USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Vol. I > Part 15
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1637.
165
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST GORTON.
which threatened in consequence of this overt act against CHAP. VI. the peace and dignity of the State, the woman fled to the woods. Gorton spoke in her behalf, for which he was 1637. called to account by the Court, where, conducting him- self in a very rude and contemptuous manner, his bonds were forfeited, he was bound over to the next General Court, and required to find new sureties for his conduct till that time. He obtained the sureties but immediately left for Aquedneck. Morton mentions only the difficulty with Smith, and assigns this as the cause of his banish- ment, which he says was decreed on the fourth of Decem- ber 1638, to take place within fourteen days. Winslow and Gorton himself, both correct the error of fact, while other circumstances make it equally apparent that there is also an error of date. Six months before the time of his banishment, as given by Morton, Gorton was admitted an inhabitant of Aquedneck, as the records show. It is probable that the date in Morton should be one year earlier, and that the sentence of banishment within four- teen days was passed at a later court than the one in De- cember. The difficulty with the Court, in the case of the servant woman, happened after that with Smith, and is not referred to by Morton. Perhaps the Smith case was tried in December 1637, and the subsequent one at the next March term. Very soon after the latter trial, all accounts agree that he went to Aquedneck, where a set- tlement had just been commenced by the Antinomian refugees. The Massachusetts writers, while they freely denounce the heresies of Gorton, deny that these were the cause of his banishment. There can be no doubt that the charge brought by Smith, in the first instance, for the purpose of annulling the lease and thus ridding himself of a disagreeable tenant, was that of heresy, and the in- ference is equally direct that the truth of the allegation had aroused popular feeling against the accused. The evidence is equally plain that his conduct, when on trial.
1638. June 20.
166
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. VI. was most abusive and his language insulting to the Court, so much so that " divers people being present desired 1638. leave of the Governor to speak complaining of his sedi- tious carriage, and requested the Court not to suffer these abuses but to inflict condign punishment." That he was deeply imbued with the principles of " soul liberty " al- ready established by Roger Williams, and indignantly repelled any attempt to fetter the free mind in its com- munion with the Creator, is so much in his favor, and at this day will go far towards exculpating his conduct at Plymouth.
In fact, it was on this account that he was warmly received at Aquedneck, and ever since, his name has been associated in this State, with those whose first coming hither was caused by Puritan persecution. That he af- terwards so severely suffered from this cause has tended to confirm this opinion. But on the other hand, the minute account of his offensive bearing towards the Court is so consistent with the repulsive traits of his character, as afterwards displayed at Portsmouth, and still later at Providence, in a more dangerous degree, causing his ban- ishment from Aquedneck, and his flight to Pawtuxet, that we are forced to believe him not to be so guiltless in his course at Plymouth as his defenders allege. This was indeed one of those common cases where neither party in a contest is altogether right, and in our view of it the plea of persecution cannot cover his errors until a later period of. his history. Up to this time there is enough of wrong apparent on both sides to excuse in some measure the conduct of each, according as the sympathies of the writer may incline him to either party.
We might think more favorably of Gorton's course at Plymouth, had not his avowed principles, and his acts in accordance therewith, been so outrageous as not to be borne by the people of Aquedneck ; beside which we know that the Plymouth colony was more liberal in its feeling
167
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST GORTON.
than that of the Bay, permitting a greater latitude of in- CHAP. VI. dividual opinion. Assuming as above that the sentence of banishment was passed upon him in March, he must 1638. have reached Aquedneck very soon after the settlement of Pocasset commenced. His name appears the seventh on the list of fifty-nine inhabitants in October, with that of his companion John Wickes, who, Morton says, was one of his earliest proselytes at Plymouth ; and henceforth their fortunes were closely united. As an evidence of the distinction in which he was held at that time, it may be stated that his is one of only four names on the list to which Mr., used in that day as a special mark of respect, is affixed. The date appended to these names is that of their admission as inhabitants, not that of their coming to the island, which must have occurred somewhat ear- lier. But the time of his arrival at Aquedneck is a point of little moment compared with the history of his conduct while there. That he was whipped and banished from the island has been doubted, 1 because the State records contain no notice of the fact. The evidence, however, is too strong to permit us to doubt it. That it is not found on the records is simply because judicial proceedings were not entered there. But few of the court trials of that day are preserved. Incidental references to them appear occasionally on the State archives, as in the case of Wickes, the earliest disciple and constant companion of 1642. March 16. Gorton. The day after the four men, ? who were after- wards among the first settlers of Warwick, were disfran- chised, it was ordered that if they, with John Wickes, should come upon the island armed, the constable was to disarm and take them before a magistrate, "Provided that this order hinder not the course of law already begun with J. Wickes ; " by which it appears that Wickes had 17.
1 Judge Eddy in Winthrop ii. 58, note, and Staple's Simplicities Defence, 10.
2 Richard Carder, Randal Holden, Sampson Shatton and Robert Potter.
168
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. previously got into trouble and left the island-a virtual VI. banishment, although no record of any proceedings against 1638. him, and no sentence of disfranchisement is found, any more than there is against Gorton. It is probable that both were involved at the same time, and that had the Court files been preserved, the judicial punishment pro- nounced against both, of whipping and banishment, would there be found. Lechford, who resided in New England " almost for the space of four years," prior to August, 1641, relates the circumstances ; Winthrop and Morton both refer to them, and Gorton himself not only does not deny the facts, but, so far as he refers to his sufferings prior to the settlement of Warwick, corroborates their truth, speaking of "fines, whippings and banishment out of all their jurisdiction," as suffered by himself and his associates. The most positive and detailed evidence in regard to his conduct and treatment at Aquedneck, is given by Winslow, in an official form, as agent for Mas- sachusetts, replying to Gorton's Simplicities Defence. 1 There can be no doubt of the truth of the statements there officially promulgated, however much we may dis- sent from the author's inferences. That Winslow and Gorton were on good terms personally at the time of its publication, although both were in England engaged in conflicting business pertaining to the Warwick settlement, and that Gorton never read but little of it, appears by his letter to Morton. 2 Had the official documents been false he would certainly have seen them and denied their truth, instead of quoting the indefinite remark of a third per- son "that he would maintain that there were forty lies printed in that book." The contempt expressed by Gor-
1 Hypocrisie Unmasked. By Edw. Winslow, London, 1646. 4to., 103 pp. Published by Authority, and Dedicated to Robert, Earl of Warwick. It is an extremely rare work. The writer examined the copy in the British Museum, and since then the "sole duplicate" of that copy, which is now in the splendid library of John Carter Brown, Esq., of Providence.
2 Hutchinson's Massachusetts, i. 552 Ap. xx.
169
GORTON'S VIEWS OF GOVERNMENT.
ton for the government of Aquedneck as being self-con- CHAP. stituted, is of itself sufficient explanation of the source VI. whence his troubles arose, while the charges preferred 1639 against him by the grand-jury of Portsmouth justify the punishment he received. He says he conducted himself " obediently to the government of Plimouth, so farre as it became me at least, for I understood that they had com- ission wherein authoritie was derived, which authoritie I reverenced ; but Rhode Island at that time had none, therefore no authoritie legally derived to deale with me. Neither had they the choice of the people, but set up themselves. I know not any more that was present in their creation but a clergie man who blessed them in their inauguration, and I thought my selfe as fitt and able to governe my selfe and family, as any that were then upon Rhode Island." That he ignored all civil authority at Aquedneck he here admits, and gives his reasons for it, thinking himself " as fit and able to govern himself and family, as any that were then upon Rhode Island." This spirit could not long exist in harmony with the views of the settlers anywhere in this State, for although there was no law religion here, there was an organized government demanding respect for its officers, and obedience to its statutes. The views of Gorton, as above given in his own words, were too much like those which the Puritan calumniators of Williams and Clarke charged as being held by their associates, that they "de- nied all magistracy and churches." The banishment of Gorton refutes the slander. And yet Gorton did not deny all magistracy, but only the right of the people to set up for themselves a form of government. After the charter was received, his mind was relieved upon this point. Meanwhile it was the constant source of trouble to himself, and of annoyance to his neighbors.
The origin of his difficulty at Portsmouth, as stated 1640 by Winslow, was a trespass by a cow belonging to an oldl
170
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. VI. woman, upon some land owned by Gorton. The woman, while driving off her cow, was assaulted by a servant- 1640. maid of Gorton's, and complained to the deputy governor, Nicholas Easton, who had the maid brought before the court. Gorton appeared in her behalf, refusing to allow her to come to court. One of the witnesses called for the defence, gave testimony strongly the other way, which enraged Gorton, who commenced abusing her, and had his friend John Wickes brought to the stand. Wickes refused to be sworn. Gorton sustained him in the refusal, and both insulted the court. At length the Governor summed up the case to the jury. While doing this, Gor- ton was very abusive to the governor and deputy, inter- rupting the former in his charge, insomuch that "many of the freemen present desired the court not to suffer such insolencies." He was committed, and when the Marshal was ordered to take him to prison, he cried out that Cod- dington should be taken. Wickes, Holden and others, made so much disturbance, that an armed guard was sum- moned to clear the way, and Wickes was put into the stocks. After this affair, Gorton was indicted by the grand jury as a nuisance, upon fourteen separate counts. A copy of this remarkable presentment signed by the Secretary of the Colony, is given by Winslow, 1 as fol- lows :
" The sum of the presentment of Samuel Gorton, at Portsmouth, in Rhode Island, by the Grand Jury.
First, that Samuel Gorton, certaine days before his ap- pearance at this Court, said, the Government was such as was not to be subjected unto, forasmuch as it had not a true derivation, because it was altered from what it first was.
2. That Samuel Gorton contumeliously reproached the Magistrates, calling them Just Asses.
3. That the said Gorton reproachfully called the
1 Hypocrisie Unmasked, p. 54-5.
171
INDICTMENT AGAINST GORTON.
judges, or some of the justices on the Bench, (corrupt judges) in open Court.
CHIAP. VI.
4. That the said Gorton questioned the Court for 1640. making him to wait on them two days formerly, and that now hee would know whether hee should bee tryed in an hostile way, or by law, or in sobriety.
5. The said Gorton alleged in open court, that he looked at the Magistrates as Lawyers, and called Mr. Easton, Lawyer Easton.
6. The said Gorton charged the Deputy Governor to be an Abetter of a Riot, Assault, or Battery, and pro- fessed that he would not touch him, no, not with a pair of tongs : Moreover, he said, I know not whether thou hast any ears or no : as also, I think thou knowest not where thy ears stand, and charged him to be a man unfit to make a warrant.
7. The said Gorton charged the Bench for wresting witnesse, in this expression, I profess you wrest witnesse.
8. The said Gorton called a Freeman in open Court (saucy boy and Jack-an-Apes), and said the woman that was upon her oath, would not speak against her mother, although she was damned where she stood.
9. The said Gorton affirmed that Mr. Easton behaved himself not like a judge, and that himself was charged either basely or falsely.
10. The said Gorton said to the Bench : Ye intrude oathes, and goe about to catch me.
11. The said Gorton being reproved for his misear- riage, held up his hand, and with extremity of speech shooke his hand at them, insomuch that the Freemen present said, He threatens the Court.
12. The said Gorton charged the Court with acting the second part of Plymouth magistrates, who, as he said, condemned him in the chimney corner, ere they heard him speak.
172
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. VI.
13. The said Gorton, in open court did professe to maintaine the quarrell of another, being his maid-servant.
1640. 14. The said Gorton being commanded to prison, im- periously resisted the authority, and made open procla- macion, saying, take away Coddington, and carry him to prison ; the Governor said again, all you that owne the King, take away Gorton and carry him to prison ; Gor- ton replyed, all you that own the King, take away Cod- dington, and carry him to prison.
William Dyre, Secretary."
March.
Gorton was tried, and sentenced to be whipped and banished from the island, upon which he threatened an appeal to King Charles. The sentence was executed forthwith, and Gorton went to Providence. This was when " the weather was very cold," probably in March, as a few months later we find, by a letter from Roger Williams to Gov. Winthrop, that he was " bewitching and bemadding poor Providence." 1 His reckless and
Oct. 1.
1 This letter fixes the time of Gorton's being in Providence earlier by more than a year than any other known data. It is as follows : " Providence, 8th 1st, 1640. Master Gorton having abused high and low at Aquidnick, is now bewitching and bemadding poor Providence, both with his uncleane and foul censures of all the ministers of this country (for which myself have in Christ's name withstood him), and also denying all visible and externall or- dinances in depth of Familisme, against which I have a little disputed and written, and shall (the most High assenting), to death. As Paul said of Asia, I of Providence (almost) all suck in his poyson, as at first they did at Aquid- nick. Some few and myself withstand his inhabitation, and town privileges, without confession and reformation of his uncivil and inhuman practises at Portsmouth : Yet the tide is too strong against us, and I feare (if the framer of hearts helpe not) it will force me to little Patience, a little isle next to your Prudence. Jehovah himself be pleased to be a sanctuary to all whose hearts are perfect with him; in him I desire unfeignedly to be, Your wor- ship's true and affectionate Roger Williams." --- Winslow's Hypocrisie Unmasked, 55,56.
The trial of Gorton could not have been in 1639, as Hutchinson was that year the Judge at Portsmouth, where the indictment was found. Codding- ton and Easton, the latter residing at Portsmouth, were chosen Governor and Deputy Governor, on 12th March, 1640, on the union of the two towns.
173
POLITICAL CHARACTER OF GORTON.
lawless spirit, opposed as much to magistrates constituted, CHAP. VI. like those of Rhode Island, by the popular will, as to ministers supported by law, like those of the other colonies, 1640. found a fitting arena for its exercise in the feeble and dis- tracted plantation of Providence. A bitter partisan by na- ture, with talent and energy to consolidate and control discordant elements into a vigorous and relentless opposi- tion, he soon made himself the leader of all who were factious or discontented, and organized a destructive and revolutionary party in the hitherto comparatively peace- ful settlement of Williams. The career of Gorton in Rhode Island illustrates how completely the extremes of conservatism and radicalism in civil affairs may unite in a single mind. While on religious matters he main- tained with Williams the great doctrine of the underived independence of the soul, in civil concerns he was an ab- solutist, a stickler for authority, yielding, theoretically at least, entire obedience to chartered power, but ignoring any other, and steadily denying the right of the people of Aquedneck or Providence to govern themselves, and hence refusing to be controlled by them. And because of this defect in the basis of their government he used every effort to weaken or destroy it, assuming for that object the attitude of the veriest leveller recorded in his- tory. His disorderly course in Providence was such as to prevent his being received as an inhabitant. It was re- quired, as a condition of his reception, that he should confess the wrong he had done at Portsmouth and promise reformation, which we presume to mean, that he should admit the error of his theory of government. So great was the contention caused by his presence, that Mr. Wil- liams seriously thought of abandoning his plantation and removing to Patience Island. The next year matters
Gorton was in Providence in Oct., 1640, and had been there some time. The weather was cold when he went there, which must therefore have been early in the spring, after the 12th March, or in April, 1640.
174
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. grew worse. The refusal of the first application of Gor- VI. ton and his associates to be received into town fellowship 1641. did not discourage them. A second attempt was made,
May upon which William Arnold, then one of the five "dis- 25. posers," to whom such applications were referred, ad- dressed a letter, "To the rest of the five men appointed to manedge ye affaires of our Town," giving reasons based upon the weak condition of the town, why this further re- quest should be denied. These were, that Gorton had " showed himself an insolent, railing and turbulent per- son," since, as well as before he came to Providence ; that some of his company had insulted the disposers ; that their former request had been refused and no new reasons advanced why this should be granted ; that they had dis- tracted and divided the town into parties, aiming to drive away its founders, and had been ringleaders in breaking the peace ; and finally he denies that any element of per- secution is contained in a refusal to admit into a civil so- ciety men so turbulent. He concludes by offering his house and land for sale to the town, as the law required, stating that if these men are received he shall sell and
Nov.
17.
move away.1 Not long after this a riot ensued in which some blood was spilt, and the aid of Massachusetts was invoked by some of the inhabitants.2 Gorton and his company moved to Pawtuxet soon after this affair, where their conduct induced four of the principal residents to submit themselves and their lands to the government of Massachusetts.2 The " warrant," as Gorton terms it, issued by Massachusetts on this occasion, 3 greatly alarmed
1642. Sept. 8.
1 Hypocrisie Unmasked, 59-62. New England Gen. Register, 216-18.
2 See ante, chap. iv., pp. 110-111.
3 " Massachusetts to our neighbors of Providence : Whereas, Wm. Arnold of Pawtuxet, and Robert Cole and others, have lately put themselves and their families, lands and estates, under the protection and government of this jurisdiction, and have since complained to us, that you have since (upon pre- tence of a late purchase from the Indians), gone about to deprive them of their lawful interest, confirmed by four years possession, and otherwise to mo-
175
PURCHASE OF SHAWOMET.
his party, and drew from them a letter, addressed "To CHAP VI. 1642. Nov. 20.
our neighbors of Massachusetts," signed by nearly all of them, which afterwards caused them much trouble. In this letter they justly call the document "an irregular note," " because it went beyond the bounds and jurisdic- tions limited unto them." They then discuss the sub- mission of the Pawtuxet men, of which the " warrant " was simply a formal notification, denying the claim of Massachusetts to extend her jurisdiction beyond her char- tered limits on account of any such act, whether done by English or Indians. The complaints of the submission- ists are fully discussed and their conduct harshly reviewed. The invitation to implead them in the courts of Massa- chusetts is duly considered and declined in terms of unspar- ing severity. Through the whole protracted epistle there is interwoven a mass of abtruse theology, and a parade of biblical learning, of which the application is often difficult to discover, and the chief object of which is to hurl upon those to whom it is addressed a storm of theological in- vective. None but a mystical enthusiast could have written it, and he must be a zealous antiquary in these days, who would read it.1 The bitter rebuke that it con- tained rankled in the minds of the magistrates, and the heresy they detected in its doctrines soon afforded a pretext for their vengeance. Soon after this letter was written the Gortonists left Pawtuxet, and purchasing of the In- dians lands at Shawomet, beyond the limits of Providence,
lest them ; we thought good therefore to write to you on their behalf, to give you notice that they and their lands, &c., being under our jurisdiction, we are to maintain them in their lawful rights. If, therefore, you have any just ti- tle to any thing they possess, you may proceed against them in our court, where you shall have equal justice ; but, if you shall proceed to any violence, you must not blame us if we shall take a like course to right them." Signed, Jo. Winthrop, Governor. Tho. Dudley, Ri. Bellingham, Incr. Nowell. The 28th of the 8th month, 1642. Simp. Defence, 53.
1 This letter occupies nearly one-fifth of Winslow's book, and twenty-six closely printed pages, 60-86, of Staple's Simp. Defence R. I. II. C., v. 2.
176
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. VI. 1642-3. Jan. 12.
removed to the wilderness, where English charter, or civil- ized claim, could legally pursue them no longer.
There were twelve purchasers, but eleven of whom are recited in the deed.1 The tract extended along the bay from Gaspee point to Warwick neck and twenty miles inland, embracing the greater part of the present town- ships of Warwick and Coventry. The consideration was one hundered and forty-four fathoms of wampum peage.2 The land was conveyed by Miantinomi, chief Sachem of the Narragansets and hereditary lord of the soil, and the deed was witnessed by Pomham, the local Sachem of Shawomet, with others.
No form of government seems to have been adopted. Their numbers were too small to require an organization. Some mode of adjusting differences was all they needed, and this was provided for by arbitration, which was the essential feature of the government of Providence. This was only a temporary arrangement to continue until a charter could be obtained from England. Had they re- mained unmolested until the settlement attained greater size, and no charter had been received, it would have been curious to see what method they could devise to secure social order without violating their fundamental principles. But this experiment was not to be tried. Scarcely had the settlement of Warwick begun when a fresh occasion of strife was presented, arising from the dissatisfaction of the natives, fomented, as there is too much reason to be- lieve, by the intrigues of Massachusetts. At the first meeting of the General Court a committee of three, one of whom was William Arnold of Pawtuxet, who had re-
1643.
1 They were Randal Holden, John Greene, John Weeks (or Wickes), Fran- cis Weston, Samuel Gorton, Richard Waterman, John Warner, Richard Car- der, Samson Shatton, Robert Potter, William Wuddall, and Nicholas Power. The latter is not named in the deed, but we learn from his letters that he was one of the purchasers, and Gorton mentions that there were twelve.
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