In the Royal Commission granted to the Governor of Virginia, he is instructed not to suffer any one to be molested in the exercise of his religion, provided he be content with a quiet and peaceable profession of it, not giving offence or scandal to the Government.[434]
COLONIAL POLICY.
In the Charter granted to Rhode Island, July 8th, 1663, it is distinctly provided, that no person within the colony should be disquieted for differences of theological opinion.
Should any one ask, why were these people in the West so differently treated from Englishmen in His Majesty's home dominions—the answer is, that the power and the temper of the colonists were such that it would have been dangerous to the Imperial rule of Great Britain to have denied them the utmost toleration which they asked. Most of the emigrants had fled the shores of England, because of their Nonconformity, to seek a home in the New World, where they might worship God; and for defence of the refuge which they had gained at the cost of exile, they were willing to lay down their lives. It would have been at the risk, nay, with the certainty of losing those fair possessions, had the Government denied the fullest religious liberty. Nor did the political fears which blended with the religious animosities at home exist in relation to those distant settlements. Neither could the Church be endangered, nor the Throne be shaken, nor the State be disturbed by Nonconformists thousands of miles away. It is also a fact that kindness and generosity will often flow in abundant streams towards objects at a distance, whilst the current is diverted from objects at the door.
Lastly, we should remember that Charles II. was not of an intolerant and cruel disposition; that where he could, without trouble or danger, concede religious liberty, he was ready to do so; and that Clarendon was not destitute of all good-will towards people of other opinions than his own when neither policy nor prejudice crossed his better nature.
1663.
In the month of October, after rumours of imagined outbreaks, something of the kind actually occurred in Farnley Wood, Yorkshire. What was going forward the Government knew, and enormously exaggerated reports of it were conveyed to Whitehall. The wood was narrowly watched. Twelve armed men met there. Two hundred were seen riding in an open glade, after which they moved away, four or six together, in different directions. Entrenchments were thrown up, but there was no fighting. Several of these persons were arrested, amongst whom were Major Thomas Greathead and Captain Thomas Oates, trustees of the curious little Presbyterian chapel at Morley. Oates was tried at York, when his infamous son Ralph appeared to give evidence against him, but was refused a hearing by the Judge; the Captain, however, suffered death. Greathead turned King's evidence, being promised not only his life but a great reward, if he would confess the whole danger. The Royalist spies and informers reported, that he was so necessary to the military part of the business, that nothing could be done without him, and that he was, therefore, fully trusted by the rebels. This appears in the documents, touching the affair, preserved in the State Paper Office. They are very numerous, and amidst much which is vague and confused, may be discovered some definite proofs that a plot did exist in the year 1663, with which the Farnley Wood entrenchments were connected. There seem to have been exiles in Rotterdam, who had correspondence with parties in England respecting this treasonable business, especially Dr. Richardson, who surrendered his preferment at Ripon upon the Restoration of the King, and had gone over to Holland. Among the implicated persons he mentions Ralph Rymer, father of the Editor of the Fœdera, which Ralph,—like Oates, and several others,—was hanged for his share in the complicated proceedings of this extensive plot. Richardson declared that if there had been a good leader the business would have taken stronger and sooner. Their numbers were small, but their faith was strong, and they believed miracles would have attended their godly design. Several distinguished names are mentioned in the documents, such as Lords Wharton and Fairfax; but the Government did not meddle with these formidable personages.
PLOTS AND INFORMERS.
The sort of agency set to work, first to entrap, and then to convert unwary Nonconformists, is revealed by a writer who, in the month of December, bewails the severity of Government towards men deluded and betrayed by informers; he instances a "Mr. Wakerley, a sober Yorkshire Quaker, visited by Thomas Denham, a privileged spy, who tried to persuade him to join the Northern design; he steadily refused, and even wrote to Sir Thomas Gower an account of what passed, but his letter was suppressed, and he summoned before the Duke of Buckingham as a plotter, and only discharged on his letters being searched for and found."[435]
1663.