Settlement on Rhode-Island commenced—Mrs. Hutchinson—settlement at Pawtuxet.

The little colony at Providence was rapidly increased by the arrival of persons from the other colonies and from Europe, attracted thither by the freedom which the conscience there enjoyed. So tenaciously was this principle held, that the town disfranchised one of its citizens, for refusing to allow his wife to attend meeting as often as she wished.^[173] This act has been censured, as a deviation from their principles, because it inflicted a civil punishment on a man, for conduct which he might allege to have sprung from conscientious scruples. But this inconsistency, if it was such, was an error on the right side. The woman might have failed in duty to her husband, by an obstinate contempt of his just authority, and a disregard of his reasonable wishes. But the inhabitants of Providence were right in adhering to the great principle, that our duties to God are paramount to all human obligations; and that the right to worship him, in the manner which we deem most acceptable to him, is not, and cannot be, surrendered, even by the marriage covenant.

A settlement was made, in 1637–8, at Portsmouth, on the north side of the island which gives name to the State. The settlers were, like Mr. Williams and his companions, exiles or emigrants from Massachusetts. The cause of their removal may be traced to the singular ferment which arose in Massachusetts, on account of Mrs. Hutchinson.

This lady, with her husband, came to Boston, from England, in 1636. She possessed talents, which she appears to have felt no reluctance to display. She was treated with great respect by Mr. Cotton, and by other distinguished individuals, particularly by Governor Vane. It was the custom of the members of the church to meet every week, to repeat Mr. Cotton’s sermons, and converse on religious doctrines. Mrs. Hutchinson commenced a meeting of the females, in which she repeated the sermons, with her own comments. Her eloquence was admired, and her meetings were thronged. Her vanity was inflamed, and she proceeded to announce opinions and doctrines, which soon became the topic of conversation, and the source of vehement contentions throughout the colony. Parties were formed, among the ministers as well as the people; Mr. Cotton himself being inclined to the side of Mrs. Hutchinson, while most of the ministers and magistrates opposed her. The opinions ascribed to her related to such points as the nature of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the person of the believer, and the connection between sanctification and justification. From these opinions others, still more heretical, were supposed to flow, and, as usually happens, the inferences which men chose to form were considered as substantial errors actually held by Mrs. Hutchinson.^[174]

The alarm spread through the colony. The ministers thronged to Boston, to confer with Mr. Cotton and others. Long discussions ensued, without effect, and at length it was resolved to try the virtue of a general synod. It was accordingly held at Newtown, (now Cambridge) on the 30th of August, 1637, and was attended not only by all the ministers and messengers of the churches, but by the magistrates. Three weeks were spent in debates, during which the mild spirit of Winthrop often interposed to soften the asperity of controversy. The synod collected, with great industry, all the erroneous opinions then to be found in the country, amounting to eighty-two, and finished its session, by condemning these errors, and pronouncing its judgment on certain points of church discipline.^[175]

The effect of the synod was the usual one, of increasing the pertinacity with which the different parties held their opinions. Mrs. Hutchinson continued her lectures, and nearly all the members of the Boston church became her converts. She forsook the public assemblies, and set up a meeting in her own house. She accused the greater part of the ministers in the country as preachers of error. The civil power now interposed, to apply the remedy for heresy, which has often been used, when argument had failed. Mrs. Hutchinson was summoned before the General Court, and many of the ministers. She was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be banished. The church excommunicated her, though she is said to have recanted her errors. Rev. Mr. Wheelwright, her brother-in-law, who had publicly espoused her cause, was likewise banished.

The Court proceeded to a more extraordinary measure. Nearly sixty citizens of Boston, and a number in other towns, were required to surrender their arms and ammunition to a person appointed by the Court, under a penalty of ten pounds; and were forbidden, under the same penalty, to buy or borrow any arms or ammunition until further orders. The pretence, as set forth in the act,^[176] was a fear, that the principles which they had learned of Mrs. Hutchinson and Mr. Wheelwright might impel them to disturb the peace of the community, as certain persons in Germany had done. Though anabaptism is not named, it is easy to perceive, that this dreadful phantom, which so haunted the imaginations of our ancestors, was, on this, as on other occasions, made the apology for oppressive measures. That it was a mere pretext, in this case, we have the best reason to believe, for Winthrop^[177] honestly attributes the act of disarming these men, to the part which most of them had taken in a remonstrance to the General Court against its measures in relation to Mr. Wheelwright. The act itself proves the same point, for it provides, that if any of them would acknowledge their guilt in signing the “seditious libel,” they should be exempted from its operation. The General Court was as jealous of its prerogatives as King James I.; and to prevent these individuals from expressing their disapprobation by acts more energetic than a remonstrance, the Court thought it prudent to deprive them of offensive weapons. By an act, passed at the same session, a severe punishment was decreed for those persons who should speak evil of the judges or magistrates.

These transactions have been recited, not only from their connection with the settlement of Rhode-Island, but because they furnish ample illustrations of the multiform mischiefs which ensue from an interference by the civil magistrate in the affairs of the church. Had Mrs. Hutchinson been permitted, without notice, to expound and prophecy as she pleased, it is probable that her zeal would have soon spent itself, if unsupplied with fuel by her vanity. Or if she had been left to the salutary discipline of the church, as she would now be, no serious effects would have followed. But the injudicious excitement among the clergy, and still more, the improper conduct of the magistrates, gave importance to the affair, and produced a convulsion in the Commonwealth, which would have ruined a community less intelligent and pious, and the perils of which may be inferred from the act of the General Court, disarming a portion of its citizens. The Court, having assumed the office of inquisitors into the religious opinions of men, was forced, by a regard to consistency, to prosecute its measures to the end, and punish the heretics by disfranchisement and expulsion from the Commonwealth. Thus were the affections of many of the inhabitants alienated from each other, and from the government, and the colony was deprived of a large number of its citizens.

But God, whose high prerogative it is to educe good from evil, made this unhappy feud in Massachusetts the occasion of establishing a new settlement on Rhode-Island. Many of the individuals who had been disarmed, and others who were banished, removed from Massachusetts. Some of them went to Connecticut, others to New-Hampshire, and several to Providence. But a number of persons, among whom was John Clarke, a learned physician, agreed to migrate together, and requested him and some others to select a suitable place. They accordingly proceeded to New-Hampshire, in the autumn or winter of 1637, the preceding summer having been so warm as to induce them to seek a more northerly position. But the severity of the winter in New-Hampshire turned their thoughts towards a more genial clime. Mr. Clarke and his associates accordingly proceeded southward, with a design to settle on Long-Island, or on Delaware Bay. But at Providence, they were kindly received by Mr. Williams, who advised them to form a settlement at Sowams (now called Barrington, a few miles from Providence) or at Aquetneck,^[178] (now called Rhode-Island.) But as they had resolved to remove beyond the limits both of Plymouth and of Massachusetts, Mr. Williams, Mr. Clarke, and two others went to Plymouth, to ascertain whether they claimed either of these places. They were treated with respect at Plymouth, and were informed, that Sowams was claimed by that colony, but that Aquetneck was out of their jurisdiction.

They returned to Providence, and on the 7th of March, 1637–8, the following instrument was drawn up, and signed by nineteen individuals, all but two of whom were named in the act to disarm certain citizens of Massachusetts:

“We, whose names are underwritten, do swear, solemnly, in the presence of Jehovah, to incorporate ourselves into a body politic, and as he shall help us, will submit our persons, lives and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and to all those most perfect and absolute laws of his, given us in his holy word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby.

By the friendly assistance of Mr. Williams, Aquetneck and other islands in the Narraganset Bay, were purchased of the sachems, Canonicus and Miantinomo, on consideration of forty fathoms of white beads. The deed of cession was signed by the sachems, March 24, 1637–8.^[179]

The natives who resided at Aquetneck soon after agreed, on receiving ten coats and twenty hoes, to remove before the next winter.^[180]

On the beautiful island, the adventurers commenced their settlement, under the simple compact which we have quoted. The northern part of the island was first occupied, and called Portsmouth. The number of the colonists being increased during the summer, a portion of the inhabitants removed the next spring, to the southwestern part of the island, where they commenced the town of Newport. Both towns, however, were considered as belonging to the same colony. In imitation of the form of government which existed for a time among the Jews, the inhabitants chose Mr. Coddington to be their magistrate, with the title of Judge; and a few months afterwards, they elected three elders,^[181] to assist him. This form of government continued till March 12, 1640, when they chose Mr. Coddington, Governor; Mr. Brenton, Deputy Governor; and Messrs. Easton, Coggeshall, William Hutchinson, and John Porter, assistants; Robert Jefferies, Treasurer, and William Dyer, Secretary. This form of government continued, till the charter was obtained. The fertility of the soil, and the pleasantness of the climate, soon attracted many people to the settlement, and the island in a few years became so populous, as to send out colonists to the adjacent shores.^[182]

To this settlement, Mr. Hutchinson, with his family, removed from Massachusetts. There is no evidence that Mrs. Hutchinson occasioned any disturbance at Rhode-Island. Her husband was elected one of the assistants, in 1640. He died in 1642, and his wife, for some reason not satisfactorily explained, removed to the neighborhood of New-York, where she was killed by the Indians, the next year, with all the members of her family, amounting to sixteen persons, except one daughter, who was carried into captivity.

It is proper to mention in this place, with special honor the important aid of Mr. Williams in founding this settlement. With that prompt humanity, which always distinguished him, he used all his influence on behalf of this band of exiles; and it was, without question, his intimacy and favor with the sachems which procured the cession of Aquetneck. He himself asserted this fact, in a letter written in 1658:

“I have acknowledged (and have and shall endeavor to maintain) the rights and properties of every inhabitant of Rhode-Island in peace; yet since there is so much sound and noise of purchase and purchasers, I judge it not unseasonable to declare the rise and bottom of the planting of Rhode-Island in the fountain of it. It was not price nor money that could have purchased Rhode-Island. Rhode-Island was obtained by love; by the love and favor which that honorable gentleman, Sir Henry Vane, and myself, had with that great sachem Miantinomo, about the league which I procured between the Massachusetts English, &c. and the Narragansets, in the Pequod war. It is true, I advised a gratuity to be presented to the sachem and the natives; and because Mr. Coddington and the rest of my loving countrymen were to inhabit the place, and to be at the charge of the gratuities, I drew up a writing in Mr. Coddington’s name, and in the names of such of my loving countrymen as came up with him, and put it into as sure a form as I could at that time (amongst the Indians) for the benefit and assurance of the present and future inhabitants of the island. This I mention, that as that truly noble Sir Henry Vane hath been so great an instrument in the hand of God for procuring of this island from the barbarians, as also for procuring and confirming of the charter, so it may by all due thankful acknowledgment be remembered and recorded of us and ours, which reap and enjoy the sweet fruits of so great benefits, and such unheard of liberties amongst us.” Backus, vol. i. p. 91.

“In another manuscript,” (says Mr. Benedict, vol. i. p. 459) he tells us, “The Indians were very shy and jealous of selling the lands to any, and chose rather to make a grant of them to such as they affected; but at the same time, expected such gratuities and rewards as made an Indian gift oftentimes a very dear bargain.” “And the colony in 1666,” says Mr. Callender, “averred, that though the favor Mr. Williams had with Miantinomo was the great means of procuring the grants of the land, yet the purchase had been dearer than of any lands in New-England.”

Mr. Williams’ conduct on this occasion was worthy of his character, and entitled him to more gratitude than he seems to have received from some of the objects of his good offices.

About this time, a number of the inhabitants of Providence, among whom was Mr. Benedict Arnold, removed to Pawtuxet, a place four miles south of Providence, and included within the territory ceded to Mr. Williams. These individuals were doubtless induced to fix their residence there, by the luxuriant meadows on the banks of the river, which furnished pasture for their cattle.