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Thomas Gorges arrived in the course of the summer; Winthrop' says of him, that "he was a young gentleman of the Inns of court, a kinsman of Sir F. Gorges, and sent by him with a commission for the government of his province of Somersetshire. He was sober and well disposed, and was very careful to take advice of our magistrates how to manage his affairs." He held his first court at Saco, Sept. 8, 1640, assisted by the counselors before mentioned. At this session there were pending twenty-eight civil actions, of which nine were jury trials; and thirteen indictments, which were tried by the court without the intervention of a jury; four of them were against George Burdett, minister of Agamenticus, for adultery, breach of the peace, and incontinency; and what appears singular, Burdett recovered judgment in two actions for slander against persons for reporting the very facts for which he was at the same court found guilty and punished. The court passed an order that the general court should be held at Saco every year, on the 25th of June; they also divided the province into two parts, one extending from the Piscataqua to Kennebunk; the other from Kennebunk to Sagadahoc; and in each division established an inferior court, to be held three times a year, which had cognizance of all cases except "pleas of land, felonies of death, and treason." An order also was passed that all the inhabitants "who have any children unbaptised should have them baptised as soon as any minister is settled in any of their plantations."

The government seemed now to have been placed on a respectable footing, and to have afforded hope of permanency; but in

1 Winthrop, vol. ii. p. 9.

2 York Records.

*[ Burdett came from Yarmouth, County of Norfolk, England. He took the freeman's oath in Salem in 1635, where he preached near two years. He mov. ed to Dover, N. H., in 1637 or 1638, and on occasion of a quarrel there he came to York in Maine. He left a wife and children in England, to which, after these trials in our courts, he probably returned.]

1642, the civil war broke out in England, the influence of which extended to the colonies and destroyed all that Gorges had so long labored to establish. He was a firm episcopalian and royalist, and joined the king's party with the same zeal which governed all his former life; although he was more than seventy years old, he did not hesitate to buckle on his armour and trust himself once more to the chance of war in defence of his principles and the person of the king. But interested individuals were not idle to take advantage of this state of things to aggrandize themselves, and to gratify feelings of jealousy and hatred against those who were unfriendly to them or stood in their way. Among such, circumstantial evidence would seem to place our first settler, George Cleeves. Early in 1643, we find him in England, and on the 7th of April of that year,' Col. Alexander Rigby, an ardent republican, and a member of parliament, purchased of the surviving proprietors of the province of Ligonia, or a part of them, a conveyance of their charter. It is inferred that he was stimulated to this undertaking by Cleeves. Cleeves probably took advantage of political prejudices in England, to gain power in the province for himself; he had not been noticed by Gorges among the officers of his government; and with Trelawny and his agent he had openly quarreled. He therefore addressed himself to Rigby, who had warmly espoused the republican side, and no doubt persuaded him to engage in the speculation of purchasing Ligonia, which was a dormant title, and under existing circumstances, but a nominal interest, in the hope that by the aid of political machinery, it might be elevated to a real and valuable estate. We are inclined to the opinion that Cleeves was active in this measure, because he was appointed by Rigby, his first deputy for the government of the province, and because he succeeded in obtaining a confirmation from him of the valuable grant in Falmouth, originally made to him by Gorges in 1637. Another

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1 Sullivan, p. 312.

circumstance which throws suspicion upon Cleeves, is an attempt upon the character of Richard Vines, the leading supporter of Gorges. On the 28th of April, 1643, he procured a commission from the parliament, directed to Gov. Winthrop, Arthur Macworth, Henry Bode,' and others, to examine into certain articles exhibited by him to parliament against Vines. It appeared at the court held in Saco in October, 1645, that Cleeves had himself affixed the names of the principal planters, viz: Macworth, Watts, Aulger, Hamans, West, Wadleigh, Wear, Robinson, etc. to the petition to parliament without any authority from them, and which they severally under oath in court, disclaimed; declaring "that they neither saw nor knew of said articles until the said George Cleeves did come last out of England," and that they "could not testify any such things as are exhibited in the said petition." It does not appear that Gov. Winthrop accepted the commission, and Macworth and Bode both refused to act. Cleeves arrived at Boston in 1643, with his commission from Rigby, to act as his deputy in the government of Ligonia. Knowing that he should have to contend against an authority already established, he petitioned the general court of Massachusetts to afford him their protection. This they declined doing, but were willing that the governor should write an unofficial letter in his favor. They wished, probably, to render what assistance they could to a representative of the popular party in England, without involving themselves in the result of its ill success. The letter of the governor did not have the desired effect of procuring the submission of Gorges' friends to the authority of Cleeves; for when Cleeves proclaimed his commission at Casco, and called a court there, Vines, the deputy of Gorges, opposed his proceeding, and called a court at Saco. The inhabitants of course divided, those of Casco principally joined Cleeves, although some dissented as

1 Bode lived in Wells.

2

2 Winthrop, vol. i. p. 154. Hubbard, vol. i. p. 368,

appears by an order of the court, held at Saco, October, 1645, assuring them of protection. Vines was resolutely supported by Macworth, in Casco, and, it may be supposed, by the principal inhabitants of Saco and Black Point, and he was elected deputy-governor for the following year. In this juncture, Cleeves wrote to Vines, that he would submit the decision of the question, as to jurisdiction, to the government of Massachusetts, until a final determination could be had from England; but Vines not only declined the arbitration, but imprisoned Richard Tucker, who was the bearer of the communication, and required a bond for his appearance at court and his good behavior, before he released him. Upon this violence, Cleeves and his party, about thirty in number, wrote to the governor of Massachusetts for assistance, and offered themselves as parties to the confederacy of the united colonies. The governor returned an answer unfavorable to their claim for admission to the confederacy, objecting that "they had an order not to receive any but such as were in a church way.' Afterward in April, 1644, Vines went to Boston with a letter from the commissioners of Sir F. Gorges, and between twenty and thirty other inhabitants of the province; but without effect; they would render aid to neither party; and although their predelictions were undoubtedly on the side of Rigby, with their usual cautious policy they withheld themselves from any interference in the disputes here, recommending both parties to live in peace, until the controversy should be definitely settled by the authorities in England. Cleeves continued to maintain a feeble sway, and must eventually have submitted to the authority of Gorges, had not the party of Rigby been triumphant in England; the distress to which he was reduced will appear

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1 "Ordered by joint consent that we will aid and protect the inhabitants of Casco bay as namely, Mr. Arthur Macworth and all others in confederacy with us there, and their estates from all opposition, wrong, and injury, that may be offered them by Mr. George Cleeves or any under him."-York Records.

2 Winthrop, vol. ii. p. 155.

from his letter to the government of Massachusetts of July 3, 1645. "To the honoured governour and deputy governour, and court of assistants of the Massachusetts colony, these. Honoured sirs, may it please you, I have lately received from Mr. Rigby, letters of instruction and advice to proceed in the government of Ligonia, and because we are opposed by Mr. Vines and others, his confederates, that we could not proceed according to our instructions and being daily threatened, and are still in danger of our lives, and also to have ourselves seized on by them for not submitting to a pretended authority to them given by Sir F. Gorges, without any lawful commission; and thereupon we are in danger of being ruined and undone, unless the Lord do move your hearts to protect us with your assistance. I do not hereby presume to direct you, but humbly crave leave to show mine opinion, which is, that if you will be pleased to write but your general letter to our opponents to deter them from their illegal proceedings, and a letter to our people of Ligonia, to advise and encourage them, that notwithstanding Mr. Vines and the rest do oppose, that they may and ought to adhere to Mr. Rigby's lawful authority. I hope you may not need to put yourselves to any further trouble to finish the work, but in so doing you will much oblige Mr. Rigby unto you all, who doubtless would have sent over other order at this time, if he had known the injuries offered him and us. These letters now come are in answer of my letters sent to him on my first arrival and not of my last nor of the *** of the commissioners, as you may see by the date of them. I herein shall send you Mr. Rigby's letter of request to you and also a letter of his to me, whereby you may see how the parliament approves of his proceeding, and that we may expect further orders forthwith; and in the interim we do most humbly beseech you to afford us such speedy assistance as the necessity of our present condition requires, and we shall forever petition the throne of

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