IN QUEST OF THE CHARTER
There was no doubt about it. The little settlement of Providence was
in disgrace--deep disgrace. Massachusetts could forgive neither Roger
Williams for his unheard-of opinions nor his companions who helped him
found the colony based upon such dangerous principles.
She showed her displeasure in several ways. First, she frowned upon
all residents of Providence who came within her borders. If they still
held that the magistrates were unjust and that Roger Williams had been
persecuted, they were politely invited to turn back home and threatened
with imprisonment should they repeat the offence. Another effect of the
Bay Colony’s severity was loss of trade, resulting in actual hardship
for the Providence settlers. As supplies from England were received
at Boston, little Providence was badly handicapped in securing the
necessities of life. She must either depend upon the more distant port
of New Amsterdam or go without.
As for Roger Williams himself, Massachusetts obstinately refused to let
him touch her territory under any conditions. It is hard to understand
such a spirit of narrowness and ingratitude after the noble part he
had played in the Pequot War. Still he continued to help Massachusetts
on any and every occasion when his knowledge of the Indians and their
language could be of service. They, as repeatedly, kept on accepting
his kindnesses without, however, annulling his decree of banishment.
The following incident shows this in striking fashion:
At one time the Massachusetts people became suspicious of Miantonomo,
thinking that he had entered into a league with the Mohawks against
them. Thereupon, they summoned him to Boston to give an account of
himself. The Narragansett sachem was perfectly willing to go--on one
condition. This was that Roger Williams might be his companion. Well
did the shrewd savage know that if his trusted friend had a part in
the proceedings, right and justice would prevail. Such would have been
the case, but Roger Williams was not given a chance to say a word for
either side. He was under sentence of banishment. How, then, could he
be allowed to accompany Miantonomo? The proposed meeting failed to take
place.
Whenever a disturbance arose in Roger Williams’ colony, Massachusetts
was only too ready to cry out triumphantly, “I told you so! This absurd
theory of the separation of church and state is not working out any
better than we thought it would!” John Winthrop solemnly recorded in
his Journal, “At Providence, also, the devil was not idle.” What Roger
Williams’ critics were too short-sighted to see was that the trouble
lay, not with his principles, which were sane and sound, but with his
companions’ misunderstanding of them. The Apostle of Soul Liberty was
far ahead of the age in which he lived.
The time came when this attitude of Massachusetts threatened Providence
with very real dangers. We are sorry to say that not all the trouble
in the infant colony came from without, however. A few settlers
at Pawtuxet, near Providence, though occupying land over which
Massachusetts had no claim, placed themselves under her protection.
It was the very opportunity the Bay Colony had been seeking to extend
her sway. Providence, having no government, had no right to exist,
she argued. Frankly she acknowledged that Pawtuxet was worth taking
over. Was it wise to neglect any chance that would serve as a wedge to
further extension of territory?
John Winthrop himself had the honesty to reveal Massachusetts’ real
motives back of her protection of the Pawtuxet malcontents:
“This we did partly to draw in the rest in those parts, either under
ourselves or Plymouth, who now lived _under no government_, but grew
very offensive, and the place was likely to be of use to us, especially
if we should have occasion of sending out against any Indians of
Narragansett and likewise for an outlet into the Narragansett Bay, and
seeing it came without our seeking, and would be no charge to us, we
thought it not wisdom to let it slip.”
For a while, the outlook was most discouraging for the struggling
settlement at the head of Narragansett Bay. Things went from bad
to worse. The climax was reached when, in the spring of 1643,
Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven joined to form “The
United Colonies of New England.” Providence and Aquidneck were left
out. The chief purpose of the federation was mutual protection against
the natives. The Pequot War, while it had broken the power of one
dreaded tribe, had not settled all the Indian troubles of New England.
Every now and then rumors of new dangers spread from settlement to
settlement. As in former years, a general massacre of white settlers
was feared. There was now a likelihood that such an attempt might
be more successful than before, for the Indians had been receiving
firearms from English traders.
The league was based, then, upon the principle that in union there
is strength. Two commissioners from each colony (both of whom must
be church members) were elected to meet once a year to discuss the
questions of war and peace that affected the general welfare of New
England. The Narragansett Bay settlements would have been glad to
send their representatives, too, but were not allowed to do so. At
first the New England federation claimed it was because Providence had
no charter. This could not have been the real reason, for when this
obstacle ceased to exist, the colony was still refused admission.
It is easy to see that it was thus placed in an extremely dangerous
position. It was isolated, could hope for no co-operation from its
neighbor colonies and was in constant dread of Indian outbreaks.
What were the little frozen-out settlements to do? In some way they
must make a place for themselves in this unfriendly New England, and
that speedily. They must, in some way, make their neighbors respect
them--yes, and keep their hands off of them. Their very existence was
imperiled.
There was only one course open. Acting on the same principle as their
more fortunate neighbors, they decided to unite and to make that
union firm and lasting by appealing to England for a charter. The man
best suited to undertake this delicate mission was, of course, Roger
Williams, and he was appointed to visit the mother-country for this
purpose.
At the time he sailed (June, 1643), the principal Narragansett
Bay settlements were Providence, those on the island of
Aquidneck--Portsmouth and Newport--and the infant settlement of
Warwick. During the seven years of its existence, Providence had
continued to stand boldly for religious freedom. Aquidneck, too, while
entirely separate from her sister colony, had been liberal from the
beginning, as is shown by her court record of 1641, “that liberty of
conscience in point of doctrine is perpetuated.”
Roger Williams would have preferred to engage passage from Boston,
but once more the Massachusetts authorities refused to let him enter
their territory. He therefore decided to embark from New Amsterdam.
Many persons in that Dutch settlement had reason to be thankful for
the happy providence that sent him their way. A fierce Indian uprising
was in progress, due largely to the ill-treatment of the savages
by the whites. Roger Williams’ fame must have gone before him, for
the settlers pleaded with him to save them. With his usual gracious
willingness, he became peace-maker and with his customary success.
Unhappily, many frightful tragedies had already occurred. Among these
was the murder of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson and members of her family who
had moved from Aquidneck to the Dutch colony.
The long, uncertain voyage that lay ahead of Roger Williams was most
unlike the rapid crossings made in our modern luxurious ocean steamers
that can calculate almost to an hour the length of the journey.
Heavy seas, storms, contrary winds all had to be taken into account.
Realizing the delay that might thus be caused, our traveler used his
leisure to put together the Indian “Key,” as we have seen.
It was a very different England which Roger Williams found in 1643 from
that which he had left thirteen years before. Then royalty and bishops
had been triumphant; now the king was a fugitive and the Star Chamber
a thing of the past. The country was passing through a dreadful civil
war. Parliament was fighting for its rights, long trampled upon, and it
was a question whether that body or the king would win out in the end.
The struggle was for both civil and religious freedom. Disturbed though
the kingdom was, it was the very best occasion for Roger Williams to
present his request. Parliament needed all the friends it could get on
both sides of the water. It therefore listened with attention to what
he had to say.
Without question Roger Williams numbered among his friends the most
powerful men of England at this time--Oliver Cromwell, Sir Henry Vane,
the former governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and perhaps
Milton. They greeted the pioneer from over-seas with hearty welcome.
Their warm friendship must have meant much to the outcast from
Massachusetts. But his patient heart must have been filled with a
still greater joy when a commission appointed by Parliament granted
his colony the much-desired charter. Massachusetts’ cold disapproval
might continue, but the Narragansett settlements were on their feet at
last! They had a future. Their star, slow in rising, was now above the
horizon.
During his stay in London, Roger Williams attended to other matters
besides the procuring of the charter. Often his own personal concerns
were pushed aside for the sake of others. The poor of the city were
enduring great suffering due to a lack of coal, for the war had
interfered with mining. Wood was very expensive. Roger Williams made
it his business to do what he could to obtain fuel and so lessen the
distress around him.
In addition, he made use of every spare moment to write a great work
on toleration bearing the rather startling title of “The Bloody Tenent
of Persecution,” which was put together “in variety of strange houses,
sometimes in the fields, in the midst of travel.” It was in answer
to a letter of his old antagonist, John Cotton. Going back a step
further, this letter had been called forth by a pamphlet on persecution
composed by a prisoner of Newgate. Being denied writing materials, he
had substituted milk for ink, and for paper, had used the wrappings
of the milk bottles brought him. Such writings, he knew, would, upon
the application of heat, become legible. To “the arguments against
persecution _in milk_,” Roger Williams now wrote “the answer in blood.”
He was on familiar ground, and with clear logic, good sense and
strong English, he shaped his ideas on religious liberty. Such a book
had never before been published. Truth and Peace are represented as
discussing this all-important subject.
“In what dark corner of the world, sweet Peace,” begins Truth, “are
we two met? How hath the present evil world banished me from all the
coasts and quarters of it? And how hath the righteous God in judgment
taken thee from the earth?”
“’Tis lamentably true, blessed Truth,” answers Peace, “the foundations
of the world have long been out of course.... With what a wearied,
tired wing have I flown over nations, kingdoms, cities, towns, to find
out precious Truth.”
“The like inquiries,” says Truth, “in my flights and travels have I
made for Peace, and still am told she hath left the earth and fled to
Heaven.”
“Dear Truth,” then exclaims Peace, “what is the earth but a dungeon of
darkness where Truth is not?”
In less fanciful language, arguments are given to show that neither
laws nor civil magistrates should have authority over a man’s soul.
Roger Williams did not mean any disrespect to his old friend, John
Cotton, by thus openly taking opposite sides with him. This he
explained years afterwards in a courteous letter to Cotton’s son. He
was too tender-hearted to offend even his enemies. Besides, public
controversies were very popular in Roger Williams’ day.
The book was dedicated to Parliament, but, unfortunately, the House of
Commons was so far from comprehending and appreciating its worth, that
it rather childishly ordered that it be burnt. As if in such simple
fashion truth could be wiped from the earth!
The charter obtained by Roger Williams provided that “Providence
Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New England” should be given
“full power and authority to rule themselves and such others as shall
hereafter inhabit within any part of the said tract of land, by such
a form of civil government as by voluntary consent of all, or the
greater part of them, they shall find most suitable to their estate and
condition, provided that the said laws, constitutions and punishments
for the civil government of the said plantations be conformable to the
laws of England, as far as the nature and constitution of the place
will admit.” It was a most liberal document, without a single word
about restricting liberty in religious matters.
The obtaining of this charter meant an outlay in actual money of one
hundred pounds, or five hundred dollars. Roger Williams had generously
disposed of some of his land in order to raise ready money to carry
through the project. This debt was not collected without considerable
trouble and delay. The colonists, having secured their object, did not
seem over-anxious to pay the bill.
The question suggests itself: How had Roger Williams been able to make
such a complete success of his mission in England? There were several
reasons--among them, the desire of Parliament to make and keep friends
in New England, as has been mentioned. But listen. In a letter sent
by Roger Williams from leading noblemen and members of Parliament to
Massachusetts, we find these words: “As also of his _great industry and
travels in his printed Indian labors_ in your parts (the like whereof
we have not seen extant from any part of America) and in which respect
it hath pleased both Houses of Parliament to grant unto him, and
friends with him, a free and absolute charter of civil government for
those parts of his abode.” The writers of the letter did not hesitate
to use very plain language in expressing their disapproval of the lack
of harmony and neighborliness that had marked the dealings between
Massachusetts and Roger Williams. The missive gained him the privilege
of landing in Boston on his return to America in the autumn of the year
1644. There is nothing to show, however, that the colony softened her
heart toward him.
The people of Providence, on the other hand, heard of the coming of
their leader and prepared for him a truly royal welcome. When he landed
on the banks of the Seekonk, where, not many years before, nobody had
taken any interest in his doings except possibly friendly Indians, now
he was met by a body of his townsmen who had turned out in fourteen
canoes to greet him. Happy in the safe return of their friend and
neighbor, and rejoiced to think he had come back with the precious
charter, they escorted him, with hearty expressions of joy, across the
river to the settlement he had founded.