tant advocate of those equal rights, civil and
religious, and that system of government in the enjoyment of which
Canada is conspicuous.

In tracing the origin and development of those views and feelings which
culminated in the American Revolution, in the separation of thirteen
colonies from Great Britain, it is necessary to notice the early
settlement and progress of those New England colonies in which the seeds
of that revolution were first sown and grew to maturity.

The colonies of New England resulted from two distinct emigrations of
English Puritans; two classes of Puritans; two distinct governments for
more than sixty years. The one class of these emigrants were called
"Pilgrim Fathers," having first fled from England to Holland, and thence
emigrated to New England in 1620, in the _Mayflower_, and called their
place of settlement "New Plymouth," where they elected seven Governors
in succession, and existed under a self-constituted government for
seventy years. The other class were called "Puritan Fathers;" the first
instalment of their emigration took place in 1629, under Endicot; they
were known as the Massachusetts Bay Company, and their final capital was
Boston, which afterwards became the capital of the Province and of the
State.

The characteristics of the separate and independent government of these
two classes of Puritans were widely different. The one was tolerant and
non-persecuting, and loyal to the King during the whole period of its
seventy years' existence; the other was an intolerant persecutor of all
religionists who did not adopt its worship, and disloyal from the
beginning to the Government from which it held its Charter.

It is essential to my purpose to compare and contrast the proceedings of
these two governments in relation to religious liberty and loyalty. I
will first give a short account of the origin and government of the
"_Pilgrim_ Fathers" of New Plymouth, and then the government of the
"_Puritan_ Fathers" of Massachusetts Bay.[1]

In the later years of Queen Elizabeth, a "fiery young clergyman," named
Robert Brown, declared against the lawfulness of both Episcopal and
Presbyterian Church government, or of fellowship with either
Episcopalians or Presbyterians, and in favour of the absolute
independence of each congregation, and the ordination as well as
selection of the minister by it. This was the origin of the Independents
in England. The zeal of Brown, like that of most violent