Chapter XXIX: Appendix: NOTE A. p. 23 (1)

On the subject of the relationship between Cromwell and Roger Williams, an obliging antiquarian friend says:

“As to the relationship between Mr. Williams and Oliver Cromwell, I can only say, that it was quite remote, if it existed at all. In the London Review, for March, 1772, is a genealogy of the Cromwell family. As you may not have seen this account, and as it may interest you, I will give you an abridgment of it, that you may see how near related he was to the Protector.

“The genealogy was extracted from Welch chronicles, about the year 1602, to show the descent of Sir Henry Cromwell, who was then living. It commences in the person of Glothyan, fifth Lord of Powes, who married Morpeth, daughter and heiress of Edwin ap Tydwall, Lord of Cardigan, who was lineally descended from Cavedig, of whom the county of Cardigan took the name of Cavedigion. His son, Gwaith Voyd, was Lord of Cardigan, Powes, Gwayte and Gwaynesaye. He died about 1066.

“From Gwynstan ap Gwaith, second son of the above Gwaith Voyd, was lineally descended, through about thirteen generations, or in about four hundred and forty years, Morgan Williams, who, in the reign of Henry VIII., married the sister of Thomas Cromwell. This Morgan Williams had a son Richard, who was knighted by Henry VIII., not by the name of Williams, but by the name of Cromwell, after his uncle, whose heir he became. This Sir Richard had a son Henry, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1563, and married Joan, daughter of Sir Ralph Warren, and had six sons and four daughters. The sons were Oliver, Robert, Henry, Richard, Philip and Ralph. Oliver, the Protector, was the only son of Robert, and born in the parish of St. John, in Huntingdon, April 25, 1599.

“The above will satisfy us, that the tradition in the family of their being a connection by blood with the Protector, may be true. You will see, however, that the connection was quite remote.”

Concerning the parents of Mr. Williams, I have discovered nothing. The name “Roger Williams” occurs in Welsh genealogies, but without any clue to guide us. I have written to Wales for information, but have received no reply. A brother of Mr. Williams, named Robert, was one of the early inhabitants of Providence, and was afterwards a schoolmaster in Newport. He mentions, in one of his books, another brother, “a Turkey merchant.” Richard Williams, who settled in Taunton, has been supposed to have been a brother of Roger.

NOTE B. p. 54.

Our note respecting the Anabaptists must be brief. An Anabaptist is one who baptizes again a person previously baptized. The Cathari, of the third century, were accustomed to baptize again those who joined them from other sects.—Murdock’s Mosheim, vol. i. p. 247. The name was early applied to those who opposed infant baptism, and who baptized those who joined them, though they had been baptized in infancy. The name, of course, expressed the views of their opponents, and not their own, because they did not consider such persons as having been baptized.

Of the history of the Anabaptists, (retaining this name for the sake of convenience,) we cannot now speak. The odium and alarm which are alluded to in the text, arose from the disturbances that occurred in Germany, about the year 1535. It would be tedious to narrate these events; but it may be stated, briefly, that the peasants, oppressed by their feudal lords, made a desperate effort to obtain their freedom. Among them were some Anabaptists, mingled with Lutherans, Catholics and others. They obtained possession of the city of Munster, in Westphalia, and held it about three years; but they were finally overpowered, and the war terminated, after immense slaughter. It seems to have been a just revolt, and a struggle for liberty; but it failed, and the leaders have been stigmatized as fanatics, and as guilty of every species of crime. The story has been told by their oppressors and enemies, and it is entitled to very little credit. Mosheim seems to have been unable to find words to express his abhorrence of the Anabaptists, to whom he imputes most of the disorders of the Rustic War. Other writers are more candid. Benedict (vol. i. pp. 246, 265) has vindicated the Baptists from the charges which have been alleged against them in connection with that war. Admitting that very dangerous doctrines were then avowed, and wrong actions committed, it is unjust to make the Baptists of England and America responsible for them. It would be as fair, to impute to Pedobaptists all the atrocities of the Papal church. It is sufficient for our present purpose, to prove, that the English and American Baptists have never held the principles which have been ascribed to the Anabaptists of Germany. The rejection of magistracy has been the most prominent charge. A company of persons, called Anabaptists, in London, published a Confession of Faith, about the year 1611, in which they say: “The office of the magistrate is a permissive ordinance of God.” And in the following article, they anticipated the doctrines of Roger Williams: “The magistrate is not to meddle with religion, or matters of conscience, nor to compel men to this or that form of religion; because Christ is the King or Lawgiver of the church and conscience.”—Crosby, vol. i. p. 71, appendix. In a “Confession of Faith of seven congregations, or churches of Christ, in London, which are commonly, but unjustly, called Anabaptists,” published in 1646, they say: “A civil magistracy is an ordinance of God, set up by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well; and that in all lawful things, commanded by them, subjection ought to be given by us in the Lord, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake; and that we are to make supplications and prayers for kings, and for all that are in authority, that under them we may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty.”—Crosby, vol. i. appendix, p. 23. These extracts express the doctrines of the English Baptist churches on the point in question. The principles of Roger Williams, respecting religious and civil duties, are sufficiently exhibited in the Memoir. They are the principles of the American Baptist churches, and have been so from the beginning. In the Confession of Faith of the First Baptist Church in Boston, founded in 1665, and the oldest church in what was then the colony of Massachusetts, the church say: “We acknowledge magistracy to be an ordinance of God, and to submit ourselves to them in the Lord, not because of wrath only, but for conscience sake.”—Winchell’s Historical Discourses, p. 10.

NOTE C. p. 74.

The following very interesting letter was first published in the first volume of the Massachusetts Historical Collections:

“_Providence, June 22, 1670, (ut vulgo.)_

“Major Mason,[391]

“My honored, dear and ancient friend, my due respects and earnest
desires to God, for your eternal peace, &c.

“I crave your leave and patience to present you with some few
considerations, occasioned by the late transactions between your
colony and ours. The last year you were pleased, in one of your
lines to me, to tell me that you longed to see my face once more
before you died. I embraced your love, though I feared my old lame
bones, and yours, had arrested travelling in this world, and
therefore I was and am ready to lay hold on all occasions of
writing, as I do at present.

“The occasion, I confess, is sorrowful, because I see yourselves,
with others, embarked in a resolution to invade and despoil your
poor countrymen, in a wilderness, and your ancient friends, of our
temporal and soul liberties.

“It is sorrowful, also, because mine eye beholds a black and doleful
train of grievous, and, I fear, bloody consequences, at the heel of
this business, both to you and us. The Lord is righteous in all our
afflictions, that is a maxim; the Lord is gracious to all oppressed,
that is another; he is most gracious to the soul that cries and
waits on him: that is silver, tried in the fire seven times.

“Sir, I am not out of hopes, but that while your aged eyes and mine
are yet in their orbs, and not yet sunk down into their holes of
rottenness, we shall leave our friends and countrymen, our children
and relations, and this land, in peace, behind us. To this end, Sir,
please you with a calm and steady and a Christian hand, to hold the
balance and to weigh these few considerations, in much love and due
respect presented:

“First. When I was unkindly and unchristianly, as I believe, driven
from my house and land and wife and children, (in the midst of a
New-England winter, now about thirty-five years past,) at Salem,
that ever-honored Governor, Mr. Winthrop, privately wrote to me to
steer my course to the Narraganset Bay and Indians, for many high
and heavenly and public ends, encouraging me, from the freeness of
the place from any English claims or patents. I took his prudent
motion as a hint and voice from God, and waving all other thoughts
and motions, I steered my course from Salem (though in winter snow,
which I feel yet) unto these parts, wherein I may say Peniel, that
is, I have seen the face of God.

“Second. I first pitched, and begun to build and plant at Seekonk,
now Rehoboth, but I received a letter from my ancient friend, Mr.
Winslow, then Governor of Plymouth, professing his own and others’
love and respect to me, yet lovingly advising me, since I was fallen
into the edge of their bounds, and they were loth to displease the
Bay, to remove but to the other side of the water, and then, he
said, I had the country free before me, and might be as free as
themselves, and we should be loving neighbors together. These were
the joint understandings of these two eminently wise and Christian
Governors and others, in their day, together with their counsel and
advice as to the freedom and vacancy of this place, which in this
respect, and many other Providences of the Most Holy and Only Wise,
I called _Providence_.

“Third. Sometime after, the Plymouth great sachem, (Ousamaquin[392])
upon occasion, affirming that Providence was his land, and therefore
Plymouth’s land, and some resenting it, the then prudent and godly
Governor, Mr. Bradford, and others of his godly council, answered,
that if, after due examination, it should be found true what the
barbarian said, yet having, to my loss of a harvest that year, been
now (though by their gentle advice) as good as banished from
Plymouth as from the Massachusetts, and I had quietly and patiently
departed from them, at their motion, to the place where now I was, I
should not be molested and tossed up and down again, while they had
breath in their bodies; and surely, between those, my friends of the
Bay and Plymouth, I was sorely tossed, for one fourteen weeks, in a
bitter winter season, not knowing what bread of bed did mean, beside
the yearly loss of no small matter in my trading with English and
natives, being debarred from Boston, the chief mart and port of
New-England. God knows that many thousand pounds cannot repay the
very temporary losses I have sustained. It lies upon the
Massachusetts and me, yea, and other colonies joining with them, to
examine, with fear and trembling, before the eyes of flaming fire,
the true cause of all my sorrows and sufferings. It pleased the
Father of spirits to touch many hearts, dear to him, with some
relentings; amongst which, that great and pious soul, Mr. Winslow,
melted, and kindly visited me, at Providence, and put a piece of
gold into the hands of my wife, for our supply.

“Fourth. When, the next year after my banishment, the Lord drew the
bow of the Pequod war against the country, in which, Sir, the Lord
made yourself, with others, a blessed instrument of peace to all
New-England, I had my share of service to the whole land in that
Pequod business, inferior to very few that acted, for,

“1. Upon letters received from the Governor and Council at Boston,
requesting me to use my utmost and speediest endeavors to break and
hinder the league labored for by the Pequods against the Mohegans,
and Pequods against the English, (excusing the not sending of
company and supplies, by the haste of the business,) the Lord helped
me immediately to put my life into my hand, and, scarce acquainting
my wife, to ship myself, all alone, in a poor canoe, and to cut
through a stormy wind, with great seas, every minute in hazard of
life, to the sachem’s house.

“2. Three days and nights my business forced me to lodge and mix
with the bloody Pequod ambassadors, whose hands and arms, methought,
wreaked with the blood of my countrymen, murdered and massacred by
them on Connecticut river, and from whom I could not but nightly
look for their bloody knives at my own throat also.

“3. When God wondrously preserved me, and helped me to break to
pieces the Pequods’ negotiation and design, and to make, and promote
and finish, by many travels and charges, the English league with the
Narragansets and Mohegans against the Pequods, and that the English
forces marched up to the Narraganset country against the Pequods, I
gladly entertained, at my house in Providence, the General Stoughton
and his officers, and used my utmost care that all his officers and
soldiers should be well accommodated with us.

“4. I marched up with them to the Narraganset sachems, and brought
my countrymen and the barbarians, sachems and captains, to a mutual
confidence and complacence, each in other.

“5. Though I was ready to have marched further, yet, upon agreement
that I should keep at Providence, as an agent between the Bay and
the army, I returned, and was interpreter and intelligencer,
constantly receiving and sending letters to the Governor and Council
at Boston, &c., in which work I judge it no impertinent digression
to recite (out of the many scores of letters, at times, from Mr.
Winthrop,) this one pious and heavenly prophecy, touching all
New-England, of that gallant man, viz: “If the Lord turn away his
face from our sins, and bless our endeavors and yours, at this time,
against our bloody enemy, we and our children shall long enjoy
peace, in this, our wilderness condition.” And himself and some
other of the Council motioned, and it was debated, whether or no I
had not merited, not only to be recalled from banishment, but also
to be honored with some remark of favor. It is known who hindered,
who never promoted the liberty of other men’s consciences. These
things, and ten times more, I could relate, to show that I am not a
stranger to the Pequod wars and lands, and possibly not far from the
merit of a foot of land in either country, which I have not.

“5. Considering (upon frequent exceptions against Providence men)
that we had no authority for civil government, I went purposely to
England, and upon my report and petition, the Parliament granted us
a charter of government for these parts, so judged vacant on all
hands. And upon this, the country about us was more friendly, and
wrote to us, and treated us as an authorized colony; only the
difference of our consciences much obstructed. The bounds of this,
our first charter, I (having occular knowledge of persons, places
and transactions) did honestly and conscientiously, as in the holy
presence of God, draw up from Pawcatuck river, which I then
believed, and still do, is free from all English claims and
conquests; for although there were some Pequods on this side the
river, who, by reason of some sachems’ marriages with some on this
side, lived in a kind of neutrality with both sides, yet, upon the
breaking out of the war, they relinquished their land to the
possession of their enemies, the Narragansets and Nianticks, and
their land never came into the condition of the lands on the other
side, which the English, by conquest, challenged; so that I must
still affirm, as in God’s holy presence, I tenderly waved to touch a
foot of land in which I knew the Pequod wars were maintained and
were properly Pequod, being a gallant country; and from Pawcatuck
river hitherward, being but a patch of ground, full of troublesome
inhabitants, I did, as I judged, inoffensively, draw our poor and
inconsiderable line.

“It is true, when at Portsmouth, on Rhode-Island, some of ours, in a
General Assembly, motioned their planting on this side Pawcatuck. I,
hearing that some of the Massachusetts reckoned this land theirs, by
conquest, dissuaded from the motion, until the matter should be
amicably debated and composed; for though I questioned not our
right, &c., yet I feared it would be inexpedient and offensive, and
procreative of these heats and fires, to the dishonoring of the
King’s Majesty, and the dishonoring and blaspheming of God and of
religion in the eyes of the English and barbarians about us.

“6. Some time after the Pequod war and our charter from the
Parliament, the government of Massachusetts wrote to myself (then
chief officer in this colony) of their receiving of a patent from
the Parliament for these vacant lands, as an addition to the
Massachusetts, &c., and thereupon requesting me to exercise no more
authority, &c., for, they wrote, their charter was granted some few
weeks before ours. I returned, what I believed righteous and
weighty, to the hands of my true friend, Mr. Winthrop, the first
mover of my coming into these parts, and to that answer of mine I
never received the least reply; only it is certain, that, at Mr.
Gorton’s complaint against the Massachusetts, the Lord High Admiral,
President, said, openly, in a full meeting of the commissioners,
that he knew no other charter for these parts than what Mr. Williams
had obtained, and he was sure that charter, which the Massachusetts
Englishmen pretended, had never passed the table.

“7. Upon our humble address, by our agent, Mr. Clarke, to his
Majesty, and his gracious promise of renewing our former charter,
Mr. Winthrop, upon some mistake, had entrenched upon our line, and
not only so, but, as it is said, upon the lines of other charters
also. Upon Mr. Clarke’s complaint, your grant was called in again,
and it had never been returned, but upon a report that the agents,
Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Clarke, were agreed, by mediation of friends,
(and it is true, they came to a solemn agreement, under hands and
seals,) which agreement was never violated on our part.

“8. But the King’s Majesty sending his commissioners (among other of
his royal purposes) to reconcile the differences of, and to settle
the bounds between the colonies, yourselves know how the King
himself therefore hath given a decision to this controversy.
Accordingly, the King’s Majesty’s aforesaid commissioners at Rhode
Island, (where, as a commissioner for this colony, I transacted with
them, as did also commissioners from Plymouth,) they composed a
controversy between Plymouth and us, and settled the bounds between
us, in which we rest.

“9. However you satisfy yourselves with the Pequod conquest; with
the sealing of your charter some few weeks before ours; with the
complaints of particular men to your colony; yet, upon a due and
serious examination of the matter, in the sight of God, you will
find the business at bottom to be,

“First, a depraved appetite after the great vanities, dreams and
shadows of this vanishing life, great portions of land, land in this
wilderness, as if men were in as great necessity and danger for want
of great portions of land, as poor, hungry, thirsty seamen have,
after a sick and stormy, a long and starving passage. This is one of
the gods of New-England, which the living and most high Eternal will
destroy and famish.

“2. An unneighborly and unchristian intrusion upon us, as being the
weaker, contrary to your laws, as well as ours, concerning
purchasing of lands without the consent of the General Court. This I
told Major Atherton, at his first going up to the Narraganset about
this business. I refused all their proffers of land, and refused to
interpret for them to the sachems.

“3. From these violations and intrusions arise the complaint of many
privateers, not dealing as they would be dealt with, according to
law of nature, the law of the prophets and Christ Jesus, complaining
against others, in a design, when they themselves are delinquents
and wrong doers. I could aggravate this many ways with Scripture
rhetoric and similitudes, but I see need of anodynes, (as physicians
speak,) and not of irritations. Only this I must crave leave to say,
that it looks like a prodigy or monster, that countrymen among
savages in a wilderness; that professors of God and one Mediator, of
an eternal life, and that this is like a dream, should not be
content with those vast and large tracts which all the other
colonies have, (like platters and tables full of dainties,) but pull
and snatch away their poor neighbors’ bit or crust; and a crust it
is, and a dry, hard one, too, because of the natives’ continual
troubles, trials and vexations.

“10. Alas! Sir, in calm midnight thoughts, what are these leaves and
flowers, and smoke and shadows, and dreams of earthly nothings,
about which we poor fools and children, as David saith, disquiet
ourselves in vain? Alas! what is all the scuffling of this world
for, but, _come, will you smoke it_? What are all the contentions
and wars of this world about, generally, but for greater dishes and
bowls of porridge, of which, if we believe God’s Spirit in
Scripture, Esau and Jacob were types? Esau will part with the
heavenly birthright for his supping, after his hunting, for god
belly; and Jacob will part with his porridge for an eternal
inheritance. O Lord, give me to make Jacob’s and Mary’s choice,
which shall never be taken from me.

“11. How much sweeter is the counsel of the Son of God, to mind
first the matters of his kingdom; to take no care for to-morrow; to
pluck out, cut off and fling away right eyes, hands and feet, rather
than to be cast whole into hell-fire; to consider the ravens and the
lilies whom a heavenly Father so clothes and feeds; and the counsel
of his servant Paul, to roll our cares, for this life also, upon the
most high Lord, steward of his people, the eternal God; to be
content with food and raiment; to mind not our own, but every man
the things of another; yea, and to suffer wrong, and part with what
we judge is right, yea, our lives and (as poor women martyrs have
said) as many as there be hairs upon our heads, for the name of God
and the son of God his sake. This is humanity, yea this is
Christianity. The rest is but formality and picture, courteous
idolatry and Jewish and Popish blasphemy against the Christian
religion, the Father of spirits and his Son, the Lord Jesus.
Besides, Sir, the matter with us is not about these children’s toys
of land, meadows, cattle, government, &c. But here, all over this
colony, a great number of weak and distressed souls, scattered, are
flying hither from Old and New-England, the Most High and Only Wise
hath, in his infinite wisdom, provided this country and this corner
as a shelter for the poor and persecuted, according to their several
persuasions. And thus that heavenly man, Mr. Haynes, Governor of
Connecticut, though he pronounced the sentence of my long banishment
against me, at Cambridge, then Newtown, yet said unto me, in his own
house at Hartford, being then in some difference with the Bay: “I
think, Mr. Williams, I must now confess to you, that the most wise
God hath provided and cut out this part of his world for a refuge
and receptacle for all sorts of consciences. I am now under a cloud,
and my brother Hooker; with the Bay, as you have been, we have
removed from them thus far, and yet they are not satisfied.”

“Thus, Sir, the King’s Majesty, though his father’s and his own
conscience favored Lord Bishops, which their father and grandfather
King James, whom I have spoke with, sore against his will, also did,
yet all the world may see, by his Majesty’s declarations and
engagements before his return, and his declarations and Parliament
speeches since, and many suitable actings, how the Father of spirits
hath mightily impressed and touched his royal spirit, though the
Bishops much disturbed him, with deep inclination of favor and
gentleness to different consciences and apprehensions as to the
invisible King and way of his worship. Hence he hath vouchsafed his
royal promise under his hand and broad seal, that no person in this
colony shall be molested or questioned for the matters of his
conscience to God, so he be loyal and keep the civil peace. Sir, we
must part with lands and lives before we part with such a jewel. I
judge you may yield some land and the government of it to us, and
we, for peace sake, the like to you, as being but subjects to one
king, &c. and I think the King’s Majesty would thank us, for many
reasons. But to part with this jewel, we may as soon do it as the
Jews with the favor of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes. Yourselves
pretend liberty of conscience, but alas! it is but self, the great
god self, only to yourselves. The King’s Majesty winks at Barbadoes,
where Jews and all sorts of Christian and Antichristian persuasions
are free, but our grant, some few weeks after yours sealed, though
granted as soon, if not before yours, is crowned with the King’s
extraordinary favor to this colony, as being a banished one, in
which his Majesty declared himself that he would experiment, whether
civil government could consist with such liberty of conscience. This
his Majesty’s grant was startled at by his Majesty’s high officers
of state, who were to view it in course before the sealing, but
fearing the lion’s roaring, they couched, against their wills, in
obedience to his Majesty’s pleasure.

“Some of yours, as I heard lately, told tales to the Archbishop of
Canterbury, viz. that we are a profane people, and do not keep the
Sabbath, but some do plough, &c. But, first, you told him not how we
suffer freely all other persuasions, yea the common prayer, which
yourselves will not suffer. If you say you will, you confess you
must suffer more, as we do.

“2. You know this is but a color to your design, for, first, you
know that all England itself (after the formality and superstition
of morning and evening prayer) play away their Sabbath. 2d. You know
yourselves do not keep the Sabbath, that is the seventh day, &c.

“3. You know that famous Calvin and thousands more held it but
ceremonial and figurative, from Colossians 2, &c. and vanished; and
that the day of worship was alterable at the churches’ pleasure.
Thus also all the Romanists confess, saying, viz. that there is no
express scripture, first, for infants’ baptisms; nor, second, for
abolishing the seventh day, and instituting of the eighth day
worship, but that it is at the churches’ pleasure.

“4. You know, that generally, all this whole colony observe the
first day, only here and there one out of conscience, another out of
covetousness, make no conscience of it.

“5. You know the greatest part of the world make no conscience of a
seventh day. The next part of the world, Turks, Jews and Christians,
keep three different days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday for their
Sabbath and day of worship, and every one maintains his own by the
longest sword.

“6. I have offered, and do, by these presents, to discuss by
disputation, writing or printing, among other points of differences,
these three positions; first, that forced worship stinks in God’s
nostrils. 2d. That it denies Christ Jesus yet to be come, and makes
the church yet national, figurative and ceremonial. 3d. That in
these flames about religion, as his Majesty, his father and
grandfather have yielded, there is no other prudent, Christian way
of preserving peace in the world, but by permission of differing
consciences. Accordingly, I do now offer to dispute these points and
other points of difference, if you please, at Hartford, Boston and
Plymouth. For the manner of the dispute and the discussion, if you
think fit, one whole day each month in summer, at each place, by
course, I am ready, if the Lord permit, and, as I humbly hope,
assist me.

“It is said, that you intend not to invade our spiritual or civil
liberties, but only (under the advantage of first sealing your
charter) to right the privateers that petition to you. It is said,
also, that if you had but Mishquomacuck and Narraganset lands
quietly yielded, you would stop at Coweset, &c. Oh, Sir, what do
these thoughts preach, but that private cabins rule all, whatever
become of the ship of common safety and religion, which is so much
pretended in New-England? Sir, I have heard further, and by some
that say they know, that something deeper than all which hath been
mentioned lies in the three colonies’ breasts and consultations. I
judge it not fit to commit such matter to the trust of paper, &c.
but only beseech the Father of spirits to guide our poor bewildered
spirits, for his name and mercy sake.

“15. Whereas our case seems to be the case of Paul appealing to
Cæsar against the plots of his religious, zealous adversaries, I
hear you pass not of our petitions and appeals to his Majesty, for
partly you think the King will not own a profane people that do not
keep the Sabbath; partly you think that the King incompetent judge,
but you will force him to law also, to confirm your first-born Esau,
though Jacob had him by the heels, and in God’s holy time must carry
the birthright and inheritance. I judge your surmise is a dangerous
mistake, for patents, grants and charters, and such like royal
favors, are not laws of England, and acts of Parliament, nor matters
of propriety and _meum_ and _tuum_ between the King and his
subjects, which, as the times have been, have been sometimes triable
in inferior Courts; but such kind of grants have been like high
offices in England, of high honor, and ten, yea twenty thousand
pounds gain per annum, yet revocable or curtable upon pleasure,
according to the King’s better information, or upon his Majesty’s
sight, or misbehavior, ingratefulness, or designs fraudulently
plotted, private and distinct from him.

“16. Sir, I lament that such designs should be carried on at such a
time, while we are stript and whipt, and are still under (the whole
country) the dreadful rods of God, in our wheat, hay, corn, cattle,
shipping, trading, bodies and lives; when, on the other side of the
water, all sorts of consciences (yours and ours) are frying in the
Bishops’ pan and furnace; when the French and Romish Jesuits, the
firebrands of the world for their god belly sake, are kindling at
our back, in this country, especially with the Mohawks and Mohegans,
against us, of which I know and have daily information.

“17. If any please to say, is there no medicine for this malady?
Must the nakedness of New-England, like some notorious strumpet, be
prostituted to the blaspheming eyes of all nations? Must we be put
to plead before his Majesty, and consequently the Lord Bishops, our
common enemies, &c. I answer, the Father of mercies and God of all
consolations hath graciously discovered to me, as I believe, a
remedy, which, if taken, will quiet all minds, yours and ours, will
keep yours and ours in quiet possession and enjoyment of their
lands, which you all have so dearly bought and purchased in this
barbarous country, and so long possessed amongst these wild savages;
will preserve you both in the liberties and honors of your charters
and governments, without the least impeachment of yielding one to
another; with a strong curb also to those wild barbarians and all
the barbarians of this country, without troubling of compromisers
and arbitrators between you; without any delay, or long and
chargeable and grievous address to our King’s Majesty, whose gentle
and serene soul must needs be afflicted to be troubled again with
us. If you please to ask me what my prescription is, I will not put
you off to Christian moderation or Christian humility, or Christian
prudence, or Christian love, or Christian self-denial, or Christian
contention or patience. For I design a civil, a humane and political
medicine, which, if the God of Heaven please to bless, you will find
it effectual to all the ends I have proposed. Only I must crave your
pardon, both parties of you, if I judge it not fit to discover it at
present. I know you are both of you hot; I fear myself, also. If
both desire, in a loving and calm spirit, to enjoy your rights, I
promise you, with God’s help, to help you to them, in a fair and
sweet and easy way. My receipt will not please you all. If it should
so please God to frown upon us that you should not like it, I can
but humbly mourn, and say with the prophet, that which must perish
must perish. And as to myself, in endeavoring after your temporal
and spiritual peace, I humbly desire to say, if I perish, I perish.
It is but a shadow vanished, a bubble broke, a dream finished.
Eternity will pay for all.

“Sir, I am your old and true friend and servant,
“R. W.

“To my honored and ancient friend, Mr. Thomas Prince, Governor of
Plymouth Colony, these present. And by his honored hand this copy,
sent to Connecticut, whom it most concerneth, I humbly present to
the General Court of Plymouth, when next assembled.”

The following documents are inserted here, as belonging to the history of Roger Williams, though a suitable opportunity did not occur to insert them in the text.

The subjoined letter was copied for Mr. Backus, by the late Judge Howell, of Providence, and was accompanied by the following note, in his hand writing: “This remonstrance was sent in to the town, upon their concluding to divide among themselves certain common lands, out of which R. Williams wanted some to remain still common, for the town afterwards to give occasionally to such as fled to them, or were banished for conscience sake, as he at first gave it all to them.”

“Loving friends and neighbors,

“I have again considered on these papers, and find many considerable
things in both of them. My desire is, that after a friendly debate
of particulars, every man may sit down and rest in quiet with the
final sentence and determination of the town, for all experience
tells us that public peace and love is better than abundance of corn
and cattle, &c. I have one only motion and petition, which I
earnestly pray the town to lay to heart, as ever they look for a
blessing from God on the town, on your families, your corn and
cattle, and your children after you; it is this, that after you have
got over the black brook of some soul bondage yourselves, you tear
not down the bridge after you, by leaving no small pittance for
distressed souls that may come after you. What though your division
or allotment be never so small, yet ourselves know that some men’s
distresses are such, that a piece of a dry crust and a dish of cold
water, is sweet, which if this town will give sincerely unto God,
(setting aside some little portions for other distressed souls to
get bread on) you know who hath engaged His heavenly word for your
reward and recompense.

“Yours, ROGER WILLIAMS.

To the town of Providence.”

The following letter is an honorable evidence of his benevolent spirit:

“_Nar. 22, 11, 50, (so called.)_

“Well beloved friends,

“Loving respects to each of you presented, with hearty desires of
your present and eternal peace. I am sorry that I am occasioned to
trouble you in the midst of many your other troubles, yet upon the
experience of your wonted loving-kindness and gentleness toward all
men and myself also, I pray you hear me patiently. I had proposed to
have personally attended this Court, and to have presented, myself,
these few requests following, but being much lamed and broken with
such travels, I am forced to present you in writing these five
requests. The first four concern others living and dead amongst us;
the fifth, concerns myself.

“First, then, I pray be pleased to review the propositions between
us and our dead friend, John Smith; and since it hath pleased the
God of all mercies, to vouchsafe this town and others such a mercy,
by his means, I beseech you study how to put an end to that
controversy depending between us and him, (as I may so speak) and
his; ’tis true, you have referred that business to some of our
loving neighbors amongst you; but since there are some obstructions,
I beseech you put forth your wisdoms, who know more ways to the wood
than one. Ease the first, and appoint others, or some other course,
that the dead clamor not from his grave against us, but that the
country about us may say, that Providence is not only a wise, but a
grateful people to the God of mercies, and all his instruments of
mercy towards us.

“My second request concerns the dead still. I understand, that one
of the orphans of our dead friend, Daniel Abbott, is likely (as she
herself told me) to be disposed of in marriage. ’Tis true she is now
come to some years, but who knows not what need the poor maid hath
of your fatherly care, counsel and direction. I would not disparage
the young man (for I hear he hath been laborious) yet with your
leave, I might say, I doubt not you will not give your daughters in
marriage to such, whose lives have been in such a course, without
some good assurance and certificate of his not being engaged to
other women, or otherways criminous, as also of his resolution to
forsake his former course, lest (this inquiry being neglected) the
maid and ourselves repent when misery hath befallen her, and a just
reproof and charges befall ourselves, of which we have no need.

“For, thirdly, I crave your consideration of that lamentable object
(what shall I say, of all our censure or pity, I am sure) of all our
wonder and astonishment, Mrs. Weston. My experience of the
distempers of persons elsewhere, makes me confident, that although
not in all things, yet in a great measure, she is a distracted
woman. My request is, that you would be pleased to take what is left
of hers into your own hands, and appoint some to order it for her
supply, and if it may be, let some public act of mercy to her
necessities, stand upon record amongst the merciful acts of a
merciful town, that hath received many mercies from heaven, and
remember that we know not how soon our wives may be widows, and our
children orphans, yea, and ourselves be deprived of all or most of
our reason, before we go from hence, except mercy from the God of
mercies prevent it.

“Fourthly. Let me crave your patience, while once more I lead your
consideration to the grave, amongst the dead, the widows and the
fatherless. From some neighbors and the widow Mann herself, I
understand, that notwithstanding her motherly affection, which will
make all burthens lighter for her children’s good, yet she is not
without fears, that if the town be not favorable to her in after
times, some hard measure and pressures may befall her. My request
is, therefore, that it would please you to appoint some of
yourselves to review the will, and to consider whether the pains of
the father, deceased, or want of time, hath not occasioned him to
leave some of his purposes and desires imperfect, as also to propose
to the town wherein, according to the rules of justice and mercy,
what the deceased intended, may be perfected, for the greater
comfort both of his widow and orphans.

“Fifth. My last request concerns myself. I cannot be so unthankful
to you, and so insensible of mine own and family’s comfort, as not
to take notice of your continued and constant love and care in your
many public and solemn orders for the payment of that money due unto
me about the charter: ’tis true I have never demanded it; yea, I
have been truly desirous that it might have been laid out for some
further public benefit in each town, but observing your loving
resolution to the contrary, I have at last resolved to write unto
you (as I have also lately done to Portsmouth and Newport) about the
better ordering it to my advantage. I have here (through God’s
providence) convenience of improving some goats; my request is,
therefore, that if it may be without much trouble, you would please
to order the payment of it in cattle of that kind. I have been
solicited and have promised my help, about iron works, when the
matter is ripe, earnestly desirous every way to further the good of
the town of Providence, to which I am so much engaged, and to
yourselves the loving inhabitants thereof, to whom I desire to be

“Your truly loving and ever faithful,
“ROGER WILLIAMS.

“For my well beloved and much respected, the inhabitants of the town
of Providence.

“To Mr. Robert Williams and Mr. Thomas Harris, deputies, or either
of them.”

* * * * *

[Copied from 3 His. Col. i. p. 178.]

“_Cawcawmsqussick, 11, 7, 48, (so called.)_

“Dear and worthy Sir,

“Best salutations to you both and loving sister premised, wishing
you eternal peace in the only Prince of it. I have longed to hear
from you and to send to you since this storm arose. The report was
(as most commonly all Indian reports are) absolutely false, of my
removing my goods, or the least rag, &c. A fortnight since, I heard
of the Mohawks coming to Pawcatuck, their rendezvous; that they were
provoked by Uncas’ wronging and robbing some Pawcatuck Indians the
last year, and that he had dared the Mohawks, threatening, if they
came, to set his ground with gobbets of their flesh; that our
neighbors had given them play, (as they do every year;) yet withal I
heard they were divided; some resolved to proceed, others pleaded
their hunting season. We have here one Waupinhommin, a proud,
desperate abuser of us, and a firebrand to stir up the natives
against us, who makes it all his trade to run between the Mohawks
and these, and (being a captain also himself) renders the Mohawks
more terrible and powerful than the English. Between him and the
chief sachems hath been great consultations, and to my knowledge, he
hath persuaded them to desert their country and become one
rebellious body or rout with the Mohawks, and so to defy the
English, &c. I have sent also what I can inform to the
commissioners. At present, (through mercy) we are in peace.

“Sir, I desire to be ever
“Yours in Christ Jesus,
“ROGER WILLIAMS.

“The letter I have sent by Warwick, twenty miles nearer than by
Seekonk.

“For his much honored, kind friend, Mr. John Winthrop, at his house,
in Nameag, these.”

* * * * *

“Loving friends and neighbors,

“Divers of yourselves have so cried out, of the contentions of your
late meetings, that (studying my quietness) I thought fit to present
you with these few lines. Two words I pray you to consider. First,
as to this plantation of Providence: then as to some new plantation,
if it shall please the same God of mercies who provided this, to
provide another in mercy for us. 1. As to this town, although I have
been called out, of late, to declare my understanding as to the
bounds of Providence and Pawtuxet; and, although divers have lands
and meadows in possession beyond these bounds, yet I hope that none
of you think me so senseless as to put on any barbarian to molest an
Englishman, or to demand a farthing of any of you.

“2. If any do (as formerly some have done, and divers have given
gratuities, as Mr. Field, about Notaquoncanot and others,) I
promise, that as I have been assistant to satisfy and pacify the
natives round about us, so I hope I shall still while I live be
helpful to any of you that may have occasion to use me.

“Now, as to some new plantation, I desire to propose that which may
quench contention, may accommodate such who want, and may also
return monies unto such as have of late disbursed.

“To this purpose, I desire that we be patient, and torment not
ourselves and the natives, (sachems and people,) putting them upon
mischievous remedies, with the great noise of twenty miles new or
old purchase.

“Let us consider, if Niswosakit and Wayunckeke, and the land
thereabout, may not afford a new and comfortable plantation, which
we may go through with an effectual endeavor for true public good.
To this end, I pray you consider, that the inhabitants of these
parts, with most of the Coweset and Nipmucks, have long since
forsaken the Narraganset sachems and subjected themselves to the
Massachusetts. And yet they are free to sell their lands to any whom
the Massachusetts shall not protest against. To this end (observing
their often flights, and to stop their running to the Massachusetts)
I have parlied with them, and find that about thirty pounds will
cause them to leave those parts, and yield peaceable possession. I
suppose, then, that the town may do well to give leave to about
twenty of your inhabitants (of which I offer to be one, and know
others willing) to lay down thirty shillings a man toward the
purchase. Let every one of this number have liberty to remove
himself, or to place a child or friend there. Let every person who
shall afterward be received into the purchase lay down thirty
shillings, as hath been done in Providence, which may be paid (by
some order agreed on) to such as lately have disbursed monies unto
the effecting of this. I offer, gratis, my time and pains, in hope
that such as want may have a comfortable supply amongst us, and
others made room for, who may be glad of shelter also.

“Yours to serve you,
“ROGER WILLIAMS.

“27, 8, 60 (_so called_.)”

* * * * *

“_Providence, 13, 10, 61 (so called.)_

“1. I testify and declare, in the holy presence of God, that when at
my first coming into these parts, I obtained the lands of Seekonk of
Ousamaquin, the then chief sachem on that side, the Governor of
Plymouth (Mr. Winslow) wrote to me, in the name of their government,
their claim of Seekonk to be in their jurisdiction, as also their
advice to remove but over the river unto this side, (where now, by
God’s merciful providence, we are,) and then I should be out of
their claim, and be as free as themselves, and loving neighbors
together.

“2. After I had obtained this place, now called Providence, of
Canonicus and Miantinomo, the chief Narraganset sachems deceased,
Ousamaquin, the sachem aforesaid, also deceased, laid his claim to
this place also. This forced me to repair to the Narraganset sachems
aforesaid, who declared that Ousamaquin was their subject, and had
solemnly himself, in person, with , subjected himself and his
lands unto them at the Narraganset: only now he seemed to revolt
from his loyalties under the shelter of the English at Plymouth.

“3. This I declared from the Narraganset sachems to Ousamaquin, who,
without any stick, acknowledged it to be true that he had so
subjected as the Narraganset sachems affirmed; but withal, he
affirmed that he was not subdued by war, which himself and his
father had maintained against the Narragansets, but God, said he,
subdued me by a plague, which swept away my people, and forced me to
yield.

“4. This conviction and confession of his, together with gratuities
to himself and brethren and followers, made him often profess, that
he was pleased that I should here be his neighbor, and that rather
because he and I had been great friends at Plymouth, and also
because that his and my friends at Plymouth advised him to be at
peace and friendship with me, and he hoped that our children after
us would be good friends together.

“5. And whereas, there hath been often spread of Providence falling
within Plymouth jurisdiction, by virtue of Ousamaquin’s claims, I
add unto the testimony abovesaid, that the Governor, Mr. Bradford,
and other of their magistrates, declared unto me, both by conference
and writing, that they and their government were satisfied, and
resolved never to molest Providence, nor to claim beyond Seekonk,
but to continue loving friends and neighbors (amongst the
barbarians) together.

“This is the true sum and substance of many passages between our
countrymen of Plymouth and Ousamaquin and me.

ROGER WILLIAMS.”

* * * * *

[Copied from 3 His. Col. i. p. 70.]

“_Providence, 16, 8, 76, (ut vulgo.)_

“Sir,

“With my humble and loving respects to yourself and other honored
friends, &c. I thought fit to tell you what the providence of the
Most High hath brought to my hand the evening before yesterday. Two
Indian children were brought to me by one Thomas Clements, who had
his house burnt on the other side of the river. He was in his
orchard, and two Indian children came boldly to him, the boy being
about seven or eight, and the girl (his sister) three or four years
old. The boy tells me, that a youth, one Mittonan, brought them to
the sight of Thomas Clements, and bid them go to that man, and he
would give them bread. He saith his father and mother were taken by
the Pequods and Mohegans about ten weeks ago, as they were clamming
(with many more Indians) at Coweset; that their dwelling was and is
at a place called Mittaubscut; that it is upon a branch of Pawtuxet
river, to Coweset (their nearest salt water) about seven or eight
miles; that there are about twenty houses. I cannot learn of him
that there are above twenty men, beside women and children; that
they live on ground-nuts, &c. and deer; that Aawaysewaukit is their
sachem; and twelve days ago he sent his son, Wunnawmeneeskat, to
Uncas, with a present of a basket or two of wampum. I know this
sachem is much related to Plymouth, to whom he is said to be
subject, but he said, (as all of them do) [he] deposited his land. I
know what bargains he made with the Browns and Willets and
Rhode-Island and Providence men, and the controversies between the
Narragansets and them, about those lands. I know the talk abroad of
the right of the three united colonies (by conquest) to this land,
and the plea of Rhode-Island by the charter and commissioners. I
humbly desire that this party may be brought in; the country
improved (if God in mercy so please;) the English not differ about
it and complaints run to the King (to unknown trouble, charge and
hazard, &c.) and therefore I humbly beg of God that a committee from
the four colonies may (by way of prudent and godly wisdom) prevent
many inconveniences and mischiefs. I write the sum of this to the
Governors of Connecticut and Rhode-Island, and humbly beg of the
Father of mercies to guide you in mercy, for his mercy sake.

“Sir, your unworthy,
“R. W.

“Excuse my want of paper.

“This boy saith, there is another town to the northeast of them,
with more houses than twenty, who, ’tis like, correspond to the
eastward.

“To the much honored the Governor Leverett, at Boston, or the
Governor Winslow, at Plymouth, present.”

* * * * *

The following document was presented to the Court of Commissioners, mentioned on page 298 of this volume. It is inserted as valuable, though mutilated and containing severe remarks on Mr. Harris’ conduct:

“The following is a true copy of an original manuscript, which is in
the hand writing of Roger Williams, and contains all that is written
on one sheet in my possession: the remainder of the original must
have been contained in another sheet which was attached, but that is
unfortunately lost, it never having come into my possession. The
original is much worn and broken in the folds, and several lines
required great care and attention to trace them, but I am confident
that all that is written here is contained in the original.

“JOHN HOWLAND.

_Providence, January 30, 1832._”

“_Providence, 18, 8, 1677, (ut vulgo.)_

“Honored Gentlemen,