X.

CHAPTER eral Court, and an account of the proceedings upon it. Winslow, the Massachusetts agent, published, in an1647 swer, "New England's Salamander discovered," alluding to Vassall, a man, it was said, "never at rest but when in the fire of contention." Yet the fire of New His leaning toward

England proved too hot for him.
episcopacy, or, at least, toward toleration, had made him
obnoxious even in Plymouth colony; and, though his
family remained there, he never returned. By the aid
of Vane, who acted a magnanimous part toward his old
opponents, and the friendly assistance of others of "the
godly," Winslow-almost the only colonial agent of Mas-
sachusetts ever able to give satisfaction to his constitu-
ents succeeded so well with the Parliamentary Commis-
sioners that they wrote to the magistrates of Massachu-
setts, disavowing any intention to interfere with their ju-
risdiction, or to encourage appeals from their "justice,"
but requiring for the Gortonists peaceful possession of their
lands till the claim of right could be decided. Similar
letters were sent to Connecticut and Plymouth. No no-
tice appears to have been taken of the appeal of Child, nor
of the petition of the non-freemen. Child himself having
got into a dispute on the London Exchange with a New
England man, whom he struck in his passion, was obliged
to apologize before all the merchants, and to give it un-
der his hand "never to speak evil of New England men,"
nor to occasion any further trouble; "and besides,"
adds Winthrop, "God had so blasted his estate as he
was quite broken." Such was the result of the first
struggle in Massachusetts for equal political rights, an
enterprise not to be again attempted for many years, nor
finally to be accomplished without royal aid.

Yet liberty was not without one abiding spot in New
England. In spite of the opposition of Massachusetts

X.

and Plymouth, Roger Williams and his associates had at CHAPTER length succeeded, though not without much difficulty and. delay, in uniting and organizing the Narraganset settle- 1647. ments under the charter which he had obtained. The new government consisted of a president, four assistants, and an assembly; one assistant and six assembly men for each of the four towns; for, besides Providence and the two towns of Portsmouth and Newport, on the Island of Aquiday, the new commonwealth included also the settlement of Shawomet, where the Gortonists had partially re-established themselves. The government was declared to be "democratical;" all laws enacted by the Assembly must be sent to the towns, and approved by a majority of them. Freedom of faith and worship was assured to all the first formal and legal establishment of religious liberty ever promulgated, whether in America or Europe. A body of laws was enacted, and afterward approved by May 10. the towns the basis of the existing code of Rhode Island. The assistants acted as the supreme court of law; for smaller cases, there were town councils, each composed of six persons. One hundred pounds were voted to Williams for his pains in obtaining the charter.

It was May.

Gorton himself presently arrived at Boston with a let- 1648. ter of safe-conduct from the Earl of Warwick. only, however, by a bare majority that the magistrates allowed him a week's stay, and a safe passage through their territories to Shawomet, which he now named Warwick, in honor of his protector. During Gorton's residence in England he had published an account of the proceedings against him, entitled "Simplicity's Defense against Seven-headed Policy," to which Winslow replied in "Hypocrisy Unmasked." There were even strong hopes that Winslow would be able to procure the recall of Williams's charter, on the ground that the territory

CHAPTER belonged either to Plymouth or Connecticut-hopes en. X. couraged by some lack of harmony in the newly-consti 1648. tuted province. The Baptists at Newport and the adher

ents of Coddington did not agree. Coddington refused to accept the office of governor, to which he was chosen May 16. at the second general election. He wrote to Winthrop, Sept. complaining of Gorton, and, a few months after, applied on behalf of the "major part of the island," as he alleged, for the reception of Aquiday into the New England UnBut this was refused, unless they would submit to the jurisdiction of Plymouth. It was, indeed, upon the ground of an alleged deputation to her of the rights of Plymouth and Connecticut that Massachusetts justified her late proceedings against the Gortonists.

ion.

Winslow was more honorably employed in promoting in England the formation of a society for the propagation of the Gospel among the Indians. This society presently received a parliamentary charter, and, in spite of much opposition, succeeded in collecting a considerable amount of funds. With all the energy of an iron constitution, and the zeal of a heart benevolent and devout, performing all the time his regular duties as minister of Roxbury, Eliot had continued his missionary labors. Having acquired the Indian language, he gave a regular Indian lecture alternately at Nonantum and Neponset, the one in the western limits of Watertown, the other on the southern border of Dorchester. "He would persuade one of the other elders or some magistrate to begin the exercise with a prayer in English; then he preached in Indian about an hour, catechizing the children, who were soon brought to answer some short questions, whereupon he gave each of them an apple or a cake. Then he demanded of some of the chiefs if they understood him," and inquired if they had any questions to

X.

ask. These Indian proselytes soon grew very inquisi- CHAPTER tive after knowledge "both in things divine and also human," and put many questions, some of which their 1649, teacher was not a little puzzled to answer. On the whole, however, the system of religion which he propounded seems to have struck the Indians, such of them, at least, as took an interest in the subject, as sufficiently reasonable. Their questions being answered, Eliot concluded with a prayer in the Indian language. "The Indians were usually very attentive, and kept their chilaren so quiet as caused no disturbance. Some of them began to be seriously affected, and to understand the . things of God, and they were generally ready to reform whatsoever they were told to be against the word of God, as their sorcery, which they call pow-wowing, their whoredoms, idleness, &c." Such is Winthrop's account

of these early missionary labors.

Under a commission from Massachusetts, John Winthrop the younger, a man of very active spirit, constantly engaged in new enterprises, had commenced a settlement 1646. at Pequod harbor, where he claimed a large tract on the strength of an alleged verbal gift from an Indian chief before the commencement of the Pequod war-a title, however, which the Commissioners of the United Colonies were hardly willing to recognize. The colony of Connecticut claimed the banks of Pequod River, not only as conquered by that colony from the Pequods, but as included under their conveyance from Fenwick. The Commissioners of the United Colonies, before whom the question was carried, assigned the settlement at Pequod to Connecticut. lt afterward received the name 1658. of New London, Pequod River being called the Thames. But the claim of title by conquest set up by Massachusetts was not entirely disallowed. The territory from

CHAPTER the Mystic River to the country of the Narragansets, X. a quite considerable part of the present State of Rhode 1647. Isiand, was assigned as her share of the spoil.

It had been part of the consideration to Fenwick that for ten years an impost should be levied, for his benefit, of twopence per bushel on corn, and a penny a pound on all beaver passing Fort Saybrook. The people of Springfield presently resisted payment of this impost, denying the right of Connecticut to levy taxes on the inhabitants of another colony. But on appeal to the Commissioners of the United Colonies, the impost was sustained, on the ground that Connecticut had a right to levy it for the support of the fort. The General Court of Massa.. chusetts, taking sides with Springfield, drew up a remonstrance against this decision, and took the same occasion, also, to intimate their dissatisfaction with some other proceedings of the commissioners indeed, with the whole terms of the union, which imposed upon them half 1648. the burden, while it gave them only a quarter of the

power. This remonstrance, which was duly answered by Connecticut, not producing the desired effect, Massa1649. chusetts imposed upon all goods belonging to any inhab itants of the three other colonies which might enter Boston harbor, a tax or duty, nominally for the support of the forts, but really as a retaliation for the decision 1650. against her. The commissioners, at their next meeting,

strongly protested against this act, and a state of ill feeling began to spring up, which came near producing, a year or two after, the dissolution of the New England Union.

The Commissioners for the United Colonies, at one of their earliest meetings, had recommended the drawing up of a common confession of faith, and a common scheme 1646. of discipline for the New England churches. The Massa May. chusetts General Court had subsequently proposed a