176 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET. 



would destroy them if any measures were taken to 

 arrest his progress in pursuit of the delinquent. They 

 would lend Philip no aid for fear of the revenge of 

 the island natives ; they could not raise money enough 

 to ransom the man, and they were in a defenceless 

 condition, consequently they were in hot water. " In 

 this dilemma they concluded to put all to risk: they 

 told him that if he did not immediately leave the isl- 

 and, they would rally the inhabitants and fall upon 

 him and cut him off to a man!" Philip, kind and 

 considerate soul that he was, very " happily took the 

 alarm and left the island as soon as possible." 



The island remained under the jurisdiction of the 

 State of New York until the accession of William and 

 Mary to the throne. " They directed that the lines of 

 the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England 

 should be ascertained, and by the request of the inhab- 

 itants and proprietors of the island of Nantucket, the 

 island was included within these lines, and considered 

 to be a part of Massachusetts. An Act passed by the 

 Great and General Court or Assembly of the Province 

 of Massachusetts Bay in New England, begun and held 

 at Boston, the thirty-first day of May, 1693 ," confirmed 

 the change. 



It has been repeated so often and with such mulish 

 persistency by letter writers, historians, and chroni- 

 clers, that the first settlers of the island were " Quak- 

 ers," and fled from persecution, that it has come to be 

 believed as true, and our ancestors have been set down 

 as almost martyrs. 



That those fanatics and bigots who, in the early 

 history of our State, burned and hanged witches, and 



