XI.

CHAPTER XI.

COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY.

A Company organized.-Settlement of Salem.-The Charter transferred.Boston and Vicinity settled.-Encouragements.-Disputes.-Roger Williams; his Banishment; he founds Providence.-Discussions renewed.-Anne Hutchinson.-Settlement of Rhode Island.-The Dutch at Hartford; Disputes with.-Migrations to the fertile Valley of the Connecticut; Hooker and Haynes.-Springfield.-Fort at Saybrooke.-Pequods become hostile.-Expeditions against them; their utter Ruin.Rev. John Davenport.-Settlement of New Haven.-Sir Ferdinand Gorges.-New Hampshire.-The United Colonies.-The Providence Plantations.-Educated Men.-Harvard College.-The Printing Press.Common Schools.-Grammar Schools.-Quakers; Persecution of.-Eliot the Apostle. The Mayhews.-Progress.

CHAP. PERSECUTION raged through the reign of James, and threatened to continue through the reign of his son and 1624. successor, Charles I.

The various accounts sent to England by the colonists at Plymouth, excited great interest, especially in the minds of the Puritans. They listened to them as to a voice from Heaven, calling upon them to leave their native land, and join their brethren in these ends of the earth. This was not wild enthusiasm, but the calm promptings of duty.

Pamphlets were published giving descriptions of the land of promise; it promised not wealth and ease, but only peace and quietness. There were many who preferred these, with toils and privations in the wilds of America, to religious persecutions in their own land.

THE SETTLEMENT OF SALEM.

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The Rev. Mr. White, of Dorchester, was a controlling CHAP. spirit in the enterprise. He was a Puritan, but not of the Separatists from the Established Church, as were Robin- 1624. son and his congregation.

The Council of Plymouth had taken the place of the 1620. old Plymouth Company. This council had no worthier object than gain; it granted the same region to different individuals, and thus laid the foundation for endless disputes. It sold to some gentlemen of Dorchester a belt of territory, extending from three miles south of Massachusetts bay to three miles north of any part of Merrimac 1628. river, and, as usual, west to the Pacific. The company prepared to send a colony. The care of the enterprise was intrusted to one of their number, John Endicott, a man of stern character and sterling integrity. He brought with him his family, and about one hundred other persons; they landed at Salem, and there commenced the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Men of wealth and influ- Sept. ence, such as Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, Saltonstall, Bellingham, Johnson, Simon Bradstreet, William Coddington, and others, who afterward exerted a great influence in the colony, were willing to bear a part in carrying the pure gospel" to New England. The king looked upon the colony about to be founded more as a trading corporation than as the germ of an independent nation, and he willingly gave them a charter, under which they lived more than fifty years. By the terms of this charter the royal Mar., signature was not necessary to give validity to the laws 1629, made under it.

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Soon another choice company, in which "no idle persons were found," was ready to sail. The good Francis Higginson accompanied them as their minister. As the shores of England receded from sight, Higginson expressed the feelings of the emigrants; as from the deck of the ship his eyes turned for the last time to his native land, he exclaimed, "Farewell, England !—farewell, all Christian

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CHAP. friends !—we separate not from the church, but from its corruptions ;—we go to spread the gospel in America." 1629. There were about two hundred in this company the maJune, jority remained at Salem, the rest went to Charlestown. Privations and exposure brought sickness, and before the end of a year death had laid his hand on more than half their number, among whom was their pastor, Higginson. When the summons came, the dying seemed only to regret that they were not permitted to aid their brethren in founding a pure church in the wilderness.

The charter contained no provision for the rights of the people, it left them at the mercy of the corporation; and as long as that charter remained in England, they could take no part in their own government. It was also silent on the subject of their religious freedom; at any moment this might be interfered with by the king and his clergy. There was only one way to be freed from such undue interference. By the charter their governing council could choose the place of meeting for the transaction of business. It was a bold step; but they chose, hereafter, to meet on the soil of the colony. This transfer of the governing council and charter made its government virtually independent.

The officers were to be a governor, a deputy governor, and eighteen assistants. These were elected before leav1630. ing England. John Winthrop was chosen governor, and Thomas Dudley deputy governor. A fleet of seventeen ships set sail with the officers elect, and fifteen hundred emigrants; they arrived in June and July. Their arrival was opportune, for those who had preceded them were in great distress from sickness and scarcity of food.

Settlements were now made at various places around the bay; Charlestown, Newtown, Dorchester, Watertown. A fine spring of pure water, on the peninsula called Shawmut, induced the governor and some other persons to settle there. The position was central, and it became the capital,

ENCOURAGEMENTS.

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under the name of BOSTON. The change of climate and CHAP. mode of living brought disease upon great numbers; yet they looked upon their sorrows as so many trials, designed 1630. to make them appreciate still more the blessings which the future had in store for them. As they hoped, these evils gradually passed away, and prosperity smiled.

At first, the assistants could hold office for life, and in addition it was their privilege to elect the governor. The people became jealous of their liberties; the dispute was compromised by their electing their magistrates annually. They were to be chosen by the freemen of the 1634. colony, of whom no one who was not a church member could have a vote. This law was injudicious, though enacted with the best intentions. They wished a government based on purely religious principles, and they thought to secure such a government by allowing none but the religious to take part in it. Another change was made from the purely democratic form, when all the freemen met in convention and voted on the laws, to that of the republican, when the people elected deputies, who were authorized to legislate and transact the affairs of the colony.

The colonists dealt honestly with the Indians and endeavored to preserve their good will. They "were to buy their lands, and not to intrude upon, and in no respect injure them;" they also "hoped to send the gospel to the poor natives." Many of the neighboring chiefs desired their friendship. One came from the distant river Connecticut; he extolled its fertile valleys and blooming meadows; he offered them land near him, because he wished their protection against the brave and fiery Pequods. Fraternal and Christian intercourse was held from time to time with the old colony of Plymouth; as a harbinger of the future, there came from Virginia a vessel laden with corn; and the Dutch, who some years before had settled at Manhattan, visited them with kindly greetings. Thus dawned a brighter day.

СНАР.

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During this year more than three thousand persons. came from England, many of whom were men of influence, 1635. wealth, and education. Prominent among these was Hugh Peters, an eloquent clergyman, and Harry Vane, a young man of much promise, the son and heir of a privy-councillor--a fact of some importance in the eyes of the people. Vane, however, was a true Republican. The people the next year unwisely elected him governor, in place of the dignified and benevolent Winthrop.

The Puritans had experienced all the evils of religious intolerance, but unfortunately they had not themselves. learned to be lenient. In the colony there was a young clergyman, Roger Williams, a man of ardent temperament, a clear reasoner, and very decided in his opinions. He came in conflict with the magistrates as he advanced sentiments which they deemed subversive of all authority,-such as that obedience to the magistrate should not be enforced that the oath of allegiance should not be required : he also denounced the law that compelled all persons to attend worship, as an infringement of the rights of conscience; he said the service of the church should be supported by its members, and not by a tax upon all the people. His principles were in advance of the age in which he lived one hundred and forty years after this time they were fully carried out. He contended that the charter from the king was invalid; the Indians were the original proprietors. The people repelled the aspersion as unjust, because they had purchased their lands from the Indians, and acknowledged their rights by making treaties with them. The contest waxed warm. Williams accepted an invitation to Salem: the people of that place were admonOct., ished by the General Court to beware, lest they should

encourage sedition. Upon this he retired to Plymouth,there for two years he maintained his opinions unmolested. The people of the old colony had learned the lesson of toleration in their exile in Holland.