733 



WILLIAMS, REV. JOHN. 



WILLIAMS, ROGER. 



731 



leather was required. Having no saw, the trees used were split by 

 wedges, and having no steaming apparatus, bent planks were procured 

 by splitting curved trunks. Cordage was manufactured of the bark 

 of the hibiscus ; sails were made of native matting ; and for oakum 

 were substituted cocoa-nut husk, banana stumps, native cloth, &c. 

 Sheaves were formed of the 'aito,' or iron-wood, by means of a lathe 

 constructed for the purpose, and the pintles of the rudder were made 

 from a piece of a pickaxe, a cooper's adze, and a large hoe. By such 

 contrivances, in the short space of fifteen weeks, was completed a sea- 

 worthy vessel about sixty feet long and eighteen feet wide. Supplied 

 with anchors of wood and stone) and with a crew consisting only of 

 natives, Williams first tried his vessel, which he styled the ' Messenger 

 of Peace,' in a voyage of about 170 miles, to Aitutaki, which was 

 accomplished without any more serious casualty than the breaking of 

 the foremast through the inexperience of the native crew ; and after a 

 few days the vessel returned to Rarotonga with a valuable cargo of 

 pigs, cocoa-nuts, and cats. Shortly afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Buzacotfc 

 arrived at Rarotonga, having among their stores a supply of iron, 

 which enabled Mr. Williams to strengthen his ship before sailing for 

 Tahiti, a distance of 800 miles, which he accomplished in safety. 

 Being now fully determined to undertake his long-contemplated voyage 

 to the more westerly islands, Williams immediately set about prepara- 

 tions for it. He however returned to Raiatea, and was actively engaged 

 in that and neighbouring islands for a considerable time before the 

 great expedition could be commenced. On the 24th of May 1830 the 

 Messenger of Peace left Raiatea on this important voyage, for the cir- 

 cumstances of which we must refer to the interesting narrative of the 

 missionary voyager himself, merely stating that after calling at Man- 

 gaia, Rarotonga, and other out-stations, the vessel proceeded westward 

 to Savage Island, Tongatabu, Savaii, and many other islands of the 

 Hapai and Samoan or Navigators' groups, after which she returned to 

 Raiatea. Towards the latter end of 1832, after conveying a supply of 

 provisions, horses, asses, and cattle to Rarotonga, Williams again sailed 

 in the Messenger of Peace to the Samoas, after which he returned to 

 Rarotonga, where, with Messrs. Pitman and Buzacott, he completed 

 the Rarotongan v.ersion of the New Testament. Having now deter- 

 mined to visit England, he sent the Messenger of Peace to Tahiti, with 

 directions that she should be sold, if a purchaser should offer, and that 

 another vessel should be chartered and sent for him. Not hearing 

 again from Tahiti, he eventually completed a small vessel which had 

 been commenced by an American then at Rarotonga, and in July 1833 

 sailed in it for Tahiti. The business of the mission required another 

 visit to Rarotonga before he finally embarked for England, but at 

 length, having once more visited Raiatea, he took passage in a home- 

 ward bound whaler, and reached London in June 1834. The interest 

 of his adventures rendered him immediately an object of attraction at 

 the numerous missionary meetings at which he took a part; and so 

 great was the desire to hear him in all parts of the kingdom, that his 

 labours at home were little less arduous than they had been in the 

 South Seas. 



While however his labours in speaking, preaching, and lecturing 

 were almost incessant, Williams never lost sight of engagements more 

 immediately connected with the welfare of Polynesia. He submitted 

 to the directors of the London Missionary Society, and subsequently 

 to the Christian public, plans for a theological college at Rarotonga, 

 for the education of native missionaries, and of a school at Tahiti, 

 which might both afford superior education to the sons of chiefs, and 

 serve the purpose of a normal school for training native schoolmasters. 

 He laid his manuscript of the Rarotongan New Testament before the 

 British and Foreign Bible Society, and subsequently superintended the 

 printing of that and several other works for the use of the islanders ; 

 and he wrote an account of some of the most important circumstances 

 of his extraordinary career, which appeared in April 1837, under the 

 title of 'A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea 

 Islands, with Remarks upon the Natural History of the Islands, Origin, 

 Languages, Traditions, and Usages of the Inhabitants.' This volume 

 immediately excited the deepest interest, not only among tbose who 

 had heard the statements of the author, or whose habits and connec- 

 tions would naturally lead to its perusal, but also among the dignitaiies 

 of the Established Church, men eminent for their scientific attainments, 

 aud some of the nobility. The society of the humble-minded dissent- 

 ing missionary was sought by many who had been accustomed to view 

 such proceedings as those which he had narrated as Utopian and fanati- 

 cal, and many noble donations were made through him to aid the 

 general objects of the mission, as well as those special objects which 

 the Society preferred leaving under his individual management, such, 

 as his cherished project of procuring a missionary ship. Referring to 

 Prout's 'Memoirs' for many pleasing illustrations of the effect produced 

 by this volume, as well as by Williams's personal appeals, it may be 

 stated that, having submitted to the common council of the city of 

 London his ideas of the importance of the expedition he was about to 

 undertake, in .a commercial point of view, that body unanimously 

 voted a sum of 500. towards its support. For this purpose alone 

 about 4000. were subscribed, with which the Camden was purchased, 

 repaired, and fitted out, and on the llth of April 1838 she sailed from 

 Gravesend, with Mr. and Mrs. Williams and sixteen other missionaries 

 and missionaries' wives, who were to be left at their respective 

 stations. 



After a short stay at the Cape of Good Hope, and another at Sydney, 

 the Camden made for the Samoas. Williams visited many of the sur- 

 rounding islands, then sailed to Rarotonga, and subsequently to Tahiti, 

 Raiatea, and others of the Society group, whence the Camden again 

 sailed for Samoa, the devoted missionary hoping at last to carry out 

 his long-cherished design of visiting the islands yet farther westward, 

 where as yet nothing had been done for the instruction of the savage?. 

 The expedition was proceeding successfully, and had reached the New 

 Hebrides, when, on the 20th of November 1839, a party from the ship 

 landed at Dillon's Bay, in the island of Erromanga, where the natives, 

 irritated, there is reason to believe, by the barbarities perpetrated by 

 the crew of a vessel that had previously visited the island, attacked 

 them, and murdered Mr. Williams, then in the forty-fourth year of his 

 age, and Mr. Harris, who was intending to become a missionary to the 

 Marquesas. The intelligence of the melancholy event produced the 

 most intense excitement both in the numerous islands where the apos- 

 tolic labours of Williams had been performed, and in his native country, 

 and the universal esteem which his character had obtained called forth 

 the warmest expressions of respect and regret. Such remains of the 

 body of Williams as could be subsequently procured (the greater por- 

 tion having been devoured by the cannibals of Erromauga) were interred 

 at Apia, in the island of Upolu. It ia most gratifying to know that 

 the benevolent work to which Williams devoted his life has not been 

 checked by his untimely end, but that even upon the very island on 

 which he fell the truths of Christianity have since been received with 

 gladness. 



Of the character of Williams it is unnecessary to attempt to form an 

 estimate in this brief notice. To comprehend his self-denying zeal, his 

 unconquerable perseverance in the pursuit of the philanthropic objects 

 of his mission, the universality of his talents as an agent of civilisation, 

 and the benevolence which marked his public and private actions, it is 

 necessary to peruse the circumstantial narrative of his ' Missionary 

 Enterprises,' a book replete with interest even to those who do not 

 duly appreciate the motives which actuated him and his coadjutors. 

 Much additional information upon these, as well as more purely per- 

 sonal history, is to be found in the volume of 'Memoirs' published by 

 his friend the Rev. Ebenezer Prout, of Halstead. 



WILLIAMS, ROGER, the founder of the state of Rhode Island, 

 was born in Wales in 1599. Educated at Oxford, he was in due time 

 ordained ; but having adopted the principles of the Puritans, he deter- 

 mined on separating from the Church of England. To avoid the 

 persecution at that time rife in this country, Williams emigrated, with 

 many others of similar religious views, to New England then the 

 Puritans' land of promise. He landed at Nantasket, Massachusetts, in 

 February 1631. His fervent zeal, his piety, and his 'godly gifts' in 

 preaching aud exhortation, secured him much consideration. He was 

 soon invited by the people of Salem to become assistant to their minis- 

 ter. But he had already promulgated doctrines which the ' court ' 

 of magistrates at Boston regarded as dangerous, and they warned 

 the people of Salem that they had been too precipitate in their 

 choice, and bade them proceed no further. Williams had already dis- 

 tinctly enunciated the principle which Bancroft (' Hist, of America,' 

 chap, ix.) declares "he was the first person in modern Christendom to 

 assert in its plenitude" of entire liberty of conscience, the right of 

 every person to worship in what manner he pleased, or to refrain from 

 public worship altogether without interference on the part of the 

 civil magistrate. He had besides written a defence of the right of the 

 natives to the soil, which the magistrates also condemned ; though on 

 his putting in an explanation and consenting to burn the manuscript, 

 they declared that the matters were not so evil as at first they seemed. 

 To avoid strife, he now retired to Plymouth, where he remained for 

 two years, when, on the death of their minister, the church at Salem 

 chose Williams as his successor. Again the court interposed. Wil- 

 liams reiterated and amplified his views of liberty of conscience, 

 frankly declaring when pressed by his opponents, that he held that the 

 magistrate ought not to interfere " even to stop a church from apos- 

 tacy and heresy," and that the office of the civil magistrate "extends 

 only to the bodies and goods and outward estates of man " doctrines 

 which the court declared to be opposed to the fundamental laws of 

 the state, and subversive of all good government. The church of 

 Salem was again warned : but Williams, on behalf of the church, 

 issued ' Letters of Admonition,' which were adjudged to be a defiance 

 of the authorities. Salem was disfranchised ; and as, on being sum- 

 moned before the court, he refused to withdraw any of his opinions, 

 Williams was sentenced to banishment as a reviler of magistrates. He 

 obtained permission however, winter being at hand, to remain till the 

 spring ; but as he persisted in preaching, and hi^ people nocked to 

 hear him, and it was understood that many had decided on going with 

 him to found a new colony somewhere not very distant, the authorities 

 decided to remove him at once as a dangerous person to England. 

 Hearing of this, he fled into the woods, where, as he says in a passage 

 quoted by Bancroft, " for fourteen weeks he was sorely tost in a bitter 

 season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean." But he had 

 acquired a mastery over the language of the Indians, was sheltered by 

 them, and kindly treated. 



As soon as the season allowed, Williams began the foundation of his 

 new colony. At first he pitched on Seekonk, but that was within the 

 patent of Plymouth, and when Governor Winthrop directed him to 



