SAMUELL GORTON The Rhode Island Series. ------- 1. MARY DYER OF RHODE ISLAND, THE QUAKER MARTYR THAT WAS HANGED ON BOSTON COMMON JUNE 1, 1660. BY JUDGE HORATIO ROGERS. 2. A SUMMER VISIT OF THREE RHODE ISLANDERS TO THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY IN 1651: ITS INNOCENT PURPOSE AND ITS PAINFUL CONSEQUENCES. BY HENRY MELVILLE KING. 3. SAMUELL GORTON: A FORGOTTEN FOUNDER OF OUR LIBERTIES; FIRST SETTLER OF WARWICK. BY LEWIS G. JANES. ------- IN PREPARATION: 4. THOMAS OLNEY, JUNIOR, TOWN CLERK. BY EDWARD FIELD. ------- _Uniform, 12mo., cloth, $1.00 net each._ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SAMUELL GORTON: A FORGOTTEN FOUNDER OF OUR LIBERTIES FIRST SETTLER OF WARWICK, R. I. BY LEWIS G. JANES AUTHOR OF “A STUDY OF PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY,” ETC. “More ideas which have become National, have emanated from the little Colony of Rhode Island, than from all the other American States.”—GEORGE BANCROFT, in Address before the New York Historical Society. PROVIDENCE PRESTON AND ROUNDS 1896 COPYRIGHT, 1896 BY PRESTON AND ROUNDS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRESS OF E. L. FREEMAN & SONS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. ------------------------------------ PREFACE It has been the misfortune of Rhode Island to have had its earlier history written and read under the bias of prejudices engendered by the controversies which led to its settlement. Justice has not yet been done to the prescience and statesmanship of the remarkable men who were the builders of the first Commonwealth in the world’s history dedicated to Soul Liberty. Among these men, none were possessed of a personality more striking and picturesque than the subject of this paper, Samuell Gorton. The cordial reception of this brief historical sketch by the distinguished audience which gave it a hearing before the Rhode Island Historical Society has induced me to consent to its publication. It has since been carefully revised, and a few doubtful points have been cleared up as well as the character of all available data will permit.