X.

CHAPTER also the study of Dand, another of the petitioners. Nothing was found in Child's trunk, but in Dand's study were 1646. seized, in the hands of Smith, another of the petitioners, copies of two memorials addressed to the Parliamentary Commissioners for Plantations; the one from Child and his associates, setting forth their case, the other from some non-freemen, "pretending," as Winthrop tells us, "to be in the name and upon the sighs and tears of many thousands," praying for liberty of conscience and the appointment of a parliamentary governor. Only twentyfive persons had dared to set their names to this petition, and these either "young men who came over servants, and never had any show of religion in them," or "fishermen of Marblehead, profane persons," or "men of no reason," like a barber of Boston, who apologized for signing that he did it to please the gentlemen his customHow dangerous a thing it was to meddle with such a petition was sufficiently evinced by the case of one Joy, "a young fellow, a carpenter," who had been very busy in procuring signers, and who even presumed to question the constable who searched Dand's study whether his warrant were in the king's name. This audacious young carpenter was kept in irons till "he humbled himself, confessed what he knew, blamed himself for meddling in matters belonging not to him, and blessed God for these irons upon his legs, hoping they would do him good while he lived. So he was let out upon reasonable bail."

ers.

The offense of Dand and Smith, in whose custody the petitions had been found, was still more serious. It was held, indeed, under the fundamental laws, to be "in nature capital," being no less than treason against the Commonwealth, and bail was refused. Child, indignant at his arrest, "gave big words," but was soon silenced by

X.

threats of irons and the common prison. He was kept CHAPTER in custody till the ship was gone, and was then bound over for his appearance at court.

At the next Court of Elections an attempt was made to displace Winthrop, and to secure the choice of some new magistrates. But as the right of voting was confined to church members, comparatively few of the discontented possessed that franchise, and Winthrop was re-elected by a majority of two or three hundred. the General Court immediately following, Child and the others were very heavily fined. Unable to pay his fine

At

of £200, $960, Dand was kept in prison more than a year, and was only discharged at last upon a humble submission.

In spite of these high-handed proceedings, the obnoxious petition had gone forward by the very ship that car, ried the agent Winslow, intrusted to the care of Vassall, of Scituate, with whom the magistrates of Massachusetts hesitated to meddle, not only because he belonged to Plymouth colony, but for the more powerful reason that his brother was an influential member of Parliament. Yet he did not wholly escape animadversion. Just before the vessel sailed, Cotton, in his sermon at the Thursday lecture, advised the passengers, if a storm arose, to throw Vassall's trunk overboard, as containing the Jonah that would certainly sink them. A storm did arise, and, to appease the superstitious fears of some of the company, a package was thrown overboard containing copies of the obnoxious papers; but Vassall took care to preserve the originals. This occurrence is alluded to in the title of a pamphlet, "New England's Jonas cast up at London," presently published by Child's brother, a major in the parliamentary army, containing a copy of the original petition to the Massachusetts Gen

1647.

May.

CHAPTER eral Court, and an account of the proceedings upon it.

X. Winslow, the Massachusetts agent, published, in an

1647. 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

Gorton himself presently arrived at Boston with a let- 1648. ter of safe-conduct from the Earl of Warwick. May. 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

X.

CHAPTER belonged either to Plymouth or Connecticut hopes encouraged by some lack of harmony in the newly-consti1648. tuted province. The Baptists at Newport and the adherents 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