ons and Islands from open violence and
private distractions.

"VII. That whosoever shall, in obedience to this Ordinance, do or
execute any thing, shall by virtue hereof be saved harmless and
indemnified."]

[Footnote 79: In 1646 the Parliament passed another ordinance, exempting
the colonies for three years from all tollages, "except the excise,"
provided their productions should not be "exported but only in English
vessels." While this Act also asserted the parliamentary right of
taxation over the Colonial plantations, it formed a part of what was
extended and executed by the famous Act of Navigation, first passed by
the Puritan Parliament five years afterwards, in 1651, as will be seen
hereafter.]

[Footnote 80: Mr. Bancroft must have been aware of the existence of this
ordinance, for he makes two allusions to the Commission appointed by it.
In connection with one allusion to it, he states the following
interesting facts, illustrative of Massachusetts exclusiveness on the
one record, and on the other the instruments and progress of religious
liberty in New England. "The people of Rhode Island," says Mr. Bancroft,
"_excluded from the colonial union_, would never have maintained their
existence as a separate state, had they not sought the interference and
protection of the Mother Country; and the founder of the colony (Roger
Williams) was chosen to conduct the important mission. Embarking at
Manhattan [for he was not allowed to go to Boston], he arrived in
England not long after the death of Hampden. _The Parliament had placed
the affairs of the American Colonies under the Earl of Warwick, as
Governor-in-Chief, assisted by a Council of five peers and twelve
commoners_. Among these commoners was Henry Vane, a man who was ever
true in his affections as he was undeviating in his principles, and who
now welcomed the American envoy as an ancient friend. The favour of
Parliament was won by his [Roger Williams'] incomparable 'printed Indian
labours, the like whereof was not extant from any part of America;' and
his merits as a missionary induced both houses of Parliament to grant
unto him and friends with him a free and absolute charter[84] of civil
government for those parts of his abode.' Thus were the places of refuge
for 'soul-liberty' on the Narragansett Bay incorporated 'with full power
and authority to rule themselves.' To the Long Parliament, and
especially to Sir Harry Vane, Rhode Island owes its existence as a
p