In 1634, the settlement of Massachusetts having become much more numerous, extending thirty miles from Boston, it was found inconvenient for all the freemen to attend the general court; hence a change was made which altered their form of government from simple democratic to representative. The electors of each town chose two or three deputies to confer on public business and attend the court, vested with the full power of the freemen whom they represented. The mode of voting was also changed from show of hands to ballot. The whole body of freemen were, however, to elect the magistrates, and to these, and the deputies sent by each town, the legislative power was confided. A law against arbitrary taxation followed. “With the exception of the principle of universal suffrage,” says Bancroft, “the representative democracy was as perfect two centuries ago as at the present day.” The criminal code was based on the Mosaic laws. The meeting-house at Boston was at this time its house of representatives. Religion and government were kindred. In 1635, no less than 3,000 persons suffering under the despotism of Charles emigrated to Massachusetts. “Godly people in England,” we are told, “beginning to apprehend a special hand of Providence in raising up this plantation, their hearts were stirred to go over.” The wilderness was planted with Christian churches; the forest rang with the sound of their psalms; “the poorest of the children of God in the whole world were resolved to excel in holiness.” Among the new-comers of 1635 was Henry Vane the younger, a man of a pure and noble mind, and an ardent friend of religious liberty. The year after his arrival, so much had the youthful suavity and grace of his manner, his religious attainments and his political sagacity, wrought upon the people of Massachusetts, that he was elected governor in place of the excellent and long-tried Winthrop, a preference which they afterwards found cause to regret. CHAPTER IX. RHODE ISLAND; ROGER WILLIAMS AND ANNE HUTCHINSON. On the 5th of February, 1631, the very ship which came like the herald of God’s mercy to the famishing people, changing their solemn fast and humiliation into a day of thanksgiving, brought with its other freight “a young minister, godly and zealous, having precious gifts,” a better freight even than bread to the famishing, but which at the same time might be regarded as its type. This was Roger Williams, one of the noblest spirits of an age which abounded in great men. Roger Williams possessed one of those rarely-gifted minds which perceives truth at a glance. Looking beyond the advancement of his age, he stood forth as the firm advocate and prophet of that diviner knowledge which is compassed by Christianity, but which the highest Christian professors, except in very rare instances, comprehend only piecemeal.