The Washington herald., 1915-04-24
The Expansion of New Englan
Published special arrangement President through
The Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.

projected onder the copyright laws,
for infringement by use either
: In part.
Especially thrust out from the bay settle
ments for errors Of life o. opinion. and
for all who voluntarily quit the austere
churches there in search Of an absolute
individual freedom. such as was not to
be had even with Mr. Hooker on the
, Connecticut. Roger williams had led the
way thither in 1886 the year Mr.. Hooker
went to Hartford.
MIR. Williams was a man whom his
very enemies were constrained to love.
when they had hearts under their lack
ets-even while they sincerely con-
demned his opinions. He would no more
accept what he did not believe at the
bay than in England. He upbraided the
congregations there which had not OPEN
ly separated from the Church of Eng
land; he denied the validity of the COL
ony's charter. saying that the Indians
alone. and not the King. owned and could
grant the land: and he declared that
magistrates had no rishtful power ex-
| cept over mans body and goods, and
were wrong when they tried to command
what men should believe and how they
should worship.
The magistrates at the bay could not
| permit such views as these to be preach
! ed and keep their authority, and at last
ne was driven out. obliged to fly secret
~ even. lest they should seize and send
! MIN back to England. And SO he be-
came a fugitive, and went with four de-
voted companions. in the midst of bitter
winter weather, deep into the lev for
| ests TO the southwark, to find covert for
a sensitive conscience beyond the grants
| OF the crown.
And then, almost Immediately, he was
able to do the men who had banished
| MIN an inestimable service. That very
summer uSSO war came-war with the
| bold and dangerous Pequots, the Indian
masters of the Connecticut and the shores
or the Sound: and NOBODY but Roger
| Williams could have held the Narragan-
sett tribes off from joining them to de-
stroy the settlements. Mr.. Will
Jams had been very much among
them while he lived at Plymouth; had
learned their language. and thoroughly
won their liking. Their keen and watch
full eyes had seen how true and frank
and steadfast he was. and how sincere a
! friend. The magistrates Of the bay had
! begged his intervention. and he had I'M
dertakcn It cheerfully. Such was the
! generous nature OF the man.
| And then, the Pequots being driven
| from the forests, everyone began to
! think again of the new settlements TO
the westward and southwark. on the
| Connecticut and the Sound. The tide
| of immigrants from oversee was still
pouring in at the Bay. with no show of
I slackening. More came in 1888 than ever
| before. Finding the lands by the bay
| already full. hundreds pressed on to the
| farther shores below. Settlements were
presently to be found scattered at in
J tervals. long and short. all the way from
Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecti-
4 ~i1l
| miles of the Dutch at New Amsterdam:
| here a group of villages, there an isola-
| ted hamlet, set far apart The Sound
| itself was crossed, and new settlements
nestled here and there within the bays
| and harbors of the northern shore of
| Long Island. 1t was plain enough by
| what long and steady strides the English
were approaching the gates of the Hud-
son.
In June, 1857. a very notable company
] had arrived at the bay under the lead
ership of the Reverend John Davenport
| people of substance, merchants for the
, most part. the chief men of a congrega-
| ton Mr.. Davenport had served in Lon
don. They wished. above all things else.
| to keep together, make and maintain a
| separate church and parish for Mr.. Da-
venport, and live their life in a place of
| settlement of their own. They found
what they wanted Q6SS within a safe
| and pleasing harbor on the Sound. which
| they presently called New Haven.
Settlements grew almost as numerous
| ~ in the Narragansett country. though
not in just the same way. By 1893 some
fifty settlers had drawn about Mr.. Will
Jams at the place of refuge which he had
reverently called Providence" and as
| the other shores of the Sound filed, Mar
raGansett Bay was not overlooked. Colo
nists crossed the waters of the bay from
Providence, which lay at its head. to
the fair island at its seward end, which
the Dutch had named Rhode (Red)
Island. because when nrst they saw It
its cliffs showed rudy in the sun. There
Pocasset and Newport were founded.
the Dutch were not slow to see what
they must do against the swarming OF
! the English at their doors. The best and
only chance for New Netherland, 1t was
| plain. lay in pushing her own enterprises
very vigorously and multiplying her own
population as fast as possible, and so
growing too strong to be despised and
| encroached upon. The great grants of
land and privilege offered to PATRONS had
attracted a few rich purchasers. but not
many actual settlers. Not many could
be found who wished to go to the New
World to live under feudal lords more
absolute than any In the Old. The COM
pany changed its policy. therefore. 1t
| offered PATRONS less and actual farmers
moro. 1t arranged to let every settler
have land according to his condition
and MEANS" and to give him free pas
sage to the colony; and it opened the
trade OF the colony to all upon equal
terms. French Huguenots, as well as
Dutch farmers. even Englishmen from
New England and Virginia, came to take
advantage Of the news terms Of settle
ment. 1t was no small part Of the at
traction Of the place for the English In
New England that there was as complete
liberty Of conscience in New Netherland
as at Providence with Mr.. Williams. or
on Rhode Island. The colony grew
stoa div fheref0re and In WAY To