16 History of Hingham. 



of any special providence, we may fail in our views of the dis- 

 pleasure of God ; " and notices the fact that the clergy, when 

 they came to this town to reduce the church members to sobriety, 

 " were kept twenty-four hours in the boat, and were in great dan- 

 ger by occasion of a tempest." 



The last time at which Mr. Hobart was made to feel the dis- 

 pleasure of the government was in 1647. Winthrop mentions it 

 in the following manner : — 



" 4. (6). There was a great marriage to be solemnized at Boston. 

 The bridegroom being of Hingham, Mr. Hubbard's church, he was pro- 

 cured to preach, and came to Boston to that end. But the magistrates, 

 hearing of it, sent to him to forbear. The reasons were, 1. for that his 

 spirit had been discovered to be adverse to our ecclesiastical and civil 

 government, and he was a bold man, and would speak his mind, 2. we 

 were not willing to bring in the English custom of ministers performing 

 the solemnity of marriage, which sermons at such times might induce, but 

 if any minister were present, and would bestow a word of exhortation, 

 &c, it was permitted." 



I have thus gleaned from Winthrop all the facts which his val- 

 uable journal contains, relating in any manner to the military 

 difficulties in this town, and to the conduct of the most promi- 

 nent individuals concerned in them. 



The dispassionate reader, while he will give to Winthrop all 

 the credit to which his impartiality entitles him, cannot fail to 

 discover some circumstances which tend to extenuate the crimi- 

 nality of the conduct of a large and respectable portion of the 

 inhabitants of this town. The convictions which the deputy gov- 

 ernor entertained of the disorderly and seditious course of Mr. 

 Hobart and his friends were deep and strong ; and in some in 

 stances his conduct indicated anything but a charitable spirit 

 towards those whose principal error (if any) consisted in their 

 attachment to more liberal views of government than those gen- 

 erally entertained at that time. 



Winthrop acknowledges, that "the great questions that troubled 

 the country were about the authority of the magistrates and the 

 liberty of the people." " Two of the magistrates and many of 

 the deputies," esteemed for piety, prudence, and justice, " were 

 of opinion that the magistrates exercised too much power, and 

 that the people's liberty was thereby in danger," and the ten- 

 dency of their principles and conduct was (in the opinion of the 

 deputy governor), to have brought the commonwealth "to a 

 mere democracy." 



Thus we learn that one of the military company here pro- 

 fessed " he would die at the sword's point, if he might not have 

 the choice of his own officers." Some of the principles and 

 privileges for which our fathers contended, were undoubtedly 

 too liberal and republican for the spirit of the age in which they 

 lived. They were, perhaps, injudicious and indiscreet in their 



