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212

DEATH OF FERDINAND GORGES.

[1649-1652.

other men are but preparing to die with decorum. Firmly attached to the monarchy, he never disobeyed his king, except that, as a Churchman and a Protestant, he refused to serve against the Huguenots. When the wars in England broke out, the septuagenarian royalist buckled on his armor, and gave the last strength of his gray hairs to the defence of the unfortunate Charles. On the death of Gorges, the people repeatedly wrote to his heirs. No answer was received; and such commissioners as had authority from Europe gradually withdrew. There was no relief for the colonists but in themselves; and, in July, 1649, the inhabitants of Piscataqua, Gorgeana, and Wells, following the American precedent, with free and unanimous consent, formed themselves into a body politic for the purposes of self-government. Massachusetts readily offered its protection. In May, 1652, the great charter of the Bay company was unrolled before the general court in Boston, and, " upon perusal of the instrument, it was voted, that this jurisdiction extends from the northernmost part of the River Merrimac, and three miles more, north, be it one hundred miles, more or lesse, from the sea; and then upon a straight line east and west to each sea." The words were precise. Nothing remained but to find the latitude of a point three miles to the north of the remotest waters of the Merrimac, and to claim all the territory of Maine which lies south of that parallel. Commissioners were promptly despatched to the eastward to settle the government. The firm remonstrances of Edward Godfrey, then governor of the province, a loyal friend to the English monarchy and the English Church, were disregarded; and one town after another, yielding in part to menaces and armed force, gave in its adhesion. Great care was observed to guard the rights of property; every man was confirmed in his possessions; the religious liberty of the Episcopalians was left unharmed; the privileges of citizenship were extended to all inhabitants; and the whole eastern country, gradually, yet reluctantly, submitted to

1644.]

MASSACHUSETTS FAVORS TOLERATION,

213

the necessity of the change. When the claims of the proprietaries in England were urged before Cromwell, many inhabitants of the towns of York, Kittery, Wells, Saco, and Cape Porpoise, yet not a majority, remonstrated on the ground of former experience. To sever them from Massachusetts would be to them "the subverting of all civil order."

CHAPTER XVIII.

PURITAN INTOLERANCE AND PURITAN INDEPENDENCE.

THUS did Massachusetts, following the most favorable interpretation of its charter, extend its frontier to the islands in Casco Bay. It was equally successful in maintaining its independence of the Long Parliament, though the circumstances of the contest were fatal to the immediate assertion of the liberty of conscience.

It was the creed of even the most loyal, that "if the king, or any party from him, should attempt any thing against this commonwealth," it was the common duty "to spend estate, and life, and all, without scruple, in its defence;" that "if the parliament itself should hereafter be of a malignant spirit, then, if the colony have strength sufficient, it may withstand any authority from thence to its hurt." Massachusetts called itself "a perfect republic." Nor was the expression a vain boast. The commonwealth, by force of arms, preserved in its harbors a neutrality between the ships of the opposing English factions; it placed death as the penalty for any "attempt at the alteration of the frame of polity fundamentally," that it might intimidate those who should assert the absolute supremacy of the English parliament; it established a mint; it proposed a treaty

214 RELIGIOUS LIBERTY THE TOPIC OF PARTY.

of commerce with Canada, to be maintained even in case of war between France and England: during the hostilities between England and Holland, it refused to make use of the sword, and continued a peaceful intercourse with Manhattan.

Meantime the public mind was agitated with discussions on liberty of conscience and independence of English jurisdiction.

In Boston, a powerful liberal party openly existed. But the apparent purpose of advancing religious freedom was made to disguise measures of the deadliest hostility to the frame of civil government. The nationality of New England was in danger. The New Party, "busy and factious spirits, always opposite to the civil governments of the country and the way of its churches," professing to be advocates "for a full and free tolerance of religion to all men, without exception against Turk, Jew, Papist, Arian, Socinian, Familist, or any other," desired to subvert the charter government, and introduce a general governor from England. They asserted (what English lawyers would have confirmed, but what the colonists were not willing to concede) that there existed in the country no settled form of government according to the laws of England. An entire revolution was demanded; "if not," they add, we shall be necessitated to apply our humble desires to both houses of parliament; " and there was reason to fear that they would obtain a favorable hearing before the body whose authority they labored to enlarge. Thus it was sought to advance the sacred principle of religious freedom by subverting the liberties of New England.

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The danger was imminent. It struck at the very life and foundation of the rising commonwealth; and the patriots of that day, distrustful of dissenters, as false to colonial freedom, connected the defence of their charter with proscriptive intolerance. They would trust nothing but unmixed Puritanism; and they turned for counsel to a synod of the ministers.

At a special session of the general court, in Novem

1646.] RESISTANCE TO THE LONG PARLIAMENT.

215

ber, 1646, the nature of the relation with England was made the subject of debate. After much deliberation, it was agreed that Massachusetts owed to England the same allegiance as the free Hanse Towns had rendered to the empire; as Normandy, when its dukes were kings of England, had paid to the monarchs of France. It was also resolved not to accept a new charter from the parliament, for that would imply a surrender of the old. Besides, parliament granted none, but by way of ordinance, which the king might one day refuse to confirm, and always made for itself an express reservation of “a supreme power in all things." The elders, after a day's consultation, confirmed the decisions. If parliament should be less inclinable to us, we must wait upon Providence for the preservation of our just liberties."

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The colony then proceeded to exercise the independence which it claimed. The appeal of Robert Childe and his companions to the commissioners in England was not admitted. "The charter," urged Childe, " does but create a corporation within the realm, subject to English laws." Plantations," replied the court, above the rank of an ordinary corporation; they have been esteemed other than towns, yea, than many cities. Colonies are the foundations of great commonwealths.”

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To the parliament of England the legislature remonstrated with the noblest frankness against any assertion of the paramount authority of that body. "We have not," say they, "admitted appeals to your authority, being assured they cannot stand with the liberty and power granted us by our charter, and would be destructive to all government.

"The vast distance between England and these parts abates the virtue of the strongest influences. Your councils and judgments can neither be so well grounded, nor so seasonably applied, as might either be useful to us, or safe for yourselves, in the great day of account. If any miscarriage shall befall us, when we have the government in our own hands, the state of England shall not answer for it."

216

RESISTANCE TO THE LONG PARLIAMENT. [1647.

In the same spirit, Edward Winslow, the agent for Massachusetts in England, publicly denied that the jurisdiction of parliament extended to America. "If the parliament of England should impose laws upon us, having no burgesses in the house of commons, nor capable of a summons by reason of the vast distance, we should lose the liberties and freedom of English indeed." It marks an honest love of liberty and of justice in the Long Parliament, that the doctrines of colonial equality should have been received with favor. "Sir Henry Vane, though he might have taken occasion against the colony for some dishonor, which he apprehended to have been unjustly put upon him there, yet showed himself a true friend to New England, and a man of a noble and generous mind." After ample deliberation, the committee of parliament magnanimously replied, "We encourage no appeals from your justice. We leave you with all the freedom and latitude that may, in any respect, be duly claimed by you."

Such were the arts by which Massachusetts preserved its liberties. The harmony of the people had been confirmed by the courage of the elders, who gave fervor to the enthusiasm of patriotism. "It had been as unnatural for a right New England man to live without an able ministry, as for a smith to work his iron without a fire." The union between the elders and the state could not, therefore, but become more intimate than ever; and religion was venerated and cherished as the security against political subserviency. When the synod met by adjournment, it was by the common consent of all the Puritan colonies, that a system of church government was established for the congregations. A jealous regard for charter liberties was combined with the intolerant exclusiveness of a religion of the state.

After royalty was abolished, the Long Parliament invited Massachusetts to receive a new patent, and to hold courts and issue warrants in its name. But the colonial

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