New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-09-19

lsied him also that they came 10 trade and not TO
| injure him. and then he promised them his furs
| They could however, get no information rs to fhe
| whereabouts of the Squaw -Sachcm. Ihex were
| SIMPLY told that " shee was far from thence.
| The day now beng we'll spent, the party pre-
pared to return, and SQuantO then took occasion
TO suggest the propriety of plundering the poor
| and have often threatened you Naturally the
suggestion was not listened TO, ana tne sluaWs IN
the contrary. had by tins time become SO lrlendiy
that they accompanied the explorers the whole
distance back to the boat. Then at last the spirit
of trade proved strong with them that they even
sold their coats from their hacks and tied boughs
about them but with great shametacedness, Tor IN
deed they more modest than some OF our Engnsh
women" Their provisions growing scarce the
party now set sail having fair wind and bright
moon and reached their homes at Plymouth before
noon of the following day. the last of the week.
| They had been most fortunate in the time OF
| their expedition. for they had enjoyed series of
| clear, MINDLESS days. during which they saw the
| harbor and its surrounding country under their
| most attractive aspect,-through the translucent
September haze. when field and forest and hillside
glow with autumnal tints. and it is pleasure to
breathe and move in the pure New-England air.
Their explorations. il is true had not gone ar ana
they saw apparently the mouth OF one only OF the
rivers which empty into the harbor They lad,
| however in their going and coming. thoroughly
traversed the bay. ana taken III It's great SIZE ana
the number of its islands 1t was theTeiere IN no
occasion for surprise that they returned TO PlY-
| month not without repinlns: and. M tncy maze
report of the pleasant places they had visited thy
could not help wishing they had been Their seated
| Ellis OH "The Puritan Commonwealth" in which
the charge of intolerance so often brought against
the early settlers is discussed with acuteness and
| caudor
| Though as has been said, the Puritan Com
| monwealth" ,cas not 4 phrase adopted by the
! founders of Boston and Massachusetts as the tltie
! of the government and State which they set mp
| here there was "a word of equal slgnhcance ana
T% Th DID Fa Seeh e for os a study
of their motives and designs, as medtaied Nv the
leaders and tentatively carried out III their legsla-
ton and institutions we draw this lnitrence;-that
il was their ann and effort to establish here
| Christian commonwealth. winch should bear the
same relation 10 the whole Bible, aS its statute
| hook which the Jewish commonwealth bore 10 the
| Scriptures of the Old Testament. IhcIr legislation
aud institutions were not founded upon nor GUIDED
| lv the spirit OF the New Testament distincuyely.
Had they been SO. they would doubtless have been
| in sex eral respects much modified. And though the
founders did intend To distinguish between certain
| ceremonial and institutional elements of the OId
| Covenant which they believed to he abr02atcd
| and those which they regarded as OF permanent
| and perpetual authority Tor the people OF Uou'
they did not draw dividing line so sharply or so
ndulgently the side OF larger liberty Tor thrlS-
tions as il has been drawn by general approval, in
| later times. The punctiliousness, the authority,
the judicial severity of the old dlsenSatlol ana
its blending of the functions OF Church and state
| were adopted rs vital principles OF the furltan
theocracy. his fact appears alike III thclr long
| delay and reluctance 10 construct anything an !.
swcrng To code of laws, and III the character OF
! the code which they finally adopted: lhey let IL
TO be their solemn duty rather 10 put INTO force ana
reouire obedience TO laws which, as they believed
God had already proclaimed for them than 10 enact
| laws of their own. So, while waiting deliberately
! before engaging III such legislation as the emer-
gency of their condition might requne they were
content to understand that Scripture should fur
nish them guidance in their code And when, alter
long deiering OF this needul work for their gov
ernment and many ingenious excuses Tor thelr pro
crasrination they were finally compelled by the
npaticnt demands of the people TO provide Tor them
body of liberties the influence of the leading
spirits prevailed to secure for their Legislation
| Sh
by Od-Testament texts.
The iheocrafic principles of these leading Puri-
fans and the legislative, social, and religious en-
forcencnt of them, were vitay dependent upon
form of belief and rule OF living when required
per(ect individual conviction. and winch could not
be transferred imposed upon such as rightly or
wrongfully failed to share that conviction. OPP
preston and tolerance of all their associates who
were outsdr of their covenant, however otherwise
concerned for the common security and prosperity;
as we shall soon see, were lneXtrcabiy involved
| within fact were-the natural and necessary re-
suits of the Puritan administration. The attempt
of the most earnest and austere OF the leaders 10
| and others-and indeed upon such of their own
| chosen fellow ship might falter or seen, luke
warm in their cOnstancy-led to manifest injustice,
rightly read their history it is written, must
now recognize the fact that those who experienced
the most ruthless dealing from the Puritan magls-
trates presented themselves as representing opin-
IONS notions, and practices which were at the same
time most odlous and alarming to the Puritans;
The latter welcOmedndeed they perfectly revcllcd
in-disputat confined to the exposition and inter-
probation of the Bible. they were ready on all
occasions to enter ain either WITH approval OF as
saut, ANYTHING offered to them as exposition OF IN
terpretation of ii oily Writ. Texts We're to them
lega-tender in the currency of beliefs and obliga-
tious But when assertion and argument took them
outside of the Bible. either IN the dIrf ctlOn OF
ecclesiastical traditions and Papstica claims, or
of the asserting OF special iumlnations or revtla
tionsp they taken at disadvantage; varl
anccs then became embittered: there was no rcc0g
nized umpire for adjusting the issues opened. and
they had recourse to other weapons and methods
than those of argument. Identifying civil order and
security with the foundation and safeguards of
their Commonwealth which they bad drawn from
and as they belle, ed. had squared by the Bible, all
heady notions all eccentric lndlvldualisins, all
mystical speculations. became, in their apprehen
siOns fomentings of seditOn and revolution. Even
in our own secure State, with all the interests and
eXcitements of our heterogeneous population, we
are not without experiences and memories OF
rancors and breads caused by the wild vagaries
and the fancicd plottings of mischief of men and
women who shock convictions or DEFY the laws. or
threaten. instead OF pr0pnesyln2, woes ana cal
antilles to the community.
The Ouakers were regarded in Massachusetts, as
fanatics of the widest most reckless, and
pern,cIous sort. They had illumnatioLs inspra-
tons and revelations, the impulses and directions
of which they implicitly followed. They de-
ponnccd and reyed the ministers and magistrates
with "A Violence beyond all endurance. and In
shirt quite different from that of the Quakcrisn OF
the present day. "The Puritans sincerely believed
that they had come here uhde" diVihc guidance ny
a holy covenant to plant city of God III the Will
dencss" at was hardly reasonable to ask them
70 believe also that God following them up TO
thwart and ovcrwhclm them by sending III among
them companyof cratic prophets to Ievilc them
with all manner of invcctives and reproachcs
AGAINST magistrates and chmches and with awful
dcuupciations of judgments and catastrophes'
The blame for what done in those prosecuting
times should be equally apportioned between the
prosecutors and the victims.
The crowning folly or iniquity in the course of
the pnrtans was IN following up their penal mile
tious through banshmcnts imprisOnncnts, hncs,
srourpings and mntilations, To the execution on the
pallows OF four martyr victims. But what snail
Ne say of the persistcncy, the cXaspcrating con-