, who was come thither to inquire
for a ship bound for England, whither he intended to go, she was also
taken into custody. Thus, they had now three persons, who, according to
their law, had forfeited their lives. And, on the 20th of October, these
three were brought into court, where John Endicot and others were
assembled. And being called to the bar, Endicot commanded the keeper to
pull off their hats; and then said, that they had made several laws to
keep the Quakers from amongst them, and neither whipping, nor
imprisoning, nor cutting off ears, nor banishing upon pain of death,
would keep them from amongst them. And further, he said, that he or they
desired not the death of any of them. Yet, notwithstanding, his
following words, without more ado, were, "Give ear, and hearken to your
sentence of death." Sentence of death was also passed upon Marmaduke
Stevenson, Mary Dyar, and William Edrid. Several others were imprisoned,
whipped, and fined. We have no disposition to justify the Pilgrims for
these proceedings, but we think, considering the circumstances of the
age in which they lived, their conduct admits of much palliation. The
following remarks of Mr. Hawes, in his tribute to the memory of the
Pilgrims, are worthy of serious consideration.

"It is alleged that they enacted laws which were oppressive to other
denominations, and, moreover, that they were actually guilty of
persecution. This, indeed, is a serious charge, and to some extent must
be admitted to be true. And yet whoever candidly examines the facts in
the case, will find abundant evidence that our fathers, in this respect,
were far from being sinners above all who have dwelt on the earth. Many
of the laws that are complained of were enacted when there were few or
none of any other denomination in the land. They were designed to
protect and support their own ecclesiastical and civil order; and not to
operate at all as persecuting or oppressive enactments against
christians belonging to other sects. It is also true that most of those
persons who are said to have been persecuted and oppressed, suffered not
so much for their religious opinions, as for their offences against the
state. Some of them outraged all decency and order, and committed such
acts as would unquestionably, at the present day, subject a man to
imprisonment, if not to severer punishment.

"This, according to Winthrop, was the ground of the sentence of
banishment, passed on Roger Williams.