IXCONCLUSION
In conclusion, what shall we say were the peculiar and distinctive contributions of Samuell Gorton to the Commonwealth which he helped to found, and the life of our later day? I answer, first, to him more than to any other we are indebted for the recognition and establishment of the principle that English law and the rights of English citizenship are coextensive with English supremacy; and that to secure these rights in the Colonies, together with the privileges of local administration, a charter from the Home Government was necessary. This principle had beenignored or denied by Roger Williams,[79]and violated by the governments of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. Samuell Gorton affirmed it in season and out of season; in its defence suffered imprisonment and stripes, and did not rest until by the aid of Roger Williams at last convinced by his insistency and by the stern logic of events, it was accepted by the Commonwealth, affirmed in its Charter, and embodied in its legislation.
So firmly was this principle subsequently engrafted on our Colonial system, that it became our strongest defence against the encroachments of the Mother Country during the Revolutionary struggleand gave us an effectivepou stofor the Declaration of Independence. Nor did the severing of the relations with the government of England rupture this thread of law and equity which bound us to our historic past. Ours became the heritage of English Common Law: ours as well as England’s those historic rights and privileges of citizenship handed down from Magna Charta.
I answer, secondly, to Samuell Gorton more than to any other, all generations of Americans will owe the insistent affirmation and consistent illustration of the principle of religious individualism which is the logical outcome of the Protestant idea—the principle which strips off the conventional reliance on ritual and organization, and places the individual soul face to face with the problems of life and duty. In our owngeneration, Ralph Waldo Emerson has been the clearest exponent of this principle. Gorton was the premature John the Baptist of New England Transcendentalism.
No portrait, or adequate description of this forgotten Founder of our Liberties has been handed down to our time. The writer of his brief biography tells us that “His bearing was courteous, his feelings lively, his mind vigorous and well-informed.”[80]From such hints aswe may obtain from various sources we may picture him as a man of tall stature, marked features and gentlemanly address; blue-eyed—a typical Saxon; of an earnest and sympathetic nature; persuasive of speech in conversation and exhortation, and freely emphasizing his thoughts with appropriate gestures, quick to resent injustice, and bold in his denunciation of wrong-doers,[81]—more eloquent and effective in his spontaneous utterances and unstudied efforts than in the formal and labored style of his written treatises.
Of his domestic life we know but little. From his kindly mention of his wife and children in the final disposal of his property, we have a right to infer that his family relations were harmonious.The reverent regard of his sons for his wishes, long after his decease, shows that the respect which they bore for him was deep and lasting. Besides the three sons, his family included twice that number of daughters. These were all married at the time of his decease, and the fact that they, conjointly with their husbands, were remembered in the final disposal of his property indicates his affectionate regard for all the branches of his household. One of the daughters, with the remarkable Scriptural name of Mahershallalhashbaz, married Daniel Cole, and removed to Glen Cove, Long Island, then known as Moscheto Cove, and has numerous descendants still residing in that vicinity.[82]
More than most men, Samuell Gorton has been honored in the persons of his descendants. His oldest son, Captain Samuell Gorton, succeeded in some respects, to the position and influence of his father and held many posts of honor in his Town and State. Benjamin, the youngest son, was one of the founders of the neighboring Town of East Greenwich. Othniel Gorton, a lineal descendant of Samuell Gorton, was several times chosen to the General Assembly from the Town of Warwick, and was Speaker of the House of Representatives at intervals during and subsequent to the Revolutionary War. Gen. Nathaniel Greene, next to George Washington, the most eminent military leader in the contest with Great Britain, traced his lineage directly to John Greene and Samuell Gorton, noble founders of the libertieswhich he fought to sustain; as did also Col. Christopher Greene, of Revolutionary fame. Albert Gorton Greene, a descendant of John Greene, Samuell Gorton and Randall Holden, three of the original settlers of Warwick, became a judge of the Municipal Court in the City of Providence, and is well known to three generations as the author of “Old Grimes,” and other popular ballads and poems. The late Governor Henry Lippitt, and the present Chief Magistrate of Rhode Island, the Hon. Charles Warren Lippitt, as well as the late Lieut.-Gov. Samuel G. Arnold, the historian of the State, are direct descendants of Samuell Gorton. The Rev. James Gorton, a Baptist minister of independent views now living, is a frequent contributor on social and religious topics to periodical literature. Dr. DavidAllyn Gorton, of Brooklyn, N. Y., another living descendant of Samuell Gorton, has won an enviable reputation in the practice of medicine, was formerly editor of the National Quarterly Review, is the author of an able work on “The Monism of Man,” and numerous philosophical essays, as well as a treatise on “The Principles of Mental Hygiene,” and voluminous contributions to medical literature. In recent years he has contributed several able papers to the collections of the Brooklyn Ethical Association. His son, Dr. Eliot Gorton, is well known as an alienist and an able writer on this and kindred topics, as is also Dr. W. A. Gorton, of the Butler Asylum for the Insane, in Providence. Charles Gorton, of the same city, who owns the only complete original edition of Samuell Gorton’s published works known to existin this country, is a tireless bibliophilist and book collector, the possessor of invaluable literary and archæological treasures. Dexter Gorton is one of the most respected citizens of Providence, a man of sterling integrity, for many years Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of that City, now one of its Fire Commissioners, and has several times been chosen to the City Council. The descendants of Samuell Gorton are also widely distributed in other portions of the country. In the independence of mind and literary ability which they have often illustrated, the believer in heredity will recognize the out-cropping of the same sterling qualities which characterized the first of their honored name who made his home in the new world.
The house which Samuell Gortonerected and where he spent his later years was a land-mark in Old Warwick until within the last half century. From its door his eyes could rest on the placid waters of Warwick Cove, and beyond the meadow could see his cattle grazing upon the rounded uplands of Warwick Neck. The surrounding scenery is restful to the eye, and invites the thoughtful contemplation of the deep things of life in which his soul delighted. A short time since, I visited the spot, and conversed with the oldest representative of four generations of his descendants, now occupying the ancestral acres. I walked up the hill-side back of the house which now occupies the site of the old Gorton homestead, to the little family graveyard where tradition says that Samuell Gorton was laid to rest with the patent of the Town of Warwick which heobtained in England,—a nobler decoration than a royal order—upon his breast. No monumental stone—not even a green mound or an over-arching tree—now marks the sacred bit of earth where his body long since turned to dust.
All around, however, are the gracious evidences that his life and labors were not vainly spent. The prosperity of the town which he founded and the Commonwealth which he helped to build, constitute his most enduring monument. South, lies the quiet hamlet of East Greenwich, of which his son was one of the founders, built in part upon land once owned by Samuell Gorton. West, also, lie the rural towns of Coventry and West Greenwich, the soil of which was largely covered by his original purchase from Miantonomi. What fortunes have been made where he found awilderness and out of it wrought a humble home for his declining years! What untold happiness has filled the throbbing hearts of the many generations that have come after him as they have looked out upon the pleasant acres, honestly bought of their aboriginal possessors, and bravely held as a heritage to his posterity!
The Commonwealth which he loved and served so well has proudly held up the banner of Soul Liberty guarded and consecrated by Righteous Law, until its beautiful symbol[83]has carried Hope and Safety to the uttermost parts of our American Union. Could this Founder of our Liberties look down upon these peaceful and prosperous scenes, and ponder upon their vast and beneficent significance,hardly would his unselfish soul miss the monumental stone which yet a grateful community shall raise to his fragrant memory. In thankfulness of heart he would bless the Power which has wrought so marvelously in him and in those who have followed in his footsteps, and murmur in grateful acknowledgment, “Yea, Lord, I have seen of the travail of my soul, and am satisfied.”