1660 Persecution of the Quakers. 75 Persecution of the Quakers. seemed to be impelled by an earnest love for the souls of men, and a pure desire to make known what they considered a revelation from Heaven. But the rulers looked upon them as plotting the downfall of all government and religion. They were banished from the colony. In a little while, however, not only the first twelve had returned, but a multitude of other Quakers had come to rebuke the rulers, and to preach against the priests and steeple houses. 41. These enthusiasts were received with hatred and scorn. They were thrown into dungeons; they were beaten with many stripes, women as well as men; they were driven forth into the wilderness, and left to the tender mercies of wild beasts and Indians; but the more the Quakers were scourged and imprisoned and banished, the more did the sect increase, both by the influx of strangers and by converts from among the Puritans. In 1659 two Quakers were hanged in Boston. A woman had been sentenced to die with them, but was reprieved on condition of her leaving the colony. Her name was Mary Dyer. Next year she returned to Boston and was executed. 42. In 1660, the same year in which Mary Dyer was executed, Charles the Second was restored to the throne of his fathers. This king had many vices; but he would not permit blood to be shed, under pretence of religion, in any part of his dominions. The Quakers in England told him what had been done to their brethren; and he sent orders to Governor Endicott, of Massachusetts, to forbear all such proceedings in future. And so ended the Quaker persecution, one of the most mournful passages in the history of our forefathers." 43. About forty years after the Pequod war, another fierce war broke out in New England, known as King Philip's war. King Philip, as he was called by the English, was a son and successor of Massasoit, who had been the fast friend of the colonists. But the whites had now greatly increased in num King bers, the whole population in New England being about sixty thousand, while the Indians were only half as numerous. The latter, however, were much more to be feared than formerly, for many of them had and ammunition instead of bows and arrows, and hatchets and knives instead of the rude weapons made of stone or bone which they had used during the Pequod war. Philip's war. guns 44. Between Narragansett bay and Plymouth were the Wam-pa-no'-ags, of which tribe Philip was the chief. As the farms and villages of the whites were rapidly encroaching upon the hunting grounds of this tribe collisions followed; but whether the storm which broke out so suddenly in 1675 was accidental or the result of a plot is not certain. A converted Indian, who had informed the colonists that his people were making preparations for war, was killed. His murderers were seized, tried by a jury, of which one half were Indians, convicted, and hung. Panting for revenge, the young men of the tribe killed eight or nine of the colonists. The war that ensued was terrible. On the part of the Indians it was one of ambuscades and surprises; and for many months they kept all New England in a state of terror. Brookfield was besieged and set fire to; and Deerfield, Northfield, and other towns were destroyed.1 45. A treaty of peace had been made with the Narragansetts, but as they gave shelter and protection to the Wampanoags, it was resolved to regard them as enemies. "The place where they were to be sought was in Rhode Island, a little more than eighteen miles from that Pequod fort which 1 One Sabbath morning, while the people of Hadley were at worship in the village church, a tall and venerable man, a stranger to them, appeared and told them that the savages were coming. He rallied the men and led them against the Indians. The savages were routed and fled; but when the people looked around for their preserver, he had gone; and they for some time believed that they had been rescued by an angel. It was afterward discovered that the tall and venerable man was General Goffe, one of the judges who had condemned Charles the First to be beheaded. He had been hidden in Hadley. This is the story that used to be told, but it has recently been disproved. 1675 Storming of the Narragansett Fort. 77 Storming of the Fort. had been destroyed by the force under Captain Mason, forty years before. According to information afterwards received from a captive, the Indian warriors here collected were no fewer than three thousand and five hundred. They were on their guard, and had fortified Narragansett their hold to the best of their skill. It was on a solid piece of upland of five or six acres, wholly surrounded by a swamp. On the inner side of this natural defence, they had driven rows of palisades; and the only entrance to the enclosure was over a rude bridge consisting of a felled tree. 46. Having passed without shelter a very cold night, the English had made a march of eighteen miles through deep snow, scarcely halting to refresh themselves with food. In this condition they immediately advanced to the attack. The Massachusetts troops were in the van of the storming column, next came the two Plymouth companies, and then the force from Connecticut. The foremost of the assailants were received with a well-directed fire. Captain Johnson, of Roxbury, was shot dead on the bridge, as he was rushing over it at the head of his company. Others shared his fate; but, nothing discouraged by the fall of their leaders, the men pressed on, and a sharp conflict followed, which, with fluctuating success, lasted for two or three hours. There was nothing for either party but to conquer or die, enclosed together as they were. At length victory declared for the English, who finished their work by setting fire to the wigwams within the fort. The military strength of the formidable Narragansett tribe was irreparably broken." Death of Philip. 47. “Philip was hunted from spot to spot. At last, with a scanty band of followers, who still remained true to his desperate fortunes, the unhappy man wandered back to Mount Hope, the ancient dwelling of his fathers. Here he lurked about, like a spectre, among scenes of former power and prosperity, now bereft of home, of family, and friends. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above it. The very idea of submission awakened the fury of Philip, and he smote to death one of his followers who proposed an expedient of peace. The brother of the victim made his escape, and, in revenge, betrayed the retreat of his chieftain. 48. A body of white men and Indians were immediately dispatched to the swamp where Philip lay crouched, glaring with fury and despair. Before he was aware of their approach they had begun to surround him. In a little while he saw five of his trustiest followers laid dead at his feet. All resistance was vain. He rushed forth from his cover and made a headlong attempt to escape; but was shot through the heart by a renegade Indian of his own nation. Such is the scanty story of the brave but unfortunate King Philip." His body was cut in quarters, and his head was sent to Plymouth, where it was exposed on a gibbet for twenty years. His captive child was sold as a slave in Bermuda. 49. In the year 1692, Sir William Phipps, a native of Maine, came from England with a commission from King William, as governor of Massachusetts. Within the limits of his province Salem Witchcraft. were the old colony of Plymouth and the territories of Maine and Nova Scotia. All this region, not including New H THE STOCKS. 1 Hampshire, was now called Massachusetts. Phipps was a "ship carpenter and a fortune-seeker. Accustomed from boyhood to the axe and the oar, he had gained distinction "The stocks and pillory were movable machines on wheels, and had no fixed position. Both were used as a means of enforcing attendance at church meetings, or punishing offences against the church, and their location at its very portal served no doubt as a gentle reminder to the congregation. It is related that in the year 1753 a woman stood for an hour in the pillory of the Town House, Boston, amid the scoffs and jeers of the multitude."-Drake's Old Landmarks 1692 The Salem Witchcraft. 79 only by his wealth, the fruits of his enterprise with the diving-bell in raising treasures from a Spanish wreck." Almost as soon as he assumed the government he became engaged in a very frightful business. 50. In the little village of Salem, now Danvers, were two young girls, in the family of a clergyman, who " began to have strange caprices. They complained of being pinched and pricked with pins; and often would pretend to be seized with strange convulsions, and would cry out that witches were afflicting them." This led to a strange excitement and alarm. Numbers of persons were accused of the crime of : witchcraft, and, to escape torture, confessed that they were guilty. More than fifty, in this way, were compelled to make such a confession. Twenty persons were put to death, and many others were cast into prison. This dreadful delusion lasted more than six months; and it was not until some of the magistrates themselves, and even the governor's wife, were accused, that the people began to see how terribly they had been deceived. All the prisoners were set at liberty; "but the innocent dead could not be restored to life; and the hill where they were executed will always remind people of the saddest and most humiliating passage in our history." THE PILLORY. 51. "It is well known that no exclusive reproach can with justice be cast upon any part of New England on account of a delusion which equally prevailed in the most enlightened countries of Europe, and received Witchcraft in Europe. the countenance of the most learned and intelligent men and upright magistrates. In contemplating this sorrowful page in the history of our ancestors, we must bear in mind that, as I have already intimated, no |