This petition was well received by most of them, and Mr. Winslow was heard several times by them, and appointed to attend for an answer from their Lordships, having shown how this might be done without any expense or trouble to the state, simply giving the leading men there authority to undertake it at their own cost and in such a way as would avoid public disturbance. But this interfered with both Sir Ferdinand Gorges’ and Captain Mason’s plans, with whom the Archbishop of Canterbury was in league; for Sir Ferdinand Gorges, by the Archbishop’s favour, was to have been sent over to the country as Governor-General, and was about to conclude this project. The Archbishop’s intention was to send over officials with him, furnished with episcopal power, to disturb the peace of the churches here, overthrow their proceedings, and stop their further growth. But it fell out by God’s providence, that though in the end they prevented this petition from taking any further effect, his plot with Sir Ferdinand came to nothing. So when Mr. Winslow went before the Board to have his petition granted, he found that the Archbishop had checked it. However, hoping to obtain it nevertheless, he went to the Board again; but he found that the Archbishop, Sir Ferdinand, and Captain Mason had procured Morton, the man referred to previously, to present complaints. Mr. Winslow answered them to the satisfaction of the Board, who checked Morton and rebuked him sharply, and also blamed Sir Ferdinand Gorges and Mason for countenancing him. But the Archbishop had a further object, and began to cross-question Mr. Winslow about many things. He accused him of preaching in the church publicly,—with which Morton had charged him, affirming that he had seen and heard him do it; to which Mr. Winslow answered that sometimes, for want of a minister, he had endeavoured to assist in the edification of his brethren. The Archbishop then questioned him about marriage; to which he replied that as a magistrate he had occasionally married some of the people, pointing out to their Lordships that marriage was a civil institution, and that he nowhere found in the word of God that it belonged to the ministry, and furthermore for a long time they had no minister; besides, it was now no new idea, for he himself had been married in Holland by the magistrates in their Stadt-house. To be short, in the end the Archbishop, by his vehement importunity, got the Board at last to consent to his commitment; so he was imprisoned in the Fleet, and lay there about seventeen weeks before he could get released. This was the end of the petition; but the scheme of the others was frustrated too, which was no small blessing to the people over here. The expense to this colony was heavy, though it was undertaken as much, or more, in the interests of others. Indeed, Mr. Winslow was chiefly urged to the business by them, and the colony knew nothing of it till they heard of his imprisonment, though it had