[43]. Williams probably sold his half of Prudence to obtain money to pay his expenses to England, when he went to make application for a charter. The purchase was in the name of a friend and co-partner of Winthrop, one Parker, a merchant of Boston.
[44]. The date ordinarily assigned to this patent, “Aug. 19, 1644,” must be erroneous. It was probably granted two years later, when Gorton was in England.
[45]. The manner in which the authorities of Massachusetts Bay recognized this safe-conduct was characteristic. Under date of “13th May, 1648,” the following entry appears in the Colonial Records: “Vppon the request of the Earle of Warwicke, the Court allowes Samuell Gorton, now a shipboard, one full weeke after the date hereof, for the transportatiō of himselfe & his goods through or iurisdictiō to the place of his dwelling, he demeaning himselfe inoffensively, accordinge to the contents of the Ŝd earle’s l’re, & that the marshals or some of them shall shew him a coppie of this order, or fix it to the maine mast of the shippe in which he is.”—Mass. Records, Vol. III, p. 127.
[46]. Warwick was not named in the Charter, as the town was not organized when it was granted; but it united with the other towns in 1647, in the first General Assembly of the entire Colony.
[47]. These were the names given the contesting parties of white men by the Indians. The latter, Roger Williams says, means “coat wearers,” which leads Dr. Fiske to query whether the Gortonists habitually went in their shirt sleeves!
[48]. Peage, or wampum, was legal tender in Rhode Island until 1662, and doubtless still passed current among the Indians. The bill of sale bears the name of Pomham’s son, but in its terms binds Pomham as well as his heirs.
[49]. The Charter of 1643-44 provided “that the laws, constitutions, punishments for the civil government of the said Plantation be conformable to the laws of England so far as the nature and constitution of that place would admit.”
[50]. Gorton’s legal acquirements were evidently superior to those of any other man in the Colony. He was one of the first Judges of the Colony.
[51]. Historical Records, Vol. I, p. 166.
[52]. William Arnold and the Pawtuxet malcontents.