ANNALS OF PROVIDENCE.

CHAPTER FIRST.

GENERAL HISTORY.

FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1636, TO THE RECEPTION OF THE FIRST CHARTER TO THE COLONY, IN 1644.

THE first permanent European settlement within the present limits of New-England, was made at Plymouth, in the year 1620. The colonists were Englishmen by birth, and of that denomination of Christians since called Doctrinal Puritans. Their former pastor, the Rev. John Robinson, is styled by Neale, “the father of the Independents." He and his congregation had been compelled, some years before, to remove to Holland, on account of their nonconformity to the rites and ceremonies of the English established church. There, they enjoyed their peculiar religious opinions in peace; but the language and customs of the country continually reminded them, that they were in a land of strangers. This, connected with the reflection, that their descendants would be aliens and, perhaps, enemies to the land of their birth, induced them to seek a permanent refuge from English persecution in some remote part of the English possessions in America. Next to the desire of worshipping God according to the dictates of

their own consciences, was the wish to transmit to their descendants the privileges of English subjects. The spirit of colonization pervaded, at that time, a large proportion of their fellow subjects, and rendered it easy for them to make arrangements with one of the large companies established by king James for the settlement of America, for permission to settle within the limits assigned them. Such an arrangement they did conclude with the Virginia Company. They also obtained from king James an intimation, that there they should not be molested for their nonconformity. Allured by the hope of enjoying their religious opinions, under the sanction and protection of their natural prince, they undertook a second pilgrimage, and embarked for the wilderness of America. As it happened, however, their arrangement with the Virginia Company, and their assurance from king James, availed them nothing. They landed far to the Northward of the limits of the Virginia Company, and within the bounds of the Grand Plymouth patent, on the inhospitable shores of Cape Cod, and in the midst of an inclement winter.

The second permanent settlement was made on the borders of Massachusetts Bay. These colonists also were English Puritans. Before they embarked from England, they obtained a patent for their lands from the proprietors of the Grand Plymouth patent, and a charter of incorporation from the king.

Neither of these colonies deemed it important to obtain from the Indians a title to the soil, before they commenced their plantations. They relied, in the first instance, either upon their own actual pos

session, or on a grant from the king, as sufficient to confer a title to the soil they occupied. They, with all christian governments of their day, assumed the right to determine the religious belief of the individuals who composed the colony, or who should afterward join them. Without stopping to reflect, how they, individually, had suffered in their native country from the exercise of this same power, and how inefficient all attempts to regulate religious faith by legal enactments had always proved upon conscientious men, they followed on, in the beaten track. The religious standards adopted by these colonies essentially differed from each other. That of Plymouth approximated nearest to the Brownists. They disclaimed communion with the church of England, as well as with the church of Rome. The first settlers of Massachusetts were more liberal in their views. They professed not to separate from the church of England, but only from the errors of that church. At their departure from England, they sought the prayers of " mother church."

Both colonies soon had occasion to use the standards they had established. In each, there were some individuals whose creeds exceeded or fell short of le

gal measure. Toward these the same power was exerted, though in a less rigorous manner, which had driven the colonists across the Atlantic. The assumption of such a power by any government, will soon find, if in fact it does not create, opportunities for its exercise.

On the fifth day of February, 1631, Roger Williams arrived in Boston. He had taken orders in the

established church in England, but had subsequently become a nonconformist and a rigid separatist, from that church. This change in his religious opinions, induced his removal to this country. The Governor and Assistants of the colony on Massachusetts Bay, soon ascertained that his opinions did not conform to their established standard. The church at Salem invited him to become their Teacher, in the place of Mr. Higginson, then lately deceased; Mr. Skelton being their Pastor. In April, the Court of Assistants wrote to Mr. Endicott, one of the leading men of the Salem Church, that "they marvelled that they would choose" Mr. Williams, "without advising with the Council; and withal desiring them that they would forbear to proceed, till they had conferred about it." They stated as a reason for this interference with the acknowledged rights of the Salem church, as an independent church, that "Mr. Williams had refused to join with the congregation at Boston, because they would not make a public declaration of their repentance for having communion with the churches of England while they tarried there; and besides had declared his opinion, that the magistrate might not punish a breach of the Sabbath, nor any other offence that was a breach of the first table." Whether the first allegation was true, or whether accompanied with any explanation or exceptions, or whether it was an inference of the court from other declarations and opinions of Mr. Williams, cannot be ascertained from any of his writings. The court undoubtedly believed the statement to be correct. The second allegation-by which it was intended, that the civil

magistrate, as such, had no right to punish for any violation of duties toward GOD-was true, in its utmost extent. Mr. Williams has the honor of being the first, in modern times, to protest against the interference of the civil power with the rights of conscience. While he claimed the privilege of forming his own opinions on religious subjects, he claimed also the same right for all others, however they might differ from him. Notwithstanding this difficulty, Mr. Williams was admitted a freeman in May following. He remained in Salem until into summer, when he removed to Plymouth, where he was received as the assistant of Mr. Ralph Smith, the Pastor of the Plymouth church. His connexion with that church continued about two years, when it was dissolved at his own instance. He then returned to Salem. About the time of his return, the ministers of Massachusetts established regular meetings, once a fortnight, at each others houses, for mutual aid and advice. Skelton and Mr. Williams opposed these meetings, as tending to endanger the independence of churches, and to introduce into them the Presbyterian form of government. This opposition gave offence to the ministers. In December of the same year, (1633) the Governor and Assistants had under consideration, a treatise that Mr. Williams had sent to them, the design of which was to show that no charter or patent from the king of England, could confer on the colonists, any right to the lands they occupied, as against the Indians. It was not written for publication, but only for the satisfaction of the Governor of Plymouth, and with the design, probably,

Mr.