134 A Century of Science 



ing, and it was not to stop short of recognizing 

 the claims of free thought. The century that 

 witnessed the beginnings of an English-speaking 

 America saw also the genuine principles of tolera 

 tion laid down by Roger Williams and William 

 Penn, and demonstrated with resistless wealth of 

 learning and logic by Milton and Locke. 



In an account of the origins of liberal thought 

 in America this English development is all-impor 

 tant, but it does not cover the whole field. Ameri 

 ca s inheritance from Europe comes chiefly, but not 

 entirely, from the British islands. In the early 

 days of the Protestant Reformation, there were 

 European countries in which religious toleration 

 had advanced practically much further than in 

 England. The England of Henry VIII. as com 

 pared with the Netherlands was in a crude and 

 backward condition. The contrast might be lik 

 ened to that between rural life with its narrow 

 mental horizon and the varied cosmopolitan life 

 of the city. England politically was a land of 

 unrivalled promise, but she was not quite abreast 

 with the most advanced culture of the time. Her 

 government was mainly in the hands of country 

 gentlemen, who lacked some valuable elements of 

 experience that were possessed by the burghers 

 of commercial Antwerp and Ghent. A careful 



