THE " QUONAI/ASSir" PIONEERS. 1 I 7 



that one half of their deputies in the General Court were 

 willing to curtail the power of the central government. 



The Puritans plumed themselves upon not being sep- 

 aratists like the Pilgrims ; but here they were in large 

 numbers at Boston advocating a principle of separatism 

 more deadly to a central government than ever the Pilgrims 

 of Plymouth had espoused : for military separatism is the 

 most damaging of all schisms ! But the deputy governor 

 was vindicated. The petitioners of Hingham were refused, 

 and their petition, after "divers days " of hot contention in 

 the House of Deputies, was declared "false and scan- 

 dalous." 



The whole affair having thus been taken up by the 

 General Court instead of the Court of Assistants, the 

 rebellious petitioners were all fined in various sums accord- 

 ing to the degree of contempt which they had shown 

 against the magistrates. 



Joshua Hobart, who was one of the two deputies from 

 Hingham, was fined for his specially flagrant misdemeanor 

 twenty pounds ($100). Rev. Peter Hobart was let off very 

 lightly at first ; but when he afterwards refused to pay his 

 fine, and encouraged others to defy the government, he 

 was again brought to Boston and for this second defiance 

 was compelled to pay as much as his brother Joshua's fine. 

 The total penance money that was levied upon the town 

 of our forefathers was six hundred dollars. 



Eames, for his-little offense, could not of course be pun- 

 ished by the court, but who can estimate the misery he 

 must have suffered beneath the popular hatred of the 

 majority of his town } 



Three years of angry contention blighted the industry 

 of the town, plunged the church into an unholy turmoil, 

 and made family feuds for generations. 



Many peace-loving persons moved out of the town to 

 Rehoboth and elsewhere, among whom was Joseph Peck, 

 whose name had already been left upon one of our 

 meadows. 



