1661.

The King's Letter.

173

Four persons in

Some had their

all who ventured to return. A poor fanatic was following his plough in distant Yorkshire, when he thought the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Go to Boston." He went, and the ungrateful men of Boston hanged him. all suffered death. Many were whipped. ears cut off. But public opinion, which has always been singularly humane in America, began to condemn these foolish cruelties. The Quakers had friends at home, friends who had access to the court. There came a letter in the king's name directing that the authorities of New England should "forbear to proceed further against the Quakers." That letter came by the hands of à Quaker who was under sentence of death if he dared to return. The authorities could not but receive it, could not but give effect to it. The persecution ceased;

in

and with it may be said to close, America, all forcible interference with the right of men to think for themselves.

The Quakers, as they are known to us, are of all sects the least offensive. A persecution of this serene, thoughtful, self-restrained people may well surprise us. But, in justice to New England, it must

GEORGE FOX.

be told that the first generation of Quakers differed extremely from succeeding generations. They were a fanatical people,extravagant, intemperate in speech, rejectors of

lawful authority.

They believed themselves guided by an "inner light," which habitually placed them at variance with the laws and customs of the country in which they lived. George Fox declared that "the Lord forbade him to put off his hat to any man." His followers were provokingly aggressive. They invaded public worship. They openly expressed their contempt for the religion of their neighbors. They perpetually came with "messages from the Lord,” which it was not pleasant to listen to. They appeared in public places very imperfectly attired, thus symbolically to express and to rebuke the spiritual nakedness of the time. The second generation of New England Quakers were people of beautiful lives, spiritual-minded, hospitable, and just. When their zeal allied itself with discretion, they became a most valuable element in American society. They have firmly resisted all social evils. But we can scarcely wonder that they created alarm at first. The men of New England took a very simple view of the subject. They had bought and paid for every acre of soil which they occupied. Their country was a homestead from which they might exclude whom they chose. They would not receive men whose object seemed to be to overthrow their customs, civil and religious. It was a mistake, but a most natural mistake. Long afterwards, when New England saw her error, she made what amends she could, by giving compensation to the representatives of those Quakers who had suffered in the evil times.