USA > Rhode Island > Kent County > Warwick > Report on the settlement of Warwick, 1642: and the seal of the R.I. Historical Society > Part 2
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But further than all this, the same John Greene, with Samuel Gorton and others, became only three months later,-viz. : on the 12th of January, 1642, as the deed shows, a purchaser of the sachem-wick Shaw- omet, or what is commonly called "Old Warwick." This is the record ; this, too, was well-known to the designer of the seal, and there is reason to be- lieve that both deeds were a part of one plan, that of October 1st being only a preliminary acquisition in prospect of a larger settlement on the more extensive domain, a negotiation for which would naturally oc- cupy more time. With these two records before us, the date of 1642 on each, and the undoubted fact that settlement followed close upon, if it did not actually ante-date each deed, what is there to invalidate the
* R. I. Ilist. Soc. Coll., II., 217.
22
THE SETTLEMENT OF WARWICK.
device " 1642" upon the seal, and on what ground could it be pronounced wrong ? The only ground would seem to be :
1st. That by "Shawomet," the Society limited it- self to consideration of the Gorton purchase only, which your committee, for reasons already stated, are assured was not at all their view.
2d. That the date of the Gorton deed (January 12, 1642), is a date of " Old Style."
Admitting that the date of the Gorton deed is in Old Style, your committee is of opinion that it should not be rejected on that account, for the reason that if the John Greene deed of the previous October, which is without any objection as to the "Style," were thrown out of consideration, the seal date of 1642, as the date of the limited Shawomet purchase, is in their judgment valid and properly used.
The deed to Samuel Gorton and others specifies " January 12th, Anno Domini, 1642," as the day and year on which Miantonomi set his hand thereto, and this without reference to, or recognition of any " Style," old or new, or the possibility of any change. The deed is dated in accordance with both English custom
23
OLD AND NEW STYLE.
and English law, as it then was and continued to be for more than a hundred years afterward, the change to New Style not being authorized in England or in her colonies till 1751, nor carried into effect till 1752,* a hundred and ten years after the deed was made, when more than three generations of the Greenes and Gortons had passed away.
Beyond reasonable question the legal date, as well as the legal record of the Shawomet purchase, was January, 1642. The legal year 1643, did not com- mence, according to the then mode of reckoning with all English people, till the 25th of the following March, so that the action of the Society in affixing to their seal the date 16-12, appears to your committee to have been perfectly competent and without im- peachment, even if it were necessary, as it is not, to construe that date as referring to the settlement of the sachem-wick Shawomet alone.
The propriety and legality of this construction and use of dates, is curiously confirmed by a contemporary
* Act 24, George II., C. 23, 1751. Townsend's Manual of Dates, 733-4. Bailey's Dictionary, London, 1749. In verb.
January 1, 1752, was the first day of the first English year of New Style. - Act 24, George II., C. 23, 1751.
24
THE SETTLEMENT OF WARWICK.
illustration, in the conspicuous fact that the Ordi- nance of the English Parliament creating Robert, Earl of Warwick, Governor-in-Chief of all the islands and plantations of his majesty's subjects within or on the coasts of America, together with a body of Com- missioners to assist him therein, bears date and was passed " November 20, Anno Domini 1643,"" while the Charter to Providence Plantations made four months afterward, and, as they recite, " by the authority of the said Ordinance of Lords and Commons," f bears date March 14th, "in the year of our Lord God 1643." However inconsistent in modern view this (to us) in- verted succession of dates may appear, it had no such aspect to the men of those carly days, and in- volves no contradiction in fact.
Indeed, as a matter of legal accuracy, every date of a legal, civil, or ecclesiastical character, preceding the change of Style in 1752, and as far back as the four- teenth century, should be in Old Style.
The statement of the double date (that is of both Styles) between 1st of January and 25th of March,
* R. I. Hist. Soc Coll., II., 350-3.
+ Bartlett's Col. Records, I., 143-6.
Į R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 259-62.
25
FIRST SUMMONS, OCTOBER, 1642.
has no authority except as a convenient note or aid to memory, for the benefit of modern readers, in order to prevent confusion .*
It is important, however, to go one step further in the examination of the question before us. Not a month had elapsed after the deed to John Greenc was given, when the Massachusetts sent a warrant unto Gorton, Greene, and their companions, to com- mand appearance at their courts, and threatening vio- lence unless it were obeyed. ; The effect of this war- rant or summons, entitled " Massachusetts to our Neighbors of Providence," and bearing date, October 28th, 1642, as well as the reply to it, and the concom- itant events, we must now consider.
This summons, sent by Governor Winthrop (through the hands of his agent, William Arnold), was received by Gorton and his friends, to use Gorton's own words, " before we planted upon that tract of land called Shawomet." ¿
* In the seventh ventury and for several centuries later, the year began in England on Christmas day, but in the twelfth century the Anglican Church commenced the year on Annunciation, or Lady-Day, March 25th, and this con- tinued until the adoption of the New Style.
+ R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 52-3.
Į R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 53.
26
THE SETTLEMENT OF WARWICK.
They had not, therefore, left their Providence- Pawtuxet homes (near Roger Williams Park), as late as the close of October, 1642.
But this summons, following so soon the purchase of John Greenc, presaged, as Gorton thought and as he was advised by others, a coming struggle by the Massachusetts "to take in all the Narragansett Bay under their government and jurisdiction." The im- pression it made and the course of action adopted under this threatening prospect, we must look to Gor- ton to explain.
He says : "This warrant being delivered to us, in the name of ' the Massachusetts,'* we took into serious consideration, having former experience abundantly, of their unkind and inhumane dealing with us, yea towards our wives, and children, when ourselves were sometimes in banishments and sometimes in prison and irons (by them) before .; We thought it meet, for the preservation of our peace, together with that
* R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 54-5.
t " The absorption of sacerdotal, political and juridical functions by a sin- gle class produces an arbitrary despotism ; and before judges greedy of earthly dominion, flushed by a sense of power, unrestrained by rules of law or evi- dence, and unopposed by a resolute and courageous bar, trials must become little more than conventional forms, precursors of predetermined punish- men's."-Adams' " Emancipation of Massachusetts," 292.
27
SACRIFICES FOR PEACE.
compassion we had of our wives and little ones, to leave our houses and the rest of our labors lying near unto those their pretended subjects, whom we saw ma- liciously bent, and to remove ourselves and families further off from the Massachusetts, and such their coadjutors being then amongst us. For we saw that they did not only endeavor to take away our livelihood, but intended to take away our lives also, in case they could find a way to satisfy the country in doing of such an act and execution, for we never had accusa- tion brought in against us, but what rose from the magistrates and the ministers; * for we walked so as to do no man wrong, only justified the cause of our religion, as we had learned and received the principles thereof before we went amongst them; as also the Laws and Government of this Kingdom of England, unto which we ever willingly acknowledged ourselves to be loyal subjects ; and therefore could not suffer ourselves to be entrenched upon by our fellow-subjects,
* Dr. Palfrey says : "The Clergy maintained their rule with great sagacity and energy; though excluded from secular affairs, they constituted in some sort a separate estate, which, unelected, - a bench above and irresponsible to law,- was summoned to decide in all cases of importance, involving the high- est questions of liberty and life itself."
28
THE SETTLEMENT OF WARWICK.
further than the "Laws of our King and State do allow." *
Gorton continues : "We removed ourselves into another part of the Narragansett Bay, further from the Massachusetts, and where none of the English nor other nations had anything to do, only Indians, the true natives, of whom we bought a parcel of land, called Shawomet, not only of Miantonomi chief Sa- chem, or Prince of those parts of the Country, but also with the free consent of the inhabitants of the place," ;- and, "Plainly perceiving that the drift of the Massachusetts, and those joined with them, was not only to take the whole country of the English plantations into their jurisdiction, but also to estab- lish what way of religion themselves thought fit, to the taking away not only of goods, but lives also, of such as were otherwise minded, we made answer unto the writing they had sent unto us, on this wise :- which answer was made upon our removal from Mooshawset, otherwise called Providence, to Shawomct." ¿
*R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 54-5.
+ R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 59-60.
# R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 60.
29
ANSWER TO THE SUMMONS.
This answer is dated, " Mooshawset, November the 20, 1642," and that there might be no miscarriage or delay, was delivered into the hands of Governor Win- throp by a special messenger." When carefully ex- amined it sheds much light on the Shawomet pur- chase and the proceedings preliminary thereto. In reply to the objections urged by " the Bay " against the purchase of Indian lands, he says: " To our neighbors of the Massachusetts " -" In that you tell us we offer wrong [to the natives] by a pretended purchase, you are as much mistaken in the purchase as in the wrong, for it is right that we are about to
* Savage's Winthrop, II., 174.
+ R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 60,
Elsewhere he says: " Our Countrymen, for we cannot but call you so, though we find your carriage to be so far worse than these Indians."-R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., S4.
Even their own brethren, the founders of Connecticut, who had gone 100 miles into the wilderness from them, experienced their tyranny. Roger Wil- liams writes : - " That heavenly man, Mr. Haynes, Governor of Connecticut, though he pronounced the sentence of my long banishment against me, st Cambridge, then Newtown, yet said to me, in his own house at Hartford, being then in some difference with the Bay; - I think Mr. Williams I must now confess to you that the most wise God hath provided and cut out this part of his world for a refuge and receptacle for all sorts of consciences." "1 am now under a cloud and my brother Hooker, with the Bay, as you have been; we have removed from them thus far, and yet they are not satisfied."- Letters of Roger Williams, Narr. Club, Vol. VI., 344-5.
Dr. Palfrey suggests, as a cause of this dissatisfaction, that " The Con- necticut settlers did not adopt, in their own settlement, that radical feature of the social system of Massachusetts which founded the civil franchise on church- membership." - Palfrey, Hist. N. E., I., 447.
30
THE SETTLEMENT OF WARWICK.
do. Neither is our purchase a pretence, but preceden- tial," etc. (i. e., they had an agreement for the lands precedent to any formal deed). He then repudiates the Massachusetts' claim of a right in their clients of Pawtuxet "by conquest," or "four years' possession," " their possession being a mere intrusion, as all the natives know," for " the true owners were never yet subdued." He then explains the position more fully, saying, "But we profess right [ ¿. e., title ] held in no such interest, but according to the ground of Covenant only known in its nature in the parties twixt whom it is plight, in the possessor and the possessed, arising from their accord and concurrency together with their distinct, harmonical, reciprocal and joint properties and operations of them both." "Such is the tenure that we hold, and maintain it before men and angels, and oppose [i. e., defend] it against men and devils."*
This answer, as stated, bears date November 20th, 1642, and seems clearly to indicate, that though the formal deed of conveyance had not then passed, thic territory to be deeded, the principal terms, covenants and conditions of the purchase, had already been set-
* R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 65-66.
31
PURCHASE OF INDIAN LANDS.
tled, and the right of use and possession acquired ; and it confirms the supposition that the purchase of Occupessuatuxet by John Greene was but a first step towards the principal purchase of Shawomet by Gor- ton and Greene with their companions.
These views are confirmed by the analogous state- ments and proceedings of Roger Williams as to his own purchase, who says : * " I, in the years 1634 and 1635, had several treaties with Conanicusse & Mianto- nome, the Chief Sachems of the Narragansetts, and in the end, purchased of them the lands and meadows upon the two fresh rivers, called Mooshassick and Wanasquatucket. The two Sachems having by a Deed, under their hands, dated March 24th 1637,; two years after the sale thereof, established and confirmed the bounds of these lands from the river and fields of Pawtuckqut and the great hill of Neotaconconitt on the North West, and the town of Mashapauge on the West," etc., etc. "I, having made a covenant of peaceable neighborhood with all the Sachems and na- tives around about us, and having a sense of God's
* Staples' Annals, 30, 31.
t Same date with the Deed of Aquidneck.
32
THE SETTLEMENT OF WARWICK.
merciful providence unto me in my distress, called the place Providence."
This deed of Canonicus and Miantonomi to Roger Williams bearing date 24th of March, 1637, the last day of the year, Staples says, "is the earliest convey- ance in the records of Providence," and that it is prob- able the sale two years previous, to Roger Williams was a verbal one,- and that this deed of 24th March, 1637, " is a confirmation of the precedent grant, or rather a declaration of the bounds of the lands conveyed by it."*
Now Gorton though bold and persistent, with all the courage of his convictions, and awake to the coming conflict with " the Bay," was a man of peace, a sin- cere follower of his Divine Master, and did not hesitate to sacrifice at once his house and property on the Paw- tuxet purchase, to gain that peace and independence which were to him more dear.i His purpose was clear, his plans were made, and he doubtless improved the
* Annals of Providence, 26-7.
+ " In England, through importunity, I was persuaded to speak the Word of God publicly in divers and eminent places as any were then in London." " I was invited to speak in the presence of such as had the title of Excel- lency [Cromwell (1)] and lovingly embraced, wherever I came, in the Word uttered. with the most eminent Christians in the place, etc., etc." Gorton's Letter to Nathaniel Morton. R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 147.
(1) Carlyle's Cromwell, 1., 477, 488, etc.
-
33
-
INTO THE WILDERNESS.
time between the summons and his reply to close any unsettled question in his covenants and treaty with Miantonomi. Then, alive to the power which posses- sion gives, and urged by the approach of winter, he dispatches his " Reply," to Governor Winthrop, de- claring their rightful claims and repudiating any and all jurisdiction of the Massachusetts. At the same time he does not delay a moment in the work of push- ing forward with his companions, and taking actual possession ; planting themselves in a wilderness in which no white man or subject of the Massachusetts stood, and fortifying their claims in the January fol- lowing by a formal deed, which implies previous pos- session, in the fact that it was " enacted upon the above-said parcell of land," as well as from other terms of the conveyance. * That Gorton and his com- pany had thus taken possession of Shawomet some time before the date of the deed. is made not merely probable by this declaration and the facts and circum- stances referred to, but must be inferred from his for- mal statement, " We made answer unto the writing
* The language of Miantonomi is -" I say I have sold it and possession of it given unto the men aforesaid." -- R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 253-4.
34
THE SETTLEMENT OF WARWICK.
they had sent unto us, on this wise ; which answer was made upon our removal from Mooshawset, other- wise called Providence, to ' Shawomet'"; and the time of this answer is distinctly given as " November the 20th, 1642."*
Not only is this language explicit as to this time of their removal, but he also places it in direct contrast with his previous statement that the warrant from Massachusetts of 28 September, 1642, came " before we planted upon that tract of land called 'Shaw- omet, '"t and with his subsequent statement, that the warrant of September 12th, 1643, was the first " after our removal unto and planting upon our land at Shaw- omet." ¿
He thus gives a time before, a time after and the time upon which the removal to Shawomet took place, and this not in casual statements, but as specific points in his arraignment of the Government of Massachu- setts Bay,-" a more particular and full relation," as he calls it, in his dedication to the Earl of Warwick,
* R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 60.
| R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 53. # R. I. Hist. Soc., Coll. 11., 95.
.
35
1774628
REMOVAL TO SHAWOMET.
than could be embodied in his formal appeal to the Crown .*
The evidence thus seems quite clear, that Gorton and his company, in November, 1642, removed from the Pawtuxet purchase to Shawomet. The statement in each case is equally exact, and all have the accuracy and unquestioned truthfulness of Gorton for their support.t
The confidence of your Committee in these conclu-
* R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 25.
{ Samuel Eddy, late Chief Justice of Rhode Island, and many years Secre- tary of State, says: "I have read, I believe, almost every word that is legible of the Record of this Colony from its first settlement till after the death of Gorton."
"From the first establishment of government [in R. I.,] he was almost con- stant!y in office and during a long life there is no instance of record, to my knowledge, of any reproach or censure cast upon him."
"This can hardly be said of any other settler of the Colony of any standing." " It was this fact that fixed my opinion of the general tenor of his conduct and the uprightness of his character."
" It would be a remarkable fact that a man should be an enemy to magistracy, to religion,- in short, a bad man, - and yet should constantly enjoy the confi- dence of his fellow-townsmen and receive the highest honors in their gift."
Savage's Winthrop, II., 70-71, Ed. 1853. R. I. Hist. Tracts, No. XVII., 5-8.
Thomas Durfee, Chief Justice of Rhode Island, says : " The list of the earlier judges includes, along with the names of many forgotten worthies, the historic names of Roger Williams, John Clarke, William Coddington, and Samuel Gorton."
R. I. Hist. Tracts, No. XVIII., 10.
Dr. George E. Ellis, while commending Gorton's "honest and noble inde- pendence," says : " His correspondence with John Winthrop, Jr., in his old age, as given in the Winthrop Papers, presents him in a most charming light."
.
36
THE SETTLEMENT OF WARWICK.
sions is confirmed by the fact, that since the foregoing was written, they find that the late Chief Justice Brayton, in his " Defence of Gorton,"" fixes the ter- mination of Gorton's residence at Pawtuxet, on the 20th of November, 1642, thus giving the same con- struction your Committee have given to Gorton's lan- guage. The reasonableness of the construction may be inferred from the fact that it was in each case wholly independent of the other.
Judge Brayton also says, " In the beginning of the winter of 1642-3, they took up their abode at Shaw- omet and prepared themselves for the coming winter, and before the expiration of sixty days received their conveyance from Miantonomi and set down upon their own purchased possession." These sixty days must have been reckoned between 13th of November, 1642, and 12th of January, 1642-3, following ; and this state- ment, though somewhat incongruous in its use of the term " winter," would place their removal to Shawo- met either the last part of November, or very early in December; at all events, within the year 1642.
In view, therefore, of the foregoing considerations,
* R. I. Hist. Tracts, No. XVII.
37
CONCLUSION.
and of the main facts which may be briefly summed up as follows, viz .:
1st. That by the name Shawomet on the seal, was intended the whole of Warwick as representing the western division of the State,-
2d. That John Greene had taken Occupessua- tuxet, (in Warwick,) for a home and settlement by a formal deed as carly as the first of October, 1642,-
3d. That " Old Style " being legal English Style, at the period in question, we are bound to accept the date of Gorton's deed of the 12th of January, 1642, as a legal and unimpeachable date,- and
4th. That we have the written statement of Gorton himself, that the " Reply " to their " Neighbors of the Massachusetts," of November 20, 1642, was made " upon the time of their removal to Shawomet,"-
your Committee are of the opinion, that, not only John Greene but also Samuel Gorton and his com- panions, became actual settlers within "Shawomet alias Warwick,"# in the year 1642, and that whether one holds to " Old Style " or to " New Style, " there is no good or sufficient reason to question the pro-
* R. I. Hist. Soc. Coll., II., 217.
38
THE SETTLEMENT OF WARWICK.
priety or truthfulness of the devices or dates on the scal of the Society, or for advising or adopting any change therein.
All which is respectfully submitted.
WILLIAM D. ELY, JOHN A. HOWLAND, S Committee.
PROVIDENCE, October 1, 1887.
F84592.26
60 57
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