USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Bristol > Celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the town of Bristol, Rhode Island : September 24th, A.D. 1880 > Part 3
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BI-CENTENNIAL OF BRISTOL.
J. H. Johnson, rector Trinity Church, Bristol; Rev. H. Crocker, pastor of the Baptist Church, Bristol ; Lewis T. Fisher, Sheriff of Bristol county ; H. H. Luther, Town Clerk of Warren ; Peter Gladding, Town Clerk of Bristol ; William R. Taylor, Deputy Town Clerk ; Hon. Charles H. Hardy, of Warren, State Senator; John C. Burrington, Esq., of Barrington, Representative in the General Assembly ; Wil- liam H. Spooner, Esq., Representative in the General As- sembly, from Bristol, and others.
Four trees, which were subsequently planted on the com- mon, to the memory of the four original proprietors of the town, on a carriage prepared for the purpose.
THIRD DIVISION.
Marshal-Isaac F. Willians.
Aids-Charles Hosmer, W. Russell Bogert, John H. Smith, Charles A. Waldron, Preston E. Day.
Boston Cadet Band, J. Thomas Baldwin, leader ; 26 pieces.
Chief Engineer of the Fire Department-J. Howard Manchester. Assistants-Charles H. Allen, George W. Simmons.
Hydraulic Engine and Hose Co., No. 1, Capt. Eugene Rounds ; 25 men and their machine.
Progress Fire Company, of New Bedford, Mass., Charles S. Paisler, Foreman.
King Philip Steam Fire Engine Co. No. 1, Robert Lawder, Acting Foreman ; 15 men with the machine.
Dreadnaught Hook, Ladder and Hose Co., No. 1, Charles E. Card, Captain ; 25 men, with the hose carriage.
FOURTH DIVISION.
Marshal-Charles V. Perry.
Aids-N. R. Middleton, James Gooding, Lewis De Wolf, Ricardo D. B. Smith.
Bristol Bi-Centennial Drum Corps, Capt. George Warren ; 8 drums.
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Sons and daughters of Bristol, under charge of Col. E. M. Wardwell.
Cavalcade of citizens, in which conspicuously appeared Gen. A. E. Burnside, under command of Chandler H. Coggeshall. Aids-Wilfred H. Munro, Frank J. Gladding.
FIFTH DIVISION.
Marshal-Hon. William T. C. Wardwell.
Aids-James D. Wardwell, Jr., Edward Anthony, Jr., James M. Usher, Charles F. Chase.
TRADES' PROCESSION.
Team of Boston Store, T. T. Allan, proprietor, a fine dis- play of goods ; wagon of Adams Express Company filled with boxes, trunks, etc. ; team of W. T. C. Wardwell, con- taining lumber of all kinds, doors, blinds, etc. ; team of the Reynolds Manufacturing Company containing cotton in all processes of manufacture ; Singer Sewing Machine team ; M. A. Card's local express wagon, with boxes, packages, etc. ; N. N. Cole's display of coal, flour, grain, hay, vege- tables and all sorts of produce, with flags and national bunt- ing ; market wagon of Hugh Holmes, full of provisions ; display of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, com- pound engines, boilers, etc. ; paints and oils, display by William H. Spooner ; grocery wagon of Thompson Brothers ; large wagon of boots and shoes, from C. H. Thompson ; wheelbarrow, from the market of W. Fred Fish, as showing how the business was conducted when he started in business in 1869, followed by a wagon well filled with orders as showing how the business is conducted to-day ; two wagons containing dry and fancy goods, and clothing, from J. G. Sparks ; wagon containing stoves, from Richard S. Glad- ding ; wagon of F. A. Geisler, containing a blacksmith's forge, anvil, etc. ; and showing the different processes in the manufacture of carriages ; team of William Johnson, harness maker, with a good display of trunks, harnesses,
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etc. ; boat on wheels, gaily trimmed with national colors and evergreen, containing several young ladies and a display of millinery trimmings, from Misses Thompson and Hunnewell ; display of drugs, perfumery and fancy goods, from J. H. Young & Co.'s; stoves, pumps, etc., from J. Howard Manchester, dealer in stoves and tinware ; a small house on wheels made of national bunting, with doors, windows, blinds, etc., from Marshall Prarie, contractor and builder ; two large wagons, finely decorated, from the National Rub- ber Company, well filled with a variety of goods of their make ; farm wagon filled with all sorts of farm produce, H. M. Gibson ; two ice carts and a milk wagon, from J. Good- ing. All the teams were more or less decked with flags and bunting in the national colors.
The procession commenced to move about 11} o'clock.
The line of march was as follows : High street to Franklin, Franklin to Hope, Hope to Walley, Walley to High, High to Church, Church to Wood, Wood to State, State to the tent on Common, where the exercises in the tent were held.
The tent was reached about one o'clock. Most of the prominent guests from the carriages took seats on the plat- form. The Town Committee of Arrangements were also seated upon the platform, forming, with the invited guests, a group of some two hundred persons. As the exercises were about to commence, the venerable and Rt. Rev. Benja- min B. Smith, Senior Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of the United States, a native of Bristol, came in and was seated upon the platform. His very presence was a benediction.
More than five thousand people filled the tent to over- flowing.
The exercises were as follows :
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
" Overture to William Tell," by the Boston Cadet Band. Prayer, by Rev. George L. Locke.
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BI-CENTENNIAL OF BRISTOL.
LE BARON B. COLT, Esq., President of the Bi-centennial Committee, made an address, as follows :
ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
It is my pleasant duty, on behalf of the town, to welcome you, one and all, sons and daughters of old Bristol, invited guests and friends. This is the native town of most of you, the adopted town of others, the loved and respected town of all ; and here upon this, her two-hundredth birth-day, in honor of her long life, of what she has been and is to all of us, you come from far and near to join us in laying these offerings of affection at her feet.
Her history, her early and romantic past, the circumstances of her settlement by our ancestors, the story of her life dur- ing two eventful centuries, her rapid and prosperous growth at the beginning, the commercial importance she once at- tained, the calamities by wars, fire and tempest she has suf- fered, this and much more will be told you in prose and verse from the lips of her most distinguished children. It only remains, therefore, for me to welcome you to all the enjoy- ments of this day-to the sight once more of these goodly Mount Hope lands, these pleasant waters, this beautiful prospect, these broad streets, with their archway of noble trees, these old churches and homesteads, with the many memories they call back into life. May your stay among us be as happy as you anticipate. May you find the town as fair as when you left her, and her people as worthy of her.
The dwellers upon this territory have always regarded it with a peculiar devotion. The Wampanoags of old returned to this spot with pride and pleasure, cherished it beyond all others, made it their kingly seat, clung to it until conquest and death, and we in the same spirit of devotion have met to-day.
The Chief Executive of the State, those who represent us in the councils of the nation, the representatives of our cities,
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colleges and historical societies, and other distinguished gen- tlemen from neighboring States and from our own, have hon- ored us with their presence upon this occasion. To all these we extend a cordial greeting. May the exercises of this day serve to deepen our attachment for the town, our reverence for its history, and make us better and more worthy citizens.
Two hundred and fifty children of the public schools, under the direction of Mrs. S. B. Spinning, then sang the following invocation ode, written for the occasion by Abby D. Munro :
INVOCATION ODE.
Oh, Thou, within whose bounteous hand, The circling years in order stand, A thousand years within whose sight, Are as the watch of one lone night ;
'To thee our tribute now we bring. Let every tongue thy praises sing. While homage to thy name we pay, For this returning festal day.
When first our fathers sought a home, Thy blessing on their choice was shown. Thou mad'st the wilderness they chose, To bud and blossom as the rose.
What wonders has thy goodness wrought ! What changes has thy wisdom brought! Who has made these blessings to abound, And all these years with plenty crowned.
Our Father, and our father's God ! Oh, be thy glorious name adored ! Now, and through cach succeeding age, For such a goodly heritage.
The following congratulatory telegrams were received :
" Received at Bristol, R. I., 8.42 A. M. Sept. 24th, 1880. To Bi-Centennial Committee, Bristol, Rhode Island :
With best felicitations.
Lisbon."
DIMAN.
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BI-CENTENNIAL OF BRISTOL.
" SANTA FE, N. M., Sept. 23rd, 1880.
Received at Bristol, R. I., 8.40 A. M , Sept. 24th. To Le B. B. Colt :
Regretting distance prevents attendance, I send greetings from the far Southwest.
L. BRADFORD PRINCE."
The first telegram was from Henry Wight Diman, Esq., United States Consul at Lisbon, Portugal. He has been in Europe eighteen years.
Mr. Prince is Chief Justice of the United States Court of New Mexico.
Prof. J. LEWIS DIMAN, the orator of the day, delivered the following address :
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
We have met to commemorate the founding of this ancient town. Two hundred years have fled since the hearths of our fathers were planted here. Well nigh seven generations have completed their mortal term since these broad streets were opened, since this spacious common, on which we are gathered, was set apart for public use. As we enter upon the third century of our history, we pause, for a brief space, to confess the debt which every community that has done anything worthy of remembrance owes to itself, and which no community swayed by generous sentiments, and mindful of its own best interests, can refuse to pay. There is no more becoming impulse than that which brings us hither. The most elevated instincts of our nature are enlisted in such a service. . The deep and wide-spread interest which this occa- sion has awakened, this great multitude before me, afford convincing proof that we are not insensible to the obligations which our connection with a community like this imposes. We have gladly heeded the summons to this festival; we have trodden with willing feet these familiar paths. It is a festival in which we cannot join without emotion. It has for all of us a meaning which no ordinary festival can have. Amid the ringing of bells, and the inspiring strains of music, we can none of us forget that we have come to a spot hal- lowed by our most affecting memories. Here we were born ; here by the fireside we heard the first accents of affection :
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here in the school-room we learned our earliest lessons ; here in the house of God we were taught the consoling truths that alone compensate for the losses which a day like this brings so vividly to mind. A cloud of witnesses, invisible to mor- tal eye, look down upon us. Everything around us invests these services with an exalted and religious sentiment. There are no ties more sacred than those of which we are now reminded. We have come to the home of our childhood ; to the graves of our fathers. The words of Holy Writ leap un- bidden to our lips : " If I forget Thee, may my right hand forget her cunning ; if I do not remember Thee, may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth !"
The circumstances under which we meet may well call for our heartfelt gratulation. We have come to a spot beautiful for situation, lovely indeed at all times, but never more lovely than at this season, when lingering summer bathes the land- scape in the pensive beauty that so well befits the strain of thought in which we cannot help indulging .. We have come at a time when we may turn without effort from our common avocations and cares, a time of great prosperity, when our land is teeming with abundant harvests, when, after years of weary depression, commerce and industry show everywhere signs of healthy revival, when our public credit is restored, when peace reigns in all our borders. No dreg of bitterness poisons our overflowing cup. Nor should the fact that we are now engaged in one of the great periodical contests which determine the political character of our government, when throughout its length and breadth the land is stirred with the eager strife of conflicting parties, lessen in the least our interest in these services. To one who rightly apprehends the nature of our political system, and who correctly esti- mates the real sources of its strength, they will seem invested with additional significance. For even amid the excitement of a national election, and with the inspiring spectacle before us, of fifty millions of freemen choosing their chief magistrate under the wise and regulated restraints of constitutional law,
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we may well turn our gaze, for a few moments, to those an- cient sources from which the broad stream of our national life has flowed ; we may well remind ourselves that our local institutions form, at once, the foundation and safeguard of our federal system ; that from the broad support of number- less scattered municipalities like this, whose founding we commemorate to-day, springs the splendid arch that gilds with promise the future of American civilization. Let us never forget that American liberty had its cradle in towns ; that here the earliest lessons of self-government were learned. And let us rest assured that long as the traditions of these local rights are zealously cherished, American liberty will never be subverted.
Nor can I count it inopportune that our services so nearly coincide, in point of time, with the great and splendid com- memoration, which, during the past week, has concentrated the gaze of the entire nation upon the chief city of New En- gland. At first sight, indeed, it may well seem that our modest festival cannot fail to suffer from too close proximity to another so similar as to provoke comparison, and yet so much more impressive in its historical associations, and so much more elaborate in its attending circumstances. Still even this seeming disadvantage, when we reflect a moment, gives additional meaning to our celebration. There is a peculiar fitness in having one so soon succeed the other. For it serves the more forcibly to call attention to that fea- ture in our early history which gave this town its distinctive character, and drew the broad line of distinction between this settlement and the earlier settlements upon the shores of the Narragansett. It reminds us that Bristol was the off- spring of Boston. At the ripe age of fifty years the sturdy Puritan mother gave birth to this beautiful child. It was the sagacity of Boston merchants that first saw the admirable adaptation of this commodious harbor to the purposes of commerce, it was the public spirit of Boston merchants that reserved for a remote posterity the ample provisions of these
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streets and squares, it was the intelligence and piety of Bos- ton merchants that planted by this shore the institutions of education and religion which their Puritan training had taught them to reverence, and which they brought with them to their new home, as their most precious heritage. Here, so far as their circumstances would permit, they sought to build another Boston ; and surely as they gazed on the fair sur- roundings of this favored spot, as they surveyed the gentle slope of the ground, as they followed the graceful course of the silver bay, as they pictured, perchance, the possible suc- cess that might attend their enterprise, they may well have been pardoned if they sometimes exclaimed,
O matre pulchra filia pulchrior !
Two hundred years do not cover a long period when we reckon the centuries of the world's history, yet two hundred years carry us back to a time when much that now seems majestic and venerable, existed only in the womb of futurity. The faded banner that was borne in our procession to-day, precious as the gift of one of the first proprietors, is the symbol of a municipal organization that went into operation more than a century before our Federal Constitution was adopted. When this town was founded, the kingdom of Prussia had not been established, the empire of Russia had not become a European power. Charles the Second was still degrading the crown of England, the fierce contest caused by the Exclusion Bill was raging, the great revolution had not taken place which drove the Stuarts from the throne. Our town government is, therefore, older than the English con- stitution as it now exists, older than the Bill of Rights, older than the Act of Settlement, older than the great division of parties that ran through the reigns of Anne and the Georges, older than the England of Bolingbroke, of Walpole and of Pitt. Two hundred years of the quiet annals of a neighborhood like this do not, it is true, appeal to the imagination like two hundred years of the history of a famous State. The
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stage is small, and the interests seem trivial, the actors are not heroes and statesmen and kings. But it is, after all, a history that touches us more nearly than the plots of rulers, or the devastating march of armies. It is the history of the human life which we all are leading. And when we reflect what two hundred years of the history of a community like this really represent, when we consider the inestimable ben- efit diffused by a well ordered social system, the wholesome restraints of law, the sweets of domestic life, the elevating influence of education, the priceless blessings of devout re- ligious instruction, the influence of good example transmitted from generation to generation, we shall feel that two hun- dred years of history like this are as worthy of our study as much that fills a larger and more pretentious page.
When the first houses were built upon this spot, two of which still remain to attest the solid workmanship of our fathers, there already existed four settlements on Narragan- sett Bay. Forty-four years earlier Roger Williams had un- dertaken, upon the banks of the Mooshausic, the unique and memorable experiment of founding a community upon the principle of obedience to the civil magistrates only in civil things. A little later the great antinomian controversy had driven to the island of Aquidneck another company, who, planting themselves just at the northern end, had afterwards removed to the unrivalled harbor which excited the admira- tion of the Florentine navigator, Verazzano, more than a century before ; and almost directly opposite, upon the western shore of the bay, that singular enthusiast, Samuel Gorton, after coming into collision with the authorities both at Providence and Newport, had founded Warwick. In the year 1663 the three settlements had been united under the charter of Charles the Second.
The course of events which reserved this territory for a later occupation, and for a different jurisdiction, forms one of the most interesting chapters in the history of New En- gland. The neck of land on which this town was built, called
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by the English Mount Hope, but known to the Indians as Pokanoket, was the last recognized possession of the abo- rigines in this portion of the country. Here was their final refuge ; here began the great struggle which resulted in their overthrow ; here was witnessed the last tragic act in the bloody strife. I shall not transgress the proper limits of my subject if I glance briefly at events which were directly connected with the founding of the town, and which explain the distinctive characteristics of its early history. It is only from a review of these events that we can understand how this community presented, at the outset, such marked contrast to the other settlements upon our bay.
Whether, as has been claimed by enthusiastic Scandina- vian scholars, the Northmen ever visited these shores, is a question we need not discuss. There seems, indeed, no rea- son to doubt the substantial truth of the narratives which describe the adventurous voyages of Biorne, and Leif and Thorfinn ; we may accept without hesitation, the claim that they discovered Greenland, that they cruised along the coast of Labrador and Nova Scotia, that they pursued their dan- gerous navigation as far south as Cape Cod and Narragansett Bay. But when we seek from any of their own statements, to determine the precise localities they visited, we are in- volved in insuperable difficulties. The attempt from a pas- sage of doubtful meaning respecting the length of the day at Vinland, where they wintered, to identify its latitude with Rhode Island, can hardly be accepted as conclusive. The most that we can safely say, is, that they may have been here ; that there is nothing improbable in the supposition that they may have found in this bay their winter refuge. But if they did they left no trace behind them. Their daring enterprise had no influence whatever upon subsequent events. To sup- pose, as some have done, that the name of the neighboring summit is the corruption of the Norse word with which they marked their resting place, and that it was preserved in the traditions of an alien race for more than six hundred years,
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is to carry credulity beyond the limit of common sense. We may please ourselves with the fancy that the dark barks which arrested the troubled gaze of Charlemagne, which at a later period carried terror to the coasts of France, and pushed up the Seine to the very gates of Paris, may have anchored in these waters ; a halo of romance will surround these shores if we connect them with those adventurous vikings ; but the course of events that claims our serions at- tention belongs to a far later period. Let us leave these obscure legends and pass to the region of unquestioned fact. We shall find enough here to invest this familiar region with a singular and enduring interest.
At the beginning of the authentic history of our town. we are confronted with the most venerable figure among the aborigines of New England. When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they were told that the desolate region around them belonged to the great sachem, Massasoit, whose sway extended from Cape Cod to the shores of the Narragansett. With him their first treaty was concluded. In an unfinished building near Plymouth, the floor spread with a rug and cushion to give dignity to the proceedings, were conducted the simple negotiations which are memorable as the begin- ning of American diplomacy. The treaty was one of alli- ance, and not one of subjection, and the sachem was assured that "King James would esteem him as his friend and ally." In the following summer, the first passed by the Pilgrims in New England, envoys were sent by the colonists to visit the sachem at Pokanoket. The narrative of this visit, the carli- est ever made by Englishmen, of which any account has been preserved, while it presents a vivid picture of the squalid surroundings of the Wampanoag chief, furnishes at the same time, abundant evidence of his hospitality and kindness. It is impossible to read it without recognizing in Massasoit a genuine courtesy. His guests came upon him unexpectedly, and "he was both grieved and ashamed that he could no better entertain them." In this visit the com-
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pact already concluded was renewed, and the relations be- tween the two races thus established upon a permanent basis. For more than fifty years it was faithfully observed. Long as Massasoit lived no charge was made that its stipu- lations were either broken or evaded. He lived to see his territories melt away before the steady inroad of the whites, till at length at the close of his long reign, he found himself shut up to the narrow peninsula of Pokanoket. But he re- mained to the last true to the compact he had made. And when we remember on what flimsy pretexts the most Chris- tian kings of Europe, Charles II, and . Louis XIV, violated their most sacred engagements, shall we withhold some tribute of respect to this pagan chief?
With the death of the kindly and faithful Massasoit, we pass to the most tragic chapter of our story. The causes of the bloody struggle which, fifteen years later plunged New England into mourning and wrested this, their last refuge, from the Wampanoags, still remain obscure. From his first accession to power, Philip, for some reason, seems to have excited the suspicion of the Plymouth authorities. He was summoned before them, and though he earnestly protested that he knew of no plot nor conspiracy against them, he was compelled to sign an instrument by which he acknowledged himself a subject .of the King of England. When more positive charges were brought against him, five years later, he repeated with great fervor his protestations of innocency and of faithfulness to the English. And when, after four years more had passed, new apprehensions were awakened, he desired to renew his covenant with his ancient friends, and freely engaged to resign to the government of New Plymouth all his English arms. As Philip was still accused of evading this agreement, he was once more sum- moned before the authorities and compelled to acknowledge himself not only subject to the King of England, but to the government of the Plymouth colony. It is not difficult to conceive how this increasing pressure of a foreign authority
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