^{page 150 note 1} This action of the General Court recalls the sentence of banishment decreed against Roger Williams, Oct. 19, 1635. It is pleasant to know that on account of Roger Williams' valuable services to the Massachusetts colonists, this sentence, was revoked by the Council, March 31, 1676. The revocation is in these words: “Whereas Mr. Roger Williams stands at present under a sentence of Restraint from coming into this Colony, yet considering how readyly and freely at all tymes he hath served the English Interest in this time of warre with the Indians and manifested his particular respects to the Authority of this Colony in several services desired of him and further understanding how by the last assault of the Indians upon Providence his House is burned and himself in his old age reduced to an uncomfortable and disabled state. Out of Compassion to him in this Condition The Council doe Order and Declare that if the sayed Mr. Williams shall see cause and desire it he shall have liberty to repayre into any of our Towns for his security and comfortable abode during these Public Troubles, He behaving himself peaceably and in-offensibly and not disseminating and venting of his different opinions in matters of Religion to the dissatisfaction of any.” Roger Williams died in 1683; but although in the seven years of life that remained he did not avail himself of this manifestation of “Compassion,” he could not have been insensible to the kindly feeling that prompted it. This revocation has been overlooked by historians until recently. Dr. H. M. Dexter, when he published his As to Roger Williams, did not refer to it and evidently had not seen it. When the “Acts of the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England” were published in 1859 (Plymouth Colony Records, vol. x.Google Scholar), the editor, to render the work more perfect, added in an appendix several acts and minutes of the Commissioners and other documents, “discovered since the printing of this volume was commenced.” The above revocation of the sentence of banishment against Roger Williams was one of these documents, but for some reason it was inserted in the Introduction, and was overlooked by the person who prepared the index. See Plymouth Colony Records, vol. x., p. vi.Google Scholar, Introduction; also, as to its original source Massachusetts Archives, vol. x., p. 233.Google Scholar

^{page 155 note 1} Hovey, . Life and Times of Isaac Backus, pp. 196, 197.Google Scholar

^{page 156 note 1} Hovey, . Life and Times of Isaac Backus, pp. 203–210.Google Scholar

^{page 157 note 1} Backus, , History of the Baptists in New England, vol. ii., p. 4202Google Scholar, note. See also Hovey, , Life and Times of Isaac Backus, pp. 203–215, 349–351Google Scholar; Works of John Adams, vol. ii., pp. 397–399Google Scholar; and Guild, , Manning and Brown University, pp. 237–239.Google Scholar