QJartiell Hniuctaitji Hihtary 
 
 FROM 
 
 Henry Woodward Sackett, 75 
 A BEQUEST 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F7 .F54 1898 
 
 as of New England : 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 030 935 435 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030935435 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW 
 ENGLAND 
 
 OR THE PURITAN THEOCRACY IN 
 
 ITS RELATIONS TO CIVIL AND 
 
 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FISKE 
 
' w 
 
 JnA^u 
 
 'p 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 OR THE PURITAN THEOCRACY IN 
 
 ITS RELATIONS TO CIVIL AND 
 
 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 
 
 BY JOHN FISKE 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH 
 
 PORTRAITS, MAPS, FACSIMILES 
 
 CONTEMPORARY VIEWS, PRINTS, AND 
 
 OTHER HISTORIC 
 
 MATERIALS 
 
 The Lord Christ intends to achieve greater matters 
 by this little handful than the world is aware of. — 
 Edward Johnson, Wonder-Working Providence 
 of Zion^s Saviour in New England^ ibS4 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 atfte jRitJei-iibe II^kH, Cambciboe 
 
 MDCCCXCVTII 
 
A7f ^-^7^ 
 
 COPYRIGH'Jj l88g, BY JOHN KISKE 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 189S, EY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND CO. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
TO 
 MY DEAR CLASSMATES 
 
 BENJAMIN THOMPSON FROTHINGHAM 
 WILLIAM AUGUSTUS WHITE 
 
 AND 
 
 FREDERIC CROMWELL 
 
 / DEDICATE THIS BOOK 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In applying to the present work the same principle of 
 illustration that was. adopted in the case of " The American 
 Revolution," in admitting nothing for the mere sake of em- 
 bellishment, it must be pointed out that the conditions are 
 in some respects less favourable. Of the kind of illustra- 
 tions that possess real historical value, authentic portraits 
 are among the most important. Now the portraits of emi- 
 nent Americans of the latter half of the eighteenth century 
 are abundant. The works of Copley, Stuart, Trumbull, and 
 the elder Peale are legion, and they include most of the 
 leading men of their time. With the founders of New Eng- 
 land the case is different. Well-authenticated portraits of 
 many of them have been preserved ; but of some of- the 
 most eminent none are now known to be in existence, and 
 in some cases probably none were ever made. It is my rule 
 to select for full-page photogravures the portraits of the 
 most notable or most interesting personages who play- a part 
 in the narrative. The preeminence of such rnen, for exam- 
 ple, as Winthrop, Cotton, Davenport, and Vane is thus em- 
 phasized. How sad it is, then, to mi^s from the front rank 
 of our gallery such men as William Bradford and Roger Wil- 
 liams and Thomas Hooker ! The most painstaking research 
 has failed to discover any portraits of these worthies. ^ 
 
 1 A portrait purporting to be that of Roger Williams was engraved 
 in Benedict's History of the Baptists, 1847, and may have been fre- 
 quently reproduced, but it has been proved to be a mere fraud. See 
 Memorial History of Boston, i. 173. 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 Again, how delightful it would be to have before us the 
 features of stout-hearted John Wise, of the enthusiastic 
 Edward Johnson, of the pungent " Simple Cobler of Agga- 
 wam," of the much-tried Samuel Gorton, of the martyred 
 Mary Dyer, or the gentle rhymer, Anne Bradstreet ! As 
 for poor Anne Hutchinson, I have not found even her au- 
 tograph signature, though it is hard to believe that it is not 
 in existence. On the other hand, I have been so fortunate 
 as to get some portraits which I believe are now published 
 for the first time, — chief among them that of the regicide, 
 William Goffe. 
 
 Of caricatures and satirical prints there were plenty in the 
 seventeenth century, but such opportunities for research as 
 I have had in this direction have not elicited much that is of 
 interest in relation to the founders of New England. The 
 only thing that has seemed worth reproducing is the wicked 
 portrait of Rev. Hugh Peters (p. 127), with the windmill 
 buzzing in his head, while an imp is prompting him to words 
 of blasphemy. 
 
 On the other hand, the first two generations of New Eng- 
 land were characterized by a superabundance of literature, 
 such as it was, chiefly relating to questions of theology or of 
 ecclesiastical and civil polity. Nobody can understand the 
 seventeenth century without reading so many of these books 
 as to become thoroughly familiar with their turns of thought 
 and expression, and it has seemed to me that even their 
 quaint title-pages must be fraught with suggestiveness to the 
 general reader. I have therefore given photographic repro- 
 ductions of several such titles. 
 
 Quite a good clue to the social condition of a people is 
 furnished by their domestic architecture. Accordingly, 
 though the text of my narrative has little to do with that 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 subject, I have given several views of seventeenth century 
 dweUing-houses, of which all are still standing (except the 
 Bridgham house, p. 177, which was pulled down in 1873), 
 and all have been photographed. Of public buildings in 
 Boston long since vanished, the original King's Chapel of 
 1689 has left its likeness in an old print made while it was 
 still standing ; that of the original Town-House of 1658 has 
 been most ingeniously restored for us from sound contem- 
 porary data ; while of the original Old South Meeting-House 
 of 1669, in which it was voted not to surrender the charter, 
 apparently no sketch or simulacrum exists. Especially in- 
 teresting as a specimen of the very oldest public buildings, 
 erected in the wilderness, is the Salem church of 1633 
 (p. 125) ; the contrast between it and the lordly St. Botolph's 
 (p. 115) is an impressive index to the change of environ- 
 ment which the exodus from merry England immediately 
 entailed. 
 
 For aid and advice I have especially to thank Mr. Wil- 
 berforce Eames, of the Lenox Library in New York ; Mr. 
 William E. Foster, of the Public Library of Providence ; Dr. 
 Richard Garnett, of the British Museum ; and Mr. G. W. B. 
 Nicholson, of the Bodleian Library at Oxford. To many 
 ladies and gentlemen who have kindly assisted me I have 
 made specific acknowledgments in my annotated list of 
 illustrations. 
 
 The text of this edition has been carefully revised, and in 
 some places important additions or changes have been made. 
 
 Cambridge, October 21, 1898. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 This book contains the substance of the lectures origi- 
 nally given at the Washington University, St. Louis, in May, 
 1887, in the course of my annual visit to that institution as 
 University Professor ■ of American History. The lectures 
 were repeated in the following month of June at Portland, 
 Oregon, and since then either the whole course, or one or 
 more of the lectures, have been given in Boston, Newton, 
 Milton, Chelsea, New Bedford, Lowell, Worcester, Spring- 
 field, and Pittsfield, Mass. ; Farmington, Middletown, and 
 Stamford, Conn. ; New York, Brooklyn, and Tarrytown, 
 N. Y. ; Philadelphia and Ogontz, Pa. ; Wilmington, Del. ; 
 Chicago, 111. ; San^ Francisco and Oakland, Cal. 
 
 In this sketch of the circumstances which attended the 
 settlement of New England, I have purposely omitted many 
 details which in a formal history of that period would need 
 to be included. It has been my aim to give the outline 
 of such a narrative as to indicate the principles at work in 
 the history of New England down to the Revolution of 
 1689. When I was writing the lectures I had just been 
 reading, with much interest, the work of my former pupil, 
 Mr. Brooks Adams, entitled "The Emancipation of Massa- 
 chusetts." With the specific conclusions set forth in that 
 book I found myself often agreeing, but it seemed to me 
 that the general aspect of the case would be considerably 
 modified and perhaps somewhat more adequately presented 
 by enlarging the field of view. In forming historical judg- 
 
xii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 merits a great deal depends upon our perspective. Out of 
 the very imperfect human nature which is so slowly and 
 painfully casting off the original sin of its inheritance from 
 primeval savagery, it is scarcely possible in any age to get 
 a result which will look quite satisfactory to the men of a 
 riper and more enlightened age. Fortunately we can learn 
 something from the stumblings of our forefathers, and a 
 good many things seem quite clear to us to-day which two 
 centuries ago were only beginning to be dimly discerned by 
 a few of the keenest and boldest spirits. The faults of the 
 Puritan theocracy, which found its most complete develop- 
 ment in Massachusetts, are so glaring that it is idle to seek 
 to palhate them or to explain them away. But if we would 
 really understand what was going on in the Puritan world 
 of the seventeenth century, and how a better state of things 
 has grown out of it, wff must endeavour to distinguish and 
 define the elements of wholesome strength in that theo- 
 cracy no less than its elements of crudity and weakness. 
 
 The first chapter, on " The Roman Idea and the English 
 Idea," contains a somewhat more developed statement of 
 the points briefly indicated in the thirteenth section (pp. 
 85-95) of "The Destiny of Man." As all of the present 
 book, except the first chapter, was written here under the 
 shadow of the Washington University, I take pleasure in 
 dating it from this charming and hospitable city where I 
 have passed some of the most delightful hours of my life. 
 
 St. Louis, April 15, 1889. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 
 
 PAGE 
 
 When did the Roman Empire come to an end? . . . ■ i, 2 
 
 Meaning of Odovakar's work 2, 3 
 
 The Holy Roman Empire 3, 4 
 
 Gradual shifting of primacy from the men who spoke Latin, and 
 
 their descendants, to the men who speak English . . . 5-7 
 Political history is the history of nation-making . . . . 7, 8 
 The Oriental method of nation-making; conquest without in- 
 corporation 8 
 
 Illustrations from eastern despotisms 8 
 
 And from the Moors in Spain 9 
 
 The Roman method of nation-making ; conquest with incorpora- 
 tion, but without representation . . . . . .10,11 
 
 Its slow development . . .11 
 
 Vices in the Roman system 11, 12 
 
 Its fundamental defect 12 
 
 It knew nothing of political power delegated by the people to re- 
 presentatives 13 
 
 And therefore the expansion of its dominion ended in a centralized 
 
 despotism -13 
 
 Which entailed the danger that human life might come to stagnate 
 
 in Europe, as it had done in* Asia 14 
 
 The danger was warded off by the Germanic invasions, which, 
 however, threatened to undo the work which the Empire had 
 done in organizing European society . .... 14 
 
 But such disintegration was prevented by the sway which the Ro- 
 man church had come to exercise over the European mind . 1 5 
 
 The wonderful thirteenth century 16 
 
 The English method of nation-making ; incorporation with repre- 
 sentation 17- 
 
 Pacific tendencies of federalism 18- 
 
 Failure of Greek attempts at federation 19 
 
xiv CONTENTS ' 
 
 Fallacy of the notion that republics must be small . . • ip 
 
 " It is not the business of a government to support its people, but 
 
 of the people to support their government " .... 20 
 
 Teutonic March-meetings and representative assemblies . . 21 
 Peculiarity of the Teutonic conquest of Britain . . .21, 22 
 Survival and development of the Teutonic representative assembly 
 
 in England 23 
 
 Primitive Teutonic institutions less modified in England, than in 
 
 Germany 23, 24 
 
 Some effects of the Norman conquest of England . . . -25 
 The Barons' War and the first House of Commons ... 26 
 
 Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty 26 
 
 Conflict between Roman Idea and English Idea begins to become 
 
 clearly visible in the thirteenth century 27 
 
 Decline of mediaeval Empire and Church with the growth of mod- 
 ern nationalities 28 
 
 Overthrow of feudalism, and increasing power of the crown . 29 
 
 Formidable strength of the Roman Idea 30 
 
 Had it not been for the Puritans, political liberty would probably 
 
 have disappeared from the world 30 
 
 Beginnings of Protestantism in the thirteenth century . . 32 
 
 The Cathari, or Puritans of the Eastern Empire . . . -32 
 
 The Albigenses 33 
 
 Effects of persecution ; its feebleness in England . . . -34 
 
 Wyclif and the Lollards 3S 
 
 Political character of Henry VIII. 's revolt against Rome . 36,37 
 
 The yeoman Hugh Latimer 38 
 
 The moment of Cromwell's triumph was the most critical moment 
 
 in history 39 
 
 Contrast with France ; fate of the Huguenots .... 39-41 
 
 Victory of the English Idea 41,42 
 
 Significance of the Puritan Exodus 43 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 Influence of Puritanism upon modern Europe .... 44-46 
 
 Work of the Lollards 46 
 
 They made the Bible the first truly popular literature in Eng- 
 land . . . ' 48 
 
 The Enghsh version of the Bible 49 
 
 Secret of Henry VIII.'s swift success in his revolt against Rome . 50 
 
 Effects of the persecution under Mary . . . . . 51 
 
CONTENTS XV 
 
 Calvin's theology in its political bearings 52-547 
 
 Elizabeth's policy and its effects 54-^6^ 
 
 Puritan sea-rovefs 56 
 
 Geographical distribution of Puritanism in England; it was strong- 
 est in the eastern counties -57 
 
 Preponderance of East Anglia in the Puritan exodus . . 57 
 Familiar features of East Anglia to the visitor from New Eng- 
 land . . . - 58 
 
 Puritanism was not intentionally allied with liberalism . . 59, 60 — 
 
 Robert Browne and the Separatists 61 
 
 Persecution of the Separatists 61, 62 
 
 Recantation of Browne; it was reserved for William Brewster to 
 
 take the lead in the Puritan exodus . . . . . • 63 ' 
 James Stuart, and his encounter with Andrew Melville . . 64 
 What James intended to do when he became King of England . 65 
 His view of the political situation, as declared in the conference at 
 
 Hampton Court 65-67 
 
 The congregation of Separatists at Scrooby ... 67, 68 
 
 The flight to Holland, and settlement at Leyden in 1609 . . 68 
 
 Systematic legal -toleration in Holland 69 
 
 Why the Pilgrims did not stay there ; they wished to keep up their 
 
 distinct organisation and found a state . . . . .70 
 And to do this they must cross the ocean, because European terri- 
 tory was all preoccupied 70 
 
 The London and Plymouth companies ..... 71-73 • 
 First explorations of the New England coast: Bartholomew Gos- 
 
 nold (1602), and George Weymouth (1605) 73 
 
 The Popham colony (1607) 74 
 
 Captain John Smith gives to New England its name (1614) . . 74 
 The Pilgrims at Leyden decide to make a settlement near the Del- 
 aware river 78 
 
 How King James regarded the enterprise 80 
 
 Voyage of the Mayflower ; she goes astray and takes the Pilgrims 
 
 to Cape Cod bay 81 
 
 Founding of the Plymouth colony (1620) 82, 83 
 
 Why the Indians did not molest the settlers .... 84-88 
 The chief interest of this beginning of the Puritan exodus lies not 
 so much in what it achieved as in what it suggested . . 88-90 
 
xvi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges and the Council for New England . 91, 92 
 
 Wessagusset and Merrymount 95, 96 
 
 The Dorchester adventurers 96, 97 
 
 John White wishes to " raise a bulwark against the Kingdom of 
 
 Antichrist " 98 
 
 And John Endicott undertakes the work of building it . . .98 
 Conflicting grants sow seeds of trouble ; the Gorges and Mason 
 
 claims loi 
 
 Endicott's arrival in New England, and the founding of Salem . loi 
 The Company of Massachusetts Bay; Francis Higginson takes 
 
 a powerful reinforcement to Salem 102 
 
 The development of John White's enterprise into the Company of 
 Massachusetts Bay coincided with the first four years of the 
 
 , reign of Charles 1 103, 104 
 
 Extraordinary scene in the House of Commons (June 5, 1628) 104-106 
 The king turns Parliament out of doors (March 2, 1629) . . 107 
 
 Desperate nature of the crisis 107, 108 
 
 The meeting at Cambridge (Aug. 26, 1629), and decision to trans- 
 fer the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company, and the gov- 
 ernment established under it, to New England .... 108 
 Leaders of the great migration ; John Winthrop . . . 108 
 
 And Thomas Dudley . 109 
 
 Founding of Massachusetts ; the schemes of Gorges over- 
 whelmed .• ~ no 
 
 Beginnings of American constitutional history ; the question as to 
 self-government raised at Watertown . . . . . in 112 
 
 Representative system estabhshed U2 
 
 Bicameral assembly ; story of the stray pig .... 112-114 
 Ecclesiastical polity; the triumph of Separatism . . 115,116 
 Restriction of the suffrage to members of the Puritan congrega- 
 tional churches 116 117 
 
 Founding of Harvard Collfege 1 18-120 
 
 Threefold danger to the New England settlers in 1636: — 
 
 1. From the king, who prepares to attack the charter, but is 
 
 foiled by dissensions at home 120-122 
 
 2. From religious dissensions ; Roger Williams . 122-126 
 
 Henry Vane and Anne Hutchinson .... 126-128 
 Beginnings of New Hampshire and Rhode Island . . 129 
 
 3. From the Indians ; the Pequot supremacy . . . 130,131 
 First movements into the Connecticut valley, and disputes with the 
 
 Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam 132 
 
CONTENTS xvii 
 
 Restriction of the suffrage leads to disaffection in Massachusetts ; 
 
 profoundly interesting opinions of Winthrop and Hoolcer 133, 134 
 
 Connecticut pioneers and their hardships 135 
 
 Thomas Hooker, and the founding of Connecticut . . 135, 136 
 
 William Pyhchon at Springfield 136 
 
 The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (Jan. 14, 1639); the first 
 
 written constitution that created a government . . . .136 
 Relations of Connecticut to the genesis of the Federal Union 137-140 
 Origin of the Pequot War ; Sassacus tries to unite the Indian tribes 
 
 in a crusade against the English 140, 141 
 
 The schemes of Sassacus are foiled by Roger Williams . . 142 
 
 The Pequots take the war-path alone .... 142, 143 
 
 And are exterminated 144 
 
 John Davenport, and the founding of New Haven . . 145, 146 
 New Haven legislation, and legend of the " Blue Laws " . . 148 
 With the meeting of the Long Parliament, in 1640, the Puritan 
 
 exodus comes to its end 148 
 
 What might have been 149-152 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 
 
 The Puritan exodus was purely and exclusively English . • 1 53 
 And the settlers were all thrifty and prosperous ; chiefly country 
 
 squires and yeomanry of the best and sturdiest type . . 154,155 
 In all history there has been no other instance of colonization so 
 
 exclusively effected by picked and chosen men . . . . 1 56 
 What, then, was the principle of selection? The migration was 
 not intended to promote what we call rehgious liberty . 159, 160 
 
 Theocratic ideal of the Puritans 160 
 
 The impulse which sought to realize itself in the Puritan ideal was 
 
 an ethical impulse 161, 162 
 
 In interpreting Scriptures, the Puritan appealed to his reason 162-164 
 Value of such perpetual theological discussion as was carried on 
 
 in early New England 164-166 
 
 Comparison with the history of Scotland 166 
 
 Bearing of these considerations upon the history of the New Eng- 
 land confederacy 167 
 
 The existence of so many colonies (Plymouth, Massachusetts, Con- 
 necticut, New Haven, Rhode Island, the Piscataqua towns, etc.) 
 was due to differences of opinion on questions in which men's 
 
 religious ideas were involved 167, 168 
 
 And this multiplication of colonies led to a notable and significant 
 attempt at confederation 168, 169 
 
xviii CONTENTS 
 
 Turbulence of dissent in Rhode Island 170 
 
 The Earl of Warwick and his Board of Commissioners . . 171 
 
 Constitution of the Confederacy 171 
 
 It was only a league, not a federal union I73 
 
 Its formation involved a tacit assumption of sovereignty . 173,174 
 The fall of Charles I. brought up, for a moment, the question as 
 to the supremacy of Parhament over the colonies . . 174,175 
 
 Some interesting questions 176 
 
 Genesis of the persecuting spirit 176 
 
 Samuel Gorton and his opinions I77-I79 
 
 He flees to Aquedneck and is banished thence .... 180 
 
 Providence protests against him 181 
 
 He flees to Shawomet, where he buys land of the Indians . 182 
 
 iVTiantonomo and Uncas 183, 184 
 
 Death of Miantonomo 185 
 
 Edward Johnson leads an expedition against Shawomet . . 186 
 
 Trial and sentence of the heretics 186 
 
 Winthrop declares himself in a prophetic opinion . . . 187 
 
 The Presbyterian cabal 1 88-191 
 
 The Cambridge Platform 192 
 
 Dr. John Clarke . .' 194 
 
 The edict against Baptists 195 
 
 Rev. Obadiah Holmes 19S, 196 
 
 Arrest of the Baptists at Swampscott 197 
 
 Trial of the Baptists, and unseemly demeanour of Rev. John Wilson 198 
 
 Dr. Clarke's unavailing challenge 199 
 
 Brutal treatment of Holmes 199 
 
 Rebukes from Roger Williams and Sir Richard Saltonstall . 200 
 
 Deaths of Winthrop and Cotton ; their views as to toleration in 
 
 matters of religion . . . ' 202 
 
 After their death, the leadership in Massachusetts was in the hands 
 
 of Endicott and Norton . . 202 
 
 The Quakers ; their opinions and behaviour . . . 205, 206 
 
 Violent manifestations of dissent 207 
 
 Anne Austin and Mary Fisher; how they were received in Boston 208 
 The confederated colonies seek to expel the Quakers; noble atti- 
 tude of Rhode Island 211 
 
 Roger Wilhams appeals to his friend, Oliver Cromwell . . 212 
 
 The " heavenly speech " of Sir Harry Vane 212 
 
 Laws passed against the Quakers 213 
 
 How the death penalty was regarded at that time in New England 213 
 Executions of Quakers on Boston Common . . . . 214, 215 
 Wenlock Christison's defiance and victory . . . 215,216 
 His alleged " recantation " 217 
 
CONTENTS xix 
 
 The " King's Missive " 218 
 
 Why Charles II. interfered to protect the Qual<ers . . .219 
 His hostile feeling toward the New England governments . . 219 
 
 The regicide judges, Goffe and Whalley 221,222 
 
 New Haven annexed to Connecticut 223, 224 
 
 Abraham Pierson, and the founding of Newark .... 225 
 
 Breaking-down of the theocratic policy 225 
 
 Weakening of the Confederacy 226 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 KING PHILIP'S WAR 
 
 Relations between the Puritan settlers and the Indians . . . 227 
 
 Trade with the Indians 228 
 
 Missionary work ; Thomas Mayhew 228 
 
 John Eliot and his translation of the Bible 229 
 
 His preaching to the Indians 230 
 
 -His villages of Christian Indians 233 
 
 The Puritan's intention was to deal gently and honourably with the 
 
 red men 234 
 
 Why Pennsylvania was so long unmolested by the Indians 234, 235 
 
 Difficulty of the situation in New England 236 
 
 It is hard for the savage and the civilized man to understand one 
 
 another 236 
 
 How Eliot's designs must inevitably have been misinterpreted by 
 
 the Indians 237 
 
 It is remarkable that peace should have been so long preserved 238 
 
 Deaths of Massasoit and his son Alexander 240 
 
 Very little is known about the nature of Philip's designs . . 240 
 
 The meeting at Taunton j .241 
 
 Sausamon informs against Philip 242 
 
 And is murdered 242 
 
 Massacres at Swanzey and Dartmouth 242 
 
 Murder of Captain Hutchinson 243 
 
 Attack on Brookfield, which is relieved by Simon Willard 243, 244 
 
 Fighting in the Connecticut valley;' the mysterious strangpr at 
 
 Hadley . . 244, 245 
 
 Ambuscade at Bloody Brook 246, 247 
 
 Popular excitement in Boston 248 
 
 The Narragansetts prepare to take the war-path . . . 248, 249 
 And Governor Winslow leads an army against them . . 250 
 
 Storming of the great swamp fortress 252 
 
 Slaughter of the Indians 253 
 
XX CONTENTS 
 
 Effect of the blow 254 
 
 Growth of the humane sentiment in recent times, due to the fact 
 that the horrors of war are seldom brought home to everybody's 
 
 door 255, 256 
 
 Warfare with savages is likely to be truculent in character . . 256 
 
 Attack upon Lancaster 257 
 
 Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative 258-261 
 
 Virtual extermination of the Indians (February to August, 1676) . 262 
 
 Death of Canonchet 263 
 
 Philip pursued by Captain Church ... ... 263 
 
 Death of Philip ' 264 
 
 Indians sold into slavery 265 
 
 Conduct of the Christian Indians 266 
 
 War with the Tarratines 268 
 
 Frightful destruction of life and property 268 
 
 Henceforth the red man figures no more in the history of New Eng- 
 land, except in frontier raids under French guidance . . . 269 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 Romantic features in the early history of New England . . . 270 
 Captain Edward Johnson, of Woburn, and his book on " The Won- 
 der-working Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England " 271, 272 
 Acts of the Puritans often judged by an unreal and impossible 
 
 standard 273 
 
 Spirit of the " Wonder-working Providence " . . . . 273 
 
 Merits and faults of the Puritan theocracy 274 
 
 Restriction of the suffrage to church members .... 275 
 
 It was a source of political discontent 276 
 
 Inquisitorial administration of justice 277 
 
 The " Halfway Covenant " 278 
 
 Founding of the Old South Church 279 
 
 JJnfriendly relations between Charles II. and Massachusetts 280, 281 
 
 Complaints against Massachusetts 281 
 
 The Lords of Trade 282 
 
 Arrival of Edward Randolph in Boston 284 
 
 Joseph Dudley and the beginnings of Toryism in New England 285, 286 
 Charles II. erects the four Piscataqua towns into the royal province 
 
 of New Hampshire 287 
 
 And quarrels with Massachusetts over the settlement of the Gorges 
 
 claim to the Maine district 288 
 
 Simon Bradstreet and his verse-making wife .... 288-290 
 
CONTENTS xxi 
 
 Massachusetts answers the king's peremptory message . . 290 
 Secret treaty between Charles II. and Louis XIV. . . . 292 
 
 Shameful proceedings in England 293 
 
 Massachusetts refuses to surrender her charter ; and accordingly it 
 is annulled by decree of chancery, June 21, 1684 . . . 294, 295 
 
 Effect of annulling the charter 296 
 
 Death of Charles II., accession of James II., and appointment of 
 Sir Edmund Andros as viceroy over New England with de- 
 spotic powers 297, 298 
 
 The charter oak 299 
 
 Episcopal services in Boston 299, 300 
 
 Founding of the King's Chapel 301 
 
 The tyranny 301 
 
 John Wise of Ipswich 302 
 
 Fall of James II.. . . . . . . . . . 303 
 
 Insurrection in Boston, and overthrow of Andros . . . 304 
 
 Effects of the Revolution of 1689 306 
 
 Need for union among all the northern colonies .... 307 
 Plymouth, Maine, and Acadia annexed to Massachusetts . . 308 
 
 Which becomes a royal province 309 
 
 And is thus brought into political sympathy with Virginia . . 309 
 The seeds of the American Revolution were already sown, and the 
 spirit of 1776 was foreshadowed in 1689 .... 310,311 
 
 Bibliographical Note 312 
 
 Index 319 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 John Winthrop {Photogravure) Frontispiece 
 
 From the original portrait by Van Dyck, in the Massachusetts State 
 House. Autograph from the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Page 
 New England in the Seventeenth Century {coloured map) 
 
 facing I 
 In making this map I have sought to indicate by colours the divisions 
 between the old colonies on the coast-line. To carry the colour-distinc- 
 tion into the interior would be hardly practicable because there was too much 
 uncertainty and fluctuation in the boundaries. The islands of Martha's Vine- 
 yard and Nantucket are left uncoloured, to remind us that they were part of 
 the proprietary domain of James Stuart, Duke of York, afterward King 
 James II., who sold them to Massachusetts in 1686. The name " Duke's," 
 for the county of Martha's Vineyard, is a memento of this old proprietor- 
 ship. 
 
 ColN OF Romulus Augustulus i 
 
 From Cohen, Monnaies de V Empire Romain, tom. vi. 
 
 Count Rumford ; 5 
 
 After the copy in oils by W. Page from Kellerhoven ; restored in 1895 by 
 H. R. Burdick, and now in the Fapulty Room, University Hall, Harvard 
 University. Autograph from a MS. in the Boston Athenieum. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell {photogravure) facing 8 
 
 From a miniature by Samuel Cooper, now owned by the Duke of Buc- 
 cleuch. Autograph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain, 
 
 Alfred the Great 15 
 
 From Annates rerum gestarum Alfrcdi Magni, by Asserius Menevensis, 
 edited by Francis Wise, Oxford, 1722. Under the engraving there given we 
 read, " .Alfredus Magnus, ex antiquissima tabella in oedibus magistri coll. 
 Univ. Oxon. Vertue Sculp." 
 
 Edward 1 17 
 
 From CUfford's Life and Reign of Edward the First, London, 1872, after 
 the engraving by George Vertue from the statue at Carnarvon Castle. 
 
 Seal of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester . ... 25 
 
 From English History by Contemporary Writers, " Simon de Montfort 
 and his Cause." 
 
 .Philip II. of Spain .... 31 
 
 From an old print ("Jeronimils sc") in the Gardiner Greene Hubbard 
 
xxiv NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 collection in the Library of Congress. Autograph from the Dreer Collection 
 in the rooms of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. 
 
 John Wyclif 3S 
 
 From South Kensington National Portraits, vol. vi., where the original 
 source. is not given. 
 Henry VIII 37 
 
 After an engraving by Houbraken (from an original painting by Holbein), 
 in the Gardiner Greene Hubbard collection in the Library of Congress. Au- 
 tograph from his Coronation Oath, 1858, in the Autographic Mirror, Bos- 
 ton Athenaeum. 
 Hugh Latimeb. {photogravure) facing 38 
 
 From the portrait in the National i Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, 
 painted in 1555 by some artist unknown. 
 
 Henry IV. of France ... 40 
 
 From an etching by E. Boilvin, in Dussieu, Lcttres intimes de Henri IV. 
 Autograph from Winsor's America. 
 
 John Milton . .42 
 
 After an original portrait drawn and engraved by William Faithorne in 
 1670. Autograph from Mitford's edition of the Poetical Works. 
 
 John Hampden 44 
 
 After an engraving by Houbraken (from a painting by an artist whose 
 name is not given), in the Gardiner Greene Hubbard collection in the Library 
 of Congress. Autograph from Nugenfs Memorials of Hampden, London, 
 1865. 
 
 John Pym . 45 
 
 From an engraving by Houbraken, in Birch's Heads of Illustrious Persons 
 of Great Britain. Autograph from Thane's British Autography. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of King James's Bible 47 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. 
 
 John Calvin {•photogravure) .... .... facing 50 
 
 From an engraving by Woolnoth, said to have been made from an ori- 
 ginal painting by Holbein. Autograph from a MS. in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth . • S3 
 
 From Holl's engraving of an original portrait in Queen Victoria's coUec-' 
 tion in St. James's Palace. Autograph from Winsor's America. 
 
 Sir Francis Drake t,^ 
 
 From an old print in the Gardiner Greene Hubbard collection in the Li- 
 brary of Congress. Autograph from Thane's British Autography. 
 
 Map showing the Positions of Scrooby and Austerfield 59 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Richard Hooker 60 
 
 From Prince's Worthies of Devon, London, iSio. 
 
 Autograph of Robert Browne 61 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxv 
 
 William Cecil, Lord Burghley 62 
 
 From Freeman's engraving of the original portrait by Marc Gheeraerts, 
 in the possession of the Marquis of Exeter. Autograph from the MS. col- 
 lection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. 
 
 Autograph of William Brewster 63 
 
 From the Record Office at Plymouth. 
 
 AUSTERFIELD ChURCH 64 
 
 After a photograph owned by the late Dr. Charles Deane. 
 
 James 1 66 
 
 After Thomas Woolnoth's engraving of the original portrait by Paul 
 Vansomer. Autograph from Winsor's America. 
 
 The Manor House at Scrooby, William Brewster's Resi- 
 dence 67 
 
 From a photograph (kindly lent by James T. Sands, Esq. of St. Louis, 
 Missouri) of a drawing by A. M. Raine. Tlie manor-house, originally built 
 as a hunting-seat for the archbishops of Yorlc, was in Brewster's time faUing 
 into decay. 
 
 Autograph of John Robinson 68 
 
 From Dexter's Congregationalism as seen in its Literature^ New York, 
 18S0, copied from a book in the British Museum, " believed by the experts 
 of that institution to have belonged to " Robinson. This belief is confirmed 
 by the fact that the same name, unquestionably by the same hand, is written 
 upon the title-page of a copy of Sir Edwin Sandys's Relation of the State of 
 Religion, London, 1605, belonging to the late Dr. Charles Deane, of Cam- 
 bridge, Mass. There are strong reasons for believing that this volume once 
 belonged to the John Robinson of the Puritan exodus. See Winsor's 
 A»terica, iii. 259. 
 
 Facsimile of the First Page of Bradford's Manuscript 
 History . t 68, 69 
 
 This precious manuscript. The History of the Plimoth Plantation, has 
 had a most romantic career. On the death of Governor Bradford, in 1657, 
 the MS. passed to his son. Major William Bradford (see below, p. 252), and 
 on his death, in 1704, it descended to his son. Major John Bradford, of 
 Kingston, from whom it passed into the hands of the learned antiquary, 
 Rev. Thomas Prince, of Boston, pastor of the Old South. Mr. Prince used 
 a room in the tower of the Old South Meeting- House for his valuable li- 
 brary, which he bequeathed to the church in 1758. After the British troops 
 evacuated Boston in March, 1776, the Bradford MS. was missing from the 
 old church tower, and it was many years before any clue to its whereabouts 
 was found. 
 
 Happily the means for identifying it, if it should ever turn up, were abun- 
 dant and conclusive. Extracts from it had been cited by Cotton Mather, in 
 his Magnalia (1702), by Thomas Prince, in his Annals (1736), and by 
 Thomas Hutchinson, in the second volume of his History of Massachusetts 
 Bay (1767). Moreover Bradford's nephew, Nathaniel Morton, had pub- 
 lished, in 1669, his New England's Memorial (see below, p. 232), large 
 portions of which were confessedly taken from the Bradford MS. 
 
 Now in 1844 Dr. Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford (familiarly known 
 
xxvi NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 to his contemporaries as " Soapy Sam "), published a History of the Protest- 
 ant Episcopal Church in America, in which he quoted sundry passages 
 from a " MS. History of the Plantation of Plymouth," in the library of the 
 Bishop of London's Palace at Fulham. Eleven years afterward, in 1855, 
 while Rev. John Barry was writing the first volume of his History of Mas- 
 sachusetts, his attention was called by Mr. John Wingate Thornton, of Bos- 
 ton, to the Bishop of Oxford's book. This led to the investigation of the 
 matter by Dr. Charles Deane, who soon discovered that the mysterious 
 treasure in the palace at Fulham was tlie long lost MS. of Governor Brad- 
 ford, and that it was completely preserved. An accurate copy was sent over 
 from London and edited by Dr. Deane, who published it in 1856. Forty 
 years later, in 1896, a facsimile of the entire MS. was published in London 
 under the editorship of Mr. John Doyle, and a limited edition of this superb 
 quarto volume was put on sale in Boston by Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin 
 & Co. 
 
 How the original document found its way from the steeple of the Old 
 South Meeting-House into the library of Fulham Palace will perhaps never 
 be known. There it remained until soon after the publication of the com- 
 plete facsimile, when, as the result of conferences between Dr. Mandell 
 Creighton, Bishop of London, himself eminent as a historian, and the late 
 Thomas Francis Bayard, ambassador from the United States, it was decided 
 that this noble document ought to be restored to Massachusetts. This was 
 very courteously done by the British government in 1897, and so the manu- 
 script which is not only the corner-stone of New England history but the 
 one masterpiece of literature produced on American soil before the eigh- 
 teenth century, now reposes in the State House op Beacon Hill. 
 
 Plan of Leyden ... 69 
 
 From Bartlett's Pilgrim Fathers. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of Brereton's Briefe and True 
 Relation 71 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. This book, pub- 
 lished in 1602, gives an account of the voyage of Bartholomew Gosnold, and 
 is the earliest book in English relating to New England. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of Rosier's True Relation ... 72 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. This book, pub- 
 lished in 1605, gives an account of the voyage of George Weymouth, and is 
 the second book in English relating to New England. 
 
 Sir John Popham 75 
 
 From National Historical Portraits, where no information is given as to 
 the source. Autograph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. 
 
 Captain John Smith 77 
 
 After the engraved portrait by Simon Van Passe, in the upper left-hand 
 corner of Smith's Map of New England, published in 161&, when the gal- 
 lant captain was in his thirty-eighth year. The autograph is from a MS. 
 letter of Smith's to Lord Bacon (1618), preserved in the Public Record Office, 
 in London. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of Smith's Description of New 
 England 7c) 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. It is in this book 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxvii 
 
 that the name " New England " first occurs, being substituted by Captain 
 Smith for " North Virginia." 
 
 Sir Edwin Sandys . . 8t 
 
 From the frontispiece to Alexander Brown's The First Republic in 
 America, Boston, 189S, after an original portrait by G. Powle. Autograph 
 from Alexander Brown's Genesis of the United States, Boston, 1890. 
 
 Smith's Map of New England, 1616 82, 83 
 
 From the reduced heliotype in Winsor's America, iii. 198. For the inter- 
 esting variations in ten different impressions of this map, see Memorial His- 
 tory of Boston, i. 52 ; Arber's edition of Smith's Works, p. cxxxiv. 
 
 A Ship of the Seventeenth Century 83 , 
 
 Facsimile of a cut in Dudley's Arcano del Mare, 1647. 
 
 Map of Plymouth Harbour 84 
 
 Reduced from the map in Dexter's edition of Mourt's Relation. 
 
 Autographs of Mayflower Pilgrims 85 
 
 That of John Alden is from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamber- 
 lain. The others are from Winsor's America. 
 
 EdwarI) Winslow ..... 87 
 
 From a photograph of the original portrait (artist's name unknown), now 
 in the gallery of the Pilgrim Society at Plymouth. It was painted while 
 Winslow was in England in 1651 (see below, p. 191), and is the only well- 
 authenticated portrait of any of the Mjtyflower Pilgrims; for some doubt 
 rests upon that of Miles Standish, given below, on page 97. The autograph 
 is from Winsor's America. 
 
 Pilgrim Relics 89 
 
 Governor Bradford's chair is from a photograph of the chair, now owned by 
 William Hedge, Esq., of Plymouth. The rest are from Winsor's America. 
 
 Departure of the Pilgrims from Delfthaven {photogra- 
 vure) facing 90 
 
 From an old Dutch painting in the possession of George Henry Boughton, 
 ' by permission of S. P. Avery, Jr., of New York. 
 
 The title " Departure of the Pilgrims from Delfthaven " is upon the back 
 of the worm-eaten frame. In a recent letter Mr. Boughton writes : " Excel- 
 lent as the photograph is, it gives but a slight notion of the charming colour 
 and marvellous detail of the original. ... I have learned nothing regarding 
 the artist, or rather artists, as I am certain that the figures are not by the 
 painter of the ships. But from studying the works of the painters of the time 
 who could have accomplished such a work, I am almost certain that the Cuyps, 
 father and son, did it between them." Mr. Boughton had an article in 
 Harper's Weekly, March 9, 1895, regarding this picture. 
 
 Autograph of Sir Ferdinando Gorges 91 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Thomas Morton's New Eng- 
 
 „ ^ -r. LiSH Canaan .... . qx 
 
 Facsimile Title-Pages of ^ , ^, ^-^ 
 
 ^ Francis Higginson s New 
 
 England's Plantation . . 94 
 
 Photographed from originals in the Lenox Library. 
 
xxviii NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Autograph of Thomas Morton . . .... 95 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Autograph- OF William Blackstone 96 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Miles Standish . . 97 
 
 From a portrait, not sufficiently autlienticated, now in the possession of 
 Mrs. A. M. Harrison, of Plymouth. It may be a genuine likeness, and until 
 positively disproved it cannot fail to have a certain kind of interest. I have 
 therefore concluded to give it, along with this word of caution. Such a course 
 is, at least, far more defensible than that of the government of Harvard Uni- 
 versity (whose motto is Veritas !) when it sets up in front of its Memorial 
 Hall a statue of John Harvard which is purely a figment of the artist's imagi- 
 nation. 
 
 The autograph is from Winsor's America. It will be noticed that the fore- 
 name is written Myles. So we have Edwyn Sandys, William Blaxton, Lion 
 Gardiner, John Endecott., etc. The rule that one should follow the usage of 
 the owner of the name cannot be consistently applied to the seventeenth 
 century, when nobody cared a straw for spelling, and a man would often write 
 his own name in three or four different ways in the same document. It is 
 best, in these cases, to follow the familiar conventional spelling. 
 
 Facsimile of a Letter from Standish to Bradford 99 
 
 Photographed from the MS. in the Lenox Library. 
 Facsimile Title-Page of Mourt's Relation or Iournall 100 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library.' This book is 
 usually so called because the name " G. Mourt" (probably a pseudonym for 
 George Morton) is subscribed to the preface ; but the book seems to have been 
 written by Bradford and Winslow. It is a kind of diary, extending from 
 September, 1620, to December, 1621, and was continued in Winslow's Good 
 News from. New England. 
 
 Charles I ... 103 
 
 After a print, from the painting by Van Dyck, in the Gardiner Greene Hub- 
 bard collection in the Library of Congress. Autograph from the MS. col- 
 lection of Hoti. Mellen Chamberlain. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of Winslow's Good News from 
 New England ... . . 105 
 
 This book continues the journal of events at Plymouth from November, 
 1621, to September, 1623. 
 
 Facsimile of the Massachusetts Charter of 1629 . 106, 107 
 
 Photographed from the original document in the Massachusetts State 
 House, by the kind permission of Hon. W. M. Olin. Secretary of State. 
 
 Arrival of Winthrop's Colony in Boston Harbour {pho- 
 togravure) facing 108 
 
 From a painting by W. F. Halsall, 1880, by kind permission of the owner, 
 Walter Bailey Ellis, Esq., of Boston. The little fleet is just coming to 
 anchor, with the flagship in the foreground, a ship of 350 tons and carrying 
 23 gUns, named the Arbella, after one of her passengers, the Lady Arbella 
 Johnson, daughter of the Earl of Lincoln and wife of Isaac Johnson, a member 
 of the Company. The other ship with sails spread is the Jewel, and behind 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxix 
 
 her stern appears Castle Island. The ship with sails furled is the Talbot. All 
 are accurate studies of the vessels of the time. 
 
 Autograph of Thomas Dudley 109 
 
 From the Manorial History of Boston. 
 
 Statue of John Winthrop, Scollay Square, Boston . .in 
 
 From a photograph. The statue is the work of Richard Saltonstall Green- 
 ough, and was unveiled in 1S73. 
 
 Facsimile of the Order naming Boston, Sept. 17 (N. S.), 
 1630 . . . . 113 
 
 From the Colony Records. " It is ordered that Trimountaine shall be called 
 Boston, Mattapan Dorchester, and the towne upon Charles ryver Waterton." 
 Boston in Lincolnshire was the home of Rev. John Cotton, and of Lady Ar- 
 bella Johnson. 
 
 Autograph of Robert Keayne 114 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 St. Botolph's Church, Boston, England 115 
 
 From a photograph. 
 
 John Cotton's Vicarage, Boston, England 117 
 
 After an engraving in Whitefield's Homes of our Forefathers, Boston, 18S9. 
 
 View of Harvard College, from the West, in 1726. . .118 
 
 From the oldest known print of Harvard College, engraved in 1726, and 
 now in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 
 
 View from the Same Point in 1898 119 
 
 From a photograph. 
 
 John Cotton {photogravure) facing 120 
 
 From a painting owned by his descendant, Miss Adfele G. Thayer, of Brook- 
 line, by her kind permission. Autograph from the Memorial History of 
 Boston. 
 
 Seal of the Council for New England .... . . 121 
 
 From the title-page of Captain John Smith's Generall Historie of Vir- 
 ginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, London, 1624. Dr. Winsor, 
 who reproduces it in his America, iii. 342, suggests the possible alternative 
 that it may be the seal of the Council for the Northern Colony of Virginia, 
 i. e. the Council under whose direction the abortive Popham settlement was 
 made. 
 
 The Tramount, or Summit of Beacon Hill, 1636 . . . .122 
 
 From Caleb Snow's History of Boston, 1828. This triple hill, which gave 
 to Boston the soubriquet " Tremont," was once a very conspicuous feature in 
 the landscape. During the last hundred years the 'peaks have all vanished 
 and the whole rugged hill has been trimmed down into a gentle slope. On 
 the central peak, which was perhaps twice as high as the present site of the 
 State House, stood a tall mast with a tar barrel at the top, the flame of which 
 could be seen for many miles. This beacon was blown down in a gale in 1789, 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of Roger Williams's Treatise on 
 THE Algonquin Language 123 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. 
 
XXX NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Roger Williams's Church in Salem, 1633 125 
 
 From a photograph. This building is still standing, just back of the 
 Essex Institute. 
 
 Autograph of Roger Williams 126 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Caricature of Hugh Peters 127 
 
 From the excessively rare book, Tales and Jests of Mr. Hugh Peters, 
 published by one that hath formerly been conversant with the Author in his 
 Lifetime. Printed for S. D., London, 1660. 
 
 Autograph of John Wheelwright 127 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Facsimile of the Order creating the Board of Select- 
 men OF Charlestown 128, 129 
 
 From the heliotype — in Memorial History of Boston, i. 388 — of what re- 
 mains of the original document in the Charlestown Records, 
 
 Autograph of William Coddington 129 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Old View of Boston Neck, with Blue Hill in the Dis- 
 tance .... 130 
 
 From an engraving of a sketch made in 1764 by Captain Richard Byron, 
 of the British army. The drawing was presented to the Bostonian Society 
 by the Earl of Carlisle, through Hon. Edward Lillie Pierce. 
 
 A Dutch Map of the Connecticut River 132 
 
 After the facsimile of a famous Dutch map of 1666 given in the Lenox 
 edition of H. C. Murphy's translation of Vertoo^h van Nieu Nederland. 
 
 John Winthrop, the Younger 133 
 
 From a painting (artist not known) in the possession of Robert Charles 
 Winthrop, Esq., Boston. Autograph from Winsor's America. 
 
 Autograph of Thomas Hooker 134 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Statue of Sir Henry Vane, in the Boston Public Li- 
 brary {photogravure) facing 134 
 
 From a photograph. This noble work, by Frederick Macmonnies, stands 
 at the left of the main entrance to the building. It is of colossal size. On 
 a small tablet before the feet, and just above the large tablet on the pedestal, 
 is the inscription : — 
 
 " But it pleased God to stir them up such friends, viz.. Sir Henry Vane, 
 who had sometime lived at Boston and though he might have taken occasion 
 against us for some dishonor which he apprehended to have been unjustly 
 put upon him here, yet both now and at other times he showed himself a true 
 friend of New England, and a man of. a noble and generous mind." — Win- 
 throp. 
 
 The large tablet bears the following inscription : — 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxxi 
 
 SIR HENRY VANE 
 
 GOVERNOR OF THE 
 
 COLONY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY 1636 
 
 BORN 1612 BEHEADED 1662 
 
 AN ARDENT DEFENDER OF CIVIL LIBERTY AND 
 
 ADVOCATE OF FREE THOUGHT IN RELIGION 
 
 HE MAINTAINED THAT GOD, LAW AND PARLIAMENT 
 
 ARE SUPERIOR TO THE KING. 
 
 THIS STATUE WAS PLACED HERE AT THE REQUEST OF 
 
 JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE, D. D., AN HONORED CITIZEN 
 
 OF BOSTON WHO NOBLY LABORED FOR THE ABOLITION 
 
 OF SLAVERY IN AMERICA. 
 
 William Pynchon . 137 
 
 From the frontispiece to Morris's Early History of Springfield, 1876, after 
 a portrait in tlie possession of Dr. Josepli Pynchon, of that city. Auto- 
 graph from the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Wood's Map of New England, 1634 138, 139 
 
 Photographed from the original in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Autograph of Lyon Gardiner 141 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Seal of Harvard College .... 141 
 
 If you wish to see the source of this woodcut here in our Cambridge, 
 dear reader, circumspice ! 
 
 Autograph of John Mason 142 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Autograph of John Underbill 143 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Plan of the Pequot Fort i44> i45 
 
 The original is a drawing by Captain Underbill himself, engraved in his 
 Newes from America, London, 1637. The present illustration is photo- 
 graphed from the copy of this boolc in the Lenox Library. 
 
 The Old Stone House at Guilford 146 
 
 From S. A. Drake's Our Colonial Homes. The house was built in 1639, 
 for Rev. Henry Whitfield, one of the founders of Guilford. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of New Haven's Settling . . 147 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. 
 
 A Chronological Table .... I5°^ li' 
 
 Two pages from the 1649 Almanac, printed at Samuel Green's press in 
 Cambridge. Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Autograph of William Stoughton iS5 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 House in Plymouth, England, where the Mayflower Pil- 
 grims were entertained before sailing for America i 56 
 
 From a recent photograph taken by H. F. W. Lyouns, Esq., of Boston, 
 who was born in old Plymouth. 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Facsimile Title-Pages of-' 
 
 'John Fiske's Watering of the 
 
 Olive- Plant 157 
 
 John Cotton's Spiritual Milk 
 FOR Boston Babes 158 
 
 Photographed from originals in the Lenox Library. This John Fiske, 
 M. A., Emmanuel College, Cambridge, was the first of my family who came 
 to America (1637). He usually spelled his name with the final e, and its 
 occurrence in a truncated form upon his title-page is a good illustration of 
 what was said above, on p. xxviii, in the remarks on Standish. 
 The Cradock House in Medford, cir. 1634 161 
 
 From a photograph. See Jones, Under Colonial Roofs, p. no. 
 
 The Minot House in Dorchester, cir. 1633-40 . ... 163 
 
 From a photograph. See Memorial History of Boston, 1. 423. 
 
 The Old Meeting-House in Hingham, 1681 165 
 
 . From a photograph. This is probably the oldest meeting-house in New 
 England that is still in use. See Commemorative Services of the First 
 Parish, Hingham, 1882. 
 
 The Fairbanks House in Dedham, cir. 1636 . . . 169 
 
 From a photograph. See Jones, Under Colonial Roofs, p. 184. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of the Bay Psalm Book . . . .171 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. 
 
 The Spencer-Pierce House in Newbury, cir. 1650 . . 175 
 
 From a photograph. See Jones, Under Colonial Roofs, p. 73. 
 
 The Bridgham House in Dorchester, cir. 1636 .... 177 
 
 From a photograph. See Memorial History of Boston, i. 435. 
 
 Autograph of Samuel Gorton . ... 181 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Miantonomo, his Mark .... 182 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Uncas and his Squaw, their Marks 184 
 
 From American Historical and Literary Curiosities, in Boston Athe- 
 naeum. 
 
 r Gorton's Simplicitie's De- 
 Facsimile Title-Pages of I fence . . 189 
 
 [Child's New England's Jonas 190 
 
 Photographed from originals in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Pages of \ ^"^ Cambridge Platform . .93 
 
 ( Pynchon's Meritorious Price 194 
 
 Photographed from originals in the Lenox Library. The nature of the 
 heresies of William Pynchon, founder of Springfield, is apparent from the 
 summary of arguments given on his title-page. Some copies of the book, 
 arriving in Boston in October, 1650, were instantly seized, and, by order of 
 the General Court, were publicly burned next day by the common hangman. 
 Pynchon was in various ways so annoyed and badgered that in 1652 he 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxxiii 
 
 returned to England and spent the rest of his days tliere in peace. His book 
 was answered by Rev. John Norton's Discussion of that Great Point in 
 Divinity, the Sufferings of Christ, 1653, to wliicli Pynchon published a re- 
 joinder in his Covenant of Nature, 1662. / 
 
 Dr. John Clarke 196 
 
 From a portrait in the gallery of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
 concerning which there is some doubt as to whether it is the likeness of our 
 Rhode Island friend, or of another physician. Dr. John Clarke, of Newbury, 
 who died in 1664. See Thacher's American Medical Biography ; Coffin's 
 History of Newbury ; Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, 3d series, vii. 287, and 
 Proceedings, July, 1844. The shadow of doubt does not extend to the auto- 
 graph, which I have taken from the Memorial History of Boston- 
 
 Sir Richard Saltonstall 2or 
 
 From the original portrait, painted by Rembrandt about 1644, when Sir 
 Richard was ambassador at the Hague, and now in possession of his descend- 
 ant, Richard M. Saltonstall, Esq., of Chestnut Hill, Boston, who has also 
 kindly furnished me with the autograph. 
 
 Facsimile of Parts of a Letter from Oliver Cromwell 
 TO John Cotton .... 203, 204 
 
 Photographed from the original MS. letter in the Lenox Library. I give 
 only the conclusion of the letter, and the superscription. 
 
 Autograph of John Norton 206 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Autograph of Richard Bellingham 208 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 ("Norton's Heart of New 
 
 Facsimile Title-Pages of J , England Rent 209 
 
 1 A Declaration of the Sad 
 L Persecution 210 
 
 Photographed from originals in the Lenox Library. 
 
 John Endicott {photogravure) facing 212 
 
 From the original painting (1665), in the possession of Hon. William 
 Crowninshield Endicott, of Danvers, Mass. Autograph from Winsor's 
 America. 
 
 Autograph of William Dyer 214 
 
 From the signature of his MS. letter to the magistrates in Boston, inter- 
 ceding for his wife ; now in the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. 
 
 Facsimile of Christison's Autograph Letter from the 
 Jail 216 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. The original MS. is in the State 
 Archives. 
 Charles II 218 
 
 From an ehgraving by Blooteling, in the Gardiner Greene Hubbard collec- 
 tion in the Library of Congress, after the original painting by Sir Peter 
 Lely. Autograph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. 
 
, xxxiv NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 A Pine-Tree Shilling 219 
 
 Photographed from a coin in the possession of the Bostonian Society. 
 
 William Goffe 220 
 
 After a drawing by W. N. Gardiner, from the great interleaved edition of 
 Clarendon in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, through the kindness of the 
 librarian, G. W. B. Nicholson, Esq. The original is, I believe, at Dr. 
 Brooke's, Leadenhall Street, London. Autograph from a MS. in the Lenox 
 Library. 
 
 Regicides hiding under a Bridge 221 
 
 From Barber's Interesting Events in the History of the United States^ 
 New Haven, 1829 ; a quaint little book, with many quaint pictures. 
 
 Autograph of Edward Whalley 222 
 
 From a MS. in the Lenox Library. 
 
 John Davenport {photogravure) .' . facing ■ziz 
 
 From an original portrait (artist unknown) in Alumni Hall, Yale Univer- 
 sity. Autograph from Winsor's America. 
 
 Autograph of John Dixwell 223 
 
 From a photograph (kindly lent by my friend, Epes Sargent Dixwell, Esq., 
 of Cambridge) of an original MS. in the. possession of the New Haven His- 
 torical Society. 
 
 'Autographs of the Royal Commissioners 224. 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Autograph of Abraham Pierson 225 
 
 From a MS. in Yale University Library. 
 
 Facsimile of the King's Proclamation for the Arrest 
 OF Whalley and Goffe ,. ... 226,227 
 
 Reduced from an original broadside in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of Eliot's Algonquin New Testa- 
 ment .... 331 
 
 Photographed from an original in Harvard University Library. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of Morton's New England's Me- 
 morial ... 232 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Chair belonging to Eliot 235 
 
 After a drawing by Rev. S. J. Barrows, pastor of the First Church in Dor- 
 chester, engraved in Memorial History of Boston, i. 415. The chair was the 
 one commonly used by Eliot in his study. After his death in 1690 it was 
 preserved as a keepsake for about a century and a half, and was then given 
 to Mr. Barrows's predecessor. Rev. T. M. Harris, who placed it in the church 
 below the pulpit. 
 
 John Eliot {photogravure) facing 236 
 
 From a painting in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which has no other 
 evidence of authenticity than the inscription in the upper left-hand comer. 
 Eliot came to New England at the age of twenty-seven, and never crossed the 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxxv 
 
 ocean again, but the portrait of so famous a missionary might have been 
 painted in Boston. The late Hon. William Whiting, of Roxbury, found this 
 picture in 1S51 in the shop of a London dealer, who could give no information 
 as to its source. The autograph is from Winsor's America. 
 
 Paul Revere's Fanciful Portrait of King Philii^ . . .239 
 
 This was engraved by Revere for the edition of Church's Entertaining 
 History of King Philifs War, printed at Newport in 1772. 
 
 King Philip, his Mark 240 
 
 From his signature to a MS. deed of land in Taunton, of which the original 
 belonged to the late Samuel Gardner Di'ake. 
 
 Autograph of Edward Hutchinson ., 243 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Autograph of Simon Willard 244 
 
 From the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. 
 
 The Mysterious Visitor at Hadley {photogravure) facing 244 
 
 From an engraving kindly lent by W. H. Whitcomb, Esq., of Northampton, 
 Mass. The engraving, by John McRae, is from a paintmg by F. A. Chap- 
 man, of New York ; and was published under the title, " The Perils of our 
 Forefathers." 
 
 Autograph of Robert Treat . 246 
 
 From Trumbull's History of Hartford County, Boston, 1886. 
 
 Autographs of the Federal Commissioners in 1675 ■ • 247 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Autograph of Daniel Gookin . . . 248 
 
 From the same. 
 
 JOSIAH WiNSLOW 249 
 
 After the original painting, now in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth. Autograph 
 from the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Autograph of Benjamin Church 250 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Map of the Narragansett Campaign of 1675 251 
 
 In making this epitomized map I have used the Road Map of Rhode Island, 
 revised from the U. S. Geological Survey, published by C. A. Pabodie & 
 Son, Providence ; the map in Bodge's Soldiers in King Philifs War, Leom- 
 inster, 1896, p. 184 ; the map pre^fixed to Miss Caroline Hazard's College 
 Tom : a Study of Narragansett Life in the XVUIih Century ; and a pen- 
 cil map of the Tower Hill neighbourhood, kindly sketched for the occasion 
 by Miss Hazard. 1 have also to thank Mr. W. E. Foster, of the Providence 
 Public Library, for some extremely valuable and interesting suggestions con- 
 cerning the campaign. 
 
 In consulting Map No. lo of the elaborate and beautiful Century Atlas of 
 the World, I find a very serious blunder in placing the crossed swords which 
 indicate the location of the Great Swamp Fight. The battlefield, as there 
 indicated, comes south of the Narragansett Pier railroad and about midway 
 between the Saugatucket river and the northeast corner of Worden's pond. 
 
xxxvi NOTES ON TflE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 In other words it is four miles out of place, and might be sought in vain by 
 anybody who should put his trust in the Century map. 
 
 Autograph of Samuel Appleton 252. 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Storming of the Narragansett Fort 253. 
 
 From Barber's Interesting Events^ already cited. 
 
 Autograph of William Hubbard 257 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 t Mrs. Rowlandson's Captivity 259 
 Facsimile Title-Pages of J Increase Mather's Indian 
 
 ( War 260 
 
 Photographed from originals in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Autograph of William Turner 262 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Autographs of George Denison and John Talcott . . 263. 
 
 The former is from Trumbull's History of Hartford County: the latter 
 is from the Colonial Records of Connecticut, through the kindness of Arthur 
 Perkins, Esq., of Hartford. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of The Wicked Man's Portion . 267 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Hubbard's Map of New England 268, 269 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. 
 
 The Austin House in Cambridge, 1657 271 
 
 From a photograph, kindly lent by the present occupant. Dr. Austin Hol- 
 den, librarian of the American Academy of Sciences. The house. No. 21 
 Linnaean Street, was built in 1657 by my great-great-great-great-great-grand- 
 father. Deacon John Cooper, town-clerk of Cambridge. It has been known 
 successively as the Cooper, the Hill, the Frost, and the Austin House, but 
 still remains in the possession of descendants of John Cooper. 
 
 The Lee House in Cambridge, cir. 1660 275 
 
 From a photograph. The framework of ibis house, No. 159 Brattle Street, 
 is said to have been brought from England. For nearly a century it stood in 
 Watertown, the eastern boundary of which was at Sparks Street until 1754, 
 when it was shifted about half a mile westward. In the days which ushered 
 in the Revolution the house belonged to Judge Joseph Lee, who was one of 
 the " mandamus councillors "of 1 774. But unlike most of the famous Tory 
 houses on Brattle Street, the Lee house was not confiscated. Its owner's 
 Toryism was mild and his temper conciliatory, and after the siege of Boston 
 he was allowed to return to his home, where he died in 1S02. The house 
 now belongs to Colonel Henry Lee, of Boston. 
 
 The House at North and Smith Streets, Boston, cir. 
 1674 277 
 
 From a photograph — kindly lent by Miss H. Williams — of a painting 
 by Miss S. M. Lane, showing the place as it looked in 1881. AccordingJo 
 Mr. S. A. Drake, this is probably the oldest house now standing in its ori- 
 ginal form, in Boston. 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxxvii 
 John Wilson 279 
 
 After the portrait in the gallery of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 
 Autograph from the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Specimen of Indian Wampum 282 
 
 From a drawing of Penn's wampum belt, in the possession of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Historical Society. 
 
 Autograph of Edward Randolph 282 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 John Leverett 283 
 
 From a miniature in the possession of Richard M. Saltonstall, Esq., of 
 Chestnut Hill, Boston. Autograph from Winsor's America. 
 
 Joseph Dudley 285 
 
 From a painting (artist unknown) in the possession of Robert Charles Win- 
 throp, Esq., of Boston. Autograph from Winsor's America. 
 
 James, Duke of Monmouth 287 
 
 After the engraving in British Mezzotinio Portraits, from the original 
 painting by Sir Peter Lely. Autograph from Thane's British Autography. 
 
 Simon Bradstreet 289 
 
 From the painting in the senate chamber in the Massachusetts State 
 House. Autograph from Winsor's America. 
 
 Autograph of Anne Bradstreet 289 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Facsimile Title-Page of The Tenth Muse 291 
 
 Photographed from an original in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth .... 293 
 
 From the original painting by Varelst in the Royal Gallery at Hampton 
 Court. Autograph from a fragment of a MS. letter preserved in the French 
 National Archives (G^ Contrdle general des finances), engraved in Forne- 
 ron's Louise de Keroualle, Paris, 1886. 
 
 Increase Mather {^photogravure) . facing 294 
 
 From the frontispiece to Mem.oirs of the Life of Increase Mather, Lon- 
 don, 1725, after an original painting by Vanderspirit, in the possession of the 
 Massachusetts Historical Society. Autograph from the Memorial History 
 of Boston. 
 
 George Jeffreys 295 
 
 From an engraving in South Kensington National Portraits, after the 
 original painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Autograph from facsimile of his 
 letter to the mayor of Pomfret, in Yorkshire, 1684, in the Autographic 
 Mirror. 
 
 James II 297 
 
 From Lord Ronald Gower's Great Historic Galleries of England, Lon- 
 don, 1881. Autograph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamberlain. 
 
 The Charter Oak 298 
 
 After a picture of the tree painted by Brownell in 1855, the year before it 
 
xxxviii NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 was blown down. The picture was painted for Hon. Marsliall Jewell, at one 
 time governor of Connecticut, and is now in the possession of his grandson, 
 Marshall Jewell Dodge, Esq., of Simsbury. The present illustration is taken 
 from a photograph of this painting, kindly procured by Arthur Perkins, Esq., 
 of Hartford. It is said to be the best likeness of the tree in existence, but 
 it does not show the hole in which the charter was hidden, which was on the 
 further side of the tree. 
 
 Autograph of John Allyn 299 
 
 From Winsor's America. 
 
 Samuel Willard 3°° 
 
 After an engraving by Van der Gucht (source unknown) in the Gardiner 
 Greene Hubbard collection in the Library of Congress. Autograph from 
 the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 The First King's Chapel, Boston, 1689 301 
 
 From Greenwood's History of King's Chafel, Boston, 1833. The ori- 
 ginal source is probably an old print known as Price's View of Boston, cir. 
 1720. 
 
 Autograph of John Wise 302 
 
 From a MS. in the Lenox Library. 
 
 Sir Edmund Andros 303 
 
 From an engraving in Andros Tracts, vol. i,, after a photograph from an 
 original painting, now in the possession of Amyas Charles Andros, Esq., 
 of London. Autograph from the MS. collection of Hon. Mellen Chamber- 
 lain. 
 
 - Great Seal of New England under Andros 304 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 The First Town-House of Boston, 1658 305 
 
 From a tracing kindly lent by Mr. George A. Cloiigh, a well-known archi- 
 tect of Boston. The picture is a reconstruction. The excellent seventeenth 
 century architect, Thomas Joy, who built this Town-House, built also the 
 Meeting-House at Hingham (see above, p. 165), the Aspinwall house in 
 Brooklinfe, and the old feather store in Dock Square, and had a characteristic 
 style. Following these clues, with the aid of the builder's specifications in 
 the town records for 1657, Mr. Clough arrived at this drawing, which is an 
 excellent specimen of historical research. This Town-House stood upon 
 the same site as its successor, now commonly called the Old State House, at 
 State and Washington streets. Mr. Clough was the architect employed by 
 the city of Boston to restore that noble building to its present condition. 
 See the Old State House Memorial, Boston, 1882, pp. 125, 153. 
 
 William III. . . . . .... 306 
 
 From an engraving (after the original portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller) in 
 the Gardiner Greene Hubbard collection in the Library of Congress. Auto- 
 graph from the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Autographs of the Plymouth Governors 308 
 
 From Winsor's America. These five were all the governors of the Plym- 
 outh colony except the first one, John Carver, of whom no autograph is 
 known. 
 
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS xxxix 
 
 Facsimile of the Massachusetts Charter of 1691 . 308, 309 
 
 Photographed from the original document in the Massachusetts State 
 House, by the kind permission of Hon. W. M. Olin, Secretary of State. 
 Autograph of Sir William Phips, First Royal Gov- 
 ernor OF Massachusetts 309 
 
 From the Memorial History of Boston. 
 
 Tailpiece of Swords 311 
 
 From Winsor's America^ iii. 274. All these swords are in the possession 
 of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Four of them belong to the history 
 of the seventeenth century, and five are associated with the Mayflower colony. 
 The middle sword belonged to Governor Carver. The next, descending left- 
 ward, is that of General John Winslow, grandson of the doughty Josiah, mal- 
 leus Narragansetiorum-. Next comes that of Miles Standish, and then that 
 of General John Broolcs, governor of Massachusetts 1816-23. Starting anew 
 at the top and descending to the right, we have first the sword of Sir William 
 Pepperell, second, that of William Brewster, and third, that of Colonel Ben- 
 jamin Church, the fighter and chronicler of King Philip's War. 
 
KEW ENGLAND 
 
 MAINE 
 ^ NEW HAMPSHIRE 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 PLYMOUTH 
 1^ RHODE ISLAND 
 
 CONNECTICUT 
 f-n NEW HAVEN 
 
 fefjiiitiuiket 
 
 Iio-n-gitude East frtnn. Woshin^tmx 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 
 
 COIN OF "LITTLE AUGUSTUS' 
 
 It used to be the fashion of historians, looking super- 
 ficially at the facts presented in chronicles and tables of 
 dates, without analyzing and comparing vast groups of facts 
 distributed through centuries, or even suspecting the need 
 for such analysis and comparison, 
 to assign the date 476 A. d. as the 
 moment at which the Roman 
 Empire came to an end. It was 
 in that year that the soldier of 
 fortune, Odovakar, commander 
 of the Herulian mercenaries in 
 Italy, sent the handsome boy 
 
 Romulus, son of Orestes, better known as "little Augustus," 
 from his imperial throne to the splendid villa of Lucullua near 
 Naples, and gave him a yearly pension of $35,000 [6,000 
 solidi] to console him for the loss of a world. As 324 years 
 elapsed before another emperor was crowned at 
 Rome, and as the political headship of Europe after the Roman 
 that happy restoration remained upon the German come'to an 
 soil to which the events of the eighth century had ^" ' 
 shifted it, nothing could seem more natural than the habit 
 which historians once had, of saying that the mighty career 
 of Rome had ended, as it had begun, with a Romulus. 
 Sometimes the date 476 was even set up as a great landmark 
 .dividing modern from ancient history. For those, however. 
 
2 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 who took such a view, it was impossible to see the events of 
 the Middle Ages in their true relations to what went before 
 and what came after. It was impossible to understand what 
 went on in Italy in the sixth century, or to explain the posi- 
 tion of that great Roman power which had its centre on the 
 Bosphorus, which in the code of Justinian left us our grand- 
 est monument of Roman law, and which for a thousand 
 years was the staunch bulwark of Europe against the suc- 
 cessive aggressions of Persian, Saracen, and Turk. It was 
 equally impossible to understand the rise of the Papal power, 
 the all-important politics of the great Saxon and Swabian 
 emperors, the relations of mediaeval England to the Conti- 
 nental powers, or the marvellously interesting growth of the 
 modern European system of nationalities. 
 
 Since the middle of the nineteenth century the study of 
 history has undergone changes no less sweeping than those 
 which have in the same time affected the study of the 
 physical sciences. , Vast groups of facts distributed through 
 various ages and countries have been subjected to compari- 
 son and analysis, with the result that they have not only 
 thrown fresh light upon one another, but have in many cases 
 enabled us to recover historic points of view that had long 
 been buried in oblivion. Such an instance was furnished 
 about twenty-five years ago by Dr. Bryce's epoch-making 
 work on the Holy Roman Empire. Since then historians 
 Meaning of ^^^^^ rccognize the importance of the date 476 as 
 odovakar's that which left the Bishop of Rome the dominant 
 personage in Italy, and marked the shifting of the 
 political centre of gravity from the Palatine to the Lateran. 
 This was one of those subtle changes which escape notice 
 until after some of their effects have attracted attention. 
 The most important effect, in this instance, realized after 
 three centuries, was not the overthrow of Roman power in 
 the West, but its indefinite extension and expansion. The 
 men of 476 not only had no idea that they were entering 
 upon a new era, but least of all did they dream that the 
 Roman Empire had come to an end, or was ever likely to. 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 3 
 
 Its cities might be pillaged, its provinces overrun, but the 
 supreme imperial power itself was something without which 
 the men of those days could not imagine the world as exist- 
 ing. It must have its divinely ordained representative in 
 one place if not in another. If the throne in Italy was 
 vacant, it was no more than had happened before ; there 
 was still a throne at Constantinople, and to its occupant 
 Zeno the Roman Senate sent a message, saying that one 
 emperor was enough for both ends of the earth, and begging 
 him to confer upon the gallant Odovakar the title of patri- 
 cian, and entrust the affairs of Italy to his care. So when 
 Sicambrian Chlodwig set up his Merovingian kingdom in 
 northern Gaul, he was glad to array himself in the robe of a 
 Roman consul, and obtain from the eastern emperor a formal 
 ratification of his rule. 
 
 Countless examples show that the event of 476 was under- 
 stood as the virtual reunion of West and East under a single 
 head ; whereas, on the other hand, the impressive scene in 
 the basilica of St. Peter's on the Christmas of 800, when 
 Pope Leo III. placed the diadem of the Cassars upon the 
 Prankish brow of Charles the Great, was regarded, not as 
 the restoration of an empire once extinguished, but as a 
 new separation between East and West, a re-transfer of the 
 world's political centre from the Bosphorus to the Tiber. 
 When after two centuries more the sceptre had ^ 
 
 passed from the line of Prankish Charles to the Roman 
 line of Saxon. Otto, this Holy Roman Empire, ™^"^ 
 shaped by the alliance of German king with Italian pontiff, 
 acquired such consistency as to outlast the whole group of 
 political conditions in which it originated. These conditions 
 endured for five centuries after the coronation in 800 ; the 
 empire preserved a continuous existence for yet five cen- 
 turies more. Until after the downfall of the great Hohen- 
 stauffen emperors, late in the thirteenth century, soon 
 followed by the Babylonish exile of the popes at Avignon, 
 the men of western Europe felt themselves in a certain 
 sense members of a political whole of which Rome was the 
 
4 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 centre. By the beginning of the sixteenth century this 
 feeling had almost disappeared. Men's world had enlarged 
 till Rome no longer seemed so great to them as it had 
 seemed to their forefathers who had lived under its mighty 
 spell, or as it seems to us who view it through the lenses of 
 history. Within its own imperial domains powerful nations 
 had slowly grown up, whose speech would have sounded 
 strange to Cicero ; while beyond ocean were found new 
 lands where the name of Caesar had never been heard. By 
 the side of Louis XII. or Ferdinand of Aragon, it was not 
 easy to recognize a grander dignity in the Hapsburg suc- 
 cessor of Augustus ; and the mutterings of revolt against 
 papal supremacy already heralded the storm which was soon 
 to rend all Christendom in twain. After the Reformation, 
 the conception of a universal Christian monarchy, as held 
 whether by St. Augustine or by Dante, had ceased to have 
 a meaning and faded from men's memories. Yet in its 
 forms and titles the Holy Roman Empire continued to sur- 
 vive, until, as Voltaire said, it had come to be neither holy, 
 nor Roman, nor an empire. So long did it remain upon the 
 scene that in 1790 an illustrious American philosopher, 
 Benjamin Thompson, a native of Woburn in Massachusetts 
 and sometime dweller in Rumford, New Hampshire, was 
 admitted to a share in its dignities as Count Rumford. 
 When at last in 1 806, among the sweeping changes wrought 
 by the battle of Austerlitz, the Emperor Francis II. resigned 
 his position as head of the Germanic body, there were per- 
 haps few who could have told why that head should have 
 been called emperor rather than king ; fewer still, no doubt, 
 who realized that the long succession of Caesars had now 
 first come to an end. 
 
 I cite this final date of 1806 as interesting, but not as 
 important, in connection with a political system which had 
 already quite ceased to exist, save in so far as one might say 
 that "the spirit of it still survives in political methods and 
 habits of thought that will yet be long in dying out. With 
 great political systems, as with typical forms of organic life, 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 
 
 the processes of development and of extinction are 
 ingly slow, and it is seldom that the stages can be 
 sharply marked by dates. The processes which 
 have gradually shifted the seat of empire until the 
 prominent part played nineteen centuries ago by 
 Rome and Alexandria, on opposite sides of the 
 Mediterranean, has been at length assumed by Lon- 
 don and New York, on opposite sides of the Atlan- 
 tic, form a most interesting subject of study. But 
 to understand them, one must do much more than 
 
 exceed- 
 
 Gradual 
 shifting of 
 primacy 
 from the 
 men who 
 spoke 
 Latin, and 
 their de- 
 scendants, 
 to the men 
 who speak 
 English 
 
 merely 
 
 ^y^W/-^^>^?^c?7-S::?£^ 
 
 catalogue the facts of political history ; one must acquire a 
 knowledge of the drifts and tendencies of human thought 
 and feeling and action from the earliest ages to the times in 
 
6 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 which we live. In covering so wide a field we cannot of 
 course expect to obtain anything like complete results. In 
 order to make a statement simple enough to be generally 
 intelligible, it is necessary to pass over many circumstances 
 and many considerations that might in one way and another 
 qualify what we have to say. Nevertheless it is quite pos- 
 sible for us to discern, in their bold general outlines, some 
 historic truths of supreme importance. In contemplating 
 the salient features of the change which has now for a 
 long time been making the world more English and less 
 Roman, we shall find not only intellectual pleasure and profit 
 but practical guidance. For in order to understand this 
 slow but mighty change, we must look a little into that pro- 
 cess of nation-making which has been going on since prehis- 
 toric ages and is going on here among us to-day, and from 
 the recorded experience of men in times long past we may 
 gather lessons of infinite value for ourselves and for our 
 children's children. As in all the achievements of mankind, 
 it is only after much weary experiment and many a heart- 
 sickening failure that success is attained, so has it been 
 especially with nation-making. Skill in the political art is 
 the fruit of ages of intellectual and moral discipline ; and 
 just as picture-writing had to come before printing and 
 canoes before steamboats, so the" cruder political methods 
 had to be tried and found wanting, amid the tears and 
 groans of unnumbered generations, before methods less crude 
 could be put into operation. In the historic survey upon 
 which we are now to enter, we shall see that the Roman 
 Empire represented a crude method of nation-making which 
 began with a masterful career of triumph over earlier and 
 cruder methods, but has now for several centuries been 
 giving way before a more potent and satisfactory method. 
 And just as the merest glance at the history of Europe 
 shows us Germanic peoples wresting the supremacy from 
 Rome, so in this deeper study we shall discover a grand 
 and far-reaching Teutonic Idea of political life overthrowing 
 and supplanting the Roman Idea. Our attention will be 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 7 
 
 drawn toward England as the battle-ground and the seven- 
 teenth century as the critical moment of the struggle ; we 
 shall see in Puritanism the tremendous militant force that 
 determined the issue ; and when our perspective has thus 
 become properly adjusted, we shall b^gin to realize for the 
 first time how truly wonderful was the age that witnessed 
 the Beginnings of New England. We have long had before 
 our minds the colossal figure of Roman Julius as " the fore- 
 most man of all this world," but as the seventeenth century 
 recedes into the past the figure of English Oliver begins to 
 loom up as perhaps even more colossal. In order to see 
 -these world-events in their true perspective, and to make 
 perfectly clear the manner in which we are to estimate them, 
 we must go a long distance away from them. We must even 
 go back, as nearly as may be, to the beginning of things. 
 
 If we look back for a moment to the primitive stages of 
 society, we may picture to ourselves the surface of the earth 
 sparsely and scantily covered with wandering tribes of sav- 
 ages, rude in morals and manners, narrow and monotonous 
 in experience, sustaining life very much as lower anima:ls 
 sustain it, by gathering wild fruits or slaying wild game, and 
 waging chronic warfare alike with powerful beasts and with 
 rival tribes of men. In the widest sense the subject of 
 political history is the description of the processes p^n^i^^ 
 by which, under favourable circumstances, innumer- history is 
 
 , 111 *he history- 
 
 able such primitive tribes have become welded of nation- 
 together into mighty nations, with elevated stand- ""^ '"^ 
 ards of morals and manners, with wide and varied experience, 
 sustaining life and ministering to human happiness by elabo- 
 rate arts and sciences, and, putting a curb upon warfare by 
 limiting its scope, diminishing its cruelty, and interrupting it 
 by intervals of peace. The story, as laid before us in the 
 records of three thousand years, is fascinating and absorbing 
 in its human interest for those who content themselves with 
 the study of its countless personal incidents, and neglect its 
 profound philosophical lessons. But for those who study 
 it in the scientific spirit, the human interest of its details 
 
8 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 becomes still more intensely fascinating and absorbing. Bat- 
 tles and coronations, poems and inventions, migrations and 
 martyrdoms, acquire new meanings and awaken new emo- 
 tions as we begin to discern their bearings upon the solemn 
 work of ages that is slowly winning for humanity a richer 
 and more perfect life. By such meditation upon men's 
 thoughts and deeds is the understanding purified, till we 
 beconie better able to comprehend our relations to the world 
 and the duty that lies upon each of us to shape his conduct 
 rightly. 
 
 In the welding together of primitive shifting tribes into 
 stable and powerful nations, we can seem to discern three 
 different methods that have been followed at different times 
 and places, with widely different results. In all cases the 
 fusion has been effected by war, but it has gone on in three 
 broadly contrasted ways. The first of these methods, which 
 has been followed from time immemorial in the Oriental 
 world, may be roughly described as conquest without 
 tai method incorporation. A tribe grows to national dimensions 
 making" ^y Conquering and annexing its neighbours, with- 
 out admitting them to a share in its political life. 
 Probably there is always at first some incorporation, or even 
 perhaps some crude germ of federative alliance; but this 
 goes very little way, — only far enough to fuse together a 
 few closely related tribes, agreeing in speech and habits, 
 into a single great tribe that can overwhelm its neighbours. 
 In early society this sort of incorporation cannot go far with- 
 out being stopped by some impassable barrier of language 
 or religion. After reaching that point, the conquering tribe 
 simply annexes its neighbours and makes them its slaves. It 
 becomes a superior caste, ruling over vanquished peoples, 
 whom it oppresses with frightful cruelty, while living on the 
 fruits of their toil in what has been aptly termed Oriental 
 luxury. Such has been the origin of many eastern despot- 
 isms, in the valleys of the Nile and Euphrates, and else- 
 where. Such a political structure admits of a very consider- 
 able development of material civilization, in which gorgeous 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 9 
 
 palaces and artistic temples may be built, and perhaps even 
 literature and scholarship rewarded, with money wrung from 
 millions of toiling wretches. There is that sort of brutal 
 strength in it, that it may endure for many long ages, until 
 it comes into collision with some higher civilization. Then 
 it is likely to end in sudden collapse, because the fighting 
 quality of the people has been destroyed. Populations that 
 have lived for centuries in fear of impalement or crucifixion, 
 and have known no other destination for the products of 
 their labour than the clutches of the omnipresent tax-gatherer, 
 are not likely to furnish good soldiers. A handful of free- 
 men will scatter them like sheep, as the Greeks did twenty- 
 three centuries ago at Kynaxa, as the English did the other 
 day at Tel el-Kebir. On the other hand, where the manli- 
 ness of the vanquished people is not crushed, the sway of 
 the conquerors who cannot enter into political union with 
 them is likely to be cast off, as in the case of the Moors in 
 Spain. There was a civilization in many respects admirable. 
 It was eminent for industry, science, art, and poetry ; its 
 annals are full of romantic interest ; it was in some respects 
 superior to the Christian system which supplanted it ; in 
 many ways it contributed largely to the progress of the 
 human race ; and it was free from some of the worst vices 
 of Oriental civilizations. Yet because of the fundamental 
 defect that between the Christian Spaniard and his Mussul- 
 man conqueror there could be no political fusion, this brilliant 
 civilization was doomed. During eight centuries of more or 
 less extensive rule in the Spanish peninsula, the Moor was 
 from first to last an alien, just as after four centuries the 
 Turk is still an alien in the Balkan peninsula. The natural 
 result was a struggle that lasted age after age till it ended in 
 the utter extermination of one of the parties, and left behind 
 it a legacy of hatred and persecution that has made the his- 
 tory of modern Spain a dismal record of shame and disaster. 
 In this first method of nation-making, then, which we 
 may call the Oriental method, one now sees but little to com- 
 mend. It was better than savagery, and for a long time no 
 
10 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 more efficient method was possible, but the leading peoples 
 of the world have long since outgrown it ; and although the 
 resulting form of political government is the oldest we know 
 and is not yet extinct, it nevertheless has not the elements 
 of permanence. Sooner or later it will disappear, as sav- 
 agery is disappearing, as the rudest types of inchoate human 
 society have disappeared. 
 
 The second method by which nations have been made 
 The Roman may be called the Roman method; and we may 
 JJSion-mak- briefly describe it as conquest with incorporation, 
 i"g but without representation. The secret of Rome's 
 
 wonderful strength lay in the fact that she incorporated the 
 vanquished peoples into her own body politic. In the early 
 time there was a fusion of tribes going on in Latium, which, 
 if it had gone no further, would have been similar to the 
 early fusion of Ionic tribes in Attika or of Iranian tribes in 
 Media. But whereas everywhere else this political fusion 
 soon stopped, in the Roman world it went on. One after 
 another Italian tribes and Italian towns were not merely 
 overcome but admitted to a share in the political rights and 
 privileges of the victors. By the time this had gone on 
 until the whole Italian peninsula was consolidated under the 
 headship of Rome, the result was a power incomparably 
 greater than any other that the world had yet seen. Never 
 before had so many people been brought under one govern- 
 ment without making slaves of most of them. Liberty had 
 existed before, whether in barbaric tribes or in Greek cities. 
 Union had existed before, in Assyrian or Persian despotisms. 
 Now liberty and union were for the first time joined together, 
 with consequences' enduring and stupendous. The whole 
 Mediterranean world was brought under one government ; 
 ancient barriers of religion, speech, and custom were over- 
 thrown in every direction ; and innumerable barbarian tribes, 
 from the Alps to the- wilds of northern Britain, from the Bay 
 of Biscay to the Carpathian mountains, were more or less 
 completely transformed into Roman citizens, protected by 
 Roman law, and sharing in the material and spiritual benefits 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA ii 
 
 of Roman civilization. Gradually the .whole vast structure 
 became permeated by Hellenic and Jewish thought, and thus 
 were laid the lasting foundations of modern society, of a 
 common Christendom, furnished with a common stock of 
 ideas concerning man's relation to God and the world, and 
 acknowledging a common standard of right and wrong. 
 This was a prodigious work, which raised human life to a 
 much higher plane than that which it had formerly occupied, 
 and endless gratitude is due to the thousands of steadfast 
 men who in one way or another devoted their lives to its 
 accomplishment. 
 
 This Roman method of nation-making had nevertheless its 
 fatal shortcomings, and it was only very slowly, moreover, 
 that it wrought out its own best results. It was , , 
 
 ° . . Its slow- 
 
 but gradually that the rights and privileges of Ro- deveiop- 
 
 man citizenship were extended over the whole 
 Roman world, and in the mean time there were numerous 
 instances where conquered provinces seemed destined to 
 no better fate than had awaited the victims of Egyptian 
 or Assyjrian conquest. The rapacity and cruelty of Caius 
 Verres could hardly have been outdone by the worst of 
 Persian satraps ; but there was a difference. A moral sense 
 and political sense had been awakened which could see both 
 the wickedness and the folly of such conduct. The voice of 
 a Cicero sounded with trumpet tones against the oppressor, 
 who was brought to trial and exiled for deeds which under 
 the Oriental system, from the days of Artaxerxes to those of 
 the Grand Turk, would scarcely have called forth a reprov- 
 ing word. It was by slow degrees that the Roman came 
 to understand the virtues of his own method, and learned 
 to apply it consistently until the people of all parts of the 
 empire were, in theory at least, equal before the law. 
 
 In theory, I say, for in point of fact there was enough of 
 viciousness in the Roman system to prevent it from achiev- 
 ing permanent success. Historians have been fond of show- 
 ing how the vitality of the whole system was impaired by 
 wholesale slave-labour, by the false political economy which 
 
12 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 taxes all for the benefit of a few, by the debauching view of 
 civil office which regards it as private perquisite and not as 
 public trust, and — worst of all, perhaps — by the commu- 
 nistic practice of feeding an idle proletariat out of the im- 
 perial treasury. The names of these deadly social evils are 
 not unfamiliar to American ears. Even of the last we have 
 heard ominous whispers in the shape of bills to promote 
 mendicancy under the specious guise of fostering education 
 or rewarding military services. And is it not a striking 
 illustration of the slowness with which mankind learns the 
 plainest rudiments of wisdom and of justice, that only in the 
 full light of the nineteenth century, and at the cost of a 
 terrible war, should the people of the United States have 
 got rid of a system of labour devised in the crudest ages of 
 antiquity and fraught with misery to the employed, degra- 
 dation to the employers, and loss to everybody ? 
 
 These evils, we see, in one shape or another, have existed 
 almost everywhere ; and the vice of the Roman system did 
 Its essen- ^^^ cousist in the fact that under it they were fully 
 tiai defect developed, but in the fact that it had no adequate 
 means of overcoming them. Unless helped by something 
 supplied from outside the Roman world, civilization must 
 have succumbed to these evils, the progress of mankind 
 must have been stopped. What was needed was the intro- 
 duction of a fierce spirit of personal liberty and local self- 
 government. The essential vice of the Roman system was 
 that it had been unable to avoid weakening the spirit of 
 personal independence and crushing out local self-govern- 
 ment among the peoples to whom it had been applied. It 
 owed its wonderful success to joining Liberty with Union, 
 but as it Went on it found itself compelled gradually to 
 sacrifice. Liberty to Union, strengthening the hands of the 
 central government and enlarging its functions more and 
 more, until by and by the political life of the several parts 
 had so far died away that, under the pressure of attack from 
 without, the Union fell to pieces and the whole political 
 system had to be slowly and painfully reconstructed. 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 13 
 
 Now if we ask why the Roman government found itself 
 thus obliged to sacrifice personal liberty and local independ- 
 ence to the paramount necessity of holding the empire 
 together, the answer will point us to the essential and fun- 
 damental vice of the Roman method of nation-making. It 
 lacked the principle of representation. The old Roman 
 world knew nothing of representative assemblies, it knew 
 Its senates were assemblies of notables, constitut- rfreprl 
 ing in the main an aristocracy of men who had held sentation 
 high office ; its popular assemblies were primary assemblies, 
 — town meetings. There was no notion of such a thing as 
 political power delegated by the people to representatives 
 who were to wield it away from home and out of sight of 
 their constituents. The Roman's only notion of delegated 
 power was that of authority delegated by the government to 
 its generals and prefects who discharged at a distance its 
 military and civil functions. When, therefore, the Roman 
 popular government, originally adapted to a single city, had 
 come to extend itself over a large part of the world, it 
 lacked the one institution by means of which government 
 could be carried on over so vast an area without degenerating 
 into despotism. Even could the device of repre- AndtUere- 
 sentation have occurred to the mind of some states- [n'^despot-^ 
 man trained in Roman methods, it would probably '^™ 
 have made no difference. Nobody would have known how 
 to use it. You cannot invent an institution as you would 
 invent a plough. Such a notion as that of representative 
 government must needs start from small beginnings and 
 grow in men's minds until it should become part and parcel 
 of their mental habits. For the want of it the home govern- 
 ment at Rome became more and more unmanageable until 
 it fell into the hands of the army, while at the same time 
 the administration of the empire became more and more 
 centralized ; the people of its various provinces, even while 
 their social condition was in some respects improved, had 
 less and less voice in the management of their local affairs, 
 and thus the spirit of personal independence was gradually 
 
14 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 weakened. This centralization was greatly intensified by the 
 perpetual danger of invasion on the northern and eastern 
 frontiers, all the way from the Rhine to the Euphrates. Do 
 what it would, the government must become more and more 
 a military despotism, must revert toward the Oriental type. 
 The period extending from the third century before Christ 
 to the third century after was a period of extraordinary in- 
 tellectual expansion and moral awakening ; but when we 
 observe the governmental changes introduced under the 
 emperor Diocletian at the very end of this period, we realize 
 ■ how serious had been the political retrogression, how grave 
 the danger that the stream of human life might come to 
 stagnate in Europe, as it had long since stagnated in Asia. 
 
 Two mighty agents, cooperating in their opposite ways to 
 prevent any such disaster, were already entering upon the 
 scene. The first was the colonization of the empire by Ger- 
 manic tribes already far advanced beyond savagery, already 
 somewhat tinctured with Roman civilization, yet at the same 
 time endowed with an intense spirit of personal and local 
 independence. With this wholesome spirit they were about 
 to refresh and revivify the empire, but at the risk of undoing 
 its work of political organization and reducing it to barbarism. 
 The second was the establishment of the Roman church, an 
 
 institution capable of holding European society 
 German together in spite of a political disintegration that 
 anTthf ■'^^s widespread and long-continued. While wave 
 diurch" after wave of Germanic colonization poured over 
 
 romanized Europe, breaking down old boundary- 
 lines and working sudden and astonishing changes on the 
 map, setting up in every quarter baronies, dukedoms, and 
 kingdoms fermenting with vigorous political life ; while for 
 twenty generations this salutary but wild and dangerous 
 work was going on, there was never a moment when the 
 imperial sway of Rome was quite set aside and forgot- 
 ten, there was never a time when union of some sort was 
 not maintained through the dominion which the church 
 had established over the European mind. When we duly 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 15 
 
 consider this great fact in its relations to what went before 
 and what came after, it is hard to find words fit to express 
 the debt of gratitude which modern civilization owes to the 
 Roman Catholic church. When we think of all the work, big 
 with promise of the future, that went on in those centuries 
 which modern writers 
 in their ignorance used 
 once to set apart and 
 stigmatize as the " Dark 
 Ages"; when we con- 
 sider how the seeds of 
 what is noblest in mod- 
 ern life were then pain- 
 fully sown upon the soil 
 which imperial Rome 
 had prepared ; when we , 
 think of the various work 
 of a Gregory, a Benedict, 
 a Boniface, an Alfred, a 
 Charlemagne ; we feel 
 that there is a sense in 
 which the most brilliant 
 achievements of pagan 
 antiquity are dwarfed in comparison with these. Until quite 
 lately, indeed, the student of history has had his attention 
 too narrowly confined to the ages that have been preeminent 
 for literature and art — the so-called classical ages — and 
 thus his sense of historical perspective has been impaired. 
 When Mr. Freeman uses Gregory of Tours as a text-book, 
 he shows that he realizes how an epoch may be none the 
 less portentous though it has not had a Tacitus to describe 
 it, and certainly no part of history is more full of human 
 interest than the troubled period in which the powerful 
 streams of Teutonic life pouring into Roman Europe were 
 curbed in their destructiveness and guided to noble ends by 
 the Catholic church. Out of the interaction between these 
 two mighty agents has come the political system of the 
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT 
 
i6 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 modern world. The moment when this interaction might 
 have seemed on the point of reaching a complete and har- 
 The monious result was the glorious thirteenth century, 
 
 thirteenth ^he Culminating moment of the Holy Roman Em- 
 century pire. Then, as in the times of Caesar or Trajan, 
 there might have seemed to be a union among civilized men, 
 in which the separate life of individuals and localities was not 
 submerged. In that golden age alike of feudal system, of 
 empire, and of church, there were to be seen the greatest 
 monarchs, in fullest sympathy with their peoples, that 
 Christendom has known, — an Edward I., a St. Louis, a 
 Frederick II. Then, when in the pontificates of Innocent 
 III. and his successors the Roman church reached its apogee, 
 the religious yearnings of men sought expression in the 
 sublimest architecture the world has seen. Then Aquinas 
 summed up in his profound speculations the substance of 
 Catholic theology, and while the morning twilight of modern 
 science might be discerned in the treatises of Roger Bacon, 
 while wandering minstrelsy revealed the treasures of modern 
 speech, soon to be wrought under the hands of Dante and 
 Chaucer into forms of exquisite beauty, the sacred fervour of 
 the apostolic ages found itself renewed in the tender and 
 mystic piety of St. Francis of Assisi. It was a wonderful 
 time, but after all less memorable as the culmination of 
 mediaeval empire and mediaeval church than as the dawning 
 of the new era in which we live to-day, and in which the 
 development of human society proceeds in accordance with 
 more potent methods than those devised by the genius of 
 pagan or Christian Rome. 
 
 For the origin of these more potent methods we must 
 look back to the early ages of the Teutonic people ; for their 
 development and application on a grand scale we must look 
 chiefly to the history of that most Teutonic of peoples in 
 its institutions, though perhaps not more than half-Teutonic 
 in blood, the English, with their descendants in the New 
 World. The third method of nation-making may be called 
 the Teutonic or preeminently the English method. It dif- 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 17 
 
 fers from the Oriental and Roman methods which we have 
 been considering in a feature of most profound xheEng- 
 significance ; it contains the principle of represen- ^^^^ method 
 tation. For this reason, though like all nation- making 
 making it was in its early stages attended with war and 
 conquest, it nevertheless does not necessarily require war 
 and conquest in order to be put into operation. Of the 
 other two methods war was an essential part. In the typical 
 
 EDWARD I 
 
 Oriental nation, such as Assyria or Persia, we see a conquer- 
 ing tribe holding down a number of vanquished peoples, and 
 treating them like slaves : here the nation is very imperfectly 
 made, and its government is subject to sudden and violent 
 changes. In the Roman empire we see a conquering people 
 hold sway over a number of vanquished peoples, but instead 
 
i8 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of treating them like slaves, it gradually makes them its 
 equals before the law ; here the resulting political body is 
 rhuch more nearly a nation, and its government is much 
 more stable. A Lydian of the fifth century before Christ 
 felt no sense of allegiance to the Persian master who simply 
 robbed and abused him ; but the Gaul of the fifth century 
 after Christ was proud of the name of Roman and ready to 
 fight for the empire of which he was a citizen. We have 
 seen, nevertheless, that for want of representation the Roman 
 method failed when applied to an immense territory, and the 
 government tended to become -more and more despotic, to 
 revert toward the Oriental type. Now of the English or 
 Teutonic method, I say, war is not an essential part ; for 
 where representative government is once established, it is 
 possible for a great nation to be formed by the peaceful 
 coalescence of neighbouring states, or by their union into a 
 „ „ ^ federal body. An instance of the former was the 
 
 Pacific ten- ■' 
 
 dencies of coalesccnce of England and Scotland effected early 
 in the eighteenth century after ages of mutual 
 hostility ; for instances of the latter we have Switzerland 
 and the United States. Now federalism, though its rise and 
 establishinent may be incidentally accompanied by warfare, 
 is nevertheless in spirit pacific. Conquest in the Oriental 
 sense is quite incompatible with it ; conquest in the Roman 
 sense is hardly less so. At the close of our Civil War there 
 were now and then zealous people to be found who thought 
 that the southern states ought to be treated as conquered 
 territory, governed by prefects sent from Washington, and 
 held down by military force for a generation or so. Let us 
 hope that there are few to-day who can fail to see that such 
 a course would have been fraught with almost as much 
 danger as the secession movement itself. At least it would 
 have been a hasty confession, quite uncalled for and quite 
 untrue, that American federalism had thus far proved itself 
 incompetent, — that we had indeed preserved our national 
 unity, but only at the frightful cost of sinking to a lower 
 plane of national life. 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 19 
 
 But federalism, with its pacific implications, was not an 
 invention of the Teutonic mind. The idea was familiar to 
 the city communities of ancient Greece, which, along with 
 their intense love of self-government, felt the need of com- 
 bined action for warding off external attack. In their Acha- 
 ian and Aitolian leagues the Greeks made brilliant attempts 
 toward founding a nation upon some higher principle than 
 that of mere conquest, and the history of these attempts 
 is exceedingly interesting and instructive. They failed for 
 lack of the principle of representation, which was practically 
 unknown to the world until introduced by the Teutonic 
 colonizers of the Roman empire. Until the idea of power 
 delegated by the people had become familiar to men's minds 
 in its practical bearings, it was impossible to create a great 
 nation without crushing out the political life of some of its 
 parts. Some centre of power was sure to absorb all the 
 political life, and grow at the expense of the outlying parts, 
 until the result was a centralized despotism. Hence it came 
 to be one of the commonplace assumptions of political writers 
 that republics must be small, that free government paHacy of 
 is practicable only in a confined area, and that the '}J« notion 
 only strong and durable government, capable of lies must 
 maintaining order throughout a vast territory, is 
 some form of absolute monarchy. It was quite natural that 
 people should formerly have held this opinion, and it is 
 indeed not yet quite obsolete, but its fallaciousness will be- 
 come more and more apparent as American history is better 
 understood. Our experience has now so far widened that 
 we can see that despotism is not the strongest but wellnigh 
 the weakest form of government ; that centralized adminis- 
 trations, like that of the Roman empire, have fallen to pieces, 
 not because of too much but because of too little freedom ; 
 and that the only perdurable government must be that which 
 succeeds in achieving national unity on a grand scale, with- 
 out weakening the sense of personal and local independence. 
 For in the body politic this spirit of freedom is as the red 
 corpuscles in the blood ; it carries the life with it. It makes 
 
20 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the difference between a society of self-respecting men and 
 women and a society of puppets. Your nation may have 
 art, poetry, and science, all the refinements of civilized life, 
 all the comforts and safeguards that human ingenuity can 
 devise; but if it lose this spirit of personal and local inde- 
 pendence, it is doomed and deserves its doom. As President 
 Cleveland has well said, it is not the business of a govern- 
 ment to support its people, but of the people to support their 
 government ; and once to lose sight of this vital truth is as 
 dangerous as to trifle with some stealthy narcotic poison. 
 Of the two opposite perils which have perpetually threatened 
 the welfare of political society — anarchy on the one hand, 
 loss of self-government on the other — Jefferson was right 
 in maintaining that the latter is really the more to be dreaded 
 because its beginnings are so terribly insidious. Many will 
 understand what is meant by a threat of secession, where 
 few take heed of the baneful principle involved in a Texas 
 Seed-bill. 
 
 That the American people are still fairly alive to the 
 importance of these considerations is due to the weary ages 
 of struggle in which our forefathers have manfully contended 
 for the right of self-government. From the days of Armin- 
 ius and Civilis in the wilds of lower Germany to the days 
 of Franklin and Jefferson in Independence Hall, we have 
 been engaged in this struggle, not without some toughening 
 of our political fibre, not without some refining of our moral 
 sense. Not among our English forefathers only, but among 
 all the peoples of mediaeval and modern Europe has the 
 struggle gone on, with various and instructive results. In 
 all parts of romanized Europe invaded and colonized by 
 Teutonic tribes, self-government attempted to spring up. 
 What may have been the origin of the idea of representation 
 we do not know ; like most origins, it seems lost in the, 
 prehistoric darkness. Wherever we find Teutonic tribes 
 settling down over a wide area, we find them holding their 
 primary assemblies, usually their annual March-meetings, 
 like those in which Mr. Hosea Biglow and others like him 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 21 
 
 have figured. Everywhere, too, we find some attempt' at 
 representative assembhes, based on the principle 
 of the three estates, clergy, nobles, and commons. March"'" 
 But nowhere save in England does the represent- ^^^ r"^^ 
 ative principle become firmly established, at first sentat™ 
 
 ■ Rsscmbllcs 
 
 m county-meetings, afterward in a national parlia- 
 ment limiting the powers of the national monarch as the pri- 
 mary tribal assembly had limited the powers of the tribal 
 chief. It is for this reason that we must call the method 
 of nation-making by means of a representative assembly 
 the English method. While the idea of representation was 
 perhaps the common property of the Teutonic tribes, it 
 was only in England that it was successfully put into prac- 
 tice and became the dominant political idea. We may there- 
 fore agree with Dr. Stubbs that in its political development 
 England is the most Teutonic of all European countries, — 
 the country which in becoming a great nation has most fully 
 preserved the local independence so characteristic of the 
 ancient Germans. The reasons for this are complicated, and 
 to try to assign them all would needlessly encumber our 
 exposition. But there is one that is apparent and extremely 
 instructive. There is sometimes a great advantage in being 
 able to plant political institutions in a virgin soil, where they 
 run no risk of being modified or perhaps metamorphosed 
 through contact with rival institutions. In America the 
 Teutonic idea has been worked out even more completely 
 than in Britain ; and so far as institutions are concerned, our 
 English forefathers settled here as in an empty country. 
 They were not obliged to modify their political ideas so as 
 to bring them into harmony with those of the Indians ; the 
 disparity in civilization was so great that the Indians were 
 simply thrust aside, along with the wolves and buffaloes. 
 
 This illustration will help us to understand the peculiar 
 features of the Teutonic settlement of Britain. Whether 
 the English invaders really slew all the romanized Kelts 
 who dwelt in the island, except those who found refuge in 
 the mountains of Cumberland, Wales, and Cornwall, or fled 
 
22 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 across the channel to Brittany, we need not seek to decide. 
 It is enough to point out one respect in which the Teutonic 
 Peculiarity conquest was immeasurably more complete in Brit- 
 of the Ten- ain than in any other part of the empire. Every- 
 
 tonic con- ■' '■ 
 
 quest of where else the tribes who settled upon Roman 
 soil — Goths, Vandals, Suevi, and Burgundians — 
 were christianized, and so to some extent romanized, before 
 they came to take possession. Even the more distant 
 Franks had been converted to Christianity before they had 
 completed their conquest of Gaul. Everywhere except in 
 Britain, therefore, the conquerors had already imbibed Ro- 
 man ideas, and the authority of Rome was in a certain sense 
 acknowledged. There was no break in the continuity of 
 political events. In Britain, on the other hand, there was a 
 complete break, so that while on the continent the. fifth and 
 sixth centuries are seen in the full midday light of history^ 
 in Britain they have lapsed into the twilight of half-legendary 
 tradition. The Saxon and English tribes, coming from the 
 remote wilds of northern Germany, whither Roman mission- 
 aries had not yet penetrated, still worshipped Thor and 
 Wodan ; and their conquest of Britain was effected with 
 such deadly thoroughness that Christianity was destroyed 
 there, or lingered only in sequestered nooks. A land once 
 christianized thus actually fell back into paganism, so that 
 the work of converting it to Christianity had to be done over 
 again. From the landing of heathen Hengest on the isle of 
 Thanet to the landing of Augustine and his monks on the 
 same spot, one hundred and forty-eight years elapsed, during 
 which English institutions found time to take deep root in 
 British soil with scarcely more interference, as to essential 
 points, than in American soil twelve centuries afterward. 
 
 The century and a half between 449 and 597 is therefore 
 one of the most important epochs . in the history of the 
 people that speak the English language. Before settling in 
 Britain our forefathers had been tribes in the upper stages 
 of barbarisin; now 'they began the process of coalescence 
 into a nation in which the principle of self-government should 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 23 
 
 be retained and developed. The township and its town 
 meeting we find there, as later in New England. The 
 county meeting we also find, while the county is a little state 
 in itself and not a mere ■ administrative district. 
 
 . , . 1 . . . Survival 
 
 And m this county meetmg we may observe a sm- and devei- 
 
 gular feature, something never seen before in the i^utonic 
 
 world, something destined to work out vaster polit- atfveas"*' 
 
 ical results than Csesar ever dreamed of. This semWyin 
 
 ,1 n 1 England 
 
 county meetmg is not a primary assembly ; all the 
 freemen from all the townships cannot leave their homes and 
 their daily business to attend it. Nor is it merely an assem- 
 bly of notables, attended by the most important men of the 
 neighbourhood. It is a representative assembly, attended 
 by select men from each township. We may see in it the 
 germ of the British parliament and of the American con- 
 gress, as indeed of all modern legislative bodies, for it is a 
 most suggestive commentary upon what we are saying that 
 ' in all other countries which have legislatures, they have been 
 copied, within quite recent times, from English or American 
 models. We can seldom if ever fix a date for the beginning 
 of anything, and we can by no means fix a date for the begin- 
 ning of representative assemblies in England. We can only 
 say that where we first find traces of county organization, 
 we find traces of representation. Clearly, if the English 
 conquerors of Britain had left the framework of Roman 
 institutions standing there, as it remained standing in Gaul, 
 there would have been great danger of this principle of rep- 
 resentation not surviving. It would most likely have been 
 crushed in its callow infancy. The conquerors would insen- 
 sibly have fallen into the Roman way of doing things, as 
 they did in Gavil. 
 
 From the start, then, we find the English nationality grow- 
 ing up under very different conditions from those which 
 obtained in other parts of Europe. So far as institutions 
 are concerned, Teutonism was less modified in England 
 than in the German fatherland itself. For the gradual con- 
 quest and christianization of Germany which began with 
 
24 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Charles the Great, and went on until in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury the frontier had advanced eastward to the Vis- 
 
 Primitive , ., , . . . 
 
 Teutonic tula, entailed to a certain extent the romanization 
 less'moS-^ of Germany. For a thousand years after Charles 
 fanli th^n^ the Great, the political head of Germany was also 
 in Ger- the political head of the Holy Roman Empire, 
 and the civil and criminal code by which the daily 
 life of the modern German citizen is regulated is based upon 
 the jurisprudence of Rome. Nothing, perhaps, could illus- 
 trate more forcibly than this sheer contrast the peculiarly 
 Teutonic character of English civilization. Between the 
 eighth and the eleventh centuries, when the formation of 
 English nationality was approaching completion, it received 
 a fresh arid powerful infusion of Teutonism in the swarms 
 of heathen Northmen or Danes who occupied the eastern 
 coasts, struggled long for the supremacy, and gradually be- 
 coming christianized, for a moment succeeded in seizing the 
 crown. Of the invasion of partially romanized Northmen 
 from Normandy which followed soon after, and which has 
 so profoundly affected English society and English speech, 
 we need notice here but two conspicuous features. First, it 
 increased, the power of the crown and the clergy, brought all 
 England more than ever under one law, and strengthened 
 the feeling of nationality. It thus made England a formid- 
 able military povver, while at the same time it brought her 
 into closer relations with continental Europe than she had 
 held since the fourth century. Secondly, by superposing a 
 new feudal nobility as the upper stratum of society, it trans- 
 formed the Old-English thanehood into the finest middle- 
 class of rural gentry and yeomanry that has ever existed in 
 any country; a point, of especial interest to Americans, since 
 it was in this stratum of society that the two most powerful 
 streams of English migration to America — the Virginia 
 stream and the New England stream — alike had their 
 source. 
 
 By the thirteenth century the increasing power and pre- 
 tensions of the crown, as the unification of English nation- 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 25 
 
 ality went on, brought about a result unlike anything known 
 on the continent of Europe ; it brought about a resistless 
 coalition between the great nobles, the rural gentry and yeo- 
 manry, and the burghers of the towns, for the purpose of 
 curbing royalty, arresting the progress of centralization, and 
 setting up representative government on a truly national 
 scale. This grand result was partly due to peculiar circum- 
 stances which had their origin in the Norman conquest ; 
 but it was largely due to the political habits generated by 
 long experience of local representative assemblies, — habits 
 which made it comparatively easy for different classes of 
 
 SEAL OF SIMON DE MONTFORT 
 
 society to find their voice and use it for the attainment of 
 ends in common. On the continent of Europe the encroach- 
 ing sovereign had to contend with here and there an arrogant 
 vassal, here and there a high-spirited and rebellious town^ 
 in England, in this first great crisis of popular government, 
 he found himself confronted by a united people. The fruits 
 of the grand combination were first, the wresting of Magna 
 Charta from King John in 12 15, and secondly, the meeting 
 
26 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of the first House of Commons in 1265. Four years of civil 
 war were required to secure these noble results. 
 OTs' wi" The Barons' War, of the years 1263 to 1267, was 
 fir^t House ^" evcut of the same order of importance as the 
 of Com- Great Rebellion of the seventeenth century and the 
 American Revolution ; and among the founders of 
 that political freedom which is enjoyed to-day by all Eng- 
 lish-speaking people, the name of Simon de Montfort, Earl 
 of Leicester, deserves a place in our grateful remembrance 
 beside the names of Cromwell and Washington. Simon's 
 great victory at Lewes in 1264 must rank with Naseby and 
 York-town. The work begun by his House of Commons 
 was the same work that has continued to go on without 
 essential interruption down to the days of Cleveland and 
 Gladstone. The fundamental principle of political freedom 
 is "no taxation without representation" ; you must not take 
 a farthing of my money without consulting my wishes as to 
 the use that shall be made of it. Only when this principle 
 of justice was first practically recognized, did government 
 begin to divorce itself from the primitive bestial barbaric 
 system of tyranny and plunder, and to ally itself with the 
 forces that in the fulness of time are to bring peace on earth 
 and good' will to men. Of all dates in history, therefore, 
 there is none more fit to be commemorated than 1265 ; for 
 in that year there was first asserted and applied at West- 
 minster, on a national scale, that fundamental principle of 
 " no taxation without representation," that innermost kernel 
 of the English Idea, which the Stamp Act Congress de- 
 fended at New York exactly five hundred years afterward. 
 When we think of these dates, by the way, we realize the 
 import of the saying that in the sight of the Lord a thousand 
 years are but as a day, and we feel that the work of the Lord 
 cannot be done by the hstless or the slothful. So much 
 Eternal time and so much strife by sea and land has it 
 thi'priceof taken to secure beyond peradventure the boon to 
 liberty mankind for which Earl Simon gave up his noble 
 life on the field of Evesham ! Nor without unremitting 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 27 
 
 watchfulness can we be sure that the day of peril is yet past. 
 From kings, indeed, we have no more to fear ; they have come 
 to be as spooks and bogies of the nursery. But the gravest 
 dangers are those which present themselves in new forms, 
 against which people's minds have not yet been fortified with 
 traditional sentiments and phrases. The inherited predatory 
 tendency of men to seize upon the fruits of other people's 
 labour is still very strong, and while we have nothing more 
 to fear from kings, we may yet have trouble enough from 
 commercial monopolies and favoured industries, marching to 
 the polls their hordes of bribed retainers. Well indeed has 
 it been said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. 
 God never meant that in this fair but treacherous world in 
 which He has placed us we should earn our salvation without 
 steadfast labour. 
 
 To return to Earl Simon-, we see that it was just in that 
 wonderful thirteenth century, when the Roman idea of gov- 
 ernment might seem to have been attaining its richest and 
 most fruitful development, that the richer and more fruitful 
 English idea first became incarnate in the political constitu- 
 tion of a great and rapidly growing nation. It was not long 
 before the struggle between the Roman Idea and the Eng- 
 lish Idea, clothed in various forms, became the 
 dominating issue in European history. We have between 
 now to observe the rise of modern nationalities, as ^""l^^ 
 new centres of political life, out of the various pro- j^^f^'^''^^ j^^ 
 vinces of the Roman world. In the course of this to become 
 
 . . , , clearly visl- 
 
 development the Teutonic representative assembly bie in the 
 is at first everywhere discernible, in some form or century 
 other, as in the Spanish Cortes or the States-Gen- 
 eral of France, but on the continent it generally dies out. 
 Only in such nooks as Switzerland and the Netherlands does 
 it survive. In the great nations it succumbs before the 
 encroachments of the crown. The comparatively novel Teu- 
 tonic idea of power delegated by the people to their repre- 
 sentatives had not become deeply enough rooted in the' 
 political soil of the continent; and accordingly we find it 
 
28 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 more and more disused and at length almost forgotten, while 
 the old and deeply rooted Roman idea of power delegated 
 by the governing body to its lieutenants and prefects usurps 
 its place. Let us observe some of the most striking features 
 of this growth of modern nationalities. 
 
 The reader of mediaeval history cannot fail to be impressed 
 by the suddenness with which the culmination of the Holy 
 Roman Empire, in the thirteenth century, was followed by 
 a swift decline. The imperial position of the Hapsburgs 
 was far less splendid than that of the Hohenstauffen ; it 
 rapidly became more German and less European, until by 
 and by people began to forget what the empire originally 
 meant. The change which came over the papacy was even 
 more remarkable. The grandchildren of the men who had 
 witnessed the spectacle of a king of France and a king of 
 England humbled at the feet of Innocent III., the children 
 of the men who had found the gigantic powers of a Fred- 
 erick II. unequal to the task of curbing the papacy, now 
 beheld the successors of St. Peter carried away to Avignon, 
 there to be kept for seventy years under the supervision of 
 the kings of France. Henceforth the glory of the papacy 
 in its political aspect was to be but the faint shadow of that 
 with which it had shone before. This sudden change in its 
 position showed that the mediaeval dream of a world-empire 
 
 was passing away, and that new powers were com- 
 modern na- ing Uppermost in the shape of modern nationalities 
 
 with their national sovereigns. So long as these 
 nationalities were in the weakness of their early formation, 
 it was possible for pope and emperor to assert, and some- 
 times to come near maintaining, universal supremacy. But 
 the time was now at hand when kings could assert their 
 independence of the pope, while the emperor was fast sink- 
 ing to be merely one among kings. 
 
 As modern kingdoms thus grew at the expense of empire 
 and papacy above, so they also grew at the expense of feudal 
 dukedoms, earldoms, and baronies below. The fourteenth 
 and fifteenth centuries were as fatal to feudalism as to world- 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 29 
 
 empire and world-church. A series of wars occurring at 
 this time were especially remarkable for the wholesale 
 slaughter of the feudal nobility, whether on the field or under 
 the headsman's axe. This was a conspicuous feature of the 
 feuds of the Trastamare in Spain, of the English invasions 
 of France, followed by the quarrel between Burgundians and 
 Armagnacs, and of the great war of the Roses in England. 
 So thorough-going was the butchery in England, for exam- 
 ple, that only twenty-nine lay peers could be found to sit in 
 the first parliament of Henry VII. in 1485. The old nobil- 
 ity was almost annihilated, both in person and in property ; 
 for along with the slaughter there went wholesale confisca- 
 tion, and this added greatly to the disposable wealth of the 
 crown. The case was essentially similar in France and 
 Spain. In all three countries the beginning of the sixteenth 
 century saw the power of the crown increased and , 
 
 -' •' . Increasing 
 
 increasing. Its vast accessions of wealth made it power of 
 more independent of legislative assemblies, and at 
 the same time enabled it to make the baronage more sub- 
 servient in character by filling up the vacant places with new 
 creations of its own. Through the turbulent history of the 
 next two centuries we see the royal power aiming at un- 
 checked supremacy and in the principal instances attaining 
 it except in England. Absolute despotism was reached first 
 in Spain, under Philip II. ; in France it was reached a cen- 
 tury later, under Louis XIV. ; and at about the same time 
 in the hereditary estates of Austria ; while over all the Ital- 
 ian and German soil of the disorganized empire, except 
 among the glaciers of Switzerland and the dykes of the 
 Netherlands, the play of political forces had set up a host of 
 petty tyrannies which aped the morals and manners of the 
 great autocrats at Paris and Madrid and Vienna. 
 
 As we look back over this growth of modern monarchy, 
 we cannot but be struck with the immense practical difficulty 
 of creating a strong nationality without sacrificing self-gov- 
 ernment. Powerful, indeed, is the tendency toward over^ 
 centralization, toward stagnation, toward political death. 
 
30 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Powerful is the tendency to revert to the Roman, if not to 
 Formidable the, Oriental method. As often as we reflect upon 
 the™Roraan ^^^ general state of things at the end of the seven- 
 idea teenth century — the dreadful ignorance and misery 
 which prevailed among most of the people of continental 
 Europe, and apparently without hope of remedy — so often 
 must we be impressed anew with the stupendous signifi- 
 cance of the part played by self-governing England in over- 
 coming dangers which have threatened the very existence of 
 modern civilization. It is not too much to say that in the 
 seventeenth century the entire political future of mankind 
 was staked upon the questions that were at issue in England. 
 To keep the sacred flame of liberty alive required such a 
 rare and wonderful concurrence of conditions that, had our 
 forefathers then succumbed in the strife, it is hard to imagine 
 Had it not how or whcre the failure could have been repaired. 
 p^urita°ns*^ Some of these conditions we have already consid- 
 P°^'*j<=^' ered ; let us now observe one of the most important 
 would of all. Let us note, the part played by that most 
 have^disap- trcmendous of social forces, the religious sentiment. 
 From fhe ^^ ^^^ relation to the political circumstances which 
 world -^ye have passed in review. If we ask why it was 
 that among modern nations absolute despotism was soonest 
 and most completely established in Spain, we find it instruc- 
 tive to observe that the circumstances under which the Span- 
 ish monarchy grew up, during centuries of deadly struggle 
 with the Mussulman, were such as to enlist the religious 
 sentiment on the side of despotic methods in church and 
 state. It becomes interesting, then, to observe by contrast 
 how it was that in England the dominant religious sentiment 
 came to be enlisted on the side of pplitical freedom. 
 
 In such an inquiry we hav6 nothing to do with the truth 
 or falsity of any system of doctrines, whether Catholic or 
 Protestant. The legitimate purposes of the historian do not 
 require him to intrude upon the province of the theologian. 
 Our business is to trace the sequence of political cause and 
 effect. Nor shall we get much help from crude sweeping 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 31 
 
 generalizations which set forth Catholicism as always; the 
 enemy and Protestantism as always the ally of human lib- 
 erty. The Catholic has a right to be offended at state- 
 ments which would involve a Hildebrand or a St. Francis 
 in the same historical judgment with a Sigismund or a 
 Torquemada. The character of ecclesiastical as of all other 
 institutions has varied with the character of the men who 
 
 have worked them and the varying needs of the times and 
 places in which they have been worked ; and our intense 
 feeling of the gratitude we owe to English Puritanism need 
 in nowise diminish the enthusiasm with which we praise the 
 glorious work of the mediaeval church. It is the duty of 
 the historian to learn how to limit and qualify his words 
 
32 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of blame or approval ; for so curiously is human nature 
 compounded of strength and weakness that the best of 
 human institutions are likely to be infected with some 
 germs of vice or folly. 
 
 Of no human institution is this more true than of the 
 great mediasval church of Gregory and Innocent when 
 viewed in the light of its claims to unlimited temporal and 
 spiritual sovereignty. In striking down the headship of the 
 emperors, it would have reduced Europe to a sort of Ori- 
 ental caliphate, had it not been checked by the rising spirit 
 of nationality already referred to. But there was 
 
 Beginnings , , . • , • . . 
 
 of Protest- another and even mightier agency coming m to 
 the'twr-" ^^I't) its unduc pretensions to absolute sovereignty. 
 centS That same thirteenth century which witnessed the 
 
 culmination of its power witnessed also the first 
 bold and determined manifestation of the Protestant temper 
 of revolt against spiritual despotism. It was long before 
 this that the earliest Protestant heresy had percolated into 
 Europe, having its source, like so many other heresies, in 
 that eastern world where the stimulating thought of the 
 Greeks busied itself with the ancient theologies of Asia, 
 From Armenia in the eighth century came the Manichsean 
 sect of Paulicians into Thrace, and for twenty generations 
 played a considerable part in the history of the Eastern 
 Empire. In the Bulgarian tongue they were known as 
 Bogomilians, or men constant in prayer. In Greek they 
 The were called Cathari, or "Puritans." They accepted 
 
 pSs°of the New Testament, but set little store by the 
 Em^rf" ^^'^' *^y laughed at transubstantiation, denied 
 
 any mystical efficiency to baptism, frowned upon 
 image worship as no better than idolatry, despised the inter- 
 cession of saints, and condemned the worship of the Virgin 
 Mary. As for the symbol of the cross, they scornfully asked, 
 " If any man slew the son of a king with a bit of wood, how 
 could this piece of wood be dear to the king ? " Their eccle- 
 siastical government was in the main presbyterian, and in 
 politics they showed a decided leaning toward democracy. 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 33 
 
 They wore long faces, looked askance at frivolous amuse- 
 ments, and were te;ribly in earnest. Of the more obscure 
 pages of mediaeval history, none are fuller of interest than 
 those in which we decipher the westward progress of these 
 sturdy heretics through the Balkan peninsula into Italy, and 
 thence into southern France, where toward the end of the 
 twelfth century we find their ideas coming to full blossom 
 in the great Albigensian heresy. It was no light affair to 
 assault the church in the days of Innocent III. The ter- 
 rible crusade against the Albigenses, beginning in ^he 
 1207, was the joint work of the most powerful of Albigenses 
 popes and one of the most powerful of French kings. On 
 the part of Innocent it was the stamping out of a revolt that 
 threatened the very existence of the CathoHc hierarchy ; on 
 the part of Philip Augustus it was the suppression of those 
 too independent vassals the Counts of Toulouse, and the 
 decisive subjection of the southern provinces to the govern- 
 ment at Paris. Nowhere in European history do we read a 
 more frightful story than that which tells of the blazing fires 
 which consumed thousand after thousand of the most intel- 
 ligent and thrifty people in France. It was now that the 
 Holy Inquisition came into existence, and after forty years 
 of slaughter these Albigensian Cathari or Puritans seemed 
 exterminated. The practice of burning heretics, first enacted 
 by statute in Aragon in 1197, was adopted in most parts of 
 Europe during the thirteenth century, but in England not 
 until the beginning of the fifteenth. The Inquisition was 
 never established in England. Edward II. attempted to 
 introduce it in 131 1 for the purpose of suppressing the 
 Templars, but his utter failure showed that the instinct of 
 self-government was too strong in the English people to 
 tolerate the entrusting of so much power over men's lives 
 to agents of the papacy. Mediaeval England was ignorant 
 and bigoted enough, but under a representative government 
 which so strongly permeated society, it was impossible to 
 set the machinery of repression to work with such deadly 
 thoroughness as it worked under the guidance of Roman 
 
34 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 methods. When we read the history of persecution in 
 England, the story in itself is dreadful enough ; but when 
 we compare it with the horrors enacted in other countries; 
 we arrive at some startling results. During the two centu- 
 ries of English persecution, from Henry IV. to James I., 
 some 400 persons were burned at the stake, and three fourths 
 of these cases occurred in 1555-57, the last three years of 
 Mary Tudor. Now in a single province of Spain, in the 
 single year 1482, about 2000 persons were burned. The 
 lowest estimates of the number slain for heresy in the Neth- 
 erlands in the course of the sixteenth century place it at 
 75,000. Very likely such figures are in many cases grossly 
 exaggerated. But after making due allowance for this, the 
 Effects of contrast is sufficiently impressive. In England the 
 persecu- persecution of heretics was feeble and spasmodic, 
 
 tion: its - , ,.,.,, 
 
 feebleness and Only at one moment rose to anything like the 
 inEngan appalling vigour which ordinarily characterized it 
 in countries where the Inquisition was firmly established. 
 Now among the victims of religious persecution must neces- 
 sarily be found an unusual proportion of men and women 
 more independent than the average in their thinking, and 
 more bold than the average in uttering their thoughts. The 
 Inquisition was a diabolical winnowing machine for removing 
 from ^ciety the most flexible minds and the stoutest hearts ; 
 and among every people in which it was established for a 
 length of time it wrought serious damage to the national 
 character. It ruined the fair promise of Spain, and inflicted 
 incalculable detriment upon the fortunes of France. No 
 nation could afford to deprive itself of such a valuable ele- 
 ment in its political life as was furnished in the thirteenth 
 century by the intelligent and sturdy Cathari of southern 
 Gaul. 
 
 The spirit of revolt against the hierarchy, though broken 
 and repressed thus terribly by the measures of Innocent 
 III., continued to live on obscurely in sequestered spots, in 
 the mountains of Savoy, and Bosnia, and Bohemia, ready 
 on occasion to spring into fresh and vigorous life. In the 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 35 
 
 following century Protestant ideas were rapidly germinating 
 in England, alike in baron's castle, in yeoman's farmstead, 
 in citizen's shop, in the cloistered walks of the monastery. 
 Henry Knighton, writing in the time of Richard II., declares, 
 with the exaggeration of impatience, that every second man 
 you met was a Lollard, or "babbler," for such was the 
 nickname given to these free-thinkers, of whom the most 
 
 ,' / 
 
 1/ 
 
 JdUX W\C[.IF 
 
 eminent was John Wyclif, professor at Oxford, and rector of 
 Lutterworth, greatest scholar of the age. The career of this 
 man is a striking commentary upon the difference 
 between England and continental Europe in the and the 
 Middle Ages. Wyclif denied transubstantiation, 
 disapproved of auricular confession, opposed the payment of 
 Peter's pence, taught that kings should not be subject to 
 prelates, translated the Bible into English and circulated it 
 among the people, and even denounced the reigning pope 
 
36 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 as Antichrist ; he could do all this and live, because there 
 was as yet no act of parliament for the burning of heretics, 
 and in England things must be done according to the laws 
 which the people had made.^ Pope Gregory XI. issued five 
 bulls against him, addressed to the king, the archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and the university of Oxford ; but their dicta- 
 torial tone offended the national feeling, and no heed was 
 paid to them. Seventeen years after Wyclif's death, the 
 statute for burning heretics was passed, and the persecution 
 of Lollards began. It was feeble and ineffectual, however. 
 Lollardism was never trampled out in England as Catharism 
 was trampled out in France. Tracts of Wyclif and passages 
 from his translation of the Bible were copied by hand and 
 secretly passed about to be read on Sundays in the manor- 
 house, or by the cottage fireside after the day's toil was 
 over. The work went on quietly, but not the less effectively, 
 until when the papal authority was defied by Henry VIIL, 
 it soon became apparent that England was half-Protestant 
 already. It then appeared also that in this Reformation 
 there were two forces cooperating, — the sentiment of na- 
 tional independence which would not brook dictation from 
 Rome, and the Puritan sentiment of revolt against the 
 hierarchy in general. The first sentiment had found expres- 
 sion again and again in refusals to pay tribute to Rome, in 
 defiance -of papal bulls, and in the famous statutes of pramu- 
 7iire, which made it a criminal offence to acknowledge any 
 authority in England higher than the crown. The revolt of 
 
 Henry VIII. was simply the carrying out of these 
 character acts of Edward I. and Edward III. to their logical 
 viii™7e- conclusion. It completed the detachment of Eng- 
 TOitagainst j^nd from the Holy Roman Empire, and made her 
 
 free of all the world. Its intent was political rather 
 than religious. Henry, who wrote against Martin Luther, 
 was far from wishing to make England a Protestant country. 
 Elizabeth, who differed from her father in not caring a straw 
 for theology, was by temperament and policy conservative. 
 1 Milman, Lat. Christ, vii. 395. 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 37 
 
 Yet England could not cease to be Papist without ceasing in 
 some measure to be Catholic ; nor could she in that day- 
 carry on war against Spain without becoming a leading 
 
 champion of Protestantism. The changes in creed and ritual 
 wrought by the government during this period were cautious 
 and skilful ; and the resulting church of England, with its 
 long line of learned and liberal divines, has played a noble 
 part in history. 
 
 But along with this moderate Protestantism espoused by 
 
38 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the English government, as consequent upon the assertion 
 of English national independence, there grew up the fierce 
 uncompromising democratic Protestantism of which the 
 persecuted Lollards had sown the seeds. This was not the 
 work of government. By the side of Henry VIII. stands the 
 The sublime figure of Hugh Latimer, most dauntless 
 
 HuST"' °f preachers, the one man before whose stern re- 
 Latimer bukc the headstrong and masterful Tudor monarch 
 quailed. It was Latimer that renewed the work of Wyclif, 
 and in ^is life as well as in his martydom — to use his own 
 words of good cheer uttered while the fagots were kindling 
 around him — lighted " such a candle in England as by 
 God's grace shall never be put out." This indomitable man 
 belonged to that middle-class of self-governing, self-respect- 
 ing yeomanry that has been the glory of free England and 
 free America. He was one of the sturdy race that over- 
 threw French chivalry at Crecy and twice drove the soldiery 
 of a tyrant down the slope of Bunker Hill. In boyhood 
 he worked on his father's farm and helped his mother to 
 milk the thirty kine ; he practised archery on the village 
 green, studied in the village school, went to Cambridge, and 
 became the forem.ost preacher of Christendom. Now the 
 most thorough and radical work of the English Reformation 
 was done by this class of men of which Latimer was the 
 type. It was work that was national in its scope, arousing 
 to fervent heat the strong religious and moral sentiment of 
 the people, and hence it soon quite outran the cautious and 
 conservative policy of the government, and tended to intro- 
 duce changes extremely distasteful to those who wished to 
 keep England as nearly Catholic as was consistent with in- 
 dependence of the pope. Hence before the end of Eliza- 
 beth's reign, we find the crown set almost as strongly against 
 Puritanism as against Romanism. Hence, too, when under 
 Elizabeth's successors the great decisive struggle between 
 despotism and liberty was inaugurated, we find all the tre- 
 mendous force of this newly awakened religious enthusiasm 
 cooperating with the English love of self-government and 
 
^ 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 39 
 
 carrying it under Cromwell to victory. From this fortunate 
 alliance of religious and political forces has come all the 
 noble and fruitful work of the last two centuries 
 in which men of English speech have been labour- ment of 
 ing for the political regeneration of mankind. But trfumjh 
 for this alliance of forces, it is quite possible that ™os*criti- 
 the fateful seventeenth century miarht have seen cai moment 
 
 . . . -' ° in history 
 
 despotism triumphant m England as on the conti- 
 nent of Europe, and the progress of civilization indefinitely 
 arrested. 
 
 In illustration of this possibility, observe what happened 
 in France at the very time when the victorious English ten- 
 dencies were shaping themselves in the reign of Elizabeth. 
 In France there was a strong Protestant movement, but it 
 had no such independent middle-class to support it as that 
 which existed in England ; nor had it been able to profit by 
 such indispensable preliminary work as that which Wyclif 
 had done; the horrible slaughter of the Albigenses had de- 
 prived France of the very people who might have played a 
 part in some way analogous to that of the Lollards. 
 Consequently the Protestant movement in France wiu/^^ 
 failed to become a national m&vement. Against the fote"of ihe 
 wretched Henry III. who would have temporized Hugue- 
 with it, and the gallant Henry IV. who honestly 
 espoused it, the oppressed peasantry and townsmen made 
 common cause by enlisting under the banner of the ultra- 
 Catholic Guises.' The mass of the people saw nothing in 
 Protestantism but an idea favoured by the aristocracy and 
 which they could not comprehend. Hence the great king 
 who would have been glad to make France a Protestant 
 country could only obtain his crown by renouncing his reli- 
 gion, while seeking to protect it by his memorable Edict of 
 Nantes. But what a generous despot could grant, a bigoted 
 despot might revoke; and before another century had 
 elapsed, the good work done by Henry IV. was undone by 
 Louis XIV., the Edict of Nantes was set aside, the process 
 of casting out the most valuable political element in the 
 
40 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 community was carried to completion, and seven per cent, of 
 the population of France was driven away and added to the 
 Protestant populations of northern Germany and England 
 
 and America. The gain to these countries and the dam- 
 age to France was far greater than the mere figures would 
 imply ; for in determining the character of a community a 
 hundred selected men and women are more potent than 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 41 
 
 a thousand men and women taken at random. Thus while 
 the Reformation in France reinforced to some extent the 
 noble army of freemen, its triumphs were not to be the tri- 
 umphs of Frenchmen, but of the race which has known how 
 to enlist under its banner the forces that fight for free 
 thought, free speech, and self-government, and all that these 
 phrases imply. 
 
 In view of these facts we may see how tremendous was 
 the question at stake with the Puritans of the seventeenth 
 century. Everywhere else the Roman idea seemed to have 
 conquered or to be conquering, while they seemed to be left 
 as the forlorn hope of the human race. But from the very day 
 when Oliver Cromwell reached forth his mighty arm to stop 
 the persecutions in Savoy, the victorious English idea began 
 to change the face of things. The next century 
 saw William'Pitt allied with Frederick of Prussia to the Eng- 
 save the work of the Reformation in central Europe 
 and set in motion the train of events that were at last to 
 make the people of the Teutonic fatherland a nation. At 
 that same moment the keenest minds in France were awak- 
 ing to the fact that in their immediate neighbourhood, 
 separated from them only by a few miles of salt water, was 
 a country where people were equal in the eye of the law. It 
 was the ideas of Locke and Milton, of Vane and Sidney, 
 that, when transplanted into French soil, produced that vio- 
 lent but salutary Revolution which has given fresh life to 
 the European world. And contemporaneously with all this, 
 the American "nation came upon the scene, equipped as no 
 other nation had ever been, for the task of combining sov- 
 ereignty with liberty, indestructible union of the whole with 
 indestructible life in the parts. The English idea has thus 
 come to be more than national, it has become imperial. It 
 has come to rule, and it has come to stay. 
 
 We are now in a position to answer the question when 
 the Roman Empire came to an end, in so far as it can be 
 answered at all. It did not come to its end at the hands of 
 an Odovakar in the year 476, or of a Mahomet II. in 1453, or 
 
42 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of a Napoleon in 1806. It has been coming to its end as the 
 Roman idea of nation-making has been at length decisively- 
 overcome by the English idea. For such a fact it is impos- 
 sible to assign a date, because it is not an event but. a stage 
 in the endless procession of events. But we can point to 
 
 ^ofCyi' (y^ClCfaTly 
 
 landmarks on the way. Of movements significant and pro- 
 phetic there have been many. The whole course of the 
 Protestant reformation, from the thirteenth century to the 
 nineteenth, is coincident with the transfer of the world's 
 political centre of gravity from the Tiber and the Rhine to 
 the Thames and the Mississippi. The whole career of the 
 men who speak English has within this period been the most 
 
THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA 43 
 
 potent agency in this transfer. In these gigantic processes 
 of evolution we cannot mark beginnings or endings by- 
 years, hardly even by centuries. But among the .significant 
 events which prophesied the final triumph of the English 
 over the Roman idea, perhaps the most signifi- signifi- 
 cant — the one which marks most incisively the purUan"'^ 
 dawning of a new era — was the migration of Eng- Exodus 
 lish Puritans across the Atlantic Ocean, to repeat in a new 
 environment and on a grander scale of dimensions the work 
 which their forefathers had wrought in Britain. The voy- 
 age of the Mayflower was not in itself the greatest event 
 in this migration ; but it serves to mark the era, and it is 
 only when we study it in the mood awakened by the general 
 considerations here set forth that we can properly estimate 
 the historic importance of the great Puritan Exodus. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 In the preceding chapter I endeavoured to set forth and 
 illustrate some of the chief causes which have shifted the 
 world's political centre of gravity from the Mediterranean 
 
 and the Rhine to the 
 Atlantic and the Mis- 
 sissippi ; from the 
 men who spoke Latin 
 to the men who speak 
 English. In the 
 course of the expo- 
 sition we began to 
 catch glimpses of 
 the wonderful signifi- 
 cance of the fact that 
 
 — among the people 
 who had first sug- 
 gested the true solu- 
 
 t^'f^K^'^^^^^WV^' ^^°^ °^ ^^^ difficult 
 
 w^ -^^^ ^ problem of making 
 
 a powerful nation 
 without sacrificing 
 local self-government 
 
 — when the supreme 
 day of trial came, the 
 dominant religious 
 sentiment was ar- 
 rayed on the side of political freedom and against political 
 despotism. If we consider merely the territorial area which 
 it covered, or the numbers of men slain in its battles, the war 
 of the English parliament against Charles I. seems a trivial 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 45 
 
 affair when contrasted with the gigantic but comparatively 
 insigniiicant work of barbarians like Jinghis or Tamerlane. 
 But if we consider the moral and political issues involved, and 
 the influence of the struggle upon the future welfare of man- 
 kind, we soon come to see that there never was a influence 
 conflict of more world-wide importance than that ?f Purftan- 
 from which Oliver Cromwell came out victorious, modem 
 It shattered the monarchical power in England at "™^^' 
 a time when monarchical power was bearing down all oppo- 
 sition in the other great countries of Europe. It decided 
 that government by the people and for the people should not 
 then perish from the 
 earth. It placed free 
 England in a position 
 of such moral advan- 
 tage that within an- 
 other century the Eng- 
 lish Idea of political 
 life was able to react 
 most powerfully upon 
 continental Europe. It 
 was the study of Eng- 
 lish institutions by such 
 men as Montesquieu 
 and Turgot, Voltaire 
 and Rousseau, that 
 gave shape and direc- 
 tion to the French Re- 
 volution. That violent 
 but wholesome clearing 
 of the air, that tremen- 
 dous political and moral 
 
 awakening, which ushered in the nineteenth century in Eu- 
 rope, had its sources in the spirit which animated the preach- 
 ing of Latimer, the song of Milton, the solemn imagery of 
 Bunyan, the political treatises of Locke and Sidney, the po- 
 litical measures of Hampden and Pym. The noblest type of 
 
 J^Sr^ :- 
 
46 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 modern European statesmanship, as represented by Mazzini 
 and Stein, is the spiritual offspring of seventeenth-century 
 Puritanism. To speak of Naseby and Marston Moor as 
 merely English victories would be as absurd as to restrict 
 the significance of Gettysburg to the state of Pennsylvania. 
 If ever there were men who laid down their lives in the 
 cause of all mankind, it was those grim old Ironsides whose 
 watchwords were texts from Holy Writ, whose battle-cries 
 were hymns of praise. 
 
 It was to this unwonted alliance of intense religious enthu- 
 siasm with the instinct of self-government and the spirit of 
 personal independence that the preservation of English free- 
 dom was due. When James I. ascended the English throne, 
 the forces which prepared the Puritan revolt had been 
 slowly and quietly gathering strength among the people for 
 at least two centuries. The work which Wyclif had begun 
 in the fourteenth century had continued to go on in spite of 
 occasional spasmodic attempts to destroy it with the aid of 
 the statute passed in 1401 for the burning of heretics. The 
 Lollards can hardly be said at any time to have constituted 
 a sect, marked off from the established church by the posses- 
 sion of a system of doctrines held in common. The name 
 by which they were known was a nickname which might 
 Work cover almost any amount of diversity in opinion, 
 
 of the like the modern epithets "free-thinker" and "ag- 
 
 nostic." The feature which characterized the Lol- 
 lards in common was a bold spirit of inquiry which led 
 them, in spite of persecution, to read Wyclif's English Bible 
 and call in question such dogmas and rites of the church as 
 did not seem to find warrant in the sacred text. Clad in 
 long robes of coarse red wool, barefoot, with pilgrim's staff 
 in hand, the Lollard preachers fared to and fro among the 
 quaint Gothic towns and shaded hamlets, setting forth the 
 word of God wherever they could find listeners, now in 
 the parish church or under the vaulted roof of the cathe- 
 dral, now in the churchyard or market-place, or on some 
 green hillside. During the fifteenth century persecution did 
 
TITLE or FIRST EDITION Ol' KING JAMES'S BIBLE 
 
48 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 much to check this open preaching, but passages from Wy- 
 clif' s tracts and texts from the Bible were copied by hand 
 and passed about among tradesmen and artisans, yeomen 
 and plough-boys, to be pondered over and talked about and 
 learned by heart. It was a new revelation to the English 
 people, this discovery of the Bible. Christ and his disciples 
 seemed to come very near when the beautiful story of the 
 gospels was first read in the familiar speech of every-day 
 life. Heretofore they might well have seemed remote and 
 unreal, just as the school-boy hardly realizes that the Cato 
 and Cassius over whom he puzzles in his Latin lessons were 
 once living men like his father and neighbours, and not mere 
 nominatives governing a verb, or ablatives of means or in- 
 strument. Now it became possible for the layman to con- 
 trast the pure teachings of Christ with the doctrines and 
 demeanour of the priests and monks to whom the spiritual 
 guidance of Englishmen had been entrusted. Strong and 
 self-respecting men and women, accustomed to manage their 
 own affairs, could not but be profoundly affected by the 
 contrast. 
 
 While they were thus led more and more to appeal to the 
 Bible as the divine standard of right living and right think- 
 ing, at the same time they found in the sacred volume the 
 treasures of a most original and noble literature unrolled 
 before them ; stirring history and romantic legend, cosmical 
 theories and priestly injunctions, profound metaphysics and 
 pithy proverbs, psalms of unrivalled grandeur and pastorals 
 of exquisite loveliness, parables fraught with solemn mean- 
 ing, the mournful wisdom of the preacher, the exultant faith 
 of the apostle, the matchless eloquence of Job and Isaiah, 
 the apocalyptic ecstasy of St. John. At a time when there 
 was as yet no English literature for the common people, this 
 untold wealth of Hebrew literature was implanted in the 
 English mind as in a virgin soil. Great consequences have 
 flowed from the fact that the first truly popular literature in 
 England — the first which stirred the hearts of all classes of 
 people, and filled their minds with ideal pictures and their 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 49 
 
 every-day speech with apt and telling phrases — was the 
 literature comprised within the Bible. The supe- The 
 riority of the common English version of the Bible, vers^o?of 
 made in the reign of James I., over all other ver- the Bible 
 sions, is a fact generally admitted by competent critics. The 
 sonorous Latin of the Vulgate is very grand, but in sublimity 
 of fervour as in the unconscious simplicity of strength it is 
 surpassed by the English version, which is scarcely if at all 
 inferior to the original, while it remains to-day, and will long 
 remain, the noblest monument of English speech. The rea- 
 son for this is obvious. The common English version of the 
 Bible was made by men who were not aiming at literary ef- 
 fect, but simply gave natural expression to the feelings which 
 for several generations had clustered around the sacred text. 
 They spoke with the voice of a people, which is more than 
 the voice of the most highly gifted man. They spoke with 
 the voice of a people to whom the Bible had come to mean 
 all that it meant to the men who wrote it. To the English- 
 men who listened to Latimer, to the Scotchmen who listened 
 to Knox, the Bible more than filled the place which in mod- 
 ern times is filled by poem and essay, by novel and newspaper 
 and scientific treatise. To its pages they went for daily in- 
 struction and comfort, with its strange Semitic names they 
 baptized their children, upon its precepts, too often misun- 
 derstood and misapplied, they sought to build up a rule of 
 life that might raise them above the crude and unsatisfying 
 world into which they were born. 
 
 It would be wrong to accredit all this awakening of spirit- 
 ual life in England to Wyclif and the Lollards, for it was only 
 after the Bible, in the translations of Tyndall and Coverdale, 
 had been made free to the whole English people in the reign 
 of Edward VI. that its significance began to be apparent ; 
 and it was only a century later, in the time of Cromwell and 
 Milton, that its full fruition was reached. It was with the 
 Lollards, however, that the spiritual awakening began and 
 was continued until its effects, when they came, were marked 
 by surprising maturity and suddenness. Because the Lol- 
 
d^^ (^CtXtM^ . 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 51 
 
 followed under Mary did much to strengthen the extreme 
 Protestant sentiment by allying it with the outraged feeling 
 of national independence. The bloody work of ^f^^^^^^f 
 the grand-daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the the perse- 
 doting wife of Philip II., was rightly felt to be under 
 Spanish work; and never, perhaps, did England ^^^ 
 feel such a sense of relief as on the auspicious day which 
 welcomed to the throne the great Elizabeth, an English- 
 woman in every fibre, and whose mother withal was the 
 daughter of a plain country gentleman. But the Marian 
 persecution not only increased the strength of the extreme 
 Protestant sentiment, but indirectly it supplied it with that 
 Calvinistic theology which was to make it indomitable. Of 
 the hundreds of ministers and laymen who fled from England 
 in 1555 and the two following years, a great part found 
 their way to Geneva, and thus came under the immediate 
 personal influence of that man of iron who taught the very 
 doctrines for which their souls were craving, and who was 
 then at the zenith of his power. 
 
 Among all the great benefactors of mankind the figure of 
 Calvin is perhaps the least attractive. He was, so to speak, 
 the constitutional lawyer of the Reformation, with' vision as 
 clear, with head as cool, with soul as dry, as any old solicitor 
 in rusty black that ever dwelt in chambers in Lincoln's Inn. 
 His sternness was that of the judge who dooms a criminal 
 to the gallows. His theology had much in it that is in strik- 
 ing harmony with modern scientific philosophy, and much in 
 it, too, that the descendants of his Puritan converts have 
 learned to loathe as sheer diabolism. It is hard for us to 
 forgive the man who burned Michael Servetus, even though 
 it was the custom of the time to do such things and the • 
 tender-hearted Melanchthon found nothing to blame in it. 
 It is not easy to speak of Calvin with enthusiasm, as it 
 comes natural to speak of the genial, whole-souled, many- 
 sided, mirth-and-song-loving Luther. Nevertheless it would 
 be hard to overrate the debt which mankind owe to Calvin. 
 The spiritual father of Coligny, of William the Silent, and 
 
52 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of Cromwell must occupy a foremost rank among the cham- 
 pions of modern democracy. Perhaps not one of the medi- 
 eval popes was more despotic in temper than Calvin ; but 
 Calvin's it is not the less true that the promulgation of his 
 Us^poHtol theology was one of the longest steps that mankind 
 bearings have taken toward personal freedom. Calvinism 
 left the individual man alone in the presence of his God. 
 His salvation could not be wrought by' priestly ritual, 
 but only by the grace of God abounding in his soul ; and 
 wretched creature that he felt himself to be, through the 
 intense moral awakening of which this stern theology was 
 in part the expression, his soul was nevertheless of infinite 
 value, and the possession of it was the subject of an ever- 
 lasting struggle between the powers of heaven and the 
 powers of hell. In presence of the awful responsibility of 
 life, all distinctions of rank and fortune vanished ; prince 
 and pauper were alike the helpless creatures of Jehovah and 
 suppliants for his grace. Calvin did not originate these doc- 
 trines ; in announcing them he was but setting forth, as he 
 said, the Institutes- of the Christian religion; but in empha- 
 sizing this aspect of Christianity, in engraving it upon ihen's 
 minds with that keen-edged logic which he used with such 
 unrivalled skill, Calvin made them feel, as it had perhaps 
 never been felt before, the dignity and importance of the 
 individual human soul. It was a religion fit to inspire men 
 who were to be called upon to fight for freedom, whether in 
 the marshes of the Netherlands or on the moors of Scotland. 
 In a church, moreover, based upon such a theology there, 
 was no room for prelacy. Each single church tended to 
 become an independent congregation of worshippers,, con- 
 stituting one of the most effective schools that has ever 
 existed for training men in local self-government. 
 
 When, therefore, upon the news of Elizabeth's accession 
 to the throne, the Protestant refugees made their way back 
 to England, they came as Calvinistic Puritans. Their stay 
 upon the Continent had been short, but it had been just 
 enough to put the finishing touch upon the work that had 
 

54 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 been going on since the days of Wyclif. Upon such men 
 and their theories EHzabeth could not look with favour. 
 With all her father's despotic temper, Elizabeth possessed 
 her mother's fine tact, and she represented so grandly the 
 feeling of the nation in its life-and-death-struggle with Spain 
 and the pope, that never perhaps in English- history has the 
 crown wielded so much real power as during the five-and- 
 forty years of her wonderful reign. One dky Elizabeth 
 asked a lady of the court how she contrived to retain her 
 husband's affection. The lady replied that " she had confi- 
 dence in her husband's understanding and courage, well 
 founded on her own steadfastness not to offend or thwart, 
 but to cherish and obey, whereby she did persuade her hus- 
 band of her own affection, and in so doing did command 
 his." " Go to, go to, mistress," cried the queen. " You are 
 wisely bent, I find. After such sort do I keep the good will 
 of all my husbands, my good people ; for if they did not rest 
 assured of some special love towards them, they would not 
 readily yield me such good obedience." ^ 
 
 Such a theory of government might work well in the hands 
 ^,. , , , of an Elizabeth, and in the circumstances in which 
 
 Elizabeth's 
 
 policy, and England was then placed ; but it could hardly be 
 
 its £r[£c1is 
 
 worked by a successor. The seeds of revolt were 
 already sown. The disposition to curb the sovereign was 
 growing and would surely assert itself as soon as it should 
 have some person less loved and respected than Elizabeth to 
 deal with. The queen in some measure foresaw this, and in 
 the dogged independence and uncompromising enthusiasm 
 of the Puritans she recognized the rock on which monarchy 
 might dash itself into pieces. She therefore hated the Puri- 
 tans, and persecuted them zealously with one hand, while 
 circumstances forced her in spite of herself to aid and abet 
 them with the other. She could not maintain herself against 
 Spain without helping the Dutch and the Huguenots ; but 
 every soldier she sent across the channel came back, if he 
 came at all, with his head full of the doctrines of Calvin ; 
 ' Gardiner, The Puritan Revolution^ p. 12. 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 5S 
 
 and these stalwart converts were reinforced by the refugees 
 frpm France and the Netherlands who came flocking into 
 English towns to set up their thrifty shops and hold prayer- 
 meetings in their humble chapels. To guard the kingdom 
 
S6 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 against the intrigues of Philip and the Guises and the Queen , 
 of Scots, it was necessary to choose the most zealous Pro- 
 testants for the most responsible positions, and such men 
 were more than likely to be Calvinists and Puritans. Eliza- 
 beth's great ministers, Burghley, Walsingham, and Nicholas 
 Bacon, were inclined toward Puritanism ; and so were the 
 naval heroes who won the most fruitful victories of that cen- 
 tury, by shattering the maritime power of Spain and thus 
 opening the way for Englishmen to colonize North America. 
 If we would reahze the dangers that would have beset the 
 Mayflower and her successors but for the preparatory work 
 of these immortal sailors, we must remember the dreadful 
 fate of Ribault and his Huguenot followers in Florida, 
 twenty-three years before that most happy and glorious 
 event, the destruction of the Spanish Armada. But not 
 even the devoted men and women who held their prayer- 
 meetings in the Mayflower's cabin were more constant in 
 Puritan prayer or more assiduous in reading the Bible than 
 sea-rovers ^j^g dauntless rovers, Drake and Hawkins, Gilbert ' 
 and Cavendish. In the church itself, too, the Puritan spirit 
 grew until in 1575-83 it seized upon Grindal, archbishop of 
 Canterbury, who incurred the queen's disfavour by refusing 
 to meddle with the troublesome reformers or to suppress 
 their prophesyings. By the end of the century the majority 
 of country gentlemen and of wealthy merchants in the towns 
 had become Puritans, and the new views had made great 
 headway in both universities, while at Cambridge they had 
 become dominant. 
 
 This allusion to the universities may serve to introduce 
 the very interesting topic of the geographical distribution of 
 Puritanism in England. No one can study the history of the 
 two universities without being impressed with the greater 
 conservatism of Oxford, and the greater hospitality of Cam- 
 bridge toward new ideas. Possibly the explanation may 
 have some connection with the situation of Cambridge upon 
 the East Anglian border. The eastern counties of England 
 have often been remarked as rife in heresy and independ- 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 57 
 
 ency. For many generations the coast region between the 
 Thames and the H umber was a veritable litus hcBreticum} 
 Longland, bishop of Lincoln in 1520, reported Lollardism as 
 especially vigorous and obstinate in -his diocese, where more 
 than two hundred heretics were once brought before him in 
 the course of a single visitation. It was in Lincolnshire, 
 Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, and among the fens of Ely, 
 Cambridge, and Huntingdon, that Puritanism was strongest 
 at the end of the sixteenth century. It was as pujjtanjsnj 
 member and leading spirit of the Eastern Counties wasstrong- 
 
 . . . . est in the 
 
 Association that Oliver Cromwell began his military eastern 
 career ; and in so far as there was anything sec- "^"^ '^^ 
 tional in the struggle between Charles I. and the Long Par- 
 liament, it was a struggle which ended in the victory of east 
 over west. East Anglia was from first to last the one region 
 in which the supremacy of Parliament was unquestionable 
 and impregnable, even after the strength of its population 
 had been diminished by sending some thousands of picked 
 men and women to America. While every one of the forty 
 counties of England was represented in the great Puritan 
 exodus, the East Anglian counties contributed to it far more 
 than all the rest. Perhaps it would not be far out of the 
 way to say that two thirds of the American people who can 
 trace their ancestry to New England might follow it back to 
 the East Anglian shires of the mother-country ; one sixth 
 might follow it to those southwestern counties — Devon- 
 shire, Dorset, and Somerset — which so long were foremost 
 in maritime enterprise ; one sixth to other parts of 
 
 T, , , T t T . ■ 1 i Preponder- 
 
 England. I would not insist upon the exactness anceof 
 of such figures, in a matter where only a rough g^^ in the 
 approximation is possible ; but I do not think they f^J^^^ 
 overstate the East Anglian preponderance. It was 
 not by accident that the earliest counties of Massachusetts 
 
 1 In my forthcoming book, " The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in 
 America," I hope to prove that this was due to the close and long- 
 continued intercourse between the eastern counties and the Nether- 
 lands. 
 
S8 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 were called Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, or that Boston in 
 Lincolnshire gave its name to the chief city of New England. 
 The native of Connecticut or Massachusetts who wanders 
 about rural England to-day finds no part of it so homelike as 
 the cosy villages and smiling fields and quaint market towns 
 as he fares leisurely and in not too straight a line from Ipswich 
 toward Hull. Countless little unobtrusive features remind 
 him of home. The very names on the sign-boards over the 
 sleepy shops have an unwontedly familiar look. In many 
 instances the homestead which his forefathers left, when 
 they followed Winthrop or Hooker to America, is still to be 
 found, well-kept and comfortable ; the ancient manor-house 
 built of massive unhewn stone, yet in other respects much 
 like the New England farmhouse, with its long sloping roof 
 and gable end toward the road, its staircase with twisted 
 balusters running across the shallow entry-way, its low ceil- 
 ings with their sturdy oaken beams, its spacious chimneys, 
 and its narrow casements from which one might have looked 
 out upon the anxious march of Edward IV. from Ravenspur 
 to the field of victory at Barnet in days when America was 
 unknown. Hard by, in the little parish church which has 
 stood for perhaps a thousand years, plain enough and bleak 
 enough to suit the taste of the sternest Puritan, one may 
 read upon the cold pavement one's own name and the names 
 of one's friends and neighbours in startling proximity, some- 
 what worn and effaced by the countless feet that have trod- 
 den there. And yonder on the village green one comes with 
 bated breath upon the simple inscription which tells of some 
 humble hero who on that spot in the evil reign of Mary suf- 
 fered death by fire. Pursuing thus our interesting journey, 
 we may come at last to the quiet villages of Austerfield and 
 Scrooby, hard by the banks of the little rivers Ryton and 
 Idle, just at the corner of the three shires of Lincoln, York, 
 and Nottingham. It was from this neighbourhood that the 
 Puritan exodus to America was begun. 
 
 It was not, however, in the main stream of Puritanism, but 
 in one of its obscure rivulets that this world-famous move- 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 S9 
 
 ment originated. During the reign of Elizabeth it was not 
 the purpose of the Puritans to separate themselves from 
 the established church of which the sovereign was the head, 
 but to remain within it and reform it according to their own 
 notions. For a time they were partially successful in this 
 
 
 SCROOBY AND AUSTERFIELD 
 
 work, especially in simplifying the ritual and in giving a 
 Calvinistic tinge to the doctrines. In doing this they showed 
 no conscious tendency toward freedom of thought, but rather 
 a bigotry quite as intense as that which animated the system 
 against which they were fighting. The most ad- purit^nism 
 vanced liberalism of Elizabeth's time was not to be was not in- 
 found among the Puritans, but in the magnificent aiUedwith 
 treatise on " Ecclesiastical Polity " by the church- ^''^'^'^'^ 
 man Richard Hooker. But the liberalism of this great 
 writer, like that of Erasmus a century earlier, was not mili- 
 tant enough to meet the sterner demands of the time. It 
 could not then ally itself TArith the democratic spirit, as Puri- 
 
6o 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 tanism did. It has been well said that while Luther was the 
 prophet of the Reformation that has been, Erasmus was the 
 prophet of the Reformation that is to come, and so it was 
 to some extent with the Puritans and Hooker. The Puritan 
 fight against the hierarchy was a political necessity of the 
 time, something without which no real and thorough refor- 
 mation could then be effected. In her antipathy to this 
 democratic movement, Elizabeth vexed and tormented the 
 Puritans as far as she deemed it prudent ; and in the con- 
 servative temper of the people she found enough support 
 to prevent their transforming the church as they would 
 have liked to do. Among the Puritans themselves, indeed, 
 
 there was no definite 
 agreement on this 
 point. Some would 
 have stopped short 
 with Presbyterianism, 
 while others held that 
 "new presbyter was 
 but old priest writ 
 large," and so pressed 
 on to Independency. 
 It was early in Eliza- 
 beth's reign that the 
 zeal of these extreme 
 brethren, inflamed by 
 persecution, gave rise 
 to the sect of Sepa- 
 ratists, who flatly de- 
 nied the royal supremacy over ecclesiastical affairs, and 
 asserted the right to set up churches of their own, with 
 pastors and elders and rules of discipline, independent of 
 queen or bishop. 
 
 In 1567 the first congregation of this sort, consisting of 
 about a hundred persons assembled in a hall in Anchor Lane 
 in London, was forcibly broken up and thirty-one of the 
 number were sent to jail and kept there for nearly a year. 
 
 RICHARD HOOKER 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 6i 
 
 By 1576 the Separatists had come to be recognized as a sect, 
 under the lead of Robert Browne, a man of high Robert 
 social position, related to the great Lord Burgh- f^dtht 
 ley. Browne fled to Holland, where he preached Separatists 
 to a congregation of English exiles, and wrote books which 
 were smuggled into England and privately circulated there, 
 much to the disgust, not only of the queen, but of all parties, 
 
 Puritans as well as High Church- 
 CRo^tSlf^ ^to^-n.^ men. The great majority of Puri- 
 tans, whose aim was not to leave 
 the church, but to stay in it and control it, looked with 
 dread and disapproval upon these extremists who seemed 
 likely to endanger their success by forcing them into deadly 
 opposition to the crown. Just as in the years which ushered 
 in our late Civil War, the opponents of the Republicans 
 sought to throw discredit upon them by confusing them 
 with the little sect of Abolitionists ; and just as the Repub- 
 licans, in resenting the imputation, went so far as to frown 
 upon the Abolitionists, so that in December, i860, men who 
 had just voted for Mr. Lincoln were ready to join in break- 
 ing up "John Brown meetings" in Boston ; so it was with 
 religious parties in the reign of Elizabeth. The opponents 
 of the Puritans pointed to the Separatists, and cried, "See 
 whither your anarchical doctrines are leading! " and in their 
 eagerness to clear themselves of this insinuation, the leading 
 Puritans were as severe upon the Separatists as anybody. 
 It is worthy of note that in both instances the imputation, 
 so warmly resented, was true. Under the pressure of actual 
 hostilities the Republicans did become Abolitionists, and in 
 like manner, when in England it came to downright warfare 
 the Puritans became Separatists. But meanwhile it fared ill 
 with the little sect which everybody hated and despised. 
 Their meetings were broken up by mobs. In an old pam- 
 phlet describing a "tumult in Fleet Street, raised by the 
 disorderly preachment, pratings, and prattlings of a swarm 
 of Separatists," one reads such sentences as the following : 
 " At length they catcht one of them alone, but they kickt 
 
62 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 him so vehemently as if they meant to beat him into a jelly. 
 It is ambiguous whether they have kil'd him or no, but for 
 a certainty they did knock him about as if they meant to 
 pull him to pieces. I confesse it had been no matter if they 
 
 had beaten the whole tribe in the like manner." For their 
 leaders the penalty was more serious. The denial of the 
 queen's ecclesiastical supremacy could be treated as high 
 treason, and two of Browne's friends, convicted of circulating 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 63 
 
 his books, were sent to the gallows. In spite of these dan- 
 gers Browne returned to England in 1585. William the 
 Silent had lately been murdered, and heresy in Holland was 
 not yet safe from the long arm of the Spaniard. Browne 
 trusted in Lord Burghley's ability to protect him, but in 
 1588, finding himself in imminent danger, he suddenly 
 recanted and accepted a comfortable living under the bish- 
 ops who had just condemned him. His followers were 
 already known as Brownists ; henceforth their enemies took 
 pains to call them so and twit them with holding doctrines 
 too weak for making martyrs. 
 
 The flimsiness of Browne's moral texture prevented him 
 from becoming the leader in the Puritan exodus to New 
 England. That honour was reserved for William wiUiam 
 Brewster, son of a country gentleman who had for ^''^"^'^'^ 
 many years been postmaster at Scrooby. The office was 
 then one of high responsibility and influence. After taking 
 his degree at Cambridge, Brewster became private secre- 
 tary to Sir William Davison, whom he accompanied on his 
 mission to the Netherlands. When Davison's public career 
 
 came to an end in 1587, Brew- 
 ster returned to Scrooby, and 
 "t^^ soon afterward succeeded his 
 father as postmaster, in which 
 position he remained until 1607. During the interval Eliza- 
 beth died, and James Stuart came from Scotland to take 
 her place on the throne. The feelings with which the late 
 queen had regarded Puritanism were mild compared with 
 the sentiments entertained by her successor. For some 
 years he had been getting worsted in his struggle with the 
 Presbyterians of the northern kingdom. His vindictive mem- 
 ory treasured up the day when a mighty Puritan preacher 
 had in public twitched him by the sleeve and called him 
 "God's silly vassal." "I tell you, sir," said Andrew Mel- 
 ville on that occasion, " there are two kings and two king- 
 doms in Scotland. There is Christ Jesus the King, and his 
 kingdom the Kirk, whose subject James VI. is, and of whose 
 
 Mn iiM 
 
64 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ?^ 
 
 AUSTERFIELD CHURCH 
 
 J 
 
 kingdom not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a member. 
 And they whom Christ hath called to watch over his kirk 
 and govern his spiritual kingdom have sufficient power and 
 authority so to do both together and severally." In this 
 bold and masterful speech we have the whole political phi- 
 losophy of Puritanism, as in a nutshell. Under the guise of 
 theocratic fanaticism, and in words as arrogant as ever fell 
 James from pricstly lips, there was couched the assertion 
 Andrew"'^ of the popular will against despotic privilege. Mel- 
 Meiviiie yiUg could Say such things to the king's face and 
 walk away unharmed, because there stood behind him a 
 people fully aroused to the conviction that there is an eternal 
 law of God, which kings no less than scullions must obey.^ 
 Melville knew this full well, and so did James know it in the 
 bitterness of his heart. He would have no such mischievous 
 ^ Green, History of the English People, iii. 47. 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 65 
 
 work in England. He despised Elizabeth's grand national 
 policy which his narrow intellect could not comprehend. 
 He could see that in fighting Spain and aiding Dutchmen 
 and Huguenots she was strengthening the very spirit that 
 sought to pull monarchy down. In spite of her faults, 
 which were neither few nor small, the patriotism of that 
 fearless woman was superior to any personal ambition. It 
 was quite otherwise with James. He was by no means 
 fearless, and he cared more for James Stuart than for either 
 England or Scotland. He had an overweening opinion of 
 his skill in kingcraft. In coming to Westminster it was his 
 policy to use his newly acquired power to break down the 
 Puritan party in both kingdoms and to fasten episcopacy 
 upon Scotland. In pursuing this policy he took no heed of 
 English national sentiment, but was quite ready to defy and 
 insult it, even to the point of making — before children who 
 remembered the Armada had yet reached middle age — an 
 alliance with the hated Spaniard. In such wise James suc- 
 ceeded in arraying against the monarchical principle the 
 strongest forces of English life, — the sentiment of nation- 
 ality, the sentiment of personal freedom, and the uncom- 
 promising religious fervour of Calvinism ; and out of this 
 invincible combination of forces has been wrought the nobler 
 and happier state of society in which we live to-day. • 
 
 Scarcely ten months had James been king of England 
 when he invited the leading Puritan clergymen to meet him- 
 self and the bishops in a conference at Hampton Court, as 
 he wished to learn what changes they would like to make 
 in the government and ritual of the church. In the course 
 of the discussion he lost his temper and stormed, as was his 
 wont. The mention of the word " presbytery " lashed him 
 into fury. "A Scottish presbytery," he cried, "agreeth as 
 well with a monarchy as God and the Devil. Then ^,. 
 
 -' King 
 
 Jack and Tom and Will and Dick shall meet, and James's 
 at their pleasures censure me and my council, and political 
 all our proceedings. . . . Stay, I pray you, for one =''"*''™ 
 seven years, before you demand that from n^e, and if then 
 
66 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 you find me pursy and fat, and my windpipes stuffed, I will 
 perhaps hearken to you. . . . Until you find that I grow 
 lazy, let that alone." One of the bishops declared that in 
 this significant tirade his Majesty spoke by special inspira- 
 tion from Heaven ! The Puritans saw that their only hope 
 lay in resistance. If any doubt remained, it was dispelled 
 
 C^. 
 
 /Uz^^i^ 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 67 
 
 by the vicious threat with which the king broke up the 
 conference. "I will make them conform," said he, "or I 
 will harry them out of the land:" 
 
 These words made a profound sensation in England, as 
 well they might, for they heralded the struggle which within 
 half a century was to deliver up James's son to the execu- 
 tioner. The Parliament of 1604 met in angrier mood than 
 any Parliament which had assembled at Westminster since 
 the dethronement of Richard II. Among the churches 
 non-conformity began more decidedly to assume the form 
 
 THE MANOR HOUSE AT ' SCROOBY, WILLIAM BREWSTER'S RESIDENCE 
 
 of secession. The keynote of the conflict was struck at 
 Scrooby. Staunch Puritan as he was, Brewster had not 
 hitherto favoured the extreme measures of the Separatists. 
 Now he withdrew from the church, and gathered together 
 a company of men and women who met on Sundays for 
 divine service in his own drawing-room at Scrooby ji,g ^^^_ 
 Manor. In organizing this independent Congrega- gregation 
 tionalist society, Brewster was powerfully aided by ratists at 
 John Robinson, a native of Lincolnshire. Robin- 
 son was then thirty years of age, and had taken his mas- 
 ter's degree at Cambridge in 1600. He was a man of great 
 learning and rare sweetness of temper, and was moreover 
 distinguished for a broad and tolerant habit of mind too sel- 
 dom found among the Puritans of that day. Friendly and 
 unfriendly writers alike bear witness to his spirit of Christian 
 
68 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 charity.and the comparatively slight value which he attached 
 to orthodoxy in points of doctrine ; and we can hardly be 
 wrong in supposing that the comparatively tolerant behav- 
 iour of the Plymouth colonists, whereby they were contrasted 
 with the settlers of Massachusetts, was in some measure due 
 
 to the abiding influence of the 
 teachings of this admirable man. 
 (o^^yi^.^_ Another important member of the 
 Scrooby congregation was William 
 Bradford, of the neighbouring village of Austerfield, then a 
 lad of seventeen years, but already remarkable for maturity 
 of intelligence and weight of character. Afterward governor 
 of Plymouth for nearly thirty years, he became the histo- 
 rian of his colony ; and to his picturesque chronicle, written 
 in pure and vigorous English, we are indebted for most that 
 we know of the migration that started from Scrooby and 
 ended in Plymouth. 
 
 It was in 1606 — two years after King James's truculent 
 threat — that this independent church of Scrooby was or- 
 ganized. Another year had not elapsed before its members 
 had suffered so much at the hands of officers of the law, 
 that they began to think of following the example of former 
 heretics and escaping to Holland. After an unsuccessful 
 attempt in the autumn of 1607, they at length succeeded a 
 few months later in accomplishing their flight to Amster- 
 dam, where they hoped to find a home. But here they 
 found the English exiles who had preceded them so fiercely 
 involved in doctrinal controversies, that they decided to go 
 further in search of peace and quiet. This decision, which 
 we may ascribe to Robinson's wise counsels, served to keep 
 the society of Pilgrims from getting divided and scattered. 
 They reached Leyden in 1609, just as the Spanish govern- 
 ment had sullenly abandoned the hopeless task of conquer- 
 ing the Dutch, and had granted to Holland the Twelve 
 The flight Years Truce. During eleven of these twelve years 
 ■ to Holland the Pilgrims remained in Leyden, supporting them- 
 selves by various occupations, while their numbers increased 
 
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THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 69 
 
 to three hundred or more. There was also, during the 
 same years, a congregation of Englishmen at Amsterdam. 
 Brewster opened a publishing house, devoted mainly to the 
 issue of theological books. Robinson accepted a professor- 
 ship in the university, and engaged in the defence of Cal- 
 vinism against the attacks of Episcopius, the successor of 
 
 PLAN OK LEYDEN 
 
 Arminius. The youthful Bradford devoted himself to the 
 study of languages, — Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and 
 finally Hebrew ; wishing, as he said, to " see with his own 
 eyes the ancient oracles of God in all their native beauty." 
 During their sojourn in Leyden, the Pilgrims were intro- 
 duced to a strange and novel spectacle, — the systematic 
 legal toleration of all persons, whether Catholic or Protes- 
 tant, who called themselves followers of Christ. All persons 
 who came to Holland, and led decorous lives there, were 
 protected in their opinions and customs. By contempo- 
 rary writers in other countries this eccentric behaviour of 
 the Dutch government was treated with unspeakable scorn. 
 "All strange religions flock thither," says one ; it is "a com- 
 
70 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 mon harbour of all heresies," a "cage of unclean birds," says 
 another; "the great mingle mangle of religion," says a 
 third.^ In spite of the relief from persecution, however, 
 the Pilgrims were not fully satisfied with their new home. 
 The expiration of the truce with Spain might prove that 
 this relief was only temporary ; and at any rate, complete 
 toleration did not fill the measure of their wants. Had they 
 come to Holland as scattered bands of refugees, they might 
 have been absorbed into the Dutch population, as Huguenot 
 refugees have been absorbed in Germany, England, and 
 Why the America. But they had come as an organized 
 didToT^ community, and absorption into a foreign nation 
 stay there -^yas something to be dreaded. They wished to 
 preserve their English speech and English traditions, keep 
 up their organization, and find some favoured spot where 
 they might lay the corner-stone of a great Christian state. 
 The spirit of nationality was strong in them ; the spirit of 
 self-government was strong in them ; and the only thing 
 which could satisfy these feelings was such a migration as 
 had not been seen since ancient times, a migration like that 
 of Phokaians to Massilia or Tyrians to Carthage. 
 
 It was too late in the world's history to carry out such a 
 scheme upon European soil. Every acre of territory there 
 was appropriated. The only favourable outlook was upon 
 the Atlantic coast of America, where English cruisers had 
 now successfully disputed the pretensions of Spain, and 
 where after forty years of disappointment and disaster a 
 flourishing colony had at length been founded in Virginia. 
 The colonization of the North American coast had now 
 become part of the avowed policy of the British govern- 
 ment. In 1606 a great joint-stock company was formed for 
 the establishment of two colonies in America. The branch 
 which was to take charge of the proposed southern colony 
 had its headquarters in London ; the management of the 
 northern branch was at Plymouth in Devonshire. Hence 
 the two branches are commonly spoken of as the London 
 1 Steele's Life of Brewster, p. 161. 
 
E 
 
 llr t:" JS ^ ftS|| ■ 'Captaine B<«»t/«Io»»»> Gofmld , Cap- *]!^' ■ 
 |,n Uine Bartholowmw GMen, and diuers gi'ii 
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 i5-yji 
 
 is. 
 
 Bricfe aria mje Relation of 
 the DiftoDKieof the North 
 
 ^0$pleai'ant,&uitruU ' .. 
 aadtommodieus 
 i . fpile: . 
 
 permi^on of >Iie honotirabic knight^ 
 Sit WaXtek Raleghj&c. 
 
 e^e of the voyage. 
 
 Whereunto is annexedaTrcatife, 
 
 ssiij bfM. £(<wWHi»ji%cont<:inviig important 
 . Jl)3 inducements for the planting in thofs " 
 'pi% partSjandfindmgapaRagcihat 
 
 JS way to thtSoutb lea, 
 
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 m>. 
 
 EARLIEST ENGLISH BOOK RELATING T.O NEW ENGLAND 
 
SECOND ENGLISH BOOK RELATING TO NEW ENGLAND 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 73 
 
 and Plymouth companies. The former was also called the 
 Virginia Company, and the latter the North Vir- xhe Lon- 
 ginia Company, as the name of Virginia was then p°yn^o^th 
 loosely applied to the entire Atlantic coast north of companies 
 Florida. The London Company had jurisdiction from 34° to 
 38° north latitude ; the Plymouth Company had jurisdiction 
 from 45° down to 41" ; the intervening territory, between 38° 
 and 41°, was practically to go to whichever company should 
 first plant a self-supporting colony. The local government 
 of each colony was to be entrusted to a council resident in 
 America and nominated by the king ; while general super- 
 vision over both colonies was to be exercised by a council 
 resident in England. 
 
 In pursuance of this general plan, though with some 
 variations in detail, the settlement of Jamestown had been 
 begun, in 1607, and its success was now beginning to seem 
 assured. Qn the other hand, all the attempts which had 
 been made to the north of the fortieth parallel had- failed 
 miserably. As early as 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold, with 
 32 men, had landed on the headland which they named 
 Cape Cod from the fish found thereabouts in great numbers. 
 This was the first English name given to any spot in that 
 part of Anaerica, and so far as known these were the first 
 Englishmen that ever set foot there. They went on and 
 gave names to Martha's Vineyard and the Eliza- pji-stex- 
 beth Islands in Buzzard's Bay ; and on Cuttvhunk pjoration 
 
 ■' ■' of the New 
 
 they built some huts with the intention of remain- England 
 ing, but after a month's experience they changed 
 their mind and went back to England. Gosnold's story 
 interested other captains, a!nd on Easter Sunday, 1605-, 
 George Weymouth set sail for North Virginia, as it was 
 called. He found Cape Cod and coasted northward as far 
 as the Kennebec river, up which he sailed for many miles. 
 Weymouth kidnapped five Indians and carried them to Eng- 
 land, that they might learn the language and acquire a whole- 
 some respect for the arts of civilization and the resistless 
 power of white men. His glowing accounts of the spacious 
 
74 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 harbours, the abundance of fish and game, the noble trees, 
 the hixuriant herbage, and the balmy climate, aroused gen- 
 eral interest in England, and doubtless had some influence 
 upon the formation, in the following year, of the great joint- 
 stock company just described. The leading spirit of the 
 Plymouth Company was Sir John Popham, chief-justice of 
 England, and he was not disposed to let his friends of the 
 southern branch excel him in promptness. Within three 
 months after the founding of Jamestown, a party of 120 
 colonists, led by the judge's kinsman, George Popham, landed 
 at the mouth of the Kenn'ebec, and proceeded to build a 
 rude village of some fifty cabins, with storehouse, chapel, 
 and blockhouse. When they landed in August they doubt- 
 less shared Weymouth's opinion of the climate. These 
 Englishmen had heard of warm countries like Italy and cold 
 countries like Russia ; harsh experience soon taught them 
 that there are climates in which the summer of Naples may 
 alternate with the winter of Moscow. The president and 
 many others fell sick and died. News came of the death of 
 Sir John Popham in England, and presently the weary and 
 disappointed settlers abandoned their enterprise and returned 
 to their old homes. Their failure spread abroad in England 
 the opinion' that North Virginia was uninhabitable by reason 
 of the cold, and no further attempts were made upon that 
 coast until in 16 14 it was visited by Captain John Smith. 
 
 The romantic career of this gallant and garrulous hero 
 did not end with his departure from the infant ■ colony at 
 Jamestown. By a curious destiny his fame is associated 
 John with the beginnings of both the southern and the 
 
 ^™* northern portions of the United States. To Vir- 
 
 ginia Smith may be said to have given its very existence as 
 a commonwealth ; to New England he gave its name. In 
 1614 he came over with two ships to North Virginia, ex- 
 plored its coast minutely from the Penobscot river to Cape 
 Cod, and thinking it a country of such extent and impor- 
 tance as to deserve a name of its own, rechristened it New 
 England. On returning home he made a very good map of 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 75 
 
 the coast and dotted it with EngHsh names suggested by 
 Prince Charles. Of these names Cape Elizabeth, Cape 
 Ann, Charles River, and Plymouth still remain where Smith 
 placed them. In 1615 Smith again set sail for the New 
 World, this time with a view to planting a colony under the 
 
76 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 auspices of the Plymouth Company, but his talent for strange 
 adventures had not deserted him. He was taken prisoner 
 by a French fleet, carried hither and thither on a long cruise, 
 and finally set ashore at Rochelle, whence, without a penny 
 in his pocket, he contrived to make his way back to Eng- 
 land. Perhaps Smith's life of hardship may have made 
 him prematurely old. After all his wild and varied experi- 
 ence he was now only in his thirty-seventh year, but we do 
 not find him going on any more voyages. The remaining 
 sixteen years of his life were spent quietly in England in 
 writing books, publishing maps, and otherwise stimulating 
 the public interest in the colonization of the New World. 
 But as for the rocky coast of New England, which he had 
 explored and named, he declared that he was not so simple 
 as to suppose that any other motive than riches would " ever 
 erect there a commonwealth or draw company from their 
 ease and humours at home, to stay in New England." 
 
 In this opinion, however, the bold explorer was mistaken. 
 Of all migrations of peoples the settlement of New England 
 is preeminently the one in which the almighty dollar played 
 the smallest part, however important it may since have be- 
 come as a motive power. It was left for religious enthusi- 
 asm to achieve what commercial enterprise had failed to 
 accomplish. By the summer of 1617 the Pilgrim society 
 at Leyden had decided to send a detachment of its most 
 vigorous members to lay the foundations of a Puritan state 
 in America. There had been much discussion as to the fit- 
 test site for such a colony. Many were in'favour of Guiana, 
 which Sir Walter Raleigh had described in such glowing 
 colours ; but it was thought that the tropical climate would 
 be ill-suited to northern men of industrious and thrifty habit, 
 and the situation, moreover, was dangerously exposed to the 
 Spaniards. Half a century had scarcely elapsed since the 
 wholesale massacre of Huguenots in Florida. New England, 
 on the other hand, was considered too cold. Popham's ex- 
 perience was not encouraging. Virginia was then talked of, 
 but while the subject was under discussion an attempt was 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 n 
 
 made to send a company of Pilgrims thither from Amster- 
 dam, and it ended in disaster. In 1618 a certain Mr. Black- 
 well, elder of the church at Amsterdam, made arrangements 
 with the London Company for settling such a colony in Vir- 
 ginia. The details of the affair are obscure. It appears that 
 Blackwell and some friends were arrested in London, but the 
 
 / 
 
 Gimii^- 
 
78 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 astute elder contrived so to represent things — perhaps with 
 some violence to truth — as to obtain Archbishop Abbot's 
 blessing on his enterprise. But the blessing, as Bradford 
 pithily suggests, proved ineffectual. A company of i8o 
 emigrants were "packed together like herrings" in a small 
 ship, whereat "the marchants upbraided Mr. Blackwell" 
 for these inadequate arrangements, and he retorted upon 
 them ; " yea, y= streets at Gravesend runge of their extreame 
 quarrelings, crying out one of another, thou hast brought 
 me to this." When Captain Argall returned from Virginia, 
 in May, 1619, he reported the arrival of the little weather- 
 beaten ship in Chesapeake Bay, with less than fifty surviv- 
 ors ; the rest, including Blackwell himself, had died on the 
 voyage. " Heavy news it is, and I would be glad to heare 
 how farr it will discourage." ^ 
 
 Our narrator goes on to inform us that this calamity, in- 
 stead of causing discouragement, only begat a firm resolve 
 to " amend that wherein we had failed." 
 
 The famous election of April, 16 19, in which the party of 
 Sir Thomas Smith in the London Company was decisively 
 overthrown by the party of Sir Edwin Sandys,^ was emi- 
 nently favourable to the negotiations of the Pilgrims for a 
 home in Virginia. It was not their wish to add one more 
 to the little group of plantations on James river. Such an 
 arrangement would be likely to leave them with less auton- 
 The Pii- °™y than they desired. But the country about the 
 grimsat Delaware river afforded an opportunity for erect- 
 decideto ing an independent colony under the jurisdiction of 
 settlement the Loudon Company, and this seemed the best 
 Delaware course to pursue. Sir Edwin Sandys, now the 
 
 river 
 
 leading spirit in the London Company, was favour- 
 ably inclined toward Puritans, and through him negotiations 
 were begun. Capital to the amount of ;^7000 was furnished 
 by seventy merchant adventurers in England, and the earn- 
 ings of the settlers were to be thrown into a common stock 
 
 1 Bradford MS. p. 24. 
 
 ° See my Old Virginia and Her Neighbours, i. 84, 200. 
 
A 
 
 DESCRIPTION 
 
 of ^J\(ew England: 
 OR 
 
 THE OBSERVATIONS, AND 
 
 difcoucries, of Captain IohnSmtfb(hdmiT3i]l 
 
 ©f that Counrry) in the North o^ Ainerica^ in the year 
 
 ^yur Lord 1 6 1 4 : with ihefuccejfe of Jixe Shi^s^ 
 
 that went the nextyeare 1 6 1 5 v Mi the 
 
 accidents bt fell him among the 
 
 frtnch men efivarrei 
 
 With the proofc of the prcfent benefit this 
 
 CountfcyafFoordt! whither this prcfent ycare, 
 
 H6l6, eight volnntarj Shift begone 
 
 to raakf further trjiilL 
 
 At LONDON 
 
 Printed by Humfrey Lownes, for Rfben CUrket, and 
 
 are to be (ould at his houfe called the Lodge, 
 
 in Chancer/ lane, oucr againftLla- 
 
 colneslnne. I<5i<f. 
 
 EARLIEST BOOK IN WHICH THE NAME NEW ENGLAND OCCURS 
 
8o THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 until these subscribers should have been remunerated. A 
 grant of land was obtained from the London Company, and 
 the king was asked to protect the emigrants by a charter, 
 but this was refused. James, however, made no objections 
 to their going, herein showing himself less of a bigot than 
 Louis XIV. in later days, who would not suffer a Huguenot 
 to set foot in Canada, though France was teeming with Hu- 
 guenots who would have been glad enough to go. When 
 James inquired how the colonists expected to support them- 
 selves, some one answered, most likely by fishing. "Very 
 good," quoth the king, "it was the Apostles' own calling." 
 He declared that no one should molest them so long as they 
 behaved themselves properly. From this unwonted urban- 
 ity it would appear that James anticipated no trouble from 
 the new colony. A few Puritans in America could not do 
 much to annoy him, and there was of course a fair chance 
 of their perishing, as so many other colonizers had perished. 
 The congregation at Leyden did not think it wise to cut 
 loose from Holland until they should have secured a foot- 
 hold in America. It was but an advance guard that started 
 out from Delft haven late in July, 1620, in the rickety ship 
 Speedwell, with Brewster and Bradford, and sturdy Miles 
 Standish, a trained soldier whose aid was welcome, though 
 he does not seem to have belonged to the congregation. 
 Robinson remained at Leyden, and never came to America. 
 After a brief stop at Southampton, where they met the 
 Mayflower with friends from London, the Pilgrims again 
 set sail in the two ships. The Speedwell sprang a leak, and 
 they stopped at Dartmouth for repairs. Again they started, 
 and had put three hundred miles of salt water between 
 themselves and Land's End, when the Speedwell leaked so 
 badly that they were forced to return. When they dropped 
 anchor at Plymouth in Devonshire, about twenty were left on 
 shore, and the remainder, exactly one hundred in number, 
 crowded into the Mayflower and on the 6th of Septerriber 
 started once more to cross the Atlantic. The capacity of 
 the little ship was 180 tons, and her strength was but slight. 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 In a fierce storm in mid-ocean a mainbeam amidships was 
 wrenched and cracked, and but for a huge iron screw 
 
 Voyage 
 
 which one of the passengers had brought from of the 
 Delft, they might have gone to the bottom. The ^^ ""^"^ 
 foul weather prevented any accurate calculation of latitude 
 and longitude, and they were so far out in their reckoning 
 
 J^J-^/rnjy>t .S^n^;/ 
 
 that when they caught sight of land on the 9th of November, 
 it was to Cape Cod that they had come. Thesir patent gave 
 them no authority to settle here, as it was beyond the juris- 
 diction of the London Company. They turned their prow 
 southward, but encountering perilous shoals and a stiff 
 headwind they desisted and sought shelter in Cape Cod bay. 
 On the nth they decided to find some place of abode in 
 
82 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 this neighbourhood, anticipating, no difficulty in getting a 
 patent from the Plymouth Company, which was anxious to 
 obtain settlers. For five weeks they stayed in the ship 
 while little parties were exploring the coast and deciding 
 Foundin upon the best site for a town. It was perhaps a 
 of mere coincidence that the spot which they chose 
 
 had already received from John Smith the name of 
 Plymouth, the beautiful port in Devonshire from which the 
 Mayflower had sailed.^ 
 
 There was not much to remind them of home in the 
 snow-covered coast on which they landed. They had hoped 
 to get their rude houses built before the winter should set 
 in, but the many delays and mishaps had served to bring 
 them ashore in the coldest season. When the long winter 
 came to an end, fifty-one of the hundred Pilgrims had died, 
 — a mortality even greater than that before which the Pop- 
 ham colony had succumbed. But Brewster spoke truth 
 when he said, " It is not with us as with men whom small 
 things can discourage or small discontentments cause to 
 wish themselves at home again." At one time the living 
 were scarcely able to bury the dead ; only Brewster, Stan- 
 dish, and five other hardy ones were well enough to get 
 about. At first all were crowded under a single roof, and 
 as glimpses were caught of dusky savages skulking among 
 the trees, a platform was built on the nearest hill and a few 
 cannon were placed there in such wise as to command the 
 neighbouring valleys and plains. By the end of the first 
 summer the platform had grown to a fortress, down from 
 which to the harbour led a village street with seven houses 
 finished and others going up. Twenty-six acres had been 
 cleared, and a plentiful harvest gathered in ; venison, wild 
 
 ^ Nathaniel Morton says that the name Plymouth was adopted as 
 that of the last town the Pilgrims had left in their native country (JS/ew 
 England's Memorial, p. 56). Some of the emigrants may have had a 
 copy of Smith's map, but it was a curious coincidence that he should 
 have written just in this place, where the Pilgrims were to come, the 
 name of the English port from which they were to sail. 
 

 JOHN SMITH'S MAP OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 83 
 
 fowl, and fish were easy to obtain. When provisions and 
 fuel had been laid in for the ensuing winter, Governor Brad- 
 ford appointed a day of Thanksgiving. Town meetings had 
 already been held, and a few laws passed. The history of 
 New England had begun. 
 
 This had evidently been a busy summer for the forty-nine 
 survivors. On the 9th of November, the anniversary of the 
 
 SHIP OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 day on which they had sighted land, a ship was descried in 
 the offing. She was the Fortune, bringing some fifty more 
 of the Leyden company. It was a welcome reinforcement, 
 but it diminished the rations of food that could be served 
 during the winter, for the Fortune was not well supplied. 
 When she set sail for England, she carried a little cargo of 
 beaver-skins and choice wood for wainscoting to the value 
 of ;£^500 sterling, as a first instalment of the sum due to the 
 merchant adventurers. But this cargo never' reached Eng- 
 land, for the Fortune was overhauled by a French cruiser 
 and robbed of everything worth carrying away. 
 
 For two years more it was an anxious and difficult time 
 
84 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 MAP OF PLYMOUTH HARBOUR 
 
 for the new colony. By 1624 its success may be said to have 
 become assured. That the Indians in the neighbourhood 
 had not taken advantage of the distress of the settlers in 
 that first winter, and massacred every one of them, was due 
 to a remarkable circumstance. Early in 161 7 a frightful 
 pestilence had swept over New England and slain, it is 
 
AUTOGRAPHS OF THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS 
 
86 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 thought, more than half the Indian population between the 
 Penobscot river and Narragansett bay. Many of the Indi- 
 ans were inclined to attribute this calamity to the murder 
 of two or three white fishermen the year before. They had 
 not got over the superstitious dread with which the first 
 sight of white men had inspired them, and now they believed 
 that the strangers held the demon of the plague at their 
 disposal and had let him loose upon the red men in revenge 
 Why the ^°^ ^^^ murdcrs they had committed. This whole- 
 colony some delusion kept their tomahawks quiet for a 
 
 was not ^ , T , 
 
 attacked by while. When they saw the Englishmen establish- 
 ing themselves at Plymouth, they at first held a 
 powwow in the forest, at which the new-comers were cursed 
 with all the elaborate ingenuity that the sorcery of the medi- 
 cine-men could summon for so momentous an occasion ; but 
 it was deemed best to refrain from merely human methods 
 of attack. It was not until the end of the first winter that 
 any of them mustered courage to visit the palefaces. Then 
 an Indian named Samoset, who had learned a little English 
 from fishermen and for his own part was inclined to be 
 friendly, came one day into the village with words of wel- 
 come. He was so kindly treated that presently Massasoit, 
 principal sachem of the Wampanoags, who dwelt between 
 Narragansett and Cape Cod bays, came with a score of 
 painted and feathered warriors and squatting on a green 
 rug and cushions in the governor's log-house smoked the 
 pipe of peace, while Standish with half-a-dozen musketeers 
 stood quietly by. An offensive and defensive alliance was 
 then and there made between King Massasoit and King 
 James, and the treaty was faithfully kept for half a century. 
 Some time afterward, when Massasoit had fallen sick and 
 lay at death's door, his life was saved by Edward Winslow, 
 , who came to his wigwam and skilfully nursed him. Hence- 
 forth the Wampanoag thought well of the Pilgrim. The 
 powerful Narragansetts, who dwelt on the farther side of 
 the bay, felt differently, and thought it worth while to try 
 the effect of a threat. A little while after the Fortune 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 87 
 
 «-o5™X^r«</ 
 
 had brought its reinforcement, the Narragansett sachem 
 Canonicus sent a messenger to Plymouth with a bundle of 
 newly-made arrows wrapped in a snake-skin. The messen- 
 ger threw it in at the governor's door and made off with 
 
88 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 unseemly haste. Bradford understood this as a challenge, 
 and in this he was confirmed by a friendly Wampanoag. 
 The Narragansetts could muster 2000 warriors, for whom 
 foirty or fifty Englishmen, even with firearms, were hardly 
 a fair match ; but it would not do to show fear. Bradford 
 stuffed the snake-skin with powder and bullets, and sent it 
 back to Canonicus, telling him that if he wanted war he 
 might come whenever he liked and get his fill of it. When 
 the sachem saw what the skin contained, he was afraid to 
 touch it or have it about, and medicine-men, handling it no 
 doubt gingerly enough, carried it out of his territory. 
 
 It was a fortunate miscalculation that brought the Pil- 
 grims to New England. Had they ventured upon the lands 
 between the Hudson and the Delaware, they would probably 
 have fared worse. They would soon have come into colli- 
 sion with the Dutch, and not far from that neighbourhood 
 dwelt the Susquehannocks, at that time one of the most 
 powerful and ferocious tribes on the continent. For the 
 present the new-comers were less likely to be molested in 
 the Wampanoag country than anywhere else. In the course 
 of the year 1621 they obtained their grant from the Plym- 
 outh Company. This grant was not made to them directly 
 but to the joint-stock company of merchant adventurers 
 with whom they were associated. But the alliance between 
 the Pilgrims and these London merchants was not alto- 
 gether comfortable ," there was too much divergence between 
 their aims. In 1627 the settlers, wishing to be entirely 
 independent, bought up all the stock and paid for it by in- 
 stalments from the fruits of their labour. By 1633 they 
 had paid every penny, and become the undisputed owners of 
 the country they had occupied. 
 
 Such was the humble beginning of that great Puritan 
 exodus from England to. America which had so much to do 
 with founding and peophng the United States. These Pil- 
 grims of the Mayflower were but the pioneers of a mighty 
 host. Historically their enterprise is interesting not so 
 much for what it achieved as for what it suggested. Of 
 
THE PURITAN EXODUS 
 
 89 
 
 PILGRIM KELICS 
 
 I Belonged to Elder Brewster; ^ belonged to Governor Bradford; 3 and 5 belonged to 
 Miles Standish ; 4 belonged to Governor Carver ; 6 belonged to Dr. Samuel Fuller, the physi- 
 cian of the Pilgrims. 
 
 itself the Plymouth colony could hardly have become a 
 wealthy and powerful state. Its growth was extremely slow. 
 After ten years its numbers were but three hundred. In 
 1643, when the exodus had come to an end, and the New 
 England Coijfederacy was formed, the population of Plym- 
 
90 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 outh was but three thousand. In an established commu- 
 nity, indeed, such a rate of increase would be rapid, but it 
 was not suflficient to raise in New England a power which 
 could overcome Indians and Dutchmen and Frenchmen, and 
 assert its will in opposition to the crown. It is when we 
 view the founding of Plymouth in relation to what came 
 afterward, that it assumes the importance which belongs to 
 the beginning of a new era. 
 
 We have thus seen how it was that the political aspira- 
 tions of James I. toward absolute sovereignty resulted in the 
 beginnings of the Puritan exodus to America. In the next 
 chapter we shall see how the still more arbitrary policy of 
 his ill-fated son all at once gave new dimensions to that 
 exodus and resulted in the speedy planting of a high-spirited 
 and powerful New England. 
 
Departure of the Pilgrims from Delfthaven 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 When Captain George Weymouth in the summer of 1605 
 sailed into the harbour of Plymouth in Devonshire, with his 
 five kidnapped savages and his glowing accounts of the 
 country since known as New England, the garrison of that 
 fortified seaport was commanded by Sir Ferdinando Gorges. 
 The Christian name of this person now strikes us as rather 
 odd, but in those days it was not so uncommon in England, 
 and it does not necessarily indicate a Spanish or Italian 
 ancestry for its bearer. Gorges was a man of considerable 
 ability, but not of high character. On the downfall of his 
 old patron, the Earl 
 of Essex, he had con- 
 trived to save his own 
 fortunes by a course 
 of treachery and in- 
 gratitude.i He had 
 served in the Dutch 
 war against Spain, and since 1 596 had been military governor 
 of Plymouth. The sight of Weymouth's Indians and the 
 recital of his explorations awakened the interest of Gorges 
 in the colonization of North America. He became one of 
 the most active members of the Plymouth, or North Virginia, 
 Company established in the following year. It was he who 
 took the leading part in fitting out the two ships with which 
 John Smith started on his unsuccessful expedition in 161 5. 
 
 1 It should be borne in mind that niuch of our information about him 
 comes from his enemies ; yet there can be no doubt that his course in 
 the Essex affair was such as to cast thorough discredit upon his repu- 
 tation. 
 
 '^^^.-9^^ 
 
92 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 In the following years he continued to send out voyages of 
 exploration, 'became largely interested in the fisheries, and 
 at length in 1620 succeeded in obtaining a new patent for the 
 Plymouth Company, by which it was made independent of 
 the London Company, its old yoke-fellow and rival. This 
 new document created a corporation of forty patentees who, 
 sirFer- sitting in council as directors of their enterprise, 
 dinando were Icnowu as the Council for New England. The 
 
 Gorges, 
 
 and the president of this council was King James's unpop- 
 forNew ular favourite, the 'Duke of Buckingham, and its 
 England ^Qst prominent members were the earls of Pem- 
 broke and Lenox, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and Shakespeare's 
 friend, the Earl of Southampton. This council was em- 
 powered to legislate for its American territory, to exercise 
 martial law there and expel all intruders, and to exercise a 
 monopoly of trade within the limits of the patent. Such 
 extensive powers, entrusted to a company of which Bucking- 
 ham was the head, excited popular indignation, and in the 
 great struggle against monopolies which was then going on, 
 the Plymouth Company did not fail to serve as a target for 
 attacks. It started, however, with too little capital to enter 
 upon schemes involving immediate outlay, and began almost 
 from the first to seek to increase its income by letting or 
 selling portions of its territory, which extended from the 
 latitude of Philadelphia to that of Quebec, thus encroaching 
 upon regions where Holland and France were already gain- 
 ing a foothold. It was from this company that the mer- 
 chant adventurers associated with the Mayflower Pilgrims 
 obtained their new patent in the summer of 1621, and for 
 the next fifteen years all settlers in New England based 
 their claims to the soil upon territorial rights conveyed to 
 them by the Plymouth Company. The grants, however, 
 were oft:en ignorantly and sometimes unscrupulously made, 
 and their limits were so ill-defined that much quarrelling 
 ensued. 
 
 During'the years immediately following the voyage of the 
 Mayflower, several attempts at settlement were made about 
 
x^.. 
 
 w 
 
 ^^1Sr:E?W ENGLISH 
 
 NEW C Tn 
 
 CAN■AA^ 
 
 A A IS 
 
 Containing an Abftrad; of New England^ 
 
 Compofed in three Book^s. 
 
 .The firft Booke fetting forth the originall of the Natives.thc 
 
 Manners and Ciiftomes,together with their trainable Nature and 
 Love towards the Englil'h. 
 
 The fecond Booke fetting forth the naturall Indoivments oft! 
 Countiy , and what ftaple Commodities it ., . . 
 yealdeth. 
 
 Tlie third Booke fetting forth , what people are planted ther 
 
 their ptolpei icy , what retnarkable accidents have happened finccthefi 
 
 planting of it , together with their Tencntsand pradife 
 
 ol their Church. 
 
 J^r/V/fw f*/ Thomas Morton of Cliffords Inne gent, iifm tem 
 
 jearts krto'^'ledge and experiment of the 
 
 Country. 
 
 Printed at A M S T E R D A M, 
 Sj J AC B P R n D E RI C K ST A M, 
 In thi Teiire 1637, 
 
 ^.i'-i'k 
 
 miiM i i 111 iMi i ilu i fe»' i >iJii? 
 
 TITLE OF THOMAS MORTON'S BOOK 
 
f' 
 
 EVVENGLANDS 
 
 PLANTATION. 
 
 OR. 
 
 A 
 
 SHORT AND TRVE 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE 
 
 COMMODITIES AND 
 
 PISCOMMODITIES 
 
 of that Countfcy. 
 
 --.^ •■ — r- 
 
 Written by a rcuerend Diuine now 
 
 there rcfidem. ^,, 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed by T.C %n^ %C for Michael Sparhf 
 
 dwellitig at the Signe of the Sksv BihU in 
 
 Creef$e Jrhr in the little OfdBaikp 
 
 1630, 
 
 TITLE OF FRANCIS HlGGINSON's HOOK 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 95 
 
 the shores of Massachusetts bay. One of the merchant 
 adventurers, Thomas Weston, took it into his head in 1622 
 to separate from his partners and send out a colony of sev- 
 enty men on his own account. These men made a settle- 
 ment at Wessagusset, some twenty-five miles north of 
 Plymouth. They were a disorderly, thriftless, rabble, picked 
 up from the London streets, and soon got into trouble with 
 
 the Indians ; after a year 
 
 CT^OTntlS CyfiOff^^ they were glad to get 
 
 back to England as best 
 they could, and in this the Plymouth settlers willingly aided 
 them. In June of that same year 1622 there arrived on the 
 spene a picturesque but ill understood personage, Thomas 
 Morton, " of Clifford's Inn, Gent.," as he tells on the title- 
 page of his quaint and delightful book, the " New English 
 Canaan." Bradford disparagingly says that he "had been 
 a kind of petie-fogger of Furnifell's Inn " ; but the wessagus- 
 churchman Samuel Maverick declares that he was Meny- 
 a "gentleman of good qualitie." He was an agent ™°""' 
 of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and came with some thirty fol- 
 lowers to make the beginnings of a royalist and Episcopal 
 settlement in the Massachusetts bay. He was naturally 
 regarded with ill favour by the Pilgrims as well as by the 
 later Puritan settlers, and their accounts of him will proba- 
 bly bear taking with a grain or two of salt. 
 
 In 1625. there came one Captain Wollaston, with a gang 
 of indented white servants, and established himself on the 
 site of the present town of Quincy. Finding this system 
 of industry ill suited to northern agriculture, he carried 
 most of his men off to Virginia, where he sold them. Mor- 
 ton took possession of the site of the settlement, which he 
 called Merrymount. There, according to Bradford, he set 
 up a " schoole of athisme," and his men did quaff strong 
 waters and comport themselves " as if they had anew revived 
 and celebrated the feasts of y^ Roman Goddes Flora, or the 
 beastly practices of y^ madd Bachanalians." Charges of 
 atheism have been freely hurled about in all ages. In Mor- 
 
96 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ton's case the accusation seems to have been based upon 
 the fact that he used the Book of Common Prayer. His 
 men so far maintained the ancient customs of merry Eng- 
 land as to plant a Maypole eighty feet high, about which 
 they frolicked with the redskins, while furthermore they 
 taught them the use of firearms and sold them muskets and 
 rum. This was positively dangerous, and in the summer of 
 1628 the settlers at Merrymount were dispersed by Miles 
 Standish. Morton was sent to England, but returned the 
 next year, and presently again repaired to Merrymount. 
 
 By this time other settlements were dotted about the 
 coast. There were a few scattered cottages or cabins at 
 Nantasket and at the mouth of the Piscataqua, while Sam- 
 uel Maverick had fortified himself on Noddle's Island, and 
 William Blackstone already lived upon the Shawmut penin- 
 sula, since called Boston. These two gentlemen were no 
 friends to the Puritans ; they were churchmen and repre- 
 sentatives of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. 
 
 The case was very different with another of these earliest 
 settlements, which deserves especial mention as coming 
 directly in the line of causation which led to the founding of 
 Massachusetts by Puritans. For some years past 
 Dorchester the Dorchcstcr adveuturcrs — a small company of 
 merchants in the shire town of Dorset' — had been 
 sending vessels to catch' fish off the New England coast. 
 In 1623 these men conceived the idea of planting a small 
 village as a fishing station, and setting up a church and 
 preacher therein, for the spiritual solace of the fishermen 
 and sailors. In pursuance of this scheme a small party 
 occupied Cape Ann, where after 
 
 two years they got into trouble ^^f}^ayn $'fa^6rv- 
 with the men of Plymouth. Sev- 
 eral grants and assignments had made it doubtful where 
 the ownership lay, and although this place was not near 
 their own town, the men of Plymouth claimed it. The dis- 
 pute was amicably arranged by Roger Conant, an independ- 
 ent settler who had withdrawn from Plymouth because he 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 97 
 
 did not fully sympathize with the Separatist views of the 
 people there. The next step was for the Dorchester adven- 
 turers to appoint Conant as their manager, and the next 
 was for them to abandon their enterprise, dissolve their 
 partnership, and leave the remnant of the little colony to 
 shift for itself. The settlers retained their tools and cattle, 
 
 )1^ 
 
 s/itiuL&^u. 
 
 and Conant found for them a new and safer situation at 
 Naumkeag, on the site of the present Salem. So far little 
 seemed to have been accomplished ; one more seemed added 
 to the list of failures. 
 
 But the- excellent John White,, the Puritan rector of Trin- 
 ity Church in Dorchester, had meditated carefully about 
 these things. He saw that many attempts at colonization 
 
98 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 had failed because they made use of unfit instruments, "a 
 multitude of rude ungovernable persons, the very scum of 
 the land." So Virginia had failed in its first years, and 
 only succeeded when settled by worthy and industrious peo- 
 ple under a strong government. The example of Plymouth, 
 as contrasted with Wessagusset, taught a similar lesson. 
 We desire, said White, " to raise a bulwark against the king- 
 dom of Antichrist." Learn wisdom, my countrymen, from 
 the ruin which has befallen the Protestants at Rochelle and 
 John in the Palatinate ; learn " to avoid the plague 
 
 hi^noUe'^ while it is foreseen, and not to tarry as they did 
 schemfe tjn jt overtook them." The Puritan party in Eng- 
 land was- numerous and powerful, but .the day of strife was 
 not far off and none might foretell its issue. Clearly it was 
 well to establish a strong and secure retreat in the New 
 World, in case of disaster in the Old. What had been done 
 at Plymouth "by a few men of humble means might be done 
 on a much greater scale by an association of leading Puri- 
 tans, including men of wealth and wide social influence. 
 Such arguments were urged in timely pamphlets, of one of 
 which White is supposed to have been the author. The 
 matter was discussed in London, and inquiry was made 
 whether fit men could be found " to engage their, persons in 
 the voyage." "It fell out that among others they lighted 
 at last on Master Endicott, a man well known to' divers per- 
 sons of good note, who manifested much willingness to 
 accept of the offer as soon as it was tendered." All jvere 
 thereby much encouraged, the schemes of White took defi- 
 nite shape, and on the 19th of March, 1628, a tract of land 
 was obtained from the Council for New England, consisting 
 of all the territory included between three miles north of 
 the Merrimack and three miles south of the Charles in one 
 direction, and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the other. 
 
 This liberal grant was made at a time when people still 
 supposed the Pacific coast to be not far west' of Henry 
 Hudson's river. The territory was grarited to an associa- 
 tion of six gentlemen, only one of whom — John Endicott 
 
9 ; -.-,r. 
 
 ' O.V? ^ K-'j 
 
 I 
 
 
 ■llij -^icf^zdirKj 
 
 MILES STANDISH'S LETTER TO GOVERNOR BRADFORD 
 
lournall of the beginning m^^rocccdni^^ 
 
 oftheEngliili Plantation fctlcd at 'P/iwKjf^ in N E W :' .' 
 
 E N (3 r, A N D, by cercaine Eng!i(h Aduemurers both 
 Merchants and others. 
 
 VVich their difficuk pafTagc.thcir Mc ariuall, their 
 
 ioyfull building of, and comfortable plancing then> 
 
 felucs in the i:ow well dtiencicj Xovvnc 
 
 of Ne w Plim ot H, 
 
 AS ALSO A P.ELATION OF FOVRE 
 fcucrall difcoucrics (ince made by fome of the. 
 
 ■fcmeEiig!iniPl;.ntcn there rcfidcnr. , 
 
 /. Ir, ,'. •.iv.rvr^ to P V C V. A N o KICK the hAhttAtion of the Indi.tHS ^ed- 
 trfl Kir.'T MalVafoyt : i:uilf^thfi-/mcjfitgc, the .infivcr and cute riiti;mte>;f 
 ti::j h^dof hin). 
 
 [I. !it,i-j]\,'icm.idchy tcr.oftbcfffio t',):: Ki'{i/>''}''.': "''N ;V.'i1.', rofceke 
 !tlic-1 j'jiit h.idUftmmfc/Jc i/ithewcods ■ wiJf.l.tn ■.-..;■,-■:;.•;>';.. ■.■r,e'ii.lhetnj 
 in;l)Jt-;jiiy.i^.'. 
 
 I J I , futhctriatirncy to the Ktnf^'hmc rf N.imafclKt, md.-fence ef their 
 r;\'ri:-i} KtuirKhihCoy., aga:f:[lthc Nanohigjjciiicrs, itndtircHtnf^ethf 
 'jripp.iCin'iAlhofthctr /iitirpreterTifquuvwr,. 
 
 II 1 i. 'their voydge :> the AlarfaclmfctS;, a-u: !):,r oitcrtai^tmeKt there. 
 
 Wichan :^nr\vcrtb al! fiichobicifHonsasnre any wa*y made 
 
 sgiiiiiltlKlavvruliicilcof liiigiifh plania'.\oi,s 
 
 jncholc p.irts, 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 4^\ 
 
 -«' 
 
 5 
 
 r, f) N D O N, 
 
 P.rinted for h'm Bt:lLm.'c\ am! ;irc to be f^ldac his (liop at the two 
 
 MOUKT S RELATION ; 
 'jy/e e,u-lic i f'liMlslu'd boi^k r'!lating to P/ynwJifh Colotiy 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND loi 
 
 — figures conspicuously in the history of New England. 
 The grant was made in the usual reckless style, conflicting 
 and conflicted" with various patents which had been feedfof°" 
 issued before. In 1622 Gorges and John Mason trouble 
 had obtained a grant of all the land between the rivers 
 Kennebec and Merrimack, and the new grant encroached 
 somewhat upon this. The difficulty seems to have been 
 temporarily adjusted by some sort of compromise which 
 restricted the new grant to the Merrimack, for in 1629 we 
 find Mason's title confirmed to the region between that 
 river' and the Piscataqua, while later on Gorges appears as 
 proprietor of the territory between the Piscataqua and the 
 Kennebec. A more serious difficulty was the claim of 
 Robert Gorges, son of Sir Ferdinando. That young man 
 had in 1623 obtained a grant of some 300 square miles in 
 Massachusetts, and had gone to look after it, but had soon 
 returned discouraged to England and shortly afterward died. 
 But his claim devolved upon his surviving brother, John 
 Gorges, and Sir Ferdinando, in consenting to the grant to 
 Endicott and his friends, expressly reserved the rights of 
 his sons. No such reservation, however, was mentioned in 
 the Massachusetts charter, and the colonists never paid the 
 slightest heed to it. In these conflicting claims were sown 
 seeds of trouble which bore fruit for more than half a cen- 
 tury. 
 
 In such cases actual possession is apt to make nine points 
 in the law, and accordingly Endicott was sent over, as soon 
 as possible, with sixty persons, to reinforce the jp,,„ 
 party at Naumkeag and supersede Conant as its Endicott 
 leader. On Endicott's arrival in September, 1628, founding 
 the settlers were' at first inclined to dispute his 
 authority, but they were soon conciliated, and in token of 
 this amicable adjustment the place was called by the He- 
 brew name of Salem, or "peace." 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. White and the partners in England were 
 pushing things vigorously. Their scheme took a wider 
 scope. They were determined to establish something more 
 
102 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 than a trading company. From Charles I. it was some- 
 time easy to get promises because he felt himself under no 
 obligation to keep them. In March, 1629, a royal charter 
 was granted, creating a corporation, under the legal style 
 of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in 
 The Com- New England. The affairs of this corporate body 
 M^s^sachu- were to be managed by a governor, deputy-gov- 
 setts Bay ernor, and a council of eighteen assistants, to be 
 elected annually by the company. They were empowered 
 to make such laws as they liked for their settlers, provided 
 they did not contravene the laws of England, — a proviso 
 susceptible of much latitude of interpretation. The place 
 where the company was to hold its meetings was not men- 
 tioned in the charter. The law-ofi&cers of the crown at first 
 tried to insert a condition that the government must reside 
 in England, but the grantees with skilful argument suc- 
 ceeded in preventing this. Nothing was said in the charter, 
 about religious liberty, for a twofold reason : the crown 
 would not have granted it, and it was not what the grantees 
 wanted ; such a provision 'would have been liable to hamper 
 them seriously in carrying out their scheme. They pre- 
 ferred to keep in their own hands the question as to how 
 much or how little religious liberty they should claim or 
 allow. Six small ships were presently fitted out, and upon 
 them were embarked 300 men, 80 women, and 26 children, 
 with 140 head of cattle, 40 goats, and abundance of arms, 
 ammunition, and tools. The principal leader of this com- 
 pany was Francis Higginson, of St. John's College, Cam- 
 bridge, rector of a church in Leicestershire, who had been 
 deprived of his living for non-conformity. With him were 
 associated two other ministers, also graduates of Cambridge. 
 All three were members of the council. By the arrival of 
 this company at Salem, Endicott now became governor of a 
 colony larger than any yet started in New England, — larger 
 than Plymouth after its growth of nearly nine years. 
 
 The time was at length ripe for that great Puritan exodus 
 of which the voyage of the Mayflower had been the pre- 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 103 
 
 monitory symptom. The grand crisis for the Puritans had 
 come, the moment when decisive action could no longer be 
 deferred. It was not by accident that the rapid develop- 
 ment of John White's enterprise into- the Company of Mas- 
 
104 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 sachusetts Bay coincided exactly with the first four years 
 of the reign of Charles I. They were years well fitted to 
 bring such a scheme to quick maturity. The character of 
 Charles was such as to exacerbate the evils of his father's 
 reign. James could leave some things alone "in the com- 
 fortable hope that all would by and by come out right, but 
 Charles was not satisfied without meddling everywhere. 
 Both father and son cherished some good intentions ; both 
 were sincere believers in their narrow theory of kingcraft. 
 For wrongheaded obstinacy, utter want of tact, and bottom- 
 less perfidy, there was little to choose between them. The 
 humorous epitaph of the. grandson "whose word no man 
 relies on " might have served for them all. But of this un- 
 happy family Charles I. was eminently the dreamer. 
 He lived in a world of his own, and was slow in 
 rendering thought into action ; and this made him relyupon 
 the quick-witted but unwise and unscrupulous Buckingham,^ 
 who was silly enough to make feeble attempts at unpopular 
 warfare without consulting Parliament. During each of 
 Charles's first four years there was an angry session of Par- 
 liament, in which, through the unwillingness of the popular 
 leaders to, resort to violence, the king's policy seemed able 
 to hold its ground. Despite all protest the king persisted 
 in levying strange taxes and was to some extent able to 
 collect them. Men who refused to pay enforced loans were 
 thrown into jail and the writ of habeas corpus was denied 
 them. Meanwhile the treatment of Puritans became more 
 and more vexatious. It was clear enough that Charles 
 meant to become an absolute monarch, like Louis XIII., 
 but Parliament began by throwing' all the blame upon the 
 unpopular minister and seeking to impeach him. 
 
 On the 5th of June, 1628, the House of Commons pre- 
 sented the most extraordinary spectacle, perhaps in all its 
 history. The famous Petition of Right had been passed by 
 both Flouses, and the royal answer had just been received. 
 Its tone was that of gracious assent, but it omitted the 
 ^ Gardiner, Puritan Revolution, p. 50. 
 
Ti b D- 
 N E VV E S 
 
 FROM N E VV E N G L A N D.- 
 
 ^ 
 
 A' true Relation of things very re- 
 markable at the Plantation of ^'Plimoth 
 
 in N E VV - E N C L A N D. 
 
 shewing the wondrous providence and good- 
 nes of G o D,in their prcltrvation and continuance, 
 
 bd»g delivered frem many a^pamnt 
 deaths and datigerj. 
 
 Together with a Relation of fuch religious and 
 civill Lawes and Cuftomes, as arc- in praftilc ara'ongQ 
 the Indians^ ndjoyning to them at this day. As alio ' 
 yshut Cowmodiues arc there tu be rayfed for the 
 , maintenance of that and other P/artta- 
 ttens in the fatd Country. 
 
 Written by E. W. who hath borne a part in the 
 
 lojc-iiamed troubles, and there liucd fiiice 
 their hfrt Arnvall, 
 
 L O N D O N 
 
 Printed by /. D. (or IVillta'v BLaUn and fehnBellimie,znii 
 
 are uj oe fold at tlitir Shops, at the 'Bible in ^,i«A Church- 
 
 yj; Jj and at th^ ihrcr Goldtn Lyons in Coin-hiU, 
 
 nscie the ^jMl hxih.ifgi. 16x4. >. 
 
 TITLE OV EDWARD WINSLOWS BOOK 
 
io6 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 necessary legal formalities, and the Commons well knew 
 Remark- what this meant. They were to be tricked with 
 able scene sweet words, and the petition was not to acquire 
 
 in the . . ^ 
 
 House of the force of a statute. How was it possible to deal 
 oramons ^.^j^ ^^^j^ ^ slippery creature.? There was but 
 
 one way of saving the dignity of the throne without sacrifi- 
 cing the liberty of the people, and that was to hold the 
 king's ministers responsible to Parliament, in anticipation of 
 modern methods. It was accordingly proposed to impeach 
 the Duke of Buckingham before the House of Lords. The 
 Speaker now " brought an imperious message from the 
 king, . . . warning them . . . that he would not tolerate 
 any aspersion upon his ministers." Nothing daunted by this, 
 Sir John Eliot arose to lead the debate, when the Speaker 
 called him to order in view of the king's message. " Amid 
 a deadly stillness " Eliot sat down and burst into tears. For 
 a moment the House was overcome with despair. Deprived 
 of all constitutional methods of redress, they suddenly saw 
 yawning before them the direful alternative — slavery or civil 
 war. Since the day of Bosworth a hundred and fifty years 
 had passed without fighting worthy of mention on English 
 soil, such an era of peace as h^d hardly ever before been 
 seen on the earth ; now half the nation was to be pitted 
 against the other half, families were to be divided against 
 themselves, as in the dreadful days of the Roses, and with 
 what consequences no one could foresee. " Let us sit in 
 silence," quoth Sir Dudley Digges, "we are miserable, we 
 know not what to do ! " Nay, cried Sir Nathaniel Rich, 
 "we must now speak, or forever hold our peace." Then 
 did grim Mr. Prynne and Sir Edward Coke mingle their 
 words with sobs, while there were few dry eyes in the 
 House. Presently they found their voices, and used them 
 in a way that wrung from the startled king his formal assent 
 to the Petition of Right. 
 
 There is something strangely pathetic and historically 
 significant ^ in the emotion of these stern, fearless men. 
 
 ^ It is now more than two hundred years since a battle has been 
 
FACSIMILE OF MASS 
 
TTS CHARTER OF 1629 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 107 
 
 The scene was no less striking on the 2d of the following 
 March, when, " amid the cries and entreaties of the Speaker 
 held down in his chair by force,'" while the Usher of the 
 Black Rod was knocking loudly at the bolted door, and the 
 tramp of the king's soldiers was heard in the courtyard, 
 Eliot's clear voice rang out the defiance that whoever advised 
 the levy of tonnage and poundage without a grant from Par- 
 liament, or whoever voluntarily paid those duties, was to be 
 counted an enemy to the kingdom and a betrayer of its 
 liberties. As shouts of "Aye, aye," resounded on every 
 side, " the doors were flung open, and the members poured 
 forth in a throng." The noble Eliot went to, end his days 
 in the Tower, and for eleven years no Parliament sat again 
 in England.^ 
 
 It was in one and the sarrle week that Charles I. thus 
 began his experiment of governing without a Parliament, 
 and that he granted a charter to the Company of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay. He was very far, as we shall see. Desperate 
 from -realizing the import of what he was doing, nature of 
 
 o i^ & the crisis 
 
 To the Puritan leaders it was evident that a great 
 struggle was at hand. Affairs at home might well seem de- 
 sperate, and the news from abroad was not encouraging. It 
 was only four months since the surrender of Rochelle had 
 ended the existence of the Huguenots as an armed political 
 party. They had now sunk into the melancholy condition 
 of a tolerated sect which may at any moment cease to be 
 tolerated. In Germany the terrible Thirty Years War had 
 
 fought in England. The last was Sedgmoor in 1685. For four cen- 
 turies, since Bosworth, in 1485, the English people have lived in peace 
 in their own homes, except for the brief episode of the Great Rebel- 
 lion, and Monmouth's slight affair. This long peace, unparalleled in 
 history, has powerfully influenced the English and American character 
 for good. Since the Middle Ages most English warfare has been war- 
 fare at a distance, and that does not nourish the brutal passions in the 
 way that warfare at home does. An instructive result is to be seen in 
 the mildness of temper which characterized the conduct of our stupen- 
 dous Civil War. Nothing like it was ever seen before. 
 
 1 Picton's Cromwell, pp. 61, 67 ; Gardiner, Puritan Revolution, p. 72. 
 
lo8 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 just reached the darkest moment for the Protestants. Fif- 
 teen months were yet to pass before the immortal Gustavus 
 was to cross the Baltic and give to the sorely harassed 
 cause of liberty a fresh lease of life. The news of the cruel 
 Edict of Restitution in this same fateful month of March, 
 1629, could not but give the English Puritans great concern. 
 Everywhere in Europe the champions of human freedom 
 seemed worsted. They might well think that never had the 
 prospect looked so dismal ; and never before, as never since, 
 did the venture of a wholesale migration to the New World 
 so strongly recommend itself as the only feasible escape from 
 a situation that was fast becoming intolerable. Such were 
 the anxious thoughts of the leading Puritans in the spring of 
 1629, and in face of so grave a problem different minds 
 came naturally to different conclusions. Some were for 
 staying in England to fight it out to the bitter end ; some 
 were for crossing the ocean to create a new England in the 
 wilderness. Either task was arduous enough, and not to be 
 achieved without steadfast and sober heroism. 
 
 On the 26th of August twelve gentlemen, among the 
 most eminent in the Puritan party, held a meeting at Cam- 
 bridge, and resolved to lead a migration to New England, 
 provided the charter of the Masachusetts Bay Company and 
 Transfer of ^^^ government established under it could be trans- 
 the char- ferred to that country. On examination it appeared 
 wi'nthrop that no legal obstacle stood in the way. Accord- 
 Thomas ingly such of the old officers as did not wish to 
 °" ^^ take part in the emigration resigned their places, 
 which were forthwith filled by these new leaders. For gov- 
 ernor the choice fell upon John Winthrop, a wealthy gentle- 
 man from Groton in Suffolk, who was henceforth to occupy 
 the foremost place among the_ founders of New England. 
 Winthrop was at this time forty-one years of age, having 
 been boTn in the memorable year of the Armada. He was 
 a man of remarkable strength and beauty of character, grave 
 and modest, intelligent and scholarlike, intensely religious 
 and endowed with a moral sensitiveness that was almost 
 
A rrival of the Winthrop Colony in Boston Harbor 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 109 
 
 morbid, yet liberal withal in his opinions and charitable in 
 disposition. When his life shall have been adequately writ- 
 ten, as it never has been, he will be recognized as one. of the 
 very noblest figures in American history. From early youth 
 he had that same power of winning confidence and com- 
 manding respect for which Washington was so remarkable ; 
 and when he was selected as the Moses of the great Puri- 
 tan exodus, there was a wide-spread feeling that extraordi- 
 nary results were likely to come of such an enterprise. 
 
 In marked contrast to Winthrop stands the figure of the 
 man associated with him as deputy-governor. Thomas Dud- 
 ley came of an ancient family, the history of which, alike in 
 the old and in the new England, has not been altogether 
 creditable. He represented the elder branch of that Nor- 
 man family, to the younger branch of which belonged the 
 unfortunate husband of Lady Jane ^ 
 
 Grey and the unscrupulous hus- f^ ^N z» 
 
 band of Amy Robsart. There ^/f^ '■ ,^^*^2^. 
 was, however, very little likeness ^/ ^r 
 
 to Ehzabeth's gay lover in grim 
 
 Thomas Dudley. His Puritanism was bleak and stern, and 
 for Christian charity he was not eminent. He had a foible 
 for making verses, and at his death there was found in his 
 pocket a poem of his, containing a quatrain wherein the 
 intolerance of that age is neatly summed up : — 
 
 " Let men of God in courts and churches watch 
 O'er such as do a Toleration hatch, 
 Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice 
 To poison all in heresy and vice." 
 
 Such was the spirit of most of the Puritans of that day, but 
 in the manifestation of it there were great differences, and 
 here was the strong contrast between Dudley and Winthrop. 
 In the former we have the typical narrow-minded, strait- 
 laced Calvinist for whom it is so much easier to entertain 
 respect than affection. i3ut Winthrop's character, as we 
 look, at the well-known portrait ascribed to Van Dyck, is 
 revealed in a face expressive of what was finest in the age of 
 
no THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Elizabeth, the face of a spiritual brother of Raleigh and 
 ' Sidney. 
 
 The accession of two men so important as Winthrop and 
 Dudley served to bring matters speedily to a crisis. Their 
 embarkation in April, 1630, was the signal for a general 
 movement on the part of the English Puritans. Before 
 Christmas of that year seventeen ships had come to New 
 England, bringing more than 1000 passengers. This large 
 wave of immigration quite overwhelmed and bore 
 
 Founding ° '■ 
 
 of Massa- away the few links of possession by which Gorges 
 had thus far kept his hold, upon the country. In 
 January, 1629, John Gorges had tried to assert the validity 
 of his late brother's claim by executing conveyances cover- 
 ing portions of it. One of these was to John Oldham, a 
 man who had been harshly treated at Plymouth, and might 
 be supposed very ready to defend his rights against settlers 
 of the Puritan company. Gorges^ further maintained that 
 he retained possession of the country through the presence 
 of his brother's tenants, Blackstone, Maverick, Walford, and 
 others on the shores of the bay. In June, 1629, Endicott 
 had. responded by sending forward some fifty persons from 
 Salem to begin the settlement of Charlestown. Shortly 
 before Winthrop's departure from England, Gorges had sent 
 that singular personage. Sir Christopher Gardiner, to look 
 after -his interests in the New World, and there he was 
 presently found established near the mouth of the Neponset 
 river, in company with " a comly yonge woman whom he 
 caled his cousin." But these few claimants were now at 
 once lost in the human tide which poured over Charlestown, 
 Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, Watertown, and "the New 
 Town," as Cambridge was first called. The settlement at 
 Merrymount was again dispersed, and Morton sent back to 
 London ; Gardiner fled to the coast of Maine and thence 
 sailed for England in 1632. The Puritans had indeed occu- 
 pied the country in force. , 
 
 Here on the very threshold we are confronted by facts 
 which show, that not a mere colonial plantation, but a defi- 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 nite and organized state, was in process of formation. This 
 emigration sufificed to make the beginnings of half a dozen 
 towns, and the question as to self-government immediately 
 sprang up. Early in 1632 a tax of ;^6o was assessed upon 
 
 
 '>■"'■ ^. 
 
 STA'lUE OF JOHN WINTHKOP, aCOLLAY SQUARE, BOSTON 
 
 the settlements, in order to pay for building frontier fortifi- 
 cations at NcAVtown. This incident was in itself of small 
 dimensions, as incidents in newly founded states are apt to 
 be. But in its historic import it may serve to connect the 
 England of John Hampden with the New England of 
 Samuel Adams. The inhabitants of Watertown at first 
 
113 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 declined to pay this tax, which was assessed by the Board 
 of Assistants, on the ground that English freemen cannot 
 rightfully be taxed save by their own consent. This protest 
 led to a change in the constitution of the infant colony, and 
 
 here, at once, we are introduced to the beginnings 
 tion^^tT of American constitutional history. At first it 
 ment rai'sed ^^^ thought that public busincss could be trans- 
 at wkter- actcd by a primary assembly of all the freemen in 
 
 the colony an^eeting four times in the year ; but the 
 number of freemen increased so fast that this was almost 
 at once (in October, 1630) found to be impracticable. The 
 right of choosing the governor and making the laws was 
 then left to the Board of Assistants; and in May, 163 1, it 
 was further decided that the assistants, need not be chosen 
 afresh every year, but might keep their seats during good 
 behaviour or until ousted by special vote of the freemen. If 
 the settlers of Massachusetts had been ancient Greeks or 
 Romans, this would have been about as far as they could 
 go in the matter ; the choice would have been between a 
 primary assembly and an assembly of notables. It is curi- 
 ous to see Englishmen passing from one of these alternatives 
 to the other. But it was only for a moment. The protest 
 of the Watertown men came in time to check these proceed- 
 ings, which began to have a decidedly oligarchical look. To 
 settle the immediate question of the tax, two deputies were 
 sent from each settlement to advise with the Board of Assist- 
 ants ; while the power of choosing each year the governor 
 and assistants was resumed by the freemen. Two years 
 later, in order to reserve to the freemen the power of ' mak- 
 ing laws without interfering too much with the ordinary 
 business of life, the colonists fell back upon the old English 
 rural plan of electing deputies or representatives to a gen- 
 eral court. 
 
 At first the deputies sat in the same chamber with the 
 assistants, but at length, in 1644, they were formed into a 
 second chamber with increased powers, and the way in 
 which this important constitutional change came about is 
 

 
 
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 liii 
 
114 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 worth remembering, as an illustration of the smallness of 
 the state which so soon was to play a great part in history. 
 As Winthrop puts it, "there fell out a great business upon a 
 very small occasion." To a certain Captain Keayne, 
 the stray of Boston, a rich man deemed to be hard and over- 
 ^'^ bearing toward the poor, there was brought a stray 
 
 pig, whereof he gave due public notice through the town 
 crier, yet none came to claim it till after he had killed a, pig 
 of his own which he kept in the same stye with the stray. 
 A year having passed by, a poor woman named Sherman 
 came to see the stray and to decide if it were one that she 
 had lost. Not recognizing it as hers, she forthwith laid claim 
 to the slaughtered pig. The case was brought before the 
 elders of the church of Boston, who decided that the woman 
 was mistaken. Mrs. Sherman then accused the captain of 
 
 theft, and brought the case before 
 ^flcS/»X" >^*2/ltl»- a jury, which exonerated the de- 
 fendant with £1 costs. The cap- 
 tain then sued Mrs. Sherman for defamation of character 
 and got a verdict for ;^20 damages, a round sum indeed to 
 assess upon the poor woman. ^ But long before this it had 
 appeared that she had many partisans and supporters; it 
 had become a political question, in which the popular pro- 
 test against aristocracy was implicated. Not yet brow- 
 beaten, the warlike Mrs. Sherman appealed to th*e General 
 Court. The length of the hearing shows the importance 
 which was attached to the case. After seven days of dis- 
 cussion the vote was taken. Seven assistants and eight 
 deputies approved the former decisions, two assistants and 
 fifteen deputies condemned them, while seven deputies 
 refrained from voting. In other words. Captain Keayne 
 had a decided majority among the more aristocratic assist- 
 ants, while Mrs. Sherman seemed to prevail with the more 
 democratic deputies. Regarding the result as the vote of a 
 single body, the woman had a plurality of two ; regarding it 
 as the vote of a double body, her cause had prevailed in the 
 1 It was about equivalent to 500 gold dollai's of the present day. 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 "S 
 
 ST. BOTOLPH S CHURCH, BOSTON. ENGLAND 
 
 lower house, but was lost by the veto of the upper. No 
 decision was reached at the time, but after a year of discus- 
 sion the legislature was permanently separated into two 
 houses, each with a veto power upon the other ; and this 
 was felt to be a victory for the assistants. 
 
 As for the ecclesiastical polity of the new colony, it had 
 begun to take shape immediately upon the arrival of Endi- 
 cott's party at Salem. The clergymen, Samuel Skelton and 
 
ii6 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Francis Higginson, consecrated each other, and a church 
 covenant and confession of faith were drawn up by Higgin- 
 son. Thirty persons joining in this covenant constituted 
 the first church in the colony ; and several brethren ap- 
 pointed by this church proceeded formally to ordain the 
 two ministers by the laying on of hands. In such simple 
 wise was the first Congregational church in Massachusetts 
 founded. The simple fact of removal from England con- 
 verted all the Puritan emigrants into Separatists, as Robinson 
 had already predicted. Some, however, were not yet quite 
 prepared for so radical a measure. These proceedings gave 
 umbrage to two of the Salem party, who attempted forth- 
 with to set up a separate church in conformity with episco- 
 pal models. A very important question was thus raised at 
 once, but it was not allowed to disturb the peace of the 
 colony. Endicott was a man of summary methods. He 
 immediately sent the two malcontents back to England ; 
 Thetri- and thus the colonial church not only seceded 
 ™p'ara-^ from the national establishment, but the principle 
 tism -^^a^s virtually laid down that the Episcopal form 
 
 of worship would not be tolerated in the colony. For the 
 present such a. step was to be regarded as a measure of 
 self-defence on the part of the colonists. Episcopacy to 
 them meant actual and practical tyranny, — the very thing 
 they had crossed the ocean expressly to get away from, — 
 and it was hardly to be supposed that they would encourage 
 the growth of it in their new home. One or two surpliced 
 priests, conducting worship in accordance with the Book of 
 Common Prayer, might in themselves be excellent members 
 of society ; but behind the surpliced priest the colonist saw 
 the intolerance of Laud and the despotism of the Court of 
 High Commission. In 163 1 a still more searching measure 
 of self-protection was adopted. It was decided that "no 
 man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body politic, 
 but such as are members of some of the churches within the 
 limits of the same." Into the merits of this measure as 
 illustrating the theocratic ideal of society which the Puri- 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 117 
 
 tans sought to realize in New England, we shall inquire here- 
 after. At present we must note that, as a measure of self- 
 protection, this decree was intended to keep out of the new 
 community all emissaries of Strafford and Laud, as well as 
 such persons as Morton and Gardiner and other agents of 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges. 
 
 By the year 1634 the scheme of the Massachusetts Com- 
 pany had so far prospered that nearly 4000 Englishmen had 
 come over, and some twenty villages on or near the shores 
 of the bay had been founded. The building of permanent 
 houses, roads, fences, and bridges had begun to go on quite 
 
 iaCr^:"^^*^, 
 
 
 cotton's vicai^age 
 
 briskly ; farms were beginning to yield a return for the labour 
 of the husbandman ; lumber, furs, and salted fish were begin- 
 ning to be sent to England in exchange for manufactured 
 articles ; 4000 goats and 1 500 head of cattle grazed in the 
 pastures, and swine innumerable rooted in the clearings and 
 helped to make ready the land for the ploughman. Political 
 meetings were held, justice was administered by magistrates 
 after old English precedents, and church services were per- 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 formed by a score of clergymen, nearly all graduates of Cam- 
 bridge, though one or two had their degrees from Oxford, 
 and nearly all of whom had held livings in the Church 
 of England. The most distinguished of these clergymen, 
 John Cotton, in his youflger days a Fellow and Tutor of 
 Emmanuel College, had for more than twenty years been 
 rector of St. Botolph's, when he left the most magnificent 
 parish church in England to hold service in the first rude 
 meeting-house of the new Boston. From Emmanuel Col- 
 lege came also Thomas Hooker and John Harvard. Besides 
 these clergymen, so many of the leading persons concerned 
 in the emigration were university men that it was not long 
 before a university began to seem indispensable to the colony. 
 In 1636 the General Court appropriated ^£^400 toward the 
 establishment of a college at the New Town. In 1638 John 
 Found" Harvard, dying childless, bequeathed his library 
 of Harvard and the half of his estate to the new college, which 
 ° ^^^ the Court forthwith ordered to be called by his 
 name ; while in honour of the mother university the New 
 Town received the name of Cambridge. 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 119 
 
 WEST GATE OF HAKVARD COLLEGE (1^90)' 
 
 It has been said that the assembly which decreed the 
 establishment of Harvard College was "the first body in 
 which the people, by their representatives, ever gave their 
 own money to found a place of education." The state- 
 ment is incorrect,^ for before 1609, when the Pilgrims began 
 their sojourn in Leyden, the system of public schools, paid 
 for' out of the municipal or parochial taxes, had become 
 thoroughly established in the Netherlands ; there were not 
 only public common schools, but every city and many rural 
 
 1 The building on the right, Massachusetts Hall, is the same that is 
 shown on the right of the preceding picture, engraved in 1726. 
 
 2 This statement, which has been often repeated, was made by- 
 Edward Everett, in his speech on the second centennial celebration of 
 the founding of Harvard, September 8, 1836. See Quincy, History of 
 Harvard University, ii. 654. The orator went on to say : " If there is 
 such a thing as a precedent for such a foundation as is this day com- 
 memorated, it must, of course, be in England ; " and as no such Eng- 
 lish precedent could be cited, he concluded that on September 8, 1636, 
 " this auspicious precedent was established, of malcing the support of 
 education a public charge." Until the publication of Motley's books, 
 the English-speaking world knew very little of Dutch history. 
 
120 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 places had their pubhc Latin schools. ^ Nevertheless, the 
 founding of Harvard College, though not an unprecedented 
 act, was surely a most memorable one if we have regard to 
 all the circumstances of the year in which it was done. On 
 every side danger was in the air. Threatened at once with 
 Threefold an Indian war, with the enmity of the home gov- 
 thr^ear"^ ernment, and with grave dissensions among them- 
 '636 selves, the year 1636 was a trying one indeed for 
 
 the little community of Puritans, and their founding a col- 
 lege by public taxation just at this time is a striking illus- 
 tration of their unalterable purpose to realize, in this new 
 home, their ideal of an educated Christian society. 
 
 That the government of Charles I. should view with a 
 hostile eye the growth of a Puritan state in New England 
 is not at all surprising. The only fit ground for wonder 
 would seem to be that Charles should have been willing at 
 the outset to grant a charter .to the able and influential 
 I Fromthe Puritaus who Organized the Company of Massachu- 
 king, who getts Bay. Probably, however, the king thought 
 attack the at first that it would relieve him at home if a few 
 onybatis dozeu of the Puritau leaders could be allowed to 
 diss^^s^ns Concentrate their minds upon a project of coloniza- 
 at home tiou in America. It might divert attention for a 
 moment from his own despotic schemes. Very likely the 
 scheme would prove a failure and the Massachusetts colony 
 incur a fate like that of Roanoke Island ; at all events, the 
 wealth of the Puritans might better be sunk in a remote 
 and perilous enterprise than employed at home in organizing 
 resistance to the crown. Such, very likely, may have been 
 the king's motive in granting the Massachusetts charter 
 two days after turning his Parliament out of doors. But the 
 events of the last half-dozen years had come to present the 
 case in a new light. The young colony was not languishing. 
 It was full of sturdy life ; it had wrought mischief to the 
 schemes of Gorges ; and what was more, it had begun to 
 take unheard-of liberties with things ecclesiastical and politi- 
 ' Motley's United Netherlands, iv. 567. 
 
(2- C^^tton 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 cal. Its example was getting to be a dangerous one. It 
 was evidently worth while to put a strong curb upon Massa- 
 chusetts. Any promise made to his subjects Charles re- 
 garded as a promise made under duress which he was quite 
 justified in breaking whenever it suited his purpose to- do so. 
 Enemies of Massachusetts were busy in England. Schis- 
 matics from Salem and revellers from Merrymount were 
 ready with their tales of woe, and now Gorges and Mason 
 were vigorously pressing their territorial claims. They bar- 
 gained with the king. In February, 1635, the moribund 
 Council for New England surrendered its charter and all its 
 corporate rights in America, on condition that the king 
 should disregard all the various grants by which these rights 
 had from time to time been alienated, and should divide up 
 the territory of New England in severalty among the mem- 
 bers of the Council. In pursuance of this scheme Gorges 
 and Mason, together with half a dozen noblemen, were al- 
 lowed to parcel out New England among. themselves as they 
 should see fit. In this way the influence of the Marquis 
 of Hamilton, with the Earls 
 of Arundel, Surrey, Carlisle, 
 and Stirling, might be actively 
 enlisted against the Massachu- 
 setts Company. A writ of 
 qtio warranto was brought 
 against it ; and it was proposed 
 to send Sir Ferdinando to gov- 
 ern New England with vicere- 
 gal powers like those afterward 
 exercised by Andros. 
 
 For a moment the danger 
 seemed alarming ; but, as Win- 
 throp says, "the Lord frus- 
 trated their design." It was 
 
 noted as a special providence that the ship in which Gorges 
 was to sail was hardly off the stocks when it fell to pieces. 
 Then the most indefatigable enemy of the colony, John 
 
 SEAL OF THE COUNCIL FOR NEW 
 ENGLAND 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Mason, suddenly died. The king issued his famous writ of 
 ship-money and set all England by the ears ; and, to crown 
 all, the attempt to read the Episcopal liturgy at St. Giles's 
 church in Edinburgh led straight to the Solemn League 
 and Covenant. Amid the first mutterings of the Great 
 Rebellion the proceedings against Massachusetts were 
 dropped, and the unheeded colony went on thriving in its 
 independent course. Possibly too some locks at Whitehall 
 may have been turned with golden keys,^ for the company 
 was rich, and the king was ever open to such arguments. 
 But when the news of his evil designs had first reached 
 
 THE TRAMOUNT, OR SUMMIT OF BEACON BILL, 1636 
 
 Boston the people of the infant colony showed no readiness 
 to yield to intimidation. In their measures there was a de- 
 cided smack of what was to be realized a hundred and forty 
 years later. Orders were immediately issued for fortifying 
 Castle Island in the harbour and the heights at Charles- 
 town and Dorchester. Militia companies were put in train- 
 ing, and a beacon was set up on the highest hill in Boston, 
 to give prompt notice to all the surrounding country of any 
 approaching enemy. 
 
 While the ill-will of the home government thus kept the 
 colonists in a state of alarm, there were causes of 
 strife at work at their very doors, of which they 
 were fain to rid themselves as soon as possible. 
 Among all the Puritans who came to New Eng- 
 land there is no more interesting figure than the 
 learned, quick-witted pugnacious Welshman, Roger Williams. 
 1 C. F. Adams, Sir Christopher Gardiner, Knight., p. 31. 
 
 2. From 
 religious 
 dissen- 
 sions ; 
 Roger 
 Williams 
 
A Kei into the 
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 AMERICA^ 
 
 U An help to the La-^g^ige of the Nathef 
 m that part of America, called • 
 NEiV^ENGL AND, S^ 
 
 c * ■ *■ ' 
 
 |Together. with briefe Oifer'VathHs of the Cu-» 
 ftonies Manners and v\' or/hips, (^f of the 
 
 |,'^, arorcidul -ynvej. In Peace and Warrc, 
 
 # |l inLifc nnd Dcach. 
 
 p^^ all which are a'dtfled Spirkuali Obferva^mt, 
 fe Gencrall«nd Particular l>y the ^Amhmr, of 
 
 Kjl ciiictc and ipccrdirule(upona!locca{ioii!. jto * 
 M^ ail che Bngli^ I riiiabicing thole pans s 
 
 PI yccpicafantand pionEibleco ' - 
 
 |;4, ciie V ic vv oi al i u 'Cn : ■ *: 
 
 iSr ROGER WiLLlAiMS 
 Pikjed by Gregory Dexter^ 1^43, 
 
 FIRST ENGLISH HOOK OF AMERICAN PHILOLOGY 
 
124 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 He was over-fond of logical subtleties and delighted in con- 
 troversy. There was scarcely any subject about which he 
 did not wrangle, from the sinfulness of persecution to the 
 propriety of women wearing veils in church. Yet, with all 
 this love of controversy, there has perhaps never lived a 
 more gentle and kindly soul. Within five years from the 
 settlement of Massachusetts this young preacher had an- 
 nounced the true principles of religious liberty with a clear- 
 ness of insight quite remarkable in that age. Roger Wil- 
 liams had been aided in securing an education by the great 
 lawyer, Sir Edward Coke, and had lately taken his degree at 
 Pembroke College, Cambridge ; but the boldness with which 
 he declared his opinions had aroused the hostility of Laud, 
 and in 163 1 he had come over to Plymouth, whence he 
 removed two years later to Salem, and became pastor of the 
 church there. The views of Williams, if logically carried 
 out, involved the entire separation of church from state, the 
 equal protection of all forms of religious faith, the repeal of 
 all laws compelling attendance on public worship, the aboli- 
 tion of tithes and of all forced contributions to the sjiipport 
 of religion. Such views are to-day quite generally adopted 
 by the more civilized portions of the Protestant world ; but 
 it is needless to say that they were not the views of the 
 seventeenth century, in Massachusetts or elsewhere. For 
 declaring such opinions as these on the continent of Europe, 
 anywhere except in Holland, a man like Williams would in 
 that age have run great risk of being burned at the stake. 
 In England, under the energetic misgovernment of Laud, 
 he would very likely have had to stand in the pillory with 
 his ears cropped, or perhaps, like Bunyan and Baxter, would 
 have been sent to jail. In Massachusetts such'views were 
 naturally enough regarded as anarchical, but in Williams's 
 case they were further complicated by grave political im- 
 prudence. He wrote a pamphlet in which he denied the 
 right of the colonists to the lands which they held in New 
 England under the king's grant. He held that the soil 
 belonged to the Indians, that the settlers could only obtain 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 IZJ 
 
 a valid title to it by purchase from them, and that the ac- 
 ceptance of a patent from a mere intruder, like the king, 
 was a sin requiring public repentance. This doctrine was 
 sure to be regarded in England as an attack upon the king's 
 supremacy over Massachusetts, and at the same time an 
 incident occurred in Salem which made it all the more un- 
 fo-rtunate. The royal colours under which the little com- 
 panies of militia marched were emblazoned with the red 
 cross of St. George. 
 The uncompromising 
 Endicott loathed this 
 emblem as tainted 
 with Popery, and one 
 day he publicly de- 
 faced the flag of the 
 Salem Company by 
 cutting out the cross; 
 The enemies of Mas- 
 sachusetts misinter- 
 preted this act as a 
 defiance aimed at the 
 royal authority, and 
 they attributed it to 
 the teachings of Wil- 
 liams. In view of the 
 king's unfriendliness 
 ■ these were dangerous proceedings. Endicott was summoned 
 before the General Court at Boston, where he was publicly 
 reprimanded and declared incapable of holding office for a 
 year. A few months afterward, in January, 1636, Williams 
 was ordered by the General Court to come to Boston and 
 embark in a ship that was about to set sail for England. 
 But he escaped into the forest, and made his way through 
 the snow to the wigwam of Massasoit. He was a rare lin- 
 guist, and had learned to talk fluently in the language of the 
 Indians, and now he passed the winter in trying to instill 
 into their ferocious hearts something of the gentleness of 
 
 ROGER Williams's church in salem (1633) 
 
126 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Christianity. In the spring he was privately notified by 
 Winthrop that if he were to steer his course to Narragan- 
 sett bay he would be secure from molestation ; and such was 
 the beginning of the settlement of Providence.^ 
 
 ^^00^ S^j^amA 
 
 Shortly before the departure of Williams, there came to 
 Boston one of the greatest Puritan statesmen of that heroic 
 Henry ^^^' *^^ younger Henry Vane. It is pleasant to 
 Vane and remember that the man who did so much to over- 
 Hutchin- throw the tyranny of Strafford, who brought the 
 ^°" military strength of Scotland to the aid of the 
 
 hard-pressed Parliament, who administered the navy with 
 which Blake won his astonishing victories, who dared even 
 withstand Cromwell at the height of his power when his 
 measures became too violent, — it is pleasant to remember 
 that this admirable man was once the chief magistrate of an 
 American commonwealth. It is pleasant for a Harvard man 
 to remember that as such he presided over the assembly that 
 founded our first university. Thorough republican and en- 
 thusiastic lover of liberty, he was spiritually akin to Jefferson 
 and to Samuel Adams. Like Williams he was a friend to 
 toleration, and like Williams he found Massachusetts an 
 uncomfortable home. In 1636 he was only twenty-four 
 years of age, "young in years," and perhaps not yet "in 
 
 ^ The successor of Williams as pastor of the church in Salem was 
 the eccentric Hugh Peters, a man of much ability, whose preaching 
 was popular by reason of its coars^ but vivid imagery and quaint jests. 
 He was afterward a preacher in the Parliamentary army. After the 
 return of Charles II. in 1660, he was executed for high treason. 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 127 
 
 sage counsel old." 1 He was chosen governor for that year, 
 and his administration was stormy. Among those persons 
 who had followed Mr. 
 Cotton from Lincoln- 
 shire was Mrs. Anne 
 Hutchinson, a very 
 bright and capable 
 lady, if perhaps some- 
 what impulsive and 
 indiscreet. She had 
 brought over with her, 
 says Winthrop, " two 
 dangerous errors : 
 first, that the person 
 of the Holy Ghost 
 dwells in a justified 
 person ; second, that 
 no sanctification can 
 help to evidence to 
 us our justification." 
 Into the merits of such 
 abstruse doctrines it 
 is not necessary for the historian to enter. One can hardly 
 repress a smile as one reflects how early in the history of 
 Boston some of its characteristic soci,al features were de- 
 veloped. It is curious to read of lectures there in 1636, 
 lectures by a lady, and transcendentalist lectures withal ! 
 Never did lectures in Boston arouse greater excitement 
 than Mrs. Hutchinson's. Many of her- hearers ' forsook the 
 
 teachings of the regu- 
 /jx* lar ministers, to follow 
 ' her. She was very ef- 
 fectively supported by 
 her brother-in-law, Mr. Wheelwright, an eloquent preacher, 
 and for a while she seemed to be carrying everything before 
 
 ^ Milton's noble sonnet is perhaps the finest tribute ever paid by a 
 man of letters to a statesman. 
 
 \huqli v^eXers 
 
 ^ohn. 'ufi^'iAi mJ "U^JCi 
 
128 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 her. She won her old minister, Mr. Cotton, she won the 
 stout soldier, Captain Underhill, she won Governor Vane 
 himself j while she incurred the deadly hatred of such men 
 as Dudley and Cotton's associate, John Wilson. The church 
 at Boston was divided into two hostile camps. The sensible 
 Winthrop marvelled at hearing men distinguished "by being 
 under a covenant of grace or a covenant of works, as in other 
 countries between Protestants and Papists," and he ventured 
 to doubt whether any man could really tell what the differ- 
 ence was. The theological strife went on until it threatened 
 to breed civil disaffection among the followers of Mrs. 
 Hutchinson. A peculiar bitterness was given to the affair, 
 from the fact that she professed to be endowed with the 
 spirit of prophecy and taught her partisans that it was their 
 duty to follow the biddings of a supernatural light ; and 
 there was nothing which the orthodox Puritan so stead- 
 fastly abhorred as the anarchical pretence of living by the 
 aid of a supernatural light. In a strong and complex society 
 the teachings of Mrs. Hutchinson would have awakened but 
 a languid speculative interest, or perhaps would have passed 
 by unheeded. In the simple society of Massachusetts- in 
 1636, physically weak , and as yet struggling for very exist- 
 encej the practical effect of such teachings rriay well have 
 been deemed politically dangerous. When things came to 
 such a pass that the forces of the colony were mustered 
 for an Indian campaign and the men of Boston were ready 
 to shirk the service because they suspected their chaplain to 
 be "under a covenant of works," it was naturally thought to 
 be high time to put Mrs. Hutchinson down. In the. spring . 
 of 1637 Winthrop was elected governor, and in August 
 Vane returned to England. His father had at that moment 
 more influence with the king than any other person except 
 Strafford, and the young man had indiscreetly hinted at an 
 appeal to the home government for the protection of the 
 Antinomians, as Mrs. Hutchinson's followers were called. 
 But an appeal from America to England was something 
 which Massachusetts would no more tolerate in the days of 
 

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 i'J 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 1^ 
 
pi « 
 
 
 Pi 4 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 129 
 
 Winthrop than in the days of Hancock and Adams. Soon 
 after Vane's departure, Mrs. Hutchinson and her friends 
 were ordered to leave the colony. It was doubtless an 
 odious act of persecution, yet of all such acts which stain 
 the history of Massachusetts in the seventeenth century, it 
 is just the one for which the plea of political necessity may 
 really be to some extent accepted. 
 
 We now begin to see how the spreading of the New Eng- 
 land colonization and the founding of distinct communities 
 were hastened by these differences of opinion on theological 
 questions or on questions concerning the relations between 
 church and state. Of Mrs. Hutchinson's friends and adher- 
 ents, some went northward, and founded the towns of Exeter 
 and Hampton. Some time before Portsmouth had been set- 
 tled by followers of Mason and Gorges, and Dover by the 
 the Hilton brothers, Puritans. In 1641 these towns were 
 added to the domain of Massachusetts, and so the matter 
 stood until 16.79, when we shall see Charles II. marking 
 them off as a separate province, under a royal government. 
 Such were the beginnings of New Hampshire. Mrs. Hutch- 
 inson herself, however, with William Coddington and other 
 adherents,. bought the island of Aquedneck from the Indians^ 
 and settlements were made at Portsmouth and Newport! 
 After a quarter of a century of turbulence, these settlements 
 coalesced with 
 Williams's col- 
 ony at Provi- 
 dence, and thus 
 was formed the 
 state of Rhode 
 Island. After 
 
 her husband's death in 1642, Mrs. Hutchinson left Aqued- 
 neck and settled upon some land to the west of Stamford 
 and supposed to be within the territory of New Netherland. 
 There in the following year she was cruelly murdered by 
 Indians, together with nearly all her children and servants, 
 sixteen victims in all. One of her descendants was the 
 
 Q^ ^cjl^^fin^^^TL-^ 
 
130 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 illustrious Thomas Hutchinson, the first great American his- 
 torian, and last royal governor of Massachusetts. 
 
 To the dangers arising from the ill-will of the crown, and 
 from these theological quarrels, there was added the danger 
 of a general attack by the savages. Down to this time, since 
 the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the settlers of New- 
 England had been in no way molested by the natives. Mas- 
 sasoit's treaty with the Pilgrims was scrupulously observed 
 on both sides, and kept the Wampanoags quiet for fifty- 
 four years. The somewhat smaller tribe which took its 
 name from the Massa-wachusett, or Great Hill, of Milton 
 (now called Blue Hill), kept on friendly terms with the set- 
 tlers about Boston, because these red men coveted the 
 
 Sfsm^^sv^" I 
 
 
 OLD VIEW OF BOSTON NECK, WITT! BLUE HILL IN THE DISTANCE 
 
 powerful aid of the white strangers in case of war with their 
 hereditary foes the Tarratines, who dwelt in the Piscataqua 
 country. It was only when the English began to leave 
 3. From these coast regions and press into the interior that 
 diaJs" the ^'^^^t)!^ arose. The western shores of Narragansett 
 Pequot su- bay were possessed by the numerous and warlike 
 tribe of that name, which held in partial subjection 
 the Nyantics near Point Judith. To the west of these, and 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 131 
 
 about the Thames river, dwelt the still more formidable 
 Pequots, a tribe which for bravery and ferocity asserted a 
 preeminence in New England not unlike that which the 
 Iroquois league of the Mohawk valley was soon to win over 
 all North America east of the Mississippi. North of the 
 Pequots, the squalid villages of the Nipmucks were scattered 
 over the beautiful highlands that stretch in long ridges from 
 Quinsigamond ^ to Nichewaug,^ and beyond toward blue 
 Monadnock. Westward, in the lower Connecticut valley, 
 lived the Mohegans, a small but valiant tribe, now for some 
 time held tributary to their Pequot cousins, and very restive 
 under the yoke. The thickly wooded mountain ranges be- 
 tween the Connecticut and the Hudson had few human 
 inhabitants. These hundred miles of crag and forest were 
 a bulwark none too wide or strong against the incursions 
 of the terrible Mohawks, whose name sent a shiver of fear 
 throughout savage New England, and whose forbearance the 
 Nipmucks and Mohegans were fain to ensure by a yearly 
 payment of blackmail. Each summer there came two Mo- 
 ' hawk elders, secure in the dread that Iroquois prowess had 
 everywhere inspired ; and up and down the Connecticut val- 
 ley they seized the tribute of weapons and wampum, and 
 proclaimed the last harsh edict issued from the savage coun- 
 cil at Onondaga. The scowls that greeted their unwelcome 
 visits were doubtless ilowhere fiercer than among the Mohe- 
 gans, thus ground down between Mohawk and Pequot as 
 between the upper and the nether millstone. 
 
 Among the various points in which civilized man surpasses 
 the savage none is more conspicuous than the military brute 
 force which in the highest civilization is always latent though 
 comparatively seldom exerted. The sudden intrusion of Eng- 
 lish warfare into the Indian world of the seventeenth century 
 may wfell have seemed to the red men a supernatural visita- 
 tion, like the hurricane or the earthquake. The uncompro- 
 mising vigour with which the founders of Massachusetts 
 carried on their work was viewed in some quarters with a 
 ' Worcester. '' Petersham. 
 
132 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
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 dissatisfaction which soon thrust 
 the Enghsh migration into the 
 very heart of the Indian country. 
 The first movement, however, 
 was directed against the en- 
 croachments of New Nether- 
 land. In October, 1634, some 
 men of Plymouth, led by Wil- 
 liam Holmes, sailed up the Con- 
 necticut river, and, after bandy- 
 First move- ing threats with a 
 ^o^^ert? party of Dutch who 
 "="* had built a rude fort 
 
 on the site of Hartford, passed 
 on and fortiiied themselves on 
 the site of Windsor. Next year 
 Wouter Van Twiller, Director 
 of New Netherland, sent a com- 
 pany of seventy men to drive 
 away these intruders, but after 
 reconnoitring the situation the 
 Dutchmen thought it best 'not 
 to make an attack. Their little 
 stronghold at Hartford remained 
 uninolested by the English, and, 
 in order to secure the communi- 
 cation between this advanced 
 outpost and New Amsterdam, 
 Van Twiller decided to build an- 
 other fort at the mouth of the 
 river, but this time the English 
 were beforehand. Rumours of 
 Dutch designs may have reached 
 the ears of Lord Say-and-Sele 
 and Lord Brooke — " fanatic 
 Brooke," as Scott calls him in 
 " Marmion " — who had obtained 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 133 
 
 from the Council for New England a grant of territory on 
 the shores of the Sound. These noblernen chose as their 
 agent the younger John Winthrop, son of the Massachu- 
 setts governor, and this new-comer arrived upon the scene 
 just in time to drive away Van Twiller's vessel and build an 
 
 English fort which in honour of his two patrons he called 
 "Say-Brooke." 
 
 Had it not been for seeds of discontent already sown in 
 Massachusetts, the English hold upon the Connecticut val- 
 ley might perhaps have been for a few years con- Disaffec- 
 fined to these two military outposts at Windsor M°"'"h 
 and Saybrook. But there were people in Massa- ^^tts 
 chusetts who did not look with favour upon the aristocratic 
 
134 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 and theocratic features in its polity. The provision that 
 none but church-members should vote or hold office was by- 
 no means unanimously approved. We shall see it in the 
 course of another generation putting altogether too much 
 temporal power into the hands of the clergy, and we can 
 trace the growth of the opposition to it until in the reign 
 of Charles II. it becomes a dangerous source of weakness 
 to Massachusetts. At the outset the opposition seems to 
 have been strongest in Dorchester, Watertown, and "the 
 New Town " (Cambridge). When the Board of Assistants 
 undertook to secure for themselves permanency of "tenure, 
 together with the power of choosing the governor and mak- 
 ing the laws, these three towns sent deputies to Boston to 
 inspect the charter and see if it authorized any such stretch 
 of power. They were foremost in insisting that representa- 
 tives chosen by the towns must have a share in the general 
 government. Men who held such opinions were naturally 
 unwilling to increase the political weight of the clergy, who, 
 during these early disputes and indeed until the downfall of 
 the charter, were inclined to take aristocratic views and to 
 sympathize with the Board of Assistants. Cotton declared 
 that democracy was no fit government either for church or 
 for commonwealth, and the majority of the ministers agreed 
 with him. Chief among those who did not was the learned 
 
 and eloquent Thomas Hooker, pas- 
 / • ri'^'^fljiA ^°^ °^ ^^ church at the New Town. 
 
 When Winthrop, in a letter to Hooker, 
 defended the restriction of the suffrage on the ground that 
 " the best part is always the least, and of that best part the 
 wiser part is always the lesser," Hooker replied that "in 
 matters which concern the common good, a general council, 
 chosen by all, to transact businesses which concern all, I 
 conceive most suitable to rule and most safe for relief of 
 the whole." It is interesting to meet, on the very thres- 
 hold of American history, with such a lucid statement of the 
 strongly contrasted views which a hundred and fifty years 
 later were to be represented on a national scale by Hamilton 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 135 
 
 and Jefferson. There were many in the New Town who took 
 Hooker's view of the matter ; and there, as also in Water- 
 town and Dorchester, which in 1633 took the initiative in 
 framing town governments with selectmen, a strong disposi- 
 tion was shown to evade the restrictions upon the suffrage. 
 
 While such things were talked, about in the summer of 
 1633 the adventurous John Oldham was making his way- 
 through the forest and over the mountains into the Con- 
 necticut valley, and when he returned to the coast his 
 glowing accounts set some people to thinking. Two years 
 afterward a few pioneers from Dorchester pushed „ 
 
 , , , ., Connecti- 
 
 through the wilderness as far as the Plymouth cut pie- 
 men's fort at Windsor, while a party from Water- 
 town went farther and came to a halt upon the site of 
 Wethersfield. A larger party, bringing cattle and such goods 
 as they could carry, set out in the autumn and succeeded in 
 reaching Windsor. Their winter supplies were sent around 
 by water to meet them, but early in November the ships had 
 barely passed the Saybrook fort when they found the river 
 blocked with ice and were obliged to return to Boston. The 
 sufferings of the pioneers, thus cut off from the world, were 
 dreadful. Their cattle perished, and they were reduced to 
 a diet of acorns and ground-nuts. Some seventy of them, 
 walking on the frozen river to Saybrook, were so fortunate 
 as to find a crazy little sloop jammed in the ice. They suc- 
 ceeded in cutting her adrift, and steered themselves back to 
 Boston. Others surmounted greater obstacles in struggling 
 back through the snow over the region which the Pullman 
 car now traverses, regardless of seasons, in three hours. A 
 few grim heroes, the nameless founders of a noble common- 
 wealth, stayed on the spot and defied starvation. In the 
 next June, 1636, the New Town congregation, a hundred or 
 more in number, led by their sturdy pastor, and bringing 
 with them 160 head of cattle, made the pilgrimage to the 
 Connecticut valley. Women and children took part in this 
 pleasant summer journey ; Mrs. Hooker, the pastor's wife, 
 being too ill to walk, was carried on a litter. Thus, in the 
 
136 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 memorable year in which our great university was born, did 
 Cambridge become, in the true Greek sense of a much- 
 abused word, the metropolis or "mother town " of Hartford. 
 The migration at once became strong in numbers. During 
 the past twelvemonth a 'score of ships had brought from 
 England to Massachusetts more than 3000 souls, and so 
 great an accession made further movement easy. Hooker's 
 pilgrims were soon followed by the Dorchester and Water- 
 town congregations, and by the next May 800 people were 
 .living in Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield. As we 
 read of these movements, not of individuals, but of organic 
 communities, united in allegiance to a church and its pastor, 
 and fervid with the instinct of self-government, we seem to 
 see Greek history renewed, but with centuries of added 
 political training. For one year a board of commissioners 
 from Massachusetts governed the new towns, but at the end 
 of that time the tovvns chose representatives and held a 
 General Court at Hartford, and thus the separate existence 
 of Connecticut was begun. As for Springfield, which was 
 settled about the same time by a party from Roxbury, led 
 by William Pynchon, it remained for some years doubtful to 
 which state it belonged. At the opening session of the 
 General Court, May 31, 1638, Mr. Hooker preached a ser- 
 mon of wonderful power, in which he maintained that " the 
 foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the 
 people," "that the choice of public magistrates belongs unto 
 the people by God's own allowance," and that "they who 
 have power to appoint officers and magistrates have the 
 right also to set the bounds and limitations of the power 
 and place unto which they call them." On the 14th of 
 January, 1639, all the freemen of the three towns assembled 
 at Hartford and adopted a written constitution in which 
 The first the hand of the great preacher is clearly discern- 
 ronsdtu- '^^^- ^'^ ^^ worthy of note that this document 
 t'°" contains none of the conventional references to a 
 
 "dread sovereign" or a "gracious king," nor the slightest 
 allusion to the British or any other government outside of 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 137 
 
 Connecticut itself, nor does it prescribe any condition of 
 church-membership for the right of suffrage. It was the 
 first written constitution known to history, that created a 
 government,! and it marked the beginnings of American 
 
 tyO-i^&xm- ^YruQtOTL^ 
 
 democracy, of which Thomas Hooker deserves more than 
 any other man to be called the father. The government of 
 the United States to-day is in lineal descent more nearly 
 
 ^ The compact drawn up in the Mayflower's cabin was not, in the 
 strict sense, a constitution, which is a document defining and limiting 
 the functions of government. Magna Charta partook of the nature of 
 a written constitution, as far as it went, but it did not create a govern- 
 ment. 
 
I I ! - I 
 
 I h I 
 
 11.11 IV I I I I 
 
 
 WILLIAM WOOD'S MAP 
 
1 1 
 
 1^ 
 
 1 1 
 
 "1 r 
 
 1 \-4^ 1 
 
 1 1 -| 1 
 
 is 1 - 
 
 t, 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 -n. 
 
 
 
 OF NEW ENGLAND (1634) 
 
140 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 related to that of Connecticut than to that of any of the 
 other thirteen colonies. The most noteworthy feature of 
 the Connecticut republic was that it was a federation of in- 
 dependent towns, and that all attributes of sovereignty not 
 expressly granted to the General Court remained, as of origi- 
 nal right, in the towns. Moreover, while the governor and 
 council were chosen by a majority vote of the whole people, 
 and by a suffrage that was almost universal, there was for 
 each township an equality of representation in the assem- 
 bly.i This little federal republic was allowed to develop 
 peacefully and normally ; its constitution was not violently 
 wrenched out of shape like that of Massachusetts at the end 
 of the seventeenth century. It silently grew till it became 
 the strongest political structure on the continent, as was 
 illustrated in the remarkable military energy and the un- 
 shaken financial credit of Connecticut during the Revolu- 
 tionary War ; and in the chief crisis of the Federal Con- 
 vention of 1787 Connecticut, with her compromise which 
 secured equal state representation in one branch of the 
 national government and popular representation in the other, 
 played the controlling part. 
 
 Before the little federation of towns had framed its govern- 
 ment, it had its Indian question to dispose of. Three years 
 before the migration led by Hooker, a crew of eight traders, 
 'while making their way up the river to the Dutch station 
 on the site of Hartford, had been murdered by a party of 
 Indians subject to Sassacus, head war-chief of the Pequots. 
 Negotiations concerning this outrage had gone on between 
 Sassacus and the government at Boston, and the Pequots 
 ■ had promised to deliver up the murderers, but had neglected 
 . . . to do so. In the summer of 1636 some Indians on 
 
 itheTequot Block Island subject to the Narragansetts mur- 
 ^^'' dered the pioneer John Oldham, who was sailing 
 
 on the Sound, and captured his little vessel. At this, says 
 Underbill, " God stirred up the hearts " of Governor Vane 
 and the rest of the magistrates. They were determined to 
 1 See Johnston's Connecticut, p. 321, a brilliant book. 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 141 
 
 make an end of the Indian question and show the barbarians 
 that such things would not be endured. First an embassy- 
 was sent to Canonicus and his nephew Miantonomo, chief 
 sachems of the Narragansetts, who hastened to disclaim all 
 responsibility for the murder, and to throw the blame entirely 
 
 upon the Indians of the island. 
 Vane then sent out three ves- 
 sels under command of Endi- 
 cott, who ravaged Block Island, 
 burning wigwams, sinking ca- 
 noes, and slaying dogs, for the men had taken to the woods. 
 Endicott then crossed to the mainland to reckon with the 
 Pequots. He demanded the surrender of the murderers, 
 with a thousand fathoms of wampum for damages ; and not 
 getting a satisfactory answer, he attacked the Indians, killed 
 a score of them, seized their ripe corn, and burned and spoiled 
 what he could. But such reprisals served only to enrage 
 the red men. Lyon Gardiner, commander of the Saybrook 
 fort, complained to Endicott : " You come hither to raise 
 these wasps about my ears ; then you will take wing and 
 flee away." The immediate effect was to incite Sassacus 
 -to do his utmost to compass the 
 ruin of the English. The super- 
 stitious awe with which the white 
 men were at first regarded had 
 been somewhat lessened by fa- 
 miliar contact with them, as in 
 yEsop's fable of the fox and the 
 lion. The resources of Indian 
 diplomacy were exhausted in the 
 attempt to unite the Narragansett 
 warriors with the Pequots in a 
 grand crusade against the white 
 
 men. Such a combination could hardly have been as for- 
 midable as that which was effected forty years afterward in 
 King Philip's war ; for the savages had not as yet become 
 accustomed to firearms, and the English settlements did 
 
 SEAL OF' HARVARD COLLEGE 
 
142 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 not present so many points exposed to attack; but there is 
 no doubt that it might have wrought fearful havoc. We 
 can, at any rate, find no difficulty in comprehending the 
 manifold perplexity of the Massachusetts men at this time, 
 threatened as they were at once by an Indian crusade, by 
 the machinations of a faithless king, and by a bitter theo- 
 logical quarrel at home, in this eventful year when they laid 
 aside part of their incomes to establish Harvard College. 
 
 The schemes of Sassacus were unsuccessful. The hered- 
 itary enmity of the Narragansetts toward their Pequot 
 rivals was too strong to be lightly overcome. Roger Wil- 
 Sassaciis liams, taking advantage of this feeling, so worked 
 b ^Rcfer upon the minds of the Narragansett chiefs that in 
 Williams the autumn of 1636 they sent an embassy to Boston 
 and made a treaty of alliance with the English. The Pequots 
 were thus left to fight 
 out their own quar- 
 rel ; and had they / 1 d/l/Ji' 
 still been separated 
 from the English by 
 the distance between 
 Boston and the Thames river, the feud might very likely have 
 smouldered until the drift of events had given a different 
 shape to it. But as the English had in this very year thrown 
 out their advanced posts into the lower Connecticut valley, 
 there was clearly no issue from the situation save in deadly 
 war. All through the winter of 1636-37 the Connecticut 
 towns were kept in a state of alarm by the savages. Men 
 going to their work were killed and horribly mangled. A 
 Wethersfield man was kidnapped and roasted alive. Embold- 
 ened by the success of this feat, the Pequots attacked 
 The Pe- Wcthersfield, massacted ten people, and carried 
 ?he°wa*r^^ away two girls. Wrought up to desperation by 
 ipath alone thcsc atrocitics, the Connecticut men appealed to 
 Massachusetts and Plymouth for aid, and put into service 
 ninety of their own number, under command of John Mason, 
 an excellent and sturdy officer who had won golden opinions 
 
^;^n^^-/<e^ 
 
 THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 143 
 
 from Sir Thomas Fairfax, under whom he had served in 
 the Netherlands. It took time to get men from Boston, and 
 all that Massachusetts contributed to the enterprise at its 
 beginning was that eccentric dare-devil John Underbill, with 
 a force of twenty men. Seventy friendly Mohegans, under 
 their chief Uncas, eager to see vengeance wrought upon 
 their Pequot oppressors, accompanied the expedition. From 
 the fort at Saybrook this little company set sail on the 
 twentieth of May, 1637, and landed in brilliant moonlight 
 near Point Judith, where they 
 were reinforced by four hundred 
 Narragapsetts and Nyantics.- 
 From this point they turned 
 westward toward the strong- 
 hold of the Pequots, near the place where the town of Ston- 
 ington now stands. As they approached the dreaded spot 
 the courage of the Indian allies gave out, and they slunk 
 behind, declaring that Sassacus was a god whom it was use- 
 less to think of attacking. The force with which Mason and 
 Underbill advanced to the fray consisted of just seventy- 
 seven Englishmen. Their task was to assault and carry an 
 entrenched fort or walled village containing seven hundred 
 Pequots. The fort was a circle of two or three acres in 
 area, girdled by a palisade of sturdy sapling-trunks, set firm 
 and deep into the ground, the narrow interstices between 
 them serving as loopholes wherefrom to reconnoitre any one 
 passing by and to shoot at assailants. At opposite sides 
 of this stronghold were two openings barely large enough 
 to let any one go through. Within this enclosure were the 
 crowded wigwams. The attack was skilfully managed, and 
 was a complete surprise. A little before daybreak Mason, 
 with sixteen men, occupied one of the doors, while Under- 
 bill made sure of the other. The Indians in panic sought ' 
 first one outlet and then the other, and were ruthlessly shot 
 down, whichever way they turned. A few succeeded in 
 breaking loose, but these were caught and tomahawked by 
 the Indian allies, who, though afraid to take the risks of the 
 
144 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 fight, were ready enough to help slay the fugitives. The 
 English threw firebrands among the wigwams, and soon the 
 whole village was in a light blaze, and most of the 'savages 
 suffered, albeit in abridged and therefore compara- 
 exterini- tively merciful form, the horrible death which they 
 "^'^ were so fond of inflicting upon their captives. Of 
 
 the seven hundred Pequots in the stronghold, but five got 
 away with their lives. All this bloody work had been done 
 in less than an hour, and of the English there had been two 
 killed and sixteen wounded. It was the end of the Pequot 
 nation. Of the remnant which had not been included in this 
 wholesale slaughter, most were soon afterwards destroyed 
 piecemeal in a running fight which extended as far westward 
 as the site of Fairfield. Sassacus fled across the Hudson 
 river to the Mohawks, who slew him and sent his scalp to 
 Boston, as a peace-offering to the English. The survivors 
 were divided between the Mohegans and Narragansetts and 
 adopted into those tribes. Truly the work was done with 
 Cromwellian thoroughness. The tribe which had lorded it 
 so fiercely over the New England forests was all at once 
 wiped out of existence. So terrible a vengeance the Indians 
 had never heard of. If the name of Pequot had hitherto 
 been a name of terror, so now did the Englishmen win the 
 inheritance of that deadly prestige. Not for eight-and-thirty 
 years after the destruction of the Pequots, not until a gen- 
 eration of red men had grown up that knew not Underbill 
 and Mason, did the Indian of New England dare again to 
 lift his hand against the white man. 
 
 Such scenes of wholesale slaughter are not pleasant read- 
 ing in this milder age. But our forefathers felt that the 
 wars of Canaan afforded a sound precedent for such cases ; 
 and, indeed, if we remember what the soldiers of Tilly and 
 Wallenstein were doing at this very time in Germany, we 
 shall realize that th6 work of Mason and Underbill would 
 not have been felt by any one in that age to merit censure 
 or stand in need of excuses. As a matter of practical policy 
 the annihilation of the Pequots can be condemned only by 
 
MlMBiiBMMAAriri A G B 
 
F -ruTT pcriTTri 
 
 T T7Tr:HT 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 145 
 
 those who read history so incorrectly as to suppose that 
 savages, whose business is to torture and slay, can always 
 be dealt with according to the methods in use between civil- 
 ized peoples. A mighty nation, like the United States, is 
 in honour bound to treat the red man with scrupulous justice 
 and refrain , from cruelty in , punishing his delinquencies. 
 But if the founders of Connecticut, in confronting a danger 
 which threatened their very existence, struck with savage 
 fierceness, we cannot blame them. The world is so made 
 that it is only in that way that the higher races have been 
 able to preserve _ themselves and carry on their progressive 
 work. 
 
 The overthrow of the Pequots was a cardinal event in the 
 planting of New England. It removed the chief obstacle to 
 the colonization of the Connecticut coast, and brought the 
 inland settlements into such unimpeded communication with 
 those on tide-water as to prepare the way for the formation 
 of the New England confederacy. Its first fruits were seen 
 in the direction taken by the next wave of migration, which 
 ended the Puritan exodus from England to America. About 
 a month after the storming of the palisaded village there 
 arrived in Boston a company of wealthy London' merchants, 
 with their families. The most prominent among ,„,. , 
 
 —,,,., T^ ° 1 he colony 
 
 them, 1 heophilus Eaton, was a member of the of New 
 Company of Massachusetts Bay. Their pastor, 
 John Davenport, was an eloquent preacher and a man of 
 power. He was a graduate of Oxford, and in 1624 had 
 been chosen vicar of St. Stephen's parish, in Coleman street, 
 London. When he heard that Cotton and Hooker were 
 about to sail for America, he sought earnestly to turn them 
 from what he deemed the error of their ways, but in- 
 stead he became converted hipiself and soon incurred the 
 especial enmity of Laud, so that it became necessary for 
 him to flee to Amsterdam. In 1636 he returned to Eng- 
 land, and in concert with Eaton organized a scheme of emi- 
 gration that included men from Yorkshire, Hertfordshire, 
 and Kent. The leaders arrived in Boston in the midst of 
 
146 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 THE OLD STONE HOUSE, GUILFORD, CONN. (1639) 
 
 the Antinomian disputes, and although Davenport won 
 admiration for his skill in battling with heresy, he may per- 
 haps have deemed it preferable to lead his flock to some new 
 spot in the wilderness where such warfare might not be re- 
 quired. The merchants desired a fine harbour and good 
 commercial situation, and the reports of the men who re- 
 turned from hunting the Pequots told them of just such a. 
 spot at Quinnipiack on Long Island Sound. Here they 
 could carry out their plan of putting into practice a theo- 
 cratic ideal even more rigid than that which obtained in 
 Massachusetts, and arrange their civil as well as ecclesiasti- 
 cal affairs in accordance with rules to be obtained from a 
 minute study of the Scriptures. 
 
 In the spring of 1638 the town of New Haven was accord- 
 ingly founded. The next year a swarni from this new town 
 settled Milford, while another party, freshly arrived from 
 England, made the beginnings of Guilford. In 1640 Stam- 
 ford was added to the group, and in 1643 the four towns, 
 were united into the republic of New Haven, to which 
 Southold, on Long Island, and Branford were afterwards 
 added. As being a confederation of independent towns. 
 
M 
 
 "t.'{-. "- ' I'.y/'f- 
 
 . , New-Haven Is : 
 
 Seitlmg in^ 
 
 NEW-ENGLAND. 
 
 % 
 
 i/i ^'D s nM e 
 
 LA WES 
 
 .-*. F O -R ■ : . 
 
 GO y ElliEM E H f ; 
 
 Publiflhed for the Ufc of that Cofeny. 
 
 Thpugti ionic of the pr<Jers intended for 
 
 prclent convenience, may probably 
 
 be hereafter altered, and as 
 
 need requircth other 
 
 Lawes added. ^ 
 
 _' L ON B a-H.: ■''"■■' . 
 
 CrotfHe in Pepe/'Uad-Alky. -3| 
 
 EAKLIEST BOOK ON THE NEW HAVEN COLONY 
 
148 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 New Haven resembled Connecticut. In other respects the 
 differences between the two reflected the differences be- 
 tween Davenport and Hooker ; the latter was what would 
 now be called more radical than Winthrop or Cotton, the 
 former was more conservative. In the New Haven colony 
 none but church-members could vote, and this measure at 
 the outset disfranchised more than half the settlers in "New 
 Haven town, nearly half in Guilford, and less than one fifth 
 in Milford. This result was practically less democratic than 
 in Massachusetts, where it was some time before the dis- 
 franchisement attained such dimensions. The power of the 
 clergy reached its extreme point in New Haven, where each 
 of the towns was governed by seven ecclesiastical officers 
 known as "pillars of the church." These magistrates served 
 as judges, and trial by- jury was dispensed with, because no 
 authority could be found for it in the laws of Moses. The 
 legislation was quaint enough, though the famous "Blue 
 Laws " of New Haven, which have been made the theme of 
 so many jests at the expense of our forefathers, never really 
 Le e d of ^^i^ted. The story of the Blue Laws was first 
 the "Blue published in 1781 by the Rev. Samuel Peters, a 
 Tory refugee in London, who took delight in hor- 
 rifying our British cousins with tales of wholesale tarring and 
 feathering done by the patriots of the Revolution. In point 
 of strict veracity Dr. Peters reminds one of Baron Munchau- 
 sen ; he declares that the river at Bellows Falls flows so fast 
 as to float iron crowbars, and he gravely describes sundry 
 animals who were evidently cousins to the Jabberwok. The 
 most famous passage of his pretended code is that which 
 enacts that " no woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath," 
 and that " no one shall play on any instrument of music 
 except the drum, trumpet, or jewsharp." 
 
 When the Long Parliament met in 1640, the Puritan 
 End of the sx°dus to New England came to an end. During 
 Puritan the twenty years which had elapsed since the vov- 
 
 eXOdUS r 1 Ti/r n 
 
 age of the Mayflower, the population had grown 
 to 26,000 souls. Of this number scarcely 500 had arrived 
 
THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND 149 
 
 before 1629. It is a striking fact, since it expresses a causal 
 relation and not a mere coincidence, that the eleven years, 
 1 629-1 640, during which Charles I. governed England with- 
 out a Parliament, were the same eleven years that witnessed 
 the planting of New England. For more than a century 
 after this there was no considerable migration to this part 
 of North America. Puritan England now found employ- 
 ment for all its energies and all its enthusiasm at home. 
 The struggle with the king and the efforts toward reorgani- 
 zation under Cromwell were to occupy it for another score 
 of years, and then, by the time of the Restoration the youth- 
 ful creative energy of Puritaiiism had spent itself. -The in- 
 fluence of this great movement was indeed destined to grow 
 wider and deeper with the progress of civilization, but after 
 1660 its creative work began to run in new channels and 
 assume different forms. 
 
 It is curious to reflect what might, have been the re- 
 sult, to America and to the world, had things, in England 
 gone differently between 1620 and 1660. Had the 
 policy of James and Charles been less formidable, might have 
 the Puritan exodus might never have occurred, and 
 the Virginian type of society, varied perhaps by a strong 
 Dutch infusion, might have become supreme in America. 
 The western continent would have lost in richness and vari- 
 ety of life, and it is not likely that Europe would have made 
 a corresponding gain, for the moral effect of the challenge, 
 the struggle, and the overthrow of monarchy in England 
 was a stimulus sorely needed by neighbouring peoples. It is 
 not always by avoiding the evil, it is rather by grappling with 
 it and conquering it that character is strengthened and life 
 enriched, and there is no better example of this than the 
 history of England in the seventeenth century. 
 
 On the other hand, if the Stuart despotism had triumphed 
 in England, the Puritan exodus would doubtless have been 
 swelled to huge dimensions. New England would have 
 gained strength so quickly that much less irritation than she 
 actually suffered between 1664 and 1689 would probably 
 
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 A LEAF FROM THE 1649 ALMANACj. PRINTED 
 
rea.up^ 
 
 M DC XL IX 
 
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 fircatsqm; fubmittsd to onr GoTemmcW. 
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 / 
 
 AT SAMUEL GKliEN'S PKIiSS IN CAMBRIDf^E 
 
 ^^ -O^ 
 
IS2 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 have goaded her into rebellion. The war of independence 
 might have been waged a century sooner than it was. It is 
 not easy to point to any especial advantage that could have 
 come to America from this ; one is rather inclined to think 
 of the peculiarly valuable political training of the eighteenth 
 century that would have been lost. Such surmises are for 
 the most part idle. But as concerns Europe, it is plain to be 
 seen, for reasons stated in my first chapter, that the decisive 
 victory of Charles I. would have been a calamity of the first 
 magnitude. It would have been like the Greeks losing 
 Marathon or the Saracens winning Tours, supposing the 
 worst consequences ever imagined in those hypothetical 
 cases to have been realized. Or taking a more contracted 
 view, we can see how England, robbed of her Puritan ele- 
 ment, might still have waxed' in strength, as France has 
 done in spite of losing the Huguenots ; but she . could not 
 have taken the proud position that she has come to occupy 
 as mother of nations. Her preeminence since Cromwell's 
 time has been chiefly due to her unrivalled power of planting 
 self-supporting colonies, and that power has had its roots in 
 English self-government. It is the vitality of the English 
 Idea that is making the language of Cromwell and Washing- 
 ton dominant in the world. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 
 
 The Puritan exodus to New England, which came to an 
 end about 1640, was purely and exclusively English. There 
 was nothing in it that came from the continent of Europe, 
 nothing that was either Irish or Scotch, very little that was 
 Welsh. As Palfrey says, the population of 26,000 ^^. 
 
 that had been planted in New England by 1640 was purely 
 " thenceforward continued to multiply on its own 
 soil for a century and a half, in remarkable seclusion from 
 other communities." During the whole of this period New 
 England received but few immigrants ; and it was not until 
 after the Revolutionary War that its people had fairly started 
 on their westward march into the state of New York and 
 beyond, until now, after yet another century, we find some 
 of their descendants dwelling in a homelike Salem and a 
 Portland of charming beauty on the Pacific coast. Three 
 times between the meeting of the Long Parliament and the 
 meeting of the Continental Congress did the New England 
 colonies receive a slight infusion of non-English blood. In 
 1652, after his victories at Dunbar and Worcester, Crom- 
 well sent 270 of his Scottish prisoners to Boston, where the 
 descendants of some of them still dwell. After the revoca- 
 tion of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, 150 families of Hugue- 
 nots came to Massachusetts. And finally in 1719, 120 
 Presbyterian families came over from the north of Ireland, 
 and settled at Londonderry in New Hampshire, and else- 
 where. In view of these facts it may be said that there is 
 not a county in England of which the population is more 
 purely English than the population of New England at the 
 end of the eighteenth century. From long and careful re- 
 
154 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 search, Mr. Savage, the highest authority on this subject, 
 concludes that more than 98 in 100 of the New England 
 people at that time could trace their origin to England iii 
 the narrowest sense, excluding even Wales. As already 
 observed, every English shire contributed something to the 
 emigration, but there was a marked preponderance of people 
 from the East Anglian counties. 
 
 The population of New England was nearly as homoge- 
 neous in social condition as it was in blood. The emigra- 
 tion was preeminent for its respectability. Like the best 
 Respecta- part of the emigration to Virginia, it consisted 
 ter of thT largely of country squires and yeomen. The men 
 emigration ^^q followed Winthrop were thrifty and prosper- 
 ous in their old homes from which their devotion to an 
 idea made them voluntary exiles. They attached so much 
 importance to regular industry and decorous behaviour that 
 for a long time the needy and shiftless people who usually 
 make trouble in new colonies were not tolerated among 
 them. Hence the early history of New England is remark- 
 ably free from those scenes of violence and disorder which 
 have so often made hideous the first years of new commu- 
 nities. Of negro slaves there were very few, and these 
 were employed wholly in domestic service ; there were not 
 enough of them to affect the industrial life of New England 
 or to be worth mentioning as a class. Neither were there 
 many of the wretched people, kidnapped from the jails and 
 slums of English seaports, such as in those early days when 
 negro labour was scarce, were sent by ship-loads to Virginia, 
 to become the progenitors of the "white trash." There 
 were a few indented white servants, usually of the class 
 known as " redemptioners," or immigrants who voluntarily 
 bound themselves to service for a stated time in order to 
 defray" the cost of their voyage from Europe. At a later 
 time there were many of these "redemptioners " in the mid- 
 dle colonies, but in New England they were very few ; and 
 as no stigma of servitude was attached to manual labour, 
 they were apt at the end of their terms of service to become 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 155 
 
 independent farmers ; thus they ceased to be recognizable 
 as a distinct class of society. Nevertheless the common 
 statement tTiat no traces of the " mean white " are to be 
 found in New England is perhaps somewhat too sweeping. 
 Interspersed among those respectable and tidy mountain 
 villages, once full of such vigorous life, one sometimes 
 comes upon little isolated groups of wretched hovels whose 
 local reputation is sufficiently indicated by such terse epi- 
 thets as "Hardscrabble " or " Hellhuddle." Their denizens 
 may in many instances be the degenerate offspring of a 
 sound New England stock, but they sometimes show strong 
 points of resemblance to that "white trash" which has 
 come to be a recognizable strain of the English race ; and 
 one cannot help suspecting that while the New England 
 colonies made every effort to keep out such riff raff, it may 
 nevertheless have now and then crept in. However this 
 may be, it cannot be said that this element ever formed a 
 noticeable feature in the life of colonial New England. As 
 regards their social derivation, the settlers of New England 
 were homogeneous in character to a remarkable degree, and 
 they were drawn from the sturdiest part of the English 
 stock. In all history there has been no other instance of 
 colonization so exclu- 
 sively effected by « 1 1 O 
 picked and chosen vtn^'fl.?ja. jyou^j^U'Cm.. 
 men. The colonists (^ 
 knew this, and were 
 
 proud of it, as well they might be. It was the simple truth 
 that was spoken by William Stoughton when he said, in his 
 election sermon of 1688: "God sifted a whole nation, that 
 He might send choice grain into the wilderness." 
 
 This matter comes to have more than a local interest, 
 when we reflect that the 26,000 New Englanders of 1640 
 have in two centuries and a half increased to something like 
 2S,ooo,ooo. From these men halve come at least one fourth 
 of the present population of the United States. Striking 
 as this fact may seem, it is perhaps less striking than the 
 
156 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 fact of the original migration when duly considered. In 
 these times, when great steamers sail every day from Eu- 
 ropean ports, bringing immigrants to a country not less 
 advanced in material civilization, than the country which 
 they leave, the daily arrival of a thousand new citizens has 
 come to be a commonplace event. But in the seventeenth 
 
 HOUSE IN PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND, WHERE THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS 
 WERE ENTERTAINED BEFORE SAILING" FOR AMERICA 
 
 century the transfer of more than twenty thousand well- 
 to-do people within twenty years from their comfortable 
 homes in England to the American wilderness was by no 
 means a commonplace event. It reminds one of the migra- 
 tions of ancient peoples, and in the quaint thought of our 
 forefathers it was aptly likened to the exodus of Israel from 
 the Egyptian house of bondage. 
 
 In this migration a principle of selection was at w;ork 
 which insured an extraordinary uniformity of character and 
 of purpose among the settlers. To this uniformity of pur- 
 pose, combined with complete homogeneity of race, is due 
 
».l.|l^.,Ji 111 I I " > ""»""»«»» l ^ "Ml 
 
 IJ: WATERING OF || 
 
 <^^ the <B> 
 
 1 OLIVE PLANT II 
 
 il IN CHR1S7S qAKDEN. |* 
 
 •9* ,, .-, •*^* 
 
 ** 4^/i?i*'*^ OR C^J<^fi>^ ^'9 
 
 «^^ ^-^ w ix - »^ , 
 
 ^X A SHQ-RJ CATFXHISM || 
 
 For the firft Entrance of oyr «^g, 
 
 ChdmesforU LhUdrcn: •^"| 
 
 »> i^r Enlafgcd bjr ,;?^ " ff 
 
 j^ ^ three- jM ui^)pcndix ,j^^ 
 
 J| By T^Oi^A; F/5A: P.iftour of the -il* 
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 %^ ia N'e\r~tH[iLind. »i^ 
 
 t* A ^ -Sfl- 
 
 !*£ T/^ Children flj'all be like 01 v:-p'..nts ■Slc' 
 II round Abm thj Tdle. Pfol. 128. ?. || 
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 «jti<i Theji jhill (it/l bring jmh frtJi:^ m old/ 
 || A^e 'crc: PiaL p2. 1 3, 14,. ^ ' //; 
 
 . ^..» I'riiitCvt by .S"«>oj.f/ grttn at CAMBRIDCT , , 
 
 TITLE OK JOHN FISKE'S CATECHISM 
 
~V t^ 
 
 
 ■^^■^H^i'»l^'H<<'44^t44^^fh>p\'f ''^m 
 
 ♦J' 
 
 t 
 
 spiritual 
 
 
 
 
 M i L K 
 
 I ;X)STON, BABES |'|t| 
 
 t In cither England, • |: 4^' 
 
 >J Drawn out of the ■ '^ ^^ 
 
 4> 
 
 
 /jut may he of !;ke ufetoa'riy 
 
 
 1 
 
 ?- *■ gv liVrlN COTTON, •5. Z>. I:- 
 
 A> ... ., .''» 
 
 ^. — '■-';:, •• VV 
 
 ±' ^?7''l-?v/if Ji R > D G ^ 
 
 7' 
 
 
 5v 
 
 
 
 ONE OF JOHN cotton's THE()|Jm;H AL TKI.AIISES 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 159 
 
 the preponderance early acquired by New England in the 
 history of the American people. In view of this, it is worth 
 while to inquire what were the real aims of the settlers 
 of New England. What was the common purpose which 
 brought these men together in their resolve to create for 
 themselves new homes in the wilderness ? 
 
 This is a^ point concerning which there has been a great 
 deal of popular misapprehension, and there has been no end 
 of nonsense talked about it. It has been customary first 
 to assume that the Puritan migration was under- ^j^g ^i„^. 
 taken in the interests of religious liberty, and then t'on was 
 to upbraid the Puritans for forgetting all about re- tended to 
 ligious liberty as soon as people came among them what" ^ 
 who disagreed with their opinions. But this view J^^igfous 
 of the case is not supported by history. It is quite liberty 
 true that the Puritans were chargeable with gross intoler- 
 ance ; but it is not true that in this they were guilty of 
 inconsistency. The notion that they came to New England 
 for the purpose of establishing religious liberty, in any sense 
 in which we should understand such a phrase, is entirely 
 incorrect. It is neither more nor less than a bit of popular 
 legend. If we mean by the phrase "religious liberty" a 
 state of things in which opposite or contradictory opinions 
 on questions of religion shall exist side by side in the same 
 community, and in which everybody shall decide for himself 
 how far he will conform to the customary religious observ- 
 ances, nothing could have been further from their thoughts. 
 There is nothing they would have regarded with more gen- 
 uine abhorrence. If they could have been forewarned by a 
 prophetic voice of the general freedom — or, as they would 
 have termed it, license — of thought and behaviour which 
 prevails in this country to-day, they would very likely have 
 abandoned their enterprise in despair.^ The philosophic 
 student of history often has occasion to see how God is 
 wiser than man. In other words, he is often brought to 
 realize how fortunate it is that the leaders in great historic 
 1 See the passionate exclamation of Endicott, below, p. 216. 
 
i6o THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 events cannot foresee the remote results of the labours to 
 which they have zealously consecrated their lives. It is part 
 of the irony of human destiny that the end we really accom- 
 plish by striving with might and main is apt to be some-' 
 thing quite different ■ from the end we dreamed of as we 
 started on our arduous labour. So it was with the Puritan' 
 settlers of N ew - England. The religious liberty that we 
 enjoy to-day is largely the consequence of their work ; but it 
 is a consequence that was unforeseen, while the direct and 
 conscious aim of their labours was something that has never 
 been realized, and probably never will be. 
 
 The' aim of Winthrop and his friends in coming to Mas-- 
 sachusetts was the construction of a theocratic state which 
 should be to Christians, under the New Testament dispen- 
 sation, all' that the theocracy of Moses and Joshua and' 
 
 Samuel had been to the Jews in Old Testament 
 ideal of the days. They should be to all intents and purposes 
 
 freed from the jurisdiction of the Stuart king, and 
 so far as possible the text of the Holy Scriptures should be 
 their guide both in weighty matters of general legislation 
 and in the shaping of the smallest details of daily life. In 
 such a scheme there was no room for religious liberty as we 
 understand it. ' No doubt the text of the Scriptures may be 
 interpreted in many ways, but among these men there was 
 a substantml agreement as to the important points, and 
 nothing could have been further from their thoughts than to 
 found a colony which should afford a field for new experi- 
 ments in the art of right living. The state they were to 
 found was to consist of a united body of believers ; citizen- 
 ship itself was to be co-extensive with church-membership ; 
 and in such a state there was apparently no more room for 
 heretics than there was in Rome or Madrid. This was the 
 idea which drew Winthrop and his followers from England at 
 a time when — as events were soon to show ■ — they might 
 have stayed there and defied persecution with , less trouble 
 than it cost them to cross the ocean and found a new state. 
 Such an ideal as this, considered by itself and apart from 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 
 
 i6i 
 
 CRADOCK HOUSE, MEDFORD (CIR. 1634) 
 
 the concrete acts in which it was historically manifested, 
 may seem like the merest fanaticism. But we cannot dis- 
 miss in this summary way a movement which has been at 
 the source of so much that is great in American history : 
 mere fanaticism has never produced such substantial results. 
 Mere fanaticism is sure to aim at changing the constitution 
 of human society in some essential point, to undo the work 
 of evolution, and offer in some indistinctly apprehended 
 fashion to remodel human life. But in these respects the 
 Puritans were intensely conservative. The impulse by 
 which they were animated was a profoundly ethical -j-^^^ ^^_ 
 impulse — the desire to lead godly lives, and to p"ise which 
 drive out sin from the community — the same realize it- 
 ethical impulse which animates the glowing pages puritan 
 of Hebrew poets and prophets, and which has given ^'^f e^Mcai 
 to the history and literature of Israel their com- impulse 
 manding influence in the world. The Greek, says Matthew 
 
i62 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Arnold, held that the perfection of happiness was to have 
 one's thoughts hit the mark ; but the Hebrew held that it 
 was .to serve the Lord day and night. It was a touch of 
 this inspiration that' the Puritan caught from his earnest 
 and reverent study of the sacred text, and that served to 
 justify and intensify his yearning for a better life, and to 
 give it the character of a grand and holy ideal. Yet with 
 all this religious enthusiasm, the Puritan was in every fibre 
 a practical Englishman with his full share of plain com- 
 mon-sense. He avoided the error of mediaeval anchorites 
 and mystics in setting an exaggerated value upon other- 
 worldliness. In his desire to win a crown of gl6ry hereafter 
 he did not forget that the present life has its simple duties, 
 in the exact performance of which the welfare of society 
 mainly consists. He likewise avoided the error of modern 
 radicals who would remodel the fundamental institutions of 
 property and of the family, and thus disturb the very ground- 
 work of our ethical ideals. The Puritan's ethical conception 
 of society was simply that which has grown up in the natural 
 course of historical evolution, and which in its essential 
 points is therefore intelligible to all men, and approved by 
 the common-sense of men, however various may be the ter- 
 minology — whether theological or scientific — in which it 
 is expounded. For these reasons there was nothing essen- 
 tially fanatical or impracticable in the Puritan scheme : in 
 substance it was something that great bodies of men could 
 at once put into practice, while its quaint and peculiar form 
 was something that could be easily and naturally outgrown 
 and set aside. 
 
 Yet another point in which the Puritan scheme of a theo- 
 cratic society was rational and not fanatical was its method 
 
 of interpreting the Scriptures. That method was 
 preting essentially rationalistic in two ways. First, the 
 fhe'puritan Puritan laid no claim to the possession of any 
 appealed to peculiar inspiration or divine light whereby he 
 
 might be aided in ascertaining the meaning of the 
 sacred text ; but he used his reason just as he would in 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 
 
 163 
 
 any matter of business, and he sought to convince, and ex- 
 pected to be convinced, by rational argument, and by nothing 
 else. Secondly, it followed from this denial of any peculiar 
 inspiration that there was no room in the Puritan common- 
 wealth for anything like a priestly class, and that every 
 individual must hold his own opinions at his own personal 
 risk. The consequences of this rationalistic spirit have been 
 far-reaching. In the conviction that religious opinion must 
 
 
 V^^^ 
 
 p 
 
 MINOT HOUSE IN DQRCHESTER, MASS. (1633-1640) 
 
 be consonant with reason, and that religious truth must be 
 brought home to each individual by rational argument, we 
 may find one of the chief causes of that peculiarly conserva- 
 tive yet flexible intelligence which has enabled the Puritan 
 countries to take the lead in the civilized world of to-day. 
 Free discussion of theological questions, when conducted 
 with earnestness and reverence, and within certain generally 
 acknowledged limits, was never discountenanced in New 
 England. On the contrary, there has never been a society 
 in the world in which theological problems have been so 
 seriously and persistently discussed as in New England in 
 the colonial period. The long sermons of the clergymen 
 were usually learned and elaborate arguments of doctrinal 
 points, bristling with quotations from the Bible, or from 
 
i64 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 famous books of controversial divinity, and in the long 
 winter evenings the questions thus raised afforded the occa- 
 sion for lively debate in every household. The clergy were, 
 as a rule, men of learning, able to tead both Old and New 
 Testaments in the original languages, and familiar with the 
 best that had been talked and written, among Protestants at 
 least, on theological subjects. They were also, for the most 
 part, men of lofty character, and they were held in high 
 social esteem on account of their character and scholarship, 
 as well as on account of their clerical position. But in spite 
 of the reverence in which they were commonly held, it 
 would have been a thing quite unheard of for one of these 
 pastors to urge an opinion from the pulpit on the sole 
 ground of his personal authority or his superior knowledge 
 of Scriptural exegesis. The hearers, too, were quick to 
 detect novelties or variations in doctrine ; and while there 
 was perhaps no more than the ordinary human unwillingness 
 to listen to a new thought merely because of its newness, it 
 was above all things needful that the orthodox soundness of 
 every new suggestion should be thoroughly and severely 
 tested. This intense interest in doctrinal theology was part 
 and parcel of the whole theory of New England life ; be- 
 cause, as I have said, it was taken for granted that each 
 individual must hold his own opinions at his own personal 
 risk in the world to come. 
 
 Such perpetual discussion, conducted under such a stimu- 
 vaiue of ^^^> afforded in itself no mean school of intellectual 
 theological training. Viewed in relation to the subsequent 
 
 discussion ^ 
 
 mental activity of New England, it may be said to 
 have occupied a position somewhat similar to that which the 
 polemics of the mediaeval schoolmen occupied in relation to 
 the European thought of the Renaissance, and of the age of 
 Hobbes and Descartes. At the same time the Puritan the- 
 ory of life lay at the bottom of the whole system of popular 
 education in New England. According to that theory, it 
 was absolutely essential that every one should be taught 
 from early childhood how to read and understand the Bible. 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 165 
 
 MEETING-HOUSE AT HINGHAM (1681) 
 
 So much instruction as this was assumed to be a sacred 
 duty which the community owed to every child born within 
 its jurisdiction. In ignorance, the Puritans maintained, lay 
 the principal strength of popery in religion as well as of 
 despotism in politics ; and so, to the best of their lights, 
 they cultivated knowledge with might and main. But in 
 this energetic diffusion of knowledge they were unwittingly 
 preparing the complete and irreparable destruction of the 
 theocratic ideal of society which they had sought to realize 
 by crossing the ocean and settling in New England. This 
 universal education and this perpetual discussion of theologi- 
 cal questions were no more compatible with rigid adherence 
 
i66 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 to the Calvinistic system than with submission to the abso- 
 lute rule of Rome. The inevitable result was the liberaJ. 
 and enlightened Protestantism which is characteristic of the 
 best American society at the present day, and which is con- 
 tinually growing more liberal as it grows more enlightened 
 — a Protestantism which, in the natural course of develop- 
 ment, is coming to realize the noble ideal of Roger Williams, 
 but from the very thought of which such men as Winthrop 
 and Cotton and Endicott would have shrunk with dismay. 
 
 In this connection it is interesting to note the similarity 
 between the experience of the Puritans in New England 
 and in Scotland with respect to the influence of their reli- 
 gious theory of life upon general education. Nowhere has 
 Puritanism, with its keen intelligence and its iron tenacity 
 of purpose, played a greater part than it has played in the 
 history of Scotland. And one need not fear contradiction in 
 saying that no other people in modern times, in proportion 
 to their numbers, have achieved so much in all departments 
 Compari- of human activity as the people of Scotland have 
 theclse'of achieved. It would be superfluous to mention the 
 Scotland preeminence of Scotland in the industrial arts since 
 the days of James Watt, or to recount the glorious' names in 
 philosophy, in history, in poetry and romance, and in every 
 department of science, which since the middle of the eigh- 
 teenth century have made the country of Burns and Scott, of 
 Hume and Adam Smith, of Black and Hunter and Hutton 
 and Lyell, illustrious for all future time. Now this period 
 of magnificent intellectual fruition in Scotland was preceded 
 by a period of Calvinistic orthodoxy quite as rigorous as that 
 of New England. The ministers of the Scotch Kirk in the 
 seventeenth century cherished a theocratic ideal of society 
 not unlike that which the colonists of New England aimed 
 at realizing. There was the same austerity, the same intol- 
 erance, the same narrowness of interests, in Scotland that 
 there was in New England. Mr. Buckle, in the book which 
 forty years ago seemed so great and stimulating, gave us a 
 graphic picture of this state of society, and the only thing 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 167 
 
 which he could find to say about it, as the result of his 
 elaborate survey, was that the spirit of the Scotch Kirk was 
 as thoroughly hostile to human progress as the spirit of the 
 Spanish Inquisition ! If this were really so, it would be 
 difficult indeed to account for the period of brilliant mental 
 activity which immediately followed. But in reality the 
 Puritan theory of life led to general education in Scotland 
 as it did in New England, and for precisely the same rea- 
 sons, while the effects of theological discussion in breaking 
 down the old Calvinistic exclusiveness have been illustrated 
 in the history of Edinburgh as well as in the history of 
 Boston. 
 
 It is well for us to bear in mind the foregoing considera- 
 tions as we deal with the history of the short-lived New 
 England Confederacy. The story is full of instances of an 
 intolerant and domineering spirit, especially on the part of 
 Massachusetts, and now and then this spirit breaks forth 
 in ugly acts of persecution. In considering these facts, it 
 is well to remember that we are observing the workings of a 
 system which contained within itself a curative principle ; 
 and it is further interesting to observe how political circum- 
 stances contributed to modify the Puritan ideal, gradually 
 breaking down the old theocratic exclusiveness and strength- 
 ening the spirit of religious liberty. 
 
 Scarcely had the first New England colonies been estab- 
 lished when it was found desirable to unite them into some 
 kind of a confederation. It is worthy of note that the 
 separate existence of so many colonies was at the outset 
 largely the result of religious differences. The uniformity 
 of purpose, great as it was, fell far short of completeness. 
 Could all have agreed, or had there been religious Existence 
 toleration in the modern sense, there was still room ll^°^^l'^^ 
 enough for all in Massachusetts ; and a compact due to 
 
 sliffht rcli" 
 
 settlement would have been in much less danger gious dif- 
 from the Indians. But in the founding of Connect- '«■■?""= 
 icut the theocratic idea had less weight, and in the found- 
 ing of New Haven it had more weight, than in Massachu- 
 
i68 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 setts. The existence of Rhode Island was based upon that 
 principle of full toleration which the three colonies just 
 mentioned alike abhorred, and its first settlers were people 
 banished from Massachusetts. With regard to toleration 
 Plymouth occupied a middle ground ; without admitting the 
 principles of Williams, the people of that colony were still 
 fairly tolerant in practice. Of the four towns of New Hamp- 
 shire, two had been founded by Antinomians driven f-rom 
 Boston, one by other Puritans, and one by Episcopal friends 
 of Mason and Gorges. It was impossible that neighbouring 
 communities, characterized by such differences of opinion, 
 but otherwise homogeneous in race and in social condition, 
 should fail to react upon one another and to liberalize one 
 another. Still more was this true when they attempted to 
 enter into a political union. When, for example, Massachu- 
 setts in 1641-43 annexed the New Hampshire townships, 
 she was of necessity obliged to relax in their case her policy 
 of insisting upon religious conformity as a test of citizenship. 
 So in forming the New England Confederacy, there were 
 some matters of dispute that had to be passed over by mutual 
 consent or connivance. 
 
 The same causes which had spread the English settle- 
 ments over so wide a territory now led, as an indirect result, 
 to their partial union into a confederacy. The immediate 
 consequence of the westward movement had been an Indian 
 war. Several barbarous tribes were now interspersed be- 
 tween the settlements, so that it became desirable that the 
 It led to a military force should be brought, as far as possible, 
 attempt at Under one management. The colony of New Neth- 
 federation erland, morcover, had begun to assume importance, 
 and the settlements west of the Connecticut river had already 
 occasioned hard words between Dutch and English, which 
 might at any moment be followed by blows. In the French 
 colonies at the north, with their extensive Indian alliances 
 under Jesuit guidance, the Puritans saw a rival power which 
 was likely in course of time to prove troublesome. With a 
 view to more efficient self-defence, therefore, in 1643 the 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 
 
 169 
 
 four colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and 
 New Haven formed themselves into a league, under the 
 style of "The United Colonies of New England." These 
 four little states now contained thirty-nine towns, with an 
 aggregate population of 24,000. To the northeast of Massa- 
 chusetts, which now extended to the Piscataqua, a small 
 colony had at length been constituted under a proprietary 
 charter somewhat similar to that held by the Calverts in 
 Ma,ryland. Of this new province or palatinate of Maine the 
 
 FAIRBANKS HOUSE, DEDHAM (CIR. 1636) 
 
 aged Sir Ferdinando Gorges was Lord Proprietary, and he 
 had undertaken not only to establish the Church of England 
 there, but also to introduce usages, of feudal jurisdiction like 
 those remaining in the old country. Such a community was 
 not likely to join the Confederacy; apart from other rea- 
 sons, its proprietary constitution and the feud between the 
 Puritans and Gorges would have been sufficient obstacles. 
 As for Rhode Island, on the other hand, it was regarded 
 
170 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 with strong dislike by the other colonies. It was a curious 
 and noteworthy consequence of the circumstances under 
 which this little state was founded, that for a long time it 
 Turbulence became the refuge of all the fanatical and turbu- 
 in Rhode ^^^* people who could not submit to the strict and 
 Island orderly governments of Connecticut or Massachu- 
 setts. All extremes met on Narragansett bay. There were 
 not only sensible advocates of religious liberty, but theocrats 
 as well who saw flaws in the theocracy of other Puritans. 
 The English world was then in a state of theological fermen- 
 tation. People who fancied themselves favoured with direct 
 revelations from Heaven ; people who thought it right to 
 keep the seventh day of the week as a Sabbath instead of' 
 the first day; people who cherished a special predilection 
 for the Apocalypse and the Book of Daniel ; people with; 
 queer views about property and government ; people who 
 advocated either too little marriage or too much marriage ; 
 all such eccentric characters as are apt to come to the sur- 
 face in periods of religious excitement found in Rhode Island 
 a favoured spot where they could prophesy without let or 
 hindrance. But the immediate practical result of so much 
 discordance in opinion was the impossibility of founding a 
 strong and well-ordered government. The early history of 
 Rhode Island was marked by enough of turbulence to sug- 
 gest the question whether, after all, at the bottom of the 
 Puritan's refusal to recognize the doctrine of private inspira- 
 tion, or to tolerate indiscriminately all sorts of opinions, 
 there may not have been a grain of shrewd political sense 
 not ill adapted to the social condition of the seventeenth 
 century. In 1644 and again in 1648 the Narragansett set- 
 tlers asked leave to join the Confederacy ; but the request 
 was refused on the ground that they had no stable govern- 
 ment of their own. They were offered the alternative of 
 voluntary annexation either to Massachusetts or to Plymouth, 
 or of staying out in the cold ; and they chose the latter 
 course. Early in 1643 they had sent Roger Williams over 
 to England to obtain a charter for Rhode Island. In that 
 
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 THE BAY PSALM BOOK, PRINTED IN CAMBHIDGE BY STEPHEN DAYE, THE FIRST 
 PRINTER IN ENGLISH AMERICA 
 
172 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 year Parliament created a Board of Commissioners, with the 
 Earl of Warwick at its head, for the superin- 
 of war^"^ tendence of colonial affairs ; and nothing could 
 Ms'^Boafd better illustrate the loose and reckless manner in 
 of Commis- which American questions were treated in England 
 
 sioners ^ - ^ 
 
 than the first proceedings of this board. It gave 
 an early instance of British carelessness in matters of Ameri- 
 can geography. In December, 1643, it granted to Massa- 
 chusetts all the territory on the mainland of Narragansett 
 bay ; and in the following March it incorporated the town- 
 ships of Newport and Portsmouth, which stood on the island, 
 together with Providence, which stood on the mainland, into 
 an independent colony empowered to frame a government 
 and make laws for itself. With this second document 
 Williams returned to Providence in the autumn of 1644. 
 Just how far it was intended to cancel the first one, nobody 
 could tell, but it plainly afforded an occasion for a conflict 
 of claims. 
 
 The league of the four colonies is interesting as the first 
 American experiment in federation. By the articles it was 
 agreed that each colony should retain full independence so 
 far as concerned the management of its internal affairs, but 
 that the confederate government should have entire control 
 over all dealings with the Indians or with foreign powers. 
 Constitu- The administration of the league was put into the 
 Confed-*^ hands of a board of eight Federal Commissioners, 
 eracy ^^o from each colony. The commissioners were 
 
 required to be church-members in good standing. They 
 could choose for themselves a president or chairman out of 
 their own number, but such a president was to have no more 
 power than the other members of the Board. If any mea- 
 sure were to come up concerning which the commissioners 
 could not agree, it was to be referred for consideration to 
 the legislatures or general courts of the four colonies. Ex- 
 penses for war were to be charged to each colony in propor- 
 tion to the number of males in each between sixteen years 
 of age and sixty. A meeting of the Board might be sum- 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 173 
 
 moned by any two magistrates whenever the public safety 
 might seem to require it ; but a regular meeting was to be 
 held once every year. 
 
 In this scheme of confederacy all power of taxation was 
 expressly left to the several colonies. The scheme provided 
 for a mere league, not for a federal union. The it was only 
 government of the Commissioners acted only upon not a^fed- 
 the local governments, not upon individuals. The ^"^^ ""°° 
 Board had thus but little executive power, and was hardly 
 more than a consulting body. Another source of weakness 
 in the confederacy was the overwhelming preponderance of 
 Massachusetts. Of the 24,0(00 people in the confederation, 
 15,000 belonged to Massachusetts, while the other three, 
 colonies had only about 3,000 each. Massachusetts accord- 
 ingly had to carry the heaviest burden, both in the furnishing 
 of soldiers and in the payment of war expenses, while in the 
 direction of affairs she had no more authority than one of 
 the small colonies. As a natural consequence, Massachu- 
 setts tried to exert more authority than she was entitled to 
 by the articles of confederation ; and such conduct was not 
 unnaturally resented by the small colonies, as betokening an 
 unfair and domineering spirit. In spite of these drawbacks, 
 however, the league was of great value to New England. 
 On many occasions it worked well as a high court of juris- 
 diction, and it made the military strength of the colonies 
 more available than it would otherwise have been. But for 
 the interference of the British government, which brought 
 it to an untimely end, the Confederacy might have been 
 gradually amended so as to become enduring. After its 
 downfall it was pleasantly remembered by the people of New 
 England ; in times of trouble their thoughts reverted to it ; 
 and the historian must in fairness assign it some share in 
 preparing men's minds for the greater work of federation 
 which was achieved before the end of the following century. 
 
 The formation of such a confederacy certainly involved 
 something very like a tacit assumption of sovereignty on the 
 part of the four colonies. It is worthy of note that they did 
 
174 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 not take the trouble to ask the permission of the home gov- 
 jf3 ernment in advance. They did as they pleased, and 
 
 formation then defended their action afterward. In England 
 
 involved a . _ ° _ 
 
 tacit as- the act of confederation was' regarded with jeal- 
 ofTov-°" ousy and distrust. But Edward Winslow, who was 
 ereignty ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ London to defend the colonies, pithily 
 said : " If we in America should forbear to unite for offence 
 and defence against a common enemy till we have leave from 
 England, our throats might be all cut before the. messenger 
 would be half seas through." Whether such considerations 
 would have had weight with Charles I. or not was now of 
 little consequence. His power of making mischief soon 
 came to an end, and from the liberal and sagacious policy of 
 Cromwell the Confederacy had not much to fear. Never- 
 theless the fall of Charles I. brought up for the first time 
 that question which a century later was to acquire surpassing 
 interest, — the question as to the supremacy of Parliament 
 over the colonies. 
 
 Down to this time the supreme control over colonial 
 affairs had been in the hands of the king and his privy coun- 
 cil, and the Parliament had not disputed it. In 1624 they 
 had grumbled at James I.'s high-handed suppression of the 
 Virginia Company, but they had not gone so far as to call in 
 question the king's supreme authority over the colonies. In 
 1628, in a petition to Charles I. relating to the Bermudas, 
 they had fully admitted this royal authority. But the fall of 
 p^jj ^j Charles I. for the moment changed all this. Among 
 Charles I. the royal powers devolved upon Parliament was the 
 
 brings up . _ . , . 
 
 theques- prerogative of supermtendmg the affairs of the 
 supremacy colouies. Such, at least, was the theory held in 
 ment over England, and it is not easy to see how any other 
 the coio- theory could logically have been held ; but the 
 Americans never formally admitted it, and in prac- 
 tice they continued to behave toward Parliament very much 
 as they had behaved toward the crown, yielding just as little 
 obedience as possible. When the Earl of Warwick's com- 
 missioners in 1644 seized upon a royalist vessel in Boston 
 
THE NEW, ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 
 
 I7S 
 
 SPENCER-PIERCE HOUSE, NEWBURY (CIR. 1650) 
 
 harbour, the legislature of Massachusetts debated the ques- 
 tion whether it was compatible with the dignity of the colony 
 to permit such an act of sovereignty on the part of Parlia- 
 ment. It was decided to wink at the proceeding, on account 
 of the strong sympathy between Massachusetts and the Par- 
 liament which was overthrowing the king. At the same 
 time the legislature sent over to London a skilfully worded 
 protest against any like exercise of power in future. In 
 165 1 Parliament ordered Massachusetts to surrender the 
 charter obtained from Charles I. and take out a new one 
 from , Parliament, in which the relations of the colony to the 
 home government should be made the subject of fresh and 
 more precise definition. To this request the colony for more 
 than a year vouchsafed no answer ; and finally, when it be- 
 came necessary to do something, instead of sending back the 
 charteri the legislature sent back a memorial, setting forth 
 that the people of Massachusetts were quite contented with 
 their form of government, and hoped that no change would 
 be made in it. War between England and Holland, and 
 
176 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the difficult political problems which beset the brief rule of 
 Cromwell, prevented the question from coming to an issue, 
 and Massachusetts was enabled to preserve her independent 
 and somewhat haughty attitude. 
 
 During the whole period of the Confederacy, however, 
 disputes kept coming up which through endless crooked 
 ramifications were apt to end in an appeal to the home gov- 
 ernment, and thus raise again and again the question as to 
 the extent of its imperial supremacy. For our present pur- 
 pose, it is enough to mention three of these cases : i, the 
 adventures of Samuel Gorton ; 2, the Presbyterian cabal ; 
 3, the persecution of the Quakers ; while in passing we shall 
 find a strong side-light thrown upon the whole by the sum- 
 mer visit of Dr. John Clarke and his friends to Swampscott. 
 
 The first case shows, in a curious and instructive way, how 
 religious dissensions were apt to be complicated with threats 
 of an Indian war on the one hand and peril from Great 
 Britain on the other ; and as we come to realize the triple 
 danger, we can perhaps make some allowances for the high- 
 handed measures with which the Puritan governments some- 
 times sought to avert it. As I have elsewhere tried to show. 
 Genesis of the genesis of the persecuting spirit is to be found 
 cutins"^' in the conditions of primitive society, where " above 
 sp™* all things the prime social and political necessity is 
 
 social cohesion within the tribal limits, for unless such social 
 cohesion be maintained, the very existence of the tribe is 
 likely to be extinguished in bloodshed." The persecuting 
 spirit " began to pass away after men had become organized 
 into great nations, covering a vast extent of territory, and 
 secured by their concentrated military strength against the 
 gravest dangers of barbaric attack." ^ Now as regards these 
 considerations, the Puritan communities in the New England 
 wilderness were to some slight extent influenced by such 
 conditions as used to prevail in primitive society ; and this 
 will help us to -understand the treatment of the Antinomians 
 arid such cases as that with which we have now to deal. 
 ^ Excursions of an Evolutionist, pp. 250, 255. 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 
 
 177 
 
 Among the companions of Mrs. Hutchinson, for a short 
 time after her arrival at Aquedneck, was a sincere and cour- 
 ageous, but incoherent and crotchetty man named samuei 
 Samuel Gorton. In the denunciatory language of Gorton 
 that day he was called a " proud and pestilent seducer," or, 
 as the modern newspaper would say, a " crank." It is well 
 to make due allowances for the prejudice so conspicuous in 
 the accounts given by his enemies, who felt obliged to jus- 
 tify their harsh treatment of him. But we have also his 
 
 BRIDGHAM HOUSE, DORCHESTER (CIR. 1636) 
 
 own writings from which to form an opinion as to his char- 
 acter and views. Lucidity, indeed, was not one of his strong 
 points as a writer, and the drift of his argument is not 
 always easy to decipher ; but he seems to have had some 
 points of contact with the Familists, a sect established in 
 the sixteenth century in Holland. The Familists held that 
 the essence of religion consists not in adherence to any 
 
178 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 particular creed or ritual, but in cherishing the spirit of 
 divine love. The general adoption of this point of view 
 was to inaugurate a third dispensation, superior to those of 
 Moses and Christ, the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. 
 The value of the Bible lay not so much in the literal truth 
 of its texts as in their spiritual import ; and by the union of 
 believers with Christ they came to share in the ineffable 
 perfection of the Godhead. There is much that is modern 
 and enlightened in such views, which Gorton seems to some 
 extent to have shared. He certainly set little store by 
 ritual observances and maintained the equal right of laymen 
 with clergymen to preach the gospel. Himself a London 
 clothier, and thanking God that he had not been brought up 
 in " the schools of human learning," he set up as a preacher 
 without ordination, and styled himself "professor of the 
 mysteries of Christ." ^ Some passages in his writings would 
 lead one to suppose that he . cherished that doctrine of pri- 
 vate inspiration which the Puritans especially abhorred. 
 Yet he attacked the doctrifte of the " inner light," as it was 
 held by the Quakers. An atmosphere of Unitarianism per- 
 vades many of his arguments, and now and then we get a [ 
 touch of pantheism. Perhaps he had not an entirely dis- 
 tinct comprehension of his own views, for distinctness in, 
 expression was surely what they lacked.^ But they were 
 
 1 Though a craftsman, he .was of gentle blood, no unusual thing in 
 England at that time, and was addressed as " Mr." He seems to have 
 been sufficiently learned to read the Old and New Testaments in the 
 original tongues. 
 
 2 A glimmer of light upon Gorton may be got from reading the title- 
 page of one of his books : " An Incorruptible Key, composed of 
 the CX PsALME, wherewith you may open the Rest of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures ; Turning itself only according to the Composure and Art of that 
 Lock, of the Closure and Secresie of that great Mystery of God man- 
 ifest in the Flesh, but justified only by the Spirit, which it evidently 
 openeth and revealeth, out of Fall and Rfesurrection, Sin and Right- 
 eousness, Ascension and Descension, Height and Depth, First and 
 Last, Beginning and Ending, Flesh and Spirit, Wisdome and Foolish- 
 nesse, Strength and Weakness, Mortality and Immortality, Jew and 
 Gentile, Light and Darknesse, Unity and Multiplication, Fruitfulness 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 179 
 
 such as in the seventeenth century could not fail to arouse 
 fierce antagonism, and if it was true that wherever there 
 was a government Gorton was against it, perhaps that only 
 shows that wherever there was a government it was sure to 
 be against him. 
 
 In the case of such men as Gorton, however, — and the 
 type is by no means an uncommon one, — their tempera- 
 ment usually has much more to do with getting them into 
 trouble than their opinions. Gorton's temperament was 
 such as to keep him always in an atmosphere , of strife.^ 
 Other heresiarchs suffered persecution in Massachusetts, 
 but Gorton was in hot water everywhere. His troubles be- 
 gan in 1638, in Plymouth, where one of his wife's servants, 
 a Mrs. Aldredge, was tried for the dreadful crime of smiling 
 
 and Barrenness, Curse and Blessing, Man and Woman, Kingdom and 
 Priesthood, Heaven and Earth, Allsufficiency and Deficiency, God and 
 Man. And out of every Unity made up of twaine, it openeth. that 
 great two-leafed Gate, which is the sole Entrie into the City of God, 
 of New Jerusalem, into which none but the King of glory can enter; 
 and as that Porter openeth the Doore of the Sheepfold, by which who- 
 soever entreth is the Shepheard of the Sheep; See Isa. 45. i. Psal. 24. 
 7, 8, 9, 10. John 10. I, 2, 3; Or, (according to the Signification of the 
 Word translated Psalme,) it is a Pruning-Knife, to lop off from the 
 Church of Christ all superfluous Twigs of earthly and carnal Com- 
 mandments, Leviticall Services or Ministery, and fading and vanishing 
 Priests, or Ministers, who are taken away and cease, and are not estab- 
 lished and confirmed by Death, as holding no Correspondency with the 
 princely Dignity, Office, and Ministry of our Melchisedek, who is the 
 only Minister and Ministry of the Sanctuary, and of that true Taber- 
 nacle which the Lord pitcht, and not Man. For it supplants the Old 
 Man, and implants the New ; abrogates the Old Testament or Cove- 
 nant, and confirms the New, unto a thousand Generations, or in Gen- 
 erations forever. By Samuel Gorton, Gent., and at the time of penning 
 hereof, in the Place of Judicature (upon Aquethneck, alias Road Island) 
 of Providence Plantations in the Nanhyganset Bay, New England. 
 Printed in the Yeere 1647." 
 
 1, At Plymouth "his conduct was most abusive and his language 
 insulting to the Court." At Portsmouth he " contumeliously reproached 
 the magistrates, calling them just asses [justices]," accused them of 
 bribery and shook his fist at them in open court, etc. Arnold, History 
 of Rhode Island, i. 166, 171. 
 
i8o THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 in the meeting-house during service. Gorton had studied 
 law enough to know its principles and methods. He denied 
 the competency of the Plymouth magistrates to try persons 
 for breaking laws of their own devising, and quite properly 
 urged that the act of the defendant, though it might offend 
 their theocratic notions, was not punishable by the common 
 law of England. For this audacious protest Gorton was 
 ordered to leave the colony within a fortnight. 
 
 Thereupon he fled to Aquedneck, where his first achieve- 
 „ ^ , ment was a schism among Mrs. Hutchinson's fol- 
 
 He flees to ■ r i i 
 
 Aquedneck lowcrs, whlch ended in some staymg to found the 
 .banished town of Portsmouth while others went away to 
 thence found Ncwport. Presently Portsmouth found him 
 intolerable and banished him, and after his departure was 
 able to make up its quarrel with Newport. He next made 
 his way with a few followers to Pawtuxet, within the juris- 
 diction of Providence, and now it is the broad-minded and 
 gentle Roger Williams who complains of his "bewitching 
 and madding poor Providence." The question is here sug- 
 gested. What could it have been in Gorton's teaching that 
 enabled him thus to " bewitch " these little communities ? 
 We may be sure that it could not have been the element 
 of modern liberalism suggested in the Familistic doctrines 
 above cited. That was the feature then least likely to 
 appeal to the minds of common people, and most likely 
 to appeal to Williams. More probably such success as 
 Gorton had in winning followers was due to some of the 
 mystical rubbish which abounds in his pages and finds in a 
 modern mind no doorway through which to enter. 
 
 Another point, however, quite unconnected with abstruse 
 questions of theology, was involved. In most of the serious 
 disputes in which Gorton was concerned, he maintained that 
 colonial society in America must rest upon the unshakable 
 foundations of the English common law and not upon flimsy 
 theories of what society ought to be like. He also insisted 
 that the surest guarantee of American liberties was to be 
 furnished by charters explicitly sanctioned by the home 
 government. In these conservative views Gorton showed 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY i8i 
 
 rare political sagacity. Upon these views both Connecticut 
 and the Narragansett settlements — though Roger Williams 
 did not at first feel the need of it — came ultimately to act. 
 Of their great importance, in the development of American 
 liberty along constitutional lines, there can be no doubt.^ 
 
 Though Williams more or less disapproved of Gorton, he 
 was true to his own principles of toleration and would not 
 take part in any attempt to silence him. But in 1641 we 
 find thirteen leading citizens of Providence, headed by Wil- 
 liam Arnold,^ sending a memorial to Boston, asking for 
 assistance and counsel in regard to this disturber of the 
 peace. How was Massachusetts to treat such an appeal .■■ 
 She could not presume to meddle with the affair „ .^ 
 
 ■^ ^ ^ Providence 
 
 unless she could have permanent jurisdiction over protests 
 Pawtuxet ; otherwise she was a mere intruder. 
 How strong a side-light does this little incident throw upon 
 the history of the Roman republic, and of all relatively 
 strong communities when confronted with the problem of 
 preserving order in neighbouring states that are too weak 
 to preserve it for themselves ! Arnold's argument, in his 
 appeal to Massachusetts, was precisely the same as that by 
 
 which the latter colony excused 
 
 ^ ^^ /^ herself for banishing the Antino- 
 
 ^» Wnjte/L -Xffiri^fL,^ mians. He simply says that Gor- 
 
 %J ton and his company " are not fit 
 
 persons to be received, and made 
 members of a body in so weak a state as our town is in at 
 present ; " and he adds, " There is no state but in the first 
 place will seek to preserve its own safety and peace." What- 
 ever might be the abstract merits of Gorton's opinions, his 
 conduct was held to be politically dangerous; and accord- 
 
 1 This point has been well brought out by Dr. Lewis Janes, in his 
 Samuell Gorton : a Forgotten Founder of otir Liberties, Providence, 
 1896, a book which contains many valuable suggestions. 
 
 ^ Father of Benedict Arnold, afterward governor of Rhode Island, 
 and owner of the stone windmill (apparently copied from one in Ches- 
 terton, Warwickshire) which was formerly supposed by some antiqua- 
 rians to be'a vestige of the Northmen. Governor Benedict Arnold 
 was great-grandfather of the traitor. 
 
i82 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ingly the jurisdiction over Pawtuxet was formally conceded 
 to Massachusetts. Thereupon that colony, assuming juris- 
 diction, summoned Gorton and his men to Boston, to prove 
 their title to the lands they occupied.- They of course re- 
 garded the summons as a flagrant usurpation of authority, 
 
 and instead of obeying it they withdrew to Sha- 
 shawomet, womct, on the western shore of Narragansett bay, 
 buvTiand where they bought a tract of land from the princi- 
 °f '^^ pal sachem of the Narragansetts, Miantonomo. 
 
 The immediate rule over this land belonged to two 
 inferior chiefs, who ratified the sale at the time, but six 
 months afterward disavowed the ratification, on the ground 
 that it had been given under duress from their overlord 
 Miantonomo. Here was a state of things which might 
 easily bring on an Indian war. The two chiefs appealed to 
 Massachusetts for protection, and were accordingly sum- 
 moned, along with Miantonomo, to a hearing at Boston. 
 Here we see how a kind of English protectorate over the 
 native tribes had begun to grow up so soon after the destruc- 
 tion of the Pe- JT 
 quots. Such . ^ Ql 
 a result was in- 
 
 arguments, 
 
 the legislature decided to defend the two inferior chiefs, pro- 
 vided they would put themselves under the jurisdiction of 
 Massachusetts. This was done, while further complaints 
 against Gorton came from the citizens of Providence. Gor- 
 ton and his men were now peremptorily summoned to Boston 
 to show cause why they should not surrender their land at 
 Shawomet and to answer the charges against them. On 
 receiving from Gorton a defiant reply, couched in terms 
 which some thought blasphemous,^ the government of Mas- 
 sachusetts prepared to use force. 
 
 1 The ingenious Boston ministers discovered at least six-and-twenty 
 instances of flat " blasphemy " in poor Gorton's letter ! 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 183 
 
 Meanwhile the unfortunate Miantonomo had rushed upon 
 his doom. The annihilation of the Pequots had left the 
 Mohegans and Narragansetts contending for the foremost 
 place among the native tribes. Between the rival sachems, 
 Uncas and Miantonomo, the hatred was deep and deadly. 
 As soon as the Mohegan perceived that trouble was brewing 
 between Miantonomo and the government at Boston, he im- 
 proved the occasion by gathering a few Narragansett. scalps. 
 Miantonomo now took the war-path and was totally defeated 
 by Uncas in a battle on the Great Plain in the present town- 
 ship of Norwich. Encumbered with a coat of mail which 
 his friend Gorton had given him, Miantonomo was overtaken 
 and captured. By ordinary Indian usage he would 
 have been put to death with fiendish torments, as mo and 
 
 T_Jnc&s 
 
 soon as due preparations could be made and a fit 
 company assembled to gloat over his agony ; but Gorton 
 sent a messenger to Uncas, threatening dire vengeance if 
 harm were done to his ally. This message puzzled the Mo- 
 hegan chief. The appearance of a schism in the English 
 counsels was more than he could quite fathom. When the 
 affair had somewhat more fully developed itself, some of the 
 Indians spoke of the white men as divided into two rival 
 tribes,, the Gortonoges and Wattaconoges.^ Roger Williams 
 tells us that the latter term, applied to the men of Boston, 
 meant coat-wearers. Whether it is to be inferred that the 
 Gortonoges went about in what modern parlance would be 
 called their " shirt-sleeves," the reader must decide.^ 
 
 In his perplexity Uncas took his prisoner to Hartford, and 
 afterward, upon the advice of the governor and council, sent 
 him to Boston, that his fate might be determined by the 
 Federal Commissioners, who were there holding their first 
 regular meeting. It was now the turn of the commissioners 
 to be perplexed. According to English law there was no 
 
 1 Gorton, Simplicitie's Defence agamst Seven-headed Policy, p. 88. 
 
 ^ I see that my bit of pleasantry here has proved unsuccessful ; for 
 my good friend Dr. Janes seems to understand me as raising the ques- 
 tion in sober earnest! See his Samuell Gorton, p. 57, note. 
 
i84 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 good reason for putting Miantonomo to death. The question 
 was whether they should interfere with the Indian custom 
 by which his life was already forfeit to his captor. The 
 magistrates already suspected the Narragansetts of cherish- 
 ing hostile designs. To set their sachem at liberty, espe- 
 cially while the Gorton affair remained unsettled, might be 
 dangerous ; and it would be likely to alienate Uncas from the 
 English. In their embarrassment the commissioners sought 
 spiritual guidance. A synod of forty or iifty clergymen, 
 from all parts of New England, was in session at Boston, 
 and the question was referred to a committee of five of their 
 
 Q;rtca^ <S^ or poe^^^'^ 
 
 ()jn 
 
 number. The decision was prompt that Miantonomo must 
 die. He was sent back to Hartford to be slain by Uncas, 
 but two messengers accompanied him, to see that no tor- 
 tures were inflicted ; a privilege which the victim would 
 perhaps have regarded with contempt. A select band of 
 Mohegan warriors journeyed through the forest with the 
 prisoner and the two Englishmen, until they came to the 
 plain where the battle had been fought. Then at a signal 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 185 
 
 from Uncas, the warrior walking behind Miantonomo silently 
 lifted his tomahawk and sank it into the brain of „ ^^ , 
 
 Death of 
 
 the victim, who fell dead without a groan. Un- Mianto- 
 cas cut a warm slice from the shoulder and greed- 
 ily devoured it, declaring that the flesh of his enemy was 
 the sweetest of meat and gave strength to his heart. Mi- 
 antonomo was buried there on the scene of his defeat, 
 which has ever since been known as the Sachem's Plain. 
 This was in September, 1643, and for years afterward, in 
 that pleasant harvest time, parties of Narragansetts used to 
 visit the spot and with frantic gestures and hideous yells 
 lament their fallen leader. A heap of stones was raised over 
 the grave, and no Narragansett came near it without adding 
 to the pile. After many a summer had passed and the red 
 men had disappeared from the land, a Yankee farmer, with 
 whom thrift prevailed over sentiment, cleared away the 
 mound, and used the stones for the foundation of his new 
 barn.^ 
 
 One cannot regard this affair as altogether creditable to 
 the Federal Commissioners and their clerical advisers. Orie 
 of the clearest-headed and most impartial students of our 
 history observes that "if the English were to meddle in the 
 matter at all, it was their clear duty to enforce as far as 
 might be the principles recognized by civilized men. When 
 they accepted the appeal made by Uncas they shifted the 
 responsibility from the Mohegan chief to themselves." ^ The 
 decision was doubtless based purely upon grounds of policy. 
 Miantonomo was put out of the way because he was believed 
 to be dangerous. In the thirst for revenge that was aroused 
 among the Narragansetts there was an alternative source of 
 danger, to which I shall hereafter refer.^ It is difficult now 
 to decide, as a mere question of safe policy, what the English 
 ought to have done. The chance of being dragged into an 
 Indian war, through the feud between Narragansetts and 
 
 1 De Forest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, Hartford, 1850, 
 p. 198. 
 
 ^ Doyle, Puritan Colonies, i. 324. ^ See below, p. 249, note. 
 
i86 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Mohegans, was. always imminent. The policy which con- 
 demned Miantonomo was one of timidity, and fear is merci- 
 less. 
 
 The Federal Copimissioners heartily approved the conduct 
 
 of Massachusetts toward Gorton, and adopted it in the name 
 
 of. the United Colonies. After a formal warning, which 
 
 passed unheeded, a company of forty men, under Edward 
 
 Johnson, of Woburn, and two other officers, was 
 
 Expedition ■^ 
 
 against sent to Shawomct.. Some worthy citizens of Provi- 
 dence essayed to play the part of mediators, and 
 after some parley the Gortonites offered to submit to arbi- 
 tration. The proposal was conveyed to Boston, and the 
 clergy were again consulted. They declared it beneath the 
 dignity of Massachusetts to negotiate " with a few fugitives 
 living without law or government," and they would no more 
 compound with Gorton's " blasphemous revilings " than they 
 would bargain with the Evil One. The community must be 
 "purged" of such wickedness, either by repentance or by 
 punishment. The ministers felt that God would hold the 
 community responsible for Gorton and visit calamities upon 
 them unless he were silenced. ^ The arbitration was refused, 
 Gorton's blockhouse was besieged and captured, and the 
 agitator was carried with nine of his followers to. Boston, 
 Trial and where they were speedily convicted of heresy and 
 sentence of sedition. Before passing judgment the General 
 Court as usual consulted with the clergy, who 
 recommended a sentence of death. Their advice was adopted 
 by the assistants,, but the deputies were more merciful, and 
 the heretics were sentenced to imprisonment at the pleasure 
 of the court. In this difference between the assistants and 
 the deputies, we observe' an early symptom of that popular 
 revolt against the ascendancy of the clergy which was by 
 and by to become so much more conspicuous and effective 
 in the affair of the Quakers, Another symptom might 
 be seen in the circumstance that so much sympathy was 
 
 ^ See my Excursions of an E-volutionist, pp. 239-242, 250-255, 286- 
 289. 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 187 
 
 expressed for the Gortonites, especially by women, that after 
 some months of imprisonment and abuse the heretics were 
 banished under penalty of death. 
 
 Gorton now went to England and laid his tale of woe 
 before the parliamentary Board of Commissioners. ^ ^ 
 
 ^ ■' Gorton ap- 
 
 The Earl of Warwick behaved with moderation, peaisto 
 He declined to commit himself to an opinion as to 
 the merits of the quarrel, but Gorton's^ title to Shawomet 
 was confirmed. He returned to Boston with an order to 
 the government to allow him to pass unmolested through 
 Massachusetts, and hereafter to protect him in the posses- 
 sion of Shawomet. If this little commonwealth of 15,000 
 inhabitants had been a nation as powerful as France, she 
 could not have treated the message more haughtily. By a 
 jnajority of one vote it was decided not to refuse so trifling 
 a favour as a passage through the country for just this once; 
 but as for protecting the new town of Warwick which the 
 Gortonites proceeded to found at Shawomet, although it was 
 several times threatened by the Indians, and the settlers 
 appealed to the parliamentary order, that order Massachu- 
 setts flatly and doggedly refused to obey.^ 
 
 In the discussions of which these years were so full, 
 "King Winthrop," as his enemy Morton called win- 
 him, used some very significant language. By a i'Jophetic 
 curious legal fiction of the Massachusetts charter pp'nio" 
 the colonists were supposed to hold their land as in the 
 manor of East Greenwich near London, and it was argued 
 that they were represented in Parliament by the members 
 of the county or borough which contained that manor, and 
 were accordingly subject to the jurisdiction of Parliament. 
 It was further argued that since the king had no absolute 
 
 1 Gorton's life at Warwick, after all these troubles, seems to have 
 been prosperous. He was several times chosen a member of the coun- 
 cil of assistants of Rhode Island, and held other honourable positions. 
 He died in 1677 at a great age. In 1771 Dr. Ezra Stiles visited, in 
 Providence, his last surviving disciple, born in 1691. This old man 
 said that Gorton wrote in heaven, and none can understand his books 
 except those who live in heaven while on earth. 
 
i88 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 sovereignty independent of Parliament, he could not by 
 charter impart any such independent sovereignty to others. 
 Winthrop did not dispute these points, but observed that 
 the safety of the commonwealth was the supreme law, and 
 if in the interests of that safety it should be found neces- 
 sary to renounce the authority of Parliament, the colonists 
 would be justified in doing so.^ This was essentially the 
 same doctrine as was set forth ninety-nine years later by 
 young Samuel Adams in his Commencement Oration at 
 Harvard. 
 
 The case of the Presbyterian cabal admits of briefer treat- 
 ment than that of Gorton. There had now come to be many 
 persons in Massachusetts who disapproved of the provision 
 which restricted the suffrage to members of the Independent 
 or Congregational churches of New England, and in 1646 
 the views of these people were presented in a petition to 
 the General Court. The petitioners asked "that their civil 
 disabilities might be removed, and that all members of the 
 churches of England and Scotland might be admitted to 
 communion with the New England churches. If this could 
 not be granted they prayed to be released from all civil bur- 
 dens. Should the court refuse to entertain their complaint, 
 they would be obliged to bring their case before Parliament." ^ 
 
 The leading signers of this menacing petition were 
 byterian William Vassall, Samuel Maverick, and Dr. Robert 
 
 Child. Maverick we have already met. From the 
 day when the ships of the first Puritan settlers had sailed 
 past his log fortress on Noddle's Island, he had been their 
 enemy ; " a man of loving and curteous behaviour," says 
 Johnson, "very ready to entertaine strangers, yet an enemy 
 to the reformation in hand, being strong for the lordly pre- 
 latical power." Vassall was not a denizen of Massachusetts, 
 but lived in Scituate, in the colony of Plymouth, where there 
 were no such restrictions upon the suffrage. Child was a 
 learned physician who after a good deal of roaming about 
 
 ' Doyle, Puritan Colonies, i. 369. 
 2 Id., i. 372. 
 
ff? 
 
 SIMPLICITIES VEE 
 
 againft 
 
 SEVEN-HEADED ^Ol.VCt^ 
 
 Innocency Viftclieated||t)emg ipijuftfy Acquie3, 
 
 - and fbrely^Q^j^iredjt^thacI,- ;..,., ,^ 
 
 Seven - Readied (fjurmy&o^^riM^n^ 
 
 - ■ United in '^ '^^■'^■'^^ ' ' - >< 
 
 NEW-ENGLi#JE): 
 
 OR • •■ ; • ■:■ ■ .,.;■■•;,»•/■ 
 That Servant fo Imperious in his MaflersAbfence 
 Revived, ^^nd now thus fe-ading in New-En gland. 
 - OR ■ 
 
 Tliecombate of the. United Colonies, not onely againft 
 
 fomeofclje Natives and Sub/eifts.buc againft the Authority alfo 
 oftheKingJaie tA'Bmlmi, with ili$r executioh of Laws, ^in the name and 
 Attdioritjf of the fefvant, Cor of dl^nifclVcs) and not in the Name and 
 ^ ; : ; Aufliotity of the LoidjOrltHlntaiBof the GoverniHent. 
 
 Wherdnis.declartdan Aiafif?i|leac people and Country 
 
 of the Indium in thofe parcs.both Princes and People CunanimoadyJ 
 
 in their.voluntary Subiniflioil and Subie(5lion unto the Proteftion 
 
 and Government of Old Esi^lani^ flora the Fame they hear thereof) toge- 
 
 tUetwith the true manner anJ to^ebf it, as kappcars under their own 
 
 . haiids and feals, being fcij-red up, and provoked thereto, hy 
 
 the Combats and courfes above-faid. 
 
 Throughout which Treacift is fecretly intermingled, that 
 
 great Oppofition,which,is in the goings forth of thofe two grand 
 
 Spirits, that are, and ever have been, extant in the World ' 
 
 (through the fsns of mcn^ from the beginning and 
 
 foundation thereof. 
 
 frnprim^tuf, e^»f>i^. 16^6. Diligently petuled, approvedyand 
 
 . Jjicenfed to the ^.reffe, according to Order by publifec Aiitho itv. 
 
 '■ .^ .^.^.^ — 1 -. « — -« ^ 1 — ! ■ 
 
 LONDO N,-* 
 
 Printed by yfl^« /^<»<^««'4' and are to be fold' by Luke Favvne, 
 athis ihop in Pauls churchyard, at the fign of the Var/ut. i tf 4 ff. 
 
 iiiiiiimuijitmm 
 
 TM-'T'rr rTfrrrmr » ■ 
 
 TITLE OF GORTON'S MOST FAMOUS BOOK 
 
l^ 
 
 NEPV-ENGLANDS 
 
 f 
 
 Caft up at i 
 
 LONDON:! 
 
 O R, ; 
 
 A R E L A T I o N of the Proceedings of J 
 
 the Court at Bojlon in Nerv-England againft di- A 
 vers honeft and godly perfon-Sjfor Petitioning for Go- 
 
 vernmcnc in the Common-weaIth,according to the Lawes of 
 EngLiiid-, and for admittance of themfelres and children » 
 CO the Sacraments in their Churchesj and in cafe 
 that iTiould not be granted , for leave to 
 
 have Minifkrs and Church- govern- i 
 
 ment according to the beft i 
 
 Reformation of F.-,-.- , 
 
 glitnd:inA Scot land. , 
 
 Together with a Confutation of fomc Reports 
 
 of a fained Miracle upon the forefaid Petition, being 
 
 thrown over-board at Sea; As aUo a breif Anfwer to fome 
 ■ paflages in a late Book(entitulcd HypocHfic unm.isked), 
 
 fee cue by Mr. v/infliivt, lOncciiiing the Inde- 
 pendent Cliurches holding ccuiimunian 
 with I he Re fotir.ed Churches, 
 
 By Major John Child. 
 
 W Lo}:dor., Vi'mttiiot T,R. mA E.M. 1647. ^A 
 
 child's attack upon winslow 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 191 
 
 the world had lately taken it into his head to come and see 
 what sort of a place Massachusetts was. Although these 
 names were therefore not such as to lend weight to such a 
 petition, their request would seem at first sight reasonable 
 enough. At a superficial glance it seems conceived in a 
 modern spirit of liberalism. In reality it was nothing of the 
 sort. In England it was just the critical moinent of the 
 struggle between Presbyterians and Independents which had 
 come in to complicate the issues of the great civil war. 
 Vassall, Child, and Maverick seem to have been the leading 
 spirits in a cabal for the establishment of Presbyterianism in 
 New England, and in their petition they simply took advan- 
 tage of the discontent of the disfranchised citizens in Mas- 
 sachusetts in order to put in an entering wedge. This was 
 thoroughly understood by the legislature: of Massachusetts, 
 and accordingly the petition was dismissed and the petition- 
 ers were roundly fined. Just as Child was about to start 
 for England with his grievances, the magistrates overhauled 
 his papers and discovered a petition to the parliamentary , 
 Board of Commissioners, suggesting . that Presbyterianism 
 should be established in New England, and that a, viceroy 
 or governor-general should be appointed to rule there., To 
 the men of Massachusetts this last suggestion was a crown- 
 ing horror. It seemed scarcely less than treason. The 
 signers of this petition were the same who had signed the 
 petition to the General Court. They were now fined still 
 more heavily and imprisoned for six months. By and by 
 they found their way, one after another, to London, while 
 the colonists sent Edward Winslow, of Plymouth,' as an ad- 
 vocate to thwart their schemes. Winslow was assailed by 
 Child's brother in a spicy pamphlet entitled "New England's 
 Jonas cast up at London," and replied after: the same sort, 
 entitling his pamphlet " New England's Salamander discov- 
 ered." The cabal accomplished nothing because of the 
 decisive defeat of Presbyterianism in England. "Pride's 
 Purge " settled all that. 
 
 The petition of Vassall and his friends was the occasion 
 
192 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 for the meeting of a synod of churches at Cambridge, in 
 order to complete the organization of Congregationalism. 
 In 1648 the work of the synod was embodied in the famous 
 Cambridge Platform, which adopted the Westmin- 
 Cambridge stcr Confcssion as its creed, carefully defined the 
 powers of the clergy, and declared it to be the 
 duty of magistrates to suppress heresy. In 1649 the Gen- 
 eral Court laid this platform before the congregations ; in 
 165 1 it was adopted; and this event may be regarded as 
 completing the theocratic organization of the Puritan com- 
 monwealth in Massachusetts. It was immediately followed 
 by a case of persecution pure and simple. The story of 
 the visit of three Baptist gentlemen to Swampscott, in the 
 summer of 165 1, leads us into no such complications of 
 motive as the stories of Anne Hutchinson, of Samuel Gor- 
 ton, and of Robert Child. The persecution of Dr. John 
 Clarke illustrates nothing but the noxious effect upon nar- 
 row minds and hardened hearts of the theocratic endeavour 
 to make Massachusetts a strictly orthodox community. 
 
 John Clarke, one of the worthiest and most Mgh-minded 
 among the founders of New England, was born in Suffolk 
 in i6og. It is not known where he obtained his excellent 
 education ; but he was esteemed a learned physician and 
 good classical scholar, while it is clear that he could read 
 his Old Testament familiarly in Hebrew, for he was the 
 Dr. John author of a manuscript concordance and lexicon to 
 Clarke ^]^g same. He seems to have become a Baptist 
 before his arrival in Boston, in 1637, in the heat of the 
 Antinomian controversy. Not liking the peculiar fragrance 
 of the ecclesiastical atmosphere into which he had come, 
 he went to Aquedneck and took part with William Codding- 
 ton and Anne Hutchinson in establishing the colony of Rhode 
 Island. In 1639 ^ Baptist church was founded at Newport, 
 and Dr. Clarke was for many years its teacher. His ser- 
 vices to the commonwealth were so great that history must 
 place him by the side of Roger Williams. What Williams 
 was for the mainland colony, that was Clarke for the colony 
 
^h^M>^^JkfMk^^ 
 
 PLATFORM OF 
 
 CHURCH DISCIPLINE 
 
 (jATHERED OVT OF THE WORD OF GOD: 
 
 -t^T^'D yiCikEET) VPON BT THE ELDERS: 
 
 AND MESSENGERS OF THE CHUR.CHES 
 
 ASSfciiBl-tt) IN THE SYNOD AT CAMbMDuh 
 
 To be pretented to the Churches and Geiierall Court 
 
 for their confider.u.on and acceptance, 
 
 in the Lord. 
 
 The Eight Moneth Anno 1^49 
 
 cv^ 
 
 Piil: Z7. 
 
 , Ilovf AmUb'.e are thy lAbermdcsO Lurdof thfis ? ^j>i 
 
 I Lord I h.i'je loyed.'K n.ionMiin of ihy h).ij'e iS the J*J 
 
 ptAce^Wj^re thne hjtimr dvf^lUth , *^ 
 
 One :kng h-ive I defired fj i/jj.Li, d rh-ti ;r;// / ^c^^ e^j 
 
 afle , hut i m^f dir-'l in ihe honfe if ike Lrrd all I be ^^j 
 
 ^. f.i oj my lifrr) beh'jtdihi; ii^.mii oj the L9idiy ti *-i^ 
 
 iiitjuiit m hii TcmpL « <^j 
 
 Printed hy S Cj .at (^.imhridge in T^nv € upland ^. v 
 
 and are to be fold at Cjmt>---uhr and 'B.'JaH tSSj 
 
 ^■imu Djih: I (J 4. 9 . ^^! 
 
 -», ^ 
 
 Tin; LAMURIUGE PI.ATFORJI 
 
■* y »ll» - <l 
 
 THE A--^i, 
 
 MERITORIOUS rMc4 
 
 Of; I 
 
 Our Redemption , luftification , (y'c. | 
 
 Cleermgit from fome common Err or s- 
 
 And proving , 
 
 ri. That Chrift did not fufter for tis thofe unutterable torments of 
 
 ^i Gods wrath, that commonly are called Hell-corments, to rc- 
 Part I.\ det-m our foules from them. 
 
 That Chrift did not bear our fins by Gods imputation, and 
 therefore he did not bear the curfc of the LiwTor them. 
 That Chrift: hath redeemed us from the curfe of the Law (not 
 by fufFcring the faid curfe for us, but j by a fatisfacftory price of 
 attonement; w.& by paying or performing unto his Father that 
 Panll. J invaluable precious thing of his Mediatorial! obedience,wherof 
 
 / his Mediatorial! Sacrifice of attonement was the mafter-piece. 
 
 \a. a finners fighteoufnefle or juftification is explained , and dee- 
 red from fome common Errors. 
 
 By William Phicb/H, Genckman, in New- England. 
 
 I dclkht tc 
 
 . The McJiiror faiih thus to hii F.uhcr in Pfd 4;>.8jio. 
 
 Ight tc do thy vtiUO ny Gci,yci thy Ltm is within my heart : (vii-) I delight to do 
 thy wiUj or Law, as a Mediator. 
 I b-i-'-'c not hid thy riehtcoufnclJc withinmy hart, T hi~jc declared thy fjiihfulxcjj'c , n-.td 
 thy f.:lx:i!io)i: Namely,! have not hid thy rightcoiifncfli, or thy way of mal<i[ig linticrs 
 iwhtcous, but havcdciUied it l)y tlic performance of my Mediatorial! ^aciihcc of at- 
 tontrneiit, as the procuring caul'c of thy attonement, to the great Ccii^rcgaiiciit jr their 
 cvciUftiniT ri''htcoufiiellc. 
 
 L N "DOS, 
 
 X'.-ivr.cdby^. CM.iax CJargc Ifhittington, and ^^/vc> MoxoTi, and arc to be Ibid at 
 j[i tilt blue Anchor in Corn. hili necr the Koyall i:\changc. 1650. '• »' 
 
 \\■|I.LI.\^f l'\NCHI)N S UnKETlCAL I;<1()K, WHICH WAS liL'RNEl* IN THE MARKET- 
 I'l.ACI'l IN JtOSTON, HY ORIJEli Ot-' THE GENEKAL fOURT 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 195 
 
 upon the island, its leading spirit in all that was noblest and 
 best. Upright and capable in all the relations of life, he 
 never failed of the courtesy and dignity that mark the 
 perfect gentleman. 
 
 In 1644 the General Court of Massachusetts passed an 
 act banishing from the colony all persons who should either 
 openly or privately oppose the baptism of infants. Ban- 
 -ishment, however, did not always occur. Thomas Painter, 
 of Hingham, for refusing to have his child bap- 
 tized, was savagely whipped. William Witter was against 
 
 , . . , „ . 1 . . . , Baptists 
 
 twice arraigned tor expressing his opinion on such 
 subjects, but he was not banished, and in the summer of 
 165 1 we find him living quietly at Swampscott. Being 
 nearly seventy years of age, blind and otherwise infirm, so 
 that he could not make the journey to Newport in quest 
 of spiritual consolation, he "requested an interview with 
 some of the brethren " ; in other words, he asked that some 
 of the brethren might come and visit him. 
 
 In response to this appeal Dr. Clarke;, with two compan- 
 ions, undertook the journey to Swampscott. One of these 
 friends was John Crandall, a deputy or representative from 
 Newport in the General Court of Rhode Island, The other 
 was Rev. Obadiah Holmes, born of a respectable family at 
 Preston in Lancashire and educated at Oxford. He had 
 lately been pastor of a church at Seekonk, in the Plymouth 
 colony, where there had been " thirteene or fower- obadiaii 
 teen persons rebaptized " ; an incident which called Holmes 
 forth an energetic protest from Massachusetts. The Bos- 
 ton magistrates declared themselves in danger "from the 
 infection of such diseases, being so near," and they expressed 
 a hope that the danger might be averted. They looked 
 upon Baptists as moral lepers, unfit to associate with their 
 fellow men. Similar views were entertained in Plymouth, 
 for Holmes was presented by the grand jury of that colony 
 for " holding a disorderly meeting " [i. e., a meeting of dis- 
 believers in infant baptism] on the Lord's day. But the 
 mild rebuke which Plymouth deemed sufficient for the 
 
196 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 emergency was far from satisfactory to the sterner temper 
 of Massachusetts. Under these circumstances it required 
 courage for Holmes to show himself in the neighbourhood 
 
 ^>Cc r^Lr^ 
 
 of Boston. It was a brave Christian act and fraught with 
 some peril. 
 
 On Saturday evening, July 19, 1651, the three Baptist 
 worthies arrived in Swampscott and passed the night at the 
 house of the venerable Witter. On Sunday morning, "not 
 having freedom in our Spirits for want of a clear Call from 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 197 
 
 God to goe unto the Publick Assembly " — which was at 
 Lynn, two or three miles away — Dr. Clarke and his friends 
 held a service at Witter's house. Four or five men from 
 the neighbourhood, came in and listened, perhaps from mere 
 curiosity ; but presently two constables entered with a war- 
 rant for the arrest of the visitors from Rhode . ■ , 
 
 Arrest of 
 
 Island. Dr. Clarke, with his wonted urbanity, in- the Bap- 
 
 ' tists at 
 
 vited the officers to stay and hear the service com- Swamp- 
 pleted, but they grimly retorted by haling him ^™" 
 and his friends off to the village ale-house for safe keeping. 
 In the afternoon, said the constables, they should be made 
 to go to the meeting-house at Lynn. Nay, quoth the doc- 
 tor : " If thou forcest us into your assembly, then shall we 
 be constrained to declare ourselves that we cannot enter 
 into communion with them." He was as good as his word. 
 To characterize his conduct in church as rudeness would 
 be to show oneself wanting in the historical spirit which 
 understands a vanished age. Just as it was a matter of 
 conscience with the magistrate to drag these Baptists into 
 the meeting-house, it was a matter of conscience with the 
 Baptists to make some public sign of disapproval. Their 
 demeanour was quiet, for they were gentlemen and not 
 brawlers.- On entering the church they raised their hats, 
 bowed politely to minister and congregation, then sat down 
 and put on their hats. Dr. Clarke took a book from his 
 pocket and- "fell to reading," while the three offending hats 
 were removed by the constables. When service was over 
 Clarke asked and obtained permission to speak to the con- 
 gregation, but after a few words he was silenced and taken, 
 with his friends, to the tavern. 
 
 Next morning the three were committed to the jail in 
 Boston and kept there till July 31, when they were brought 
 before the General Court for trial. The spirit of the pro- 
 ceedings was like that which was shown in the trial of 
 Bunyan's Faithful at Vanity Fair. Governor Endicott ac- 
 cused the prisoners of being Anabaptists, which gave Dr. 
 Clarke a chance for a little Greek pleasantry; he assured 
 
ipS THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the governor that he was "neither an Anabaptist, nor a 
 Pasdobaptist, nor a Catabaptist." ^ He admitted that he 
 had baptized grown-up persons who had been in their baby- 
 Triai of the hood taken to church and had water sprinkled on 
 Baptists their foreheads ; but since such early wetting was 
 in no true sense baptism, he could not be accused of re- 
 baptizing. But this ingenious logic did not avail him or 
 his friends. They were sentenced with varying degrees of 
 severity/ each to pay a fine or in ,default of payment to be 
 "well whipt." Crandall was the least important of the 
 three victims, and his fine was only ;£s- Clarke's fine was 
 ;£20 and that of Holmes was £,T)0.^ 
 
 When sentence had been pronounced Dr. Clarke asked if 
 he might be allowed to see the law by which he had been 
 judged. Then Endicott, in a towering passion, " broke forth 
 and told me I had deserved death, and said he would not 
 have such trash brought into their jurisdiction : moreover, 
 he ' said, you go up and down, and secretly insinuate into 
 those that are weak ; but you cannot maintain it before our 
 Ministers : you may try and discourse or dispute with them." 
 Clarke was eager to accept this challenge, but was imme- 
 diately hurried away to jail. Holmes, on hearing his sen- 
 tence, exclaimed, " I bless G6d I am counted worthy to 
 suffer for the name of Jesus " ; whereupon the Rev. John 
 Wilson, quite overcome with rage, struck him and shouted, 
 " The curse of Jesus go with thee ! " 
 
 ' In other words, neither a rebaptizer, nor a baptizer of babes, nor a 
 reviler of baptism. The epithet " Catabaptist " was sometimes applied 
 to Baptists in opprobrium, but " Anabaptist " was preferred, because 
 Anabaptists were apt to be " unsound " on the doctrine of tlie Trinity, 
 so that the use of the name made it easy to abuse Baptists /br opinions 
 which they did not hold. This Icind of misrepresentation is always in- 
 expressibly dear to the theological hater. The jingle of Dr. Clarke's 
 statement reminds one of Carlyle's gruff reply to some inquisitive crea- 
 ture who wished to know if he was a pantheist : " No, I am neither a 
 pan-theist nor a pot-theist ! " 
 
 ^ In our modern gold money these fines were equivalent to $125, 
 $500, and $750. 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 199 
 
 From prison Dr. Clarke sent forth a letter next day, 
 challenging the ministers to a public discussion of the ques- 
 tion as to baptism, and asking that a time and place be 
 appointed. The General Court shuffled and quibbled in the 
 matter. A rumour got abroad that the discussion was to 
 be held at Cambridge on Commencement Day, August 1 2, 
 and that John Cotton was to be Clarke's antagonist. But 
 on August 1 1 Clarke was released from jail, inasmuch as 
 some friends without his consent had paid his fine. He 
 renewed his challenge, but the magistrates refused to allow 
 any public discussion, and so the baffled and insulted doctor 
 returned to breathe the free air of Newport. 
 
 Crandall's fine was also paid by friends, but Holmes posi- 
 tively refused to accept any such deliverance, and he used 
 arguments which prevailed with his friends. He urged that 
 payment of the fine would look like a confession 
 that he was in the wrong ; a great principle was treatment 
 at stake, and he preferred to take the consequences 
 of refusal. The magistrates also seem to have been unwill- 
 ing to accept payment in this case. They wished to make 
 an example of Holmes, who had been let off so lightly by 
 Plymouth. The punishment meted out to him was thirty 
 lashes, the same as the penalty for rape, adultery, and coun- 
 terfeiting. On a September day this good man was stripped 
 and tied to the post. What followed may be told in his own 
 words : — 
 
 " In truth, as the stroaks fell upon me, I had such a spir- 
 ituall manifestation of God's presence as the like thereto I 
 never had, nor felt, nor can with fleshly tongue expresse ; 
 and the outward pain waS' so removed from me, that in- 
 deed I am not able to declare it to you ; it was so easy to me 
 that I could well bear it, yea, and in a manner felt it not, 
 although it was grievous ; as the Spectators said, the Man 
 striking with all his strength (yea, spitting on his hands 
 three times, as many affirmed) with a three-coarded whip, 
 giving me therewith thirty stroaks. When he had loosed 
 me from the Post, having joyfulnesse in my heart and cheer- 
 
200 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 fulness in my countenance, as the Spectators observed, I 
 told the Magistrates — You have struck me as with Roses ; 
 and said, moreover. Although the Lord hath made it easy to 
 me, yet I pray it may not be laid to your charge." 
 
 It was a brutal affair. We are told that for some weeks 
 afterward "Mr. Holmes could take no rest but as he lay 
 upon his knees and elbows, not being able to suffer any part 
 of his body to touch the bed whereon he lay." Several by- 
 standers, for speaking' compassionately to the bleeding victim 
 as he came away from the whipping-post, were arrested, and 
 two were fined. 
 
 This outrage drew forth from Roger Williams, in a letter 
 to Endicott, sonie of his pithy and memorable sayings : " Sir, 
 I must be humbly bold to say 't is impossible for any man 
 or men to maintain their Christ by their sword, and to wor- 
 ship a true Christ ! to fight against all consciences opposite 
 theirs, and not to fight against God in some of them." One 
 of the most eminent of the early magistrates of the Massa- 
 chusetts colony, Sir Richard Saltonstall, who was then in 
 England, wrote a letter severely reproving the Boston minis- 
 ters : " We hoped the Lord would have given you so much 
 light and love there, that you might have been eyes to God's 
 people here, and not to practise those courses in a wilderness 
 which you went so far to prevent." ^ 
 
 ^ Our most trustworthy source of information as to this affair is Dr. 
 Clarke's /// Newes frojn New England, London, 1653. The best mod- 
 ern account is H. M. King, A Sum?ner Visit of Three Rhode Islanders 
 to the Massachusetts Bay in fdji, Providence, 1896. Mr. King makes 
 short work of the attempts of Palfrey and Dexter to extenuate the con- 
 duct of Massachusetts. Dr. Palfrey fancied that the visit to Brother 
 Witter concealed a deep-laid political scheme on the part of Clarke. 
 Coddington was entertaining plans which might have brought Rhode 
 Island more or less under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Dr. Pal- 
 frey's suggestion is that Clarke went to Swampscott in order to court 
 persecution and thus fire the hearts of the Rhode Island Baptists to 
 resist Coddington's plans. Dexter follows Palfrey. As this theory is 
 purely a priori, unsupported by a scrap of evidence, it is hardly worthy 
 of such excellent scholars. Why should it be thought necessary to slur 
 over the faults of one's own state or one's own ancestors ? If Dr. Pal- 
 
THE NEW ENGLAXU CONFEDERACY 
 
 ^^^(^A 
 
 The persecution of these Baptist visitors occurred, as al- 
 ready observed, in the same year which witnessed the adop- 
 tion of the Cambridge Platform, an event which we cited as 
 
 frey's theory of the case could be established, the conduct of the Mas- 
 sachusetts-authorities would appear not a whit less odious, and it would 
 seem very stupid withal, since it would be playing into Clarke's hand. 
 
202 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 completing the theocratic organization of the Puritan com- 
 monwealth in Massachusetts. It was immediately preceded 
 and followed by the deaths of the two foremost men in that 
 commonwealth. John Winthrop died in 1649 and John 
 Cotton in 1652. Both were men of extraordinary power. 
 Of Winthrop it is enough to say that under his skilful guid- 
 ance Massachusetts had been able to pursue the daring 
 policy which characterized the first twenty years of her his- 
 tory, and which in weaker hands would almost surely have 
 ended in disaster. Of Cotton it may be said that 
 
 Deaths of . . 
 
 Winthrop , he was m some respects the most emment among 
 and Cotton ^ gj-Qup of clergymen who for learning and dialec- 
 tical skill have seldom been surpassed. Neither Winthrop 
 nor Cotton approved of toleratioa upon principle. Cotton, 
 in his elaborate controversy with Roger Williams, frankly 
 asserted that persecution is not wrong in itself ; it is wicked 
 for falsehood to persecute truth, but it is the sacred duty 
 of truth to persecute falsehood. This was the theologian's 
 view. Winthrop's was that of a man of affairs. They had 
 come to New England, he said, in order to make a society 
 after their own model ; all who agreed with them might come 
 and join that society ; those .who disagreed with them might 
 go elsewhere ; there was room enough on the American con- 
 tinent. But while neither Winthrop nor Cotton understood 
 the principle of religious liberty, at the same time neither of 
 them had the temperament which persecutes. Both were 
 men of genial disposition, sound common-sense, and exquisite 
 tact. Under their guidance no such tragedy would have 
 been possible as that which was about to leave its inefface- 
 able stain upon the annals of Massachusetts. 
 
 It was most unfortunate that at this moment the places 
 of these two men should have been taken by two as arrant 
 fanatics as ever drew breath. For thirteen out of the fifteen 
 Endicott years following Winthrop's death, the governor of 
 take'^hr°" Massachusetts was John Endicott, a sturdy pio- 
 ^^^'^ neer, whose services to the colony had been great. 
 
 He was honest and conscientious, but passionate, domineer- 
 
,-• -.'^ ^:t' 
 
 
 FRAG.M 
 
 ENT OF A LETTER FROM OLIVER CROMWELL TO JOHN COTTON 
 
L )■■ 
 
 ':^ , 
 
 
 myUA^"^ 
 
 L 
 
 SUPERSCRIPTION OF CROMWELL'S LETTER 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 205 
 
 ing, and very deficient in tact. At the same time Cotton's 
 successor in position and influence was John Norton, a man 
 of pungent wit, unyielding temper, and melancholy mood. 
 He was possessed by a morbid fear of Satan, whose hirelings 
 he thought were walking up and down over the earth in the 
 visible semblance of heretics and schismatics. Under such 
 leaders the bigotry latent in the Puritan commonwealth 
 might easily break out in acts of deadly persecution. 
 
 The occasion was not long in coming. Already the preach- 
 ing of George Fox had borne fruit, and the .noble sect of 
 Quakers was an object of scorn and loathing to all such as 
 had not gone so far as they toward learning the true lesson 
 of Protestantism. Of all Protestant sects the Quakers went 
 furthest in stripping off from Christianity its non-essential 
 features of doctrine and ceremonial. Their ideal The 
 was not a theocracy but a separation between ^'^j'^hS 
 church and state. They would abolish all distinc- '''^"'^ 
 tion between clergy and laity, and could not be coaxed or bul- 
 lied into paying tithes. They also refused to render. military 
 service, or to take the oath of allegiance. In these ways 
 they came at once into antagonism both with church and 
 with state. In doctrine their chief peculiarity was the asser- 
 tion of an " Inward Light " by which every individual is to 
 be guided in his conduct of life. They did not believe that 
 men ceased to be divinely inspired when the apostolic ages 
 came to an end, but held that at all times and places the 
 human soul may be enlightened by direct communion with 
 its Heavenly Father. Such views involved the most abso- 
 lute assertion of the right of private judgment ; and when it 
 is added that in th^ exercise of this right many Quakers 
 were found to reject the dogmas of original sin and the 
 resurrection of the body, to doubt the efficacy of baptism, 
 and to call in question the propriety of Christians turning 
 the Ldrd's Day into a Jewish Sabbath, we see that they had 
 in some respects gone far on the road toward modern ration- 
 alism. It was not to be expected that such opinions .should 
 be treated by the Puritans in any other spirit than one of 
 
2o6 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 extreme abhorrence and dread. The doctrine of the " In- 
 ward Light," or of private inspiration, was something espe- 
 cially hateful to the Puritan. To the modern rationalist, 
 looking at things in the dry light of history, it may seem 
 that this doctrine was only the Puritan's own appeal to 
 individual judgment, stated in different form ; but the Puri- 
 tan could not so regard it. To such a fanatic as Norton 
 this inward light was but a reflection from the glare of the 
 bottomless pit, this private inspiration was the beguiling 
 voice of the Devil. As it led the Quakers to strange and 
 novel conclusions, this inward light seemed to array itself in 
 hostility to that final court of appeal for all good Protest- 
 ants, the sacred text of the Bible. The Quakers were 
 accordingly regarded -as infidels who 
 "Jo At\ jCtrf/xtn. sought to deprive Protestantism of its 
 only firm support. They were wrongly 
 accused of blasphemy in their treatment of the Scriptures. 
 Cotton Mather says that the Quakers were in the habit 
 of alluding to the Bible as the Word of the Devil. Such 
 charges, from passionate and uncritical enemies, are worth- 
 less except as they serve to explain the bitter prejudice 
 with which the Quakers were regarded. They remind one 
 of the silly accusation brought against Wyclif two centuries 
 earlier, that he taught his disciples that God ought to obey 
 the Devil ; ^ and they are not altogether unlike the assump- 
 tions of some modern theologians who take it for granted 
 that any writer who accepts the Darwinian theory must be 
 a materialist. 
 
 But worthless as Mather's statements are, in describing 
 the views of the Quakers, they are valuable as indicating 
 the temper in which these disturbers of the Puritan theo- 
 cracy were regarded. In accusing them of rejecting the 
 Bible and making a law unto themselves, Mather simply 
 put on record a general belief which he shared. Nor can 
 it be doubted that the demeanour of the Quaker enthusiasts 
 was sometimes such as to seem to warrant the belief that 
 ^ Milman, Latin Christianity, vii. 390. 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 207 
 
 their anarchical doctrines entailed, as a natural consequence, 
 disorderly and disreputable conduct. In those days violent 
 all manifestations of dissent were apt to be vio- "ons rf'^' 
 lent, and the persecution which they encountered "^'s^^"* 
 was likely to call forth strange and unseemly vagaries. 
 When we remember how the Quakers, in their scorn of 
 earthly magistrates and princes, would hoot at the gov- 
 ernor as he walked up the street ; how they used to rush into 
 church on Sundays and interrupt the sermon with untimely 
 remarks ; how Thomas Newhouse once came into the old 
 First Meeting-House with a glass bottle in each hand, and, 
 holding them up before the astonished congregation, knocked 
 them together and smashed them, with the remark, " Thus 
 will the Lord break you all in pieces " ; how Lydia Ward well 
 and Deborah Wilson ran about the streets in the primitive 
 costume of Eve before the fall, and called their conduct 
 "testifying before the Lord" ; ^ we can hardly wonder that 
 people should have been reminded of the wretched scenes 
 enacted at Miinster by the Anabaptists of the preceding 
 century. 
 
 ' Similar instances occurred now and then in England. " One thing 
 extraordinary was, this day a man, a Quaker, came naked through the 
 [Westminster] Hall, only very civilly tied about the loins to avoid scan- 
 dal, and with a chafing-dish of fire and brimstone burning upon his 
 head, did pass through the Hall, crying, 'Repent! repent!'" — Pepys' 
 Diary, July 29, 1667. Cf. DeFoe's History of the Plague of London, 
 p. 26. As for Thomas Newhouse, his reputation as a disturber seems 
 to have been widespread, if he is the person mentioned in the Records 
 of Lower Norfolk County, Virginia, in August and October, 1683: 
 '■ Whereas W" porten hath Represented to this Court that hee hath 
 been Informed that One Thomas newhouse (beefore a Certane number 
 of people that mett upon fryday last att the house of Gilbert Lewes to 
 heere him Speake) did declare Severall words In derogation of the 
 bible amounting to blasphemy It is therefore ordered that the Shrff 
 take the sd newhouse Into his Custody and him Safely deteyne till hee 
 Enter Into bond w"" good Security to ans' what shall bee objected ag' 
 him in that behalf att the next Court." The entry of October 15 finds 
 the charge " sufitiently prouved," and puts " the sd newhouse " under 
 bonds to appear before the General Court for trial. See William and 
 Mary College Quarterly, ii. 178, 179. 
 
2o8 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Such incidents, however, do not afford the slightest excuse 
 for the cruel treatment which the Quakers received in 
 Boston, nor do they go far toward explaining it. Persecu- 
 tion began immediately, just as in the case of Dr. Clarke 
 and his friends, before the new-comers had a chance to 
 behave themselves well or ill. Their mere coming to Bos- 
 tonv was taken as an act of invasion. It was indeed an 
 attack upon the Puritan theocratic idea. Of all the sectaries 
 of that age of sects, the 
 
 Quakers were the most -^;^^^^^ ^£//4«,^<, m 
 aggressive. There were ' ^ ^ ^-txf'»^ynfs * x 
 
 at one time more than 
 
 four thousand of them in English jails ; ^ yet when any of 
 them left England, it was less to escape such persecution 
 than to preach their doctrines far and wide over the earth. 
 Their missionaries found their way to Paris, to Vienna ; even 
 to Rome, where they testified under the very roof of the 
 Vatican. In this dauntless spirit they came to New Eng- 
 land to convert its inhabitants, or at any rate to establish 
 the principle that in whatever community it might please 
 them to stay, there they would stay in spite of judge or 
 hangman. At first they came to Barbadoes, whence two 
 Anne of their number, Anne Austin and Mary Fisher, 
 
 Austin and g^|jg^ j^^. Bogtojj When they landed, on a May 
 Fisher moming in 1656, Endicott happened to be away 
 from Boston, but the. deputy-governor, Richard Bellingham, 
 was equal to the occasion. He arrested the two women and 
 locked them up in jail,' where, for fear they might proclaim 
 their heresies to the crowd gathered outside, the windows 
 were boarded up. There was no law as yet enacted against 
 Quakers, but a council summoned for the occasion pro- 
 nounced their doctrines blasphemous and devilish. The 
 books which the poor women had with them were seized and 
 publicly burned, and tl^e women themselves were kept in 
 
 ^ A large number of these prisoners, perhaps the majority, were 
 charged with contempt of coiirt for refusing to take an oath, wearing 
 their hats before the magistrates, etc. 
 
I hiow thy works , <ind thy labour , an.i palienci, 
 md how that! canfl not knr tieem which are eviH; 
 md thou h-t[i trycd ibtm whtch faj they Are Apofllts, 
 and ^re not, and h.ijl found them tjan Rev : 2 . a - 
 
 Printed by S^runt! Grtm, :it C A M B R I D G 
 in Ncw-EiioLmd, i 6 5 9- 
 
 *S '"_ . -- — I—. H 
 
 THE 
 
 Heart of :j^England 
 
 rent at the 
 
 BLASPHEMIES 
 
 OF THE PRESENT 
 
 gENERAJlOT^. 
 
 Ox 
 
 A brief TraAate concerning the Doftrine of 
 the Qaikers , Demanftratinf^ the deftrudivc nature 
 thereof, to Religion, the Churches, and the State, 
 with confi.ieration of the Remedy againft it. 
 Occafional Satisfaftion to Objeftions, and Confir-^ 
 mation of the contrary Truetho 
 
 By John 7\(o RTO N , T aches of the 
 
 Church of Chrift at "Boflo/i^. 
 who w.is apponiied tlmeun'o ly tUc Order of the 
 GENERAL COURT. 
 
 JOHN NORTON'S BOOK ON THE QUAKERS 
 
DECLARATION 
 
 Of the S A D and G R E A T 
 
 P^rfcGUtion and Marty rdoni 
 
 Of the People of God, called 
 QJJ A K E R S, m NETF-ENG LJNP,/ 
 . for the Worfhipping of God . 
 
 22 have ken Bjiiiilied upon pain of Death* 
 03 have been MARTYRED- 
 0? isave had their Right-Eais cut. 
 of ha'^' been burned in the Hand wiflijhe letter H. 
 ^i Perfons have received ii^j J Stripes. 
 01 wasbeatvvhilehlsBcaiy was like a jelly. 
 WherofJ" Several wea* beat with Pitched Ropes. 
 
 Five Appeals made to EpgUftd-^ ^iiQ denied 
 
 by the Rulers of Befion, 
 Giit thoufand forty four pounds worth of Goods hath 
 been taken fi om them (being poor men) for meeting 
 together in the fear of the Lord, and for keeping the 
 Commalids of Chriftr 
 ©ne now lyetb in Iion-fetteis, condemned to dye^ 
 
 ■ A I S Ot 
 
 Some CoK5]PF.RATioNs,piefentediothe K ING, which is 
 
 in Jnfrer to a '^eticiflti and. %m^t^t ''^^^'^^ ^'^^^ prefaited | 
 unto Him by the General Court at %?w J Subfcribed by 1 
 . J. FMkst^ the chief Petfecutor there ; thinking thereby to 
 '- cover tbemfeives from the Blood of the Innocent. j 
 
 G3I. 4, 29. 3ttt f.i the»f he that was horn after thefejt,' p^rfccfHci 
 
 htm I hat wm born after the Spirit, even /o histt^. 
 God hath no rcfpefl tJ £"«/«/ Sicrifictithit Jii!(£4 his .pother ^o«t Rtl'g'Oi!, 
 
 Lonian-, Printed for Robert tvilfm^ in M.o't'im Le Grand, 
 
 PROTEST OF THE QUAKERS, PUBLISHED IN LONDON EARLY IN 1661 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 211 
 
 prison half-starved for five weeks, until the ship they had 
 come in was ready to return to Barbadoes. Soon after 
 their departure Endicott came home. He found fault with 
 Bellingham's conduct as too gentle ; if he had been there he 
 would have had the hussies flogged. 
 
 Five years afterward Mary Fisher went to Adrianople and 
 tried to convert the Grand Turk, who treated her with grave 
 courtesy and allowed her to prophesy unmolested. This is 
 one of the numerous incidents that, on a superficial view of 
 history, might be cited in support of the opinion that there 
 has been on the whole more tolerance in the Mussulman 
 than in the Christian world. Rightly interpreted, however, 
 the fact has no such implication. In Massachusetts the 
 preaching of Quaker doctrines might (and did) lead to a 
 revolution ; in Turkey it was as harmless as the barking 
 of dogsi Governor Endicott was afraid of Mary Fisher ; 
 Mahomet III. was not. 
 
 No sooner had the two women been shipped from Boston 
 than eight other Quakers arrived from London. They were 
 at once arrested. While they were lying in jail the Federal 
 Commissioners, then in session at Plymouth, recommended 
 that laws be forthwith enacted to keep these dreaded here- 
 tics but of the land. Next year they stooped so far as to 
 seek the aid of Rhode Island, the colony which they had 
 refused to admit into their confederacy. "They sent a 
 letter to the authorities of that colony, signing themselves 
 their loving friends and neighbours, and beseeching them to 
 preserve the whole body of colonies against 'such a pest ' by 
 banishing and excluding all Quakers, a measure to which 
 'the rule of charity did oblige them.' " Roger Williams was 
 then president of Rhode Island, and in full accord Noble 
 with his noble spirit was the reply of the assembly. orRhode 
 "We have no law amongst us whereby to punish ^='^"<i 
 any for only declaring by words their minds and understand- 
 ings concerning the things and ways of God as to salvation 
 and our eternal condition." As for these Quakers, we find 
 that where they are " most of all suffered to declare them- 
 
212 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 selves freely and only opposed by arguments in discourse, 
 there they least of all desire to come." Any breach of the 
 civil law shall be punished, but the " freedom of different 
 consciences shall be respected." This reply enraged the con- 
 federated colonies, and Massachusetts, as the strongest and 
 most overbearing, threatened to cut off the trade of Rhode 
 Roger Island, which forthwith appealed to Cromwell for 
 
 appeaiTto protection. The language of the appeal is as 
 Cromwell touching as its broad Christian spirit is grand. It 
 recognizes that by stopping trade the men of Massachusetts 
 will injure themselves, yet, it goes on to say, "for the safe- 
 guard of their religion they may seem to neglect themselves 
 in that respect ; for what will not men do for their God ? " 
 But whatever fortune may befall, "let us not be compelled 
 to exercise any civil power over men's consciences." ^ 
 
 There could never, of course, be a doubt as to who drew 
 up this state paper. During his last visit to England, three 
 years before, Roger Williams had spent several weeks at Sir 
 Harry Vane's country house in Lincolnshire, and he had also 
 been intimately associated with Cromwell and Milton. The 
 views of these great men were the most advanced of that 
 age. They were coming to understand the true principle 
 upon which toleration should be based.^ Vane had said in 
 Parliament, " Why should the labours of any be suppressed, 
 if sober, though never so different ? We now profess to 
 seek God, we desire to see light ! " This Williams called a 
 " heavenly speech." The sentiment it expressed was in 
 accordance with the practical policy of Cromwell, and in the 
 appeal of the president of Rhode Island to the Lord Pro- 
 tector one hears the tone with which friend speaks to friend. 
 In thus protecting the Quakers, Williams never for a 
 moment concealed his antipathy to their doctrines. The 
 author of "George Fox digged out of his Burrowes," the 
 sturdy controversialist who in his seventy-third year rowed 
 himself in a boat the whole length of Narragansett bay to 
 
 ^ Rhode Island Records, i. 377, 378. 
 
 ^ See my Excursions of an Evolutionist, pp. 247, 289-293. 
 
-r^<4^M~' 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 213 
 
 engage in a theological tournament against three Quaker 
 champions, was animated by nothing less than the broadest 
 liberalism in his bold reply to the Federal Commissioners in 
 1657. The event showed that under his guidance the policy 
 of Rhode Island was not only honourable but wise. The 
 four confederated colonies all proceeded to pass laws ban- 
 ishing Quakers and making it a penal offence for Laws 
 shipmasters to bring them to New England. These IgU^fi the 
 laws differed in severity. Those of Connecticut, in Quakers 
 which we may trace the influence of the younger John 
 Winthrop, were the mildest ; those of Massachusetts were 
 the most severe, and as Quakers kept coming all the more 
 in spite of them, they grew harsher and harsher. At first 
 the Quaker who persisted in returning was to be flogged 
 and imprisoned at hard labour, next his ears were to be cut 
 off, and for a third offence his tongue was to be bored with 
 a hot iron. At length, in 1658, the Federal Commissioners, 
 sitting at Boston with Endicott as chairman, recommended 
 capital punishment. It must be borne in mind that the gen- 
 eral reluctance toward prescribing or inflicting the The death 
 death penalty was much weaker then than now. On p™*'*^ 
 the statute-books there were not less than fifteen capital 
 crimes, including such offences as idolatry, witchcraft, blas- 
 phemy, marriage within the Levitical degrees, "presumptu- 
 ous sabbath-breaking," and cursing or smiting one's parents.^ 
 The infliction of the penalty, however, lay practically very 
 much within the discretion of the court, and was generally 
 avoided except in cases of murder or other heinous felony. 
 In some of these ecclesiastical offences the statute seems 
 to have served the purpose of a threat, and was therefore 
 perhaps the more easily enacted. Yet none of the colonies 
 except Massachusetts' now adopted the suggestion of the 
 Federal Commissioners and threatened the Quakers with 
 death. 
 
 In Massachusetts the opposition was very strong indeed, 
 1 Colonial Laws of Massachusetts, ■p-^.iHr-id; Levermore's Republic 
 of New Haven, p. 153. 
 
214 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 and its character shows how wide the divergence in senti- 
 ment had already become between the upper stratum of 
 society and the people in general. This divergence was one 
 result of the excessive weight given to the clergy by the 
 restriction of the suffrage to church members. One might 
 almost say that it was not the people of Massachusetts, after 
 all, that shed the blood of the Quakers ; it was Endicott and 
 the clergy. The bill establishing death as the penalty for 
 returning after banishment was passed in the upper house 
 without serious difHculty ; but in the lower house it was at 
 first defeated. Of the twenty-six deputies fifteen were 
 opposed to it, but one of these fell sick and two were in- 
 timidated, so that finally the infamous measure was passed 
 by a vote of thirteen against twelve. Probably it would 
 not have passed but for a hopeful feeling that an occasion 
 for putting it into execution would not be likely to arise. 
 It was hoped that the mere threat would prove effective. 
 Endicott begged the Quakers to keep away, saying ear- 
 nestly that he did not desire their death ; but the more 
 resolute spirits were not deterred by fear of the gallows. 
 ^^_— ^.^^ In September, 1659, William Rob- 
 
 ^ ^ inson, Marmaduke Stevenson, and 
 
 ~J^ j^ _ ^ , Mary Dyer, who had come to Bos- 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 ton expressly to defy the cruel law, 
 were banished. Mrs. Dyer was a 
 lady of good family, wife of the secretary of Rhode Island. 
 She had been an intimate friend of Mrs. Hutchinson.^ 
 While she went home to her husband, Stevenson and Rob- 
 inson went only to Salem and then faced about and came 
 back to Boston. Mrs. Dyer also returned. All three felt 
 themselves under divine command to resist and defy the 
 persecutors. On the 27th of October they were led to the 
 gallows on Boston Common, under escort of a hundred 
 
 ^ Mrs. Dyer seems to have been regarded in Boston with a super- 
 stitious terror because of an absurd story that she had given birth to a 
 frightful monster. The disgusting details are given in Cotton Mather's 
 Magnalia, London, 1702, bk. vii. chap. 3. 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 215 
 
 soldiers. Many people had begun to cry shame on such 
 proceedings,^ and it was thought necessary to take ^^.^^^ 
 precautions against a tumult. The victims tried to on Boston 
 address the crowd, but their voices were drowned 
 by the beating of drums. While the Rev. John Wilson railed 
 and scoffed at them from the . foot of the gallows the two 
 brave men were hanged. The halter had been placed upon 
 Mrs. Dyer when her son, who had come in all haste from 
 Rhode Island, obtained her reprieve on his promise to take 
 her away. The bodies of the two men were denied Christian 
 burial and thrown uncovered into a pit. All the efforts of 
 husband and son were unable to keep Mrs. Dyer at home. 
 In the following spring she returned to Boston and on the 
 first day of June was again taken to the gallows. At the 
 last moment she was offered freedom if she would only 
 promise to go away and stay, but she refused. " In obedi- 
 ence to the will of the Lord I came," said she, " and in his 
 will I abide faithful unto death." And so she died. 
 
 Public sentiment in Boston was now turning so strongly 
 against the magistrates ' that they began to weaken in their 
 purpose. But there was one more victim. In November, 
 1660, William Leddra returned from banishment. The case 
 was clear enough, but he was kept in prison four months 
 and every effort was made to induce him to promise to leave 
 the colony, but in vain. In the following March he too was 
 put to death. A few days before the execution, as Leddra 
 was being questioned in court, a memorable scene ^gnio^jj, 
 occurred. Wenlock Christison was one of those christi- 
 who had been banished under penalty of death, defiance 
 On his return he made straight for the town-house, ^" ^"^ "^ 
 strode into the court-room, and with uplifted finger addressed 
 the judges in words of authority. " I am come here to warn 
 you," said he, "that ye shed no more innocent blood." He 
 was instantly seized and dragged off to jail. After three 
 
 ^ The younger John Winthrop, then governor of Connecticut, said 
 that he would on his bare knees implore the Boston magistrates not to 
 carry out the cruel sentence. 
 
2l6 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 
 months he was brought to 
 trial before the Court of As- 
 sistants. The magistrates 
 debated for more than a 
 fortnight as to what should 
 be done. The air was thick 
 with mutterings of insur- 
 rection, and they had lost 
 all heart for their dreadful 
 work. Not so the savage old 
 man who presided, frown- 
 ing gloomily under his black 
 skull cap. . Losing his pa- 
 tience at last, Endicott smote 
 the table with fury, up- 
 braided the judges for their 
 weakness, and declared him- 
 self so disgusted that he 
 was ready to go back to 
 England.^ " You that will 
 not consent, record it," he 
 shouted, as the question was 
 again put to vote, " I thank 
 God I am not afraid to give 
 judgment." Christison was 
 condemned to death, but the 
 sentence was never execut- 
 ed.^ In the interval the leg- 
 islature assembled, and the 
 law was modified. The mar- 
 tyrs had not died in vain. 
 Their cause was victorious. 
 A revolution had been ef- 
 fected. The Puritan ideal 
 of a commonwealth com- 
 posed of a united body of 
 believers was broken down. 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 217 
 
 never again to be restored. The principle had been admitted 
 that the heretic might come to Massachusetts and stay there. 
 
 It was not in a moment, however, that these results were 
 fully realized. For some years longer Quakers were fined, 
 imprisoned, and now and then tied to the cart's tail and 
 whipped from one town to another. But these acts of per- 
 secution came to be more and more discountenanced by 
 public opinion until at length they ceased. 
 
 It was on the 25th of May, 1660, just one week before 
 the martyrdom of Mary Dyer, that Charles II. returned to 
 England to occupy his father's throne. One of the first 
 papers laid before him was a memorial in behalf of the 
 
 ^ See my remarks above, p. 159. 
 
 2 From a paper preserved in the State Archives of Massachusetts it 
 has been rather liastily inferred that Christison saved his Kfe by a kind 
 of recantation. The paper is as follows : — 
 
 " I, the condemned man, doe give forth under my hand, that, if I 
 may have my libarty, I have freedome to depart this Jurisdiction ; and 
 I know not y* ever I shall com into it any more. 
 
 " WiNLOCK Christison. 
 
 " From y" Goal in Boston, 
 
 "ye 7*11 day of y° 4"^ mo. 1661." 
 In citing this paper Dr. Dexter, the able but one-sided defender of 
 the Massachusetts Puritans, incontinently declares that Christison, after 
 all his bluster, "showed the white .feather." — As to Roger Williams, 
 p. 131. But Dr. Ellis is more cautious. -It is not necessary, he says, 
 to suppose that Christison's " courage failed him in view of the gallows. 
 A divine prompting, which he claimed had brought him here, might 
 also release him from bearing any further testimony." — The Puritan 
 Age and Rule, p. 472. The interpretation here suggested seems to me 
 the true one. It will be observed that Christison does not promise to 
 go away and never return ; he says that he has " freedom to depart," 
 i. e., the Divine Light allows him to do so, and he does not know that 
 it will ever again command him to return. Since he had discharged 
 his duty in denouncing the murder of Leddra, his conscience allowed 
 him to leave Massachusetts, and he could not say whether it would in 
 future" bring him back again or not. Such seems to me the plain mean- 
 ing of his words, and doubtless the magistrates so understood it, but 
 were (all except Endicott) glad of an excuse for letting the prisoner go. 
 In point of fact Christison did afterward return to Boston. See Hallo- 
 well, The Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts, p. 61. 
 
2l8 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 The 
 
 " King's 
 Missive ' 
 
 oppressed Quakers in New England. In the course of the 
 following year he sent a letter to Endicott and the 
 other New England governors, ordering them to 
 suspend proceedings against the Quakers, and if 
 any were then in prison, to send them to England for trial. 
 Christison's victory had already been won, but the " King's 
 Missive " was now partially obdyed by the release of all 
 prisoners. As for sending anybody to England for trial, 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY' 219 
 
 that was something that no New England government could 
 ever be made to allow. 
 
 Charles's defence of the Quakers was due, neither to lib- 
 erality of disposition nor to any sympathy with them, but 
 rather to- his inclinations toward Romanism. Unlike in other 
 respects, Quakers and Catholics were alike in this, that they 
 were the only sects which the Protestant world in general 
 agreed in fexcluding fromtoleration. Charles wished 
 to secure toleration for Catholics, arid he could not charies 11. 
 prudently take steps toward this end without pur- to'proTec't 
 suing a policy broad enough to diminish persecution '^^ 
 in other directions, and from these circumstances 
 the Quakers profited. At times there was something almost 
 like a political alliance between Quaker and Catholic, as in- 
 stanced in the relations between William Penn and Charles's , 
 brother, the Duke of York. 
 
 Besides all this, Charles had good reason to feel that the 
 
 A PINE-TREE SHILLING 
 
 governments of New England were assuming too many airs 
 of sovereignty. There were plenty of people at hand to 
 work upon his mind. The friends of Gorton and Child and 
 Vassall were loud with -their complaints. Samuel Maverick 
 swore that the people of New England were all rebels, and 
 he could prove it. The king was assured that the Confed- 
 eracy was " a war combination, made by the four colonies 
 when they had a design to throw off their dependence on 
 England, and for that purpose." The enemies of the New 
 England people, while dilating upon the rebellious disposition 
 of Massachusetts, could also remind the king that for several 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 221 
 
 Against the colony of New Haven the king had a special 
 grudge. Two of the regicide judges, who had sat in the tri- 
 bunal which condemned his father, escaped to New England 
 in 1660 and were well received there. They were gentlemen 
 of high position. Edward Whalley was a cousin of Cromwell 
 and Hampden. He had distinguished himself at Naseby 
 and Dunbar,' and had risen to the rank of lieutenant-general. 
 He had commanded at the capture of Worcester, xheregi- 
 where it is interesting to observe that the royalist "i^^ i^^s^s 
 commander who surrendered to him was Colonel Henry 
 Washington, own cousin to the great-grandfather of George 
 Washington. The other regicide, William Goffe, as a major- 
 general in Cromwell's army, had won such distinction that 
 there were some who pointed to him as the proper person to 
 succeed the Lord Protector on the death of the latter. He 
 
 REGICIDES HIDING UNDER BRIDGE 
 
 had married Whalley's daughter. Soon after the arrival of 
 these gentlemen, a royal order for their arrest was sent to 
 Boston. If they had been arrested and gent back to Eng- 
 land, their severed heads would soon have been placed over 
 Temple Bar. The king's detectives hotly pursued them 
 through the woodland paths of New England, and they 
 would soon have been taken but for the aid they got from 
 the people. Many are the stories of their hairbreadth es- 
 capes. Sometimes they took refuge in a cave on a mountain 
 
222 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 near New Haven, sometimes they hid in friendly cellars; 
 and once, being hard put to it, they skulked under a wooden 
 bfidge, while their pursuers on horseback galloped by over- 
 head. After lurking about New Haven and Milford for two 
 or three years, on hearing of the expected arrival of Colonel 
 Nichols and his commission, they sought a more secluded 
 hiding-place near Hadley, a village lately settled far up the 
 Connecticut river, within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 
 Here the avengers lost the trail, the pursuit was abandoned, 
 and the weary regicides were presently forgotten. The peo- 
 ple of New Haven had been especially zealous in shielding 
 
 the fugitives. Mr. Dav- 
 enport had not only har- 
 boured them in his own 
 house, but on the Sab- 
 bath before their expect- 
 ed arrival he had preached 
 a very bold sermon, openly 
 advising his people to aid and comfort them as far as possi- 
 ble. ^ The colony, moreover, did not officially recognize the 
 restoration of Charles II. to the throne until that event had 
 
 1 The daring passage in the .sermon is thus given in Bacon's Histori- 
 cal Discourses, New Haven, 1838: "Withhold not countenance, enter- 
 tainment, and protection from the people of God — whom men may 
 call fools and fanatics — if any such come to you from otlier countries, 
 as from France or England, or any other place. Be not forgetful to 
 entertain strangers. Remember those that are in bonds, as bound with 
 them. The Lord required this of Moab, saying, ' Make thy shadow as 
 the night in the midst of the noonday ; hide the outcasts ; bewray not 
 him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be 
 thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler.' Is it objected — 
 ' But so I may expose myself to be spoiled or troubled ? ' He, there- 
 fore, to remove this objection, addeth, ' For the extortioner is at an 
 end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.' 
 While we are attending to our duty in owning and harbouring Christ's 
 witnesses, God will be providing for their and our safety, by destroying 
 those that would destroy his people." 
 
 While the king's officers were in hot pursuit of Goffe and Whalley, a 
 third regicide judge. Colonel John Dixwell, had taken refuge in Ger- 
 
(^^X/t^«*««/5w \>ir 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 223 
 
 been commonly known in New England for more than a 
 year. For these reasons the wrath of the king was specially 
 roused against New Haven, when circumstances combined 
 to enable him at once to punish this disloyal colony and deal 
 a blow at the Confederacy. 
 
 We have seen that in restricting the suffrage to church 
 members New Haven had followed the example of Massa- 
 chusetts, but Connecticut had not ; and at this time there 
 was warm controversy between the two younger ^^^, 
 colonies as to the wisdom of such a policy. As ^aven 
 
 '^ -' annexed 
 
 yet none of the colonies save Massachusetts had to Con- 
 obtained a charter, and Connecticut was naturally 
 anxious to obtain one. Whether through a complaisant 
 spirit connected with this desire, or through mere accident, 
 Connecticut had been prompt in acknowledging the restora- 
 tion of Charles H. ; and in August, 1661, she dispatched the 
 younger Winthrop to England to apply for a charter. Win- 
 throp was a man of winning address and wide culture. 
 His scientific tastes were a passport to the favour of the 
 king at a time when the Royal Society was being founded, 
 
 of which Winthrop himself was 
 
 - A , soon chosen a fellow. In every 
 
 *pftlyt^ SD/flCHJtflLr* way the occasion was an aus- 
 
 (Jt^OiAf picious one. The king looked 
 
 1} ^ land Confederacy with unfriendly 
 
 eyes. Massachusetts was as yet 
 the only member of the league that was really troublesome ; 
 and there seemed to be no easier way to weaken her than to 
 raise up a rival power by her side, and extend to it such priv- 
 ileges as might awaken her jealousy. All the more would 
 
 many. He came to New England four years afterward, and joined 
 his two friends at Hadley February 10, 1655. Some years later he re- 
 moved to New Haven, where he continued to dwell, under the name of 
 James Davids, until his death in 1689. Palfrey says the British gov- 
 ernment never traced 'him to America. See Stiles's History of the 
 Three Judges, Hartford, 1794. 
 
224 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 such a policy be likely to succeed if accompanied by mea- 
 sures of which Massachusetts must necessarily disapprove, 
 and the suppression of New Haven would be such a measure. 
 In accordance with these views, a charter of great liber- 
 ality was at once granted to Connecticut, and by the same 
 instrument the colony of New Haven was deprived of its 
 separate existence and annexed to its stronger neighbour. 
 As if to emphasize the motives which had led to this display 
 of royal favour toward Connecticut, an equally liberal char- 
 ter was granted to Rhode Island. In the summer of 1664 
 Charles II. sent a couple of ships-of-war to Boston harbour, 
 with 400 troops under command of Colonel Richard Nich- 
 ols, who had been appointed, along with Samuel Maverick 
 
 v^ ^^ 
 
 and two others as royal commissioners, to look after the 
 affairs of the New World. Colonel Nichols took his ships 
 to New Amsterdam, and captured that important town. Af- 
 ter his return the commissioners held meetings at Boston, 
 and for a time the Massachusetts charter seemed in danger. 
 But the Puritan magistrates were shrewd, and months were 
 frittered away to no purpose. Presently the Dutch made 
 war upon England, and the king felt it to be unwise to irri- 
 tate the people of Massachusetts beyond endurance. The 
 turbulent state of English politics which followed still fur- 
 
THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY 225 
 
 ther absorbed his attention, and New England had another 
 respite of several years. 
 
 In New Haven a party had grown up which was dissatis- 
 fied with its extreme theocratic policy and approved of the 
 union with Connecticut. Davenport and his followers, the 
 founders of the colony, were beyond measure disgusted. 
 
 They spurned "the Christless rule" of the sister colony. 
 Many of them took advantage of the recent conquest of 
 New Netherland, and a strong party, led by the Founding 
 Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Branford, migrated to °fN^™* 
 the banks of the Passaic in June, 1667, and laid the founda- 
 tions of Newark. For some years to come the theocratic 
 idea that had given birth to New Haven continued to live 
 on in New Jersey. As for Mr. Davenport, he went to Bos- 
 ton and ended his days there. Cotton Mather, writing at a 
 later date, when the theocratic scheme of the early settlers 
 had been manifestly outgrown and superseded, says of Dav- 
 enport : " Yet, after all, the Lord gave him to see that in 
 this world a Church-State was impossible, whereinto there 
 enters nothing which defiles." 
 
 The theocratic policy, alike in New Haven and in Massa- 
 chusetts, broke down largely through its inherent weakness. 
 It divided the community, and created among the Breaking 
 people a party adverse to its arrogance and exclu- a^crati?^ 
 siveness. This state of things facilitated the sup- po''<=y 
 pression of New Haven by royal edict, and it made possible 
 the victory of Wenlock Christison in Massachusetts. We 
 can now see the fundamental explanation of the deadly 
 
226 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 hostility with which Endicott and his party regarded the 
 Quakers. The latter aimed a fatal blow at the very root 
 of the idea which had brought the Puritans to New England. 
 Once admit these heretics as citizens, or even as tolerated 
 sojourners, and,therewas an end of the theocratic state con- 
 sisting of a united body of believers. It was a life-and-death 
 struggle, in which no quarter was given ; and the Quakers, 
 aided by popular discontent with the theocracy, even more 
 than by the intervention of the crown, won a decisive victory. 
 As the work of planting New England took place chiefly 
 in the eleven years 1629-1640, during which Charles I. 
 . contrived to reign without a parliament, so the 
 of the Con- prospcrous period of the New England Confeder- 
 acy, 1643-1664, covers the time of the Civil War 
 and the Commonwealth, and just laps on to the reign of 
 Charles II. By the summary extinction of the separate 
 existence of one of its members for the benefit of another, 
 its vigour was sadly impaired. But its constitution was 
 revised so as to make it a league of three states instead of 
 four ; and the Federal Commissioners kept on holding their 
 meetings, though less frequently, until the revocation of the 
 Massachusetts charter in 1684. During this period a great 
 Indian war occurred, in the course of which this concentra- 
 tion of the military strength of New England, imperfect as 
 it was, proved itself very useful. In the history of New 
 England, from the restoration of the Stuarts until their final 
 ^ expulsion, the two most important facts are the military 
 struggle of the "newly founded states with the Indians, and 
 their constitutional struggle against the British government. 
 The troubles and dangers of 1636 were renewed on a much 
 more formidable scale, but the strength of the people had 
 waxed greatly in the mean time, and the new perils were 
 boldly overcome or skilfully warded off ; not, however, un- 
 til the constitution of Massachusetts had been violently 
 wrenched out of shape in the struggle, and seeds of conflict 
 sown which in the following century were to bear fruit in 
 the American Revolution. 
 
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CHAPTER V 
 
 KING Philip's war 
 
 For eight-and-thirty years after the destruction of the 
 Pequots, the intercourse between the English and the In- 
 dians was to all outward appearance friendly. The policy 
 pursued by the settlers was in the main well considered. 
 While they had shown that they could strike with terrible 
 force when blows were needed, their treatment of the natives 
 in time of peace seems to have been generally just puntans 
 and kind. Except in the single case of the con- and Indians 
 quered Pequot territory, they scrupulously paid for every 
 rood of ground on which they settled, and so far as possible 
 they extended to the Indians the protection of the law. On 
 these points we have the explicit testimony of Josiah Wins- 
 low, governor of Plymouth, in his report to the Federal 
 Commissioners in May, 1676 ; and what he says about 
 Plymouth seems to have been equally true of the other 
 colonies. Says Winslow, " I think I can clearly say that 
 before these present troubles broke out, the English did not 
 possess one foot of land in this colony but what was fairly 
 obtained by honest purchase of the Indian proprietors. Nay, 
 because some of our people are of a covetous disposition, and 
 the Indians are in their straits easily prevailed with to part 
 with their lands, we first made a law that none should pur- 
 chase or receive of gift any land of the Indians without the 
 knowledge and allowance of our Court. . . . And if at any 
 time they have brought complaints before us, they have had 
 justice impartial and speedy, so that our own people have 
 frequently complained that we erred on the other hand in 
 showing them overmuch favour." The general laws of 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut as well as of Plymouth bear 
 
228 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 out what Winslow says, and show us that as a matter of 
 policy the colonial governments were fully sensible of the 
 importance of avoiding all occasions for quarrel with their 
 savage neighbours. 
 
 There can, moreover, be little doubt that the material 
 comfort of the Indians was for a time considerably improved 
 by their dealings with the white men. Hitherto their want 
 of foresight and thrift had been wont to involve them during 
 the long winters in a dreadful struggle with famine. Now 
 the settlers were ready to pay liberally for the skin of every 
 Trade with fur-covercd animal the red men could catch ; and 
 the Indians where the trade thus arising did not suffice to keep 
 off famine, instances of genferous charity were frequent. 
 The Algonquin tribes of New England lived chiefly by 
 hunting, but partly by agriculture. They raised beans and 
 corn, and succotash was a dish which they contributed to 
 the white man's table. They could now raise or buy Eng- 
 lish vegetables, while from dogs and horses, pigs and poul- 
 try, oxen and sheep, little as they could avail themselves of 
 such useful animals, they nevertheless derived some benefit.^ 
 Better blankets and better knives were brought within their 
 reach ; and in spite of all the colonial governments could do 
 to prevent it, they were to some extent enabled to supply 
 themselves with muskets and rum. 
 
 Besides all this trade, which, except in the article of liquor, 
 tended to improve the condition of the native tribes, there 
 was on the part of the earlier settlers an earnest and dili- 
 gent effort to convert them to Christianity and give them 
 Missionary the rudiments of a civilized education. Missionary 
 Tho'mas work was bcguu in 1643 by Thomas Mayhew on 
 Mayhew ^^.g islands of Nautucket and Martha's Vineyard. 
 The savages at first declared they were not so silly as to 
 barter thirty-seven tutelar deities for one, but after much 
 preaching and many pow-wows Mayhew succeeded in per- 
 suading them that the Deity of the white man was mightier 
 than all their manitous. Whether they ever got much 
 1 Palfrey, History of New England, iii. 138-140. 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 229 
 
 further than this toward a comprehension of the white man's 
 religion may be doubted ; but they were prevailed upon to 
 let their children learn to read and write, and even to set up 
 little courts, in which justice was administered according to 
 some of the simplest rules of English law, and from which 
 there lay an appeal to the court of Plymouth. In 1646 
 Massachusetts enacted that the elders of the churches 
 should choose two persons each year to go and spread the 
 gospel among the Indians. In 1649 Parliament established 
 the Society for propagating the Gospel in New England, and 
 presently from voluntary contributions the society was able 
 to dispose of an annual income of ;£2000. Schools were set 
 up in which agriculture was taught as well as religion. It 
 was even intended that Indians should go to Harvard Col- 
 lege, and a building was erected for their accommodation, 
 but as none came to occupy it, the college printing-press was 
 presently set to work there. One solitary Indian student 
 afterward succeeded in climbing to the bachelor's degree, 
 — Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck of the class of 1665. It was 
 this one success that was marvellous, not the failure of 
 the scheme, which vividly shows how difficult it was for the 
 white man of that day to understand the limitations of the 
 red man. 
 
 The greatest measure of success in converting the Indians 
 was attained by that famous linguist and preacher, the 
 apostle John Eliot. This remarkable man was a ,. 
 
 graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge. He had 
 come to Massachusetts in 163 1, and in the following year 
 had been settled as teacher in the church at Roxbury of 
 which Thomas Welde was pastor. He had been distin- 
 guished at the -university for philological scholarship and for 
 linguistic talent, — two things not always found in connec- 
 tion, — and now during fourteen years he devoted such time 
 as he could to acquiring a complete mastery of the Algon- 
 quin dialect spoken by the Indians of Massachusetts bay. 
 To the modern comparative philologist his work is of great 
 value. He published not only an excellent Indian grammar. 
 
230 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 but a complete translation of the Bible into the Massachu- 
 setts language, — a monument of prodigious labour. It 
 is one of the most instructive documents in existence for 
 the student of Algonquin speech, though the Massachusetts 
 tribe and its language have long been extinct, and there are 
 very few scholars living who can read the book.^ It has 
 become one of the curiosities of literature and at auction 
 sales of private libraries commands an extremely high price. 
 Yet out of the diction of this- rare book the American public 
 has within the last few years contrived to pick up a word 
 which we shall very likely continue to hear for some time to 
 come. In Eliot's Bible, the word which means a great chief 
 — such as Joshua, or Gideon, or Joab — is " mugwump." ^ 
 
 It was in 1646 that Eliot began his missionary preaching 
 at a small Indian village near Watertown. President Dun- 
 ster, of Harvard College, and Mr. Shepard, the minister at 
 Cambridge, felt a warm interest in the undertaking. These 
 
 1 It is partially intelligible, however, to some Algonquin tribes now 
 in existence, such as the Ojibways. In such a passage, for example, 
 as the following (Matthew v. 1-3) — 
 
 Nauont moochequshaoh, ogquodchuau wadchuut, kah na matapit, ukkodnetuh ta^- 
 
 neuraoh peyaudnuk. 
 Kah woshwunum wuttoon, ukkuhkootomauuh noowau. 
 WunninumSog kodtummungeteahoncheg, a newutche wuttaih^cu kesukque ketassoota- 
 
 mdonk. 
 
 the general meaning and nearly all the words individually are readily 
 understood by scholars familiar with the Ojibway ; and the passage, 
 when read aloud, is intelligible to the Indians. See Proceedings of the 
 ■American Antiquarian Society, N. S. ix. 314-319. 
 
 2 This word has always remained in local use along some parts of 
 the coasts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, with the sense of " a per- 
 son of importance," or otherwise, " a man who does not think small 
 beer of himself." In the Tippecanoe Log-Cabin Songster, a collection 
 of campaign ballads published in 1840, a certain Democratic candidate 
 for county commissioner in Illinois was called " the great Mugwump." 
 The word was used at least once that year in a newspaper editorial ; it 
 appeared in 1872 in the Indianapolis Sentinel, and again in the New 
 York Swn, March 23, 1884. When applied to the Independent Repub- 
 licans who supported Cleveland against Blaine, it happened to hit the 
 popular fancy and came at once into general use. 
 
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 OS 
 
 «s 
 
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 •OS 
 
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 ■•< 
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 •OS 
 
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 •*s 
 
 •OS 
 
 W U S K u 
 
 WUTTESTAMENTUM 
 
 N U L-L O R D U M U N 
 
 JESUS CHRIST 
 
 Nuppoquohwuffuaencfimun, 
 
 .4^ 
 
 ^l ^4i^-/ 
 
 * 
 
 _*Jr*A4 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 
 Ffinted by Samuel green and iJMiirm.*duke Jtlmfon^ 
 MDCLXI. 
 
 •OS 
 
 •OS 
 •OS 
 •OS 
 
 ••s 
 
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 TITLE OF ELIOT'S ALGONQUIN VERSION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 S«B 
 
 9» 
 
 S«»| 
 
 SO* 
 
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 so- 
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 so* 
 
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KING PHILIP'S WAR 233 
 
 worthy men seriously believed that the aborigines of Amer- 
 ica were the degenerate descendants of the ten lost tribes of 
 Israel, and from this strange backsliding it was hoped that 
 they might now be reclaimed. With rare eloquence and 
 skill did Eliot devote himself to the difficult work of reaching 
 the Indian's scanty intelligence and still scantier moral 
 sense. His ministrations reached from the sands of Cape 
 Cod to the rocky hillsides of Brookfield. But he soon fouiid 
 that single-handed he could achieve but little over ,,.„ 
 
 " Villages of 
 
 so Wide an area, and accordingly he adopted the Christian 
 policy of colonizing his converts in village commu- 
 nities near the English towns, where they might be seques- 
 tered from their heathen brethren and subjected to none but 
 Christian influences. In these communities he hoped to 
 train up native missionaries who might thence go and labour 
 among the wild tribes until the whole lump of barbarism 
 should be leavened. In pursuance of this scheme a stock- 
 aded village was built at Natick in 1651. Under the direc- 
 tion of an English carpenter the Indians built log-houses for 
 themselves, and most of them adopted the English dress. 
 Their, simple government was administered by tithing-men, 
 or "rulers of tens^" chosen after methods prescribed in the 
 book of Exodus. Other such communities were formed in 
 the neighbourhoods of Concord and Grafton. By 1674 the 
 number of these "praying Indians," as they were called, was 
 estimated at 4000, of whom about 1500 were in Eliot's vil- 
 lages, as many more in Martha's Vineyard, 300 in Nan- 
 tucket, and 700 in the Plymouth colony. There seems to 
 be no doubt that these Indians were really benefited both 
 materially and morally by the change in their life. In the- 
 ology it is not likely that they reached any higher view than 
 that expressed by the Connecticut sachem Wequash, who 
 "seeing and beholding the mighty power of God in the 
 English forces, how they fell upon the Pequots, . . . from 
 that time was convinced and persuaded that our God was a 
 most dreadful God ; " accordingly, says the author of " New 
 England's First Fruits," "he became thoroughly reformed 
 
234 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 according to his light." Matters of outward observance, too, 
 the Indians could understand ; for we read of one of them 
 rebuking an Englishman "for profaning the Lord's Day by 
 felling of a tree." The Indian's notions of religion were 
 probably confined within this narrow compass ; the notions 
 of some people that call themselves civilized perhaps do not 
 extend much further. 
 
 From such facts as those above cited we may infer that 
 the early relations of the Puritan settlers to the Algonquin 
 tribes of New England were by no means like the relations 
 between white men and red men in recent times on our 
 western plains. During Philip's War, as we shall see, the 
 Puritan theory of the situation was entirely changed and our 
 forefathers began to act in accordance with the frontiers- 
 man's doctrine that the good Indians are dead Indians. But 
 down to that time it is clear that his intention was to deal 
 honourably and gently with his tawny neighbour. We some- 
 times hear the justice and kindness of the Quakers in Penn- 
 sylvania alleged as an adequate reason for the success with 
 which they kept clear of an Indian war. This explanation, 
 however, does not seem to be adequate ; it does not appear 
 that, on the whole, the Puritans were less just and kind than 
 the Quakers in their treatment of the red men. The true 
 explanation is rather to be found in the relations between 
 the Indian tribes toward the close of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. Early in that century the Pennsylvania region had 
 been in the hands of the ferocious and powerful 
 syivania"" Susquehannocks, but in 1672, after a frightful 
 rnmoiestel Struggle of twenty years, this great tribe was swept 
 by the In- from the face of the earth by the resistless league 
 
 mans . -' ° 
 
 of the Five Nations. When the Quakers came to 
 Pennsylvania in 1682, the only Indians in that neighbourhood 
 were the Delawares, who had just been terribly beaten by 
 the Five Nations and forced into a treaty by which they 
 submitted to be called " women," and to surrender their 
 tomahawks. Penn's famous treaty was made with the- Dela- 
 wares as occupants of the land and also with the Iroquois 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 
 
 23s 
 
 league as overlords.^ Now the great central fact of early 
 - American history, so far as the relations between white men 
 and red men are concerned, is the unshaken friendship of 
 the Iroquois for the English. This was the natural conse- 
 quence of the deadly hostility between the Iroquois and the 
 French which began with Champlain's defeat of the Mo- 
 hawks in 1609. During the seventy-three years which inter- 
 vened between the founding of Pennsylvania and the defeat 
 of Braddock there was never a moment when the Delawares 
 could have attacked the Quakers without incurring the wrath 
 and vengeance of their overlords the Five Nations. This 
 was the reason why Pennsylvania was Ifeft so long in quiet. 
 No better proof could be desired than the fact that in Pon- 
 tiac's war, after the overthrow of the French and when 
 Indian politics had 
 changed, no state suf- 
 fered so much as Penn- 
 sylvania from the hor- 
 rors of Indian warfare. 
 
 In New England at 
 the time of Philip's War, 
 the situation was very 
 different from what it 
 was between the Hud- 
 son and the Susquehan- 
 na. The settlers were 
 thrown into immediate 
 relations with several 
 tribes whose mutual hos- 
 tility and rivalry was 
 such that it was simply 
 
 impossible to keep on good terms with all at once. Such 
 complicated questions as that which involved the English in 
 responsibility for the fate of Miantonomo did not arise in 
 Pennsylvania. Since the destruction of the Pequots we have 
 observed the Narragansetts and Mohegans contending for 
 1 See Parkman, Consjiiracy of Pontiac, i. 80-85. 
 
 CHAIR BELONGING TO ELIOT 
 
236 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the foremost place among New England tribes. Of the two 
 
 rivals the Mohegans were the weaker, and therefore courted 
 
 the friendship of the formidable palefaces. The English had 
 
 .„ , no desire to take part in these barbarous feuds, but 
 
 Difficulty ^ „ , . 
 
 of the situ- they could not treat the Mohegans well without m- 
 Ne™Eng- curring the hostility of the Narragansetts. For 
 '*""* thirty years the feeling of the latter tribe toward 
 
 the English had been very unfriendly and would doubtless 
 have vented itself in murder but for their recollection of the 
 fate of the Pequots. After the loss of their chief Mianto- 
 nomo their attitude became so sullen and defiant that the 
 Federal Commissioners, in order to be in readiness for an 
 outbreak, collected a force of 300 men. At the first news 
 of these preparations the Narragansetts, overcome with ter- 
 ror, sent a liberal tribute of wampum to Boston, and were 
 fain to conclude a treaty in which they promised to behave 
 themselves well in the future. 
 
 It was impossible that this sort of English protectorate 
 over the native tribes, which was an inevitable result of the 
 situation, should be other than irksome and irritating to 
 the Indians. They could not but see that the white man 
 stood there as master, and even in the absence of provoca- 
 tion, this fact alone must have made them hate him. It is 
 difficult, moreover, for the civilized man and the savage to 
 understand each other. As a rule the one does not know 
 what the other is thinking about. When Mr. Hamilton 
 Gushing a few years ago took some of his Zuni friends into 
 a hotel in Chicago, they marvelled at his entering 
 
 It IS hard . , , . , ,. , , 
 
 for the sav- such a mighty palace with so little ceremony, and 
 cmH^ed * their wonder was heightened at the promptness 
 dSstand"" ^^^ which "slaves" came running at his beck and 
 one an- call ; but all at once, on seeing an American eagle ' 
 
 over one of the doorways, they felt that the mys- 
 tery was solved. Evidently this palace was the communal 
 dwelling of the Eagle Clan of palefaces, and evidently Mr. 
 Cushing was a great sachem of this clan, and as such enti- 
 tled to lordly sway there ! The Zunis are not savages, but 
 
1 
 
 fc nn C.U. oi 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 237 
 
 representatives of a remote and primitive phase of what Mr.. 
 Morgan calls the middle status of barbarism. The gulf 
 between their thinking and that of white men is wide be- 
 cause there is a wide gulf between the experience of the 
 two. 
 
 This illustration may help us to understand an instance 
 in which the Indians of New England must inevitably have 
 misinterpreted the actions of the white settlers and read 
 them in the light of their uneasy fears and prejudices. I 
 refer to the work of the apostle Eliot. His design in 
 founding his villages of Christian Indians was in the highest 
 degree benevolent and noble; but the heathen Indians 
 could hardly be expected to see anything in it but a cunning 
 scheme for destroying them. Eliot's converts were for the 
 most part from the Massachusetts tribe, the smallest and 
 weakest of all. The Plymouth converts came chiefly from 
 the tribe next in weakness, the Pokanokets or Wampanoags. 
 The more powerful tribes — Narragansetts, Nipmucks, and 
 Mohegans — furnished very few converts. When they saw 
 the white intruders gathering members 6f the weaker tribes 
 into villages of English type, and teaching them strange 
 gods while clothing them in strange garments, they prob- 
 ably supposed that the palefaces were simply 
 adopting these Indians into their white tribe as a signs mis- 
 means of increasing their military strength. At 
 any rate, such a proceeding would be perfectly intelligible 
 to the savage mind, whereas the nature of Eliot's design 
 lay quite beyond its ken. As the Indians recovered from 
 their supernatural dread of the English, and began to regard 
 them as using, human means to accomplish their ends, they 
 must of course interpret their conduct in such light as sav- 
 age experience could afford. It is one of the commonest 
 things in the world for a savage tribe to absorb weak neigh- 
 bours by adoption, and thus increase its force preparatory 
 to a deadly assault upon other neighbours. When Eliot in 
 1657 preached to the little tribe of Podunks near Hartford, 
 and asked them if they were willing to accept of Jesus 
 
238 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Christ as their saviour, their old men scornfully answered 
 No ! they had parted with most of their land, but they were 
 not going to become the white man's servants. A rebuke 
 administered to Eliot by Uncas in 1674 has a similar im- 
 plication. When the apostle was preaching one evening 
 in a village over which that sachem claimed jurisdiction, an 
 Indian arose and. announced himself as a deputy of Uncas. 
 Then he said, " Uncas is not well pleased that the English 
 should pass over Mohegan river to call his Indians to pray 
 to God." 1 
 
 .Thus, no matter how benevolent the white man's inten- 
 tions, he could not fail to be dreaded by the Indians as a 
 powerful and ever encroaching enemy. Even in his efforts 
 It is re- to keep the peace and prevent tribes from taking 
 Sat'peace ^^ war-path without his permission, he was inter- 
 shouid fering. with the red man's cherished pastime of 
 
 have been *^ > ■*■ 
 
 so long murder and pillage. The appeals to the court at 
 Plymouth, the frequent summoning of sachems tp 
 Boston, to explain their affairs and justify themselves against 
 accusers, must have been maddening in their effects upon 
 the Indian ; for there is one sound instinct which the savage 
 has in common with the most progressive races, and that is 
 the love of self-government that resents all outside interfer- 
 ence. All things considered, it is remarkable that peace 
 should have been maintained in New England from 1637 to 
 1675 ; and probably nothing short of the consuming ven- 
 geance wrought upon the Pequots could have done it. But 
 with the lapse of time the wholesome feeling of dread began 
 to fade away, and as the Indians came to use musket instead 
 of bow and arrow, their fear of the English grew less, until 
 at length their ferocious temper broke forth in an epidemic 
 of fire and slaughter that laid waste the land. 
 
 Massasoit, chief sachem of the Wampanoags and stead- 
 fast ally of the Plymouth colonists, died in 1660, leaving two 
 sons, Wamsutta and Metacom, or as the English nicknamed 
 them, Alexander and Philip. Alexander succeeded to his 
 
 ^ De Forest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pp. 252, 257. 
 
PHIfJ"P. KING ofMomiiHopc. 
 
 fe I? 
 
 FANCIFUL PORTRAIT OF KING PHILIP BY PAUL REVERE 
 
240 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 father's position of savage dignity and influence, but his 
 Deaths of reign was brief. Rumours came to Plymouth that 
 ^d^Aki- ^^ ^^^ plotting mischief, and he was accordingly 
 an<ier Summoned to appear before the General Court of 
 
 that colony and explain himself. He seems to have gone 
 reluctantly, but he succeeded in satisfying the magistrates 
 of his innocence of any evil designs. Whether he caught 
 cold at Plymouth, or drank rum as only Indians can, we do 
 not know. At any rate, on starting homeward, before he 
 had got clear of English territory, he was seized by a vio- 
 lent fever and died. The savage mind knows nothing of 
 pneumonia or delirium z?-/^ j9 r 
 
 tremens. It knows W/^!^^(^ ''^i^^.^^'^CdmSt' 
 nothing of what we / ^j V^^Tiyfji^ 
 
 call natural death. To » 
 
 the savage all death "^'"^^ philip's mark 
 
 means murder, for like other men he judges of the unknown 
 by the known. In the Indian's experience normal death was 
 by tomahawk or firebrand ; abnormal death (such as we call 
 natural) must come either from poison or from witchcraft. 
 So when the honest chronicler Hubbard tells us that Philip 
 suspected the Plymouth people of poisoning his brother, we 
 can easily believe him. It was long, however, before he 
 was ready to taste the sweets of revenge. He ' schemed 
 and plotted in the dark. 
 
 In one respect the Indian diplomatist is unlike his white 
 Philip's brethren ; he does not leave state-papers behind 
 designs i^[jt[) to reward the diligence and gratify the cu- 
 riosity of later generations ; and accordingly it is hard to 
 tell how far Philip was personally responsible for the storm 
 which was presently to burst upon New England. Whether 
 his scheme was as comprehensive as that of Pontiac in 1763, 
 whether or not it amounted to a deliberate combination of 
 all red men within reach to exterminate the white men, one 
 can hardly say with confidence. The figure of Philip, in 
 the war which bears his name, does not stand out so promi- 
 nently as the figure of Pontiac in the later struggle. This 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 241 
 
 may be partly because Pontiac's story has been told by such 
 a magician as Mr. Francis Parkman. But it is partly be- 
 cause the data are too meagre. In all probability, how- 
 ever, the schemes of Sassacus the Pequot, of Philip the 
 Wampanoag, and of Pontiac the Ottawa, were substantially 
 the same. That Philip plotted with the Narragansetts 
 seems certain, and the early events of the war point clearly 
 to a previous understanding with the Nipmucks. The Mo- 
 hegans, on the other hand, gave him no assistance, but 
 remained faithful to their white allies. 
 
 For thirteen years had Philip been chief sachem of his 
 tribe before the crisis came. Rumours of his unfriendly 
 disposition had at intervals found their way to the ears of 
 the magistrates at Plymouth, but Philip had succeeded in 
 setting himself right before them. In 1670 the rumours 
 were renewed, and the Plymouth men felt that it was time 
 to strikfe, but the other colonies held them back, and a 
 meeting was arranged between Philip and three Boston men 
 at Taunton in April, 1671-. There the crafty Meeting at 
 barbarian expressed humility and contrition for all Taunton 
 past offences, and even consented to a treaty in which he 
 promised that his tribe should surrender all their firearms. 
 On the part of the English this was an extremely unwise 
 measure, for while it could not possibly be enforced, and 
 while it must have greatly increased the irritation of the 
 Indians, it was at the same time interpretable as a symptom 
 of fear. With ominous scowls and grunts some seventy 
 muskets were given up, but this was all. Through the 
 summer there was much uneasiness, and' in September 
 Philip was summoned to Plymouth with five of his under- 
 sachems, and solemnly warned to keep the peace. The 
 savages again behaved with humility and agreed to pay a 
 yearly tribute of five wolves' heads and to do no act of war 
 without express permission. 
 
 For three years things seemed quiet, until late in 1674 the 
 alarm was again sounded. Sausamon, a convert from the 
 Massachusetts tribe, had studied a little at Harvard College, 
 
242 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 and could speak and write English with facility. He .had at 
 one time been employed by Philip as a sort of private secre- 
 tary or messenger, and at other times had preached and 
 taught school among the Indian converts at Natick. Sausa- 
 mon now came to Plymouth and informed Governor Winslow 
 that Philip was certainly engaged in a conspiracy that boded 
 no good to the English. Somehow or other Philip contrived 
 to find out what Sausamon had said, and presently coming 
 to Plymouth loudly asseverated his innocence ; but the 
 magistrates warned him that if they heard any more of this 
 sort of thing his arms would surely be seized. A few days 
 Murder of after Philip had gone home, Sausamon's hat and 
 Sausamon gy,^ were Seen lying on the frozen surface of 
 Assowamsett Pond, near Middleborough, and on cutting 
 through the ice his body was found with unmistakable 
 marks of beating and strangling. After some months the 
 crime was traced to three Wampanoags, who were forth- 
 with arrested, tried by a mixed jury of Indians and white 
 men, found guilty, and put to death. On the way to the 
 gallows one of them confessed that he had stood by while 
 his two friends had pounded and choked the unfortunate 
 Sausamon. 
 
 More alarming reports now came from Swanzey, a pretty 
 village of some forty houses not far from Philip's headquar- 
 ters at Mount Hope. On Sunday, June 20, while everybody 
 was at church, a party of Indians had stolen into the town 
 and set fire to two houses. Messengers were hurried from 
 Plymouth and from Boston, to demand the culprits under 
 penalty of instant war. As they approached Swanzey the 
 Massacres ^^^ ^^°^ Boston saw a sight that filled them 
 and oTrf ^ with horror. The road was strewn with corpses of 
 mouth. men, women, and children, scorched, dismembered, 
 June, 1675 ^^^ mangled with that devilish art of which the 
 American Indian is the finished master. The savages had 
 sacked the village the day before, burning the houses and 
 slaying the people. Within three days a small force of 
 colonial troops had driven Philip from his position at Mount 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 243 
 
 Hope ; but while they were doing this a party of savages 
 swooped upon Dartmouth, burning thirty houses and com- 
 mitting fearful atrocities. Some of their victims were flayed 
 alive, or impaled on sharp stakes, or roasted over slow fires. 
 Similair horrors were wrought at Middleborough and Taun- 
 ton; and now the misery spread to Massachusetts, where 
 on the 14th of July the town of Mendon was attacked by a 
 party of Nipmucks. 
 
 At that time the beautiful highlands between Lancaster 
 and the Connecticut river were still an untrodden wilderness. 
 On their southern slope Worcester and Brookfield were tiny 
 hamlets of a dozen houses each. Up the Connecticut valley 
 
 ^-, a line of little vil-i 
 
 C^^Vti^'^ ^^'/r^S;*^^^^ l^ges, from Spring- 
 
 '^ field to Northfield, 
 
 formed the remotest frontier of the English, and their exposed 
 position offered tempting opportunities to the Indians. Gov- 
 ernor Leverett saw how great the danger would be if the 
 other tribes should follow the example set by Philip, and 
 Captain Edward Hutchinson was accordingly sent Murder of 
 to Brookfield to negotiate with the Nipmucks. HTtchta- 
 This officer was eldest son of the unfortunate lady =™ 
 whose preaching in Boston nearly forty years before had 
 been the occasion of so much strife. Not only his mother, 
 but all save one or two of his brothers and sisters — and 
 there were not less than twelve of them — had been mur- 
 dered by Indians on the New Netherland border in 1643 ; 
 now the same cruel fate overtook the gallant captain. The 
 savages agreed to hold a parley and appointed a time and 
 place for the purpose, but instead of keeping tryst they lay 
 in ambush and slew Hutchinson with eight of his men on 
 their way to the conference. 
 
 Three days afterward Philip, who had found home too hot 
 for him, arrived in the Nipmuck country, and on the night of 
 August 2 took part in a fierce assault on Brookfield. Attack on 
 Thirty or forty men, with some fifty women and Brookfield 
 children, — all the inhabitants of the hamlet, — took refuge 
 
244 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 in a large house, where they were besieged by 300 savages, 
 whose bullets pierced the wooden walls again and again. 
 Arrows tipped with burning rags were shot into the air in 
 such wise as to fall upon the roof, but they who crouched in 
 the garret were watchful and well supplied with water, while 
 from the overhanging windows the volleys of musketry were 
 so brisk and steady that the yelping fiends below could not 
 get near enough to the house to set it on fire. For three 
 days the fight was kept up, while every other house in the 
 village was destroyed. By ^ ^ ^ 
 
 this time the Indians had -iy^^yXOy^ "^ \.[utt.t.i'~ 
 
 contrived to mount some 
 
 planks on barrels so as to make a kind of rude cart which 
 they loaded with tow and chips. They were just about set- 
 ting it on fire and preparing to push it against the house 
 with long poles, when they were suddenly foiled by a heavy 
 shower. That noon the gallant Simon Willard, ancestor of 
 two presidents of Harvard College, a man who had done so 
 much toward building up Concord and Lancaster that he 
 was known as the "founder of towns," was on his way from 
 Lancaster to Groton at the head of forty-seven horsemen, 
 when he was overtaken by a courier with the news from 
 Brookfield. The distance was thirty miles, the road scarcely 
 fit to be called a bridle-path, and Willard's years were more 
 than threescore-and-ten ; but by an hour after sunset he had 
 galloped into Brookfield and routed the Indians, who fled to 
 a swamp ten miles distant. 
 
 The scene is now shifted to the Connecticut valley, where 
 on the 25th of August Captain Lothrop defeated the sav- 
 ages at Hatfield. On the ist of September simultaneous 
 attacks were made upon Deerfield and Hadley, and among 
 the traditions of the latter place is one of the most interest- 
 ing of the stories of that early time. The inhabitants were 
 The mys- all in church keeping a fast, when the yells of the 
 stranger at Indians resounded. Seizing their guns, the men 
 Hadley rushcd out to meet the foe ; but seeing the village 
 green swarming on every side with the horrid savages, for 
 
The mysterious visitor at Hadley. 
 
-KING PHILIP'S WAR 245 
 
 a moment their courage gave way and a panic was immi- 
 nent ; when all at once a stranger of reverend aspect and 
 stately form, with white beard flowing on his bosom, ap- 
 peared among them and took command with an air of au- 
 thority which none could gainsay. He bade them charge 
 on the screeching rabble, and after a short sharp skirmish 
 the tawny foe was put to flight. When the pursuers came 
 together again, after the excitement of the rout, their deliv- 
 erer was not to be found. In their wonder, as they knew 
 not whence he came or whither he had gone, many were 
 heard to say that an angel had been sent irom heaven for 
 their deliverance. It was the regicide William Goffe, who 
 from his hiding-place had seen the savages stealing down 
 the hillside, and sallied forth to win yet one more victory 
 over the hosts of Midian ere death should come to claim him 
 in his woodland retreat. Sir Walter Scott has put this 
 pretty story into the mouth of Major Bridgenorth in "Pev- 
 eril of the Peak," and Cooper has made use of it in " The 
 Wept of Wish-ton- wish." Like many othfer romantic stories, 
 it rests upon insufficient authority, and its truth has been 
 called in question. ^ But there seems to be nothing intrin- 
 
 1 The story rests chiefly upon the statements of Hutchinson, an 
 extremely careful and judicious writer, and not in the least what the 
 French call a gobemouche. Goffe kept a diary which came into 
 Hutchinson's possession, and was one of the priceless manuscripts "that 
 perished in the infamous sacking of his house by the Boston mob of 
 August 26, 1765. What light that diary might have thrown upon the 
 matter can never be known. Hutchinson was born in 171 1, only thirty- 
 six years after the event, so that his testimony is not so very far 
 removed from that of a contemporary. Whalley seems to have died in 
 Hadley shortly before 1675, s-^id Goffe deemed it prudent to leave that 
 neighbourhood in 1676. His letters to Increase Mather are dated from 
 " Ebenezer," i. e., wherever in his roamings he set up his Ebenezer. 
 One of these letters, dated September 8, 1676, shows that his Ebenezer 
 was then set up in Hartford, where probably he died about 1679. In 
 1676 the arrival of Edward Randolph (see below, p. 284) renewed the 
 peril of the regicide judge, and his sudden removal from his skilfully 
 contrived hiding-place at Hadley might possibly have been due to his 
 having exposed himself to recognition in the Indian fight. Possibly 
 
246 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 sically improbable in the tradition ; and a paramount regard 
 for Goffe's personal safety would quite account for the stud- 
 ied silence of contemporary writers like William Hubbard 
 and Increase Mather. 
 
 This repulse did not check for a moment the activity of 
 the Indians, though for a long time we hear nothing more 
 of Philip. On the 2d of September they slew eight men at 
 Northfield and on the 
 
 4th they surrounded ^-c ^ j ^ ^ m 
 
 and butchered Cap- J/YOug^f ^^^S^l^ "^ ^ 
 tain Beers and most of V / 
 
 his company of thirty- 
 six marching to the relief of that village. The next day but 
 one, as Major Robert Treat came up the road with his 100 
 Connecticut soldiers, they found long poles planted by the 
 wayside bearing the heads of their unfortunate comrades. 
 They in turn were assaulted, but beat off the enemy, and 
 brought away the people of Northfield. That village was 
 , abandoned, and presently Deerfield shared its fate 
 
 Ambuscade ^ ,,. 
 
 at Bloody and the people were crowded mto Hadley. Yet 
 September worse remained to be seen. A large quantity of 
 '^ wheat had been left partly threshed at Deerfield, 
 
 and on the nth of September eighteen wagons were sent 
 up with teamsters and farmers to finish the threshing and 
 bring in the grain. They were escorted by Captain Thomas 
 Lothrop, with his train-band of ninety picked men, known as 
 the " Flower of Essex," perhaps the best drilled company in 
 the colony. The threshing was done, the wagons were 
 loaded, and the party made a night march southward. At 
 seven in the morning, as they were fording a shallow stream 
 in the shade of overarching woods, they were suddenly over- 
 even the supernatural explanation might have been started, with a 
 touch of Yankee humour, as a blind. The silence of Mather and 
 Hubbard was no more remarkable than some of the other ingenious 
 incidents which had so long served to conceal the existence of this 
 sturdy and crafty man. The reasons for doubting the story are best 
 stated by Mr. George Sheldon, of Deerfield, in Historic-Genealogical 
 Register, October, 1874. 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 247 
 
 whelmed by the deadly fire of 700 ambushed Nipmucks, and 
 only eight of them escaped to tell the tale. A " black and 
 fatal " day was this, says the chronicler, " the saddest that 
 ever befell New England." To this day the memory of the 
 slaughter at Bloody Brook survives, and the visitor to South 
 Deerfield may read the inscription over the grave in which 
 Major Treat's men next day buried all the victims together. 
 The Indians now began to feel their power, and on the 5th of 
 October they attacked Springfield and burned thirty houses 
 there. 
 
 Things were becoming desperate. For ten weeks, from 
 September 9 to November 19, the Federal Commissioners 
 were in session daily in Boston. The most eminent of their 
 number, for ability and character, was the younger John 
 Winthrop, who was still governor of Connecticut. Plym- 
 outh was represented by its governor, Josiah Winslow, with 
 
 I 
 
 
 vn 
 
248 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Thomas Hinckley ; Massachusetts by William Stoughton 
 and Thomas Danforth. These strong men were confronted 
 with a difficult problem. From Batten's journal, kept dur- 
 ing that disastrous summer, we learn the state of feeling 
 in Boston. The Puritans had by no means got rid 
 
 Popular •' .,.,.,., 
 
 excitement of that sensc of Corporate responsibility which 
 civilized man has inherited from prehistoric ages, 
 and which has been one of the principal causes of reli- 
 gious persecution. This sombre feeling has prompted men 
 to believe that to spare the heretic is to bring down the 
 wrath of God upon the whole community ; and now in 
 Boston many people stoutly maintained that God had let 
 loose the savages, with firebrand arid tomahawk, to punish 
 the people of New England for ceasing to persecute " false 
 worshippers and especially idolatrous Quakers." Quaker 
 meetings were accordingly forbidden under penalty of fine 
 and imprisonment. Some harmless Indians were murdered. 
 At Marblehead two were assaulted and killed by a crowd of 
 women. There was a 
 bitter feeling toward the 
 Christian Indians, many 
 of whom had joined their 
 heathen kinsmen in burning and slaying. Daniel Gookin, 
 superintendent of the " praying Indians," a gentleman of the 
 highest character, was told that it would not be safe to show 
 himself in the streets of Boston. Mrs. Mary Pray, of Provi- 
 dence, wrote a letter recommending the total extermination 
 of the red men. 
 
 The measures adopted by the Commissioners certainly 
 went far toward carrying out Mrs. Pray's suggestion. The 
 demeanour of the Narragansetts had become very threat- 
 ening, and their capacity for mischief exceeded that of all 
 the other tribes together. In July the Commissioners had 
 made a treaty with them, but in October it became known in 
 Boston that they were harbouring some of Philip's hostile 
 Indians. When the Commissioners sharply called them to 
 account for this, their sachem Canonchet, son of Mianto- 
 
 :^a^ef ^^^/(/rc 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 
 
 249 
 
 nomo, promised to surrender the fugitives within ten days. 
 But the ten days passed and nothing was heard from the 
 Narragansetts. The victory of their brethren at Bloody 
 Brook had worked upon their minds, so that they no longer 
 
 thought it worth while to keep faith with the white men. 
 They had overcome their timidity and w'ere now ready to 
 take part in the work of massacre.^ The Commissioners 
 
 ' If Philip was half the diplomatist that he is represented in tradi- 
 tion, he never would have gone into such a war without assurance of 
 Narragansett help. Canonchet was a far more powerful sachem than 
 Philip, and played a more conspicuous part in the war. May we not 
 
250 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 soon learned of their warlike preparations and lost no time 
 in forestalling them. The Narragansetts were fairly warned 
 that if they did not at once fulfil their promises they must 
 expect the utmost severities of war. A thousand men were 
 enlisted for this service and put under command of Governor 
 Winslow, and in December they marched against the enemy. 
 The redoubtable fighter and lively chronicler, Benjamin 
 Church, accompanied the expedition. 
 
 The Indians had fortified themselves on a piece of rising 
 Expedition ground, six acrcs in extent, in the middle of a hide- 
 rfavraga*^ ous swamp impassablc at most seasons but now in 
 s^"s some places frozen hard enough to afford a pre- 
 
 carious footing. They were surrounded by rows of tall pali- 
 sades which formed a wall twelve feet in thickness ; and the 
 only approach to the single door of this stronghold was over 
 the trunk of a felled tree some two feet in diameter and 
 slippery with, snow and ice. A stout blockhouse filled with 
 sharp-shooters guarded this rude bridge, which was raised 
 some five feet from the ground. Within the palisadoed for- 
 tress perhaps not less than 2000 warriors, with many women 
 and children, awaited the onset of the white men, for here 
 had Canonchet gathered together nearly the whole of his 
 available force. This was a military mistake. It was coop- 
 ing up his men for slaughter. They would have been much 
 safer if scattered about 
 in the: wilderness, and 
 could have given the 
 English much more ^-^ , 
 trouble. But readily as they acknowledged the power of 
 the white man, they did not yet understand it. One man's 
 courage is not another's, and the Indian knew little or 
 nothing of that Gothic fury of self-abandonment which rushes 
 
 suppose that Canonchet's desire to avenge his father's death was one 
 of the principal incentives to the war; that Pliilip's attack upon Swan- 
 zey was a premature explosion; and that Canonchet then watched the 
 course of events for a while before making up his mind whether to 
 abandon Philip or support him ? 
 
 O^Oiyo>iniK(j^^lc^cK 
 
m. 
 
 252 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Straight ahead and snatches victory from the jaws of death. 
 His fortress was a strong one, and it was no longer, as in 
 the time of the Pequots, a strife in which firearms were 
 pitted against bow and arrow. Many of the Narragansetts 
 we're equipped with muskets and skilled in their use, and 
 under such circumstances victory for the English was not to 
 be lightly won. 
 
 On the night of December 18 their little army slept in an 
 open iield at Petty quamscott without other blanket than a 
 " moist fleece of snow," while near them smoked the ruins 
 of Jireh Bull's garrison house, which the Indians had burned 
 a few days before. Thence to the swamp fortress the dis- 
 tance was about seven miles as the crow flies, but no roads 
 led thither. The morrow was 
 
 a Sunday, but Winslow deemed ^^^^uiof A. f 1 
 it imprudent to wait, as food *^ ^ Ji^y^*^fi*-' 
 
 had wellnigh given out. Get- 
 ting up at five o'clock, these kinsmen of Oliver's Ironsides 
 toiled through deep snow, following the high ground in a 
 dubious and wandering course which doubled the length of 
 the march, so that it was past noon when they came within 
 sight of the Narragansett stronghold. First came the 527 
 men from Massachusetts, led by Major Samuel Appleton, of 
 Ipswich, and next the 158 from Plymouth, under Major Wil- 
 liam Bradford ; while Major Robert Treat, with the 300 from 
 Connecticut, brought up the rear. There were 985 men in 
 all. As the Massachusetts men rushed upon the slippery 
 storming bridge a deadly volley from the blockhouse slew six 
 of the great of their captaius, while of the rank and file there 
 
 swamp for- 
 tress, De- were many killed or wounded. Nothing daunted, 
 
 cem er 19 ^j^^^ presscd ou with great spirit till they forced 
 their way into the enclosure, but then the head of their col- 
 umn, overcome by sheer weight of numbers in the hand-to- 
 hand fight, was pushed and tumbled out into the swamp. 
 Meanwhile some of the Connecticut men had discovered a 
 path across the partly frozen swamp leading to a weak spot 
 in the rear, where the palisades were thin and few, as undue 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 
 
 253 
 
 reliance had been placed upon the steep bank crowned with 
 a thick rampart of bushes that had been reinforced with 
 clods of turf. In this direction Treat swept along with his' 
 men in a spirited charge. Before they had reached the spot 
 a heavy fire began mowing them down, but with a furious 
 rush they came up, and climbing on each other's. shoulders, 
 some fought their way over the rampart, while others hacked 
 
 STORMING OF THE NARRAGANSETT FORT 
 
 Sturdily with axes till such a breach was made that all might 
 enter. This was effected just as the Massachusetts men 
 had recovered themselves and crossed the treacherous log 
 in a second charge that was successful and soon brought 
 the entire English force within the enclosure. In the 
 slaughter which filled the rest of that Sunday afternoon till 
 the sun went down behind a dull gray cloud, the grim and 
 wrathful Puritan, as he swung his heavy cutlass, thought of 
 Saul and Agag, and spared not. The Lord had delivered 
 up to him the heathen as stubble to his sword. As usual 
 the number of the slain is variously estimated. Of the In- 
 dians probably not less than 1000 perished. Some hun- 
 dreds, however, with Canonchet their leader, saved them- 
 selves in flight, well screened by the blinding snowflakes 
 that began to fall just after sunset. Within the fortified 
 area had been stored the greater part of the Indians' winter 
 supply of corn, and the loss of this food was a further deadly 
 
254 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 blow. Captain Church advised sparing the wigwams and 
 using them for shelter, but Winslow doubted the ability of 
 his men to maintain themselves in a position so remote from 
 all support. The wigwams with their tubs of corn were 
 burned, and a retreat was ordered. Through snowdrifts 
 that deepened every moment the weary soldiers dragged 
 themselves along, probably over Rose and McSparran hills,' 
 and thence northward by the Pequot trail, until two hours 
 after midnight, when they reached Smith's garrison house, 
 near the hamlet of Wickford. Nearly one fourth of their 
 number had been killed or wounded, and many of the latter 
 perished before shelter was reached. Forty of these were 
 buried at Wickford in the course of the next three days. 
 Of the Connecticut men eighty were left upon the swamp 
 and in the breach at the rear of the stronghold. Among 
 the spoils which the victors brought away were a number of 
 good muskets that had been captured by the Nipmucks in 
 their assault upon Deerfield. 
 
 This headlong overthrow of the Narragansett power 
 completely changed the face of things. The question was 
 no longer whether the red men could possibly succeed in 
 making New England too hot for the white men, but simply 
 how long it would take for the white men to exterminate the 
 red men. The shiftless Indian was abandoning his squalid 
 Effect of agriculture and subsisting on the pillage of English 
 the blow farms ; but the resources of the colonies, though 
 severely taxed, were by no means exhausted. The dusky 
 warriors slaughtered in the great swamp fight could not be 
 replaced ; bvit, as Roger Williams told the Indians, there 
 were still ten thousand white men who could carry muskets, 
 and should all these be slain, he added, with a touch of 
 hyperbole, the Great Father in England could send ten 
 thousand more. For the moment Williams seems to have 
 cherished a hope that his great influence with the savages 
 might induce them to submit to terms of peace while there 
 was yet a remnant to be saved ; but they were now as little 
 inclined to parley as tigers brought to bay, nor was the 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 255 
 
 temper of the colonists a whit less deadly, though it did not 
 vent itself in inflicting" torture or in merely wanton orgies 
 of cruelty. 
 
 To the modern these scenes of carnage are painful to 
 contemplate. In the wholesale destruction of the Pequots, 
 and to a less degree in that of the Narragansetts, the death- 
 dealing power of the white man stands forth so terrible 
 and relentless that our sympathy is for a moment called out 
 for his victim. The feeling of tenderness toward the weak, 
 almost unknown among savages, is one of the finest pro- 
 ducts of civilization. Where murderous emotions are fre- 
 quently excited, it cannot thrive. Such advance in humanity 
 as we have made within recent times is chiefly due to the 
 fact that the horrors of war are seldom brought home to 
 everybody's door. Either war is conducted on ^ , , 
 
 ■' -' Growth of 
 
 some remote frontier, or if armies march through humane 
 a densely peopled country the conditions of modern in recent 
 warfare have made it essential to their efficiency '""^^ 
 as military instruments that depredation and riot should 
 be as far as possible checked. Murder and pillage are 
 comparatively infrequent, massacre is seldom heard of, and 
 torture is almost as extinct as cannibalism. The mass of 
 citizens escape physical suffering, the angry emotions are 
 so directed upon impersonal objects as to acquire a strong 
 ethical value, and the intervals of strife may find individual 
 soldiers of hostile armies exchanging kindly services. Mem- 
 bers of a complex industrial society, without direct experi- 
 ence of warfare save in this mitigated form, have their char- 
 acters wrought upon in a way that is distinctively modern, 
 as they become more and more disinclined to violence and 
 cruelty. European historians have noticed, with words of 
 praise, the freedom from bloodthirstiness which characterizes 
 the American people. Mr. Lecky has more than once re- 
 marked upon this humane temperament which is so charac- 
 teristic of our peaceful civilization, and which sometimes, 
 indeed, shows the defects of its excellence and tends to 
 weaken society by making it difficult to inflict due punish- 
 
256 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ment upon the vilest criminals. In respect of this humanity 
 the American of the nineteenth century has without doubt 
 improved very considerably upon his forefathers of the 
 seventeenth. The England of Cromwell and Milton was 
 not, indeed, a land of hard-hearted people as compared with 
 their contemporaries. The long experience of internal peace 
 since the great War of the Roses had not been without its 
 effect ; and while the Tudor and Stuart periods had atroci- 
 ties enough, we need only remember what was going on at 
 the same time in France and Germany in order to realize 
 how much worse it might have been. In England, as else- 
 where, however, it was, when looked at with our eyes, a 
 rough and brutal time. It was a day of dungeons, whip- 
 ping-posts, and thumbscrews, when slight offenders were 
 maimed and bruised and great offenders cut into pieces 
 by sentence of court. The pioneers of New England had 
 grown up familiar with such things ; and among the towns- 
 people of Boston and Hartford in 1675 were still many who 
 in youth had listened to the awful news from Magdeburg or 
 turned pale over the horrors in Piedmont upon which Milton 
 invoked the wrath of Heaven. 
 
 When civilized men are removed from the safeguards of 
 civilization and placed in the wilderness amid the hideous 
 dangers that beset human existence in a savage state of 
 society, whatever barbarism lies latent in them is likely to 
 find many opportunities for showing itself. The feelings 
 that stir the meekest of men, as he stands amons 
 
 Warfare 
 
 with sav- the smouldering embers of his homestead and gazes 
 t'fte'S "PO'^ the mangled bodies of wife and children, are 
 character f^^lings that he shares with the most bloodthirsty 
 savage, and the primary effect of his higher intelli- 
 gence and greater sensitiveness is only to increase their 
 bitterness. The neighbour who hears the dreadful story 
 is quick to feel likewise, for the same thing may happen to 
 him, and there is nothing so pitiless as fear. With the 
 Puritans such gloomy and savage passions seemed to find 
 justification in the sacred text from which he drew his rules 
 
0^$^^uSEa,l 
 
 KING PHILIP'S WAR 257 
 
 of life. To suppose that one part of the Bible could be less 
 authoritative than another would have been to him an incom- 
 prehensible heresy ; and bound between the same covers 
 that included the Sermon on the Mount were tales of whole- 
 sale massacre perpetrated by God's command. Evidently 
 the red men were not stray children of Israel, after all, but 
 rather Philistines, Canaanites, heathen, sons of Belial, fire- 
 brands of hell, demons whom it was no more than right to 
 sweep from the face of the earth. Writing in this spirit, 
 the chroniclers of the time were completely callous in their 
 accounts of suffering and ruin inflicted upon Indians, and, as 
 
 has elsewhere been known to 
 happen, those who did not risk 
 their own persons were more 
 truculent in tone than the professional fighters. Of the 
 narrators of the war, perhaps the fairest toward the Indian 
 is the doughty Captain Church, while none is more bitter 
 and cynical than the Ipswich pastor, William Hubbard. 
 
 While the overthrow of the Narragansetts changed the 
 face of things, it was far from putting an end to the war. 
 It showed that when the white man could find his enemy he 
 could deal crushing blows, but the Indian was not always 
 so easy to find. Before the end of January, Winslow's little 
 army was partially disbanded for want of food, and its three 
 contingents fell back upon Stonington, Boston, and Plymouth. 
 Early in February the Federal Commissioners called for a 
 new levy of 600 men to assemble at Brookfield, for the Nip- 
 mucks were beginning to renew their incursions, and, after 
 an interval of six months the figure of Philip again appears 
 for a moment upon the scene. What he had been doing, or 
 where he had been, since the Brookfield fight in August, 
 was never known. When in February, 1676, he reappeared 
 it was still in company with his allies the Nipmucks, ^tj^^^ 
 in their bloody assault upon Lancaster. On the Ig^ncaster, 
 lOth of that month at sunrise the Indians came February' 
 swarming into the pretty village. Danger had al- 
 ready been apprehended, the pastor, Joseph Rowlandson, the 
 
258 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 only Harvard graduate of 1652, had gone to Boston to solicit 
 aid, and Captain Wadsworth's company was slowly making 
 its way over the difficult roads from Marlborough, but the 
 • Indians were beforehand. Several houses were at once sur- 
 rounded and set on fire, and men, women, and children be- 
 gan, falling under the tomahawk. The minister's house was 
 large and strongly built, and more than forty people found 
 shelter there until at length it took fire and they were driven 
 out by the flames. Only one escaped, a dozen or more were 
 slain, and the rest, chiefly women and children, taken cap- 
 tive. The Indians aimed at plunder as well as destruction ; 
 for they were in sore need of food and blankets, as well as of 
 powder and ball. Presently, as they saw Wadsworth's armed 
 men approaching, they took to flight and got away, with many 
 prisoners and a goodly store of provisions. 
 
 Among the captives was Mary Rowlandson, the minister's 
 wife, who afterward wrote the story of her sad experiences. 
 The treatment of the prisoners varied with the caprice or the 
 cupidity of the captors. Those for whom a substantial ran- 
 som might be expected fared comparatively well ; to others 
 death came as a welcome relief. One poor woman with a 
 child in. her arms was too weak to endure the arduous tramp 
 over the icy hillsides, and begged to be left behind, till pre- 
 sently the savages lost their patience. They built a. fire, 
 ,, „ asnd after a kind of demon dance killed mother and 
 
 Mrs. Row- 
 
 jandson's child with a club and threw the bodies into the 
 
 narrative n o i .11 
 
 flames, buch treatment may seem exceptionally 
 merciful, but those modern observers who best know the 
 Indian's habits say that he seldom indulges in torture except 
 when he has abundance of leisure and a mind quite undis- 
 turbed. He is an epicure in human agony and likes to en- 
 joy it in long slow sips. It is for the end of the march that 
 the accumulation of horrors is reserved ; the victims by the 
 way are usually despatched quickly ; and in the case of Mrs; 
 Rowlandson's captors their irregular and circuitous march 
 indicates that they were on the alert. Their movements 
 seem to have covered mUch of the ground between Wachu- 
 
A 
 
 BRIEF HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 THE 
 
 fef 
 
 With the I!^(T)1J:HJ m 
 
 EVV-ENGLA 
 
 
 (Vtom^'Unet^, 1675. when tliefirft Englifli-manwjs mur- 
 dered by the Indians, to An^ti]} 12. 1676. when Philip, alias 
 MctiP.comtt, the principal Author and Beginner 
 of che Warr, was flain.) 
 Wherein the Grounds, Beginning, and Progrefs of the Warr, 
 is lummarily cxpreffcd, 
 TOGETHER WITH A SERIOUS 
 
 'EXHORTATIO 
 
 ' tothe Inhabita nts of that Land, " 
 
 By INCREASE MATHER, Teacher of a Church of 
 Chrift, in Bofton in NtW'-EngUni. 
 
 Lcvit. %&z 5. i-aill hlf^ ti Swrn d hfcn joii, lb,n[h.iU dws^c the .panel of the I'o- 
 
 Pfil. 107 'ti- "H" « 'I'A ">■''' "■'•- (il>!er'.e thife tbh?,s,iv!n they [hiU irMojl^'id tot 
 
 Jer. ii.i5'''DJri3NrF£i!^^ > 
 
 Sejnius irritant snivnos demina per aures, 
 <5ujmqii*fint ocu!i5 co:nmiITi iiilelibus: 
 *^ Lege Hirtofism r.cfiasHlfloria. C\c 
 
 Uor.tt. 
 
 BOSTON, Printed and Sold by fnhn Foferoyci 
 Bgainil the Sign of the Dove. 1676. 
 

 
 »oa 
 
 TRUE 
 
 IS TO 
 
 O F T H E 
 O F 
 
 Mrs. MART ROWtANDSON, ^ 
 
 fi A Adinifter's Wife in Neiv-En?lanJ. ^^ 
 
 ^1 . . " - li 
 
 ||g Wherein is fee forth, The Cruel and Inhumane Sg^ 
 
 •|§g Ufage fhe underwent amongft the Heathens, for |5|, 
 Acg Eleven Weeks time ; And her Deliverance from w> 
 IP them. i^' 
 
 &^ f^''//?!?^ J^y her own Hawd, for her Priv.its Z/fi i AhJ nowmade ^^ 
 J^ Pitllic'k at the e.irneft Dtfne of feme Friends, fir the Benefit •,'3*' 
 ■*|f oftheAmaed. ' ■ gp- 
 
 iCtX — — - ^T 
 
 Whereunto is snriej.'S''',, 
 
 III A Sermon of the Poffibility c] God's Forfaking-a Peo- 1&*" 
 %?, pie that have been near av:l dear to 'nm. '^ 
 
 pie that have been near a?;:l dear to him. 
 
 ,iOa Preached by Mv.'infcpi Roiriv^dfrn, Uus!)3i..i to ihc ftid Mi ,.kirr: itidfou: S^ 
 *^g:s' Il.lxinghisLn!l.S..r:iicji. f^ 
 
 
 Vsi? rriiitnl fiift at Nev-Enol,r,hi : And Rc-prir,tccl nc Lo/-,;*, nr.d fold 1^3? 
 *p« by- yo/;,"/; Pocie, a: the /.'/wr £o!r/ in : .'ic Jmi.-- \\ 'Mh bv Chafu- ^St 
 'o,^ CWW:, Hofpital. 6:-:.' ' J?^r 
 
 If* «[.j «^ «•;■>. «f» tqx «fs »^ c<i.» «.}-» c>fj. o>> ejf» tj.,- ijjisr ^.Ttj-T «'ji .-jS^tfivfjcj' 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 261 
 
 sett mountain and the Connecticut river. They knew that 
 the white squaw of the great medicine man of an English 
 village was worth a heavy ransom, and so they treated 
 Mrs. Rowlandson unusually well. She had been captured, 
 when escaping from the burning house, carrying in her arms 
 her little six-year-old daughter. She was stopped by a bul- 
 let that grazed her side and struck the child. The Indian 
 who seized them placed the little girl upon a horse, arid as 
 the dreary march began she kept moaning " I shall die, 
 mamma." " I went on foot after it," says the mother, 
 " with sorrow that cannot be expressed. At length I took 
 it off the horse, and carried it in my arms till my strength 
 failed me, and I fell down with it. . . . After this it quickly 
 began to snow, and when night came on they stopped. And 
 now down I must sit in the snow, by a little fire, and a few 
 boughs behind me, with my sick child in my lap, and calling 
 much -for water, being now, through the wound, fallen into 
 a violent fever. . . . Oh, may I see the wonderful power of 
 God that my spirit did not utterly sink under my affliction ; 
 still the Lord upheld me with his gracious and merciful 
 spirit." The little girl soon died. For three months the 
 weary and heartbroken mother was led about the country by 
 these loathsome savages, of whose habits and manners she 
 gives a vivid description. At first their omnivorousness 
 astonished her. " Skunks and rattlesnakes, yea the very 
 bark of trees " they esteemed as delicacies. " They would 
 pick up old bones and cut them in pieces at the joints, . . . 
 then boil them and drink up the liquor, and then beat the 
 great ends of them in a mortar and so eat them." After 
 some weeks of starvation Mrs. Rowlandson herself was fain 
 to partake of such viands. One day, having made a cap for 
 one of Philip's boys, she was invited to dine with the great 
 sachem. "I went," she says, "and he gave me a pancake 
 about as big as two fingers. It was made of parched 
 wheat, beaten, and fried in bear's grease ; but I thought I 
 never tasted pleasanter meat in my life." Early in May she 
 was redeemed for ;^20, and went to find her husband in 
 
262 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Boston, where the Old South Church society hired a house 
 for them. 
 
 Such was the experience of a captive whose treatment 
 was, according to Indian notions, hospitable. There were 
 few who came off so well. Almost every week while she 
 was led hither and thither by the savages, Mrs. Rowlandson 
 heard ghastly tales of fire and slaughter. It was a busy 
 winter and spring for these Nipmucks. Before February 
 was over, their exploit at Lancaster was followed by a 
 shocking massacre at Medfield. They sacked and destroyed 
 the towns of Worcester, Marlborough, Mendon, and Groton, 
 and even burned some houses in Weymouth, within a dozen 
 miles of Boston. Murderous attacks were made upon Sud- 
 bury, Chelmsford, Springfield, Hatfield, Hadley, North- 
 ampton, Wrentham, Andover, Bridgewater, Scituate, and 
 Middleborough. On the i8th of April Captain Samuel 
 Virtual Wadsworth, with 70 men, was drawn into an 
 extermina- ambush near Sudbury, surrounded by 500* Nip- 
 indians, mucks, and killed with 50 of his men ; six unfor- 
 
 Fcbru.3,rv 
 
 August, tunate captives were burned alive over slow fires. 
 '^''^ But Wadsworth's party made the enemy pay dearly 
 
 for his victory ; that afternoon 1 20 Nipmucks bit the dust. 
 In such wise, by killing two or three for one, did the English 
 wear out and annihilate their adversaries. Just one month 
 from that day Captain William 
 
 Turner^ surprised and slaugh- /piA'/^ ^7XPHf\3f 
 tered 300 of these warriors //'^"^ 
 near the falls of the Connecti- 
 cut river which have since borne his name, and this blow at 
 last broke the strength of the Nipmucks. 
 
 Meanwhile the Narragansetts and Wampanoags had burned 
 the towns of Warwick and Providence. After the wholesale 
 ruin of the great " swamp fight," Canonchet had still some 
 600 or 700 warriors left, and with these, on the 26th of 
 
 1 Turner was a Baptist who had been banished in 1668. His return 
 and appointment to a position of trust is a good illustration of the fitful- 
 ness with which persecution was carried on. 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 263 
 
 /^^ Xif^ 
 
 March, in the neighbourhood of Pawtuxet, he surprised a 
 company of 50 Plymouth men under Captain Michael Peirce, 
 
 and slew them all, but not until 
 he had lost 140 of his best war- 
 riors. Ten days later Captain 
 George Denison, with his Con- 
 necticut company, defeated and captured Canonchet, and the 
 proud son of Miantonomo met the same fate as his father^. 
 He was hai^ded over to the Mohegans and toma- Death of 
 hawked. The Narragansett sachem had shown Canonchet 
 such bravery that it seemed, says the chronicler Hubbard, 
 as if " some old Roman ghost had possessed the body of this 
 western pagan." But next moment this pious clergyman, as 
 if ashamed of the classical eulogy just bestowed upon the 
 hated redskin, alludes to him as a "damned wretch." 
 
 The fall of Canonchet marked the beginning of the end. 
 In four sharp fights in the last week of June, Major John 
 Talcott, of Hartford, slew from 300 to 400 warriors, being 
 nearly all that were left of the Narragansetts ;• and during 
 the month of July Captain Church patrolled the country 
 about Taunton, making prisoners of the Wampanoags. Once 
 more King Philip, shorn of his prestige, comes upon the 
 scene. We have seen that his agency in these cruel events 
 had been at the outset a potent one. Whatever else it may 
 have been, it was at 
 least the agency of the 
 match that explodes the 
 powder-cask. Under 
 the conditions of that savage society, organized leadership 
 was not to be looked for. In the irregular and disorderly 
 series of murdering raids Philip may have been often pre- 
 sent, but except for Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative we should 
 have known nothing of him since the Brookfield fight. 
 
 At length in July, 1676, having seen the last of his Nip- 
 muck friends overwhelmed, the tattered chieftain showed 
 himself near Bridgewater, with a handful of followers. In 
 these his own hunting-ground^ some of his former friends 
 
264 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 had become disaffected. The daring and diplomatic Church 
 had made his way into the wigwam of Ashawonks, the squaw 
 sachem of Saconet, near Little Compton, and having first 
 convinced her that a flask of brandy might be tasted without 
 fatal results, followed up his advantage and persuaded her to 
 make an alliance with the English. Many Indians came in 
 and voluntarily surrendered themselves, in order to obtain 
 favourable terms, and some lent their aid in destroying their 
 old sachem. Defeated at Taunton, the son of Massasoit was 
 hunted by Church to his ancient lair at Bristol Neck and 
 there besieged. His only escape was over the narrow 
 isthmus of which the pursuers now took possession, and in 
 this dire extremity one of Philip's men presumed to advise 
 his chief that the hour for surrender had come. For his 
 unwelcome counsel the sachem forthwith lifted his toma- 
 -hawk and struck him dead at his feet. Then the brother of 
 the slain man crept away through the bushes to Church's 
 little camp, and offered to guide the white men to 
 
 Death of , T^, •,. , 1 1 A 1 
 
 Philip, the morass where Philip lay concealed. At day- 
 "gis 12 ];)Yeak of August 1 2 the English stealthily advan- 
 cing beat up their prey. The savages in sudden panic 
 rushed from under cover, and as the sachem showed him- 
 self running at the top of his speed,- a ball from an Indian 
 musket pierced his heart, and "he fell upon his face in the 
 mud and water, with his gun under him." His severed head 
 was sent to Plymouth, where it was mounted on a pole 
 and exposed aloft upon the village green, while the meeting- 
 house bell summoned the townspeople to a special service of 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 It may be supposed that in such services at this time a 
 Christian feeling of charity and forgiveness was not upper- 
 most. Among the captives was a son of Philip, the little 
 swarthy lad of nine years for whom Mrs. Rowlandson had 
 made a cap, and the question as to what was to be done with 
 him occasioned as much debate as if he had been a Jesse 
 Pomeroyi or a Chicago anarchist. The mere fact of the 
 ^ A wretched little werewolf who some few years ago, being then a 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 265 
 
 discussion illustrates the increasing humanity of the age. 
 The opinions of the clergy were, of course, eagerly sought 
 and freely vouchsafed. One minister somewhat doubtfully 
 urged that " although a precept in Deuteronomy explicitly 
 forbids killing the child for the father's sin," yet after all 
 " the children of Saul and Achan perished with their par- 
 ents, though too young to have shared their guilt." Thus 
 curiously did this English reverence for precedent, with a 
 sort of grim conscientiousness colouring its gloomy wrath, 
 search for guidance among the ancient records of the chil- 
 dren of Israel. Commenting upon the truculent suggestion. 
 Increase Mather, soon to be president of Harvard, observed 
 that, "though David had spared the infant Hadad, yet it 
 might have been better for his people if he had been less 
 merciful." These bloodthirsty counsels did not prevail, but 
 the course that was adopted did not lack in harshness. 
 Among the sachems a dozen leading spirits were 
 hanged or shot, and hundreds of captives were sold into 
 shipped off to the West Indies to be sold into ^^^"^^ 
 slavery ; among these was Philip's little son. The rough 
 soldier Church and the apostle Eliot were among the few 
 who disapproved of this policy. Church feared it might 
 goad such Indians as were still at large to acts of despera- 
 tion. Eliot, in an earnest letter to the Federal Commis- 
 
 lad of fourteen or fifteen years, most cruelly murdered two or three 
 young children, just to amuse himself with their dying agonies. The 
 misdirected " humanitarianism," which in our country makes every 
 murderer an object of popular sympathy, prevailed to save this crea- 
 ture from the gallows. Massachusetts has lately witnessed a similar 
 instance of misplaced clemency in the case of a vile woman who had 
 poisoned eight or ten persons, including some of her own children, in 
 order to profit by their life insurance. Such instances help to explain 
 the prolonged vitality of "Judge Lynch," and sometimes almost make 
 one regret the days in old England when William Probert, after escap- 
 ing in 1824 as "king's evidence," from the Thurtell affair, got caught 
 and hanged within a twelvemonth for horse-stealing. Any one who 
 wishes to study the results of allowing criminality to survive and propa- 
 gafe itself should read Dugdale's The Jukes ; Hereditary Crime, New 
 York, 1877. 
 
266 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 sioners, observed : " To sell souls for money seemeth to me 
 dangerous merchandise." But the plan of exporting the 
 captives was adhered to. As slaves they were understood 
 to be of little or no value, and sometimes for want of pur- 
 chasers they were set ashore on strange coasts and aban- 
 doned. A few were carried to one of the foulest of mediae- 
 val slave-marts, Morocco, where their fate was doubtless 
 wretched enough. 
 
 In spite of Church's doubts as to the wisdom of this harsh 
 treatment, it did not prevent the beaten and starving savages 
 from surrendering themselves in considerable numbers. To 
 some the Federal Commissioners offered amnesty, and the 
 promise was faithfully fulfilled. Among those who laid down 
 arms in reliance upon it were 140 Christian Indians, with 
 their leader known as James the Printer, because he had 
 been employed at Cambridge in setting up the type for 
 Eliot's Bible. Quite early in the war it had been discovered 
 that these converted savages still felt the ties of blood to be 
 stronger than those of creed. At the" attack on Mendon, 
 only three weeks after the horrors at Swanzey that ushered 
 in the war, it was known that Christian Indians had behaved 
 themselves quite as cruelly as their unregenerate 
 of the brethren. Afterwards they made such a record 
 
 MianT" ^^^^ ^^^ jokcrs and punsters of the day — for such 
 there were, even among those sombre Puritans — 
 in writing about the "Praying Indians," spelled /ra;'?^^ with 
 an e. The moral -scruples of these savages, under the influ- 
 ence of their evangelical training, betrayed queer freaks. 
 One of them, says Mrs. Rowlandson, would rather die than 
 eat horseflesh, so narrow and scrupulous was his conscience, 
 although it was as wide as the whole infernal abyss, when it 
 came to torturing white Christians. The student of history 
 may have observed similar inconsistencies in the theories 
 and conduct of people more enlightened than these poor red 
 men. "There was another Praying Indian," continues Mrs. 
 Rowlandson, " who, when he had done all the mischief he 
 could, betrayed his own father into the English's hands. 
 
x^ 
 
 The Wicked mum Tortion. 
 
 OR 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 (Preached 3t the LtCiun in Bofl on in New-England the 
 
 i8th' day of the I- Moneth 1674. when two men 
 
 were extimed, who had miirthtrf^ 
 
 their Mafter.) 
 
 Wherein is Ihewed 
 
 That excejfe in mckednefs doth bring 
 untime/y T>€ath. 
 
 -I 
 
 ^^ INCREASE MATHER, Teacher 
 of a Church of Chrift. 
 
 Prov, 10.27. ^'^' P"*' ofilii-Etrd frolongith dnja, l>y.t the je^rs 
 of the vickedjh/ili h fhirthcil. 
 
 Eph. 6. 2, 3. Honour thy Father and thj M«thtr (yfhich it the fi^fi 
 Commanimint with prontife) that it mitj he wtM yritll thtf, 
 
 and thou mnyft live long on the Earth, 
 
 Psena ad paucos, metui id omnes. 
 
 S a S T O N , 
 
 Printed by Jokn Fofltr, 1675 
 
 l~IRST liOOK I'RIN'TEI) IN j'.OSTON 
 
268 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 thereby to purchase his own life ; . . . and there was an- 
 other ... so wicked ... as to wear a string about his 
 neck, strung with Christian fingers." 
 
 Such incidents help us to comprehend the exasperation 
 of our forefathers in the days of King Philip. The month 
 which witnessed his death saw also the end of the war in 
 the southern parts of New England ; but, almost before peo- 
 ple had time to offer thanks for the victory, there came 
 news of bloodshed on the northeastern frontier. The Tar- 
 ratines in Maine had for some time been infected with the 
 war fever. How far they may have been comprehended in 
 the schemes of Philip and Canonchet, it would be hard to 
 War say. They had attacked settlers on the site of 
 
 Tamtines Brunswick as early as September, 1675. About 
 1676-78 the time of Philip's death, Major Richard Waldron 
 of Dover had entrapped a party of them by an unworthy 
 stratagem, and after satisfying himself that they were ac- 
 complices in that chieftain's scheme, sent them to Boston 
 to be sold into slavery. A terrible retribution was in store 
 for Major Waldron thirteen years later. For the present 
 the hideous strife, just ended in southern New England, 
 was continued on the northeastern frontier, and there was 
 scarcely a village between the Kennebec and the Piscataqua. 
 but was laid in ashes. 
 
 By midsummer of 1678 the Indians had been everywhere 
 suppressed, and there was peace in the land. For three 
 years, since Philip's massacre at Swanzey, there had been a 
 reign of terror in New England. Within the boundaries of 
 Connecticut, indeed, little or no damage had been inflicted, 
 and the troops of that colony, not needed on their own soil, 
 did noble service in the common cause. 
 
 In Massachusetts and Plymouth, on the other hand, the 
 destruction of life and property had been simply frightful. 
 Destruc- ^^ ninety towns, twelve had been utterly destroyed, 
 tiveness of while morc than forty others had been the scene of 
 fire and slaughter. Out of this little society nearly 
 a thousand staunch men, including not few of broad culture 
 
HUBBARD'S MAP, 1677 : THE F 
 
: ' >-: " '■ I III I trillWIII.I 
 
 ENGRAVED IN NEW ENGLAND 
 
KING PHILIP'S WAR 269 
 
 and strong promise, had lost their Uves, while of the scores 
 of fair women and poor little children that had perished un- 
 der the ruthless tomahawk, one can hardly give an accurate 
 account. Hardly a family throughout the land but was in 
 mourning. The war debt of Plymouth was reckoned to ex- 
 ceed the total amount of personal property in the colony ; 
 yet although it pinched every household for many a year, it 
 was paid to the uttermost farthing ; nor in this respect were 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut at all behindhand. 
 
 But while King Philip's War wrought such fearful damage 
 to the English, it was for the Indians themselves utter de- 
 struction. Most of the warriors were slain, and to the sur- 
 vivors, as we have seen, the conquerors showed but scant 
 mercy. The Puritan, who conned his Bible so earnestly, had 
 taken his hint from the wars of the Jews, and swept his New 
 English Canaan with a broom that was pitiless and search- 
 ing. Henceforth the red man figures no more in the history 
 of New England, except as an ally of the French in bloody 
 raids upon the frontier. In that capacity he does mischief 
 enough for yet a half-century more, but from central and 
 southern New England, as an element of disturbance or a 
 power to be reckoned with, he disappears forever. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 The beginnings of New England were made in the full 
 daylight of modern history. It was an age of town records, 
 of registered deeds, of contemporary memoirs, of diplomatic 
 correspondence, of controversial pamphlets, funeral sermons, 
 political diatribes, specific instructions, official reports, and 
 
 private letters. It was not a time in which mythi- 
 features in cal personages or incredible legends could flourish, 
 Wstory rf and such things we do not find in the history of 
 New Eng- ]^q^ England. There was nevertheless a romantic 
 
 side to this history, enough to envelop some of its 
 characters and incidents in a glamour that may mislead the 
 modern reader. This wholesale migration from the smiling 
 fields of merry England to an unexplored wilderness beyond 
 a thousand leagues of sea was of itself a most romantic- and 
 thrilling event, and when viewed in the light of its historic 
 results it becomes clothed with sublimity. The men who 
 undertook this work were not at all free from self-conscious- 
 ness. They believed that they were doing a wonderful thing. 
 They felt themselves to be instruments in accomplishing a 
 kind of "manifest destiny." Their exodus was that of a 
 chosen people who were at length to lay the everlasting 
 foundations of God's kingdom upon earth. Such opinions, 
 which took a strong colour from their assiduous study of 
 the Old Testament, reacted and disposed them all the more 
 to search its pages for illustrations and precedents, and to 
 regard it as an oracle, almost as a talisman. In every- pro- 
 pitious event they saw a special providence, an act of divine 
 intervention to deliver them from the snares of an ever 
 watchful Satan. This steadfast faith in an unseen ruler and 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 
 AUSTIN HOUSE (1657), OLDEST IN CAMBRIDGE 
 
 guide was to them a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by 
 night. It was of great moral value. It gave them clearness 
 of purpose and concentration of strength, and contributed 
 toward making them, like the children of Israel, a people of 
 indestructible vitality and aggressive energy. At the same 
 time,_in the hands of the Puritan writers, this feeling was 
 apt to warp their estimates of events and throw such a 
 romantic haze about things as seriously to interfere with a 
 true historical perspective. 
 
 Among such writings that which perhaps best epitomizes 
 the Puritan philosophy is " The Wonder-working Providence 
 of Zion's Saviour in- New England," by Captain Ed,,ard 
 Edward Johnson, one of the principal founders of Johnson 
 Woburn. It is an extremely valuable history of New Eng- 
 land from 1628 to 165 1, and every page is alive with the 
 virile energy of that stirring time. With narrative, argu- 
 ment, and apologue, abounding in honesty of purpose, sub- 
 limity of trust, and grotesqueness of fancy, wherein touching 
 tenderness is often alternated with sternness most grim and 
 merciless, yet now and then relieved by a sudden gleam of 
 
272 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 humour, — and all in a style that is usually uncouth and 
 harsh, but sometimes bursts forth in eloquence worthy of 
 Bunyan, • — we are told how the founders of New England 
 are soldiers of Christ enlisted in a holy war, and how they 
 must " march manfully on till all opposers of Christ's kingly 
 power be abolished." "And as for you who are called to 
 sound forth his silver trumpets, blow loud and shrill to this 
 chiefest treble tune — for the armies of the great Jehovah 
 are at hand." " He standeth not as an idle spectator behold- 
 ing his people's ruth and their enemies' rage, but as an actor 
 in all actions, to bring to naught the desires of the wicked, 
 . . . having also the ordering of every weapon in its first 
 produce, guiding every shaft that flies, leading each bullet 
 to his place of settling, and weapon to the wound it makes." 
 To men engaged in such a crusade against the powers of 
 evil, nothing could seem insignificant or trivial ; for, as John- 
 son continues, in truly prophetic phrase, "the Lord Christ 
 intends to achieve greater matters by this little handful than 
 the world is aware of." 
 
 The general sentiment of the early New England writers 
 was like that of the " Wonder-working Providence," though 
 it did not always find such rhapsodic expression. It has left 
 its impress upon the minds of their children's children down 
 to our own time, and has affected the opinions held about 
 them by other people. It has had something to do with a 
 certain tacit assumption of superiority on the part of New 
 Englanders, upon which the men and women of other com- 
 munities have been heard to comment in resentful and carp- 
 ing tones. There has probably never existed, in any age or 
 at any spot on the earth's surface, a group of people that 
 did not take for granted its own preeminent excellence. 
 Upon some such assumption, as upon an incontrovertible 
 axiom, all historical narratives, from the chronicles of a par- 
 ish to the annals of an empire, alike proceed. But in New 
 England it assumed a form especially apt to provoke chal- 
 lenge. One of its unintentional effects was the setting up 
 of an unreal and impossible standard by which to judge the 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 2^3 
 
 acts and motives of the Puritans of the seventeenth century. 
 We come upon instances of harshness and cruelty, ^ 
 
 of narrow-minded bigotry, and superstitious frenzy ; Puritans 
 and feel, perhaps, a little surprised that these men judged by 
 had so much in common with their contempora- gt^nXrd 
 ries. Hence the interminable discussion which 
 has been called forth by the history of the Puritans, in 
 which the conclusions of the writer have generally been 
 determined by circumstances of birth or creed, or perhaps 
 of reaction against creed. One critic points to the Boston of 
 1659 or the Salem of 1692 with such gleeful satisfaction as 
 used to stir the heart of Thomas Paine when he alighted 
 upon an inconsistency in some text of the Bible ; while 
 another, in the firm conviction that Puritans could do no 
 wrong, plays fast and loose with arguments that might be 
 made to justify the deeds of a Torquemada. 
 
 From such methods of criticism it is the duty of historians 
 as far as possible to free themselves. If we consider the 
 Puritans in the light of their surroundings as Englishmen 
 of the seventeenth century and inaugurators of a political 
 movement that was gradually to change for the better the 
 aspect of things all ovejr the earth, we cannot fail to discern 
 the value of that sacred enthusiasm which led them 
 to regard themselves as chosen soldiers of Christ, ofthe 
 It was the spirit of the "Wonder-working Provi- ^OTkk?*^" 
 dence " that hurled the tyrant from his throne at .p™^- „ 
 
 ■^ idence " 
 
 Whitehall and prepared the way for the emancipa- 
 tion of modern Europe. No spirit less intense, no spirit 
 nurtured in the contemplation of things terrestrial, could 
 ever have done it. The political philosophy of a Vane or 
 a Sidney could never have done it. The passion for liberty 
 as felt by a Jefferson or an Adams, abstracted and general- 
 ized from the love of particular liberties, was something 
 scarcely intelligible to the seventeenth century. The ideas 
 of absolute freedom of thought and speech, which we breathe 
 in from childhood, were to the men of that age strange and 
 questionable. They groped and floundered among them, 
 
274 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 very much as modern wool-growers in Ohio or iron-smelters 
 in Pennsylvania flounder and grope among the elementary 
 truths of political economy. But the spirit in which the 
 Hebrew prophet rebuked and humbled an idolatrous king 
 was a spirit they could comprehend. Such a spirit was sure 
 to manifest itself in narrow cramping measures and in ugly 
 acts of persecution ; but it is none the less to the fortunate 
 alliance of that fervid religious enthusiasm with the English- 
 man's love of self-government that our modern freedom owes 
 its existence. 
 
 The history of New England under Charles II. yields 
 abundant proof that political liberty is no less indebted in 
 the New World than in the Old to the spirit of the " Won- 
 der-working Providence." The theocratic ideal which the 
 Merits and Puritan sought to put into practice in Massachu- 
 of"the setts and Connecticut was a sacred institution in 
 
 theocracy defence of which all his faculties were kept per- 
 petually alert. Much as he loved self-government, he would 
 never have been so swift to detect and so stubborn to resist 
 every slightest encroachment on the part of the crown had 
 not the loss of self-government involved the imminent dan- 
 ger that the ark of the Lord might be abandoned to the 
 worshippers of Dagon. It was in Massachusetts, where 
 the theocracy was strongest, that the resistance to Charles 
 II. was most dogged and did most to prepare the way for 
 the work of achieving political independence a century later. 
 Naturally it was in Massachusetts at the same time that the 
 faults of the theocracy were most conspicuous. It was 
 there that priestly authority most clearly asserted itself in 
 such oppressive acts as are always witnessed when too much 
 power is left in the hands of men whose primary allegiance 
 is to a kingdom not of this world. Much as we owe to the 
 theocracy for warding off the encroachments of the crown, 
 we cannot be sorry that it was itself crushed in the process. 
 It was well that it did not survive its day of usefulness, and 
 that the outcome of the struggle was what has been aptly 
 termed "the emancipation of Massachusetts." 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 27s 
 
 LEE HOUSE (CIR. 1660), SECOND OLDEST IN CAMBRIDGE 
 
 The basis of the theocratic constitution of this common- 
 wealth was the provision by which the exercise of the fran- 
 chise was made an incident of church-membership. Unless 
 a man could take part in the Lord's Supper, as administered 
 in the churches of the colony, he could not vote or Restriction 
 hold ofifice. Church and state, parish and town, "^^^^^ 
 were thus virtually identified. Here, as in some to church 
 
 ■' . . members 
 
 Other aspects of early New England, one is re- 
 minded of the ancient Greek cities, where the freeman who 
 could vote in the market-place or serve his turn as magis- 
 trate was the man qualified to perform sacrifices to the 
 tutelar deities of the tribe ; other men might dwell in the 
 city but had no share in making or executing its laws. The 
 limitation of civil rights by religious tests is indeed one of 
 those common inheritances from the old Aryan world that 
 we find again and again cropping out, even down to the 
 exclusion of Catholics from the House of Commons from 
 1562 to 1829. The obvious purpose of this policy in Eng- 
 land was self-protection ; and in like manner the restriction 
 
276 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of the suffrage in Massachusetts was designed to protect 
 the colony against aggressive episcopacy and to maintain 
 unimpaired the uniformity of purpose which had brought 
 the settlers across the ocean. Under the circumstances 
 there was something to be said in behalf of such a measure 
 of self-protection, and the principle required but slight 
 extension to cover such cases as the banishment of Roger 
 Williams and the Antinomians. There was another side 
 to the case, however. From the very outset this exclusive 
 policy was in some ways a source of weakness to Massachu- 
 setts, though we have seen that the indirect effect was to 
 diversify and enrich the political life of New England as a 
 whole. 
 
 At first it led to the departure of the men who founded 
 Connecticut, and thereafter the way was certainly open for 
 those who preferred the Connecticut policy to go where it 
 prevailed. Some such segregation was no doubt effected, 
 but it could not be complete and thorough. Men who pre- 
 ferred Boston without the franchise to Hartford with it 
 It was a would remain in Massachusetts ; and thus the 
 pouticaf elder colony soon came to possess a discontented 
 discontent class of people, always ready to join hand and glove 
 with dissenters or mischief-makers, or even with emissaries 
 of the crown. It afforded a suggestive commentary upon 
 all attempts to suppress human nature by depriving it of a 
 share in political life ; instead of keeping it inside where you 
 can try conclusions with it fairly, you thrust it out to plot 
 mischief in the dark. Within twenty years from the found- 
 ing of Boston the disfranchisement of such citizens as could 
 not participate in church-communion had begun to be re- 
 garded as a serious political grievance. These men were 
 obliged to pay taxes and were liable to be called upon for 
 military service against the Indians ; and they naturally felt 
 that they ought to have a voice in the management of public 
 affairs. 
 
 Besides this fundamental ground of complaint, there were 
 derivative grievances. Under the influence of the clergy 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 277 
 
 justice was administered in somewhat inquisitorial fashion, 
 there was an uncertainty as to just what the law was, a 
 strong disposition to confuse questions of law with questions 
 of ethics, and great laxity in the admission and estimation of 
 evidence. As early as 1639 people had begun to inquisito- 
 complain that too much power was vested in the [gtrat?™ of 
 discretion of the magistrate, and they clamoured justice 
 for a code of laws ; but as Winthrop says, the magistrates 
 and ministers were " not very forward in this matter," for 
 they preferred to supplement the common law of England by 
 decisions based on the Old Testament rather than by a body 
 
 HOUSE AT NORTH AND SMITH STREETS (CIR. 1674), OLDEST IN BOSTON 
 
 of statutes. It was not until 1641, after a persistent strug- 
 gle, that the deputies won a decisive victory over the assist- 
 ants and secured for Massachusetts a definite code of laws.^ 
 In the New Haven colony similar theocratic notions led the 
 settlers to dispense with trial by jury because they could 
 
 1 The Body of Liberties, drawn up by Rev. Nathaniel Ward, of 
 Ipswich, the famous author of The Simple Cobler of Aggaivam, Lon- 
 don, 1647. 
 
278 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 find no precedent for it in the laws of Moses. Here, as in 
 Massachusetts, the inquisitorial administration of justice 
 combined with partial disfranchisement to awaken discon- 
 tent, and it was partly for this reason that New Haven fell 
 so easily under the sway of Connecticut. 
 
 In Massachusetts after 1650 the opinion rapidly gained 
 ground that all baptized persons of upright and decorous 
 lives ought to be considered, for practical purposes, as mem- 
 bers of the church, and therefore entitled to the exercise 
 The"H If °^ political rights, even though unqualified for par- 
 way Cove- ticipation in the Lord's Supper. This theory of 
 church-membership, based on what was at that 
 time stigmatized as the " Halfway Covenant," aroused in- 
 tense opposition. It was the great question of the day. In 
 1657 a council was held in Boston, which approved the prin- 
 ciple of the Halfway Covenant ; and as this decision was far 
 from satisfying the churches, a synod of all the clergymen 
 in Massachusetts was held five years later, to reconsider the 
 great question. The decision of the synod substantially con- 
 firmed the decision of the council, but there were some dis- 
 senting voices. Foremost among the dissenters, who wished 
 to retain the old theocratic regime in all its strictness, was 
 Charles Chauncey, the president of Hansard College, and 
 Increase Mather agreed with him at the time, though he 
 afterward saw reason to change his opinion, and published 
 two tracts in favour of the Halfway Covenant. Most bitter 
 of all toward the new theory of church-membership was, 
 naturally enough, Mr. Davenport of New Haven. 
 
 This burning question was the source of angry contentions 
 in the First Church of Boston. Its teacher, the learned and 
 cynical Norton, died in 1663, and four years later the aged 
 pastor, John Wilson, followed him. In choosing a successor 
 to Wilson the church decided to declare itself in opposition 
 to the liberal decision of the synod, and in token thereof 
 invited Davenport to come from New Haven to take charge 
 of it. Davenport, who was then seventy years old, was dis- 
 gusted at the recent annexation of his colony to Connecticut. 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 279 
 
 He accepted the invitation and came to Boston, against the 
 wishes of nearly half of the Boston congregation who did not 
 like the illiberal principle which he represented. In little 
 more than a year his ministry at Boston was ended by death ; 
 but the opposition to his call had already proceeded so far 
 
 o5-^-«^"fP 
 
 that a secession from the old church had become inevitable. 
 In 1669 the advocates of the Halfway Covenant pounjin 
 organized themselves into a new society under the °f *e old 
 title of the "Third Church in Boston." A wooden church, 
 meeting-house was' built on a lot which had once ' ' 
 belonged to the late Governor Winthrop, in what was then 
 the south part of the town, so that the society and its meet- 
 
28o THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ing-house became known as the South Church ; and after 
 a new church founded in Summer Street in 1717 took the 
 name of the New South, the church of 1669 came to be 
 further distinguished as the Old South. As this church 
 represented a liberal idea which was growing in favour with 
 the people, it soon became the most flourishing church in 
 America. After sixty years its numbers had increased so 
 that the old meeting-house could not contain them ; and in 
 1 729 the famous building which still stands was erected on 
 the same spot, — a building with»a grander history than any 
 other on the American continent, unless it be that other 
 plain brick building in Philadelphia where the Declaration of 
 Independence was adopted and the Federal Constitution 
 framed. 
 
 The wrath of the First Church at this secession from its 
 ranks was deep and bitter, and for thirteen years it refused 
 to entertain ecclesiastical intercourse with the South Church. 
 But by 1682 it had become apparent that the king and his 
 friends were meditating an attack upon the Puritan theo- 
 cracy in New England. It had even been suggested, in the 
 council for the colonies; that the ChurcL of England should 
 be established in Massachusetts, and that none but duly 
 ordained Episcopal clergymen should be allowed to sol- 
 emnize marriages. Such alarming suggestions began to 
 impress the various Puritan churches with the importance 
 of uniting their forces against the common enemy ; and 
 accordingly in 1682 the quarrel between the two Boston 
 societies came to an end. There was urgent need of all 
 the sympathy and good feeling that the community could 
 muster, whereby to cheer itself in the crisis that was coming. 
 
 The four years from 1684 to 1688 were the darkest years 
 in the history of New England. Massachusetts, though not 
 lacking in the spirit, had not the power to beard the tyrant 
 as she did eighty years later. Her attitude toward the 
 Stuarts — as we have seen — had been sometimes openly 
 haughty and defiant, sometimes silent and sullen, but always 
 independent. At the accession of Charles II. the colonists 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 281 
 
 had thought it worth while to send commissioners to Eng- 
 land to confer with the king and avoid a quarrel. Charles 
 promised to respect their charter, but insisted that in return 
 they must take an oath of allegiance to the crown, must 
 administer justice in the king's name, and must 
 repeal their laws restricting the right of suffrage of Charles 
 to church members and prohibiting the Episcopal 
 form of worship. When the people of Massachusetts re- 
 ceived this message they consented to administer justice in 
 the king's name, but all the other matters were referred 
 for consideration to a committee, and so they dropped out 
 of sight. 
 
 When the royal commissioners came to Boston in 1664, 
 they were especially instructed to ascertain whether Massa- 
 chusetts had complied with the king's demands ; but upon 
 this point the legislature stubbornly v.fithheld any definite 
 answer, while it frittered away the time in trivial alterca- 
 tions with the royal commissioners. The war with Holland 
 and the turbulent state of English politics operated for 
 several years in favour of this independent attitude of the 
 colonists, though during all this time their enemies at court 
 were busy with intrigues and accusations. Apart from mere 
 slanders the real grounds of complaint were the restriction 
 of the suffrage, whereby members of the Church of England 
 were shut out ; the claims of the eastern proprie- Moni- 
 tors, heirs of Mason and Gorges, whose territory p'^^'^^ 
 Massachusetts had absorbed ; the infraction of the Massachu- 
 navigation laws ; and the coinage of pine-tree shil- 
 lings. The last named measure had been forced upon the 
 colonists by the scarcity of a circulating medium. Until 
 1 66 1 Indian wampum had been a legal tender, and far into 
 the eighteenth century it remained current in small transac- 
 tions. " In 1693 the ferriage from New York to Brooklyn 
 was eight stivers in wampum or a silver twopence."^ As 
 early as 1652 Massachusetts had sought to supply the de- 
 
 1 Weeden, Indian Money as a Factor in New England Civilization, 
 Johns Hopkins University Studies, II. viii., ix. p. 30. 
 
282 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ficiency by the i^sue of shillings and sixpences. It was an 
 affair of convenience and probably had no political purpose. 
 The infraction of the navigation laws was a more serious 
 
 matter. " Ships from 
 France, Spain, and 
 the Canaries traded 
 directly with Boston, 
 
 INDIAN WAMPUM . , , , . j 
 
 and brought m goods 
 which had never paid duty in any English port." ^ The 
 effect of this was to excite the jealousy of the merchants 
 in London and other English cities and to deprive Massa- 
 chusetts of the sympathy of that already numerous and pow- 
 erful class of people. 
 
 In 167s, the first year of King Philip's War, the British 
 government made up its mind to attend more closely to the 
 The Lords affairs of its American colonies. It had got the 
 of Trade Dutch War off its hauds, and could give heed to 
 other things. The general supervision of the colonies was 
 assigned to a standiiig committee of the privy council, 
 styled the " Eords of the Committee of Trade and Planta- 
 tions," and henceforth familiarly known as the " Lords of 
 Trade." Next year the Lords of Trade sent an agent to 
 
 Boston, with a letter to Governor Leverett about the Mason 
 and Gorges claims. Under cover of this errand the messen- 
 ger was to go about and ascertain the - sentiments which 
 people in the Kennebec and Piscataqua towns, as well as in 
 Boston, entertained for the government of Massachusetts. 
 The person to whom this work was entrusted was Edward 
 1 Doyle, ii. 253. 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 283 
 
 Randolph, a cousin of Robert Mason who inherited the pro- 
 prietary claim to the Piscataqua country. To these Edward 
 men had old John Mason bequeathed his deadly ^^"doiph 
 feud with Massachusetts, and the fourteen years which 
 
 .i;":t:''Sf'M 
 
 Randolph now spent in New England were busily devoted 
 to sowing the seeds of strife. In 1676 the king appointed 
 him collector and surveyor of customs at the port of Boston, 
 with instructions to enforce the navigation laws. Randolph 
 
284 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 was not the man to do unpopular things in such a way as 
 to dull the edge of the infliction ; he took delight in adding 
 insult to injury. He was at once harsh and treacherous. 
 His one virtue was pecuniary integrity ; he was inaccessible 
 to bribes and did not pick and steal from the receipts at the 
 custom-house. In the other relations of life he was disen- 
 cumbered of scruples. His abilities were not great, but his 
 industry was untiring, and he pursued his enemies with the 
 tenacity of a sleuth-hound. As an excellent British histo- 
 rian observes, " he was one of those men who, once enlisted 
 as partisans, lose every other feeling in the passion which is 
 engendered of strife." ^ 
 
 The arrival of such a man boded no good to Massachu- 
 setts. His reception at the town-house was a cold one. 
 Governor Leverett liked neither his looks nor his message, 
 and kept his peaked hat on while he read the letter ; when 
 he came to the signature of the king's chief secretary of 
 state, he asked, with careless contempt, " Who is this Henry 
 Coventry.''" Randolph's choking rage found vent in a 
 letter to the king, taking pains to remind him that the gov- 
 ernor of Massachusetts had once been an officer in Crom- 
 well's army. As we read this and think with what ghoulish 
 glee the writer would have betrayed Colonel Goffe into the 
 hands of the headsman, had any clue been given him, we 
 can quite understand why Hubbard and Mather had nothing 
 to say about the mysterious stranger at Hadley. Everything 
 that Randolph could think of that would goad and irritate 
 the king, he reported in full to London ; his letters were 
 specimens of that worst sort of lie that is based upon dis- 
 torted half-truths ; and his malicious pen but seldom lay 
 idle. 
 
 While waiting for the effects of these reports to ripen, 
 Randolph was busily intriguing with some of the leading 
 men in Boston who were dissatisfied with the policy of the 
 dominant party, and under his careful handling a party was 
 soon brought into existence which was ready to counsel sub- 
 ' Doyle, Puritan Colonies, ii. 254. 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 28s 
 
 mission to the royal will. Such was the birth of Toryism in 
 New England. The leader of this party was Joseph Dudley, 
 son of the grim verse-maker who had come over as Joseph 
 lieutenant to Winthrop. The younger Dudley was ^"'^'^y 
 graduated at Harvard in 1665, and proceeded to study the- 
 
286 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ology, but soon turned his attention entirely to politics. In 
 1673 he was a deputy from Roxbury in the General Court ; 
 in 1675 he took part in the storming of the Narragansett 
 fort; in 1677 and the three following years hewasoneof 
 the Federal Commissioners. In character and temper he 
 differed greatly from his father. Like the proverbial minis- 
 ter's son whose feet are swift toward folly, Joseph Dudley 
 seems to have learned in stern bleak years of childhood to 
 rebel against the Puritan theory of life. Much of the abuse 
 that has been heaped upon him, as a renegade and traitor, is 
 probably undeserved. It does not appear that he ever made 
 any pretence of love for the Puritan commonwealth, and 
 there were many like him who had as lief be ruled by king 
 as by clergy. But it cannot be denied that his suppleness 
 and sagacity went along with a moral nature that was weak 
 and vulgar. Joseph Dudley was essentially a self-seeking 
 politician and courtier, like his famous kinsman of the pre- 
 vious century, Robert, Earl of Leicester. His party in 
 Massachusetts was largely made up of men who had come 
 to the colony for commercial reasons, and had little or 
 no sympathy with the objects for which it was founded. 
 Among them were Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Bap- 
 tists, who were allowed no chance for public worship, as well 
 as many others who, like Gallio, cared for none of these 
 things. Their numbers, moreover, must have been large, 
 for Boston had grown to be a town of 5000 inhabitants, the 
 population of Massachusetts was approaching 30,000, and, 
 according to Hutchinson, scarcely one grown man in five 
 was a church member qualified to vote or hold office. Such 
 a fafct speaks volumes as to the change which was coming 
 over 'the Puritan world. No wonder that the clergy had 
 begun to preach about the weeds and tares that were over- 
 running Christ's pleasant garden. No wonder that the spirit 
 of revolt against the disfranchising policy of the theocracy 
 was ripe. 
 
 It was in .1679, When this weakness of the body politic 
 had been duly studied and reported by Randolph, and when 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 287 
 
 all New England was groaning under the bereavements and 
 burdens entailed by Philip's war, that the Stuart govern- 
 ment began its final series of assaults upoa Massachusetts. 
 The claims of the eastern proprietors, the heirs of Mason 
 and Gorges, furnished the occasion. Since 1643 Royal 
 the four Piscataqua towns — Hampton, Exeter, ^f n^'J^^ 
 Dover, and Portsmouth — had remained under the Hampshire 
 jurisdiction of Massachusetts. After the Restoration the 
 Mason claim had been revived, and in 1677 was referred to 
 the chief-justices North and Rainsford. Their decision was 
 that Mason's claim __ 
 
 had always been 
 
 worthless as based on , - ^ i,, 
 
 a grant in which the 
 old Plymouth Com- 
 pany had exceeded 
 its powers. They also 
 decided that Massa- 
 chusetts had no valid 
 claim since the char- 
 ter assigned her a 
 boundary just north 
 of the Merrimack. 
 This decision left the 
 four towns subject to 
 none but the king, 
 who forthwith in 1679 
 proceeded to erect 
 them into the royal 
 province of New 
 Hampshire, with pre- 
 sident and council 
 
 appointed by the crown, and an assembly chosen by the 
 people, but endowed with little authority, — a tricksome 
 counterfeit of popular government. Within three years an 
 arrogant and thieving ruler, Edward Cranfield, had goaded 
 New Hampshire to acts of insurrection. 
 
 L'^^^'% 
 
 '^•^1, 
 
 
288 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 To the decisions of the chief-justices Massachusetts must 
 The Gorges i^^^ds Submit. The Gorges claim led to more seri- 
 ciaim ous rcsults. Under Cromwell's rule in 1652 — the 
 
 same year in which she began coining money — Massachu- 
 setts had extended her sway over Maine. In 1665 Colonel 
 Nichols and his commissioners, acting upon the express 
 instructions of Charles II., took it away from her. In 1668, 
 after the commissioners had gone home, Massachusetts 
 coolly took possession again. In 1677 the chief -justices 
 decided that the claim of the Gorges family, being based on 
 a grant from James I., was valid. Then the young Ferdi- 
 nando Gorges, grandson of the first proprietor, offered to 
 sell the province to the king, who had now taken it into 
 his head that he would like to bestow it upon the Dukp of 
 Monmouth, his favourite son by Lucy Walters. Before 
 Charles had responded. Governor Leverett had struck a 
 bargain with Gorges, who ceded to Massachusetts -all his 
 rights over Maine for ;^i2SO in hard cash. When the king 
 heard of this transaction he was furious. He sent a letter to 
 Boston, commanding the General Court to surrender the 
 province again on repayment of this sum of ^1250, and ex- 
 pressing his indignation that the people should thus dare to 
 dispose of an important claim off-hand without consulting his 
 wishes. In the same letter the colony was enjoined to put 
 in force the royal orders of seventeen years before, concern- 
 ing the oath of allegiance, the restriction of the suffrage, 
 and the prohibition of the Episcopal form of worship. 
 
 This peremptory message reached Boston about Christ- 
 mas, 1679. Leverett, the sturdy Ironsides, had died six 
 months before, and his place was filled by Simon Bradstreet, 
 Simon a man of moderate powers but great integrity, and 
 
 Bradstreet u^TJ • t , , o j' 
 
 and his ^eld m peculiar reverence as the last survivor of 
 ™f^ those that had been chosen to office before leaving 
 
 England by the leaders of the great Puritan exodus. Born 
 in a Lincolnshire village in 1603, he was now seventy-six 
 years old. He had taken his degree at Emmanuel College, 
 Cambridge, had served as secretary to the Earl of Warwick, 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 289 
 
 and in 1629 had been appointed member of the board of 
 assistants for the colony about to be established on Massa- 
 chusetts bay. In this position he had remained with honour 
 for half a century, while he had also served as Federal Com- 
 missioner and as agent for the colony in London. His wife, 
 who died in 1672, was 
 a woman of quaint 
 learning and quainter 
 verses, which her con- 
 temporaries admired beyond measure. One of her books 
 was republished in London, with the title : " The Tenth 
 Muse, lately sprung up in America." John Norton once 
 
 Jtymt. ^y^'^^^u^ 
 
290 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 said that if Virgil could only have heard the seraphic poems 
 of Anne Bradstreet, he would have thrown his own heathen 
 doggerel into the fire. She was sister of Joseph Dudley, 
 and evidently inherited this rhyming talent from her father.^ 
 Governor Bradstreet belonged to the moderate party who 
 would have been glad to extend the franchise, but he did 
 not go with his brother-in-law in subservience to the king. 
 
 When the General Court assembled, in May, 1680, the full 
 number of eighteen assistants appeared, for the first time 
 in the history of the colony, and in accordance with an 
 expressed wish of the king. They were ready to yield in 
 trifles, but not in essentials. After wearisome discussion, 
 the answer to the royal letter was decided on. It stated in 
 Massachu- vaguc and unsatisfactory terms that the royal or- 
 IwereThe ^^^^ °^ 1662 either had been carried out already 
 ^"g or would be in good time, while to the demand for 
 
 the surrender of Maine no reply whatever was made, save 
 that "they were heartily sorry that any actings of theirs 
 should be displeasing to his Majesty." After this, when 
 Randolph wrote home that the king's letters were of no 
 more account in Massachusetts than an old London Gazette, 
 he can hardly be accused of stretching the truth. Randolph 
 kept busily at work, and seems to have persuaded the Bishop 
 
 ^ It is only fair to quote a characteristic specimen of Mrs. Brad- 
 street's verse. In her poem, The Four Elements, Air speaks as follows : 
 
 " Nay, what are words which do reveal the mind ? 
 Speak who or what they will, tliey are but wind. 
 Your drums', your trumpets', and your organs' sound, 
 What is 't but forced air which doth rebound ? 
 And such are echoes and report of th' gun 
 That tells afar the exploit which it hath done. 
 Your songs and pleasant tunes, they are the same, 
 And so 's the notes wliich nightingales do frame. 
 Ye forging smiths, if bellows once were gone, 
 Your red-hot work more coldly would go on. 
 Ye mariners, 't is I that fill your sails 
 And speed you to your port with wished gales. 
 When burning heat doth cause you faint, I cool ; 
 And when 1 smile, your ocean 's like a pool. 
 1 help to ripe the corn, I turn the mill, 
 And with myself I every vacuum fill,'; etc. 
 
—"^—} 
 
 THE I 
 
 TENTH MUSE » 
 
 Lately fprurigup in i\MERicA. 
 
 OR ^ • , 
 Severall Poems, <!oilipiled 
 
 with great variety of Wit | 
 
 II and Lcarning/uU-of delight. | 
 
 I Wherein cfpccially is contained a com- 1 
 %. pleat difcourfe and dcfcripdon of ^ 
 ^ ^Elements, a 
 
 % The Four<^^"^''f;S'i I 
 
 I Together with an Exadt Epltomie of || 
 1^ the Four MonarchicSj z.7«. ^' 
 
 I rjffyrian, 
 
 I The -J^^'^^"' 
 
 I *^^ ^Grecian, 
 
 <8 C Roman. 
 
 •i Alio a Dialogue between Old EHpldni and & 
 
 1 NcWjConccrning the late troubles. ^ 
 
 •Q Witt) divers other pkiiant and fwtn US Poem J. &i 
 
 Sy a Gentlev/oman in UiDfc pa^r?,_ ^ 
 
 Piinted at Li/.'( hii for .?/.f'>,7t Boiytr;/ at the figne ot she |« 
 
 Ribie in Popes He?d-A!lcy. if 50. ^ 
 
 TITLE OF ANNE BRADSTRERT'S BOOK 
 
292 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of London that if the charter could be annulled, episcopacy 
 might be established in Massachusetts as in England. In 
 February, 1682, a letter came from the king demanding sub- 
 mission and threatening legal proceedings against the char- 
 ter. Dudley was then sent as agent to London, and with 
 him was sent a Mr. Richards, of the extreme clerical party, 
 to watch him. 
 
 Meanwhile the king's position at home had been changing. 
 He had made up his mind to follow his father's example 
 and try the experiment of setting his people at defiance .and 
 governing without a parliament. This could not be done 
 without a great supply of mone)^ Louis XIV. had plenty 
 of money, for there was no constitution in France to pre- 
 vent his squeezing what he wanted out of the pockets of 
 an oppressed people; France was thriving greatly now, for 
 Colbert had introduced a comparatively free system of trade 
 between the provinces and inaugurated an era of prosperity 
 soon to be cut short by the expulsion of the Huguenots. 
 Louis could get money enough for the asking, and would be 
 delighted to foment civil disturbances in England, so as to 
 tie the hands of the only power which at that moment could 
 interfere with his seizing Alsace and Lorraine and invading 
 Flanders. The pretty Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of 
 Portsmouth, with her innocent baby face and heart as cold 
 as any reptile's, was the French Delilah chosen to shear the 
 locks of the British Samson. By such means and from such 
 motives a secret treaty was made in February, 1681, by 
 Secret ^hich Louis agreed to pay Charles 2,000,000 livres 
 treaty down, and 500,000 more in each of the next two 
 
 chrries" n. years, on condition that he should summon no more 
 arid^Louis parliaments within that time. This bargain for 
 securing the means of overthrowing the laws and 
 liberties of England was, on the part of Charles II., an act no 
 less reprehensible than some of those for which his father 
 had gone to the block. But Charles could now afford for 
 a while to wreak his evil will. He had already summoned a 
 parliament for the 21st of March, to meet at Oxford within 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANPROS 
 
 293 
 
 the precincts of the subservient university, and out of reach 
 of the high-spirited freemen of London. He now forced 
 a quarrel with the new parHament and dissolved it within a 
 week. A joiner named Stephen College, who had spoken 
 his mind too freely in the taverns at Oxford with regard to 
 these proceedings, was drawn and quartered. The Whig 
 
 leader, Lord Shaftesbuiy, was obliged to flee to Holland. 
 In the absence of a parliament the only power of organized 
 resistance to the king's tyranny resided in the corporate 
 governments of the chartered towns. The charter shameful 
 of London was accordingly attacked by a writ of fngnn*^'" 
 quo warranto, and in June, 1683, t^^ time-serving England 
 judges declared it confiscated. George Jeffreys, a low 
 drunken fellow whom Charles had made Lord Chief Justice,, 
 
294 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 went on a circuit through the country ; and, as Roger North 
 says, "made all the charters, like the walls of Jericho, fall 
 down before him, and returned laden with surrenders, the 
 spoils of towns." At the same time a terrible blow was 
 dealt at two of the greatest Whig families in England. Lord 
 William Russell, son of the Earl of Bedford, and Algernon 
 Sidney, younger son of the Earl of Leicester, two of the 
 purest patriots and ablest liberal leaders of the day, were 
 tried on a false charge of treason and beheaded. 
 
 By this quick succession of high-handed measures, the 
 friends of law and liberty were for a moment disconcerted 
 and paralyzed. In the frightful abasement of the courts of 
 justice which these events so clearly showed, the freedom 
 of Englishmen seemed threatened in its last stronghold. 
 The doctrine of passive obedience to monarchs was preached 
 in the pulpits and inculcated by the university of Oxford, 
 which ordered the works of John Milton to be publicly 
 burned. Sir Robert Filmer wrote that " not only in human 
 laws, but even in divine, a thing may by the king be com- 
 manded contrary to law, and yet obedience to such a com- 
 mand is necessary." Charles felt so strong that in 1684 he 
 flatly refused to summon a parliament. 
 
 It was not long before the effects of all this were felt in 
 New England. The mission of Dudley and his colleague 
 Massachu- ^^^ fruitless. They returned to Boston, and Ran- 
 settsie- dolph, who had followed them to London, now 
 surrender followcd them back, armed with a writ of quo 
 zvarranto which he was instructed not to serve 
 until he should have given Massachusetts one more chance 
 to humble herself in the dust. Should she modify her con- 
 stitution to please a tyrant or see it trampled under foot 1 
 Recent events in England served for a solemn warning ; for 
 the moment the Tories were silenced ; perhaps after all, the 
 absolute rule of a king was hardly to be preferred to the 
 sway of the Puritan clergy ; the day when the House of 
 Commons sat still and wept seemed to have returned. A 
 great town meeting was held in the Old South Meeting- 
 
4fhCt^^ fm/le^^ 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 29s 
 
 House, and the moderator requested all who were for sur- 
 rendering the charter to hold up their hands. Not a hand 
 was lifted, and out from the throng a solitary voice ex- 
 claimed, with deep-drawn breath, " The Lord be praised ! " 
 
 Then arose Increase Mather, president of Harvard College, 
 and reminded them how their fathers did win this 
 charter, and should they deliver it up unto the nuiLdby 
 spoiler who demanded it " even as Ahab required chancer^, 
 Naboth's vineyard, Oh ! their children would be J^^e 21, 
 bound to curse them." Such was the attitude of 
 Massachusetts, and when it was known in London, the blow 
 
296 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 was struck. For technical reasons Randolph's writ was not 
 served ; but on the 21st of June a decree in chancery annulled 
 the charter of Massachusetts. 
 
 To appreciate the force of this blow we must pause for a 
 moment and consider what it involved., The right to the 
 soil of North America had been hitherto regarded in Eng- 
 land, on the strength of the discoveries of the Cabots, as an 
 appurtenance to the crown of Henry VII., — as something 
 which descended from father to son like the palace at Hamp- 
 ton Court or the castle at Windsor, but which the sovereign 
 might alienate by his voluntary act just as he might sell or 
 give away a piece of his royal domain in England. Over 
 this vast territory it was doubtful how far Parliament was 
 entitled to exercise authority, and the rights of English- 
 men settled there had theoretically no security save in the 
 provisions of the various charters by which the 
 annulling crown had delegated its authority to individual 
 
 the charter . , , ' . , . y. . , 
 
 proprietors or to private companies. It was thus 
 on the charter granted by Charles I. to the Company of 
 Massachusetts Bay that not only the cherished political and 
 ecclesiastical institutions of the colony, but even the titles 
 of individuals to their lands and houses, were supposed to be 
 founded. By the abrogation of the charter, all rights and 
 immunities that had been based upon it were at once swept 
 away, and every rood of the soil of Massachusetts became 
 the personal property of the Stuart king, who might, if he 
 should possess the will and the power, turn out all the 
 present occupants or otherwise deal with them as trespass- 
 ers. Such at least was the theory of Charles II., and to 
 show that he meant to wreak his vengeance with no gentle 
 hand, he appointed as his viceroy the brutal Percy Kirke, — 
 a man who would have no scruples about hanging a few 
 citizens without trial, should occasion require it. 
 
 But in February, 1685, just as Charles seemed to be get- 
 ting everything arranged to his mind, a stroke of apoplexy 
 carried him off the scene, and his brother ascended the 
 throne. Monmouth's rebellion, and the horrible cruelties " 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 297 
 
 that followed, kept Colonel Kirke busy in England through 
 the summer, and left the new king scant leisure to think 
 about America. Late in the autumn, having made up his 
 mind that he could not spare such an exemplary 
 knave as Kirke, James II. sent over Sir Edmund mund 
 Andros. In the mean time the government of 
 Massachusetts had been administered by Dudley, who showed 
 
298 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 himself willing to profit by the misfortunes of his country. 
 Andros had long been one of James's favourites. He was 
 the dull and dogged English officer such as one often meets, 
 honest enough and faithful to his master, neither cruel nor 
 rapacious, but coarse in fibre and wanting in tact. Some 
 years before, when governor of ~New York, he had a terri- 
 torial dispute with Connecticut, and now cherished a grudge 
 against the people of New England, so that, from James's 
 point of view, he was well fitted to be their governor. James 
 wished to abolish all the local governments in America, and 
 unite them, as far as possible, under a single administration, 
 in order to render their military strength more effective. 
 With Plymouth there could be no trouble ; she had never 
 
 THE CHARTER OAK 
 
 had a charter, but had existed on sufferance from the outset. 
 In 1687 the charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut were 
 rescinded, but the decrees were not executed in due form. 
 In October of that year Andros went to Hartford, to seize^ 
 the Connecticut charter, but it was not surrendered. While 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 299 
 
 Sir Edmund was bandying threats with stout Robert Treat, 
 the queller of Indians and now governor of Con- The chai- 
 necticut, in the course of their evening conference October 
 the candles were suddenly blown out, and when 3i) 1687 
 after some scraping of tinder they were lighted again the 
 document was nowhere to be found, for Captain Joseph 
 Wadsworth had carried it away and hidden it in the hollow 
 trunk of a mighty oak tree.^ Nevertheless for the moment 
 the colony was obliged to submit to the tyrant. Next 
 day the secretary, John Allyn, wrote "Finis" on the colonial 
 records and shut up the book. Within another twelve- 
 month New York and New Jersey were added to the vice- 
 royalty of Andres ; so that all the northern colonies from 
 
 the forests of Maine to the 
 Delaware river were thus 
 brought under the arbitrary 
 rule of one man, who was 
 responsible to no one but 
 the king for whatever he might take it into his head to do. 
 
 The vexatious character of the new government was most 
 strongly felt at Boston, where Andros had his headquarters. 
 Measures were at once taken for the erection of an Episco- 
 pal church, and meantime the royal order was that „ . 
 
 . . ■' . Episcopal 
 
 one of the prmcipal meeting-houses should be services in 
 seized for the use of the Church of England. This 
 was an ominous beginning. In the eyes of the people it 
 was much more than a mere question of disturbing Puritan 
 prejudices. They had before them the experience of Scot- 
 land during the past ten years, the savage times of "Old 
 Mortality," the times which had seen the tyrannical prelate, 
 on the lonely moor, begging in vain for his life, the times 
 of Drumclog and Bothwell Brigg, of Claverhouse and his 
 flinty-hearted troopers, of helpless women tied to stakes on 
 the Solway shore and drowned by inches in the rising tide. 
 What had happened in one part of the world might happen 
 
 ^ The venerable Charter Oak remained one of the historic landmarks 
 of Hartford until August 20, 1856, when it was blown down in a gale. 
 
300 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 sSa^^J^ rvx^i^ 
 
 in another, for the Stuart poHcy was the same. It aimed 
 not at securing toleration but at asserting unchecked su- 
 premacy. Its demand for an inch -v^as the prelude to its 
 seizing an ell, and so our forefathers understood it. Sir 
 Edmund's formal demand for the Old South Meeting-House 
 was flatly refused, but on Good Friday, 1687, the sexton 
 was frightened into opening it, and thenceforward Episcopal 
 services were held there alternately with the regular services 
 until the overthrow of Andros. The pastor, Samuel Willard, 
 was son of the gallant veteran who had rescued the belea- 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 30 1 
 
 guered people of Brookfield in King Philip's war.i Amusing 
 passages occurred between him and: Sir Edmund, who rel- 
 ished the pleasantry of keeping minister and congregation 
 waiting an hour or two in the street, on Sundays before 
 yielding to them the use of their meeting-house. More 
 kindly memories of the unpopular governor are associated 
 with the building of the first King's Chapel on the spot 
 where its venerable successor now stands. The p-Q^nding 
 church was not finished until after Sir Edmund pf.the 
 
 Kings 
 
 had taken his departure, but Lady Andros, who chapei, 
 died in February, 1688, lies in the burying-ground '^ ^ 
 hard by. Her gentle manners had won all hearts. ' For the 
 moment, we are told, one touch of nature made enemies kin, 
 and as Sir Edmund walked to the town-house " many a head 
 was bared to the bereaved 
 husband that before had 
 remained stubbornly cov- 
 ered to the exalted gov- 
 ernor." ^ 
 
 The despotic rule of 
 Andros was felt in more 
 serious ways than in the 
 seizing upon a meeting- 
 house. Arbitrary taxes 
 were imposed, encroach- 
 ments were made 
 
 Tyranny 
 
 upon common 
 
 lands as in older rnanorial 
 
 times, and the writ of habeas corpus was suspended. Dudley 
 
 was appointed censor of the press, and nothing was allowed 
 
 1 He was president, of Harvard (with the anomalous title of vice- 
 president, adopted for a diplomatic reason) from 1700 to 1707. His 
 great-grandson, Joseph Willard, astronomer and Hellenist, was presir 
 dent of Harvard from 1781 to 1804. See Quincy's History of Harvard 
 University, i. 145 ; ii. 244-283. 
 
 ^ The quotation is from an unpublished letter of Rev. Robert Rat- 
 cliffe to the Bishop of London, cited in an able article in the Boston 
 Herald, January 4, 1888. I have not seen the letter. 
 
 OLD king's chapel (i 
 
302 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 to be printed without his permission. All the public records 
 of the late New England governments were ordered to be 
 brought to Boston, whither it thus became necessary to 
 make a tedious journey in order to consult them. All deeds 
 and wills were required to be registered in Boston, and 
 excessive fees were charged for the registry. It was pro- 
 claimed that all private titles to land were to be ransacked, 
 and that whoever wished to have his title confirmed must pay 
 a heavy quit-rent, which under the circumstances amounted 
 to blackmail. The General Court was abolished. The power 
 of taxation was taken from the town meetings and lodged 
 with the governor. Against this crowning iniquity the town 
 of Ipswich, led by its sturdy pastor, John Wise, made protest. 
 In response Mr. Wise was thrown into prison, fined £s'^> 
 and suspended from the ministry. A notable and powerful 
 character was this John Wise. One of the broadest thinkers 
 John Wise ^^^ "^°^^ ^^'^^'^ writers of his time, he seems like 
 of Ipswich a forerunner of the liberal Unitarian divines of the 
 nineteenth century. His "Vindication of the Government 
 of the New England Churches," published in 171 7, was a 
 masterly exposition of the principles of civil government, 
 and became " a text book of liberty for our Revolutionary 
 fathers, containing some of the notable expressions that are 
 used in the Declaration of Independence." 
 
 It was on the trial of Mr. Wise in October, 1687, that 
 Dudley openly declared that the people of New England 
 had now no further privileges left them than not to be sold 
 for slaves. Such a state of 
 
 things in the valley of the ^ ^ /^y^'^^ 
 
 Euphrates would not have (jj^j/^lf^^ ,^^^^^^ 
 attracted comment ; the peas- 
 antry of central Europe would have endured it until better 
 instructed ; but in an English community it could not last 
 long. If James II. had remained upon the throne, New 
 England would surely have soon risen in rebellion against 
 Andros. But the mother-country had by this time come to 
 repent the fresh lease of life which she had granted to the 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 303 
 
 Stuart dynasty after Cromwell's death. Tired of the dis- 
 graceful subservience of her Court to the schemes paHof 
 of Louis XIV., tired of fictitious plots and judicial James 11. 
 murders, tired of bloody assizes and declarations of indul- 
 gence and all the strange devices of Stuart tyranny, Eng- 
 land endured the arrogance of James but three years, and 
 then drove him across the Channel, to get such consolation 
 as he might from his French paymaster and patron. On 
 the 4th of April, 1689, the youthful John Winslow brought 
 to Boston the news of the landing of the Prince of Orange 
 in England. For the space of two weeks there was quiet 
 
304 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 and earnest deliberation among the citizens, as the success 
 of the Prince's enterprise was not yet regarded as assured. 
 But all at once, on the morning of the i8th, the drums beat 
 to arms, the signal-fire was lighted on Beacon Hill, a meet- 
 ing was held at the Town-House, militia began to pour in 
 from the country, and Andros, summoned to sur- 
 
 lnsurr6C~ '-*•■** *- j f 
 
 tioninBos- render, was fain to beseech Mr. Willard and the 
 overthrow other ministers to intercede for him. But the 
 Aprinsr ministers refused. Next day the Castle was sur- 
 '^^9 ' rendered, the Rose frigate riding in the harbour 
 was seized and dismantled, and Andros was arrested as he 
 
 GREAT SEAL OF NEW ENGLAND UNDER ANDROS 
 
 was trying to effect his escape disguised in woman's clothes. 
 Dudley and the other agents of tyranny were also impris- 
 oned, and thus the revolution was accomplished. It marks 
 the importance which the New England colonies were be- 
 ginning to attain, that, before the Prince of Orange had 
 fully secured the throne, he issued a letter instructing the 
 people of Boston to preserve decorum and acquiesce yet a 
 little longer in the government of Andros, until more satis- 
 factory arrangements could be made. But Increase Mather, 
 who was then in London on a mission in behalf of New 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 305 
 
 England, judiciously prevented this letter of instructions 
 from being sent. The zeal of the people outstripped the 
 cautious policy of the new sovereign, and provisional govern- 
 ments, in accordance with the old charters, were at once set 
 up in the colonies lately ruled by Andros. Bradstreet, now 
 in his eighty-seventh year, was reinstated as governor of 
 Massachusetts. Five weeks after this revolution in Boston 
 
 
 # 
 
 ■■m''&i'^MH 
 
 
 
 ORIGINAL TOWN-HOUSE OF BOSTON {CIE. 1658) 
 
 the order to proclaim King William and Queen Mary was 
 received, amid such rejoicings as had never before been seen 
 in that quiet town, for it was believed that self-government 
 would now be guaranteed to New England. 
 
 This hope was at least so far realized that from the most 
 
3o6 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 formidable dangers which had threatened it, New England 
 Effects of was henceforth secured. The struggle with the 
 lution^r Stuarts was ended, and by this second revolution 
 1689 within half a century the crown had received a check 
 
 from which it never recovered. There were troubles yet in 
 
 store for England, but no more such outrages as the judicial 
 murders of Russell and Sidney. New England had still a 
 stern ordeal to go through, but never again was she to be so 
 trodden down and insulted as in the days of Andros. The 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 307 
 
 efforts of George III. to rule Englishmen despotically were 
 weak as compared with those of the Stuarts. In his time 
 England had waxed strong ehough to curb the tyrant, 
 America had waxed strong enough to defy and disown him. 
 .After 1689 the Puritan no longer felt that his religion was 
 in danger, and there was a reasonable prospect that charters 
 solemnly granted him would be held sacred. William III. 
 was a sovereign of modern type, from whom freedom of 
 thought and worship had nothing to fear. In his theology 
 he agreed, as a Dutch Calvinist, more nearly with the Puri- 
 tans than with the Church of England. At the same time 
 he had no great liking for so much independence of thought 
 and action as New England had exhibited. In the negotia- 
 tions which now definitely settled the affairs of this part of 
 the world, the intractable behaviour of Massachusetts was 
 borne in mind and contrasted with the somewhat less irritat- 
 ing attitude of the smaller colonies. It happened that the 
 decree which annulled the charters of Rhode Island and 
 Connecticut had not yet been formally enrolled. It was 
 accordingly treated as void, and the old charters were 
 alloVed to remain in force. They were so liberal that no 
 change in them was needed at the time of the Revolution, 
 so that Connecticut was governed under its old charter until 
 1818, and Rhode Island until 1842. 
 
 There was at this time a disposition on the part of the 
 British government to unite all the northern colo- „ 
 nies under a single administration. The French "nion 
 in Canada were fast becoming rivals to be feared ; th^°nfrth- 
 and the wonderful explorations of La Salle, bring- "°™i™'«^ 
 ing the St. Lawrence into political connection with the Mis- 
 sissippi, had at length foreshadowed a New France in the 
 rear of all the English colonies, aiming at the control of the 
 centre of the continent and eager to confine the English to 
 the seaboard. Already the relations of position which led 
 to the great Seven Years' War were beginning to shape 
 themselves ; and the conflict between France and England 
 actually broke out in 1689, as soon as Louis XIV.'s hired 
 
3o8 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 servant, James II., was superseded by William III. as king 
 of England and head of a Protestant league. 
 
 In view of this new state of affairs, it was thought desir- 
 able to unite the northern English colonies under one head, 
 so far as possible, in order to secure unity of military action. 
 But natural prejudices had to be considered. The policy of 
 James II. had aroused such bitter feeling in America that 
 William must needs move with caution. Accordingly he did 
 
 
 GOVERNORS OF PLYMOUTH COLONY 
 
 not seek to unite New York with New England, and he did 
 not think it worth while to carry out the attack which James 
 had only begun upon Connecticut and Rhode Island. As 
 for New Hampshire, he feeems to have been restrained by 
 what in the language of modern politics would be 
 called "pressure," brought to bear by certain local 
 interests.^ But in the case of the little colony 
 founded by the Pilgrims of the Mayflower there 
 was no obstacle. She was now annexed to Mas- 
 sachusetts, which also received not only Maine but even 
 ^ Doyle, Puritati Colonies, ii. 379, 380. 
 
 Plymouth, 
 Maine, and 
 Acadia an- 
 nexed to 
 Massachu- 
 setts 
 
' v^y 
 
 mmii 
 
 
 fi^frtti*/*.f I.'rt»-J!.m 
 
 
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 FACSIMILE OF M 
 
JOSETTS CHARTER OF 169I 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 309 
 
 Acadia, just won from the French ; so that, save for the 
 short break at Portsmouth, the coast of Massachusetts now 
 reached all the way from Martha's Vineyard to the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence. 
 
 But along with this great territorial extension there went 
 some curtailment of the political privileges of the colony. 
 By the new charter of 1692 the right of the people to be 
 governed by a legislature of their own choosing was 
 expressly confirmed. The exclusive right of this legisla- 
 ,ture to impose taxes was also confirmed. But henceforth 
 no qualification of church-membership, but only a property 
 qualification, was to be required of voters ; the governor was 
 to be appointed by the crown instead of being elected by 
 the people ; and all laws passed by the legislature were to 
 be sent to England for royal approval. These features of 
 the new charter, — the extension, or if I may so call it, the 
 secularization of the franchise, the appointment of the gov- 
 ernor by the crown, and the power of veto which 
 
 IVl aSSa^ 
 
 the crown expressly reserved,^ — ^ were grave restric- chusetts 
 tions upon the independence which Massachusetts a royal 
 had hitherto enjoyed. Henceforth her position was p™^'""^^ 
 to be like that of the other colonies with royal governors. 
 But her history did not thereby lose its interest or signifi- 
 cance, though it became, like the history of most of the colo- 
 nies, a dismal record of irrepressible bickerings between the 
 governor appointed by the crown arid the legislature elected 
 ,j^. ^^ ^ • •— J by the people. In the 
 
 ^/^/^^^i'*^^'^ ¥y^^^^^ period that began in 
 -^ ''^ ^ 1692 and ended in 
 
 1776, the movements of Massachusetts, while restricted and 
 hampered, were at the same time forced into a- wider orbit. 
 She was brought into political sympathy with Virginia. 
 While two generations of men were passing across the 
 scene, the political problems of Massachusetts were assim- 
 ilated to those of Virginia. In spite of all the other 
 differences, great as they were, there was a likeness in 
 the struggles between the popular legislature and the royal 
 
310 THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 governor which subordinated them all. It was this simi- 
 larity of experience, during the eighteenth century, that 
 brought these two foremost colonies into cordial alliance 
 during the struggle against George III, and thus made it 
 possible to cement all the colonies together in the mighty 
 nation whose very name is fraught witH so high and earnest 
 a lesson to mankind, — the United States ! 
 
 For such a far-reaching result, the temporary humiliation 
 of Massachusetts was a small price to pay. But it was not 
 until long after the accession of William III. that things 
 could be seen in these grand outlines. With his coronation 
 began the struggle of seventy years between France and 
 England, far grander than the struggle between Rome and 
 Carthage, two thousand years earlier, for primacy in the 
 world, for the prerogative of determining the future career of 
 mankind. That warfare, so fraught with meaning, 
 of the was waged as much upon American as upon Euro- 
 
 RCTc?u«on pean ground ; and while it continued, it was plainly 
 
 already fgr the interest of the British government to pur- 
 sown ° 
 
 sue a conciliatory policy toward its American colo- 
 nies, for without their jwhole-hearted assistance it could have 
 no hope of success. As soon as the struggle was ended, 
 and the French power in the colonial world finally over- 
 thrown, the perpetual quarrels between the popular legisla- 
 tures and the royal governors led immediately to the Stamp 
 Act and the other measures of the British government that 
 brought about the American revolution. People sometimes 
 argue about that revolution as if it had no past behind it 
 and was simply the result of a discussion over abstract prin- 
 ciples. We can now see that while the dispute involved an 
 abstract principle of fundamental importance to mankind, 
 it was at the same time for Americans illustrated by memo- 
 ries sufficiently concrete and real. James Otis in his prime 
 was no further distant from the tyranny of Andros than 
 middle-aged men of to-day are distant from the Missouri 
 Compromise. The sons of men cast into jail along with 
 John Wise may have been among those who stood silent in 
 
THE TYRANNY OF ANDROS 
 
 311 
 
 the moonlight on Griffin's Wharf and looked on while the 
 contents of the tea-chests were hurled into Boston harbour. 
 In the events we have here passed in review, it may be 
 seen, so plainly that he who runs may read, how the spirit 
 of 1776 was foreshadowed in 1689. 
 
 THE SWORDS 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 An interesting account of the Barons' War and the meeting of the 
 first House of Commons is given in Prothero's Sitnon de Montfort, ' 
 London, 1877. For Wyclif and the Lolla"rds, see Milman's Latin 
 Christianity, vol. vii. 
 
 The ecclesiastical history of the Tudor period may best be studied 
 in the works of John Strype, to wit, Historical Memorials, 6 vols. ; 
 Annals of the Reformation, 7 vols. ; Lives of Cranmer, Parker, Whit- 
 gift, etc., Oxford, 1812-28. See also Burnet's History of the Refo7'~ 
 mation of the Chttrch of England, 3 vols., London, 1679-1715; Neal's 
 History of the Puritans, London, 1793 ; Tulloch, Leaders of the Refor- 
 mation, Boston, 1859. -^ ^^^' mass of interesting information is to be 
 found in The Zurich Letters, comprising the Correspondence of Several 
 English Bishops, and Others, -with some of the Helvetian Reformers, 
 published by the Parker Society, 4 vols., Cambridge, Eng., 1845-46. 
 Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity was published in London, 1594; a new 
 edition, containing two additional books, the first complete edition, was 
 published in 1622. 
 
 For the general history of England in the seventeenth century, there 
 are two modern works which stand far above all others, — Gardiner's 
 History of England, 10 vols., London, 1883-84; and Masson's Zz)^ (?/" 
 Milton, narrated in connection with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and 
 Literary History of his Titne, 6 vols., Cambridge, Eng., 1859-80. 
 These are books of truly colossal erudition, and written in a spirit of 
 judicial fairness. Mr. Gardiner's ten volumes cover the forty years 
 from the accession of James L to the beginning of the Civil War, 
 1603-1643. Mr. Gardiner has lately pubHshed the four volumes of 
 his history of the Civil War, followed by the first volume of his History 
 of the Commonwealth, and it is to be hoped that he will not stop until 
 he reaches the accession of William and Mary. Indeed, such books 
 as his ought never to stop. My friend and colleague. Prof. Hosmer, . 
 tells me that Mr. Gardiner is a lineal descendant of Cromwell and 
 Ireton. His little book. The Puritan Revolution, in the " Epochs of 
 History' series, is extremely useful, and along with it one should 
 read Airy's The English Restoration and Louis XLV., in the same 
 series, New York, 1889. The best biography of Cromwell is by Mr. 
 AUanson Picton, London, 1882; see also Frederic Harrison's Crom- 
 well, London, 1888, an excellent little book. Mr. Gardiner has lately 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 313 
 
 published CromwelVs Place in History, London, 1897. Hosmer's 
 Young Sir Henry Vane, Boston, 1888, should be read in the same 
 connection; and one should not forget Carlyle's Cromwell. See 
 also TuUoch, English Puritanism aitd its Leaders, 1861, and Rational 
 Theology and Christian Philosophy in England in the Seventeenth 
 Century, 1872; Skeats, Histoiy of the Free Churches of England, 
 London, 1868; Mountfield, The Church and Puritans, London, 1881. 
 Dexter's Congregationalism of the Last Three Hundred Years, New 
 York, 1880, is a work of monumental importance. 
 
 On the histc^ of New England the best general works are Palfrey, 
 History of New England, 5 vols., Boston, 1858-90; and Doyle, The 
 English in America — The Puritan Colonies, 2 vols., London, 1887. 
 In point of scholarship Dr. Palfrey's work is of the highest order, and 
 it is written in an interesting style. Its only shortcoming is that it 
 deals somewhat too leniently with the faults of the Puritan theocracy, 
 and looks at things too exclusively from a Massachusetts point of 
 view. It is one of the best histories yet written in America. Mr. 
 Doyle's work is admirably fair and impartial, and is based throughout 
 upon a careful study of original documents. The author is a Fellow 
 of All Souls College, Oxford, and has apparently made American his- 
 tory his specialty. His work on the Puritan colonies is one of a series 
 which when completed will cover the whole story of English coloni- 
 zation in America. I have looked in vain in his pages for any remark 
 or allusion indicating that he has ever visited America, and am therefore 
 inclined to think that he has not done so. He now and then makes a 
 slight error such as would not be likely to be made by a native of New 
 England, but this is very seldom. The accuracy and thoroughness of 
 its research, its judicial temper, and its philosophical spirit make Mr. 
 Doyle's book in some respects the best that has been written about 
 New England. 
 
 Among original authorities we may begin by citing John Smith's' 
 Description of New England, 1616, and New England^s Trial, 1622, 
 contained in Arber's new edition of Smith's works, London, 1884. 
 Bradford's narrative of the founding of Plymouth was for a long time 
 supposed to be lost. Nathaniel Morton's New England's Memorial, 
 published in 1669, was little more than an abridgment of it. After two 
 centuries Bradford's manuscript was discovered, and an excellent 
 edition by Mr. Charles Deane was published in the Massachusetts His- 
 torical Collections, 4th series, vol. iii., 1856. A beautiful facsimile of 
 the manuscript has lately been published, with an introduction by J. 
 A. Doyle, London, 1896. Edward Winslow's Journal of the Proceed- 
 ings of the English Plantation settled at Plymouth, 1622, and Good 
 News from. New England, 1624, are contained, with other valuable 
 materials, in Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers, Boston, 1844. 
 
314 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 See also Shurtleff and Pulsifer, Records of Plymouth, 12 vols., ending 
 with the annexation of the colony to Massachusetts in 1692 ; Prince's 
 Chronological History of New England, ed. Drake, 1852 ; and in this 
 connection Hunter's Founders of New Plymouth, London, 1854; 
 Steele's Life of Brewster, Philadelphia, 1857; Goodwin's Pilgrim Pe- 
 pudlic, Boston, 1887; Bacon's Genesis of the New England Churches, 
 New York, 1874; Baylies's Historichl Memoir, 1830; Thacher's His- 
 tory of the Town of Plymouth, 1832. 
 
 Sir Ferdinando Gorges wrote a Briefe Narration of the Originall 
 Undertakings of the advancement of plantations into the parts of 
 America, especially showing the beginning, progress, and continuance 
 of that of New England, London, 1658, contained in his grandson's 
 collection entitled America Painted to the Life. Thomas Morton, of 
 Merrymount, gave his own view of the situation in his New English 
 Canaan, which has been edited for the Prince Society, with great 
 learning, by C. F. Adams. Samuel Maverick also had his say in a 
 valuable pamphlet entitled A Description of New England, which 
 has only come to hght since 1875 and has been edited by Mr. Deane. 
 Maverick is, of course, hostile to the Puritans. See also Lechford's 
 Plain Dealing in New England, ed. J. H. Trumbull, 1867. 
 
 The earliest history of Massachusetts is by Winthrop himself, a work 
 of priceless value. In 1790, nearly a century and a half after the 
 author's death, it was published at Hartford. The best edition is that 
 of 1853. In 1869 a valuable life of Winthrop was published by his 
 descendant, Robert Winthrop. Hubbard's History of New England 
 {Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d series, vols, v., vi.) is drawn largely from Win- 
 throp and from Nathaniel Morton. There is much that is suggestive 
 in William Wood's New England^s Prospect, 1634, ^"d Edward John- 
 son's Wonder- Working Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England, 
 1654; the latter has been ably edited by W. F. Pool§, Andover, 1867. 
 The records of the Massachusetts government, from its founding in 
 1629 down to the overthrow of the charter in 1684, were edited by Dr. 
 Shurtleff in 6 vols, quarto, 1853-54; and among the documents in the 
 British Record Office, published since 1855, three volumes — Calendar 
 of State Papers, Colonial America, vol. i., 1574-1660; vol. v., 1661- 
 1668; vol. vii., 1669 — are especially useful. Of the later authorities 
 the best is Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts Bay, the first vol- 
 ume of which, coming down to 1689, was published in Boston in 1764. 
 The second volume, continuing the narrative to 1749, was published in 
 1767. The third volume, coming down to 1774, was found among the 
 illustrious author's MSS. after his death, and was published in London 
 in 1828. Hutchinson had access to many valuable documents since 
 lost, and his sound judgment and critical acumen deserve the highest 
 praise. In 1769 he published a volume of Original Papers, illustrat- 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 315 
 
 ing the period covered by the first volume of his history. Many price- 
 less documents perished in the shameful sacking of his house by the 
 Boston rioters, Aug. 26, 1765. The second volume of Hutchinson's 
 History was continued to 1764 by G. R. Minot, 2 vols., 1798, and to 
 1820 by Alden Bradford, 3 vols., 1822-29. Of recent works, the best 
 KBaxty^s History of Massachusetts, 3 vols., 1855-57. Many original 
 authorities are collected in Young's Chronicles of Massachusetts, 
 Boston, 1846. Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana, Lon- 
 don, 1702 (reprinted in 1820 and 1853), though crude and uncritical, 
 is full of interest. ' 
 
 The Colonial Laws of Massachusetts, including the Body of Liberties, 
 have been published in facsimile from the original editions by W. H. 
 Whitmore, in two handsome volumes, Boston, 1887-89, giving us all 
 the legislation from 1641 to 1686. ' 
 
 Many of the early Massachusetts documents relate to Maine. Of 
 later books, especial mention should be made of Folsom's History of 
 Saco and Biddeford, Saco, 1830; Willis's History of Portland, 2 vols., 
 1831-33 (2d ed. 1865); Memorial Vohime of the Pophatn Celebration, 
 Portland, 1862; Chamberlain's Maine, Her Place in History, Augusta, 
 1877. On New Hampshire the best general work is Belknap's History 
 of New Hampshire, 3 vols., Phila., 1784-92; the appendix contains 
 many original documents, and others are to be found in the New Hamp- 
 shire Historical Collections, 8 vols., 1824-66. 
 
 The Connecticut Colonial Records are edited by Dr. J. H. Trumbull, 
 12 vols., 1850-82. The Connecticut Historical Society's Collections, 
 1860-70, are of much value. The best general work is Trumbull's 
 History of Connecticut, 2 vols., Hartford, 1797. See also Stiles's A)i- 
 cient Windsor, 2 vols., 1859-63; Cothren's Ancient Woodbury, 3 vols., 
 1854-79. Of the Pequot War we have accounts by three of the prin- 
 cipal actors. Mason's History of the Pequod War is in the Mass. Hist. 
 Coll., 2d. series, vol. viii. ; Underhill's News from America is in the 3d 
 series, vol. vi. ; and Lyon Gardiner's narrative is in the 3d series, vol. 
 iii. In the same volume with Underbill is contained A True Relation 
 of the late Battle fought in New England between the English and the 
 Pequod Savages, by Philip Vincent, London, 1638. The New Haven 
 Colony Records are edited by C. J. Hoadly, 2 vols., Hartford, 1857-58. 
 See also \h& New Haven Historical Society's Papers, 3 vols., 1865-80 ; 
 Lambert's History of New Haven, 1838 ; Atwater's History of New 
 Haven, 1881 ; Levermore's Republic of New Haven, Baltimore, 1886 ; 
 Johnston's Connecticut, Boston, 1887. The best account of the Blue 
 Laws is by J. H. Trumbull, The True Blue Laws of Connecticut and 
 New Haven, and the False Blue Laws invented by the Rev. Samuel 
 Peters, etc., Hartford, 1876. See also Hinman's Blue Laws of New 
 Haven Colony, Hartford, 1838 ; Barber's History and Antiquities of 
 
3i6 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 New Haven, 1831; Peters's History of Connecticut, London, 1781. 
 The story of the regicides is set forth in Stiles's History of the Three 
 Judges, Hartford, 1 794; see also the Mather Papers in Mass. Hist. 
 Coll., 4th series, vol. viii. 
 
 The Rhode Island Colonial Records are edited by J. R. Bartlett, 7 
 vols., 1856-62. One of the best state histories ever written is that of 
 S. G. Arnold, History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence 
 Plantations, 2 vols.. New York, 1859-60. Many valuable documents 
 are reprinted in the Rhode Island Historical Society''s Collections. 
 The History of New England, with particular reference to the denom- 
 ination called Baptists, b3c Rev. Isaac Backus, 3 vols., 1777-96, has 
 much that is valuable relating to Rhode Island. The series of Rhode 
 Island Historical Tracts, issued since 1878 by Mr. S. S. Rider, is of, 
 great merit. Biographies of Roger Williams have been written by J. 
 D. Knowles, 1834 ; by William Gammell, 1845 ; by Romeo Elton, 1852 ; 
 and by O. S. Straus, 1894. Williams's works have been republished 
 by the Narragansett Club in 6 vols., 1866. The first volume contains 
 the valuable Key to the Indiati Languages of America, edited by Dr. 
 Trumbull. Williams's views of religious liberty are set forth in his 
 Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, London, 1644 ; to which John Cotton 
 replied in The Bloudy Tenent washed and m.ade White in the Blood of 
 the Lamb, London, 1647; Williams's rejoinder was entitled The Bloudy 
 Tenent made yet more Bloudy throtigh Mr. Cotton's attempt to Wash 
 it White, London, 1652. The controversy was conducted on both sides 
 with a candour and courtesy rare in that age. The titles of Williams's 
 other principal works, George Fox digged out of his Burrowes, Boston, 
 1676; Hireling Ministry none of Christ's, London, 1652; and Christen- 
 ings make not Christians, 1645 ; sufficiently indicate their character. 
 The last-named tract was discovered in the British Museum by Dr. 
 Dexter and edited by him in Rider's Tracts, No. xiv., 1881. The treat- 
 ment of Roger Williams by the government of Massachusetts is elabo- 
 rately discussed in Dexter's As to Roger Willihms, Boston, 1876. See 
 also G. E. Ellis on " The Treatment of Intruders and -Dissentients by 
 the Founders of Massachusetts," in Lowell Lectures, Boston, 1869. 
 
 The case of Mrs. Hutchinson is treated, from a hostile and some- 
 what truculent point of view, in Thomas Welde's pamphlet entitled 
 A Short Story of the Rise, Reign, and Ruin of Antinomians, Famil- 
 ists, and Libertines that infected the Churches of New England, Lon- 
 don, 1644. It was answered in an anonymous pamphlet entitled Mer- 
 curius Americanus, republished for the Prince Society, Boston, 1876, 
 with prefatory notice by C. H. Bell. Cotton's view of the theocracy 
 may be seen in his Milk for Babes, drawn out of the Breasts of both 
 Testaments, London, 1646; Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven; and 
 Way of the Congregational Churches Cleared, London, 1648. See also 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 317 
 
 Thomas Hooker's Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline, London, 
 1648. The intolerant spirit of the time finds quaint and forcible ex- 
 pression in Nathaniel Ward's satirical book, The Simple Cobler of 
 Aggawam, 1647. 
 
 For the Gorton controversy the best original authorities are his 
 own book entitled Simplicitie' s Defence against Seven-headed Polity, 
 London, 1646 ;- and Winslow's answer entitled Hypocracie Unmasked, 
 London, 1646. See also Mackie's Life of Samuel Gorton, 'Boston, 
 1845 ; Janes's Samuell Gorton, Providence, 1896, and Brayton's De- 
 fence of Sam.uel Gorton, in Rider's Tracts, No. xvii. 
 
 Foe the early history of the Quakers, see Robert Barclay's Inner Life 
 of the Religious Societies of the Commonwealth, London, 1876, — an 
 admirable book. See also New England a Degenerate Plant, 1659; 
 Bishop's New England judged by the Spirit of the Lord, 1661 ; Sewel's 
 History of the Quakers, 1722 ; Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers, 1753 ; 
 The Popish Inquisition newly erected in New England, London, 1659 ; 
 The Secret Works of a Cruel People made Manifest, 1659 ; and the 
 pamphlet of the martyrs Stevenson and Robinson, entitled A Call from. 
 Death to Life', 1660. John Norton's view of the case was presented in 
 his book. The Heart of New England Rent at the Blasphem.ies of the 
 Present Generation, London, 1660. See also J. S. Pike's New Puritan, 
 New York, 1879 ; Hallowell's Pioneer Quakers, Boston, 1887 ; and his 
 Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts, Boston, 1883 ; Brooks Adams, The 
 Emancipation of Massachusetts, Boston, 1887 ; Ellis, The Puritan 
 Age and Rule, Boston, 1888 ; Rogers, Mary Dyer, the Quaker Martyr, 
 Providence, 1896. 
 
 Some additional light upon the theocratic idea may be found in a 
 treatise by the apostle Eliot, The Christian Commonwealths or, the 
 Civil Polity of the Rising, Kingdom offesus Christ, London, 1659. ^''^ 
 account of Eliot's missionary work is given in The Day breaking, if 
 not the Sun rising, of the Gospel with the Indians in New England, 
 London, 1647 ; and The Glorious Progress of the Gospel amongst the 
 Indians in New England, 1649. See also Shepard's Clear Sunshine 
 of the Gospel breaking forth upon the Indians, 1648 ; and Whitfield's 
 Light appearing more and more towards the Perfect Day, 1651. 
 
 The principal authority for Philip's war is Hubbard's Present State 
 of New England, being a Narrative of the Trotibles with the Indians, 
 1677. Church's Entertaining Passages relating to Philip^s War, pub- 
 lished in 1716, and republished in 1865, with notes by Mr. Dexter, is 
 a charming book. See also Mrs. Rowlandson's True History, Cam- 
 bridge, Mass., 1682; MsXhtr^& Brief History of the War, 1676 ; Drake's 
 Old Indian Chronicle, Boston, 1836; Gookin's Historical Collections of 
 the Indians in New England, 1674 ; and Account of the Doings and 
 Sufferings of the Christian Indians, in Archeeologia Americana, vql. ii. 
 
3i8 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 Baitten's /ournalis the diary of a citizen of Boston, sent to England, 
 and is now in MS. among the Colonial Papers. Mrs. Mary Pray's 
 letter (Oct. 20, 1675) is in Mass. Hist. Coll., 5th series, vol. i. p. 105. 
 
 The great storehouse of information for the Andros period is the 
 Andros Tracts, 3 vols., edited for the Prince Society by W. H. Whit- 
 more. See also Sewall's Diary, Mass. Hist. Coll., 5th series, vols, 
 v.-viii. Sewall has been appropriately called the Puritan Pepys. His 
 book is a mirror of the state of society in Massachusetts at the time 
 when it was beginning to be felt that the old theocratic idea had been 
 tried in the balance and found wanting. There is a wonderful charm 
 in such a book. It makes one feel as if one had really "been there" 
 and taken part in the homely scenes, full of human interest; which it so 
 naively portrays. Anne pradstreet's works have been edited by J. H. 
 Ellis, Charlestown, 1867. 
 
 For further references and elaborate bibliographical discussions, see 
 Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. iii. ; and his 
 Memorial History of Boston, 4 vols., Boston, 1880. There is a good 
 account of the principal New England writers of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, with illustrative extracts, in Tyler's History of Am.erican Litera- 
 ture, 2 vols., New York, 1878. For extracts see also the first two vol- 
 umes of Stedman and Yi\x'K!s)S.ViS,ovL& Library of American Literature, 
 New York, 1888. 
 
 In conclusion I would observe that town histories, though seldom 
 written in a philosophical spirit and apt to be quite amorphous in 
 structure, are a mine of wealth for the philosophic student of history. 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abolitionists and Republicans, 6i. 
 
 Acadia, 3pS. 
 
 Achaian league, 19. 
 
 Adams, C. 1?'., 122, note. 
 
 Adams, Samuel, iii, 1^6, 18S, 273. 
 
 Adoption, absorption of savage tribes by, 237, 
 
 Aitolian league, 19. 
 
 Albigenses, 3^,39. 
 
 Alexander (Wamsutta), 23S. 
 
 Alexandria, 5. 
 
 Alfred, 15; portrait, 15. 
 
 Algonquin New Testament, Eliot's, facsimile 
 title-page of, 231. 
 
 Allyn, John, 299 ; autograph, 299. 
 
 Alsace, 292. 
 
 Anabaptists, 198. 
 
 Andover, 262. 
 
 Andros, Sir E., 297, 303 ; portrait and auto-' 
 graph, 303. 
 
 Andros, Lady, 301. 
 
 Aniinomians, 126-130, 145, 168, 176, iSi, 276. 
 
 Appleton, Major SamuelJ 252 ; autograph, 252. 
 
 Aquedneck, 129, 177. 
 
 Aquinas, 16. 
 
 Architecture, Gothic, 16. 
 
 Armada, the Invincible, 56, 65, 108. 
 
 Armagnacs, 29. 
 
 Arminius, zo, 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, governor of Rhode Island, 
 181. 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, t6i. 
 
 Arnold, Samuel Greene, 179. 
 
 Arnold. Wniiam, 181. 
 
 Arrival of Winthrop's colony in Boston Har- 
 bour, 108. 
 
 Artaxerxes, 11. 
 
 Anmdel, Earl of, 121. 
 
 Ashawonks, squaw sachem, 264. 
 
 Assistants, Board of, 102, 112, 134; disagree- 
 ment with deputies, 114, 115, 1S6, 213, 215. 
 
 Assowamsett Pond, 242. 
 
 Assyria. 8. 10, 17. 
 
 Atheism, charges of, 95. 
 
 Attika, 10. 
 
 Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 4. 
 
 Augustine, missionary to Britain, 22. 
 
 Austerfiel'l, );8 ; map showing position of, 59. 
 
 Austerfield church, view of, 64. 
 
 Austin, Anne, 208. 
 
 Austin house in Cambridge, 271. 
 
 Avignon, exile of popes at, 3, 28. 
 
 Bacon, Leonard, 222. 
 
 Bacon, Sir Nicholas, 56. 
 
 Bacon, Roger, 16. 
 
 Baptists, persecution of, 152-200. 
 
 Barnns' War, 26. 
 
 Batten's journal, 248. 
 t;; Baxter. Richard, 124. 
 
 ' ' "Bay Psalm Book," facsimile title-page of, 171. 
 
 Beers, Captain^ 246. 
 
 Bellin§;ham, Richard, 208; autograph, 208. 
 
 Benedict, St., 15. 
 
 Bermudas, 174. 
 
 Bible, Eliot's, 230. 
 
 Bible, EngHsh VLrsion of, 48-50. 
 
 Bible, King James's, facsimile title-page of, 47. 
 
 Black, Joseph, 166. 
 
 Blackstone, William, 96, no; autograph, 96. 
 
 Blaine, J. G., 230. 
 
 Blair education bill, 12. 
 
 Blake, Robert, 126. 
 
 Bloody Brook, 247, 249. 
 
 Blue Law^, 148. 
 
 Body of Liberties, 277. 
 
 Bogomilians, 32. 
 
 Bohemia, 34. 
 
 Boniface, St., 15. 
 
 Bosnia, 34. 
 
 Boston, Lincolnshire, 58, 118. 
 
 Boston, Mass., 58, no, 127, 182, 186; oldest 
 house in, 277 ; population in 1680, 286 ; first 
 Town-House of, 305. 
 
 Boston Neck, old view of, 130. 
 
 Bosworth, battle of, ic6. 
 
 Boto'ph's, St., T15, 118. 
 
 Braddock's defeat, 235. 
 
 Bradford, William, 68, 69, 80, 83, 88, 95. 
 
 Bradford, William, the younger, 252. 
 
 Bradford's Manuscript History, facsimile of 
 first page, 68, 69. 
 
 Bradstreet, Anne, 289, 290; autograph, 289. 
 
 Bradstreet, Simon, 288-290, 305 ; portrait and 
 autograph, 289. 
 
 Branford, 146. 
 
 Brereton's " Briefe and True Relation," fac- 
 simile title-page of, 71. 
 
 Brewster, William, 63, 67, 69, 80, 82; auto- 
 ^aph, 63 ; residence at Scrooby, 67. 
 
 Brideewater, 26S. 
 
 Bridgham house in Dorchester,, 177. 
 
 Britain, English conquest of, 22, 23. 
 
 Bro"ke, Lord, 132. 
 
 Brookfield, 243, 244, 257. 
 
 Browne, Robert, 61-63 ; autograph, 61. 
 
 Bryce, James, 2 
 
 Buckingham, Duke of, 92, 104, 106. 
 
 Buckle, H. T., 166. 
 
 Bunyan, John, 45, 124, 197, 272. 
 
 Burghley, Lord, 56, 61, 63 ; portrait and auto- 
 graph, 62. 
 
 Burgundians, French party, 29. 
 
 Burgundians, tribe, 22. 
 
 Burns, Robert, 166. 
 
 Byzantine empire, 2. 
 
 Cassar, C. J., 4, 7i 16, 23. 
 Calverts in Maryland, i6g. 
 Calvin, John, 51-54; portrait and autograph, 
 so. 
 
322 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cambridge, Eng., 56, 118; meeting of Puri- 
 tans at, loS. 
 
 Cambridge, Mass. (New Town, no, iii, 134, 
 135)1136; name changed, 118; Austin house 
 in, 2;7i ; Lee house in,'^275. 
 
 Cambridge Platform, 192^ ^csimile title-page 
 of, 193. 
 
 Canonchet, 248-253, 262. 
 
 Canonicus, 87. 
 
 Cape Ann, 75, g6. 
 
 Cape Cod, 73, 74, 81. 
 
 Cape Elizabeth, 75. 
 
 " Captivity," Mrs. Rowlandson's, facsimile 
 titlc'page of, 259. 
 
 Carlrsle, Earl of, 121. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 198. 
 
 Castle Island, 122, 304. 
 
 Catabaptists, igS. 
 
 Cathan, 32-34, 35. 
 
 Catholics excluded from House of Commons, 
 275; relations with Quakers, 219. 
 
 Cavendish, Thomas, ^6. 
 
 Century, fifth, 22 ; sixth, 22 ; thirteenth, 16, 
 24, 27, 32, 33; fourteenth, 28; fifteenth, 28; 
 seventeenth, 6, 29. 
 
 Champla"n's defeat of the Mohawks, 235. 
 
 Charles the Great, 3, 15, 24. 
 
 Charles I,, 44, 102, 134-137, 120-122, 149, 174, 
 175, 226, 296; portrait and autograph, 103. 
 
 Charles II,, 129, 217-219, 222, 223,1224, 226, 
 274, 281, 288, 290, 292, 294, 296 ; portrait and 
 autograph, 218. 
 
 Charles river, 75, 98. 
 
 Charlestown, no, 122. 
 
 Charter granted to Company of Massachu- 
 setts Bay, 102, 107 ; transferred to New 
 England, loS ; threatened by Charles I., 
 122 ; by Long Parliament, 175 ; by the royal 
 commissioners, 224 ; annulled^ by 'Charles 
 II., 295; effects of annulling it, 296; new 
 one granted by William and Mary, 309. 
 
 Charter Oak, 298, 299. 
 
 Charters of English towns attacked by Charles 
 II., 294. 
 
 Chaucer, Geoffrey, 16. 
 
 Chaiincey, Charles, 278. 
 
 Cheeshahteaumuck, Caleb, 229. ^ 
 
 Ci"'elmsford, 262. 
 
 Chicago, 236. 
 
 Child, Robert. 188-191, 219; facsimile title- 
 page of his " New England's Jonas," 190, 
 
 Chlodwig, King of the Franks, 3. 
 
 Christendom, 11. 
 
 Christianity destroyed in Britain, 22. 
 
 Christison, Wenldck, 215, 216, 217, 225 his 
 alleged recantation, 216, 2ij^note. 
 
 Chronological Table, 150, 151. 
 
 Church, Benjamin, 250, 254, 257, 263, 264, 265 ; 
 autograph of, 250. 
 
 Cicero, M. T., 4. 
 
 Civil War in America, 18, 107, note. 
 
 Civilis, 20. 
 
 Clarke, John, 176, 192-200; portrait and auto- 
 graph, 196. 
 
 Claverhouse, John, 299. 
 
 Cleveland, Orover, 20, 26, 230* 
 
 Climate of New England, 74. 
 
 Coddington, William, 129, 195, 200 ; autograph, 
 129. 
 
 Coke, Sir E., 99, 114. 
 
 Coligny, Gaspard, 51. 
 
 College, Stephen, 263. 
 
 Commons, first House of, 26; extraordinary 
 scenes in, 106, 107. 
 
 Conant, Roger, 96, 97, 101. 
 
 Concord, Indian village near, 233. 
 
 Confederacy, the New England, 167-225 ; its 
 constitution, 172; its weakness, 173; its for- 
 mation involved a tacit assumption of sover- 
 eignty, 173, 219; weakened by suppression 
 of New jBaven, 226. 
 
 Congregationalism and self-government, 52. 
 
 Congress, 23. 
 
 Connecticut, founding of, 132-140, 276; its place 
 in American history, 140; obtains a charter, 
 223 ; partly rescinded, 399 ; hidden, 299 ; re- 
 stored, 307. 
 
 Connecticut river, Dutch map of, 132. 
 
 Cooper, J. F., 245. 
 
 Corporate responsibility, 186, 248. 
 
 Cortes, Spanish, 27. 
 
 Cotton, John, 118, 127, 128, 134, 145, 146, 166, 
 jgg, 202 ; his vicarage in England, 117; por- 
 trait and autograph, 120 ; facsimile of title- 
 page of his " Spiritual Miik for Boston 
 Babes," 158. 
 
 Council for New England, 92, 121 ; seal, 121. 
 
 County meetings, 23. 
 
 Covenant of grace and of works, 127. 
 
 Coventry, Henry, 284. 
 
 Coverdale, Miles, 49. 
 
 Cradock house in Medford, 161. 
 
 Crandall, John, 195, 198, 199. 
 
 Cranfield, Edward, 287. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 7, 39, 41, 45, 49, 51, 57, 126, 
 149. 152) 174, 176) 2*2, 221, 256, 284, 288, 
 303; portrait and autograph, 8; facsimile of 
 parts of letter to John Cotton, 203, 204. 
 
 Cross of St. George cut out of the flag by En- 
 dicott, 125. 
 
 Gushing, F. H., 236. 
 
 Cuttyhunk, 73. 
 
 Danforth, Thomas, 248. 
 
 Danish invasions of England, 24. 
 
 Dante, 4, 16. 
 
 Dark Ages, 15. 
 
 Dartmouth, Eng., 80. 
 
 Dartmiinih, Mass., massacre at, 243. 
 
 Davenport, Jx)hn, 145, 146, 222, 225, 278; 
 portrait, 222. 
 
 Davison, Sir W., 63. 
 
 Death, savage's idea of, 240. 
 
 Death penalty, 213. 
 
 "Declaration of the Sad Persecution," fac- 
 simile title-page of, 210. 
 
 Dedham, Fairbanks house in, 169. 
 
 Deerfield, 244; 246. 
 
 DeFoe, Daniel, 207. 
 
 De Forest's " History of the Indians in Con- 
 necticut," 185, 238, notes. 
 
 Delaware Indians, 235. 
 
 Delegated power, 13, 19. 
 
 Delfthaven, 80; departure of Pilgrims from 
 (photogravure), 90." 
 
 Democracy discussed between Winthrop and 
 Hooker, 134. ' 
 
 Denison, George, defeats and captures Canon- 
 chet, 263 ; autograph, 263. 
 
 Deputies, chamber of, 113; disagreements 
 with Board of Assistants, 114, 115, 186, 21s, 
 214. 
 
 Descartes, Ren^, 164. 
 
 "Description of New England," Smith's, fac- 
 simile title-page of, 79. 
 
 Despotism the weakest form of government, 
 
 Devonshire, 57. 
 
 Dexter, Henry Martyn, 200,219. 
 
 Digges, Sir Dudley, 106. 
 
INDEX 
 
 323 
 
 Diocletian, 14. 
 
 Dixwell, John, 222, 223 ; autograph, 223. 
 
 Dorchester, Eng., 97. 
 
 Dorchester, Mass., no, 122, 134, 135, 136; 
 
 Minot house iu, 163 ; Bridgham house in, 
 
 177. 
 Dorchester adventurers, g6. 
 Dorset, 57, g6. 
 Dover, N. H., 129, 2S7. 
 Doyle, J. A., 18S, 2S2, 284, iwtes. 
 Drake, Sir F,, 56; portrait and autograph, 
 
 55- 
 Dudley, Lord Guilford, 109. 
 Dudley, Joseph, 2S5, 286, 290, 294,. 297, 301, 
 
 302, 304; portrait and autograph, 28^. 
 Dudley, Robert, Earl of Leicester, 109, 286. 
 Dudley, Thomas, 109, no, 285; autograph, 
 
 log. 
 Dunbar, battle of, 153, 221. 
 Dunster, Henry, 230 
 Dutch, 54, 65, 132, 168, 175, 224. 
 Dyer, Mary, 214, 215, 217. 
 Dyer, William, autograph, 214. 
 
 " East Anglia, heresy in, 57*, contributions to 
 the Puritan exodus, 57, 154; familiar look to 
 a New Englander, 58. 
 East Greenwich, manor of, 187. 
 Eaton, Theophilus, 143. 
 Ecclesiastical beginnings of Massachusetts, 
 
 115, 116. 
 
 " Ecclesiastical Polity," by Richard Hooker, 
 59- 
 
 Edinburgh, 167. 
 
 Education, popular, 164. 
 
 Edward I., 16, 36 ; portrait, 17. 
 
 Edward IL, 33. 
 
 Edward lU., 36. 
 
 Edward IV., 58. 
 
 Eliot, Sir John, to6, 107. 
 
 Eliot, John,_aposile, 229-234, 237, 238, 265; 
 facsimile title-page of his Algonquin New 
 Testament, 231;, chair belonging to, 235; 
 portrait, 2^6. 
 
 Elizabeth, 36, 51, 52-56,59-63,65; conversa- 
 tion with a lady of the court, 54 1 portrait 
 and autograph, 53. 
 
 Elizabeth Islands, 73. 
 
 Ellis, George, 217. 
 
 Emmanuel College, 118, 28S. 
 
 Empire, Holy Roman, 2-4, 16, 28. 
 
 Endicott, John, 98, loi, loz, no, 115, 125, 166, 
 202, 210, zii, 213, 214, 2x6, 218, 226; por- 
 trait, 212. 
 
 England, importance of part played by her in 
 seventeenth century, 30, 44-46 ; union with 
 Scotland, 18 ; church of, 37. ^ 
 
 English method of nation-making, 17-39; "«^" 
 ture of Puritan exodus, 153, 
 
 Episcopal worship forbidden in Massachusetts, 
 
 116, 288; introduced by Andros, 299, 300. 
 Episcopius, 69. 
 
 Erasmus, 60. 
 
 Esi^ex, county of, 58. 
 
 Essex, Earl of, 91. 
 
 Ethical nature of the Puritan ideal, 161. 
 
 Exeter, N. H., 129, 287. 
 
 Fairbanks house In Dedham, 169. 
 Fairfax, Sir T., 143- 
 Fairfield, 144. 
 
 Faithful, in " Pilgrim's Progress,*' 197. 
 Familists, 177. 
 
 Federal Commissioners in 1675, autographs of, 
 247. 
 
 Federal Convention of 1788, 140. 
 
 Federalism, pacific tendency of, 18, ig, 
 
 Ferdinand of Aragon, 4, 51. 
 
 Feudalism, its destruction, 28. 
 
 Filmer, Sir R., 294. 
 
 Fisher, Mary, 20H, 211. 
 
 Fiske, John, *' Watering of the Olive-Plant," 
 
 facsimile title-page of, 157. 
 Fleet Street, tumult in, 61. 
 Florida, Huguenots massacred in, 56, 76. 
 Fortune, ship, 83. 
 Fox, George, 205. 
 France, 2g ; damaged by persecution of Albi- 
 
 gensesand Huguenots, 33,36, 39, 40; failure 
 
 of R'eformation in, 41. 
 Francis of Assisi, 16, 31. 
 Francis 1 1., last Roman emperor, 4. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 20. 
 Franks, 22. 
 
 Frederick II. of Prussia, 41. 
 Frederick II., Roman emperor, 16, 28. 
 Freeman, E. A., 15. 
 French in America, 168, 277, 307, 310. 
 French Revolution, 41, 45. 
 
 Gardiner, Sir Christopher, no, 117. 
 
 Gardiner, S. R., 54, 104, 107, notes. 
 
 Gardiner, Lyon, 141 ; autograph, 141. 
 
 Gauls, 18. 
 
 Geneva, 51. 
 
 George III., 307, 310. 
 
 Germanic invasions of Roman empire, 14-23. 
 
 Gettysburg, battle of, 46. 
 
 Gilbert, Sir H., 56. 
 
 Gladstone, W. E., 26. 
 
 Goffe, William, 222, 245, 246, 284; portrait and 
 
 autograph, 220. 
 " Good News from New England," Wins- 
 low's, facsimile title-page of, 105. 
 Gookin, Daniel, 248 ; autograph, 24S. 
 Gorges, Sir Ferdinando. gi, 92, g6, loi, no, 
 
 IT7, 120, 121, 129, 168, i6g, 281, 282, 287; 
 
 autograph, 91. 
 Gorges, Ferdinando, the younger, 288. 
 Gorges, John, loi, no. 
 Gorges, Robert, loi. 
 Gorton, Samuel, 176-187,219; autograph, r8i; 
 
 facsimile of title-page of his " Simplicitie's • 
 
 Defence," 189. 
 Gortonoges, 1S3. 
 Gosnold, Bartholomew, 73. 
 Goths, 22-. 
 
 Grafton, Indian village near, 233. 
 Grants of territory, conflicting, 92, 96, 98, gg, 
 
 loi, no. 
 Greek cities, 10, 19. 
 Green, J. R., 64, note, 
 Gregory of Tours, 15. 
 Gregory the Great, 15. 
 Gregory Vfl., 32. 
 Gregory XI., 36. 
 Grey, Ladv Jane, 108. 
 GrindaU Edmund, 56. 
 proton, 262. 
 Guiana, 7g. 
 
 Guilford, old stone house at, 146. 
 Guises, 39, 50, 56. 
 Gustavus, Adolphus, 108. 
 
 Hadley, 212, 262; mysterious stranger at, 244- 
 
 246. 
 Halfway Covenant. 278, 279. 
 Hallowell, Richard, 217. 
 Hamilton, Alexander, 134. 
 Hamilton, Marquis of, 121. 
 
324 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hampden, John, 45, 11 1, 221; portrait and 
 
 autograph, 44. 
 Hampton, N. H,, 129, 287. 
 Hampton C^ourt, conference at, 64-67. 
 Hardscrabble, 155. 
 Hartiord, 132, 13U-140, 183, 237. 
 Harvard, John, 118. 
 Harvard College, 118, 126, 142, 188; view of , 
 
 in r72b, iiB ; west gate of, in 1890, 119 ; seal 
 
 of, 141. 
 Hatfield, 244, 262. 
 Hawkins, Sir John, 56. 
 " Heart of New Enjiland Rent," Gorton's, 
 
 facsimile title-page of, 209. 
 Helihuddle, 155. 
 Hengest, 22. 
 
 Henry IV. {England), 34. 
 Henry VI I ., 29, 296. 
 Henry VI II., 36, 38, 50; portrait and auto-' 
 
 graph, 37. 
 Henry III. {France), 39. 
 Henry IV., 39 ; portrait and autograph, 40. 
 Hertfordshire, 145. 
 
 Higginson, Francis, 102, 116; facsimile title- 
 page of his " New England's Plantation,'" 
 
 gi. 
 Hi^h Commission, court of, 116. 
 Hifdebrand, 31. 
 
 Hingham, old meeting-house in, 165, 
 History, changes in the study of, 2, 8. 
 Hobbes, Thnmas, 164. 
 
 Holland, English exiles in, 63, 68, 69, 145 ; tol- 
 eration in, 69. 
 Holmes, Obadiah, 195-200. 
 Holmes, William, 132. 
 Hooker, Richard, 59 ; portrait, 60. 
 Hooker, Thomas, 118, 134, 136, 137, 140, 148; 
 
 autograph, 134. 
 Hubbard, William, 240, 24,6, 257, 263, 284 ; 
 
 autograph, 257 ; map of New England, 268, 
 
 269. 
 Hudson river, 98. 
 Huguenots, 39, 54, 65, 70, 80, 98, 107, 152 ; 
 
 in Florida, 56, 76; in Massachusetts, 153. 
 Hull, 58. 
 Humane feelings allowed to develop through 
 
 decline of war, 107, note, 255. 
 Hume, David, 166. 
 Hunter, John, 166. 
 
 Hutchinson, Anne, 126-130, 180, 192, 214. 
 Hutchinson, Edward, 243; autograph, 243. 
 Hutchinson, Thomas, 130, 218, 286. 
 Hutton, James, 166. 
 
 '* Incorruptible Key," Gorton's, 178, note. 
 
 " Indian War," Increase Mather's, facsimile 
 title-page of, 260. 
 
 Indians, 21, 16S; their dealings with the set- 
 tlers, 227-238 ; missionaiy work, 22S-234, 
 237, 238 ; sold into slavery, 265. 
 
 Innocent III., 16, 28, 32, 33, 34. 
 
 Inquisition, 33-35, 167. 
 
 Inquisitorial administration of justice, 277. 
 
 Ipswich. 58, 302. 
 
 Iroquois league, 131, 234. 
 
 Isabella the Catholic, 51. 
 
 Italy consolidated under Rome, 10. 
 
 Jabberwok, 148. 
 
 James I., 34, 46, 63-67, 80, go, 92, 104, 174; 
 portrait and autograph, 66. 
 
 James II., 2f9, 297, 302, 303, 308; portrait 
 and autograph, 297. 
 
 James, Duke of Monmouth, portrait and au- 
 tograph, 287. 
 
 James the Printer, 266. 
 
 Jamestown, 73. 
 
 Janes, Lewis G., 181, jS^, nates. 
 
 Jeffersoii, Thomas, 20, 126, 135, 273. 
 
 Jeffreys, George, 293 ; portrait and autograph, 
 
 295. 
 Jesus College, 22S. 
 Jinghis Khan. 45. 
 John, King of England, 25. 
 Johnson, Edward, 186, 271. 
 Johnston, Alexander, 140, wi?^^. 
 Jury trial abandoned in the New Haven 
 
 colony, 148, 277. 
 Justinian, 2. 
 
 Keayne, Robert, and his pig, 114-116; auto- 
 graph, 114. 
 
 Kennebec river, 73, 74, loi. 
 
 Kent, 145. ■ 
 
 Keroualle, Louise de, 292 ; portrait and auto- 
 graph, 292. 
 
 King, H. M., 200. 
 
 Kings have become harmless, 27. 
 
 King's Chapel founded, 301 ; its first building, 
 301. 
 
 " King's Missive," the, 218. 
 
 King's proclamation for the arrest of Whalley 
 and GoflBe, facsimile of, 226, 227. 
 
 KingdOrns, modern growth of, 28, 29. 
 
 Kirk, the Scotch, 167. 
 
 Kirke, Percy, 296, 297. 
 
 Knighton, Henry, 35. 
 
 Knox, John, 49. 
 
 Kynaxa, battle of, 9. 
 
 Lancaster, 243, 244, 257. 
 
 La Salle, 307. 
 
 Latimer, Hugh, 38, 45, 49 ; portrait, 38. 
 
 Laud, Willi'im, 116, 124, 145. 
 
 Leddra, William, 215. 
 
 Lee house in Cambridge, 275. 
 
 Lenox, Earl of, 92. 
 
 Leo III., 3. 
 
 Letter from Standish to Bradford, facsimile 
 of, 99. 
 
 Leverett, John, 243, 2S2, 284, 288; portrait 
 and autograph, 283. 
 
 Levermore, C. H., 213, note. 
 
 Lewes, battle of, 26. 
 
 Leyden, home of the Pilgrims. 68 ; plan of, 69. 
 
 Liberty, religious, not the object of the Puri- 
 tan exodus, 159-161. 
 
 Light, supernatural or inward, 128, 205. 
 
 Locke, John, 41, 45. 
 
 Lollards, 35-39. 45-Si- 
 
 London Company, 70, 73, 78, Si, 92. 
 
 Londonderry, N. H., 153. 
 
 Long Parliament, 14S. 
 
 Longland, John, 57. 
 
 Lords of Trade, 282. 
 
 J^orraine, 292. 
 
 Lothrop, Captain, 244, 246. 
 
 Louis IX., 16. 
 
 Louis Xri., 4. 
 
 Louis XHI., 104. 
 
 Louis XIV., 2g, 39, 80, 292, 303, 307. 
 
 LucuUus's villa, r. 
 
 Luther, Martin, 36, 51, 60. 
 
 Lydians, 18. 
 
 Lyell, Sir C, 166. 
 
 Magna Charta, 31, 137, fiote. 
 Mahomet II., 41. 
 Mahomet III., 211. 
 Manichseans, 32. 
 
INDEX 
 
 325 
 
 Maps of New England: Smithes, 74, 82, 83; 
 
 HubLaid's 268, 269; Wood's, 138, 139. 
 Marathoii, 152. 
 Marblehead, 248. 
 Marlborough, 258, 262. 
 Marston Moor, 46. 
 Martha's Vineyard, 73, 228, 233, 307. 
 Maiy Siuart, 56. 
 Mary Tudor, 34, 51. 
 
 Mason, John, captain in Pequot war, 142-144. 
 Mason, John, grantee of lands in the Piscata- 
 qua country, 101, 121, 122, 129, 168, 281, 
 2S2, 287; autograph of, 142. 
 
 Mason, Robert, 283. 
 
 Massachusetts annexes New Hampshire towns, 
 168, 2&7, and Maine, 2S8 ; population in 
 1643, 173, and in 16S0, 286; brought into 
 sympatliy with Virginia, 309. 
 
 Mas achusetts Bay, Company of, 102. 
 
 Massachusetts charter of 1629, facsimile of, 
 106,^107 ; of 1691, facsimile of, 30S, 309. 
 
 Massasoit, 86, 125, 138, 238. 
 
 Massa-wachtisettSy or ' At-the-great Hill " 
 tribe, 130. 
 
 Mather, Cotton, 214 ; charges against the 
 Quakers, 181; remark about the theocratic 
 idea, 22 s. 
 
 Mather. Increase, 24s, 246, 265, 278, 284, 295, 
 304 ; facsimile of litle-page of his " Indian 
 War," 260 ; portrait, 294. ' 
 
 Maverick, Samuel, 95, 96, no, i88, igi, 219, 
 224 
 
 Mayflower, ship, 43, 56, 80-82,92; the com- 
 pact driwn up in her cabin, 137, note. 
 
 Mayflower Pilgrims, autographs of, 85. 
 
 Mayhew, Thomas, 228. 
 
 Mazzini, 46. 
 
 Medfield, 262, _ , 
 
 Medford, Cradock house in, 161. 
 
 Media, lo- 
 
 Meeting-house in Hingham, 165. 
 
 Melanchthon, 51. 
 
 Melville, Andrew, 64. 
 
 Mendon, 241, 262, 266. 
 
 " Meritorious Price," Pynchon's, facsimile 
 title-page of, 194. "^ 
 
 Merrimack river, roi, 259. 
 
 Merrymount, 95, 96, "iio, 121. 
 
 Miantonomo, 182-186, 235, 248; his mark, 
 r<*2. 
 
 Middle class in England, 24. 
 
 Middleborough, 242, 243, 262. 
 
 Milford, 146. 148. 
 
 Milman, H. H., 36, 206, notes, 
 
 Milton. John, 41, 45. 4gj 127, 212, 256, 294; 
 portrait and autograph, 42. 
 
 Minot I'ouse in Dorchester, 163. 
 
 Mohawks, 131, 144, 235. 
 
 Mohegans, 131, 143, i44> 182-186, 235, 237, 
 241, 263. 
 
 Monadnock, ni. 
 
 Monmouth, Duke of, 107, 288, 296. 
 
 Montesquieu, 45. 
 
 Moutfort, Simon de, 26, 27 ; seal of, 25. 
 
 Monrs in Spain, 9, 30. 
 
 Morton, Thomas, 95, 9S no, 117, 187; fac- 
 simile of title-page of his " New English Ca- 
 naan,"' 9^; antosraph, 95; facsimile of title- 
 page of his " New England's Memorial," 
 232. 
 
 Mount Hope, 242, 243.^, 
 
 "Mourt's Relation," facsimile title-page of, 
 100. 
 
 "Mugwump " in Eliot^s Bible, 230. 
 
 Miinster, 207. 
 
 Nantasket, 96. 
 
 Names, Edict of, 39, 153. 
 
 Nantucket, 228, 233. 
 
 Napoleon, 41. 
 
 Narragansett campaign of 1675, map of, 251. 
 
 Narragansett Fort, storming of, 253. 
 
 Narragan setts, 86, 88> 131, 142; 144, 181-186, 
 235) 237, 241, 248-254, 262. 
 
 Naseby, hattle of, 26, 46, 221. 
 
 Natick, Indian village, 233, 242. 
 
 Nation-making, 6, 30. 
 
 Naumkeag, 97, loi. 
 
 Navigation laws, 282, 283. 
 
 Netherlands, 29. 
 
 New Amsterdam, 132, 225. * 
 
 Newark founded, 225. 
 
 Newbury, Spencer-Pierce house in, 175. 
 
 New England, great seal of, under Andros, 
 304- 
 
 New England, map of, i ; Smith's, 82, 83 ; 
 Wood's, 138, 139; Hubbard's, 268, 269. 
 
 " New England's Jonas cast up at London," 
 I go, 191. 
 
 *' New England's Memorial," Morton's, fac- 
 simile title-page of. 232. 
 
 New England's Plantation, Higginson's, fac- , 
 simile title-page of, 94. 
 
 "New England's Salamander discovered," 
 
 "New English Canaan," Morton's, facsimile 
 title-page of, 93. 
 
 New Hampshire, beginnings of, 129, 168, 287, 
 306. 
 
 New Haven colony, 145-14S; annexed to Con- 
 necticut, 221-225. 
 
 " New Haven's bettling," facsimile title-page 
 of, 147- 
 
 Newhouse, Thomas, 207. 
 
 New Netherland, 131. 
 
 Newport, R. I., 129, 172, 180. 
 
 Njsw South Church, 279. 
 
 New Town, see Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 Nichewaug, 131. 
 
 Nichols, Richard, 212, 224, 288. 
 
 Nipmutks, 131, 237, 241, 243,247, 254, 257, 262. 
 
 Noddle's Is'and, 96, 188. 
 
 Norfolk, 58. 
 
 Norman conquest of England, 25. 
 
 North, Ro^er, 294. 
 
 North Virginia, 73-76. 
 
 Northampton, 262. 
 
 Norton, John, 20^, 204, 278, 289; autograph, 
 206; facsimile title-page of his " Heart of 
 New England Rent," 209. 
 
 Norwich, scene of Miantonomo's defeat, 183. 
 
 Nyantics, 130, 143. 
 
 Odovakar, i, 3j 4i- 
 
 Ojibways, 2^0. 
 
 Oldham. John, no, 135, 140. 
 
 " Old Mortality," 299. 
 
 Old South Church, 262, 279, 294, 300. 
 
 Order creating the Board of Selectmen of 
 
 Charlestown, facsimile of, 128, 129. 
 Order naming Boston, facsimile of, 113. 
 Orestes, i. 
 Oriental method of nation-making, 8,9, 1 1, i7» 
 
 18. 
 Otis, James, 310. 
 Oxford university, 56, 118, 294; parliament, 
 
 Psedobaptists, ig8. 
 Paine, Thomas, 273. 
 Painter, Thomas, 195. 
 
326 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Palfrey, J. C, 153, 200,' 223, 228, note. 
 
 Papacy, 3, 28. 
 
 Parkmaii, F., 235, note^ 241- ^, , ^ 
 
 Parliament turned out of doors by Charies I., 
 107 ; creates a board of commissioners for 
 superintending colonial affairs, 172 ; ques- 
 tion as to its authority over the colonies, 
 
 ' 17-^-176, 187, 188. 
 
 Pauhcians, :-i2. 
 
 Pawtuxet, r8o, 181, 182,263. 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of, 92. 
 
 Penn, William, 219, 234. 
 
 Pennsylvania, why so long unmolested by In- 
 dians, 234, 235. 
 
 Penobscot river, 74- 
 
 Pension jobbery, 12. 
 
 Pepys, Samuel, 207. 
 
 Pequot'Fort, plan of, 144, 145. 
 
 Pequots, 131, 140-142, 183, 227, 233, 236, 238. 
 
 Persecuting spirit, origin of, 176. 
 
 Persecution, mildness of, in England, 33-35* 
 
 Persia, 8, 10, 17. 
 
 Petition of Right, 104, 106. 
 
 Peters, Hugh, 126 ; caricature, 128. 
 
 Peters, Rev. Samuel, 148. 
 
 " Peveril of the Peak," 245. 
 
 Philip Augustus, 33. 
 
 Philip II., of Spain. 29, 51, 56; portrait and 
 autograph, 31. 
 
 Philip (M eta com), 240-244, 257-265,268; Paid 
 Revere's fanciful portrait of, 239 ; his mark, 
 240 ; his son, 261, 264. 
 
 Phips, Sir William, first royal governor of 
 Massachusetts, autograph of, 309. 
 
 Picton, J, A., 107. 
 
 Pierce, Captain, 263. 
 
 Pierson, Abraham, 225; autograph, 225. 
 
 Pig, Keayne's, 114-116. 
 
 Pi^ims, Mayflower, autographs of, 85 ; relics 
 of, 89. 
 
 Pilgrims at Leyden, 69, 76-78. 
 
 Pine-tree shillings, 219, 220, 281. * 
 
 Piscataqua river, g6,ior, 130, 287. 
 
 Pitt, William, 41. _ 
 
 Plymouth, Eng., 82; view of house in which 
 Pilgrims were entertained, 156. 
 
 Plymouth Company, 70, 73, 74, 82, 88, 92. 
 
 Plymouth colony, 76, 82, no; popiilation of, 
 88 ; annexed to Massachusetts, 308. 
 
 Plymouth governors, autographs of, 30S. 
 
 Plymouth Harbour, map of, 84. 
 
 Podunka, 237. 
 
 Point Judith, 130. 
 
 Pokanokets, see Wampanoags. 
 
 Pontiac's war, 235,240. 
 
 Popham, Sir John, portrait and autograph, 
 75. 
 
 Popham colony, 74, 82. 
 
 Portland, Oregon, 153. 
 
 Portsmouth, N. H., 129, 287. 
 
 Portsmouth, R. I., 129, 172, 180. 
 
 Preemunire, 36, 
 
 Pray, Mary, 248, 
 
 Praying Indians, 233, 248, 266. 
 
 Presbyterian cabal, 176, 188-192 
 
 Presbyterianism, 60, 63, 65. 
 
 " Pride's Purge," 191. 
 
 Primitive society, 7. 
 
 Protective tariffs, 12,26. 
 
 Protestantism, beginnings of, 30-35. 
 
 Providence, R. I., 129, 172, 180, 181, 182, 186, 
 
 Puritanism as a militant force, 6, 38, 39, 45, 52, 
 271-274. 
 
 Pym, John, 45; portrait and autograph, 45. 
 
 Pynchon, William, 136; portrait and auto- 
 
 graph, 137; facsimile of title-page -of his 
 *• Meritorious Price," 194. 
 
 Quakers, 176, 186; their opinions, 205-207; 
 
 persecuted in Boston, 208-218, 248; they 
 
 win the victory, 218,225; why Charles II. 
 
 defended them, 219; their relations to the 
 
 Indians, 234, 235. 
 Quincy, ^osiah, 119, note. 
 Quinnipiack, 146. 
 Quinsigamond, 131. 
 
 Raleigh, Sir W., 76, no. 
 
 Randolph, Edward, 245, 283-286, 290, 294; 
 autograph, 282. 
 
 Ralciiffe, Robert, 301, note. 
 
 Rationalistic spirit among the Puritans of 
 New England and Scotland, 164-166. 
 
 Redemptioners, 154. 
 
 Reformation in England, 35-5^* 
 
 Regicide judges, 221-223, 245, 284. 
 
 Religious liberty not the motive of the Puritan 
 exodus, 159, 160. , 
 
 Representation, no taxation without, 26, 112. 
 
 Representative assemblies unknown to the 
 ancients, 13, 18 ; found generally among the 
 Teutonic tribes, 2 1 ; die out on the conti- 
 nent of Europe, 27. ' 
 
 Republicans and abolitionists, 61. 
 
 Republics, fallacy of the notion that they must 
 be small, 19. 
 
 Respectable character of the migration to New 
 England, 154. 
 
 Restitution, edict of, 108. 
 
 Revere, Paul, fanciful portrait of King Philip, 
 
 239- 
 Rhode Island, toleration in, 168, 170; asks for 
 
 a charter, 170; noble attitude with reference 
 
 to Quakers, 21 1-213 ; obtains a charter, 224 ; 
 
 it is partly rescinded, 299 ; restored, 307. 
 Ribault, Jean, 56. 
 Rich, Sir N., 106. 
 Richard II., 35,67. 
 Roanoke island, 120. 
 Robinson, John, 67, 68,69, J^^! autograph, 
 
 68. 
 Robinson, William, 214. 
 Robsart, Amy, 109. 
 Rochelle, fall of, 98, 107. 
 Roman church, 14-16, jr. 
 Roman empire, when did it come to an end, 
 
 i-4j 41-43- 
 Roman method of nation-making, lo-i^. 
 Romulus Augustulus, i ; coin of, i. 
 Roses, war of the, 29, 50, 106. 
 Rosier's "True Relation," facsimile title-page 
 
 of, 72. 
 Rousseau, J. J., 45. 
 Rowlandson, Joseph, 257. 
 Rowlandsbn, Mary, 258-262, 264; facsimile of 
 
 title-page of her " Captivity," 259. 
 Royal Commissioners, autographs of, 224. 
 Royal Society founded, 223. 
 Rumford, Count, 4 ; portrait and autograph, g. 
 Russell, Lord William, 294, 306. 
 
 Sachem's Plain, 185. 
 
 St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh, 122, 
 
 Salem, Mass., 97, loi, iTo, 116, 121, 124, 125, 
 
 273- 
 Salem, Oregon, 153. 
 
 Saltonstall, Sir Richard, 200; portrait and 
 ' autograph, 201. ■ 
 Sandys, Sir E., 78; portrait and autograph, 
 
 81. 
 
INDEX 
 
 327 
 
 Sassacus, 140-142, 143, 144, 241. 
 
 Sausamon, 241, 242. 
 
 Savoy, 34,41. 
 
 Say-aud-Sele, Lord, 132. 
 
 Saybrook, 133, 135. 
 
 Scituate, 188, 262. 
 
 Scotland, great achievements of, 166. 
 
 SCk<tt. Sir W., 132, 166, 245, 299. 
 
 Scottish prisoners sent to Boston, 153. 
 
 Scrooby, 58, 67 ; map showing position of, 59 ; 
 manor house at, 67. 
 
 Seal of the Council for New England, 121 ; of 
 Harvard College, 141 ; of New England 
 under Andros, 304. 
 
 Sedgmoor, battle of, 107. 
 
 Separatists, 61-63, 67, n6. 
 
 Servetus, Michael, 51. 
 
 Shaftesbury, Lord, 293. 
 
 Shakespeare, William, 92. 
 
 Shawmut peninsula, 96. 
 
 Shawomet, 182-187. 
 
 Sheldon, George, 246. 
 
 Shepard, Thomas, 230. 
 
 Sherman, Mrs,, and the stray pigj iz^-jjS. 
 
 Shillings, pine-tree, 219, 220, 281. 
 
 Ship of the seventeenth century, 83. 
 
 Shipmouey, 122, 
 
 Sidney, Algernpn, 41, 45, 273, 294, 306. 
 
 Sigismund, Roman 'emperor, 31. 
 
 " Simpljcitie's Defence," Gorton's, facsimile 
 title-page of, i8g. 
 
 Skelton, Samuel, 115. 
 
 Slavery, 11. 
 
 Smith, Adam, 166. 
 
 Smith, John, 74, 79, 82, 91 ; portrait and auto- 
 graph, 77; facsimile of title-p^ge of his 
 Description of New England," 79; map 
 of New England, 82, 83. 
 
 Solemn League and Covenant, 122. 
 
 Somerset, 51. 
 
 Southampton, 80. 
 
 Southampton, Earl of, 92. 
 
 Southold, L. I., 146. 
 
 Spain, 9, 30. 
 
 Speedwell, ship, 80. 
 
 Spencer- Pierce house in Newbury, 175. 
 
 " Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes," John Cot- 
 ton's, facsimile title-page of, 158. 
 
 Spoils system, 12. 
 
 Springfield, 136, 243, 249, 262. 
 
 Stagnation of the stream of human life, 14. 
 
 Stamford, 129. 146. 
 
 Stamp Act congress, 26. 
 
 Standish, Miles, 80, 82, 86 ; portrait and auto- 
 graph, 97. 
 
 States General, 27. 
 
 Steele, A., 70, noU. j 
 
 Stein, 46. 
 
 Stevenson, Marmaduke, 214. 
 
 Stiles, Ezra, 187, no^e, 223. 
 
 Stirline, Earl of, 121. 
 
 Rtoup^hton, William, 135, 248 ; autograph, 155. 
 
 Strafford, Earl of, 117, 126, 128. 
 
 Stubbs, William, 21. 
 
 Sudbury, 262. 
 
 Sue"i, 22. 
 
 Suffolk, 58, 
 
 Suffrage restricted to church members, iii Mas- 
 sachusetts, T16, 134, t88, 223, 275-280, 281, 
 286, 309; in New Haven, 148, 225, 277. 
 
 Susqiiehannocks, 88, 234. ^ 
 
 Swampscott, visit of Baptists to, 192-200. 
 
 Swnnzey, massacre at, 242, 266. 
 
 Switzerland, 18, 27. 
 
 Swords, tailpiece, 311. 
 
 Talcott, Major, completes the overthrow of 
 the Narragansetts, 263 ; autograph, 263, 
 
 Tamerlane, 45. 
 
 Tarratmes, 130, 268. 
 
 Taunton, 212, 243, 264. 
 
 Tel-el- Kebir, 9, 
 
 Templars, 33. 
 
 "Tenth Muse, The," facsimile title-page of, 
 291. 
 
 Teutonic institutions less modified in England 
 than in Germany, 24. 
 
 Texas seed-bill, 20. 
 
 Thames river. Conn., 131, 142. 
 
 Thanksgiving, 83. 
 
 Theocratic ideal of the Puritans, 160 ; broken 
 down, 225 ; its services to political liberty, 
 274. 
 
 Thirty Years' War, 107. 
 
 Thompson, Renjamin, 4. 
 
 Tilly, Count, 144. 
 
 Title-pages, facsimile, Bay Psalm Book, 171; 
 Bi'ereton's Briefe Relation, 71 ; Cambridge 
 Platform, 193 ; Child's New England's Jonas, 
 190; Cotton's Spiritual Milkfor BostonBabes, 
 15S ; Declaration of the Sad Persecution, 
 210 ; Eliot's Algonquin New Testament, 23 1 ; 
 Fiske'sWalerm^ of the Olive-Plant, igy; 
 Gorton's Simpliciiie's Defence, i8g; Hig- 
 ginson's New England PJantaiion, 94 : In- 
 crease Mather's Indian War, 260 ; M^orton's 
 New England Memorial, 232 ; Mqrton's New 
 English Canaan, 93 ; Mourt's Relation, 100; 
 New Haven's Settling, 147 ; Norton's Heart 
 of New England Rent, 209 : Pynchon's Mer- 
 itorious Price, 194; Rosier's True Relation, 
 72 ; Mrs. Rowlandson's Captivity, 259 ; 
 Smith's Description, 79 ;^ The Tenth Muse, 
 291 ; The Wicked Man's Portion, 267 ; Wil- 
 liam's Treatise, 123 ; Winslow's Good News 
 from New England, 105. 
 
 Toleration, Dudley's verses on, 109; Roger 
 Williams's theory of, 124 ; views of Cotton 
 and Winthrop, 202 ; true theory expressed 
 by Vane, 212. 
 
 Torquemada, 31, 273. , 
 
 Torture, how the Indian likes to enjoy it, 
 2=;8. 
 
 Toryism in New England, birth of, 284. 
 
 Toulouse, Counts of, 33. 
 
 Tours, battle of, 152. 
 
 Town meetings, 23. 
 
 Trajan, 16. 
 
 Trnmount, the, 122. 
 
 Trastamare, feuds of the, 29. 
 
 Treat, Robert, 246, 252, 253, 299 ; autograph, 
 246. 
 
 Turgot, 45. 
 
 Turks, Q, I. 
 
 Turner, Captain, autograph, 261 : defeats the 
 Nipmucks, 262. 
 
 Tyndall, William, 49. 
 
 Tyranny and insurrection in Boston, 301-306. 
 
 Uncas, 143, 182-186,238; and his squaw, their 
 marks, 184. 
 
 Underbill, John, 128, 142-144 : autograph, 143. 
 
 Union among colonies needed for military rea- 
 sons, 307. 
 
 United States, 18, 310. 
 
 Universities, Puritanism in the, 56. 
 
 Vandals, 22. 
 
 Vane, Sir Henry, 41, 126, 128, 129, 140, 212, 
 
 273 ; statue or, 134. 
 Vanity Fair, 197. 
 
328 • 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Van Twiller, Wouter, 132. 
 
 Vaasa]], William, 188-192, 219. 
 
 Verres, Caius, u. 
 
 Virginia, 24, 73, 79, 98, 158. 
 
 Virginia Company, 73 ; suppressed by James 
 
 I., 174- 
 Voltaire, 4, 45. 
 Vulgate, 49. 
 
 Wadsworth, Capt. Samuel, 258, 262. 
 
 Wadsworth, Capt. (Charter Oak), 299. 
 
 Waldron, Major, 268. 
 
 Walford, Thomas, no. 
 
 Wallensiein, 144. 
 
 Walsingham, Sir F., 56. 
 
 Walters, Lucy, 288. 
 
 Wampanoags, 86, 13c, Sj/, 262. 
 
 Wampum as a legal tender, 2S1 ; specimen of, 
 
 382. 
 Ward, Nathaniel, 277. 
 Wardwell, Lydia, 207. 
 Warfare not an essential part of the English 
 
 method of nation-making, 18; with savages 
 
 sure to be truculent, 256, 257. 
 Warwick, 187, 262. 
 Warwick, Earl of, 172, 187, 261. 
 Washington, George, 26, log, 152, 221. 
 Washington, Sir Henry, 221. 
 "Watering of the Olive-Plant," Fiske's, 
 
 facsimile title-page of, 157. 
 Watertown, no, ni, 112, 134-136. 
 Wattaconoges, 183. 
 Welde, Thomas, 229. 
 " Wept of Wish-ton-Wish," 245. 
 Wequash, 233. 
 Wessagussel, 95, 98. 
 Weston, Thomas, 95. 
 Wethersfield, 13s, 136. 
 Weymouth, aitack on, 262. 
 Weymouth, George, 73, 74, 91. 
 Whalley, Edward, 221, 222, 245; autograph, 
 
 222. 
 Wheelwright, John, autograph of, 127. 
 White, John, 97, 98, lor, 103. 
 White trash, 155. 
 
 " Wicked Man's Portion, The," facamile title- 
 page of, 267. .' 
 
 Willard, Joseph, 300. I 
 
 Willard, Samuel, 300, 304; portrait and auto- 
 graph, 300. / 
 
 Willard, Simon, 244, 304 ; autogrdph, 244. 
 
 William the Silent, 51, 63. j 
 
 William III,, 304-307 ; portrait and autograph, 
 
 Williams, Roger, 122-126, 166, 168, 170, 171, 
 iSo, tSi, 183, 192, 200, 211-212, 254, 276; 
 facsimile^ of title-page of his Treatise on the 
 Algonquin Language, 122; his church in 
 Salem, 125; autograph, 126. 
 
 Wilson, Deborah, 207. 
 
 Wilson, John, 128, 198, 215, 278; portrait, 279. 
 
 Windsor, Conn., 132, 133, 135, 136. 
 
 Winslow, Edward, 86, 174, 191 ; portrait and 
 autograph, 87 ; facsimile of tiile-page of his 
 " Good News from New England," 105. 
 
 Winslow, John, 303. 
 
 Winslow, Josiah, 227, 228, 242, 247, 250, 254, 
 257 ; portrait and autograph, 249. 
 
 Winthrop, John, 108, 109, 114, 121,126, 127, 
 128, 133, 134, 148, 154, 160, 166, 187, 1S8, 
 202, 277,279; •portrait, /roniispz'ece ; statue 
 
 of, III. 
 
 Winthrop, John ihe younger, xi^, 213, 215, 
 223, 247 ; portrait and autograph, 133. 
 
 Wise, John, 302, 310; autograph, 302. 
 
 Witter, William, 195-197. 
 
 WoUaston, Captain, 95. 
 
 " Wonder-working Providence," 271-274. 
 
 Wood,Wil]iam,mapof New England, 138, 139. 
 
 Worcester, battle of, 153, 221 ; capture of, 221. 
 
 Worcester, Mass, 243, 262. 
 
 Wrentham, 262. 
 
 Wyclif, John, 35, 36, 46, 49, 54, 206 ; portrait 
 of, 35- 
 
 Yorkshire, 145. 
 Yorktown, 26. 
 
 Zeno, Roman emperor, 3. 
 Zunis, 236. 
 
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