people of America, as they have been accustomed to do in ages past. The
last attempted was by a French emperor to place Maximilian on a throne.
By opposing the right of European maritime adventurers to seize the
lands and property of the Indians in America, Roger Williams appears to
have taken the lead in this Monroe Doctrine, as well as in establishing
freedom from ecclesiastical tyranny in the separation of Church and
State.
While the leaders of the New England settlers have often erred in not
adhering to principles of justice and christian beneficence, the common
people have steadfastly persevered with intelligence and skill in making
the wilderness to blossom as the rose. They have manifested vigor and
virtues that have honored the human race
Relying on the gratitude of the Indian chiefs for his sacrifices in their
cause, Williams fled from his home in Salem in mid-winter, to escape
deportation, and sought shelter beneath the hospitable roof of Massasoit
in Warren during fourteen weeks. The grateful sachem gave to the refu-
gee a tract of land on the eastern shore of the Seekonk river by the side
*Nears History of the Puritans.
ADDRESS OF ZACIIAKIAII ALLEX. 11 '.I
of a little cove. After plaiitiiiij; corn there, Williams was iiotilicd hy Gov-
ernor Wiuslow that this location was within the bonnds of the Massachn-
setts patent. He was then provided with another tract of land by the In-
dian chief Canonicus, on the west side of the Seekonk river. l)eyond the
boundary line of the Massachusetts claim. Here he tlnally settled the new
colony, which he named " rrovidcnce," as providing a place of refuge
from injustice and from civil and religious tyranny for the oppressed of all
the nations of the earth.
By thus anticipating the Massachusetts Puritans in gaining possession
of the much coveted Indian lands, their hostility to him and his colonists
became intensified to such a degree, that all commercial as well as friendly
intercourse ^vith them was prohibited by penal laws. Williams writes :
"They intruded upon the Providence settlers in an unchristianly way,
contrarj' to their own laws and ours." They armed some of the Indians
to join the ranks of their soldiers in marching across the border of the
colony to seize Samuel Gorton and his associates at Warwick, and to carry
them as prisoners to Boston for trial by the chief ministers for alleged
blasphemy. It afterward appeared to have been a righteous retribution,
that the arms thus put into the bauds of the Indians to kill Khode
Islanders, were the first used in King Philip's war against their employers.
The Plymouth colonists joined the Massachusetts aggressors on the
east side of Rhode Island, and the Connecticut colonists on the west, to
seize the intermediate lands included in the Rhode Island patent. They,
with the New Haven colony, formed an alliance under the title of "the
Four United Colonies of New England," and while warring against the
Indians rigidly excluded the Rhode Island colonists from their alliance
and protection. Arnold says : " The surrounding colonies continued their
grasping attempts to gain possession of the Indian lands included within
the Rhode Island patent."* The sole object of the seizure of Gorton's
lands and of his cattle and furniture was to break up his possession and
title obtained from Miantonomo. An honest historian of Massachusetts,
Judge Savage, records: "I regret to acknowledge the belief is forced
upon me that Miantonomo was condemned to death because he favored
Gorton and his associates in transferring to them his huuls at Pawtnxet."
The seizure of Gorton by armed soldiers on the accusation of "blas-
phemy," was manifestly only a pretence, as evidenced i)y the final result
of his discharge by a majority of two votes of the commissioners uf the
♦History of Rhode Island, pp. 379-38.'}.
120 EHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
other three colonies, after a year's imprisonment, and by the subsequent
order for him to quit Boston within two liours under penalty of death,
after he beijan to address the people there, and narrate to them the
wrongs and ruin inflicted on him by their ministers and magistrates. In
describing this act of sending a military force to bring Gorton and his
companions to Boston to be tried for "blasphemy," and then giving him
only two hours' notice to quit under penalty of death for disobedience,
Arnold says, page 180 : " The details of this memorable trial remind us of
the application of a nursery rhyme, as made by the late Archbishop of
Dublin :—
'Old Father Long-legs wouldn't say his prayers :
Take him by the right leg-
Take him by the left leg-
Take hhn fast by both legs—
And throw him down stairs ! '
"There, said his Grace, in that nursery verse you may see an epitome of
the history of all religious persecutions. Father Long-legs refusing to
say the prayers that were dictated and ordered by his little tyrants, is re-
garded as a heretic and suffers martyrdom. Who shall say hereafter that
there is no moral conveyed in Mother Goose's melodies?"
As a pretence for seizing the lands of the Indians, the Puritans contin-
ued to trump up pecuniary claims against them, in order to levy execu-
tions for sale of their property under color of lawful debts due from them.
On complaint of a neighboring tribe of Mohegan Indians, Arnold says,
page 275 : "A great wrong was committed upon the Narragansett Indians
by the Commissioners of the Four United Colonies, by levying a fine of
five hundred and ninetj'^-five fathoms of wampum-peage as a penalty for
alleged offences against other Indian tribes; and by then forcing the
chiefs to mortgage their lands to a joint stock company composed of their
leading politicians, — Humphrey, Atherton, John Winthrop, Jr., Governor
of Connecticut, John Hudson, Richard Smith, Amos Kichardson, and
others. Then, on default of due payment, the Indians were finally com-
pelled to deliver "formal possession of twig and turf according to
English law, in the year 16G0." Arnold says they thus - attempted to
wrench possession of the Indian lands within the Rhode Island charter lim-
its, in order to gain possession of the whole of Rhode Island. This was
the foundation of claims persisted in during more than forty years, until
finally annulled by special royal commissioners."
ADDRESS OF ZACIIAHIAII ALLEX. 121
Afterward a Narracransctt sachem, to avenj!;e the dcatli orMiaiitoiiomoby
the hands of Uiicas, gave notice to the Commissioners of the United Colo-
nies of his intention to make war on tlie Mohegans. This occasion ottered
another very favorable opportniiity for destroying both tribes, and getting
their lands, by joining Uncas with a force of three hundred soldiers, to
defeat the more powerful Narragansett chief, Pessicus. Pessicus was
then ordered to appear in Boston, and was fined by the Puritans, as the
French were fined by the Prussians, for the cost of the war. While in du-
ress he was obliged to sign an agreement to pay two thousand fathoms of
wampum witliin two years. Being unable to pay this imposition when
due, "the Four United Colonies sent Humphrey .Atherton, with twenty
soldiers, pistol in hand, to obtain payment. He forced his way into his
wigwam, and seizing him by the hair, dragged him out, threatening instant
death if any resistance were made."* A conveyance of his land was made
by Pessicus to Atherton, the agent of the joint stock land company, com-
posed of John Winthrop, Jr., the Governor of Connecticut, and others of the
principal colonial rulers. Roger Williams states that this company ottered
him a share of their profits; and he replied, "that the whole transaction
was illegal." This same company afterward legally bought lands of the
Indian sachems and owners at "Boston Neck" in the Narragansett
country, which was sanctioned by the Rhode Island government.
The Connecticut colonists profited as mercenary soldiers under Uncas,
and were paid by him in his title deeds to tracts of land. Trumbull
states: "Mr. Leftingwell received a conveyance of nearly the whole
township of Norwich for his services to Uncas."
King Philip told Mr. John Borden of the wrongs he had suflered, in the
following words : "After I became Sachem, the English disarmed all my
people, tried them by their judges for damages done by cattle, there being
no fences. They assessed damages which they could not pay ; and then
took their lands. I was seized and confined until I sold tract after tract
to pay claims for damages, until only a small part of the dominion of my
ancestors remains. I am determined not to live until I have no country."
A plan was devised for obtaining possession of all the Indian lands in
the Narragansett country by the Governor of Connecticut, John Winthrop,
Jr., by going to England and procuring a new charter for the colony, so
altered as to include all the territory previously granted to the Rhode
Island colonists by their royal patent. The Colonial Itecords of Conuec-
*History of Rhode Island, Arnold, vol. i, p. IW.
16
122 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
ticut show, page 581, that John Winthrop, Jr., went to England in 16G2 to
obtahi a new charter " which should be bounded eastward by the Ply-
mouth line, and northerly by the Massachusetts line." This proposed
change of boundary lines, which would have included tiie whole of Rhode
Island, proved to be too open a disregard of the riglits of Englishmen
under chartered grants, and Winthrop failed in this attempt. Not dis-
couraged in zeal forgetting possession of all the Indian lands, the next
attempt was to get possession of half of Rhode Island with all the lands
of the Narragansett Indians, by obtaining a new charter and surrepti-
tiously interpolating an explanatory description of the east boundary line
of Connecticut. The old Connecticut charter defined the east line to be
bounded by " Narragansett river," which received its name originally from
its forming the division line between Connecticut and the Narragansett
country. The new scheme was to be efl'ected by interpolating after the
name NarrayanseJt river, this super-added explanation : ^^ commonly called
Narragatisctt Bay." This bay being twenty-four miles further east than
the Narragansett river, now known as the Pawcatuck river, this change
would have brought the whole of the Narragansett lauds within the juris-
diction of Counecticut. The letters of John Winthrop, Jr., and of his agent
in London, John Scott, published in xVrnold's History of Rhode Island,*
reveal the details of the whole plot, and the employment of a '-potent
gentleman" and actual bribery to accomplish their purpose of obtaining a
new charter with the King's signature, and with this interpolation.
Triumphing in this achievement, Connecticut officers were sent to take
possession of the Narragansett country under this fraudulent reissue of
the Connecticut charter. Arnold says: "The Atherton Company had
accomplished their selfish purposes by u baseness that cannot easily be
surpassed."
John Clark, the agent in England of the Rhode Island colonists, notified
them of these proceedings. They appointed their Deputy Governor,
Joseph Jenckes, to make their protest to the royal council in the following
\vords : " Through the private and clandestine deception of the agent of
Connecticut, John Winthrop, Jr., the new Connecticut charter is so
altered as to bound upon the Narragansett Bay ; and this is done contrary
to the solemn promise to our agent, Mr. John Clark. "t
It is stated: "The King was surprised by this interpolation, and com-
missioners were appointed to rectify the boundary line; so as to nearly
* Vol. i, pp. 378-383. f R. I- Hist. Coll., vol. iii, p. 206. R. I. Records, iv, p. 276.
ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 123
coincide with the orii-iiial ciiarter lino of Rhode Islancl, which was linally
continued in 1708 l)y agreement between the two adjacent colonies."
" The evil that men do lives after them"; and the wrong committed I)y
the Puritan rulers of New England, in seizing the lands of Pcssicus and
transferring them to the Atherton Company, was perpetuated by the lat-
ter in attempting to protit by the sale of a portion of them to forty-live
families of Huguenots, who were deluded into settling thereon. The
Atherton Company contracted with a committee of refugees, who had fled
from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to seek a peace-
ful asylum in America, where they might freely worship their Creator.
In "The History of the Huguenot Settlers in Rhode Island" by the Hon.
E. R. Potter, (recently published by Mr. Sidney S. Rider,) it is stated:
' The .\therton Company, in the year 1G86, contracted 'to lay out .\ meet
and Considerable tract of Laud, whereon Each Family shall have a hun-
dred Acres on payment of twenty-five Pounds.' They were located on
the border of Narragansett Bay, on hind now constituting East Green-
wich, and still retaining the name of ' Freuchtown.' They soon built
twenty-five houses there, and prepared for a church and school-house,
vineyards and orchards; but after finding that the General Assembly of
Rhode Island had previously granted the land to others, and that they had
been deceived in the validity of the claims of the Atherton Company, they
became discouraged, and suftered greatly Ijy being necessitated to become
refugees a second time. Some went to New Rochelle, others to New
York, where they originated 'The French Church,' that long flourished
there. Philadelphia, Virginia, and South Carolina became the abodes of
others, where their posterity are respectable inhabitants at the present
day. Allaire went to New York, Ayrault to Newport, Le Moine (Maw-
uey), Tonrge, Collin, Totcrtellot, Tourbemtx (anglicised Tarbox), Bom-
passe (changed to Bninpus and Bump), Ganeau (to Gano), Despcau,
and a few others, lingered in Rhode Island." The sad breaking up of
this Huguenot colony, which promised to become a centre of refinement
and civilization, was lamented by Rhode Islanders.
Another Huguenot colony at Oxford, in Massachusetts, was in like
manner broken up by Governor Dudley, who gained experience in Indian
land speculations by serving on a committee of claims of the Atherton
Company. It appears that the leading political Puritans in New England
took an active part in profiting by the seizure of the Indian lands; and
that Governors Dudley and Stoughton, like Governor Winthrop of Con-
necticut, made a business of dealing in such acquisitions. Dudley sug-
124 EHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY.
gested to the General Court of Massachusetts the feasibility of obtaining
possession of the Indian lands in the westerly part of the Massachusetts
Bay patent, from the Blackstone river to the Connecticut river, by pur-
chase of the tribe of Xipnuick Indians; and was appointed with William
Stoughton and Robert Thompson, Colonial Agent on Lands, to make the
purchase. The Colonial records show that they ol)tained a conveyance of
the whole Nipmuck country, ranch larger than the territory of Rhode Isl-
and, " for fifty pounds and a black coat," from " Black James," a Nipmuck
Indian, and Waban and his tribe of Natic Indians. The Committee were
rewarded by a grant of one thousand acres of the laud each, for their
efficient services.
No question was made of the authority, or right of "Black James," or
of the Natic Indians to sell out all the hunting grounds and homes of the
adjacent tribe of Nipmuck Indians.
The next move that appears on record, was the petition of Governor
Dudley, William Stoughton, a political minister and afterward governor,
and Robert Thompson, for a grant of eight square miles of these Indian
lands, containing fortj'-oue thousand two hundred and fifty acres. This
grant was readily made to them by the General Court of Massachusetts
in 1682, (constituting the present township of New Oxford in Worcester
county), on the proposed conditions of "the settlement thereon of an
orthodox minister and thirty families within four years."
On being notified of this transfer of their hunting grounds and homes,
the Nipmuck tribe became exceedingly exasperated, and so hostile to all
intruders, that the Land Company, composed of Dudley, Stoughton and
Thompson as copartners, could not induce any ftimilies to remove and
settle on their grant of land within the stipulated terra of four years.
They consequently obtained an extension of time for three years longer
to obtain settlers.
Failing to find any colonists, who knew the circumstances of the grant
and the vindictive hostility of the Nipmuck tribe toward all intruders, it
became necessary for the copartners to look abroad for emigrants, who
were ignorant of the wrong done to the natives, and of their consequent
hostility to settlers. The London copartner, Robert Thompson, then had
recourse to inveigling some of the families of French refugees, who had
fled thither after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, and were
seeking a home, where they might peaceably worship their Creator, One
Isaac Bertrand du Tufieau was found willing to attempt enlisting the
thirty families required by the terms of the grant. The origin of the
ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEX. 125
Huguenot Colony, which was settled at Oxford, is statrd by one of the
principal emigrants ; who in after years thus detaih d his losses and snft'er-
ings in a petition to Governor iShnte :—
" Your petitioner humbly begs your Excellency graciously to assist him
in his great necessities. Your petitioner, on the revocation of tlie Edict
of Nantes, fled to London, where he Avas presented l)y the Treasurer of
tiie Protestant Church of France to the "Society for the propagation of the
Gospel among the Indians of New England," of which Mr. Robert Thomp-
son, the President, offered to install him as a member; and also oftered
laud in the government of the Massachusetts Bay. Thereupon, one Isaac
Bertrand du Tuffeau desired your petitioner to assist him, the said Du
Tufteau, to go over to New England to settle there a Plantation of the
French Refugees. This your petitioner did, by advancing to the said Du
TuflV;au the sum of Five hnndred Pounds Sterling."
"The said Isaac du Tufleau, after arriving in Boston with letters of
credit from said Major Thompson and your humble petitioner, delivered
them to his late excellency Joseph Dudley, Esq., and to the Hon. William
Stonghton, deceased; who did grant to the said Du Tuileau seven hun-
dred and fifty acres of land at New Oxford conjointly with your peti-
tioner." (They thus secured the zeal of the agent by giving liim one-
half of the land, and at the same time a control of the management.)
"Your petitioner being excited by the letters of said Du Tuffoau, did
ship himself and family, with servants, and paid to Captains Foye and
^Vare passages for above forty persons.
" Your petitioner being arrived at Boston, presented letters from Major
Thompson aforesaid to the aforesaid Dudley and Stoughton, Esquires;
who were pleased to grant to your petitioner 1750 acres more; and for
authentic security, did accompany him to New Oxford, and put him in
pos>ession of the said tsventy-five hundred acres of land : these he has
held for better than thirty years last past, and has spent above Two
Thousand Pounds to defend the same from the Indians ; — who at divers
times have ruined the said plantation and murdered settlers : — Your peti-
tioner most humbly represents tliat some of the inhabitants do now dis-
pute his right and title, for tlie purpose of hindering him from the sale of
the said plantation ; which puts him to the utmost extremity ; being now
near eighty years of age, and having several children, and children of
children depending on him (under God) for subsistence, after having
spent more than ten thousand pounds towards the benefit of the country
126 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
in I)nildiiig ships, making nails, and promoting manufacture of stufts,
hats and resiu.
"Your petitioner doth most humbly beg your excellency's compassion
in confirming the said two thousand five hundred acres of land free from
molestations by the inhabitants and any pretensions of said Du Tuflfeau ;
who abandoned said plantation, selling out the cattle and other movables
for his oicn particular use and went to London ; where he died in a
hospital."
The following authentic details will show how all these troubles were
wrongfully brought upon the principal Huguenot settlers, and how the
whole Huguenot settlement was broken up and repossessed by Dudley
and his copartners.
The records of deeds in Suflblk County, Mass., volume xxx, page 2G8,
show that, on the 24th of May, 1688, Joseph Dudley, William Stoughtou,
and Robert Thompson signed a deed of twenty-eight hundred and seventy-
two acres of land, "selected by said Bertrand du Tufleau for himself and
for Gabriel Bernon within a tract called *Nevv Oxford Village,' on the
condition of building a corn mill thereon and paying a nominal quit rent
of forty shillings. New England currency, and with an appended proviso :
' In case of the relinquishment or abandonment of said lands, this grant
shall thenceforth cease and be utterly null and void ; and the lands shall
revert unto the said parties of the First Part, and may be lawfully entered
upon by them as their former estate.' "
After the completion of the contract for settling the thirty families and
building the mill, the record shows, Feb. 6th, 1690, that all the copartners
of the Land Company except Governor Dudley, duly acknowledged the deed
before a magistrate, to give it validity; but Governor Dudley withheld
both his acknowledgment and the delivery of the deed itself, until the 5th
of February, 1716, — a period of twenty-seven years and nine months
after it was signed. During all of this time Gabriel Bernon and the
thirty refugee families were deprived of a title valid in courts of law.
Trespassers upon the land could not be ejected, and the Huguenot set-
tlers here, as in Rhode Island, became disheartened without a legal title.
After waiting in vain for three or four years for Dudley's deed, they began
to abandon the settlement. Governor Dudley not only withheld his
acknowledgment and the delivery of the deed, but encouraged others to
dishearten the French families, and cause them to abandon and desert
the lands; as appears by his regaining possession of most of the prop-
erty, mills, and improvements under the clause of the grant providing
ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 127
against abaudoiinient. This dclibcrateli' contrived course of Governor
Dudley is stated in a remonstrance addressed by Boruou to him, dated
March 1, 1707, stating: "Mr. Hagborn, your brother, has done his
utmost to ruin my interest in said Oxford. He lias caused Cooper to
abandon the old mill, and Thomas Allerton to leave my other house, de-
claring I had no power to settle them. When I made complaint of this,
he threatened to drive me from tlie place, myself." " It is notorious that
the said Ilagborn, your brother, has caused the planks of my granary to
be torn up and conveyed elsewhere, and ortlered the o.\en to be worked,"
etc. Superadded to this were the continual annoyances of the surround-
ing families of Nlpmuck Indians, who appear by the remonstrance of the
French minister, Daniel Bondet, to the General Court, to have been sup-
plied "with rum without limits, so that they fought like bears with each
other." The traders from Boston bought the game and furs they took.
Some of the Indians worked as laborers, and the women gathered berries
and made baskets and mats for sale.
It appears " the Selectmen of Woodstock, an adjacent town. Peti-
tioned the General Court against the sale of Rum by the Traders; to
prevent the riotous drunkenness, and fightings, until they are brought to
death's door. There are none here to prevent this woeful conduct."
The Massachusetts rulers having annulled the power of the sachems to
maintain order and justice, by granting their lauds to the Dudley Land
Company, they were left to themselves without any magistrate to restrain
them, and literally lawless. Beruou petitioned Governor Dudley, as the
ruling member of the Land Company, as well as of the Massachusetts Bay
Company, for his aid and influence in restraining the Indians, and only
received a letter in reply, dated July 7th, 1702, including the commission
of a captain at Oxford, with orders to "take care to arm the people, and
garrison them in your own house, with a palisade." To quiet the fears
of the French settlers at Oxford, Beruon built a strong fort, partly of
stone, the ruins of which remain to this day. The alarm at this time