NOTES. [23] — CANTO FIRST. — CANTO SECOND. — CANTO THIRD. — CANTO FOURTH. — CANTO FIFTH. — CANTO SIXTH. — CANTO SEVENTH. — CANTO EIGHTH. — CANTO NINTH.
STANZA I.
I SING of trials, toils and sufferings great,
Which Father Williams in his exile bore,
That he the conscience-bound might liberate,
And to the soul her sacred rights restore.
“Roger Williams was born of reputable parents in Wales,
A. D. 1598. He was educated at the University of Oxford; was
regularly admitted to Orders in the Church of England, and
preached for some time as a minister of that Church; but on
embracing the doctrines of the Puritans, he rendered himself
obnoxious to the laws against the non-conformists, and embarked
for America, where he arrived with his wife, whose name
was Mary, on the 5th of February, A. D. 1631.” He had
scarcely landed ere he began to assert the principle of religious
freedom, and insist on a rigid separation from the Church of
England. A declaration that the magistrate ought not to interfere
in matters of conscience could not fail to excite the jealousy
of a government constituted as that of Massachusetts
then was; and this jealousy was roused into active hostility
when, in the April following his arrival, he was called by
the Church of Salem as teaching Elder under their then
Pastor, Mr. Skelton.
“Of this appointment,” says Winthrop, “the Governor of
Massachusetts was informed, who immediately convened a
Court in Boston to take the subject into consideration.” Their
deliberations resulted in a letter addressed to Mr. Endicot, of
Salem, to this effect:—“That whereas Mr. Williams had refused
to join the churches at Boston, because they would not
make a public declaration of their repentance, for having communion
with the Churches of England while they tarried there,
and besides had declared his opinion that the magistrate might
not punish the breach of the Sabbath, nor any other offence that
was a breach of the first table; and therefore they marveled
they would choose him without advising with the council, and
withal desired him that they would forbear to proceed until they
had considered about it.”
This interference of the government forced him to leave
Salem. “He removed to Plymouth, and was engaged assistant
to Mr. Ralph Smith, the pastor of the church at that place.
Here he remained until he found his views of Religious Toleration
and strict non-conformity gave offence to some of his
hearers, when he returned again to Salem, and was settled there
after Mr. Skelton’s death, which took place on the 2d of August,
1634.” In this situation Williams preached against the cross in
the ensign, as a relic of papal superstition. His preaching however,
on this topic, does not seem to have been a subject of
complaint, only as it led some of his friends to the indiscretion
of defacing the colors. His persecutors, in excusing this act to
the government of England, say that they did so, “with as
much wariness as they might, being doubtful themselves of the
lawfulness of a cross in an ensign.” But though he may
have given no offence by declaring an opinion on this subject
so little at variance with their own, yet when he ventured to
speak against the king’s patent, by which he had granted to his
subjects the lands which belonged to the Indians; and, above
all, to maintain that the civil magistrate ought not to interfere
in matters of conscience, except for the preservation of peace, his
presence within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts could no
longer be tolerated. A summons was granted for his appearance
at the next court.
He appeared accordingly. “It was laid to his charge,” says
Winthrop, “that, being under question before the magistracy
and churches for divers dangerous opinions, viz: That the
magistrate ought not to punish for the breaches of the first table,
otherwise than in such cases as do disturb the public peace. 2d.
That he ought not to tender an oath to an unregenerate man.
3d. That a man ought not to pray with such, though wife,
children, &c. 4th. That a man ought not to give thanks after
sacrament nor after meat, &c., and that other churches were
about to write the church of Salem to admonish him of these
errors, notwithstanding the church had since called him to the
office of Teacher.”
These charges having been read, all the magistrates and ministers
concurred in denouncing the opinions of Williams as
erroneous and dangerous, and agreed that the calling him to
office at that time was a great contempt of authority. He and
the church of Salem were allowed until the next General Court
to consider of these charges, and then either to give satisfaction
to the Court, or else to expect sentence.
Much warmth of feeling was exhibited in the discussion of
these charges; and in the course of the debate it seems the ministers
were required to give their opinions severally. All agreed
that he who asserted that the civil magistrate ought not to interfere
in case of heresy, apostacy, etc., ought to be removed,
and that other churches ought to request the magistrates to
remove him. Nothing will give a better idea of the state of
feeling on this occasion than the fact that when the town of
Salem at this time petitioned, claiming some land at Marblehead
as belonging to the town, the petition was refused a hearing,
on the ground that the church of Salem had chosen Mr.
Williams her teacher, and by such choice had offered contempt
to the magistrates.
The attendance of all the Ministers of the Bay at the next
General Court was requested. This was held in the month of
November, 1635. Before this venerable congregation of all the
dignitaries of the church, Williams appeared, and defended his
opinions. His defence, it seems, was not satisfactory. They
offered him further time for conference or disputation. This
he declined, and chose to dispute presently. Mr. Hooker was
appointed to dispute with him. But Mr. Hooker’s logic, seconded
as it was by the whole civil and ecclesiastical power of
Massachusetts, could not force him to recognise the right of the
civil magistrate to punish heresy, or to admit that the king’s
patent could of itself give a just title to the lands of the Indians.
The consequence was, that on the following morning he was
sentenced to depart, within six weeks, out of the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts.
Such were the causes of Williams’ banishment, and such the
circumstances under which the decree was passed. He was a
man who fearlessly asserted his principles, and practiced upon
them to their fullest extent. Persecution could not drive him
to a renunciation of his opinions. His observance of any
principle which he adopted was conscientiously strict; but this
very strictness of observance had its advantages, in enabling
him with more certainty to detect any latent error which his
opinions involved. He was as free to declare his errors as he
was to assert whatever appeared to him to be right. His very
honesty in this respect has given occasion to his enemies to
brand his character with inconsistency and apostacy; but he
remained true to every principle espoused by him, which posterity
has since sanctioned, and inconstant in those things only
which are unimportant in themselves, and which are unsettled
even in the present day. A tacit confession of his own fallibility
was implied in the great principle of which he was the
earliest asserter, that government ought not to interfere in matters
of conscience; and therein consisted a wide difference between
his errors, whatever they were, and those of his persecutors.
This fact, in estimating the character of Williams,
cannot be too well considered.
“Subsequently to his banishment, he was permitted to remain
until spring, on condition that he did not attempt to draw
others to his opinions.” But the friends of Williams could not
consent to see their favorite pastor leave them, without frequently
visiting him whilst they yet had an opportunity. In
these interviews, the plan of establishing a colony in the Narraganset
country, where the principle of Religious Freedom
(the assertion of which had been the chief cause of his banishment)
should be carried into effect, was discussed and matured.
It is also highly probable that he did not fail to do what he
conceived to be the duty of a faithful pastor in other respects.
At length the rumor of these meetings reached the ears of the
civil authorities; and in January, 1635, (O. S.,) “The governor
and assistants,” says Winthrop, “met in Boston to consider
about Mr. Williams; for they were credibly informed, that
he, notwithstanding the injunction laid upon him, (upon
liberty granted him to stay until spring,) not to go about to
draw others to his opinions, did use to entertain company in
his house, and to preach to them even of such points as he had
been sentenced for; and it was agreed to send him into England
by a ship then ready to depart. The reason was because
he had drawn about twenty persons to his opinions, and they
were intending to erect a plantation about the Narraganset bay,
from whence the infection would easily spread into these
churches, the people being many of them much taken with an
apprehension of his godliness. Whereupon a warrant was
sent to him to come presently to Boston, to be shipped,
&c. He returned for answer, (and divers of Salem came with
it,) that he could not without hazard of his life, &c. Whereupon
a pinnace was sent with commission to Captain Underhill,
&c., to apprehend him, and carry him on board the ship,
which then rode at Nantascutt. But when they came to his
house they found he had been gone three days, but whither
they could not learn.”
It thus appears that the object of his government, in directing
his immediate apprehension at this time, was to prevent
the establishment of a colony in which the civil authority
should not be permitted to interfere with the religious opinions
of the citizens.
Williams was in the thirty-seventh or thirty-eighth year of his
age at the time of his banishment. He fled to a wilderness inhabited
only by savages. The two principal tribes—the Narragansets
and Wampanoags—had, but a short time before he entered
their country, been engaged in open hostilities. The government
of Plymouth had on one occasion extended its aid to
its early friend and ally, Massasoit, chief sachem of the Wampanoags.
This interference had smothered, but not extinguished
the flame. With these warring tribes, one of which
(the Narragansets) was a very martial and numerous people,
and exceedingly jealous of the whites, Williams was under the
necessity of establishing relations of amity. He himself says
that he was forced to travel between their sachems to satisfy
them and all their dependent spirits of his honest intentions to
live peaceably by them. He acted the part of a peace-maker
amongst them, and eventually won, even for the benefit of his
persecutors, the confidence of the Narragansets. It was
through his influence that all the Indians in the vicinity of Narraganset
bay were, shortly after his settlement at Mooshausick,
united, and their whole force, under the directions of the very
men who had driven him into the wilderness, brought to
co-operate with the Massachusetts forces against the Pequots.
[See Winthrop’s Journal, and a Sketch of the Life of Roger
Williams, appended to the first volume of the Rhode Island
Historical Collections, for the above extracts.]
STANZA XII.
Much less my consort and these pledges dear.
Williams was the father of six children, viz: Mary, Freeborn,
Providence, Mercy, Daniel, and Joseph. I am not able
to determine their number at the time of his banishment.
STANZA XLIII.
Thrice did our northern tiger seem to come.
Frequently called the Panther, the Cat of the Mountain, or
Catamount. There is indeed no animal of America entitled to
the appellation of the Panther; but this name is frequently applied
to the animal mentioned, and is adopted in this production
for that reason.
STANZA LVIII.
’Twas Waban’s cry at which the monsters ran.
The Indians imitate very perfectly the cry of wild beasts, and
use that art in conveying signals and for other purposes, during
their hunts and other expeditions. The known antipathy between
the wolf and the catamount or panther, and the superiority
of the latter over the former, may justify the text.
STANZA LXVI.
Where burning fagot nevermore shall glow,
Fired by the wrath of persecuting men.
I know not that the fagot has been generally used in any
protestant country for the extirpation of heresy, yet its very
general application to that purpose by Roman Catholics has, by
common consent, made it the appropriate emblem of persecution
in all countries.
STANZA LXIX.
Until Sowaniu’s breezes scatter flowers again.
Sowaniu, or the Paradise of the Indians, was supposed to be
an island in the far southwest. It was the favorite residence of
their great god, Cawtantowit, and the land of departed
spirits. The balmy southwest was a gale breathed from the
heaven of the Indians.
STANZA LXXX.
“And may the Manittoo of dreams,” he said, &c.
Manittoo—a God. It is a word which seems to have been applied
to an extraordinary power, or mysterious influence. Any
astonishing effect, produced by a cause which the Indians could
not comprehend, they appear to have ascribed to the agency of
a Manittoo. It is natural for man to draw his ideas of power or
causation, from what he feels in himself; and when he does so,
he will ascribe the effects which he observes to the influence of
mind. As he advances in knowledge the number of these mysterious
agents diminishes, until at last he is forced upon the
idea of one great, designing, first cause or agent. Man, from
his very constitution, therefore, must be a believer in the existence
of God. He approaches a knowledge of his unity by degrees,
and improves in his religious opinions in the same manner
as he advances to the science of astronomy. How essential
then is that freedom of opinion which our Founder sought to
establish!
STANZA XIII.
In a vast eagle’s form embodied, He
Did o’er the deep on outstretched pinions spring.
It was the belief of the Chippewas, a tribe supposed to have
descended from the same original stock (Lenni Lenape) with
the Narragansets, that, before the earth appeared, all was one
vast body of waters; that the Great Spirit, assuming the shape
of a mighty eagle, whose eyes were as fire, and the sound of
whose wings was as thunder, passed over the abyss, and that,
upon his touching the water, the earth rose from the deep. It
was a prevailing tradition among the Delawares and other
tribes, according to Heckewelder, that the earth was an island,
supported on the back of a huge tortoise, called in the text
Unamis. It is the object of the author to embrace in the text
a selection of their scattered traditions on the subject of creation,
and to give them something like the consistency of a system.
Waban, therefore, adopting their leading ideas, has
drawn out his description into the appropriate sequency of
events. Their Creator was a Manittoo, a mysteriously operating
power, and of the same nature as that principle of causation
which they felt in themselves, as constituting their own
being. The term Cowwewonck, in the Narraganset dialect, signified
the soul, and was derived from Cowwene, to sleep; because,
said they, it operates when the body sleeps. Hence in
the text, whilst the Great Spirit slept, he is represented as commencing
the work of creation—operating on the immense of
waters as a part of his own being, and imparting to it organic
existences, (as the soul from itself creates its own conceptions,)
thus giving a sort of dreamy existence to the earth and all living
things, ere He assumed the shape of the eagle, and at his fiat
imparted to them substantial form and vital energy. The idea,
that the earth was raised out of the Ocean, seems to have been
pretty general amongst the Aborigines.
STANZA XIX.
Yet man was not; then great Cawtantowit spoke
To the hard mountain crags, and called for man.
According to the traditions of the Narragansets, the Great
Spirit formed the first man from a stone, which, disliking, he
broke, and then formed another man and woman from a tree;
and from this pair sprang the Indians.
STANZA XXII.
Then did he send Yotaanit on high—
Yotaanit was the God of Fire; Keesuckquand, God of the
Sun; Nanapaushat, of the Moon; and Wamponand was the
ruling Deity of the East.
STANZA XXIII.
All things thus were formed from what was good,
And the foul refuse every evil had;
But it had felt the influence of the God,
(How should it not?)—
Heckewelder ascribes to the Indians the opinion that nothing
bad could proceed from the Great and Good Spirit. Waban is
here speaking in conformity to that opinion. Hence he represents
the creation of Chepian, or the evil principle, as an incidental
but necessary effect, yet forming no part of the original
design.
STANZA XXVII.
And manittoos, that never death shall fear,
Do too within this moral form abide.
“They conceive,” says Williams, “that there are many gods,
or divine powers, within the body of man—in his pulse, heart,
lungs, &c.”
STANZA XXVIII.
But if a sluggard and a coward, then
To rove all wretched in the gloom of night.
“They believe that the soules of men and women go to the
southwest—their great and good men to Cawtantowit his
house, where they have hopes, as the Turks have, of carnal
joys. Murtherers, liars, &c., their soules (say they) wander
restless abroad.”—Williams’ Key.
STANZA XXXVIII.
This yet unproved and doubted by the best.
The Charter of Pennsylvania was granted in 1681. The
philanthropic Penn was preceded by Williams in the adoption
of a mild and pacific policy toward the natives. Both seem to
have been equally successful.
STANZA XLV.
Ere dark pestilence
Devoured his warriors—laid its hundreds low,
That sachem’s war-whoop roused to his defence
Three thousand bow-men, and he still can show
A mighty force.
The pestilence, to which Waban has reference, is that which
shortly preceded the arrival of the Plymouth planters. The
Wampanoags, before this calamity, were relatively a powerful
people. Patuxet, afterwards Plymouth, was then under the
government of their sachem, who, at times, made it his place
of residence. Indeed the whole country between Seekonk and
the ocean, eastward, seems to have been occupied by tribes
more or less subject to him. Those toward the Cape and
about Buzzard’s Bay were, however, rather his tributaries than
his subjects. The different clans or communities, in this extensive
territory, were under the government of many petty
sachems, who regarded Ousamequin (afterwards Massasoit) as
their chief. Availing themselves of the misfortune of their
neighbors, the Narragansets extended their conquests eastward
over some of these under-sachems; and when Ousamequin fled
from Pawtuxet to Pokanoket, to avoid the devouring sickness,
he found not only Aquidnay, but a part of Pokanoket, subject to
his enemies. (See note to stanza xxxiii canto iv.) Pokanoket
was the Indian name of the neck of land between Taunton river
on the east, and Seekonk and Providence rivers on the west.
Mount Hope, or Haup as it is called in the text, forms its southeastern
extreme. The number of warriors stated in the text as
subject to Ousamequin, is hypothetical. Some of the Nipnets
were tributary to the Narragansets, but the greater part of
them were the allies or subjects of the Wampanoag Chief.
STANZA XLVI.
His highest chief is Corbitant the stern—
He bears a fox’s head and panther’s heart.
Mr. Winslow, who had frequent conferences with this chief,
represents him as “a hollow-hearted friend to the Plymouth
planters, a notable politician, &c.” He, with others, was suspected
of conspiring against the whites, and Captain Standish
was sent, on one occasion, to execute summary justice upon
him and his confederates. He, however, escaped, and afterwards
made his peace with them through the mediation of Massasoit.
His residence was at Mattapoiset, now Swanzey.
STANZA XLVII.
Yet oft their children bleed
When the far west sends down her Maquas fell—
Warriors who hungry on their victims steal,
And make of human flesh a dreadful meal.
In compliance with the common orthography, the name of
this tribe is written Maqua. Williams says, that in the Narraganset
dialect they were called Mohawaugsuck, or Mauquauog,
from mobo, to eat; and were considered Cannibals. It is probable,
from its location, that he speaks of the same tribe under
the name of Mitucknechakick, or tree eaters, “a people,” says
he, “so called, living between three and four hundred miles
west into the land, from their eating Mituckquash—that is,
trees. They are men-eaters—they set no corn, but live on the
bark of the chestnut and other fine trees,” &c. Again, he says,
“The Maquaogs, or men-eaters, that live two or three hundred
miles west,” &c. Thus it is plain that the Maquas were considered,
by the Narragansets and their neighboring tribes,
Cannibals.
STANZA XLVIII.
Here lies Namasket tow’rd the rising sun.
Namasket was within the limits of the territory which now
constitutes the township of Middleborough, and was about
fifteen miles from Plymouth.
Here farther down, Cohannet’s banks upon
Spreads broad Pocasset, strong Appanow’s hold.
The territory under that name, now forms a part of Fall River,
Mass., and all, or nearly all, Tiverton, R. I. The territory
south to the sea, was called Sagkonate, now written Sekonnet,
or Seconnet, forming at this time the township of Little Compton.
The northeasterly part of the island of Aquidnay was
also called Pocasset. This word may be a derivative from the
Indian name of the strait separating the island from the mainland.
The name of the chieftain in the text must be received
exclusively on Waban’s authority.
STANZA L.
Two mighty chiefs, one cautious, wise, and old,
One young and strong, and terrible in fight,
All Narraganset and Coweset hold;
One lodge they build—one council fire they light.
In a deposition of Williams, dated the 18th June, 1682, he
says, that it was the general and constant declaration that the
father of Canonicus had three sons—that Canonicus was his
heir—that his youngest brother’s son, whose name was Miantonomi,
was his marshal, or executioner, and did nothing without
his consent.
Five thousand warriors give their arrows flight.
This is the number at which Williams estimates them. Calendar
says they were a numerous, rich, and powerful people,
and though they were, by some, said to have been less fierce
and warlike than the Pequots, yet it appears that they had,
before the English came, not only increased their numbers by
receiving many who fled to them from the devouring sickness
or plague in other parts of the land, but they had enlarged their
territories, both on the eastern and western boundaries. Their
numbers must have diminished rapidly, as Hutchinson estimates
their warriors in 1675 at two thousand; this estimate,
however, might not embrace those tribes which were subject to,
or dependant on them, when Williams entered the country.
They seem to have been a people greatly in advance of their
neighbors. They excelled in the manufacture of Wampumpeag,
and supplied other nations with it—also with pendants,
bracelets, tobacco pipes of stone, and pots for cookery. After
the arrival of the whites, they traded with them for their goods,
and supplied other tribes with them at an advance.
STANZA LI.
Dark rolling Seekonk does their realm divide
From Pokanoket, Massasoit’s reign—
Under the general name of Narraganset, was included Narraganset
proper and Coweset. Narraganset proper extended south
from what is now Warwick to the ocean; Coweset, from Narraganset
northerly to the Nipmuck country, which now forms
Oxford, Mass., and some other adjoining towns. The western
boundaries of Narraganset and Coweset cannot be definitely ascertained.
Gookins says, the Narraganset jurisdiction extended
thirty or forty miles from Seekonk river and Narraganset
bay, including the islands, southwesterly to a place called
Wekapage, four or five miles to the eastward of Pawcatuck
river—that it included part of Long Island, Block Island,
Coweset and Niantick, and received tribute from some of the
Nipmucks. After some research, I am induced to believe that
the Nianticks occupied the territory now called Westerly; if so,
then the jurisdiction of the Narragansets extended to the Pawcatuck,
and perhaps beyond it. The tribe next westward was
that which dwelt “in the twist of Pequot river,” now called
the Thames; and was under the control of the fierce and warlike
Uncas, a chief who had rebelled against Sassacus, the
Pequot sachem, and detached from its allegiance a considerable
portion of his nation, of which he had formed a distinct
tribe.
STANZA LIII.
Awanux gave him strength, and, with strange fear,
Did M’antonomi at the big guns start.
“We cannot conceive,” says Mourt in his journal, “but that
he [Massasoit] is willing to have peace with us: for they have
seen our people sometimes alone, two or three in the woods at
work and fowling, whereas they offered them no harm: and
especially, because he hath a potent adversary, the Narrohigansets,
that are at war with him, against whom he thinks we may
be of some strength to him; for our pieces are terrible unto
them.”
STANZA LXXIV.
At length his vision opened on a space,
Level and broad, and stretching without bound
Southward afar—nor rose, o’er all its face,
A tree, or shrub, or rock or swelling mound.
It may excite our wonder that the barren plains of Seekonk
should have been at first selected by our Founder for a place of
settlement. But it is possible that at the time when the selection
was made they were in a state, as to fertility, different
from their present. However this may be, one thing is certain,
that Williams made the selection during the winter, when vegetation
afforded no criterion of the soil, whilst its very nakedness
was in some respects a recommendation. It was an object
with the early settlers to establish themselves in the neighborhood
of some clearing, and particularly on meadows in the
vicinity of rivers. These yielded pasturage through the summer,
and forage for their cattle during winter, and land for
tillage without the preparatory steps of clearing.
STANZA VII.
Williams says that, at the time of his first entering the Narraganset
country, a great contest was raging between Canonicus
and Miantonomi on one side, and Massasoit or Ousamequin on
the other. Williams, at this time, had come to the resolution
of settling at Seekonk, on a part of the lands belonging to the
latter sachem. But should actual hostilities be commenced
between these tribes, his situation would become peculiarly
dangerous, occupying as he would, lands on the frontiers of the
weaker party. The Narragansets might regard his settlement
as a mere trading establishment, supplying their enemies with
arms. Besides, the Narragansets and Wampanoags, in many
instances, laid claim to the same lands. [See note to stanza
thirty-third, canto fourth.] To obtain a peaceable possession
of these lands it was necessary to have the consent of both. A
reconciliation, therefore, of the contending tribes became indispensable.
Williams incidentally mentions that he travelled between
them to satisfy them of his intentions to live peaceably
by them, and it is hardly possible that the equally necessary
object of their reconciliation was neglected. Indeed, we find,
shortly after Williams entered their country, these chiefs, so
recently hostile, amicably granting their lands to him and his
associates, and one of them yielding to the authority of the
other. Hence we may infer that Williams not only attempted
to pacify them, but that his efforts were crowned with success.
Ousamequin, or Ashumequin, was the name of the Wampanoag
chief, until about the time of the Pequot war, when he
assumed the name of Massasoit, or Massasoyt, for it is variously
written. The latter is used in the text as that by which
he is most generally designated. It was common for the Indians
to change their names. That of Miantonomi was originally
Mecumeh.
STANZA VIII.
The Narraganset hatchet stained with gore—
Miantonomi lifts it o’er his head,
Gives the loud battle yell, and names our valiant dead.
To name the dead was considered a great indignity, and,
among chiefs, a sufficient cause for war. Philip pursued one
who had thus offended to Nantucket. The life of the offender
was saved only by the interference of the whites. To avoid uttering
the names of the dead they used circumlocutions, such as
Sachem-aupan, Nes-mat-aupan; the sachem that was here, our
brother that was here.
STANZA XI.
And Annawan, who saw in after times
Brave Metacom, and all of kindred blood,
Slain, or enslaved and sold to foreign climes.
Metacom was the original name of Philip. Anawan was the
last of Philip’s captains that fell into the hands of the English.
He was with Philip at the time he was surprised and slain.
Church, giving an account of the battle, says, “By this time
the enemy perceived they were waylaid on the east of the
swamp, and tacked short about. One of the enemy, who
seemed to be a great surly old fellow, hallooed with a loud
voice, and often called out, ‘Iootash! Iootash!’ Captain
Church called to his Indian, Peter, and asked who that
was that called so. He answered that it was Annawan,
Philip’s great captain, calling to his soldiers to stand to it, and
fight stoutly.”
STANZA XIX.
Scarce do they leave a scant and narrow place,
Where we may spread the blanket of our race.
“We have not room to spread our blankets,” was a phrase
by which the Indians signified that they were straightened in
their possessions.—See Heckewelder.
STANZA XXII.
“’Tis not the peag,” said the Sagamore,
“Nor knives, nor guns, nor garments red as blood,
That buy the lands I hold dominion o’er—
Lands that were fashioned by the red man’s God;
But to my friend I give.”
Williams says the Indians were very shy and jealous of selling
their lands to any, and chose rather to make a grant of them
to such as they affected; but at the same time expected such
gratuities and rewards as made an Indian gift often times
a very dear bargain.
Of Peag there were two sorts—the white and black. The
former was called Wampom or Wampum, the latter Suckauhock.
The first was wrought from the white, the last from the
black or purple part of a shell.
STANZA LXI.
Westward till now his course did Waban draw;
He shunned Weybosset, the accustomed ford.
I am informed that Weybosset, in the Indian language, signified
a ford, or crossing place. It is now the name of a street in
Providence, extending southwesterly from the place in the river
so designated by the Indians.
STANZA LXII.
And fast doth Indian town to town succeed,
Some large, some small, in populous array.
“In the Narraganset country (which is the chief people in
the land) a man shall come to many townes, some bigger, some
lesser, it may be a dozen in 20 miles travell.”—Williams’ Key.
STANZA LXIV.
For they were gone to Potowomet’s fires.
The words Note or Yote signified fire; Potowash, to make
fire; Wame signified all, and Et is a termination denoting
place. If this be so, it would seem that Potowamet, signified
the place of all the fires, or places where all the tribes assembled
and kindled their council or festal fires. The shell-fish, in
which the shores of Potowomet abound, and the numerous remains
of Indian feasts found on the upland, offer additional
proof of the correctness of this inference.
STANZA II.
There bristled darts—there glittered lances sheen.
Lances were arms which distinguished their sachems and
other leaders. At this early period the Indians had scarcely become
familiarized to the use of fire-arms. The French and
Dutch had indeed begun to supply them with these strange implements
of death; but the English colonists had taken every
precaution to prevent their being furnished with them. There
were, however, no restraints on the trade of knives, hatchets,
lances, &c.
STANZA XX.
On settles raised around the mounting blaze
Sit gray Wauontom, Keenomp, Sagamore.
Wauontom, a counsellor; Keenomp, a captain; Sagamore, a
chief or sachem.
Williams considered Canonicus, at the time he wrote his Key
to the Indian Languages, about fourscore years old.
STANZA XXI.
The Neyhom’s mantle did his shoulders grace.
“Neyhomaushunck, a coat or mantle curiously made of the
fairest plumes of the Neyhommauog, or turkies, which commonly
their old men make, and is with them as velvet with
us.”—Williams’ Key.
STANZA XXXIII.
Yes, ere he came, Pocasset’s martial band
Did at our bidding come to fight the foe,
And the tall warriors of the Nipnet land
Rushed with soft foot to bend our battle bow;
And e’en the dog of Haup did cringing stand
Beside our wigwam, and his tribute show.
The reader will not expect in the text minute historical accuracy,
yet it has been the wish of the author, throughout, not to
violate KNOWN historical truth; and the following facts, he
thinks, give something more than mere probability to the presumption,
that Massasoit was, before the arrival of the whites,
in some sense, one of the subject sachems of the Narraganset
chiefs. The following extract of a deposition of Williams,
dated at Narraganset, the 18th of June, A. D. 1682, will shew
that Canonicus had authority of some sort over Massasoit, and
that the latter had claims, subordinate to those of Canonicus,
to certain lands which Williams procured of the last named
chief. In this deposition Williams says, “I desire posterity to
see the most gracious hand of the Most High, (in whose hands
are all things,) that when the hearts of my countrymen and
friends and brethren failed me, his infinite wisdom and merits
stirred up the barbarous heart of Canonicus to love me
as his own son to the last gasp, by which I had not only Miantonomi
and all the Coweset sachems my friends, but Ousamequin
also, who, because of my great friendship for him at Plymouth,
and the authority of Canonicus, consented freely,
(being also well gratified by me,) to the Governor Winthrop’s
and my enjoyment of Prudence, yea of Providence itself, and
all other parts I procured which were upon the point, and in
effect, whatever I desired of him.” A distinction seems here to
be intended between Prudence and other places. It is probable
that Prudence was conquered by the Narragansets, whilst in
possession of some under-sachem of Massasoit. And when the
latter renounced all claims to this Island, he at the same time
assured to Williams the peaceable enjoyment of Providence and
all other places purchased of him.
A similar state of things appears in the deed, made by
Canonicus and Miantonomi to the settlers of Aquidnay, to have
existed both in reference to that island and a part of Pokanoket,
where Massasoit resided. This deed or memorandum is as
follows: “We, Canonicus and Miantonomi, the two chief
sachems of Narraganset, by virtue of our general command
of the Bay, as also the particular subjecting of the dead
sachem of Aquidnick and Kitackumuckqut, [Kikemuet] themselves
and lands unto us, have sold unto Mr. Coddington and
his friends united, the great Island of Acquidnick, lying from
hence eastward in this bay, as also the marsh or grass upon
Quinnannacut, [Conanicut] and the rest of the islands in the
bay, (excepting Chubackuweda, formerly sold unto Mr. Winthrope,
Governor of Massachusetts, and Mr. Williams of Providence,)
also the grass upon the rivers and coasts about Kitakamuckqut,
and from thence to Pauparquatsh [Poppasquash]
for the full payment of forty fathoms of white beads.”
Ousamaquin was present, and granted the use of the grass
and trees on the main land, Pocasset side. Tradition points
out the spot on which the battle was fought that decided the fate
of Aquidnick, and assigns a date to the arrival of the English at
Plymouth. Callender evidently considers it to have taken place
during the great sickness or plague which prevailed among the
eastern Indians before the coming of the Whites. When the
English arrived, Massasoit was at Pokanoket, in a part of that
territory so recently wrested by the Narragansets from (probably)
one of his under-sachems. He was then in no condition
to resist any of the demands of the victors, and there can be
little doubt that he submitted to them as a tributary or subject
chief. The arrival of the English, however, gave him allies,
and enabled him to set the Narragansets at defiance. Hence
the hostility of the Narragansets to the Whites; and hence Massasoit’s
uniform adherence to them. That Massasoit was considered
by the Narragansets a tributary chief, and bound to
comply with the requisitions of their sachems, is rendered very
probable by the following passage in Winthrop’s Journal. It
is under date of April, 1632:
“The Governor received letters from Plymouth signifying
that there had been a broil between their men at Sowamset and
the Narraganset Indians, who set upon the English house,
there to have taken Ousamaquin, the Sagamore of Pokanoscott,
[Pokanoket] who fled thither with all the people for refuge, and
that Captain Standish, being gone thither to relieve the English
which were in the House, sent home in all haste for more
men and other provisions, upon intelligence that Canonicus
was coming with a great army against them. On that, they
wrote to our Governor for some powder to be sent with all possible
speed, for it seemed they were unprovided. Upon this
the Governor presently dispatched away a messenger with so
much powder as he could carry, viz: twenty-seven pounds.
The messenger returned and brought a letter from the Governor,
signifying that the Indians were retired from Sowamset to fight
the Pequins, [Pequots] which was probable; because John
Sagamore and Chickatabott were gone, with all their men, to
Canonicus, who had sent for them.”
Here Canonicus, on the point of marching against the Pequots,
sent to certain sachems of Massachusetts to join him;
there is little doubt that the same requisition was made of Massasoit,
and attempted to be enforced. He took shelter, however,
under the English, and the Narragansets finding that
they could not compel obedience without involving themselves
in a war with the English, retired and prosecuted the expedition
without his assistance. But in 1636, when they were somewhat
relieved from the pressure of their enemies, they were probably
about engaging in a war with the Wampanoags, to punish
this contempt of their chief’s authority. Hence the great contest
to which Williams alludes.
As a further proof that Massasoit was in some sort a subordinate
sachem of the Narraganset chiefs, it may be added, that
the above deed of Aquidnick appears to have been made in his
presence, and that he and his tribe were afterwards compensated
for their rights in the lands conveyed. Those rights were
therefore considered of a character subordinate to those of the
Narraganset chiefs.
Since the foregoing remarks were written, the author has
noticed a deposition of Williams, quoted by Backus, in his History
of the Baptists, and dated twenty-five years after the settlement
of Providence was commenced, which applies directly
to the question here discussed, and abundantly confirms the
views already taken. Williams, in his deposition, says, “After
I had obtained this place, now called Providence, of Canonicus
and Miantonomi, [the chief Nanhiganset sachems,] Osamaquin
laid his claim to this place also. This forced me to repair
to the Nanhiganset sachems aforesaid, who declared that Osamaquin
was their subject, and had solemnly, himself in person
with ten men, subjected himself and his lands unto them at the
Nanhiganset, only now he seemed to revolt from his loyalty,
under the shelter of the English at Plymouth. This I declared
from the Nanhiganset sachems to Osamaquin, who without
any stick acknowledged to be true that he had so subjected,
as the Nanhiganset sachems had affirmed; [but] that he was
not subdued by war, which himself and his father had maintained
against the Nanhigansets; but God, said he, subdued us
by a plague which swept away my people, and forced me to
yield.”
STANZA XXXV.
They were the Yengee’s men, not ours, they said.
“He [Massasoit] also talked of the French, bidding us not
to suffer them to come to Narrohiganset; for it was King James’
his country, and he was King James his man.”—Mourt’s
Journal.
STANZA XXXVII.
“There is a general custom among them,” says Williams,
“at the apprehension of any excellence in men or women, birds,
beasts, or fish, &c., to cry out Manittoo! that is, it is a god;
as thus, if they see one man excel others in wisdom, valor,
strength, or activity, they cry out Manittoo!”
STANZA XLI.
And for the Pequot deeds Awanux grieves.
“News came to Plymouth that Captain Stone, who last summer
went out of the Bay or Lake, and so to Aquawaticus, where
he took in Captain Norton, putting in at the mouth of Connecticut,
(on his way to Virginia,) where the Pequins [Pequots]
inhabit, was cut off with all his company, being eight in number.”—Winthrop’s
Journal.
STANZA XLV.
If true he spake—that should his actions show—
May not his heart be darker than yon cloud,
And yet his words white as yon falling snow?
Still if his speech were true—
“Canonicus, the old high sachem of the Narraganset bay, (a
wise and peaceable prince), once in a solemn oration to myself,
in a solemn assembly, using this word, [Wannaumwayean, if
he speak true,] said, I have never suffered any wrong to be offered
to the English since they landed, nor never will. He often
repeated this word, Wannaumwayean, Englishman, if the Englishman
speak true, if he meane truly; then shall I goe to my
grave in peace, and hope that the English and my posteritie
shall live in love and peace together. I replied that he had no
cause (as I hoped) to question the Englishman’s Wannaumauonck,
that is, faithfulnesse, he having had long experience of
their faithfulnesse and trustinesse. He took a stick and broke
it into ten pieces, and related ten instances, (laying down a
stick at every instance), which gave him cause thus to feare and
say. I satisfied him on some presently, and presented the rest
to the governors of the English, who I hope will be far from
giving just cause to have barbarians question their Wannaumwauonck
of faithfulnesse.”—Williams’ Key.
STANZA XLVII.
This fragment shows the serpent’s skin they sent,
Filled with round thunders to our royal tent.
“The people called Narragansets,” says the N. E. Memorial,
“sent messengers unto our plantations with a bundle of arrows
tied together with a snake-skin, which the interpreter told them
was a threatening and a challenge, upon which the Governor of
Plymouth sent them a rough answer, viz.: That, if they loved
war better than peace, they might begin when they would; they
had done them no wrong, neither did they fear them, nor should
they find them unprovided; and by another messenger they
sent the snake-skin back again, with bullets in it; but they
would not receive it, but sent it back again.” Mr. Davis in a
note adds: “The messenger was accompanied by a friendly
Indian, Tockamahamon. The messenger inquired for Squanto,
who was absent. The bundle of arrows was left for him, and
the messenger departed without any explanation. When
Squanto returned, and the dubious present was delivered him,
he immediately understood the object.” The planters, however,
seem to have considered themselves threatened. They immediately
began to strengthen their defences, and every precaution
was taken against a surprise.
STANZA XLVIII.
This, when at Sowans raged our battle loud,
How their round thunders made that battle dumb.
See the passage from Winthrop, in note to stanza xxxiii.
This how amid the Pequot nation they
Build the square lodge, and whet him to the fray.
The Plymouth Company had established a trading house on
the Connecticut, as early as 1633. Their trade with the Pequots
in arrow points, knives, hatchets, &c., might very probably give
offence to the Narragansets. “We found,” says Winthrop,
“that all the sachems of Narraganset, except Canonicus and
Miantonomi were the contrivers of Mr. Oldham’s death, and the
occasion was because he went to make peace and trade with the
Pequots.”
STANZA XI.
Brother, the spirit of my son is gone;
I burned my lodge to speak my mighty grief.
Williams says, “The chiefe and most aged peaceable father of
the countrey, Canonnicus, having buried his sonne, he burned
his own palace, and all his goods in it, (amongst them to a
great value), in a solemn remembrance of his son, and in a kind
of humble expiation to the gods, who (as they believe) had
taken away his sonne from him.”
I am thy father, thou shalt be my son.
See the extract from Williams’ testimony, in note to stanza
xxxiii, of canto iv.
STANZA XXIV.
The sable fox-hide did his loins enclose—
The sable fox-tail formed his nodding crest.
The Indians had a superstitious regard for the black fox.
Williams says, they considered it a Manittoo—a god, spirit, or
divine power.
STANZA XXXII.
Hast thou forgot, when, by Cohannet’s stream,
To curse the strangers every charm was tried.
“But before I pass on, let the reader take notice of a very remarkable
particular which was made known to the planters at
Plymouth some short space after their arrival; that the Indians,
before they came to the English to make friendship with them,
got all the Pawaws in the country, who, for three days together,
in a horrid and devilish manner, did curse and execrate them
with their conjurations, which assembly and service they held
in a dark and dismal swamp.”—N. E. Memorial.
How I appeared, and, by the embers’ gleam,
To the hard rock my lance’s point applied,
And scored my mandate.
The inscriptions on the rocks by Taunton river have afforded
a subject of much speculation to the antiquary. It would not be
strange if the Indians ascribed to them a supernatural origin.
STANZA XLII.
An odor, strange, though not offensive, spread
About him, as he near and nearer drew;
If my recollection serves me, Dr. Good, in his Book of Nature,
supposes that the seeming power of fascination in serpents may
arise from an odor emitted by them. The tale of the Hunter
and the Rattlesnake, in the New England Legends, must furnish
the author with a justification for the use which he has
made of this serpent in the text; and it ought also to be added,
that his description of the serpent, in the act of exercising his
mysterious powers, is not essentially different from that in the
tale to which he has referred.
STANZA LXIII.
Here stretched Aquidnay tow’rd the ocean blue.
Aquidnay is the Indian name for Rhode Island. This name
is variously written—sometimes Aquidneck, sometimes Aquetnet,
and sometimes Aquidnet. Winthrop generally writes it
Aquidnay, and the author has chosen so to write it, for no other
reason, than that the sound is a little more agreeable. There is
some reason to conclude that Aquetnet is nearer its true etymology.
See the following note.
STANZA LXX.
Another sachem sways
The Isle of peace.
Aquene signified, in the Narraganset dialect, peace. It is possible
that Aquetnet, as the name of this island has been sometimes
written, may be its derivative; et is a termination usually
denoting place. But whether this be or be not its etymology,
the designation is not inapplicable, since the island must have
been a place of security against the roving Maquas, Pequots,
Tarrateens, &c.
STANZA LXXII.
There Sowams gleamed,—if names the muse aright,
Till in the forest far his glories fade;
Calender intimates that Sowams is properly the name of a
river, where the two Swansey rivers meet and run together for
near a mile, when they empty themselves in the Narraganset
Bay. Sowamset may, therefore, indicate some town or other
place on the banks of the river. These names have been used
by some as synonymous.
STANZA III.
Who with the laboring axe,
On Seekonk’s eastern marge, invades the wood?
Nothing is said of Williams, by the histories of the age, from
the time he left Salem, until his expulsion from Seekonk, afterwards
called Rehoboth. We learn, from some of Williams’
letters, that, after purchasing land from Massasoit, he there
built and planted, before he was informed by Governor Winslow
that he was within the limits of the Plymouth patent.
Until this information, he had supposed himself to be beyond
the limits of either Plymouth or Massachusetts. And, certainly,
the language of the Plymouth patent was sufficiently equivocal
to countenance almost any construction of it in reference to the
western (otherwise called southern) bounds of its grant. I will
transcribe its words, that the reader may judge for himself. It
grants the lands “lying between Cohasset rivulet toward the
north, and Narraganset river toward the south, the great Western
Ocean toward the east, and a straight line, extending into
the main land toward the west, from the mouth of Narraganset
river to the utmost bounds of a country called Pokanoket, alias
Sowamset, and another straight line, extending directly from
the mouth of Cohasset river toward the west, so far into the
main land westward, as the utmost limits of Pokanoket, alias
Sowamset.”
What is here intended by Narraganset river? Is it the bay or
some river falling into the bay? Was it intended by the utmost
bounds of Pokanoket? Do the words of the patent include or
exclude that territory? The truth is, that the geography of the
country was, at that time, very imperfectly understood, and the
words of the patent are not a true description of the territory to
be granted. The charter of Rhode Island is a proof that the
Plymouth patent was not considered as embracing within its
limits what is called Pokanoket, alias Sowamset; since that
charter covers a considerable part of that very territory. But,
if Pokanoket was not included by the Plymouth patent, Williams
ought not to have been treated as a trespasser. It is not my
purpose to discuss the question of boundaries. These observations
are made for the purpose of showing that Williams had
his reasons for believing that he was out of the jurisdiction of
Plymouth.
STANZA XXII.
And brandishing his blade, he jeering said,
That vengeance gave it eyes and appetite;
It soon would eat—but eat in silence dread.
“He [an Indian slain by Standish] bragged of the excellency
of his knife: Hinnaim namen, hinnaim michen, matta cuts: that
is to say, by and by it should see, by and by it should eat, but
not speak.”
STANZA V.
His flock no more,—with strifes now sorely riven.
The opinions for which Williams was banished, were but the
beginning of schism in the Massachusetts churches, and his
banishment but the commencement of persecution. Many
members of the church of Salem still adhered to him, and finally
followed him to Providence.
STANZA XXI.
O’er yonder distant brow
Smokes in the vale Neponset’s peopled town.
Neponset is the name of a river in Massachusetts. On the
banks of this river there seem to have been several Indian
towns or villages, at the time of Williams’ banishment.
STANZA LVII.
And by the lock he held a trunkless head.
“Timequassin, to cut off, or behead, which they are most
skillful to do in fight.”—Williams’ Key.
STANZA XVI.
Who cannot see,
That a dark cloud o’er our New England lowers?
The tender conscience struggles to be free—
The tyrant struggles, and retains his power.
Williams seems to have had a strong presentiment that a season
of persecution was approaching, and often expressed a desire
that his plantation might be a shelter for persons distressed
for conscience.
STANZA XIX.
And there this eve some reasoning, I opine,
(For all may err) a weighty theme upon,
May not be deemed amiss.
It was the first intention of the author to have drawn the
materials of the conversation in the text from the controversy
between Williams and Cotton; but, on examination, he was
satisfied that it was not suited to a performance of this kind.
This controversy originated as follows: A prisoner (one who
was doubtless suffering for heretical opinions) addressed a
letter to a Mr. Hall, in which he discussed and argued against
the right of government to persecute for matters of conscience.
Hall sent this letter to Mr. Cotton, who answered it. Hall,
dissatisfied with the answer, transmitted it to Williams. In
the hands of Williams it remained some time; for he was
struggling with all the difficulties incident to his situation at
Providence. He however composed a reply to Cotton’s answer,
which he entitled the Bloody Tenent. He says it was
written whilst engaged at the hoe and oar, toiling for bread—whilst
attending on Parliament—in a change of rooms and
places; in a variety of strange houses; sometimes in the field,
in the midst of travel; where he had been forced to gather and
scatter his loose thoughts and papers. And, certainly, considering
the circumstances in which it was composed, it is a work
calculated to increase our admiration of the man. The Bloody
Tenent, together with Mr. Cotton’s answer to the prisoner’s
letter, was published in London, at a time when his Puritan
brethren in England were addressing him and others in Massachusetts,
with most earnest remonstrances against their cruel
persecutions of other denominations.
He, in his replies, had been endeavoring to extenuate and
excuse the conduct of the civil government, and had taken particular
care to exculpate himself. It is easy, therefore, to conceive
what a shock this reverend dignitary must have suffered,
when his answer to the prisoner’s letter, which went in principle
the full length of the most unsparing persecution, together
with Williams’ reply, was published and circulated among the
brethren there. He instantly raised a cry, that Williams was
persecuting him, by publishing his answer to the prisoner’s letter,
and commenting upon it. But he felt himself under the
necessity of doing something more. His brethren in England
would require some sort of justification, and one consistent
with the sentiments he had already expressed in his letters to
them. Hence the controversy between him and Williams, is,
on the part of Cotton, a sophistical attempt to avoid the charge
of persecuting for matters of conscience. We do not persecute
consciences, says he, but we do punish those who commit violence
on their own consciences. If the reader should be so
curious as to inquire, how Mr. Cotton ascertained when a man
committed violence on his own conscience, I will state his process
as I understand it. When it was discovered that any member
entertained opinions inconsistent with the fundamental doctrines
of the order to which he belonged, he was in the first place
called before the church, and admonished of his error. If he
still persisted, he was summoned before the magistracy, where
the charges were specified, and the magistracy determined
whether he was or was not convinced in his own mind of his
errors. His judges never failed to be satisfied that he was convinced.
If the accused afterwards persisted in his opinions, he
was considered as one committing violence on his own conscience,
and treated as an incorrigible heretic and disturber of
the peace, and as such banished, imprisoned, scourged, or
hanged, as the enormity of his heretical opinions might require.
I have necessarily given the conversation between Williams
and the Plymouth elder a turn different from that of the
controversy between him and Cotton; but have endeavored to
preserve something of the tone of feeling which pervades the
latter. I flatter myself, however, that the Plymouth elder is a
more moderate man than Mr. Cotton. As a proof, hear Mr.
Cotton in his own words set forth the advantages which a state
derives from persecuting heretics, and the summary mode in
which the civil magistrate may deal with them.
To the question of Williams, What glory to God—what good
to the souls and bodies of their subjects, did these princes bring
in persecuting? Mr. Cotton thus replies: “The good that is
brought to princes and subjects, by the due punishment of
apostate seducers and idolaters and blasphemers, is manifold.
First; it putteth away evil from the people, and cutteth off a
gangrene which would spread to further ungodliness.
Secondly; It driveth away wolves from worrying and scattering
the sheep of Christ; (for false teachers be wolves.)
Thirdly; Such executions upon such evil doers causeth all
the country to hear and fear, and do no more such wickedness.
Fourthly; The punishments, executed upon false prophets
and seducing teachers, do bring down showers of God’s blessings
upon the civil state.
Fifthly; It is an honor to God’s justice that such judgments
are executed.”
He says, “If there be stones in the streets the magistrate
need not fetch a sword from the smith’s shop, nor a halter from
the roper’s, to punish a heretic.”
It will appear that time has made no improvement upon the
leading principles of Williams, as gathered from different parts
of his replies to Cotton. He says that “the people are the
origin of all free power in government.” “That the people are
not invested by Christ Jesus with power to rule his Church.”
That they can give no such power to the magistrate. “That
the kingdom of Christ is spiritual”—that to introduce the civil
sword into this spiritual kingdom is “to confound Heaven
and earth together, and lay all upon heaps of confusion”—“Is
to take Christ and make him king by force (John vi, 15)—to
make his kingdom of this world—to set up a civil and temporal
Israel—to bound out new earthy lands of Canaan; yea,
and to set up a Spanish inquisition, in all parts of the world,
to the speedy destruction of millions of souls,” &c.
Cotton says, “that when the kingdoms of this earth become
the kingdoms of the Lord, it is not by making Christ a temporal
king; but by making the temporal kingdoms nursing fathers to
the Church”—“that religion was not to be propagated by the
sword; but protected and preserved by it.”
Williams replies, “that the husbandman weeds his garden to
increase his grain, and that consequently it is the object of the
hand that destroys the heretic to make the Christian”—“That
the sword may make a nation of hypocrites, but not of Christians,”
&c.
I have thrown together these few detached sentences, that the
reader, who may have little inclination to peruse a controversy
on a question which happily has no place in the present age,
may form some opinion of its character. The discussion occupies
two considerable volumes.
STANZA XLI.
Williams, he said, it is my thankless lot,
Thee with no pleasant message now to meet;
Nor hath our Winslow, in his charge forgot
(For his behest I bear and words repeat)
His former friendship, but right loth is he
To vex his neighbors by obliging thee.
After Williams had built and planted at Seekonk, he was
visited by a messenger from Plymouth with a letter from Winslow,
then Governor. Professing his and others’ friendship for
him, he lovingly advised Williams, since he had fallen into the
edge of their bounds, and they were loath to displease the Bay,
to remove but to the other side of the water, and there he had
the country before him, and might be as free as themselves, and
they should be loving neighbors together.—See Williams’ letter
to Mason. Mass. His. Col.
STANZA XLV.
Thy purchase feigned was by the prophet shown
To Dudley, and by him to us made known.
Williams, in his letter to Mason, says, that Governor Winthrop
and some of the council of Massachusetts were disposed
to recall him from banishment, and confer upon him some
mark of distinguished favor for his services. “It is known,”
says Williams, “who hindered—who never promoted the liberty
of other men’s consciences.” Mr. Davis, in a note to his edition
of the New England Memorial, conjectures that he alludes
to Mr. Dudley. The reader will not consider me as doing violence
to historical probability, by supposing that this man gave
information to the magistrates of Plymouth that Williams had
established himself within the limits of their patent, and required
his expulsion. He was the author of the following
lines:
“Let men of God in courts and churches watch
O’er such as do a toleration hatch,
Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice
To poison all with heresy and vice.
If men be left and otherwise combine,
My epitaph’s I dy’d no libertine.”
Yet we ought, perhaps, to blame the system, rather than the
magistrate whose duty it was to carry it into effect.
STANZA XLVII.
God gave James Stuart this, and James gave us.
The patents of the companies which settled in this country
granted them lands without any reference to the rights of the
natives. But the companies never availed themselves of these
grants to that extent. Whatever may have been their opinions,
they acted under them as if they had only invested them with
the right of pre-emption. Cotton Mather is the only historian,
that I recollect, who makes a merit of paying the Indians for
their lands, and of not expelling them immediately from the
soil in virtue of these patents.
STANZA III.
Early that morn, beside the tranquil flood,
Where, ready trimmed, rode Waban’s frail canoe,
The banished man, his spouse and children stood,
And bade their lately blooming hopes adieu.
I have represented Williams, throughout this narrative, as
unaccompanied by any of his Salem friends. And such, I think,
was the fact up to the time he left, or was about leaving, Seekonk.
Indeed, there was no necessity for any of his friends to
accompany him in his flight from Salem “in the winter’s snow.”
They could render him no assistance in negotiations with the
Indians.—They could not alleviate his hardships by participating
in them. But what seems to settle the question, (if in fact
it be a question) is, that he himself, though he frequently alludes
to his sufferings and transactions “during the bitter cold
winter,” no where intimates that any white man participated in
them. He uniformly speaks in the first person singular: “I
was sorely tossed for fourteen weeks—I left Salem in the winter’s
snow—I found a great contest going on between the
chiefs—I travelled between them—I first pitched and began to
build and plant at Seekonk—I received a message from Mr.
Winslow—I crossed the Seekonk and settled at Mooshausick.”
It is strange that he should, on no occasion, mention that some
of his friends suffered with him, if any actually did. All accurate
information concerning Williams, during these fourteen
weeks, must, I apprehend, be drawn from his writings; and I
have chosen to follow them. And indeed had he been accompanied
by one or more of his friends, they could not have aided
the author in the conduct of his narrative, any more than they
could have borne a part in the trials and labors of Williams.
Williams says that he mortgaged his house and land in Salem
to go through, and all that came with him afterwards were not
engaged, but came and went at pleasure; but he was forced to
go through and stay by it. (His purchase of the Indians.)
I have not been able to ascertain in what particular part of
Seekonk Williams attempted to form his plantation, and have
consequently felt myself at liberty to suppose it was in the
neighborhood of Pawtucket Falls.
STANZA XXV.
“Netop, Whatcheer!” broke on the listening air.
Netop—friend. The tradition is, that when Williams in a
canoe approached the western banks of the river, at a place now
called Whatcheer Cove, he saw a gathering of the natives.
When he had come within hail, he was accosted by them in
broken English with the friendly salutation, “Wha-cheer! Wha-cheer!”
Here he landed, and was kindly received by them.
The land which was afterwards set off to him included this spot,
and he commemorated the amicable greeting of his Indian
friends by naming the field there assigned to him the Manor of
Whatcheer, or Whatcheer Manor. This field is now the property
of Governor Fenner, and the field adjoining it, which was likewise
set forth to Williams, has continued to the present day in
the possession of his descendants. We are probably indebted
to the name which Williams gave the first mentioned field, for
the preservation of this tradition.
STANZA XXXVII.
Ay, almost hears the future pavements jar
Beneath a people’s wealth, and half divines
From thee, Soul-Liberty! what glories wait
Thy earliest altars—thy predestined state.
To show that Williams was not without a presentiment of the
temporal advantages that might arise to his projected settlement,
from a full liberty in religious concernments, I quote the
following from his memorial to Parliament, prefixed to his
Bloody Tenent made more bloody, &c. Speaking of Holland
he says: “From Enchuysen, therefore, a den of persecuting
lions and mountain leopards, the persecuted fled to Amsterdam,
a poor fishing town, yet harborous and favorable to the flying,
though dissenting consciences. This confluence of the persecuted,
by God’s most gracious coming with them, drew boats—drew
trade—drew shipping, and that so mightily in so short a
time, that shipping, trade, wealth, greatness, honor, (almost to
astonishment in the eyes of all Europe and the world), have appeared
to fall, as out of Heaven, in a crown or garland upon the
head of this poor fishertown.”
STANZA XL.
From wild Pawtucket to Pawtuxet’s bounds,
To thee and thine be all the teeming grounds.
The first grant made by Canonicus and Miantonomi to Williams,
appears to have been a verbal grant of all the lands and
meadows upon the two fresh rivers, called Mooshausick and
Wanaskatucket; but on the 24th of March, 1637, they confirmed
this grant by deed, and, in consideration of the many kindnesses
and services he was constantly rendering them, made
the bounds Pawtuxet river on the south, Pawtucket on the
northwest, and the town of Mashapauge on the west. This
grant includes nearly all the county of Providence, and a part
of the county of Kent.
STANZA XLI.
For, at that moment, down the boundless range
Of heavenly spheres did some bright being take
Wing to his soul, and wrought to suited change
The visual nerve, and straight in outward space
Stood manifest in its celestial grace.
This passage, it is true, supposes action on the mind by a
supernatural being, but it does not suppose the outward bodily
manifestation of the angelic form described. It simply supposes
the image or conception, wrought in the mind by the
supernatural agency, to externize itself through a change
effected by a sympathetic action in the visual organ. Or, in
other words, it supposes the internal image to become so distinct
as to reflect itself into the retina and overcome the action
of external objects thereon; whereby the internal image is made
to appear in the field of vision as an external reality. In justification
of this idea, I am glad to have it in my power to refer
to No. C. of the Family Library, entitled “Outlines of Disordered
Mental Action, by Professor Upham, of Bowdoin College”—p. 117.
I feel that these remarks are due to the very friendly criticism
which this poem has received on the other side of the Atlantic;
in which, understanding (as I suppose) the apparition to be
represented as an external reality, the reviewer blames it as an
extravagance not in accordance with the general character of
the narrative.
STANZA XLVII.
Her well-cast anchor here—her lasting hope in Thee.
The Anchor, with the motto Hope, which formed the device
on the seal of the Colony, may be considered as having reference
to the dangers and difficulties through which the settlers had
passed, and were passing at the time it was adopted. This was
done in 1663.
STANZA XLIX.
And ages hence our children shall recite
Of thy protecting grace their Father’s sense,
And, when they name their home, proclaim Thy Providence.
Williams carried the philanthropy, which breathes in his great
principle of Soul-Liberty, into all the important acts of his life.
Although the munificent grant of Canonicus and Miantonomi
had been made to him only, he shortly after made it the common
property of his friends who joined him at Providence,
reserving to himself no more than an equal share, and receiving
from them the small sum of thirty pounds, not as purchase
money, but as a remuneration for the gratuities which he had
made to the Indians out of his own estate.
“The following passage,” says Mr. Benedict, in his history
of the Baptists, “explains, in a very pleasing manner, Mr. Williams’s
design in these transactions: ‘Notwithstanding I had
frequent promise from Miantonomi, my kind friend, that it
should not be land that I should want about these bounds
mentioned, provided I satisfied the Indians there inhabiting, I
having made covenant of peaceable neighborhood with all the
sachems and natives round about us, and having in a sense of
God’s merciful Providence to me in my distress, called the place
Providence; I desired it might be for a shelter to persons
distressed for conscience. I then considered the condition of
divers of my countrymen. I communicated my said purchase
unto my loving friends, John Throckmorton and others, who
then desired to take shelter here with me. And whereas, by
God’s merciful assistance, I was procurer of the purchase, not
by moneys nor payment, the natives being so shy and jealous
that moneys could not do it, but by that language—acquaintance
and favor with the natives, and other advantages which it
pleased God to give me, and also bore the charges and venture
of all the gratuities which I gave to the great sachems and
natives round about us, and lay engaged for a loving and peaceable
neighborhood with them to my great charge and travel; it
was therefore thought fit that I should receive some consideration
and gratuity.’ Thus, after mentioning the said thirty
pounds, ‘this sum I received, and in love to my friends and
with respect to a town and place of succor for the distressed as
aforesaid, I do acknowledge this said sum a full satisfaction,’ he
went on, in full and strong terms, to confirm those lands to
said inhabitants, reserving no more to himself that an equal
share with the rest; his wife also signing the deed.”
