means of redress. None was to be had. Exile, imprisonment and even
death, awaited the most eminent citizens; Winthrop's entry into
Boston was met by gloomy silence, and for it all, Welde and Symmes
protested Anne Hutchinson to be responsible, and denounced her as
a heretic and a witch.

She in the meantime seems to have been in a state of religious
exaltation which made her blind and deaf to all danger. Her
meetings continued, and she in turn denounced her opponents and
believed that some revelation would be given to show the justice
of her claims. There was real danger at last. If the full story of
these dissensions were told in England, possession of charter,
which had already been threatened, might be lost entirely. Dudley
was worked up to the highest pitch of apprehension, believing that
if the dissension went on, there might even be a repetition of the
horrors of Munster. Divided as they were, concerted action against
enemies, whether Indian or foreign, could not be expected. There
was danger of a general league of the New England Indians, and
"when a force was ordered to take the field for the salvation of
the settlements, the Boston men refused to be mustered because
they suspected the chaplain, who had been designated by lot to
accompany the expedition, of being under a covenant of works."

Such a state of things, if known in full at home, would shut off
all emigration. That men of character and means should join them
was an essential to the continued life of the Colony. Setting
aside any question of their own personal convictions, their
leaders saw that the continuance among them of these disturbing
elements meant destruction, and Winthrop, mild and reasonable as
he sought to be, wrote: "He would give them one reason, which was