Rogre Williams

pray with an unregenerate man; that "grace" at table ought to be omitted: and having formed a separate congregation, he even refused to commune with members of his own church who did not separate entirely from all connection with the "polluted New England churches." He finally declared the Massachusetts charter void, because the land had not been purchased from the Indians, and "reviled magistrates." The general court passed a sentence of banishment against him in 1635, and early in January, 1636, he left the colony for the wilderness toward Narraganset Bay, to avoid being seized and sent to England. After severe trials and hardships, he purchased lands from the Indians at the head of Narraganset Bay, and there founded a town, and named it Providence. He offered a free asylum to all persecuted people, and many joined him there. Time mellowed his extreme opinions, and he became a pattern of toleration. He also became a Baptist; and when he formed a civil government, it was purely democratic. He, as the head, had no privileges but those which were common to all. He labored zealously for the spiritual and temporal good of the Indians; and in 1643 he went to England to obtain a royal charter. Already other settlements of his friends had been made on Rhode Island.' In the spring of 1644, a free charter of incorporation was granted, and these several settlements were united under the title of the Rhode Island and Providence Planta

1. The Indian name was Aquiday, or Aquitneck. It was named Rhode Island because of its supposed resemblance to the ancient Island of Rhodes.

tions. He again went to England in 1651, as agent for the colony, where he remained until 1654. On his return he was made president of the colony, in which office he was succeeded, in 1657, by Benedict Arnold.

Roger Williams was an eminent peace-maker between the white people and the Indians, and on two occasions he no doubt saved those who banished him to the wilderness, from utter destruction. While all sects were permitted to enjoy entire freedom within his domains, he was fierce in controversy against the Quakers. In 1672, he held a public dispute with leaders of that sect at Newport, for three days, and one day at Providence, an account of which he afterward published, under the title of "George Fox digged out of his Burrows." A preacher, named Burroughs, was one of the disputants in favor of the principles of Fox.

Roger Williams died at Providence, in April, 1683, aged eighty-four years. His name is cherished as the first founder of a state in the New World, where freedom to worship God according to the dictates of the individual conscience, was made an organic law.

MIANTONOMOH.

ONE of the most renowned of the warriors of the New England Indians, was

Miantonomoh, sachem of the Narragansets, and nephew and successor of Canonicus. He took a share in the government of his aged uncle, in 1636, and was the warm friend and benefactor of the first settlers of Rhode Island. He joined Captain Mason against the Pequods in 1637; and the following year he was associated with Uncas, the chief sachem of the Mohegans, in a treaty of peace and friendship with the English at Hartford. The two sachems agreed not to make war upon each other, without first appealing to the English. An occasion soon appeared. Uncas was the aggressor; and by the consent of the governor at Hartford, Miantonomoh, at the head of eight hundred warriors, marched into the Mohegan country. A severe battle ensued on a great plain near Norwich. By stratagem Uncas gained the victory, and Miantonomoh was made a prisoner, with one of his brothers, and two sons of Canonicus. They were sent to Hartford, and the English were asked to decide what should be done with the royal prisoner. The question was referred to an ecclesiastical tribunal, consisting of five of the principal ministers of New England. They decided to hand him over to Uncas for "execution without torture," within the dominions of that sachem. It was an ungenerous and wicked decision, for Miantonomoh had ever been a firm friend of the English, without the selfish incentives that governed Uncas. But just then, a covetous desire to possess the land of Uncas made them willing to secure his favor, even by so foul a procedure. Delighted with the verdict of his Christian allies, the equally savage Mohegan, with a few trusty followers, conducted Miantonomoh to the spot where he was captured, near Norwich, and there a brother of Uncas stepped up behind the unsuspecting victim and cleft his head with a hatchet. The noble Miantonomoh was buried where he was slain; and to this day the locality is called Sachem's Plain. This transaction aroused the fierce ire of the Narragansets against the English, and they had the sympathy of the surrounding tribes. Hatred of the English and of their boasted Christianity, became deep-rooted, and was one of the principal causes which led to the bloody contest known as King Philip's war, about thirty years later. Miantonomoh was about forty-four years of age at the time of his death.

WILLIAM PHIPPS.

21

WILLIAM PHIPPS.

"CIRCUMSTANCES make men what they are," is a general truth which

few persons of observation will deny. William Phipps illustrated the truth in his life and character, in an eminent degree. He was born in the then far-off wilderness at Pemaquid, now Bristol, in the state of Maine, on the 2d of February, 1651. His father was a gun-smith, and migrated to America, with Winthrop's party, in 1630. William was the tenth of twenty-six children by the same mother. He lived in the wilderness until he was eighteen years of age, without any special aim for life. Then he was apprenticed to a ship carpenter for four years. At the expiration of his minority and servitude he went to Boston, and there, for the first time, studied reading and writing. Charmed with the tales of seamen, among whom his business cast his lot, ho resolved to seek his fortunes on the ocean. He left Boston when he was twentyfour years of age, and after many adventures and hardships, he discovered a Spanish wreck on the coast of St. Domingo, and from it fished up pearls, plate, and jewels, to the value of a million and a half of dollars. With this treasure he sailed for England, where he divided the booty so equitably among the seamen, that his own share amounted to only eighty thousand dollars. That was a large fortune for the time; and James the Second was so much charmed by the talent and general character of Phipps, that he knighted him. Three years afterward he returned to Boston, where he took rank in the best society.

In 1690, Sir William Phipps commanded an expedition against Port Royal, in the French territory of Acadie, now Nova Scotia. His expedition comprised eight or nine vessels, and about eight hundred men. He seized Port Royal, brought Acadie into subjection, and obtained sufficient property, by plundering the people, to pay the expenses of the enterprise. This success encouraged the New England colonies to coalesce with New York in efforts to subdue Canada, then held by the French. Sir William commanded a naval expedition against Quebec, which Massachusetts alone fitted out. He sailed from Boston with thirty-four vessels and a thousand men, reached Quebec in safety, and landed his troops; but the strength of the city, and the lack of coöperation on the part of the land troops, caused him to abandon the undertaking and return home. He was soon afterward sent to England to solicit aid in further warfare against the French and Indians. He also asked for the restoration of the old charter of Massachusetts, taken away by Andros.' Aid for war was refused; and King William, instead of restoring the old charter, granted a new one, under which Sir William was appointed the first governor, by the king, on the nomination of Increase Mather. He arrived at Boston in May, 1692, and was instrumental in stopping prosecutions for witchcraft, then in fearful activity in the colony.2 The same year he went to Pemaquid, with four hundred and fifty men, and built a fort there. He was removed from office in 1694, when he went to England, and received positive promises of restoration. But death soon closed his He died in London, on the 18th of February, 1695, at the age of forty

career.

four years.

1. Edmund Andros was sent to New England, by James the Second, to take away the several charters of the colonies, and consolidate the whole under one government, with himself at the head as the direct representative of royalty. The revolution of 1688, drove James from the throne, and placed William of Orange and his wife, Mary, there. It was to William that Phipps appealed for the restoration of the charters taken away by Andros. The new charter was not so acceptable to the people as the old one. 2. See sketch of Dr Mather.

PETER STUYVESANT.

HE founding of the great commercial city of New York was the work of in the far-distant waters of the East Indies, and the navies that sailed from the Texel were mistresses of the ocean. Holland then controlled the commerce of the world. A company was chartered to plant trading stations in the region discovered by Henry Hudson,' and when settlements were established there, governors were sent to administer political rule. Of the five employed at different times by the company, Peter Stuyvesant was the ablest and the last. He was a son of a clergyman in Friesland, where he was born in 1602, and was educated for the ministry in the High School at Franeker. There he acquired a knowledge of Latin, with which he played the pedant in after life. Liking the military art better than theology, he entered the army, and rose to distinction

at a time ships from the Zuyder-Zee were

1. Hudson discovered the Bay of New York and the river bearing his name, at the close of the Summer of 1609. He was then in the service of the Dutch East India Company.

EDWARD WINSLOW.

23

on account of his bravery. His talent commended him to the Dutch West India Company, and he was appointed its first director, or governor, of Curaçoa.

In 1644, Stuyvesant led an expedition against the Portuguese on the island of St. Martin, and lost a leg in an engagement there. He went to Holland for surgical aid, and soon afterward he received the appointment of first director of the province of New Netherland, as the Dutch possessions on the Hudson were called. He arrived at New Amsterdam (now New York) in May, 1647. He found everything in confusion, and the seeds of democracy growing rapidly, because of the tyrannous and dishonest rule of his predecessor. Stuyvesant was an aristocrat, and his profession made him an iron man, as a ruler. He at once commenced much-needed reforms, and declared his honest desire to improve the condition of the people; but he told them frankly that he considered it "treason to petition against one's magistrates, whether there be cause or not." Governed by such sentiments, he ruled vigorously for almost twenty years. He destroyed the power of a growing Swedish colony on the Delaware, 2 settled boundary disputes with the English in Connecticut, and by conciliatory measures made the Indians so friendly, that the New England people believed the silly story that he was leagued with the savages to destroy the Puritans.

When Charles the Second was restored to the throne of his fathers, he gave the territory of New Netherland to his brother James, Duke of York. The duke sent a fleet to take possession.3 Stuyvesant yielded with great reluctance; and in September, 1664, New Amsterdam was surrendered to the English, and was named New York. Stuyvesant retired to his bouerie or farm, near the East River, where he lived in dignity and quiet until August, 1682, when he died. His wife was Ruth Bayard, a Huguenot. Their remains lie in a vault under St. Mark's Church, in the city of New York.

EDWARD WINSLOW.

ONE of the most accomplished men who came to America in the May Flower,

was Edward Winslow, a native of Worcestershire, England, where he was born on the 19th of October, 1595. Whilst travelling in Europe, he became acquainted, at Leyden, with the Rev. John Robinson, the pastor of the Pilgrims there. He joined that church in 1617, married a young lady there, and made Leyden his place of residence until his departure for America. He was one of the companions of Miles Standish in the search for a landing-place for the May Flower passengers; and being a young man of great energy, he became one of the most useful men in the colony. Massasoit became much attached to him; and in 1623, hearing of the severe illness of that sachem, Winslow visited him, and by the skilful use of some medicines, restored him to health, and won his unbounded gratitude. On that occasion, as on many others, the brave young Hobbomac, one of Massasoit's warriors, who lived with the white people, was guide and interpreter. In the following Autumn, Mr. Winslow went to England as an agent for the colony; and the next Spring he returned, and introduced

1. This company was formed after the discoveries of Hudson, and was invested with almost vice-regal powers for carrying on trade and making settlements in America and on the coast of Africa.

2. Peter Minuit, an offended director of the Dutch West India Company, went to Sweden and proposed to lead a colony of Swedes to the New World. A Swedish West India Company was formed; and in the Spring of 1638, Minuit and a considerable number of settlers located upon the Delaware, on the site of the present New Castle. They called the country New Sweden, and proposed to establish a provincial government, but the more powerful Dutch overthrew all their plans, and the colonists became subjects to Stuyvesant.

3. England claimed all America from Newfoundland to Florida, by virtue of early coast explorations.