VII.

peaceably submitted himself and his colony to the SECT. king of England, and, under him, to the governour of Virginia, consenting to pay a tribute. But in the 1614. next year, a new governour from Amsterdam arriving, with a reinforcement, asserted the right of Holland to the country; refused the tribute and acknowledgment stipulated with the English by his predecessor, and put himself into a posture of defence. He built a fort on the south end of the island Manhattan, where the city of New York now stands, and held the country many years, under a grant from the States General, by the name of the New Netherlands.*

* Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 162, 179. Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. 1, p. 57.

SECTION VIII.

Reasons for the following digression-Rise of the reformation-Its progress through the continent of Europe-Its introduction into England-The origin of the Puritans-Divisions among the Puritans-State of religious parties in England,on James I's accessionThe Independents emigrate to Holland-Their distressing situation there-They form the design of removing to America-Negociate with the Virginia Company for that purpose-Dissensions in the Virginia Company occasion delay-They embark for America, and settle at Plymouth, in Massachusetts.

for the fol

IT is a common remark throughout the SECT. United States of America, that most of these states VIII. were originally colonised by means of religious per- Reasons secution, which the first settlers of them experienced lowing diin their mother country; and the provinces of New gression. England, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, are generally cited as instances thereof. But when we recur to the records of history, at the period of time when the colonies of New England and Maryland were first settled,* and find that the mother country was then a scene of the most tumultuous contest between three principal sects of the Christian religion, the established Church of England, the Roman Catholics, and the Puritans,† a contest, not indeed for

* The colony of Virginia, the only English colony prior to those last above-mentioned, unquestionably originated from the Spanish views of gold and silver mines, as well as from a desire to find out a short passage to the East Indies, and not from religious motives.

+ The appellation of "Puritans," included, during Elizabeth's reign, the Presbytereans, as well as the Brownists, the latter of whom were afterwards called Independents.

VIII.

SECT. the supreme power merely, but each for its own existence; and find also, that at the close of the scene the established Church gave many instances of her moderation, not exhibited by either of the others when in power, we are compelled, if not entirely to excuse, at least to make much allowance for her conduct in the causes of those first emigrations. The reign of queen Mary abundantly demonstrated that the English Roman Catholics would tolerate neither the Church of England nor the Puritans. And the conduct of the Puritans, in their turn, at the helm of power, will equally convince us, that neither Church nor Catholics were to expect tolera tion from them.* Nay indeed, these Puritans, when at the height of their power, and the sceptre of England was wielded by the hypocritical Cromwell, had their agents of persecution, even in the infant colony of Maryland. Among the "Acts and orders of a general assembly, holden at Patuxent (Maryland) the 20th of October, 1654, by commission from his highness the lord protector," &c. is an act, entitled, "An Act concerning religion," whereby, "it was enacted and declared, That none, who professed and exercised the Popish (commonly -called the Roman Catholic) religion, could be protected in this province, by the laws of England, formerly established, and yet unrepealed: nor by the government of the commonwealth of England, &c.

By an ordinance of the 23d of August, 1645, imprisonment for a year, on the third offence, and pecuniary penalties on the former two, were inflicted, in case of using the Book of Common Prayer, not only in a place of public wor ship, but also in any private family. See 4 El. Com. 53.

VIII.

but to be restrained from the exercise thereof, &c. SECT. That such as profess faith in God by Jesus Christ, though differing in judgment from the doctrine worship, or discipline publicly held forth,* should not be restrained from, but protected in, the profession of the faith and exercise of their religion; so as they abused not this liberty, to the injury of others, dis, turbance of the peace, &c. Provided such liberty was not extended to Popery or Prelacy, nor to such, as, under the profession of Christ, held forth and practised licentiousness."+ The reader will easily see through the flimsy veil of this insidious proviso. As "Prelacy is synonymous to Episcopacy, and the Church of England could not exist without the government of its bishops, it is very fairly to be supposed, that it was meant thereby to exclude that Church also, as well as the Catholics, from the ex, ercise of their religion in this province. But be that as

it

may, the crime of" licentiousness" was certainly so indefinite as to leave ample occasion for unlimited persecution; and a slight perusal of the early part of the History of Massachusetts, will furnish numerous instances of the wild judicial constructions put by these fanatics on similar legislative expressions.

Thus then, as the causes of the colonisation of New England and Maryland, which are nearly coeval, appear not to be clearly understood, in the United States, or if so, not generally acknowledged,

This meant, without doubt, the doctrine and discipline of the Independents, forming at that time in England, under Oliver, what might be called, the established religion or Church.

+ See Bacon's edition of the Laws of Maryland, 1654, ch.4