USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Lives of the governors of New Plymouth, and Massachusetts bay; from the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620, to the union of the two colonies in 1692 > Part 19
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t Savage's Winthrop, i. 77.
# In 1634, Thomas Dudley was chosen governor ; in 1635, John Haynes; and in 1636, Henry Vane.
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his receipts and disbursements of the public money during his past administration, though it was conducted in a manner too harsh for his delicate sensibility, yet he pa- tiently submitted to the examination of his accounts, which ended to his honor. Upon which occasion he made a declaration, which concluded in these words : "In all these things which I offer, I refer myself to the wisdom and justice of the court, with this protestation, that it repenteth me not of my cost and labour bestowed in the service of this commonwealth ; but I do heartily bless the Lord our God, that he hath been pleased to honor me so far as to call for any thing he hath bestow- ed upon me, for the service of his Church and people here ; the prosperity whereof, and his gracious accept- ance, shall be an abundant recompense to me." In a spirit of innocence and in the pride of just self-respect, he adds the particular request, that "as it stands upon record that upon the discharge of my office I was called to account, so this my declaration may be recorded also, lest hereafter, when I shall be forgotten, some blemish may lie upon my posterity, when there be nothing to clear it."*
The same rare humility and steady equality of mind were conspicuous in his behavior, when a pretence was raised to get him left out of the government, lest, by the too frequent choice of one man, the office should cease to be elective, and seem to be his by prescription. This pretence was advanced even in the election sermons, and when he was in fact reduced to a lower station in the government, and endeavored to serve the people as faith- fully as in the highest ; nor would he suffer any notice to
* Hutchinson's Coll. Mass. Bay, 41.
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be taken of some undue methods which were used to have him left out of the choice .*
An instance of this rare temper, and the happy fruit of it, deserve remembrance. There was a time when he received a very angry letter from a member of the Court, which having read, he delivered back to the mes- senger, with this answer: "I am not willing to keep such an occasion of provocation by me." Shortly after, the writer of this letter, (Thomas Dudley, ) was compel- led, by the scarcity of provision, to send to buy one of the governor's fat hogs. He begged him to accept it as a gift, in token of his good will. On which the gentle- man came to him with this acknowledgment : "Sir, your overcoming yourself, hath overcome me." The deputy governor Dudley was of a choleric temper, and frequently got into controversy with Governor Winthrop; but the latter, using the weapons most effectual with passionate men, generally conquered with kindness.
But though condescending and gentle on every occa- sion of personal ill treatment, yet, where the honor of government or religion, and the interest of the people, were concerned, he was equally firm and intrepid, stand- ing foremost in opposition to those whom he judged to be really public enemies, though in the disguise of warm and zealous friends.
Of this number was the famous Anne Hutchinson, a woman of masculine understanding and consummate art, who held private lectures to the women at her house,
* This probably refers to the election of Bellingham in 1641. Ile had six more votes than the other candidates, "but some votes were refused by the magistrates because they had not given them in at the doors. But others," says Winthrop (ii., 35,) " thought it was an injury, yet were silent, because it concerned themselves."
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in which she advanced these doctrines, viz. : "that th." Holy Ghost dwells personally in a justified person, a :. 3 that sanctification does not evidence justification." The -.. who held with her, were said to be " under a covenant of grace," and those who opposed her, "under a cove- nant of works."*
Into these two denominations, the whole colony be- gan to be divided. Her adherents prevailed in 1636 10 choose for governor Henry Vane,t a young gentleman of an apparently grave and serious deportment, who had just arrived from England, and who paid great attention. to this woman, and seemed zealously attached to her dis- tinguishing tenets. Winthrop, then deputy-governor. not only differed in sentiment, but saw the pernicious in- fluence of this controversy with regret, and feared that.
* Neal gives the origin of the controversy in the following words : " Ti.e members of the church at Boston, used to meet once a week, to repeat the ser- mons they heard on the Lord's Day, and to debate on the doctrines contain. J in them. Those meetings being peculiar to the men, some of the zealous worin a thought it might be useful to them. One Mrs. Hutchinson, a gentlewoman : a bold and masculino spirit, and a great admirer of Mr. Cotton, set up one a: her house. She taught that believers in Christ are personally united to ti - Spirit of God ; that commands to work out our salvation with fear and tren- bling, belong to none but such as are under the covenant of works ; that sane. tification is not good evidence of a good estate. She likewise set up iminec :- ate revelation about future events, to be believed as equally infallible with 1i.e Scriptures ; and a great many other opinions and fancies, which, under a pre- tenee of exalting the free grace of God, destroyed the practical part of rel :- gion." Neal's Ilist., c. 5. p. 106.
t This person, so well known afterward in England, is thus characterized ! : Lord Clarendon :
"A man of great natural parts and of very profound dissimulation, of : quick conception, and ready, sharp, and weighty expression. He had an unit. sual aspect, a rultum clousum, that, though no man could make a guess of what he intended, yet made men think there was something in him extraordinary. and his whole life mide good that imagination. There need no more be sa !! of his ability than he was chosen to cozen and deceive a whole nation [t !: Scots] which was thought to excel in craft and cunning, which he did with a notable pregnancy and dexterity."
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if it were suffered to prevail, it would endanger the ex- istence of the colony. In the heat of the controversy, Wheelwright, a zealous sectarian, preached a sermon, which not only carried these points to their utmost length, but contained some expressions which the court laid hold of as tending to sedition, for which he was ex- amined ; but a more full inquiry was deferred for that time. Some warm brethren, of Boston, petitioned the court in Wheelwright's favor, reflecting on their pro- ccedings, which raised such a resentment in the court against the town, that a motion was made for the next election to be made at Cambridge. Vane, the governor, having no negative voice, could only show his dislike by refusing to put the question. Winthrop, the deputy- governor, declined it, as being an inhabitant of Boston ; the question was then put by Endecott of Salem, and carried for the removal.
At the opening of the election, (May 17, 1637,) a petition was again presented by many inhabitants of Boston, which Vane would have read previous to the choice. Winthrop, who clearly saw that this was a con- trivance to throw all into confusion, and spend the day in debate, that the election might be prevented for that time, opposed the reading of the petition until the elec- tion should be over. Vane and his party were strenuous, but Winthrop called to the people to divide, and the ma- jority appeared for the election. Vane still refused, till Winthrop said they would proceed without him, which obliged him to submit. The election was carried in fa- vor of Winthrop and his friends. The sergeants, who had waited on Vane to the place of election, threw down their halberds, and refused to attend the newly-elected
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governor : he took no other notice of the affront than to order his own servants to bear them before him; and when the people expressed their resentment, he begged them to overlook the matter .*
The town of Boston being generally in favor of the new opinions, the governor grew unpopular there, and a law which was passed in this year of his restoration to office, increased their dislike. Many persons who were supposed to favor these opinions were expected from England, to prevent whose settlement in the country the court laid a penalty on all who should entertain any stran- gers, or allow them the use of any house or lot above three weeks. without liberty first granted. This severe order was so ill received in Boston, that, on the gover- to:'s return from the court at Cambridge, they all re- fused to go out to meet him, or show him any token of respect. The other towns on this occasion increased their respect towards him, and the same summer, in a yraruey to Ipswich, he was guarded from town to town with more ceremony than he desired. "
The same year a synod was called (30 August, 1637,) to determine on the controverted points, in which assem- Hh, Winthrop, though he did not preside, yet, as head of the civil magistracy, was obliged often to interpose his authority, which he did with wisdom and gravity, silenc- ing passionate and impertinent speakers, desiring that
. Hutchinson tells the anecdote, that Rev. Mr. Wilson, the minister, in his test, upon this occasion, got upon the bough of a tree, (it being hot weather, xn ! the election like that of parliament-men being carried on in the field,) and v .. to mide a speech, advising the people to look to their charter, and to consi- 4 : the present work of the day, which was designed for the choosing the gov- cit t, deputy governor, and the rest of the assistants for the government of the " awealth. His speech was well received by the people, who cried out " .. ctin ! election ! " which turned the scale.
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the Divine Oracles might be allowed to express their own meaning, and be appealed to for a decision of the controversy ; and when he saw heat and passion prevail in the assembly, he would adjourn it, that time might be allowed for cool consideration, by which prudent manage- ment the synod, after a session of three weeks, came to an amicable agreement in condemning the errors of the day. Eighty-two opinions, imputed to the followers of Cotton and Wheelwright, were condemned as erro- neous .* But the work was not wholly done until the erroneous persons were themselves banished the colony. Wheelwright, Aspinwall, Anne Hutchinson and others were accordingly banished-this act of severity being deemed necessary to preserve the peace of the common- wealth. Toleration had not then been introduced into any of the protestant countries, and the wisest and best men were afraid of it, as the parent of error and mischief.
Some of the zealous opinionists in the Church of Bos- ton, would have had the elders procced against the gov- ernor in the way of ecclesiastical discipline, for his activ- ity in procuring the sentence of banishment on their brethren. Upon this occasion, to excuse himself, and " prevent such a public disorder," in a well-judged speech to the congregation, he told them that, though in his private capacity it was his duty to submit to the censure of his brethren, vet he was not amenable to them for his conduct as a magistrate, even though it were unjust. That in the present case he had acted according to his con-
* Those who have the curiosity to look at the jargon of opinions deemed by our fathers to be heretical, are referred to Welde's " Short Story of the Rise, Reign and Ruin of Antinomians, Familists, and Libertines, that infested the Churches of New England," published in London, 1644.
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science and his oath, and by the advice of the elders of the Church, and was fully satisfied that it would not have been consistent with the public peace to have done oth- erwise. These reasons satisfied the uneasy brethren ; and his general condescending and obliging deportment so restored him to their affections, that he was held in greater esteem than before ; as a proof of this, some years afterwards, upon occasion of a loss which he had sustain- ed in his temporal estate, they made him a present amounting to several hundred pounds.
A warm dispute having arisen in the General Court, concerning the negative voice of the Upper House, the governor published his sentiments in writing, some pas- sages of which giving great offence, he took occasion at the next meeting of the court, in a public speech, to tell them " that, as to the matter of his writing, it was accord- ing to his judgment, which was not at his own dispo- sal, and that, having examined it by the rules of reason, religion, and custom, he saw no cause to retract it ; but as for the manner, which was wholly his own, he was ready to acknowledge whatever was blameable. He said that, though what he wrote was on great provocation, and to vindicate himself and others from unjust aspersion, yet he ought not to have allowed a distemper of spirit, nor to have been so free with the reputation of his bretli- ren ; that he might have maintained his cause without casting any reflections on them, and that he perceived an unbecoming pride and arrogancy in some of his expres- sions, for which he desired forgiveness of God and man." By this condescending spirit, he greatly endeared himself to his friends, and his enemies were ashamed of their opposition.
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He had not so high an opinion of a democratic gov- ernment as some other gentlemen of equal wisdom and goodness, but "plainly perceived a danger in referring matters of council and judicature to the body of the peo- ple ;" and when those who had removed to Connecticut were about forming their government, he warned them of this danger in a friendly and faithful letter, wherein are these expressions : " The best part of a community is always the least, and of that best part, the wiser is al- ways the lesser ; wherefore the old law was, choose ye out judges, &c., and thou shalt bring the matter to the judge."
Governor Winthrop was one of the original found- ers of Harvard College, and his name and influence were always given in its support. There is no one, (says President Quincy,) to whose patronage the college was more indebted, during the period of its infancy, and con- sequent weakness and dependence .*
In 1645, when he was deputy-governor, a great dis- turbance grew out of some transactions at Hingham. It was briefly this: A disagreement had fallen out in a mili- tary company at Hingham, touching an election of offi- cers, which led to some mutinous and disorderly practices there; and the offenders being required to find bail for their appearance at court, Winthrop, as a magistrate, on the refusal of some of them, ordered them to be com- mitted. As there existed at that time great jealousy of the authority of the magistrates, and as this business ex- cited much feeling in Hingham, a petition, numerously signed, was presented to the deputies, asking that the case might be examined by the General Court. Win-
* Quincy's ITist. Harv. Univ., i. 163.
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throp was put on trial, and, after a prolonged examination of six weeks, was fully acquitted, and the mutineers and petitioners were fined in various sums, from £1 to £20, for the costs of the court. Governor Winthrop now took occasion publicly to declare his sentiments on the ques- tions touching the authority of the magistrates, and the liberty of the people. "It is yourselves (said he) who have called us to this office, and being called by you, we have our authority from God, in way of an ordinance, such as hath the image of God eminently stamped upon it, the contempt and violation whereof has been vin- dicated with examples of-divine vengeance. I entreat you to consider, that when you choose magistrates, you take them from among yourselves, men subject to like passions as you are. Therefore, when you see in- firmities in us, you should reflect upon your own, and that would make you bear the more with us, and not be severe censurers of the failings of your magistrates, when you have continued experience of the like in- firmities in yourselves and others. We account him a good servant, who breaks not his covenant. The cove- nant between you and us, is the oath you have taken of us, which is to this purpose, that we shall govern you and judge your causes by the rules of God's laws and our own,* according to our best skill. When you call one to be a magistrate, he doth not profess to nor under- take sufficient skill for that office, nor can you furnish him with gifts, &c .; therefore you must run the hazard of his skill and ability. But if he fail in faithfulness, which by his oath he is bound unto, that he must answer for.
* It must be observed, that the Mosaic law was at this time considered the general standard, and most of the laws of the colony were founded on it.
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"For the other point, concerning liberty, I observe a great mistake in the country about that. There is a two- fold liberty, natural, (I mean as our nature is now cor- rupt, ) and civil or federal. The first is common to man with beasts and other creatures. By this, man, as he stands in relation to man simply, hath liberty to do what he lists; it is a liberty to evil, as well as to good. This liber- ty is incompatible with authority, and cannot endure the least restraint of the most just authority. The
other kind of liberty I call civil or federal; it may also be termed moral, in reference to the covenant between God and man, in the moral law, and the politic covenants and constitutions amongst men themselves. This liberty is the proper end and object of authority, and cannot sub- sist without it: and it is a liberty to that only which is good, just and honest. This liberty you are to stand for, with the hazard not only of your goods, but of your lives, if need be."*
In the following year, a great excitement grew out of the petitions of such as were non-freemen, who com- plained that the fundamental laws of England were not owned in the colony as the basis of government; that, civil privileges were denied to men merely for not being members of the churches ; and that they could not enjoy Divine ordinances, because they belonged to the Church of England. With these complaints, they petitioned for liberty of conscience; or, if that could not be granted,
* From Mather's mutilated transcript of Governor Winthrop's speech on this occasion, the authors of the Modern Universal History, condensed and adorned, in vol. xxxix. 201,2, their report, as if delivered in St. Stephen's chapel, of " the following speech, which is equal to any thing of antiquity, whether we consider it as coming from a philosopher or a magistrate." Savage remarks, that the original from Winthrop's own pen is far superior to their copy. See Savage's Winthrop, i. 5, and ii. 221-230.
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for freedom from taxes and military services : the peti- tion concluded with a menace, that, in case of a refusal, complaint would be made to the Parliament of England. From the foundation of the colony, all persons residing within its limits, who were not church members, were subject to several important disabilities. They were ex- cluded from all the offices and honors of the state ; they were not allowed to vote in elections or on laws, even for town-laws and officers, saving only those of military companies. They were, moreover, we can hardly doubt, looked upon by the church members, not only with pity as lost men, but with somewhat of indignation as rebels against the Divine law, and treated sometimes with the indifference or disregard which is often all that the more privileged bestow upon the less. Among those who were not members of a church, and so but half members of the state, there were not a few persons eminent for learning and talent, on whom these disabilities bore griev- ously. Hence arose, and gradually increased, a dislike of the government, and a purpose to get rid of the odious restrictions, which at length gave rise to the petition referred to. William Vassall, of Scituate, a man of learn- ing, wit, and address, was one of the leading fomenters of this movement ; and Dr. Robert Child, of Hingham. whom Winthrop calls " a gentleman and a scholar," ably seconded his efforts. The court refused to entertain the petition, and an appeal was claimed to the commissioners in Parliament. Some of the petitioners were stopped on the eve of their sailing for England, and held to bail. On their examination they justified their petition, and were fined in various sums from £4 to £50. Persisting in their opposition, and while preparing to prosecute
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their appeal, Child and others were arrested and impris- oned. He afterwards went to England, where Vassall was already, and attempted to excite an odium against the colony, but was successfully resisted by Edward Winslow, their agent .*
This kind of argument was frequently urged by the fathers of New England, in justification of their severity towards those who dissented from them: they main- tained that all men had liberty to do right, but no liberty to do wrong. However true this principle may be in point of morality, yet in matters of opinion, in modes of faith, worship, and ecclesiastical order, the question is, who shall be the judge of right and wrong? and it is too evident, from their conduct, that they supposed the power of judging to be in those who were vested with authority ; a principle destructive of liberty of conscience and the right of private judgment, and big with all the horrors of persecution. The exercise of such authority they condemned in the High Church party, who had oppressed them in England; and yet, such is the frailty of human nature, they held the same principles and practised the same oppressions on those who dissented from them here.
Winthrop, before he left England, was of a more catholic spirit than some of his brethren ; after he had come to America, he fell in with the reigning principle of intolerance, which almost all the Reformers unhappily retained, as a relic of the persecuting Church from which they had separated ; but as he advanced in life, he re- sumed his former moderation ; and in the time of his last sickness, when Dudley, the deputy-governor, pressed
* See Life of Edward Winslow, pp. 124-123.
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him to sign an order for the banishment of a person who was deemed heterodox, he refused, saying that " he had done too much of that work already."
Having devoted the greatest part of his interest to the service of the public, and suffered many losses by ac- cidents, and by leaving the management of his private affairs to unfaithful servants, while his whole time and attention were employed in the public business, his for- tune was so much impaired, that, some years before his death, he was obliged to sell the most of his estate for the payment of an accumulated debt. Not only his time, but much of his estate also, was given to the public. In 1632, he tells us, " For want of a common stock, he had to disburse all common charges out of his estate."# In 1633, the court ordered to be paid him £150 salary for the year, and the money he had paid from his own purse in the public service, being between £200 and £300 more .; He informs us that when in office, his expenses hardly fell short of £500 a year, £200 of which would have supported his family in a private condition. In 1640, his estate had become so reduced, partly by the misconduct of his steward, who had contracted large obligations (£2500) for him without his knowledge, that several hundred pounds (less than 500) were given him by voluntary contribution in the colony ; and the court, the treasury being, as it often was, empty, granted to his wife 3000 acres of land : a strong proof of the high esteem in which he was held, as well as of sympathy for his misfor- tunes.į-In his will, made June, 1641, (afterward re- voked, ) he mentions that he owned a farm at Medford. then as now called "the Ten-hills," an island called still
* Journal, i. 8G. t Ibid, i. 105. # Ibid, ii. 1, 2.
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Governor's, in Boston Harbor, Prudence Island in Nar- ragansett Bay, a lot at Concord, and another of 1200 acres on the Concord River, and 2000 acres still due him from the country .*
He also met with much affliction in his family, hav- ing buried three wives and six children. These trou- bles, joined to the opposition and ill treatment which he frequently met with from some of the people, so preyed upon his nature, already much worn by the toils and hardships of planting a colony in a wilderness, that he perceived a decay of his faculties seven years before he reached his grand climacteric, and often spoke of his approaching dissolution, with a calm resignation to the will of Heaven. At length, when he had entered the sixty-second year of his age, a fever occasioned by a cold, after one month's confinement, put an end to his life, on the 26th of March, 1649. He was buried in the Chapel burial ground in Boston, where his monument may yet be seen.
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