They have, on the contrary, steadily maintained that the sectaries were
the persecutors, since the company had exclusive ownership of the soil,
and acted in self-defence.
The case of Roger Williams is thus summed up by Dr. Dexter: "In all
strictness and honesty he persecuted them--not they him; just as the
modern 'Come-outer,' who persistently intrudes his bad manners and
pestering presence upon some private company, making himself, upon
pretence of conscience, a nuisance there; is--if sane--the persecutor,
rather than the man who forcibly assists, as well as courteously requires,
his desired departure." [Footnote: _As to Roger Williams_, p. 90.]
Dr. Ellis makes a similar argument regarding the Quakers: "It might appear
as if good manners, and generosity and magnanimity of spirit, would have
kept the Quakers away. Certainly, by every rule of right and reason, they
ought to have kept away. They had no rights or business here.... Most
clearly they courted persecution, suffering, and death; and, as the
magistrates affirmed, 'they rushed upon the sword.' Those magistrates
never intended them harm, ... except as they believed that all their
successive measures and sharper penalties were positively necessary to
secure their jurisdiction from the wildest lawlessness and absolute
anarchy." [Footnote: _Mass.
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