Charlestown, and Cambridge and Salem. Colonists were enabled to emigrate to this country by means of merchants, residing in London and the west of England, forming themselves into companies and obtaining from the King grants to settle particular plantations in America, with certain rights and privileges of commerce and government. These grants were called charters. These companies furnished ships and sent out colonists who were to cultivate the land, and procure fish and furs, the profits on which articles it was expected would repay the company in England for the expense of sending them out.

Several gentlemen of family and fortune, belonging to the Massachusetts Bay Company, agreed themselves to go to New England, provided they could carry their charter along with them, and their government not managed by a council of the company in England, as was usually the case. This privilege was granted, and Mr. Winthrop and many other distinguished men embarked for New England on the 8th of April, 1630. After a somewhat boisterous voyage, this little fleet of five vessels was anchored at Charlestown. Here they were kindly received by the former colonists, and began to build, intending to make it their permanent home, but they found but one spring of water, and that so brackish that disease carried off many of their numbers. The new colony was threatened with destruction, and, being invited by Mr. William Blackstone to join him on the south side of Charles river, where he had built his lowly hut, they gladly removed thither.

They named their new settlement Boston, in honor of a much beloved pastor of Boston, England, who afterwards joined the new colony, where he was highly honored. "One of the first acts of the colony was to draw up a confession of faith, and enter into a church covenant. This was done with the utmost solemnity, after a day of fasting and prayer. Mr. Blackstone, who was an Episcopalian, was invited to join this church, but he replied very quaintly, 'I came from England because I did not like the Lord Bishops; but I cannot join you because I would not be under the Lord Brethren.'

The little village of Boston grew rapidly. The inhabitants were noted for their industry, sobriety and honesty. The Governor forbade cards and gaming tables, and discouraged the drinking of toasts. A man was whipped for stealing a loaf of bread, and another for shooting fowls on Sunday. Mechanics and masons worked diligently at their trades. Vessels were built to traffic with other settlements on the coast; one of which, called the Blessing of the Bay, was launched July 4th, 1631. Education was by no means neglected. Harvard College was founded in eight years after the founding of the colony. It was named in honor of John Harvard, who, dying, left to this institution eight hundred pounds. In the year this College was founded, a printing press was set up in it by a man named Glover, but there was little progression made in this art the first forty years of New England history.

The next year after this colony was established, Mr. John Eliot, the first Missionary to the Indians, joined them. He visited the Indians in their wigwams and taught them to read and pray; also translated the Bible into their language. A copy of this book is still preserved, but only the title, "Up Biblum God," meaning the book of God, can now be read. The language has perished with the race.

Between the years 1630 and 1636, persecution in England was revived, driving many wise and able men to the colonies. In the year 1635, three thousand emigrants arrived at Boston, among whom was Sir Henry Vane, an intimate friend of the poet Milton. He was soon elected Governor. Though the Puritans had left England to secure religious liberty, they were unwilling to grant it to others, and required every one to attend their worship and conform to their opinions. Roger Williams, a young preacher settled at Salem, was the first to teach that every one had a right to worship God as he saw fit, and that bigotry in New England, as well as in old England, was contrary to reason and the Bible. His listeners became warmly attached to him, but his enlarged views, so far beyond the age in which he lived, alarmed the Boston Puritans and made him enemies. They were shocked at his saying that civil magistrates were bound to protect

the lives and property of peaceful citizens of any creed; and that it was their duty to restrain crime but not to control opinion. The number of his enemies increased, his wife was for a time influenced by his opposers, and his home made unhappy. He was at last censured and pronounced unsound in judgment; and on his election as pastor by the people of Salem, a tract of land was withheld from them by the Boston council by way of punishment. A spirited remonstrance from Williams and his congregation followed; in consequence of which, the town of Salem was disfranchised by the next general court. His supporters, frightened at these measures, finally submitted, and Williams was left to advocate his cause alone. At last the sentence of banishment was pronounced. He had hoped to remain until spring, but the prospect of losing him awakened the affections of his people, and the general court, fearing his influence, commanded him to embark for England, and officers were sent to convey him to the vessel; but he had fled from Salem with the determination to find in some other part of the new world, the freedom which was denied him there. For fourteen weeks he was a wanderer in the wilderness, amid the snows of a severe winter, "sorely tost in a bitter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean." He was kindly received by the Indians, whose language he had learned, and to whom he ever proved a patient missionary. Massasoit and the chief of the Narragansetts received him as their guest. Of them he purchased a tract of land on the bay bearing their name. Here, with but five companions, he commenced a settlement which he named Providence, in grateful acknowledgment of the hand which had guided his wanderings. Thus originated the first settlement in Rhode Island.

In 1639, Newport was founded near an old stone tower. This curious structure, twenty-four feet high, was evidently of great antiquity. The Indians were unable to give any information respecting its origin. The same principles prevailed and were carried out in both the Providence and Rhode Island colonies, though they were at first independent of each other. In 1644 they received a charter and were united under the name of the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

CONNECTICUT.

The Connecticut, so called from its Indian name, which means long river, was discovered by the Dutch in 1614. They established a trading place near where Hartford now stands. Until the year 1630, they enjoyed undisputed possession of the country, when reports of the fruitfulness and beauty of this region reaching England, it was granted to the Earl of Warwick, who transferred it to Lord Say-and-Seale and Lord Brook.

Previous to this, settlements had been made from both Massachusetts colonies. The Dutch had tried to prevent the first comers from sailing up the river, but without success. The founders of the busy little State of Connecticut were the excellent of the earth. Between the years 1633 and 1636 four flourishing villages had sprung up on the banks of its beautiful river, viz: Windsor, Hartford, Saybrook and Wethersfield, and in 1638, New Haven, now one of the loveliest cities in all New England, was founded by a Puritan pastor.

The country between the Connecticut river and the Narragansett Bay, was thickly peopled with Indian tribes, the most powerful of which were the Pequods, Mohegans and Narragansetts. The Pequods, fearing the power of the English, endeavored to form a league with the Narragansetts. Roger Williams learned that proposals of this kind were being made, and resolved to plead for his persecutors and defeat the plans of the Pequods. Setting out in a fearful storm, he made his way to the nearest Narragansett village, where he found the Pequod embassadors and nearly lost his life by interfering; but he pleaded his cause nobly, and after some hesitation the Narragansetts refused to become the Pequod's allies.

In May of the year 1637, the authorities of Connecticut declared war against the Pequods. With a band of ninety men, seventy from Connecticut and twenty from the Bay Colony, the colonists entered upon their first warfare. The Pequod confederacy consisted of twenty-six tribes, numbering over two thousand men. Their principal villages were on what is now called the

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Thames River, and to attack them the colonist soldiers now directed their march. On the 26th of May, just before sunrise, they cautiously approached the huts of the sleeping savages. The Indians had set no sentry, and the barking of a dog gave the first alarm. In confusion, amid cries of "Owanux!" Owanux!" (the English! the English!) they rallied with bow and arrow for the fight, and defended themselves with great bravery. The result of the battle was still doubtful, when a blazing brand was thrown among the mats with which one of the wigwams was covered, and thus were the fortunes of the day decided. The English and their red allies, the Mohegans, formed a circle around the burning huts, and slew their enemies without mercy, as they were driven into sight by the fire. Only two of the English were lost, while the fort and the wigwams of the Indians were burned, and six hundred Pequods, men, women, and children, were slain. The next morning a body of three hundred Pequods arrived from another village; and though they fought with desperation on seeing the destruction of their homes and relatives, they too were defeated. Two hundred of the survivors surrendered in despair to the English. They were either sold into slavery or incorporated among the friendly tribes; and the name of Pequod became extinct.

After the first victory the Narragansett tribe had joined the English, but the latter made a poor return to their chief, Miantonomah, for his services. A war having broken out between the Narragansetts and Mohegans, Miantonomah was captured. "Let him be delivered to his old enemy, Uncas," said the ungrateful men of Connecticut. The savage Mohegan took him to a solitary place and in the presence of two settlers tomahawked him, and, cutting a piece of quivering flesh from his victim's shoulder, ate it, declaring it the most delicious morsel he had ever tasted.

Connecticut, now free from danger, grew and prospered. It was her happy lot to be blessed with God-fearing governors. The rights of voting and holding office were confined to church members, and the Bible was adopted as the rule of public action.