of Mooshassuc and Pawtuxet, the only chartered communities near him were Plymouth and Massachusetts. The west line of the former- the Pokánoket country and Narragansett Bay-constituted a limit to expansion on the east, and the south line of the latter-"three English Myles on the South Parte of the Charles River"-constituted a similar limit on the north, while on the west there was no barrier save the recent settlements along the Connecticut River - Saybrook, Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hartford. On March 14, 1644, the plantation of Providence (as Mooshassuc had now become)-supplemented by the plantations of Aquidneck and Warwick, and by the region south of Massachusetts to the ocean, and west of Plymouth for "about twenty-five English miles to the Pequod river and country". was erected by patent into a single jurisdiction. The integration thus effected, however, was not arbitrary, for the circumscribing lines embraced only to the full extent the district immediately ruled and occupied by a single native people — the Narragansett Indians.

The west line of Plymouth was in certain respects a thing more indefinite than the south line of Massachusetts, and it later on — under the sinister influence of the latter colony became a source of trouble for Rhode Island. This was true despite the fact that at first—and this in the case both of Mooshassuc and Aquidneck -- Plymouth distinctly limited its claims to the westward by the east shore of the Seekonk River and of Narragansett

VOL. II.-15.

Bay. Still, the trouble of Rhode Island on the east with Plymouth was mildness itself compared with the trouble on the west inaugurated by Massachusetts and perpetuated by Connecticut.

In 1637 the Pequod War was brought to an end by the joint efforts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and the Pequod country became theirs by conquest. This country extended eastward from the Pequod (Thames) River to the Pawcatuck River, and (though here possession was disputed by the Narragansetts) some four miles farther to a small stream in what is now the town of Westerly, Rhode Island, called Wickapaug. But, the territory gained, the next step was satisfactorily to divide it, and with this the quarrel usual in a division of spoils broke forth. The claim which the Bay― never backward in contriving claims — preferred on the score of conquest was met by a claim on the part of Connecticut, based alike on Patent, purchase, and conquest"; and thus, after an ineffectual effort at agreement in 1638 at Cambridge, the matter stood till 1658. On October 25th of that year Massachusetts, with the sanction of the United Colonies, made an order erecting so much of the Pequod plantation as lay between the Pequod and Pawcatuck Rivers (including Wickapaug) into a township to be called Southertown, and, having named Daniel Gookin commissioner, and Walter Palmer constable, for the township, annexed it to the County of Suffolk.

46

The Bay, as usual, had by pertinacity attained its end, and for the time being Connecticut was

ousted. But hardly had this been effected, when Providence Plantations took in a measure the place of Connecticut.

On June 29, 1660, a company of Newport men headed by William Vaughan purchased from Sosoa,' a Pequod captain among the Narragansetts, a tract called Misquamicutt, lying between the Pawcatuck River, Wickapaug Brook, and the sea, and extending northward some fifteen miles to a place known as Quequatuck. This purchase was brought, on August 27, 1661, to the attention of the General Court of Providence Plantations for confirmation, and about the middle of September a delegation of thirty-six of the Misquamicutt Company, including Benedict Arnold, Sr., Tobias Saunders, and Robert Burdett, entered upon their lands. On November 1, 1661, the Southertown constable, under instructions from Boston, arrested Saunders and Burdett and carried them before the Massachusetts Council. Upon the preliminary examination of the Rhode Island men, they confessed that some of their friends in Providence had been lying in wait for the Massachusetts constable as he passed with his captives on the way to Boston, for the purpose of effecting a

1On June 25, 1661, the wife of Miantonomi-Wawaloam by name — executed her "affirmation" that she had heard her husband and her uncle Canonicus "give and pass over Misquamicuck to a valorous captain named Socho," in reward for services rendered in connection with the conquest of the region by the Narragansetts. Roger Williams, in a letter to Governor Winthrop, written in 1637, alludes to Sosoa as Miantonomi's "special darling, and a kind of Generall of his forces."

rescue, and had only been frustrated in their design by a chance absence at dinner at the critical juncture.

Much angered at this, the Bay, on December 3, 1661, and again on March 8, 1662, addressed stern missives to Providence Plantations. The second communication was carried by Edward Hutchinson, William Hudson, and Amos Richardson (members of the Atherton Company, regarding which more anon), and was couched in terms of unblushing effrontery. It stated: "Besides what we formerly wrote we have a Charter and Pattent from the Lord of Warwick and divers other Lords and Commons (impowered thereto by Parliament) of all that tract of land from Pequot River to Plymouth Line with power of government there granted unto the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts, their heirs and successors forever; which grant is antecedent unto yours."

Here, redivivus, was the Narragansett Patent — an instrument utterly discredited, and which Massachusetts itself had treated as discredited, yet which that colony was now, to the cheapening of its honor, attempting to use as a scare-head against a small neighboring people. But the scare-head proved ineffectual, and on May 10th it was supplemented by a notification from the Bay to Providence Plantations to withdraw from Pawcatuck by the last of June, or be prepared to be forcibly ejected. In this form the controversy stood until September, 1662. By that time the charter negotiated for Connecticut by Winthrop had reached

America, and on September 12th the United Colonies so notified Providence Plantations.

The Connecticut charter forever disposed of the jurisdictional pretensions of Massachusetts to the country of the Pequods.' As for Providence Plantations, it had laid claim only to such part of the Pequod territory-if Pequod it might be called as lay between Pawcatuck River and Wickapaug Brook, and hence was practically unaffected by the charter in so far as that instrument related to Pequod territory strictly so-called.

But

in another way the charter affected Providence Plantations profoundly. It pushed the eastern boundary of Connecticut to Narragansett Bay and the Plymouth line, and hence so operated as

1 Massachusetts would only relinquish claim to the Pequod country on condition that its grants of lands be confirmed.-Trumbull Papers, Mass. Hist. Coll., 5th ser., vol. ix., p. 58. Among these grants was one of five hundred acres to Harvard College, made May 19, 1658.—Mass. Col. Rec., vol. iv., p. 344.

On June 21, 1670, Daniel Gookin presented on behalf of the treasurer of Harvard College a petition to the Connecticut commissioners at Wickford, complaining against Stephen Wilcocks and his partakers that unjustly possess five hundred acres of land lieing in the Pequot country on the east side Pawcutucke River within the bounds of Stonington." The tract in question was bounded on the south by the Sound, on the east by Wickapaug, on the north by common lands, and on the west by land laid out to Thomas Prentice. In May, 1674, the Connecticut General Court confirmed the grant which had been made to Harvard, and on April 30, 1675, the land was set apart.— Conn. Col. Rec., vol. ii., p. 547; Potter's Narragansett, p. 347.

2 The claim by Connecticut to these limits on the east was based upon what was known as the Warwick Patent. This was supposed to have been issued to the Earl of Warwick at some date between 1630 and 1633, but no such instrument, nor the record of any such, is known ever to have been in existence. It is true that, as shown by the minutes of the Council for New England, there was an order made in June, 1632, that a patent be draughted