USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Vol. I > Part 14
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The slur upon Mr. Easton in the next passage needs no comment. If the reader desires one he will find it in a note to Winthrop, i. 281. The first three gentlemen there named were all, at various times, Governors of the colony. Some, of whom was Mr. Coddington, became Quakers, and others Baptists with Mr. Clarke ; which is no doubt the " schism " that broke up thie original Aquedneck church, of which Mr. Clarke was elder.
March 16-18.
152
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. V. "Other troubles arose in the island by reason of one Nicholas Easton, a tanner, a man very bold, though igno- 1641. Aug. rant. He using to teach at Newport, where Mr. Cod- dington their governor lived, maintained that man hath no power or will in himself, but as he is acted by God, and that seeing God filled all things, nothing could be or move but by him, and so he must needs be the author of sin, etc., and that a Christian is united to the essence of God. Being showed what blasphemous consequences would follow hereupon, they professed to abhor the conse- quences, but still defended the propositions, which dis- covered their ignorance, not apprehending how God could make a creature as it were in himself, and yet no part of his essence, so we see by familiar instances ; the light is in the air and in every part of it, yet it is not air, but a distinct thing from it. There joined with Nicholas Eas- ton, Mr. Coddington, Mr. Coggeshall, and some others, but their minister Mr. Clark, and Mr. Lenthall, and Mr. Harding, and some others dissented and publicly opposed, whereby it grew to such heat of contention, that it made a schism among them."
April 4.
An event that greatly alarmed the inhabitants of the island occurred soon after the adjournment of the Court. Some Indians, contrary to the treaty of July previous, kindled a fire on Mr. Easton's land, whereby his house, the first one built at Newport, was destroyed. A misun- derstanding ensued that threatened the most serious re- sults. An armed boat was fitted out to ply round the island to prevent any Indians from landing. Two English were wounded and one Indian killed, in a skir- mish. Fortunately peace was soon restored.
Sept. 17.
At the ensuing Court, the law of liberty of conscience was re-enacted. "It is ordered that the law of the last Court, made concerning Libertie of Conscience in point of Doctrine, is perpetuated." A license to practise surgery was granted to Mr. Robert Jeffreys, the Treasurer of
153
DISFRANCHISEMENT OF FREEMEN.
Newport. This is the earliest record of a licensed sur- CHAP. geon, but it was not the only case where such a license V. was granted by the Legislature in this State. The price 1641. of corn was fixed at four shillings a bushel. Inspectors of pork were appointed, to whom all swine killed on the island were to be shown, under penalty of five pounds. Earmarks for swine and goats were regulated by the Court, the right of property in them recognized, and the marks required to be recorded.
The following spring the same general officers were chosen, except that Mr. Easton, who had been super- seded by Robert Harding at the last election, was re- elected an assistant, and Mr. Harding dropped. 1 These gentlemen continued in office until the charter govern- ment was organized, five years later. Sentence of dis- franchisement was passed upon four freemen, 2 and their names struck from the roll, and in case they came armed on the island, they were to be disarmed and put under bonds for good behavior. Unfortunately the reasons for this earliest decree of virtual banishment are not given. Three others were suspended the privilege of voting, two 3 until they should give satisfaction for their offences, who were afterward restored, and Mr. Lenthal, the minister, who had returned to England. Amendments and altera- tions of laws were constantly made. Only such as were permanent or of special interest can here be noticed. The fee list was remodelled. Any arms or ammunition were forbidden, under heavy fine, to be supplied to the Indians. Jurors were elected by the freemen in town meeting. Those who were only inhabitants could serve,
1641-2 March 16,17.
1 In the term " general officers," are here included the Governor, Deputy Governor, the four Assistants and Secretary only. The two Treasurers, two Sergeants and two Constables, one of each for each town, are not specified in the text, as their duties were mostly local, and the repetition of so many names would be tedious.
2 Richard Carder, Randal Holden, Sampson Shatton and Robert Potter.
$ George Parker and John Briggs.
154
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. as well as freemen, on the jury, by virtue of their freehold estates. The pay of the jurors was fixed at one shilling for every cause brought to trial.
The island abounded in wild animals. Deer were very abundant and were made a source of revenue ; every man who killed one, except on his own land, being, at one time, required to give one half of it into the treasury, or to pay a commutation of two pounds sterling. Hunt- ing parties were sent out to obtain venison for public use at the meetings of the Courts. The Indians were not al- lowed to kill them, except occasionally by special license, nor were traps permitted to be set for them, under a penalty of five pounds, except by the freeholder on his own land, and at a later period they were protected by game laws. Foxes gave much trouble. A premium of six shillings and eight pence a head was offered for them, to be paid by the treasurer of the town where they were killed. Wolves were numerous, and so destructive to the cattle that men were hired by the day to hunt them, and were paid besides, thirty shillings a head for every one killed, which bounty was soon increased to five pounds, and a special tax levied for this purpose, to be paid by the farmers in proportion to their number of cattle. Roger Williams was commissioned to arrange with Mian- tinomi for a grand hunt to extirpate them, which, how- ever, was not so thoroughly done but that, for several years, they continued to be a source of annoyance. 1
The important subject of a charter, which three years before had been discussed, was again considered at this session, and a committee, composed of the general officers, with Mr. Jeffreys, Mr. Harding and Mr. John Clark,
1 Wolves are often mentioned in the records of Aquedneck, as in Jan., 1658, when Portsmouth asked Newport to aid in driving the island-and again on 10th Nov., 1663, when " the island was to be driven the next fair day on account of the destruction of sheep by wolves and other vermin." On the main land they existed much longer, and were repeatedly the subjects of legislation by the Assembly, to the close of the century, and even later.
V. 1642. Sept. 19.
155
TRADE OPENED WITH THE DUTCH.
was appointed with full power to act. Actual residence CHAP on the island was required to entitle any freeman to vote,
1642. Sept. 19.
V. but no one could be disfranchised unless the majority of. the entire body was present at the meeting. Only eleven days before this Court convened, the four Pawtuxet men, mentioned in the previous chapter, had submitted them- selves and their lands to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. An act so dangerous to the independence of the colony, and which might be taken as a precedent by other dis- affected persons, could not fail to create much excitement. The people of Aquedneck promptly took precaution to avoid such a peril to themselves, by adopting an order that no person should sell his lands to any other jurisdic- tion, or person therein not subject to the government of the island, on pain of forfeiture.
Arrangements were made at this time to establish a regular trade with the Dutch at Manhattan. It is indic- ative of the feeling existing towards Rhode Island in the other colonies that she. was driven to this step ; a feeling of which the most painful evidence was shortly to be given. The governor and deputy were instructed to "treat with the governor of the Dutch to supply us with neces- saries, and to take of our commodities at such rates as may be suitable." Had there been a spirit of kindness, or even of passive indifference, in place of open hostility, in the neighboring provinces, Rhode Island would not have been obliged to treat with the foreign and distant settlement at New York for the supply of her wants.1 But the prejudice excited by her different faith, and more liberal sentiments, was about to be manifested in an act which few men at this day can contemplate without sur-
1 Prior to the arrival of the English the West India Company established a trading-post at Dutch Island in Narraganset Bay. Mr. Broadhead says : " About the same time (1625) the Indian title to the island of ' Quotenis,' near the ' Roode Island,' in Narraganset Bay, was secured for the West India Company, and a trading-post was established there, under the superintendence of Abraham Pietersen." Broadhead's History of New York, ch. viii. vol. 1, p. 268, and note. Besides this the Dutch had two fortified trading posts on the erath shore of Narraganset, in what is now Charlestown.
156
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. V. prise and indignation. The exposed condition of the
country had suggested the idea of a union of all the New
1643. England colonies in a league of defence against the In- dians. Six years before, just at the close of the Pequot war, when the plantation at Providence was in its infancy and the settlement of Aquedneck had not begun, the sub- ject was first considered. Many difficulties served to re- tard the consummation, chiefly arising from jealousy in the other colonies of the power or the designs of Massa- chusetts. These fears had no good foundation, unless on the part of Rhode Island, which was the only one that did not, at some time during the negotiation, display them. We have seen that two years ago she united with Plymouth and the two Connecticut colonies in a joint letter to Massachusetts, upon the subject that formed the basis of the confederacy ; and we have read how those overtures were approved as related to the rest, and re- pelled with unmanly insult as regarded her. The times now demanded immediate action. Fears were entertained of the Dutch, especially by Connecticut, while the Indians daily threatened a general combination to exterminate the whites. They were becoming supplied with fire-arms and skilled in their use. The peril was imminent. The New England confederacy was formed by Massachusetts, May 19. Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven, with their sub- ordinate settlements, and styled the United Colonies of New England. By express stipulation no other jurisdic- tion was to be admitted. It was mainly a league for mutual defence, but contained an article for the rendition of fugitive servants and escaped criminals, with some other matters of international comity. From some sud- denly conceived jealousy on the part of Massachusetts, Maine, then a propriety of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, which had been included in the preliminary negotiations, was not permitted to join the alliance. 1 Rhode Island was
1 Hubbard assigns the reason, " because they ran a different course from the rest, both in their ministry and their civil administrations. Nor indeed
157
RHODE ISLAND REJECTED BY THE LEAGUE.
perhaps the most exposed of all the colonies, yet although the confederated States already owed their existence to the heroism of her founder, (and were shortly again to receive the benefit of that practical Christianity which they could not comprehend, in averting for the second time a general war, by his effective influence in the wavering councils of the Narragansetts,) neither of the colonies within her limits was invited to join the league, and her subsequent application for that object met with a stern refusal. 1 She was left to stand alone amid dangers from famine, pestilence and war. Her only strength was in the valor of her sons and the truth of her principles. Had the lex talionis been her guide, as it has been of most governments, she would have been justified by the necessities to which she was reduced, and might have compelled admission to the league, by withdrawing her restraining influence from the Indians. It is one of the brightest spots in her history that in this dark hour the magnanimity of her founder actuated her councils. Turn- ing from the ingratitude of the Puritans, she appealed to
were they at that time furnished with inhabitants fit for such a purpose, for they had lately made Agamenticus (a poor village) a corporation, and had made a mean person mayor thereof, and had also entertained a contentious person, and one under offence, for their minister." 2 M. H. C., vi. 467. Yet the year before Maine was not considered so unworthy. Winthrop's Journal, ii. 85.
1 It would be ungrateful not to acknowledge the grace extended by the General Court to the people of Aquedneck, by a vote of Sept. 7th, 1643. " They of Aqnidneck are granted to buy a barrell of powder, provided Lieut. Morris give caution that it bee implied for the defence of the iland by the ad- vice of the Governor and Deputy." M. C. R., ii. 44. But even this favor was denied to the Providence colony, who were forbidden all trade with Bos- ton, even to the purchase of arms and ammunition in this fearful crisis. That, after such cruel and ungrateful conduct, Roger Williams should again inter- pose to save the United Colonies, when his own life and those of his friends were secure in the love of the Narragansetts, who made a treaty of neutrality with them at this very time, reminds us of Gibbon's comment on the conduct of Belisarius in a case of domestic infidelity, " the unconquerable patience and loyalty of Belisarius appears either below or above the character of a MAN."
CHAP. V. 1643. May 19.
158
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. V. Sept.
the king. Roger Williams was sent to England to inter- cede for a charter ; and because the tyranny of Massa- 1643. chusetts Bay would not relax, he was obliged to take passage at New York. A free charter was obtained. The despised colonies soon assumed the rank of a united and independent State, and to the subsequent harshness of her neighbors, was enabled to oppose the language of bold, but courteous remonstrance. One of the earliest proceed- ings of the league was to sanction the dark deed recorded in the preceding chapter, the murder of Miantinomi, the too faithful friend of Rhode Island.
Oct. 5. 1643-4.
The frequent alarms led to the establishment of a night watch in Portsmouth, which seems to have per- fected the system of precautions that had so long occu- pied the attention of the people. The next General March 13. Court changed the name of Aquedneck to the "Isle of Rhodes or RHODE ISLAND." 1 The last recorded act of the Aquedneck assembly declared that the majority of the major part of the body appearing, should have full power to transact business, and to impose penalties upon those who did not attend, or who left the meeting with- 1644. out leave.
May 20. July.
Oct.
The alarm of Indian war again spread through the colonies. A letter from Canonicus and Pessicus was re- ceived by Gov. Winthrop, announcing their intention to revenge upon Uncas the death of Miantinomi. Two messengers were sent at once to the Narragansetts to dis- suade them, but without effect. The people of Aqued- neck applied to Massachusetts for powder, but were re- fused, as Plymouth had been, owing, no doubt, to a scarcity of ammunition ; a refusal which Winthrop re- cords as an error of policy, for " although they were des- perately erroneous " it would be "a great advantage to the Indians " if they were cut off, "and a great inconve- nience to the English should they be forced to seek pro-
1 See note on the origin of this name at the close of chapter ii.
159
AQUEDNECK CLAIMED BY PLYMOUTH.
tection from the Dutch." The commissioners of the CHAP. United Colonies, at their next meeting, removed the im- V. mediate danger, having summoned the disputants to 1644. Hartford, where an armistice was agreed upon till the next year.
The records of the General Court of Aquedneck now cease, and no town records of Newport remain to enlighten us on the current events of the next two years. That the same general officers, who had already been elected three successive years, and whose term of office was " for one whole year, or till a new be chosen," continued to carry on the government, and that its judicial powers were exercised by them as far as was necessary, there can be no doubt. The mutilated pages of Portsmouth aid somewhat in filling this unwelcome gap, and confirm the fact that if no General Courts were convened in this interval, town meetings were held in both the towns, and their decrees executed by the general officers. The deputy governor and one assistant were authorized to appoint all town meetings at Portsmouth. Leave was given to Osamequin, or Massasoit, with ten men to kill ten deer within the limits of the town, which were to be shown to Mr. Brenton and Mr. Balston, and he was to quit the island within five days. Several other meetings are recorded during this year relating solely to local af- fairs. It was at this time that Plymouth colony sent a magistrate to Aquedneck to forbid the government there from exercising any authority, and claiming the island to be within their jurisdiction, contrary to their express admission at the time of the purchase seven years before.
A copy of the instructions given to Mr. John Brown, who was commissioned for this purpose, is fortunately preserved by Winslow, ' at that time Governor of Ply- mouth. These are : 1. That a great part of their sup- 1 Hypocrisie Unmasked, 83.
Aug. 29.
Nov.
S.
160
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. V. posed government is within the line of the government of Plymouth. 2. That we assuredly know that this ever to 1644. be honored House of Parliament would not, nor will Nov. 8. when they shall know it, take from us, the most ancient plantation, any part of the line of our government former- ly granted ; it being contrary to their principles. 3. To forbid them and all and every one of them to exercise any authority, or power of government within the limits of our letters patent. 4. To certify them that Coweset is not only within the said limits, but that the Sachem thereof and his sons have taken protection of this, our gov- ernment. And, therefore, to forbid them to enter upon any part of his or their lands without due order and leave from our government."
A settled purpose was displayed by the Puritan colo- nies, soon after the charter was received by Rhode Island, to set it aside by every possible plea that could affect its validity. The active measures thus taken by Plymouth were at the same time pursued, yet more vigorously, if indeed they were not directly instigated, by Massachusetts. The more liberal Pilgrims were overborne by the dictatorial spirit of their Puritan neighbors, and were led to press claims which, had they ever existed, were become invali- dated by their own acts. Yet this very messenger boldly withstood the pretensions of Massachusetts to other parts of Rhode Island as we shall presently see, and was per- haps the only man whose influence could have sustained the manly position he assumed in behalf of Shawomet. Gov. Winslow says, that Mr. Brown arrived at Aqued- neck just as a public meeting was being held to apportion lands, a measure disapproved by Mr. Coddington and Mr. Brenton, who kept aloof from it, and who ap- prehended danger from the lawlessness of the people. He states also that Gorton, who after his release from prison in Massachusetts, had again settled at Aquedneck, was appointed a magistrate and had accepted the office-
161
FIRST APPRENTICESHIP IN RHODE ISLAND.
a fact which he adduces as proof that the fears of the above-named gentlemen were well grounded. Mr. Brown's mission was futile. Gorton accuses him of privately seek- 1644. ing to dissuade the people of the island from recognizing the charter. The spirit of his instructions would har- monize with almost any means he might employ to fulfil them. Winslow says, he performed his duty publicly at. the meeting. This meeting was probably held in Ports- mouth to subdivide the lands there, as was usual at that time. No legible record of it, or of any other meet- ing for more than a year, remains.
The fact that a new government was about to be 1645. formed under the charter, no doubt led to this evident neglect of the old one so soon to expire. That this apathy was increasing is apparent from a vote at Portsmouth, 1646. Nov. 28. making nine men a quorum at any town meeting, and re- quiring that the business to be done should be specified in the warning.
Newport had passed an order that no deer should be killed for two months, which Portsmouth concurred in, assigning as the reason that in that way the wolves would more readily come to bate and so be caught. At the same time it was ordered that of the five pounds bounty on each wolf, which had been established some years be- fore, Newport should pay four and Portsmouth one. An act like this could not be valid unless passed by a Gene- ral Court or concurred in by a town meeting at Newport. A more efficient law for the protection of deer was passed at the same meeting, forbidding their being shot in the summer, from May to November.
The most interesting record of this, the last meeting of the people of Aquedneck under their primitive gov- ernment, contains the first notice of indentured appren- ticeship in Rhode Island. " Memorandum : That where- as, Nicholas Niles, the father-in-law of Abell Potter, hath [bound him] the said Abell Potter with Mr. William
VOL. I .- 11
CHAP. IV.
1646-7 Feb. 4.
162
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. V. May 19.
Balstone for the term of eighteen years, with the consent of the said Abell. For the better securitie off Mr. Bal- 1647. stone, the towne consenteth herein and approveth thereof."
The three months that intervened before the first General Assembly of the now chartered State convened at Portsmouth we may suppose was employed in discuss- ing the all absorbing topic, and in the preparation of that admirable code of laws then to be presented for adoption.
163
THE FOUNDER OF WARWICK.
CHAPTER VI.
HISTORY OF WARWICK AND NARRAGANSET DOWN TO THE FORMATION OF THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THE FIRST PA- TENT, MAY, 1647.
WARWICK was settled some years later than Provi- CHAP. dence and Aquedneck, and chiefly by emigrants from VI. them ; but the same primitive cause, the intolerance of Massachusetts, forced most of its founders into banish- ment, while their peculiar views, differing from those of the other Rhode Island settlers, influenced them in select- ing another spot for their resting place. No man has suf- fered more in reputation from the calumny of his enemies, or been made to feel more severely the penalty of non- conformity, or the trials of an independent spirit, than Samuel Gorton, the founder of Warwick. "A most pro- digious minter of exorbitant novelties," "a proud and pestilent seducer," " a beast," "miscreant " and "arch heretic," are some of the epithets with which he has been branded by the malevolence of his age. It was in vain, in those days, that any dissenter from the established church of Massachusetts strove to deny whatever results the authorities saw fit to ascribe to his views. The fate of Williams and of Clark, was sure to be his. There was no reason why the Gortonists should be treated any better than the Anabaptists or the Antinomians had been, cr than the Quakers were soon to be. The same power that had driven Williams into exile and had disarmed the fol- lowers of Mrs. Hutchinson, was ready to vindicate its
164
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. VI. superiority upon the sturdy spirit of Gorton. In 1636, Gorton arrived at Boston from London. But little is 1636. known of his earlier history, and that little is of no im- portance to our present purpose. He soon removed to Plymouth, where "he gave some hopes that he would prove a useful instrument." These hopes were soon dis- pelled by the wayward and independent spirit which he manifested. Cotton assigns as the reason of his leaving Boston that it was to escape from the claims of a creditor in England. Hubbard and Mather, with their accus- tomed bitterness, repeat the charge, but more reliable historians are silent upon it, and its truth has been reasonably doubted, from the fact that a removal to Ply- mouth would not secure him from arrest. It soon ap- peared that his religious views were widely at variance from those of his associates. The key note of a persecu- tion that was destined to pursue him for many years, even beyond the chartered grasp of civilized man, was early sounded by one Mr. Ralph Smith, who had formerly been a minister at Plymouth, and a part of whose house Gor- ton had hired for four years. Some of Smith's household were in the habit of attending the morning and evening religious service held by Gorton in his family, which dis- pleased the former. Gorton refused to vacate the prem- ises. The only mode of ejecting him was by an appeal to the popular bigotry through the medium of the Court. Opportunity was not wanting in the case of one so pecu- liar in his views and so fearless in expressing them. What was the form of the action brought by Smith, or the na- ture of the charge against Gorton, is not distinctly stated, but the result was that the contract was broken, he was ordered to provide for himself elsewhere within a certain time, and to give bonds for his good behavior in the in- terval. A more serious breach of order was shortly al- leged against him. A female servant in Gorton's family was seen to smile in church. To escape the proceedings
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