Persecution in England and Intolerance in Massachusetts

For awhile after the arrival of Winthrop and his company, the flow of emigration to Massachusetts almost ceased. Men wished to see the experiment there fully tried before venturing. The intolerance of the authorities in church and state, in Massachusetts, was another cause for hesitation. The narrow views of civil and religious freedom entertained by those authorities and practically enforced, did not suit the more liberal-minded of the English Non-conformists, who were disposed to emigrate. There were too many shades of opinion among them to expect harmony before such an inexorable censor as they would meet in the half-ecclesiastical or church government of Massachusetts. But political and religious events in England soon gave an amazing impetus to emigration to America. Laud, the primate or head of the church, in England, who hated Puritans intensely, was then carrying forward persecution with a high hand. He was an implacable inquisitor, and sent men to prison without mercy, because they did not conform to his requirements in their method of worshipping Almighty God. At the same time there was a violent struggle for power between the monarch and the people. The king had, in effect, abolished the Parliament, and was ruling England at the bidding of his uncontrolled will. Civil war was evidently brewing in the hearts and minds of the people, and those who loved quiet and foresaw the coming storm fled to America to avoid its consequences. During the year 1635, full three thousand new settlers went to Massachusetts, among whom were men of wealth, influence, and distinction. Among these were the fiery Hugh Peters, an eloquent Puritan preacher, and Henry Vane, and enthusiastic young man twenty-five years of age, who took a conspicuous part in the affairs of the colony. Meanwhile the harsh proceedings of Endicott and others toward those who did not conform to their rigid discipline, and the intemperate zeal which characterized the authorities in Massachusetts, in their opposition to the church and crown, aroused the jealousy and resentment of both. These feelings were intensified by the intimations of the enemies of the colonists, that they "aimed not at new discipline, but sovereignty," and action was taken to bring them into subjection. Much had been made of the fact that Endicott had caused a part of the red-cross of St. George to be cut out of the English flag at Salem, and that many of the citizens refused to follow it before it was so mutilated. These things were cited as evidence of disloyalty to the crown. On the contrary, it was loyalty to bigotry. Endicott regarded the cross in the flag as a "relic of Anti-Christ," because the Pope had given it to the King of England as an ensign of victory. The whole aspect of the act was theological, not political ; but the royalists chose to interpret it otherwise, and it was one of the reasons for tyrannical action toward the colony, when orders were issued to the authorities of Massachusetts to produce their charter before the Privy Council in England. This was followed, in the spring of 1634, by the appointment of an arbitrary special commission for the colonies, with laud, the primate, at their head. He and his associates received full power over the American colonies to organize new governments and dictate laws; to regulate public worship, and to inflict punishments and revoke charters.

When the news of these proceedings reached New England, with a rumor that a governor-general or viceroy was on his way, the authorities of Massachusetts took the boldest measures. Fortifications were ordered, and three thousand dollars-then a large sum for the poor colonists-were raised to pay for them; and it was resolved not to receive a governor appointed by the crown. They determined to resist as long as possible. It was at that juncture that the great emigration just spoken of took place.