The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1915-06-29

Low Countries, 70 build fortihcations
which should make them sure o.
whatever Mr. Winthrop might occupy.
THAI very year. 1885, Mr.. Hooker
came with 100 settlers from Newtown
and Joined some pioneers who had
gone before him and planted them
selves, as most unweleume neighbors, 4
close alongside the Dutch at Good 4
Hope, calling their settlement Hart
ford
Uneasy congregations were not the \
only people 70 quit the bay in that I
day 81 eager movement, when men /
came BY the thousands out 81 Eng
land, and the Connecticut was not the
only goal q the new emigration. |
Many q man, many a family who /
found the rule of the Massachusetts,
magistrates overirksome. turned their
eyes southwark and went the shorter
journey 81 but q little more than forty
miles. which carried them through
Plymouth's grant Of lands into the
country Of the NarraVansetts beyond,
where deep rivers and n spreading
bay dotted with inviting islands made
anopen wav % the sheltered seas Of
the great sound below.
These shores and islands soon be-
came a place Of refuge for Ell who
were specially thrust out from the
bay settlements for errors Of life on
opinion. and for all who voluntarily
quit the austere churches there in
search Of an absolute individual free
dom, such as was not - BE- had even
with Mr. Hooker on the Connecticut.
Roger Williams had led the way
thither in 1886, the year Dir. Hooker
went 70 Hartford.
Mr. Williams was a man whom bis
very enemies were constrained 20 love.
when they had hearts under their
iackets-even while they sincerely
condemned his opinions. He would no
more accept what he did not believe
at the bzly than IN England. He up
braided the congregations there which
had not openly separated from the
/ Church 81 England; he denied the
| validity 81 the celouy's charter, say
ing that the Indians alone, and not
the King, owned and could grant the
land; and he declared that magis-
trates had no rightful power 1xeept
over a mans body and goods. and
were wrong when they tried g. COM
mand what men should believe and
how they should worship.
The magistrates at the bay could
not permit such views az these to be
|. preached and keep their authority,
. and at last he was driven out, obliged
} 20 Is secretly, even, lest they should
seize and send him back TO England.
] And so he became n fugitive, and went
with four devoted companions, In the
/ midst Of bitter winter weather. deep
, into che icy forests 70 tbo southwark,
To ind covert for q sensitive con-
science beyond the grants Of the
} crown.
And then. almost Immediately, he
was able 60 do the men who had
, banishcd him an inestimable service
That very summer ti687) war came
war With tire bold ard dangerous
PeQuots, the Indian masters Of the
Connecticut and the shores Of the
Sound; and nobody but Roger VIII
liams could have held the Narragan-
set tribes of from joining them e
s destroy the settlements. Mr. VII.
I Hams had been very much among
. them while be lived az Plymouth
: had learned their language, ans
{ tf1crouRhly won their liking Theii
{ keen and watchful eyes had seen hos
o true and frank and steadfast he was
: and Row sincere q friend. The magis
E trateE Of the bay had begged bis in
q PREVENTION, and he had undertaken &
, cheerfuliy. Such was the generou,
= nature Of the man.
( And then, the pequots being driver
from the forests, everyone began {,
Z think again 81 the new settlements {.
i tie westward and southwark, on IA,
Il Connecticut and the Sound The It'd,
y Of immigrants from oversee was still
\ pouring In at the Bay, with no show
q slackening More came in 1854
2 than ever before Finding the land
hythe bay already full. hundred
2 pressed on 10 the farther shores be
< low. Settlements were presently &
?, be found scattered 81 intervals, lonl
i short, al the way from saybrook 3
+ the mouth of the Connecticut, Z
= Greenwich, built within twenty mile
4 Of TIE Dutch nc New Amsterdam
/ here 9 group 81 villages. there an iso
. lated hamlet, set FAR apart Tn
II Sound Itself was crossed. and mes
L settlements nestled here and Their
y within the bays gtd harbors q u
y northern shore 81 Long island. /
was plain enough by what long an.