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Before winter was over, the infant colony was threatened with famine; but the seasonable return of a vessel from England with provisions revived their drooping spirits, and instead of the fast, they observed a day of thanksgiving. Many of the emigrants, discouraged, and in some degree terrified, returned home and spread various reports injurious to the colony.

The second General Court, held in May, 1631, enacted a remarkable law, which clearly points out the 1631. basis on which, for the next half century, the government of Massachusetts continued to rest. "To the end that the body of commons may be preserved of good and honest men, it is ordered and agreed, that, for the time to come, no man shall be admitted to the freedom of the body politic, but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same." This enactment narrowed down the number of citizens and voters very materially, since, in consequence of the difficulties attendant on becoming a member of one of the churches, not one fourth of the adult population were ever church-members. It was an attempt to establish a theocracy, a reign of the saints on the earth, and as every religious party in power thought it right to require conformity to the

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established order, so the Puritan settlers were persuaded that it was a duty to enforce their regulations by aid of the civil magistrate. The same experiment of a theocratic form of government was tried at a later date in England, with what result every reader of history knows.

Not only were a larger proportion of the people deprived of political rights, under this arbitrary system, but the legislation of this self-constituted body was characterized by a spirit of puritanical severity within themselves, and a harsh and rigid exclusiveness towards those without, which were not long in producing the same bitter fruits of persecution by which they had themselves suffered. The ministers acquired an undue degree of influence; minute enactments interfered with individual freedom of action; amusements, which, though innocent in themselves, were supposed to be inconsistent with the gravity of professing Christians, were studiously discouraged, and devotional exercises substituted in their room. "It was attempted, in fact," to use Mr. Hildreth's words, "to make the colony, as it were, a convent of Puritan devotees

except in the allowance of marriage and money-making-subjected to all the rules of the stricter monastic orders.

CHAPTER VII.

1631-1640.

PROGRESS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES.

Emigration in 1632- Question of levying taxes Arrivals in 1633 Rights of the freemen under the charter Dudley governor - Progress of the colony under Winthrop's four years' administration - Royal colonial commission Alarm in Massachusetts Measures taken Case of Roger Williams His sentiments and character- Flight to Providence — Mrs. Hutchinson's heresies - Vane's course Sad fate of Mrs. Hutchinson Settlements in Connecticut Pequod war Origin and result - Extermination of the Pequod tribe — Emigration in consequence of religious dissensions Coast of Maine - Nova Scotia and Canada Progress of the colony in strength and extent Estimated cost of colonization up to 1640.

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1634.

Difficulties having occurred in con sequence of some stringent acts of the magistrates, two delegates from each town met and requested a sight of the charter, on examining which they concluded, that the legislative authority rested with the freemen, and not with the magistrates. When the General Court met, in May, 1634, that body claimed for itself, under the charter, the admission of freemen, choosing officers, raising money, etc. Notwithstanding a pulpit appeal from Cotton against the rash changing of those in office, Dudley was chosen governor, in place of Winthrop, though this latter was retained as an assistant. During Winthrop's four years' admin

In virtue of the authority which they supposed was vested in them, the magistrates had, on several occasions, 1632. levied taxes. This soon excited attention and complaint, and the next General Court, in May, 1632, took the matter in hand. Two deputies were chosen from each plantation to agree upon "raising a common stock." The tenure of office of the assistants was expressly limited to one year, and the choice of governor and deputy-governor was reassumed by the freemen. Boston was determined to be the best place for public meetings of the colonists, and a fort and house of correc-istration, the infant colony had taken tion were ordered to be built there.

In 1633, several hundred settlers ar

firm root. There were already seven churches, eight principal plantations,

CH. VII.]

ROGER WILLIAMS'S VIEWS.

and some smaller ones. Ferries had been established between Boston and Charlestown; a fort had been built; water and wind-mills had been brought into use; a flourishing trade with the Virginians, and the Dutch had gradu- | ally grown up, etc.

While the Court was in session, six large vessels arrived with a large number of passengers and a goodly supply of cattle; and about a month later, fifteen more vessels entered the harbor. John Humphrey came out in one of these ships, and brought with him a supply of ordnance, muskets, powder, and other things of value to the colony. He brought, also, propositions from some "persons of great quality and estate," to join the Massachusetts colonists if certain points could be conceded to them.

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1634.

minister very early gave trouble to the Massachusetts brethren, by setting forth novelties and heresies, as they esteemed them, which led to his removal to Plymouth, where he remained two years. On returning to Massachusetts, he soon became involved in trouble, not only by denying the validity of royal patents to give title to land in America, but also by a fantastical scruple as to the red cross in the English colors, which cross, being a relic of popery and abomination, he got Endicott, the commander at Salem, to cut out from the national flag. Beside this, denying the lawfulness of an oath imposed on the non-freemen, and the enactment compelling attendance on public worship, he gave great offence to the magistrates and ministers. Amid all his vagaries, and what we can not but deem puerile seizing upon trifles, 1635. he appears to have grasped firmly one grand idea, and to have held and acted upon it at all times with entire sincerity: this was what he called "soul-liberty," meaning by the expression, the most perfect and complete right of every man to enjoy freedom of opinion on the subject of religion. The idea, however familiar to us at the present day, was then wholly new, and startling indeed in a colony like Massachusetts, and no wonder that it seemed to those in authority as a most alarming heresy. For, in truth, these principles struck at the very root of the In the midst of these difficulties, the theocracy which had become estabcourse pursued by the celebrated Roger lished in the colony. Alarmed by Williams was not calculated to render their dangerous tendency, the Court at matters more easy of adjustment. This Boston was led earnestly to desire the active and energetic young Puritan | removal of one whom they regarded as

In consequence of complaints made in England against Massachusetts, a Royal Colonial Commission was appointed with full power over the American plantations to revise the laws, regulate the Church, and revoke charters. The news of this measure produced great alarm in Massachusetts, and steps were directly taken to provide for the defence of Boston harbor. Dudley, Winthrop, Haynes, Humphrey, and Endicott were appointed commissioners "to consult, direct, and give command for the managing and ordering of any war that might befall for the space of a year next ensuing."

VOL. I.-11

unsettled in judgment, and a troubler of the public peace. It was certainly unfortunate that the scruples of Williams were such as tended to divide and weaken the colony, struggling as it was for independent existence, amid all the difficulties by which it was encompassed. His agitations even served to paralyse resistance against aggressions which they were calculated to bring about and it must be confessed that, however excellent the principles he had espoused, his conduct bears some tinge of factious opposition, or, to say the least, of an ill-timed and narrow-minded scrupulosity. But his piety was so genuine, and his character so noble and disinterested, that the people of Salem, who knew and loved him, reëlected him for their pastor, in spite of the censure of his doctrines by the Court at Boston, an act of contumacy for which they were reprimanded and punished by the withholding a certain portion of lands. Such harshness aroused Williams to retort by a spirited protest, and he engaged the Salem church to join with him in a general appeal to the other churches against the injustice of which the magistrates had been guilty-a daring proceeding, for which the council suspended their franchise, and they shrunk from their leader, who was thus left absolutely alone. Upon this he openly renounced allegiance to what he deemed a persecuting church. His opinions and conduct were condemned by the council, who pronounced against him a sentence of banishment, but on account of the dangerous feeling of sympathy it awakened, decided shortly af

ter on sending him back to England.

In the depth of a New England winter, Williams fled into the wilderness, and took refuge among the Narragansett Indians, with whom he had become acquainted at Plymouth. He wandered for fourteen weeks through the snow-buried forests, before he reached their wigwams, where he was received and sheltered with the utmost kindness. In the spring he departed in quest of some spot where he could found an asylum for those who, like himself, were persecuted for conscience' sake. He first attempted a settlement at Seekonk, but afterwards, at the friendly suggestion of Winslow, the governor of Plymouth, re- 1636. moved to Narragansett Bay, where he received from the Indians a free grant of a considerable tract of country, and in June, 1636, fixed upon the site of a town, which he named "PROVIDENCE," as being a refuge from persecution and wanderings. Many of his friends from Salem joined him here, and he freely distributed his lands among them. This was the beginning of the State of Rhode Island, one of the most free and liberal in its institutions of any ever founded in America.

It was not long before fresh troubles sprang up, in great measure, having their origin in the same claim to the right of private judgment in all matters of religious truth and obligation. Hugh Peters, chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and Henry Vane, a young man of superior ability and acquirements, came over to join the Massachusetts colony. The emigration of a man of Vane's distinction and family created

CH. VII.]

MRS. HUTCHINSON'S CAREER.

considerable stir, and it was even proposed, to meet the desires of those among the aristocracy who might be expected to make New England their home, to establish an order of hereditary magistracy, but the proposition was never carried into effect. Soon after, Vane was elected chief magistrate of the colony, and on the occasion of a new religious fermentation arising, he became a prominent actor in it. We can not do better, in speaking of this matter, than use the language of Dr. Robertson:

1636.

"It was the custom at that time in New England, among the chief men in every congregation, to meet once a week, in order to repeat the sermons which they had heard, and to hold religious conference with respect to the doctrines contained in them. Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, whose husband was among the most respectable members of the colony, regretting that persons of her sex were excluded from the benefit of those meetings, assembled statedly in her house a number of women, who employed themselves in pious exercises similar to those of the men. At first she satisfied herself with repeating what she could recollect of the discourses delivered by their teachers. She began afterwards to add illustrations, and at length proceeded to censure some of the clergy as unsound, and to vent opinions and fancies of her own. These were all founded on the system which is denominated Antinomian by divines, and tinged with the deepest enthusiasm. She taught that sanctity of life is no evidence of justification, or of a state of favor with God:

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Vane,

1637.

and that such as inculcated the necessity of manifesting the reality of our faith by obedience, preached only a covenant of works; she contended that the Spirit of God dwelt personally in good men, and by inward revelations and impressions they received the fullest discoveries of the Divine will. The fluency and confidence with which she delivered these notions, gained her many admirers and proselytes, not only among the vulgar, but among the principal inhabitants. The whole colony was interested and agitated. whose sagacity and acuteness seemed to forsake him whenever they were turned towards religion, espoused and defended her wildest tenets. Many conferences were held, days of fasting and humiliation were appointed, a general synod was called; and, after dissensions which threatened the dissolution of the colony, Mrs. Hutchinson's opinions were condemned as erroneous, and she herself banished. Several of her disciples withdrew from the province of their own accord. Vane quitted America in disgust, unlamented even by those who had lately admired him; some of whom now regarded him as a mere visionary, and others, as one of those dark, turbulent spirits doomed to embroil every society into which they enter."*

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