed, in the mean time, personal liberty. Then, evidently, bail should be so adapted to the case, as to secure the appearance of the accused for trial before the tribunal. And if the case is such that no amount of bail will secure the trial of the accused, then no bail should be allowed. To permit a man worth $500,000, accused of assault with intent to murder, to go at large, on bail of $3,000 is the merest farce. Nothing but his sense of justice would hold such a man to trial. And what reliance can be placed, for such a purpose, on his sense of justice who makes an assault with intent to murder? The bail would not have the influence of a straw. The court might as well let him go without bail.

In other words, the court might as well say, that all rich men may commit deadly assaults with impunitythat "offense's gilded hand" is legally permitted to "shove by justice."

But such a custom of the courts, not only promotes crime by removing fear of punishment from the rich; it has a tendency, by another kind of influence, to promote crime among the poor. If the man who stabbed Mr. Dwight had been a poor man, without wealthy friends, he would have been brought to trial. Who doubts it? If such a crime had been committed by a poor sailor, or a poor negro, he could not have escaped justice. Who supposes it? Now what kind of government is that which has one measure of justice for the rich and another for the poor ?— which, so far as this particular department of justice is concerned, puts the guilty rich in the place of the innocent, while the guilty poor have to meet the awards of crime? With what fearful fitness is such a feature in the administration of law adapted to destroy, in the hearts of the poor, nay, to displace by hatred and a spirit of insubordination, that loyalty to government, that confidence in government, that love for government, which, more perhaps than the fear of punishment, holds men to virtue, and restrains them from crime! Such an administration of the law, as the custom of the courts allowed in the case of Fassit, proclaiming virtual impunity in such cases, for the guilty rich, and punishment for the guilty poor, so far as it goes, gives to our government* this hideous aspect and this disastrous influence.

NOTE. We have observed in a pamphlet entitled "Speech of Josiah Quincy, President of Harvard University, before the Board of Overseers of that institution, on the minority report of Mr. Bancroft,

Feb. 25, 1845," the following sentence, which occurs in a paragraph in which he compares Yale and Harvard Colleges Appearing in such a connexion, it is very significant.

"Hitherto the annals of Harvard have not been sullied by the murder of a professor or tutor. Should, however, such an event ever occur here, I earnestly hope that the laws of Massachusetts may be so framed, adjudged, and executed, that the offender may not escape through the pay. ment of money, but shall incur the full penalty affixed by the laws of the land to murder and manslaughter; and the lives of professors and tutors enjoy the same protection as those of other members of the community."

Now if all that is meant by this sentence, is, that President Quincy is indig nant and grieved that the man who stabbed Tutor Dwight escaped" with the payment of money;" and that he hopes, should an officer of Harvard College suf fer in the same manner, "that the laws of Massachusetts may be so framed, adjudged, and executed," as that the offender shall receive the full legal penalty, we Quincy in his indignation and grief, as say that we sympathize with President our readers have perceived; and also in his "hope" respecting the enactment and execution of laws in Massachusetts; and cherish the same hope respecting the laws and legal customs of Connecticut. But,

if there lurks in this sentence an insinuation, that Harvard College is, or will be, any better protected by the laws of Massachusetts, than is Yale College by the laws of Connecticut, we say, the insinuation is unjust and ungenerous. Do the laws and the customs of the courts in Massachusetts, we ask, differ, in this respect, one whit, from those of Connecticut? Should a student of Harvard College be indicted for assault with intent to kill, upon a tutor or professor, or a citizen of Boston be indicted for the same offense

allowed in Massachusetts?-and if the ac

We

against another citizen, would not bail be cused escaped by the forfeiture of bail, would there be any help for it in Massachusetts more than in Connecticut? "hope that laws may be so framed, adjudged and executed," that a man indicted for assault with intent to kill, "may not escape through the payment of money;' and we think this hope likely to be realized as soon in Connecticut, as in Massachusetts; as soon in the vicinity of Yale, as of Harvard College.