gions, under the command of Lieut. E. K. Kane, U. S. N., promises to achieve important scientific results, even if it discover no traces of the missing navigator. The same vessels which composed the first American expedition, the Advance and the Rescue, have been again placed at the service of government by Mr. Henry Grinnell, of New York. The expedition is now fitting out, and will be ready for active service in a very short time. The qualifications of Dr. Kane for the important post which he has assumed, as Commander of the Expedition, are a sufficient guaranty that energy and talent will be combined in this last and most promising undertaking. An able corps of scientific observers accompanies the Expedition. Science has had to mourn the decease of Professor SEARS C. WALKER, late of the United States Coast Survey. He died in January, at his residence, near Cincinnati. Mr. WALKER Was a skilful astronomer, and his computations have acquired a lasting value.

It is a pleasant indication of the appreciation of scientific progress by governments that England has settled a pension upon Mr. J. R. HIND, the distinguished astronomer. Mr. Hind is still pursuing his investigations into the comets, and has recently published a calculation upon the expected great comet, which will reach its perihelion in August, 1858. The latest discovery of comets took place at Cambridge Observatory, Harvard College, on the 9th of March. Mr. Bond has not described it as we write these lines-the succeeding day-but the discovery is announced to have been made by Mr. C. W. Tuttle. It is a somewhat remarkable fact that many of the comets and minor planets discovered by astronomers in Europe, within a few years past, have been simultaneously observed at the Harvard station, by Mr. Bond or his assistants. The want of other points of observation on this continent is clearly indicated. The remarkable successes which have already been obtained by American observers, justify the hope that results still more valuable would attend an enlargement of our opportunities.

ROGER WILLIAMS.

Life of Roger Williams, the earliest Legislator and true Champion for a full and absolute Liberty of Conscience. By ROMEO ELTON, D.D., F.R.P.S.

PERHAPS the best definition of true greatness is loyalty to a principle; it is certainly the secret of eminent success and the pledge of true fame. Fidelity to a grand and worthy aim is the highest inspiration; and it is because the subject of this memoir looked steadily beyond the pale of sect, and the motives of self-interest, and strove earnestly for an invaluable, progressive, and essential truth, that his memory is hallowed and his influence permanent.

It is somewhat remarkable that so few incidents have been recorded of a man who first introduced a knowledge of the Indian languages into England, who first established a colony in the New World upon the recognized basis of toleration, and who anticipated Locke and Bayle in maintaining the excellence of that principle in its unlimited significance. The absence of the usual details in his biography may, perhaps, be accounted for by the prejudice which his individuality excited among his cotemporaries, and the influence of sectional jealousy. It was at once the glory and the misfortune of Roger Williams to vindicate a great practical truth, and to experience the transitions of opinion to which every independent mind is liable; hence, while he is endeared to all generous thinkers, he is the absolute exponent of no sect; and it is only within a few years that justice has been awarded his name by the historian. Educated at Oxford, he entered the Church of England, but soon left her priesthood for the more simple faith of the Puritans, came to America, and by questioning the justice of the King's colonial patents, and the right of legal interference with religious faith and observance, drew upon himself reproach and persecution, before which he fled to the wilderness, and founded a colony on a more liberal spirit, embraced some of the doctrines of the Anabaptists, and, for a while, was a settled preacher of their denomination, but, finally, renounced their main tenet, and went through various phases of religious conviction, often to the detriment of his popularity and worldly success. He was repeatedly chosen to preside over the colony, twice sent on embassies to England, in its be

half, and, throughout his life, successfully defended its interests. He was on terms of high confidence with all the New England Governors, and exerted a rare influence over the neighboring aboriginal tribes. He was born in Wales, in 1624, and died at Providence, R. I., in April, 1683.

The only memorials of this remarkable man, previous to this work, except incidental notices, are his life, by Professor Knowles, an elaborate poem, by Judge Durfee, and a biographical introduction to a modern edition of one of his controversial tracts. Mr. Elton's book has the advantage of being a consecutive narrative, with no more documents than are absolutely requisite to render it authentic. Many new facts, principally the result of inquiries in England, are also now made public for the first time; and thus, the volume is a valuable contribution to American biography, as well as a most interesting memorial of colonization and the progress of religious freedom. The subject deserves, and will ultimately attain, recognition as one of those rare combinations of the saint and hero which redeem the annals of our race.

Roger Williams implicitly believed in a Providence, and has identified himself with this faith by giving that name to the settlement he founded; and it must be acknowledged that the facts of his career justify the sentiment he cherished. It would be difficult, in the annals of the period, to imagine a combination of events more adapted to educate a pioneer of toleration than those which attended his life. Of inherited endowments it is sufficient to note the remarkable identity of his genealogy with that of Cromwell. Moral courage and independent opinion were thus native to his blood. The next individual with whom his name is associated was Sir Edward Coke. From his birth-place, amid the beautiful scenery of Wales, we trace him to the Star Chamber in London, where his remarkable skill as a reporter gained him the favorable notice of this first lawyer of the age. Coke sent him to school and college; and subsequently, for a brief space, instructed him in his own profession. The insight thus obtained as to the principles of jurisprudence was of great practical benefit to the future colonial legislator; but a higher advantage resulted from this early contact with a mind seldom equalled for acuteness, and a man who, notwithstanding his pitiless arrogance of temper, clearly understood the grounds of English liberty, and first stated them with precision and legal effect. It was certainly a propitious accident that rendered the author of the Bill of Rights, and the defender of the Commons, a benefactor of the

youth destined to become the advocate of free principles in the New World. Williams early chose theology as a vocation; and when admitted to orders in the Church of England, became the companion of Hooker, and the most eminent divines of the times. If he did not have a parish in Lincolnshire, it was his place of residence; and there, as is well known, the bishop of the diocese tacitly encouraged the Nonconformists, so that Williams had the best opportunity to realize his latent convictions; and, when the persecution of Land became intolerable, followed the example of his fellow-dissenters, and emigrated.

The manner in which the arrival of the young clergyman at Boston, on the 5th of February, 1631, is mentioned, evinces the reputation he had already gained as a man of vigorous understanding and individuality of character. He was first settled at Salem, and soon rose in the respect and attachment of the inhabitants; but, having openly asserted that the magistrates had no authority to punish a breach of the Sabbath, the civil power interfered, and thus began the series of intolerant acts which finally drove him to the complete assertion and practical development of religious liberty. The question ostensibly at issue, however, between the municipal authorities and the clergymen, was not the real ground of alienation. His offence actually consisted in a refusal to recognize a society that professed allegiance to the English Church. The force of public opinion drove him from Salem; and he became the minister of Plymouth, subsequently returning to his first residence. His known views on the subject of Church and State, and the emphasis with which he claimed the right of private judgment and free action in religion, neutralized the personal influence which a blameless life and signal abilities created. Governor Winthrop, always his friend, advised him to remove to a region where he could enjoy and advocate his sentiments. without molestation; and suggested as the nearest place, the country then designated as Narraganset Bay. He first went to Seekonk; but Winslow, the Governor of Plymouth, warned him, even after he had built and planted there, that he was still within the jurisdiction of their State; and accordingly, loath, as he says, "to displease the Bay," he transferred his settlement across the water.

The circumstances of his departure from his old associates, and of his selection of a locality for the new colony, have an additional pathos and beauty that might inspire a poet. Having battled in vain against the narrow prejudices of his

townsmen, he was sentenced to banishment, but the season of the year and the claims of a family induced him to postpone his departure; the acquiescence of the magistrates in this delay did not, however, prevent Williams from giving utterance to his opinions in conversation, and the attachment he had inspired gained him many willing auditors; this casual success irritated his enemies, and information was privately conveyed to their victim that a plan had been arranged to send him to England by a vessel about to sail; his only resource was flight; and on a winter's night, with a hatchet, compass, tinder-box, some provisions, and the Bible, he left his fireside and tearful wife and children, and plunged into the forest, trusting rather to savage hospitality than the mercy of his own race; and, like Lear, in his keen sense of human cruelty, ready to brave the fury of the elements. The sufferings incident to such an expedition it is easy to imagine; they form another episode in the drama of his life, infusing a spirit of endurance and the sanction of martyrdom into the heroic purpose of his soul. Less stern and wearisome was the subsequent exploration of the river upon which his little band floated in search of a new asylum. It was on a beautiful summer day. Their leader had already enjoyed an interval of comparative ease; his life had been miraculously preserved and his confidence renewed. It was decided to select a location in accordance with the greeting of the Indians; and thrice Wha-cheer welcomed the fugitives to the tribe of Providence.

When Roger Williams entered this wild territory an exile, he determined to make it his abode: he selected his burialplace; forty-seven years elapsed; his thin and baffled settlement had become a flourishing colony; the principle of spiritual freedom, so dear to his heart, was practically realized when, full of years and honor, his remains were laid away in this chosen sepulture.

The Baptists claim Roger Williams as one of the founders of their church in America; but this claim is but partially substantiated; and his true fame is that of the staunch advocate of toleration in New England. He introduced a redeeming principle into the conflict of sects; and amid a people narrowed and hardened with bigotry, set an invaluable example of forbearance on the one hand, and bold self-assertion on the other. His name became a watchword of defence, and his settlement a home for the persecuted. There the civil and ecclesiastical powers were unmixed: every citizen was at liberty to enjoy and peaceably inculcate his peculiar doctrine;