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that colony, Hazelrig, Pym, and Cromwell. This board, CHAPTER a pretty close imitation of the late royal commission of which Laud had been the head, was authorized "to pro- 1644. vide for, order, and dispose all things which they shall from time to time find most fit and advantageous to the well governing, securing, strengthening, and preserving of the said plantations, and chiefly to the preservation and advancement of the true Protestant religion among the said planters, inhabitants, and the further spreading and advancement of the gospel of Christ among those that yet remain there in great and miserable blindness and ignorance." They were also authorized to appoint at pleasure all such "subordinate governors, counselors, commanders, and officers as they shall judge to be best affected and most fit and serviceable;" but as to any particular plantations, they might, if they saw fit, depute to the inhabitants any or all of the above-granted powers.

During Williams's stay in England he had published his "Key to the Language of America," containing, likewise, notices of Indian manners; also, the "Bloody Tenet of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience," one of the first English publications in favor of religious liberty, in answer to a letter of Cotton on the power of the magistrate in matters of religion. Cotton presently replied in the "Bloody Tenet washed and made white in the Blood of the Lamb." From the commissioners appointed by the Parliament to superintend the affairs of the colonies, Williams had obtained a charter, including the shores and March 14. islands of Narraganset Bay, west of Plymouth and south of Massachusetts, as far as the Pequod River and country, to be known as PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, with authority to the inhabitants "to rule themselves" as they shall find "most suitable." He also brought with him

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CHAPTER a letter of commendation from several influential members of Parliament, sufficient to secure him safe-conduct 1644. through Massachusetts. He proceeded at once to ProvSept. idence, and, being met at Seekonk by fourteen canoes, and escorted home in triumph, he took steps toward organizing a government under his charter, in which, however, he encountered many difficulties. Massachusetts still claimed Shawomet; Plymouth set up a title to Aquiday, and even to Providence, as within the limits of Pocanoket-that is, of Massasoit's dominion; and Williams was peremptorily forbidden to exercise any of his "pretended authority" in either of those places.

The civil war in England had spread to the seas, and was carried by English ships across the ocean. The vessels of London, seat of the parliamentary power, furnished with privateering commissions, took every oppor tunity that offered to attack those of Bristol and other western ports which adhered to the king. Such an enJuly. counter had lately taken place in Boston harbor; and the captors, having exhibited a commission from Warwick, high admiral, founded on a parliamentary ordi nance, were suffered to retain their prize. But when Sept. another London vessel shortly after attacked a ship of Dartmouth as she entered Boston harbor with a cargo of wine and salt, the magistrates interfered with an armed force, and, taking advantage of some defect in the commission of the assailing vessel, appropriated the prize as compensation for a Boston ship which had been captured on the high seas by the Royalists. Some "ma1645. lignant spirits beginning to stir and declare themselves March. for the king," all such turbulent practices, either by word or action, were strictly prohibited. But a law was presently passed, assuring protection to all ships that came as friends; and officers were appointed to keep

the peace in the harbor, and to prevent fighting except CHAPTER "by authority."

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The Standing Council for Life, composed of Winthrop, 1645. Dudley, and Endicott, still enjoyed, as commissioners for military affairs, the right of confirming the choice of subaltern officers made by the companies. A vacancy occurring in the command of the Hingham company, the council wished it to be filled by the lieutenant. The lieutenant was, in fact, nominated by the company; but, before the commission had actually issued, they changed their minds, and substituted another person. The council refused to receive this second nomination, and directed that matters should remain as they were till further order. This led to a warm dispute as to the temporary command of the company, in which Hobart, the minister of the town, took an active part against the lieutenant, who was even threatened with excommunication from the church, under pretense that he had made false statements as to what the council had directed. Informed of these proceedings, Winthrop caused some of the most active in "this sedition" to be arrested, and bound over to the next Court of Assistants. Others were summoned for "speaking untruths of the magistrates," and such of them as refused to give bail were committed.

At the Court of Elections shortly after, the office of May. governor was given to Dudley, Winthrop being re-chosen deputy. At the General Court, which immediately followed, a petition was presented from the Hingham prisoners and their friends, complaining of their arrest as an "abuse of authority," and requesting to be heard. This the magistrates opposed, on the ground that the parties complained of were not named in the petition. Winthrop was thereupon specified as the culprit, and, after some little further resistance, a hearing was had in the meet

CHAPTER ing-house at Boston, before the magistrates and deputies X. in joint session, "divers of the elders being present, and 1645. a great assembly of people."

Winthrop placed himself below the bar, and, having heard the charges, made his defense. Half the deputies, with Bellingham and Saltonstall, who formed a sort of opposition in the board of magistrates, thought that too much power had been exercised, and that the people's liberties were in danger. The rest of the magistrates, with the other half of the deputies, thought authority too much slighted, "which, if not remedied in time, would endanger the commonwealth, and bring on a mere democracy."

After a tumultuous hearing, a statement of facts was drawn up, not without much difficulty, by a joint committee, and the two boards then separated, to deliberate apart. The deputies, equally divided, and unable, after much debate, to come to any conclusion, sent to the magistrates to ask their opinion. They replied, without hesitation, that the petition was false and scandalous; that the parties committed were all offenders; that they and the petitioners ought to be censured, and Winthrop acquitted and righted. The deputies, thus enlightened, after much debate voted the petition false and scandalous, but they would not agree to any censure. The magistrates proposed to refer the matter to the elders; but the disposition of the elders to side with the magistrates was quite too notorious. Wearied at last by the length of the session, the deputies proposed an arbitra. tion; the magistrates acceded, and named six elders on their part, requiring a like nomination from the deputies. Finally it was agreed to compromise matters by declar. ing Winthrop fully acquitted, and requiring the petitioners to pay the expenses of the session.

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Sentence having been pronounced, Winthrop took his chapter seat on the bench, and delivered a long speech, concluding as follows: "Concerning liberty, I observe a great 1645. mistake in the country about that. There is a twofold liberty, natural (I mean as our nature is now corrupt) and civil, or federal. The first is common to man with beasts and other creatures. By this, man, as he stands in relation to man simply, hath liberty to do what he lists; it is a liberty to evil as well as good. This liberty is incompatible and inconsistent with authority, and can not endure the least restraint of the most just authority. The exercise and maintaining of this liberty makes men to grow more evil, and, in time, to be worse than brute beasts, omnes sumus licentia deteriores-we all become worse by license. That is that great enemy of truth and peace, that wild beast, which all the laws of God are bent against, to restrain and subdue it. The other kind of liberty I call civil or federal; it may also be called moral in reference to the covenant between God and man in the moral law, and the political covenants and constitutions among men themselves. This liberty is the proper end and object of authority, and can not subsist without it, and it is a liberty to that only which is just, good, and honest. This liberty you are to stand for at the hazard not only of your goods, but of your lives, if need be. Whatsoever crosseth this is not authority, but a distemper thereof. This liberty is maintained and exercised in a way of subjection to authority; it is of the same kind of liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. The woman's own choice makes such a man her husband; yet, being so chosen, he is her lord, and she is to be subject to him, yet in a way of liberty, not of bondage; and a true wife accounts her subjection her honor and her freedom, and would not think her con