CHAPTER anciently religious woman," who had purchased HumX. phrey's plantation at Lynn, being dealt with by the

1643. church at Salem for errors of this sort, to avoid further

trouble removed to Long Island, where she settled, with her son Sir Henry, under the jurisdiction of the Dutch. Others infected with the same opinions removed, some to Providence, and some to New Netherland.

Not content with these voluntary departures, a law 1644. was presently published in Massachusetts inflicting banNov. 13. ishment upon all such as, after "due time and means of conviction, continue obstinate" in opposing infant baptism. At Aquiday, also, a Baptist church was estabthe second in America-at the head of which

lished

was John Clarke. These Anabaptists appear to have removed to the lower end of the island, and to have formed a settlement there, which they called Newport, Coddington's original settlement at the upper end of the island being known as Portsmouth.

Samuel Gorton was inferior to Roger Williams and Mrs. Hutchinson in talent and acquirements, but as an heresiarch he was hardly less to be dreaded. Originally a London clothier, he had made himself obnoxious to the magistrates of Massachusetts and Plymouth by pretensions to a sort of transcendental enlightenment in spiritual matters. He called himself "professor of the mys teries of Christ," taught that in himself and other true believers "the child is born, the son is given," and blessed God that he was not brought up "in the schools of human learning." Ejected from Plymouth with much hard usage, as he alleged, being turned out of his house in the midst of a snow-storm, with his wife and infant child, the child sick of the measles, the wife "as tenderly brought up as any man's wife in that town;" expelled even from Aquiday, where he was publicly flogged on a charge of

X.

disrespect toward the magistrates, he took refuge at last CHAPTER in the south part of Providence. Here, too, he made himself obnoxious to some of the settlers, and a disturb- 1641. ance arose which Williams was with difficulty able to appease. Some of the inhabitants, headed by one Benedict Arnold, even went so far as to invite the interference of Massachusetts, which was promised if they would submit to her jurisdiction, or, if they preferred it, to that of Plymouth. Several of them accordingly went to Boston and submitted; and a warrant was presently sent to 1642. Gorton, citing him to answer to their complaint. For the sake of peace, and to escape this threatened danger, after returning a rude answer addressed to the "great idol general of Massachusetts," Gorton, with a number of followers, removed southerly across the Pawtuxet, and, hav- 1643. ing purchased of Miantonimoh, for one hundred and fortyfour fathoms of wampum, a tract called Shawomet, they commenced an independent settlement there, the third within the limits of the present state of Rhode Island.

Jan.

Alarmed at the threatened interference of Massachusetts, and the danger that her spiritual despotism might be extended over all her neighbors, Roger Williams resolved to proceed to England, there to solicit a chartera step suggested the year before by the people of Aquiday. Not being allowed to visit Boston, he went to Man- March. hattan, and obtained passage there by way of Holland.

Not long after the departure of Williams, two inferior sachems from the neighborhood of Shawomet complained June. to the magistrates of Massachusetts, through Benedict Arnold, their agent and interpreter, one of those inhabitants of Providence who had lately submitted to the Massachusetts jurisdiction, that Gorton had wrongfully dispossessed them of their lands. One of them had signed the deed of conveyance; but he alleged having done so through

X.

CHAPTER the compulsion of Miantonimoh. The Massachusetts magistrates entered very zealously into the matter. They sent 1643. for Miantonimoh; adjudged him to have no title to the land, or power over the sachems-wrongfully, as Williams alleges; and, having made this decision, they received from those same sachems a submission of themselves and their territory to the authority of Massachusetts, with a promise, on their part, to obey the ten commandments. This submission, though vaunted by Winthrop as "the fruits of our prayers, the first fruits of our hopes," a proof that "the Lord was about to bring the Indians to civility, and so to conversion," seems, however, to have been but a mere contrivance for obtaining some pretense to dispossess Gorton, or to compel him and his followers to submit to the authority of Massachusetts. Arnold was allowed four pounds for his services in this business.

July

turn.

Miantonimoh, it is possible, might not have quietly submitted to this interference, but that unfortunate chief was, shortly after, effectually disposed of. His virulent enemy, Uncas, attacked one of his subordinate chiefs, of which he complained to the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut, requesting liberty to make war in reHe was told, if Uncas had injured him and would not give satisfaction, "to take his own course;" and, acAugust. cordingly, he invaded the Mohegan territories, but was defeated, betrayed, and taken prisoner. A present of wampum, sent by the Narraganset chiefs, and an urgent and threatening message from Gorton, prevailed on Uncas to spare the captive's life, and to carry him prisoner to Hartford. His fate presently became a principal subject of discussion in the second meeting of the CommisSept. sioners for the United Colonies, held at Boston. His enterprise and sagacity were dreaded, and, perhaps, his friendship for Williams and Gorton weighed in the bal

X.

ance against him. His important aid in the Pequod war, CHAPTER and his uniform friendliness to the colonists, were forgotten. He was denounced as "of a turbulent and proud 1643. spirit, which would never be at rest." The commissioners were all of opinion "that it would not be safe to set him at liberty." A pretense was even sought and found for putting him to death. Uncas had formerly charged Miantonimoh with attempting to bewitch and to assassinate him; and, after consulting with five of "the most judicious elders," it was agreed, under color of these charges, that the Connecticut commissioners, on their return to Hartford, should deliver up Miantonimoh to Uncas, with directions to take him out of the limits of the colony, and to do execution upon him; but without torture. Two colonists were to attend, on behalf of the commissioners, to see the execution done. If Uncas refused, Miantonimoh was to be sent prisoner to Boston. But there was no danger of refusal. The Mohegan chief gladly undertook a commission so consonant to his revengeful feelings; and, with his own hand, the moment Miantonimoh had passed the border, he struck a hatchet into his head. Having cut a piece from the shoulder of his fallen enemy, Uncas eagerly devoured it, declaring that it made his heart strong, and was the sweetest morsel he ever ate! On the spot where Miantonimoh thus fell, a block of granite has lately been erected, inscribed with his name. To protect Uncas from the vengeance of the Narragansets, he was furnished, at the expense of the United Colonies, with a guard of fourteen musketeers.

While the unfortunate Miantonimoh was thus rewarded for his former friendship, Gorton and his companions were summoned to Boston to answer to the complaints of the two sachems. They sent a verbal reply, refusing to come; whereupon the Massachusetts magistrates sent

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CHAPTER three commissioners, Captain Cook, afterward a colonel in Cromwell's army, Lieutenant Atherton, afterward 1643. major general of Massachusetts, and Lieutenant Johnson, whom we shall presently meet with as an author and historian, attended by forty armed men, and authorized to demand and receive satisfaction, or, if it was refused, to use force. Gorton sent a letter to the commissioners bidding them welcome if they came as friends, but warning them not to approach in hostile array at their peril. The commissioners returned a truculent answer; the women and children fled to the woods, while the men of Shawomet, with arms in their hands, established themselves in a fortified house. By the mediation of some Providence men, a parley was had. Gorton alleged that, as Massachusetts was a party to the dispute, she could not be an equal judge; he therefore proposed to refer the controversy as to the title to Shawomet to arbitrators, if "some of them might be of Providence or Aquiday," and he offered the cattle belonging to his party as security, to abide the decision. This reasonable offer was transmit

ted to Massachusetts, but, by advice of the elders, was Oct. haughtily rejected. It was not, the elders said, a mere question of title to lands, but a question of blasphemy, and blasphemy could not be compounded. Trenches were opened against the fortified house, which was repeatedly set on fire. Three of the inmates escaped during the siege; the rest called a new parley, and agreed to go with the commissioners to Boston, provided they might go as "free men and neighbors." They were treated, however, Oct. 13. as prisoners of war, and were brought to Massachusetts, to the governor's house, "in a military order, the soldiers being in two files, and after every five or six soldiers a prisoner." "Having conferred privately with the commissioners, the governor caused the prisoners to be brought