There was nothing striking, nothing impressive, about these public services of Roger Williams and they did not win the applause of the crowd. Sometimes they gained for him nothing but unpopularity. Yet at no other period in his long career do we get a finer idea of the real nobility of the man than in these latter years when old age was coming on and his word was perhaps not listened to with the respect of former days. He cheerfully took up and faithfully performed the local duties that came his way, though he had been recognized by Parliament, had been on an intimate footing with the greatest statesmen of England, and was himself one of the wisest, most far-sighted men of his age. This was citizenship at its best. CHAPTER XV KING PHILIP’S WAR It is not easy to tell the true cause of King Philip’s War. There were probably many causes, some of them dating years back. Such a struggle was bound to come, sooner or later, to determine who should remain masters of New England--the first comers or the white men from over the sea. More than once Roger Williams had postponed the evil day, but even his influence was not great enough to prevent the smouldering fires of jealousy, distrust and revenge from finally bursting into a destructive conflagration. Back in 1620, when the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, they had formed a treaty of peace with Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags. This faithful Indian sachem kept his word during the remaining years of his life. The colonists were not so fortunate in their dealings with his son and successor, Wamsutta or Alexander. Word was sent to the governor that he plotted mischief against the English and had asked the Narragansetts to aid him in his rebellion. Determining to put an end to such disloyalty at once, the governor, after Alexander’s refusal to attend court, had him arrested and taken to Plymouth. It was a most unfortunate business, thus to humiliate a proud chief on his own territory. Suddenly Alexander became violently ill and died almost immediately. The exact cause of his death is not known, but probably extreme heat and anger hastened the end. Bad feeling between the Indians and their white neighbors was the immediate result of this misfortune. Some of Alexander’s followers, including his wife, even spread the report that the sachem had been poisoned. This was untrue, but it furnished one of the causes of the hostilities that followed.