The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-03-22

" pforme, IL shalbe lawful Tor the tounr
" & two of the magistrates to send him to
I" some place out of this jurisdiccon, not to
" returne any more without licence from
" the court"
And Roger Williams "cepted." 1t may
be gratifying to the Rev. Mr.. Merriam to
learn that, even If he cannot recall, by q
mere resolve passed in 1875, Roger Will
liams from his Punishment, and If, In the
general scepticism relative to the producing
of materialized spirits, 1t will be impossi-
Bile for him now to gladden. Massachusetts,
with his presence and inform the good peo-
pie of Sturbridge what he thinks about the
restored right of visitation, yet that Roger
Williams did ''returne" to the "jurisdic-
con" and that, too, "without licence from
the Court" We find him in Boston, Sep
TENDER II, 1914, as bearer of letter,
from several noblemen and other members
of the British parliament, "to the Right
Worshipful the Governor and Assistants,
and the rest of our worthy friends in the
plantation of Massachusetts Bay,lin New
England" in which they Thought it fit,
upon divers considerations, TO profess our
great desire Of both your utmost endeavors
of nearer closing and of ready expressing
those good affections, (Which we preceive
you bear to each other) in effectual per-
Torrance of all friendly Offices" AS the
record is silent upon the subject, we may
presume that the order of Punishment was
at that time-only nine years after its pass
age-as much of dead letter as the pro-
hibtory law is said 10 have been two hun
bred and thirty-nine years later, and that
| the magistrates of Massachusetts, and Roger
| Williams continued to bear to each other
good affections and remained in "ef-
fectual performances of all good offices. |"
Be this as it may, Roger Williams did
not seem to feel very bad In reference to
his sentence of Punishment, either at its
| passage or afterward, and was ever ready
| for the performance of "good offices" and
| Massachusetts, was nothing loathe in asking
for his "good offices" in her behalf. We
| find him, at the request of Massachusetts,,
making league offensive and defensive
with the Narraganset Indians, in the
| Pequot war, which occurred in 1637-and
| it was ever in this kind of coin that he re-
paid that colony for expressing those
| good affections toward him, recorded on
| the 3D. day of September 1885. We doubt
| whether he ever regretted his Punishment
or desired recall of the sentence. The
"Genrall Court planted better than 1t
knew. AS Roger Williams was the first
person in modern chr jtendom, to main
tain the doctrines of religious liberty and
unlimited federation, SO the colony founded
by him was the first pure democracy OF
popular government established, and there
in all treemen participated in the making
4 of laws, and in the selection of officers to
administer the government and execute the
laws So, too, was that colony the first to
| declare ''that no one be accounted delin-
quent for doctrine" and to order that the
declaration concerning liberty of con-
science in point of doctrine" be perpetual
ted Rhode Island furnished the example
and demonstrated its possibility-republi'
can America is reaping the harvest in her
free institutions and in an unlimited liberty
of conscience and religious federation.
The Punishment of Roger Williams was
an act of religious intolerance and pcrsecu.
tion-the act may now be disavowed, the
order rescinded, but, thank God its blessed
results will remain. 1t may be that we
should have enjoyed religious liberation,
the right to worship God according to the
dictates of ones own conscience, all the
same.whether he had been banished or not;
but as the blood of martyrs is the seed OF
the church, so we believe that this act OF
intolerance was the entering wedge that
split forever the rock of bigotry, supersti
ton and priestly assumption. When the
legislature of Massachusetts, rescinded. OF
expunged, the resolution of implied cen.
sure 10 Charles Sumner, it may have sooth
ed that patriots and statesmans pathway
to the grave, but no expunging or rescind
ing resolution can benefit Roger William.
or wipe out the stain of his banishmen
from the records of Massachusetts. Let il
stand as a monument of the intolcran
spirit of the past, of the character of thu
age in which he lived. Let 1t stand il
striking contrast to the broader and more
catholic spirit of the present. Let it stant
the wrong cannot be righted by legisla
ton, the stream that flowed from that &c
cannot be damned up.
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