Mr. Williams’ return to Providence was greeted by a voluntary expression of the attachment and gratitude of its inhabitants, which is one of the most satisfactory testimonies to his character. They met him at Seekonk, with fourteen canoes, and carried him across the river to Providence. This simple act of respect must have been highly grateful to his feelings. It does equal honor to him, and to his fellow citizens, who thus showed themselves capable of estimating, in a manner worthy of freemen, the services of a friend and public benefactor.[251] We may suppose, that Mr. Williams, after his return, immediately endeavored to carry into operation the charter which he had procured with so much labor and expense. But it was a work which required time, to bring the inhabitants of the several settlements at Providence, Newport, Portsmouth and Warwick, to agree on a form of government, and unite as one colony. The charter prescribed no form of civil polity, and it was accordingly necessary to manage the negotiations between the towns with much delicacy and skill. In the mean time, Mr. Williams had another opportunity to interpose his beneficent agency in favor of the colonists. The Narraganset Indians, exasperated by what they judged to be the murder of their favorite sachem, Miantinomo, were bent on vengeance, with the unrelenting ferocity of savages. They alleged, that they had paid wampum, to the amount of forty pounds, as a ransom for the chieftain’s life. They therefore resolved on war with the Mohegans, until they should obtain the head of Uncas. The commissioners of the colonies, at their meeting in Hartford, in September, 1644, appeased their animosity for a while, the Narraganset sachems promising not to commence hostilities against Uncas until after the next planting time, and likewise after thirty days’ notice to the government of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The commissioners, this year, passed an act, forbidding any person to sell any kind of arms or ammunition to an Indian, or to repair any weapon for him, under a heavy penalty. This measure was called for by the rapid progress of the Indians in the use of fire-arms. The law had, it is probable, some effect, but like similar laws in regard to the Indians, in later times, unprincipled men found many ways to evade it.