USA > Rhode Island > A short history of Rhode Island > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
199
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
midshipmen of the Senegal man-of-war which was lying in the harbor, and some of the citizens. A citizen, Henry Sparker, was run through the body by an officer named Thomas Careless. Care- less was indicted for murder, but acquitted on trial by the Superior Court on the plea of self- defence. Collisions occurred at Boston, all of which served to fan the flame of discontent. To hasten the crisis a regiment supported by a naval force was sent to overawe the rebellious town.
At the June session of the General Assembly (1758) an address was voted to John Dickinson for his "Letters of a Farmer." In closing it they "hope that the conduct of the colonies on this occasion will be peaceable, prudent, firm and joint." Resistance was becoming a familiar idea, and one of the most significant ways of express- ing it was by liberty trees. A large elm in front of Olney's tavern, in Providence, was dedicated in the presence of an enthusiastic crowd, and an oration embodying the popular sentiment pro- nounced by Silas Downer.
In the September session several important State papers were prepared, and the withholding of the war money complained of as a great injus- tice. Still in the midst of this growing disloyalty the King was always spoken of with affection and respect.
While attention was thus anxiously directed to England, purely domestic interests were not forgotten. The deputy-governor's salary was
200
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
fixed at fifteen pounds, half that of the gov- ernor. An educational society was incorporated at Providence under the name of Whipple Hall. Laws relative to real estate were passed, making it liable for debt after the death of the holder. School and church lands were exempted from taxation, and Trinity Church, in Newport, was in- corporated, the first incorporation of a church in Rhode Island. An act was passed, also, wherein the old policy of protecting the river fish was changed, and the Scituate Furnace Company al- lowed to keep up the dam in the spring. In a previous year a general estimate of ratable estates had been ordered. In 1769 it was re- ported and found to amount to two million one hundred and eleven thousand two hundred and ninety-five pounds ten shillings and sevenpence, or seven million thirty-seven thousand six hun- dred and fifty-two dollars, at the current value of lawful money, six shillings to a dollar, which was made by statute the basis of taxation
This was the year of the transit of Venus, to which astronomers were looking forward with deep interest. In this band of observers Rhode Island was represented by Governor Hopkins and other unprofessional scientists in Providence, and by Ezra Stiles of Newport-and here we again meet the name of Abraham Redwood, who was never either governor or deputy-governor, but still lives in fresh remembrance as founder of the Redwood Library. He furnished the instruments
201
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
for the Newport observation. The local memory of this event is still preserved in Providence by the name of the street in which the observatory stood. The latitude of Providence was found to be 41°, 50', 41" ; its longitude 71°, 16' west from Greenwich.
Meanwhile the current was daily sitting more decidedly towards armed resistance. Opinions which four years before had been cautiously whispered in corners, now formed the chief topic of declamation in every private and public gather- ing. Virginia passed unanimously another series of resolutions more decided than the first, and sent copies of them to every colonial assembly. Rhode Island thanked her through the Governor. The Wilkes riots in London strengthened the hands of the opposition, and Lord Hillsborough gave assurance at a meeting of several colonial agents that the idea of drawing a revenue from America had been given up, and the offensive revenue act would in all but the tax on tea be repealed. Ministers failed to see that it was an inherent right, not a sum of money for which the colonists were contending. And in this con- tention they were prepared to go all lengths.
There was smuggling it was true, and thereby a constant loss to the revenue, but the method of enforcing the revenue laws was vexatious and intolerable to a free people. The officers em- ployed in collecting the revenue belonged to a class immemoriably odious, and even where the
202
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
collection was entrusted to officers of the Royal Navy it was conducted with an insolence and dis- regard of the rights and feelings of the colonists which made it doubly odious. Things had already reached the pass at which compromises become impossible. Either the King or the peo- ple must yield. Fortunately for mankind victory was where the young fresh life lay, with the colonists.
Among those who had made themselves most offensive in their endeavors to suppress the con- traband trade was Captain William Reid, of the armed sloop Liberty, which was cruising in quest of smugglers in Long Island Sound and Narra- gansett Bay. Under the pretext of putting down illicit trade he had sorely annoyed legitimate commerce. After bearing with his annoyances till they could be borne no longer, the people of Newport seized his vessel, scuttled and sank her, cut down her mast and burnt her boat. This was the first overt act of the War of Independence. Proclamations were issued and rewards offered, but the offenders were never detected. Another wrong inflicted by the revenue officers was in claiming higher fees than were allowed by law. After bearing this also till their patience gave out, the merchants of Newport banded together to resist the imposition.
The question of renewing the non-importation agreement came up for decision. New York, which on this occasion had taken the lead, was
203
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
for extending them "indefinitely until every portion of the revenue act shall be repealed." Boston followed the example. In Providence and throughout the country opinion was divided, but after much discussion nearly all concurred in admitting everything but tea, and Newport brought down the indignation of the other colo- nies upon her by admitting prohibited articles.
In these same days the chronicle records a murrain among the cattle and hydrophobia among the dogs. From the first, relief was sought by forbidding the exportation of cattle from the island, from the last by giving general leave to kill all dogs running at large. These acts were to hold good for four months.
This was the period of Newport's greatest prosperity. Her population was over eleven thousand. She had seventeen manufactories of sperm oil and candles, five rope-walks, three sugar refineries, one brewery and twenty-two dis- tilleries of rum, an article which in those days was deemed essential to the health of the sailor and the soldier, and all hard working men. Her foreign commerce found employment for nearly two hundred ships, her domestic trade for be- tween three and four hundred coasting craft. A regular line of packets kept open her communi- cations with London for passengers and mails. Her society had never lost the intellectual im pulse given it by Berkeley. Ezra Stiles, the most learned American of his day, filled one of her
204
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
pulpits, Samuel Hopkins, the founder of a new school of theology, another. A public library, which still bears the name of its founder, fur- nished the means of literary recreation and re- search. She would gladly have drawn Rhode Island College to herself also, but though great efforts were made to bring this about Providence made the better offer and obtained the preference.
While this question was still under discussion the first Commencement came round. Seven young men, clad like their officers in the products of American looms, presented themselves for graduation. It was a holiday in which all citi- zens could heartily unite, for it was the only one which brought them together in the gratification of a common pride. Commencement Day and Election Day continued to be the gathering days of the Colony long after the Colony had become a State.
The greater part of the slaves of the Colony were in Newport, and special laws were enacted concerning their general treatment and their man- umission. In the autumn session of 1770 these laws were revised, and a bill introduced prohibit- ing their further importation. Unfortunately this movement went no farther. The evil had struck too deep.
There was a lull in the storm. Even men not used to indulge vain hopes began to think that the cloud which had so long darkened the hori- zon might pass away. The revenue acts were
1
205
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
still the chief obstacles to harmony. Smugglers were as bold and as successful as ever. But nothing occurred in 1771 to show that the final rupture was so near. Rhode Island's peculiar grievance was the old war debt. To make one more effort, Henry Marchant, the new attorney- general, was directed to join Sherwood in enforcing the claim. Another old question was also revived, that of the northern boundary. Among the acts of the Assembly was a new bankrupt law. The evils of a paper currency still continued to bear their fruit.
But one of the most dangerous movements of this year was a claim advanced by Governor Hutchinson to the command of the Rhode Island forts and militia. This claim Rhode Island had contested when advanced by former governors, nor was she disposed to yield to it now. Still less was she disposed to accept a proposal which at this time came from Bristol under the signature, "A Friend to Property," to divide Rhode Island between Massachusetts and Con- necticut, or ask that she should be made a royal government upon the ground that "an elective legislature must always be a source of disorder and corruption " in a small state.
That Rhode Island was not disorderly nor cor- rupt was proved by the conduct of her courts. A merchant of Wrentham named David Hill was detected by the New York Committee of In- spection "in selling goods included in the non-
206
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
importation agreements." By the persuasion of the committee he was prevailed upon "to deposit his goods with a merchant till the revenue acts should be repealed." But the suspicions of the people were excited, and they seized the goods and destroyed them. Hill finding in Rhode Island "property belonging to some of the com- mittee," sued them in the Rhode Island courts, asserting that in giving up his goods he had acted upon compulsion. The sympathies of the courts and the people were against him. But, guided by the law and the evidence the Court of Common Pleas awarded him heavy damages and the Su- perior Court confirmed the award. In the next year when a new election came round and the voice of the people was heard, they also con- firmed it by reelecting the same men for judges. These righteous judges were Stephen Hopkins, James Helme, Benoni Hall, Metcalf Bowler and Stephen Potter.
While these things were a doing the insolence of the officials employed in enforcing the revenue laws reached its highest point. The suppression of smuggling in Narragansett Bay was entrusted to Lieutenant Duddingston, of the Royal Navy, with two armed vessels-the Gaspee, a schooner of eight guns, and the Beaver. Not contented with performing the duties of his office, still vexatious even when considerately executed, he multiplied its annoyances by a thousand acts of petty tyranny. He stopped vessels of every
207
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
kind without discrimination-ships just from sea, and market boats on their way to Providence and Newport with their perishable freights, and to increase the indignity refused to show his commission or the authority by which he acted. Admiral Montague, who commanded on the sta- tion, justified him in his oppression. Complaints were sent to England, but the day of complaint was past.
On the 8th of June the sloop Hannah, Benja- min Lindsey, master, arrived at Newport from New York, and having reported at the custom house set sail the next day for Providence. No sooner was she seen from the deck of the Gaspee than the watchful servant of the King gave chase, and venturing too near a point which ran out from the right bank of the river took ground. Captain Lindsey kept on his course with the wel- come tidings that the common enemy was at bay. At the beat of the drum the exasperated citizens came crowding to the gathering place, James Sabin's house in South Main Street. Eight long boats with five oars each were manned. Powder was prepared and bullets run, and when night set in with its friendly shades the resolute band set forth on its mission of vengeance.
It was long after midnight when they came within sight of the doomed vessel hard set in the sand, and heard the first hoarse challenge of the guard. Without heeding it they dashed for- ward and as a second challenge came were at her
208
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
side. Duddingston sprang upon the gunwale- he had no time to dress, no time to arm himself or call his men to quarters-but as he stood full in view his figure caught the eye of Joseph Buck- lin who was standing on one of the main thwarts. "Eph.," said Bucklin to Ephraim Bowen, who was sitting on the thwart on which Bucklin was standing and who lived to tell the story in his eighty-sixth year, "reach me your gun, I can kill that fellow." As Eph. was reaching him the gun, Whipple, one of the leaders was beginning to answer Duddingston's hail :- "I am the sheriff of the County of Kent, God damn you,"-but while he was yet speaking Bucklin fired and Duddingston fell, wounded in the stomach. The surprise was complete. The crew with their wounded commander were sent ashore and the vessel burned to the water's edge.
Who were these bold men ? Everybody in Providence knew; but although large rewards were offered for their detection and a special tri- bunal formed to try them, nobody was ever found to bear witness against them. So deep were the feelings that prepared the way for the separa- tion from England.
CHAPTER XXIV.
PROPOSITION FOR THE UNION OF THE COLONIES. - ACTIVE MEASURES TAKEN LOOKING TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE .- DELEGATES ELECTED TO CONGRESS .- DESTRUCTION OF TEA AT PROVIDENCE .- TROOPS RAISED .- POSTAL SYSTEM ES- TABLISHED .- DEPREDATIONS OF THE BRITISH .- " GOD SAVE THE UNITED COLONIES."
THE 22d of June, 1772, was memorable in the history of humanity, for it was on that day that Mansfield solemnly declared as Lord Chief-Jus- tice of England that slavery could not exist on English soil. This declaration met with a hearty response in Rhode Island. On the 17th of May, 1774, the citizens of Providence met in town meeting to take counsel together upon the ques- tions of the day. Two resolves of this meeting stand fitly side by side. An intestate estate comprising six slaves had fallen to the town. In the meeting it was voted that it was "unbe- coming the character of freemen to enslave the said negroes, that personal liberty was an essen- tial part of the natural rights of mankind, and that the Assembly should be petitioned to pro- hibit the further importation of slaves, and to declare that all negroes born in the Colony should be free after a certain age."
14
210
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
In the June session of 1774 the question was brought before the Assembly. "Those " says the preamble, "who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be will- ing to extend personal liberty to others." Therefore, says the bill, "for the future no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this Col- ony." To perfect the act clauses were added defining the condition of slaves in transit with their masters, and protecting the Colony against pauper freedmen.
Having taken this high ground concerning the individual, they took ground equally noble con- cerning the Colony, "resolving that the deputies of this town be requested to use their influence at the approaching session of the General Assem- bly of this Colony for promoting a Congress, as soon as may be, of the representatives of the general assemblies of the several colonies and provinces of North America for establishing the firmest union, and adopting such measures as to them shall appear the most effectual' to answer that important purpose, and to agree upon proper methods for executing the same." Thus in Rhode Island the condemnation of slavery and the call for union went hand in hand.
The time for hesitation was past. Event came crowding upon event. Virginia, also, called for a Congress. But it was on Boston chiefly that all eyes were fixed. Her example had strength- ened the hands of the discontented, and both the
211
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
King and his Parliament had resolved to make her a warning example of royal indignation. For this the bill closing her port and cutting off her commerce and known in history as the Boston Port Bill was passed. It was to go into opera- tion the 1st of June, 1774. Never did a great wrong awaken a more universal resentment. Old jealousies and rivalries were forgotten in the sense of a common danger. On the 1st of June the voice of mourning and commiseration was heard throughout the land. Virginia set it apart as a day of fasting and prayers. From every Colony came contributions in sheep and oxen and money. Rhode Island sent eight hundred and sixty sheep, thirteen oxen, four hundred and seventeen pounds in money. Boston in this day of suffering was for her no longer the Boston of the Atherton Company and disputed boundary lines.
But intelligent as Rhode Island had proved herself in her political measures, she could not altogether raise herself above the ignorance of her age in sanitary measures. The small-pox was in Newport, and inoculation was still an undecided question. Should the legislature be asked to declare for it or against it ? After four days of discussion it was decided in the negative by a close vote.
We have already seen that a special tribunal had been organized to follow up the question of the Gaspee. In its instructions directions were given to send their prisoners to England for trial.
212
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
Hutchinson, the renegade Governor of Massachu- setts, proposed to annul the charter of Rhode Island. The committee applied to Samuel Adams for counsel. "An attack upon the liberties of one colony," was his answer, "is an attack upon the liberties of all."
The new year, the eventful 1773, began amid anxious doubts and firm resolves. The Assembly was sitting at East Greenwich, the Gaspee court at Newport. "What shall I do ?" asked Chief- Justice Hopkins. The Assembly bade him follow his own judgment. "Then for the purpose of transportation for trial," said the brave old man, "I will neither apprehend any person by my own order nor suffer any executive officers in the Colony to do it." The question fortunately never rose, but questions equally important were at hand.
The burning of the Gaspee was a sudden out- break of popular indignation. To thoughtful minds it was a still more alarming indication of popular feeling that the senior officer on the sta- tion, Captain Keeler, of the Mercury, should have been seized and verdicts of trespass and trover found against him in the colonial courts. But England did not heed the warning.
But the great work was done by the Committee of Correspondence, already formed in Massachu- setts and Rhode Island in 1764, but more effect- ively organized in Virginia in 1775-the railroads and telegraphs of those days. They bound the
213
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
colonies in a union which doubled their strength and fanned their zeal into a flame. Through them the earliest and "most authentic intelligence of all such acts and resolutions of the British Par- liament, and measures of the ministry as may re- late to or affect the British colonies in America " . was obtained, and a correspondence concerning them kept up with the other colonies. In all these preparations for the struggle, now so near at hand, Rhode Island bore her part. And while they were going on, and as if his part had been done, her faithful agent, proved by fourteen years of assiduous service, Joseph Sherwood, died.
In October, 1773, the tea act went into operation, leading the discontent still more directly to ac- tion. But as no tea was sent to Rhode Island, and the story is well known I shall not repeat it here, only saying that public meetings were held in all of which it was resolved to confirm the Philadelphia resolutions. Rhode Island had another grievance to complain of.
The story of the Hutchinson letters is well known to every reader of American history. Some unknown friend of the colonies had put them in the hands of Franklin, and Franklin had sent them to America. "Among them was a let- ter of George Rome, written six years before, denouncing the governments and courts of Rhode Island." It was immediately published in news- papers and on broadsides, and in every form
214
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
which could give it circulation. Everywhere it was read with the strongest expressions of con- demnation. The author was brought to the bar of the house of deputies, and refusing to plead, sent to jail for the remainder of the session.
Among the acts of revenge which disgrace the English legislation of this period, was the re- moval of Franklin from the responsible office of superintendent. of the American post-office. In his hands the post-office had become a trust- worthy institution, paying its way and meeting the wants and commanding the confidence of the country. As a means of communication it had become a bond of union. To suppress it would be a serious blow to the social and commercial relations of all the colonies. The blow fell, but not according to its aim. We have already re- corded the name of William Goddard as founder and editor of the Providence Gazette. When Franklin was removed Goddard conceived the idea of a colonial post-office adapted to the new relations between England and the colonies. To secure the concurrence of all the colonies he visited them all, explaining his plans and awaken- ing everywhere that confidence without which all his efforts would have been vain. It was another step towards union.
On the eve of such a contest it was wise to count heads. A census was ordered and gave as its result fifty-nine thousand six hundred and seventy-eight, of whom fifty-four thousand four
.
215
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
hundred and thirty-five were whites, three thou- sand seven hundred and sixty-one blacks, and one thousand four hundred and eighty-two In- dians ..
Two events of grave significance mark the month of May, 1774. General Gage entered Bos- ton as Governor, and a town meeting was held at Providence wherein it was resolved, "that the deputies of this town be requested to use their influence at the approaching session of the Gen- eral Assembly of this Colony, for promoting a Congress as soon as may be, of the Representa- tives of the General Assemblies of the several colonies and provinces of North America for establishing the firmest Union, and adopting such measures as to them shall appear the most effect- ual to answer that important purpose ; and to agree upon proper methods for executing the same."
In the same meeting it was recommended to break off all trade with Great Britain, Ireland, Africa and the West Indies till the Boston Port Bill should be repealed. Everywhere the warm- est sympathy with Boston was expressed and effective measures taken to assist her by contribu- tions of provisions and money. East Greenwich was the first to open a subscription for her. The example was promptly followed by Newport, Westerly and other towns in which her name had never awakened kindly feelings before. Some of the poor sought refuge in neighboring colonies,
216
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
and found work and sympathy. Some Tories, alarmed at the prospect of a siege, removed to Providence, but found it a dangerous residence for men of their political creed. One of these, a hardware dealer named Joseph Simpson, seems to have been particularly obnoxious to the Whigs, who of a Saturday night covered his doors and windows with tar and feathers. A public meet- ing was called to protest against allowing the town to be made a receptacle of the enemies of the country and request the council to have such persons legally removed. Some indications of disorder appearing, another meeting was called to "insist upon the supremacy of the laws."
Measures of defence, also, began now to attract the attention of the Assembly. The stores at Fort George were examined. Some thirty years be- fore an independent company had been chartered under the name of the Providence County Artil- lery. This name was now changed to Cadet Com- pany and the corps formed upon a regimental basis, taking its position field days on the right. The Light Infantry Company, of Providence, was chartered at the same session. It was to consist of a hundred men and be stationed "in front of the left wing of the regiment." A day of fasting and prayer was appointed and religiously ob- served. But the most important step of all was the election of Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward for delegates to that Congress towards which all eyes were anxiously directed. Thus
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.