e laws of the
first table. Winthrop and his assistants complained to the Salem
church, and this interference prevented his intended ordination at
Salem.[2]

Williams presently removed to Plymouth, where his peculiar views were
indulged, and where he improved his time in learning the Indian
language and cultivating the acquaintance of the chief sachems of the
neighboring Indian tribes. When, two years later, in 1633, Williams
returned to live at Salem for the purpose of assisting the minister,
Mr. Skelton, who was sick, the rulers of the church at Plymouth
granted him a dismissal, but accompanied it with some words of warning
about his "unsettled judgment and inconsistency."[3]

Williams was soon in trouble in Massachusetts. While at Plymouth his
interest in the Indians led him to prepare for the private reading of
Bradford a pamphlet which argued that the king of England had no right
to give away the lands of the Indians in America. The pamphlet had
never been published, but reports of its contents reached Boston, and
the court of assistants, following, as usual, the advice of the
ministers, pounced upon the author and summoned him to answer for what
it was claimed was a denial of their charter rights.

When Williams appeared for this purpose, in January, 1634, the
objections of the court shifted to some vague phrases in the document
which they construed to reflect upon the king. These expressions were
readily explained by Williams, and he was promptly forgiven by the
court on his professing loyalty and taking the usual oath of
allegiance to his majesty.[4] Perhaps this singular behavior on the
part of the court is explained by the apprehension generally felt that
Ferdinando Gorges, in England, would succeed in his attempt to vacate
the charter of Massachusetts. If the charter had been successfully
called in, Williams's ground of the sufficiency of the Indian title to
lands might have proved useful as a last resort.[5]

Nevertheless, in November, 1634, the authorities were on his track
again. The pretext now was that Williams "taught publicly against the
king's patent," and that "he termed the churches of England
antichristian." This revamping of an old charge which had been
explained and dropped was probably due to a change of attitude towards
the English government. In May, 1634, the general court elected the
intolerant deputy governor, Thomas Dudley, governor in the place of
Winthrop; and when in July the news o