USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Vol. I > Part 30
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18.
26.
349
VALUES OF MONEY AND PRODUCE.
for public service in holding offices, should be made free- CHAP. IX. men by their respective towns, whether they desired it or not. This was a compulsory act, akin to that which im- 1670. posed a fine on any one elected to office who should refuse Oct. 26. to serve, and presents a striking contrast to the spirit of later years on this subject. Summary means were adopted to collect the taxes levied for the purpose of sending agents to England. If not paid within two months the process of distraint was to be employed. The details of the act acquaint us with the market values of the chief articles of produce at that time. Pork was three pence, or two-and-a-quarter cents a pound ; butter, six pence ; wool, one shilling ; peas, three shillings and six pence a bushel ; wheat, five shillings ; Indian corn, three shil- lings ; oats, two shillings and three pence. A penny at that time was equal to a fraction less than three-quarters of a cent at the present day, and one shilling was about eight and one-quarter of our cents. Forty shillings of New England currency was then equal to thirty shillings sterling. For those who paid in silver coin of New Eng- land, one shilling was taken for two shillings in produce at the above rates.
By English statute the estate of a felon was forfeited. The murderer, Flounders, having been executed, the As- sembly restored to his widow the residue of his property, after deducting the expenses of his trial, as an act of mercy. Continued acts of violence on the part of Con- necticut again led to an extra session of the General As- sembly, the sole purpose of which was to pass an act con- fiscating the estates of those who presumed to exercise authority in Kings Province without a commission from Rhode Island, and also of those inhabitants of Westerly who should place their lands under the control of Con- necticut ; while the faith of the colony was pledged to make good any loss sustained by those who remained faithful.
1671. April 2.
350
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
The alarm of Indian war again aroused the colonies. Gov. Prince wrote to Rhode Island concerning the suspi- cious attitude of Philip of Pokanoket. A council was called to reply to the letter, and a conference, to be held at Taunton, was proposed, but for the present was post- poned.
The regular session of Assembly was held the day be- fore the election, for the admission of freemen. At the election John Clarke, who had been Deputy Governor the previous year but had declined office the past year, was again chosen to that place. Another outrage occurred at Westerly. Two of the Connecticut constables, while lay- ing out lands east of Pawcatuck river, were driven off by the Rhode Island officers, one of whom, John Crandall, was afterwards seized and taken to New London for trial. He applied to this Assembly for advice whether to give bonds or to go to prison. They advised him to give no bond in any matter pertaining to his acts performed in maintaining his Majesty's authority in the colony, and as- sured him of protection. This violence drew forth another letter to Connecticut, again tendering an appeal to the King as the only remaining solution of the difficulty. The Hartford Assembly replied, reiterating their claim, but taking no notice of the proposed appeal ; to avoid which, if possible, they appointed another set of Com- missioners to open a new treaty with Rhode Island. The General Assembly appointed meetings of the Court of Justices, that had been clothed by the royal Commission- ers with the exclusive jurisdiction of Kings Province, to be held at Westerly and other places, to examine the af- fairs of the province, and to restore quiet to its inhabit- ants. They accordingly met at Westerly, the Deputy Governor, John Clarke, presiding, and directed the Con- stable, James Babcock, to summon the people to attend on the morrow. Babcock refused to obey, and was ar- rested by order of the Court. Another officer warned the
11.
16.
17.
CHAP. IX. 1671. April 11. May 2. 3.
351
AUTHORITY OVER KINGS PROVINCE SECURED.
people to assemble, when the charter, the royal commis- CHAP. sion of the Justices, the agreement between Clarke and IX. Winthrop and other pertinent papers were read. The 1671. meeting was disturbed by the intrusion of a mounted May. force from Stonington, who asserted the authority of Con- necticut, and ordered the Court to desist, but no collision ensued. A written protest was delivered to the intruders, maintaining the authority of Rhode Island. The free- men were then examined as to their fidelity, and nearly all agreed to stand by the King and this colony. A dec- laration was issued by the Court, wherein John Crandall 18. and Tobias Sanders were confirmed as Justices, and the reciprocal engagement of the colony to protect the people of Westerly was affirmed. The Court then proceeded to Petaquamscot, where, the inhabitants being assembled, 19. similar proceedings were held without interruption, and the Court adjourned to meet at Acquidneset. The pro- prietors there inquired if the Court claimed ownership of 20. their lands in behalf of the colony, and upon being as- sured of the contrary, they readily gave their engagement to Rhode Island, and elected officers, who were confirmed by the Court.
All legal and peaceable means having thus been taken to secure the loyalty of Kings Province, the General As- sembly met at Newport. One Uselton, having been sen- tenced at the last Court of Trials to leave the island, but still remaining, was brought before the Assembly, where his conduct was so insulting that he was sentenced to be whipped with fifteen stripes, and to be sent away forth- with, and if again found within the colony he was again to be punished in the same manner. A burglar, under sentence of death by the Court of Trials, petitioned for reprieve, but was refused, and his execution was ordered to take place without delay. The sum of three pence per day was allowed for the support of each prisoner con- fined upon criminal process. Commissioners were again
June 7.
9.
352
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
appointed to treat with Connecticut, and a letter was sent to that colony reaffirming the authority of Rhode Island over Kings Province, until the King's will could be known, accepting the proposals for a new treaty, the Commissioners to meet at some place not within either colony, and proposing that the two agents, Dr. Clarke and Gov. Winthrop, should be present at such meeting. An active correspondence relating to Indian affairs was car- ried on with Plymouth. A letter from Gov. Prince, sug- gesting a conference at Taunton, was considered so im- portant that the Council ordered copies of it to be sent to the other towns. The Connecticut Council replied to the last letter from Rhode Island, that they could not al- ter the place of meeting except by act of their General Court, to whom the proposal should be submitted at the next session.
Rumors of Indian hostilities again summoned the coun- cil at Newport, who wrote to Governor Prince, and the next day called a council of war to be held the following week, and ordered a troop of horse to attend as a guard. A special session of the Assembly was called at Newport. The vote of the previous year, appointing Dr. Clarke and John Greene as joint agents to conduct the appeal in England, was revised, and Clarke was named as sole agent for that purpose. His commission was directed to be made out by the Governor, and a new tax of two hundred and fifty pounds in silver was assessed. The accumulation of large tracts of land, upon the main, in the hands of a few persons incapable of improving so much, attracted the at- tention of the Assembly. While the tax necessary to the defence of these lands was onerous, the effect was to dis- courage many upon whom the burden rested without a hope of their sharing in the advantages of a freehold. The Assembly recommended that some of these wild lands be purchased on public account, that those in immediate
CHAP. IX. 1671. June 14. July 8.
21. 29.
Aug. 30. 31. Sept. 5.
25.
353
FURTHER DISPUTES WITH CONNECTICUT.
want of land, or who might hereafter be received into the colony, could be supplied.
Upon a petition of the people of Westerly, the Gen- eral Assembly of Connecticut promised them protection, and also a temporary cessation from all suits upon land titles, or for trespass, provided they peaceably submitted to her authority. The proposal in the Rhode Island letter of June was so far accepted that commissioners were au- thorized to settle all disputes, either by agreement with those of Rhode Island, or by a mutual reference of the subject to gentlemen selected from the other colonies, to meet at Rehoboth or in Boston, either in November or in April, and a letter to this effect was sent to Rhode Island. The General Assembly met at the usual time, and after hearing the correspondence read, adjourned one week to secure a further attendance of deputies. The alarm of war had subsided, as appears by a letter from the Assem- bly to Plymouth ; but not so the troubles on their western borders. A reply was sent to Connecticut, selecting See- conck, called also Rehoboth, as the place, and April as the time, to renew the attempt at a treaty ; but further stat- ing that the Rhode Island men would only be empowered to decide disputed questions of land title, and not the mat- ter of jurisdiction, upon which they could concede nothing. To this end a committee was again appointed. When the letter reached Hartford, Governor Winthrop was ab- sent, so that no definite answer could be returned.
Most of the towns were, as usual, in arrears for the last assessment, so that the act was renewed. Warwick re- fused to furnish her portion of it while the negotiation with Connecticut was yet in progress. At length a formal no- tice was sent by Connecticut, declining the meeting at Rehoboth, as a useless labor, unless the question of juris- diction could be entertained. Thus ended, for the present, the attempt at negotiation.
Internal dissensions again occupied the attention of
VOL. I .- 23
CHAP. IX.
1671. Oct. 12.
25. Nov. 1.
4.
20
1671-2 Jan. 29.
354
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. IX. 1671-2. Feb.
the council. William Harris was now openly employed, on the side of Connecticut, against the chartered rights of Rhode Island, with a zeal and ability that could not be suffered to pass unnoticed. For this act of treason, whether real or constructive, a warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was committed to prison without bail, to await his trial at the May term.
24. March 5.
15.
An extra session of the Assembly was convened, at which John Clarke, for the third time within two years, was selected as the agent to appear for the colony before the King. The repeated renewal of this appointment, and the frequent revision of laws, especially in relation to taxes, arose from a feeling prevalent in those times, that the acts of one Assembly were not binding beyond the next session, unless then ratified ; each Assembly being in itself a sov- ereign body wielding the entire power of the colony. The absence of deputies from the mainland towns obliged the Assembly to dissolve, and a new one to be called, to meet speedily. At a town meeting in Providence deputies were elected for the next Assembly, which was to meet in April ; but as it was ascertained that these men would be unable to attend at that time, another town meeting was held,' to select such as could attend, and who were declared by the Assembly to be legally chosen.
1672. March 25. April 2.
A paper from William Harris was read, but not re- ceived, as it was not directed in a proper manner to the General Assembly. This being a full Assembly, the act of the previous one, appointing Clarke as the agent to England, and providing for his support, was renewed. It was also enacted, that no tax, raised for a specific purpose, should on any account be diverted to other uses, much harm having been sustained in this way by the colony. A very important bill was passed at this session, which de- servedly caused great commotion among the people, and cost a large portion of the members their election. This
1 New Year's day, old style, was 25th March.
355
SEDITION ACT.
was the famous sedition act, the origin of which appears, CHAP. in the preamble, to have been the opposition made in the IX. several towns whenever a new tax was assessed. The bill 1672. declared that whoever opposed, by word or deed, in town April 2. meeting or elsewhere; any rate laid, or any other of the acts and orders of the General Assembly, should be bound over to the Court of Trials, or imprisoned till it met, at the discretion of the justice, for " high contempt and sedition ;" and if found guilty, should either be fined, imprisoned, or whipped, as the Court might adjudge. A bolder assertion of the omnipotence of a Legislature could not be made, and it speedily received the rebuke that it merited. But the act, severe as it appears, was not passed without reason. The grasping spirit of Connecticut on one hand, the fear- ful symptoms of savage hostility on the other, and now the evidence of treachery within, requiring prompt and vigorous measures in the Government to provide means of defence against these threatening calamities, dismember- ment of territory and Indian war, would seem to justify the assumption, for a time, of the almost dictatorial power here- in usurped. It was not intended to abridge the liberties of the people, although represented to be so by George Fox, the founder of the Friends, who was then in Rhode Island. An Assembly that was subject to two, and often to three, or four ordeals of popular election every year, could not do that, or even attempt to do it. But the framers of the bill seem not to have reflected, amid the difficulties that sur- rounded them, upon the abuses to which such an act might be perverted. The people saw this directly, and within one month, applied the remedy.
More violent proceedings, by the inhabitants of Ston- ington, than any that had yet occurred, demanded the at- tention of the Assembly. They had crossed the river, and by force and arms had carried away several persons in Westerly to prison. Redress was refused by Connecticut. An act was now passed to confiscate the estates of the as-
356
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. IX. April. 2. sailants, being on the east of Pawcatuck river, and also those of such Westerly men who might be intimidated by 1672. these outrages into submission to Connecticut, while any damage sustained by those who remained faithful, was to be made good from the estates thus forfeited.
A committee was appointed to examine the waste lands in Narraganset, and to notify the owners, Indian or Eng- lish, to appear at the May session to contract for a sale of the same to the colony. The schedule of salaries was re- vised, to ensure fuller attendance on the Assembly, and at the Court of Trials. The Governor was allowed six shil- lings, the deputy Governor, five shillings, the magistrates, four shillings, and the deputies, the same as by a former law, three shillings, for each day's attendance, with double fines in case of absence. A dinner was also to be provided each day, at public expense, for the whole Assembly, and also, during the Court of Trials, for the magistrates.
A further source of peril, and occasion of expense, was about to come upon the too heavily burdened colony. War was declared by England against the States General of the United Provinces, and letters warning the colonists to prepare for defence were forthwith despatched to America.
The Assembly met as usual the day before election, and admitted many freemen. This election was the most remarkable one that had occurred for twenty years. The changes were almost complete, while repeated refusals to accept office threatened to leave some places unfilled. William Brenton was elected Governor, but refused to serve. He was absent in Taunton at the time, and as his answer could not be received for some days, the Court of election, after choosing the other officers, adjourned for two weeks, when Nicolas Easton was elected. His two sons were likewise chosen as general officers, John as Attorney, and Peter as Treasurer. John Cranston was made deputy Governor. Of the ten former Assistants. but four were
3.
30. May 1.
357
NEGOTIATIONS WITH CONNECTICUT RENEWED.
retained, while the change in the twenty deputies was en- CHIAP. tire, not a single one in the former Assembly being returned from any town.
IX. 1672. May 1.
The charter and other important papers were always kept in the custody of the Governor, who, on a new elec- tion, delivered them to his successor, taking a formal receipt therefor from the committee appointed to receive them. This was deemed so important that the receipt, specifying the separate papers delivered, was usually en- tered upon the records. It was also the custom to open every session of the Assembly by reading the charter, thereby preserving fresh in the memory of the legislators, the provisions of that fundamental instrument.
The Assembly adjourned for two weeks, after writing a letter to Connecticut, requesting that Government not to molest the people at Westerly, as it was intended soon to propose a method of adjusting all difficulties. The Con- necticut Assembly, as soon as it met, appointed new com- missioners to treat with Rhode Island, and empowered them, in case of failure, to establish their government in Narraganset. They also wrote a conciliatory letter to Rhode Island acceding to her request, and another to the Westerly men, less mild in its import, requiring their sub- mission until the treaty with Rhode Island was concluded.
The General Assembly met by adjournment, and hav- ing received Governor Brenton's refusal to return to office elected Nicolas Easton Governor. Mr. Easton had been for two years, President of the colony, just prior to the usurpation of Coddington, and was more recently deputy Governor for four years. The charter being then read, as usual, the Connecticut question was at once debated. Commissioners were appointed with full powers to treat, and to conclude all differences, and a letter announcing this fact, was sent by a special messenger. The subse quent correspondence upon this subject, for the next four years, has not been preserved ; a loss of no great impor-
9.
14.
358
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. IX. 1672. May 14.
tance, as nothing more definite resulted from these writings than came from this renewed attempt to settle, by treaty, what could only be adjusted by the power that conferred the charters whose terms formed the basis of the dispute.
This done, the Assembly proceeded to undo the acts of their predecessors. This was performed as thoroughly as was the change effected by the recent elections. Not a single public act of the previous session remained unre- pealed at the close of their labors, nor was there any new act passed by them. The mutability of legislation was never so perfectly exemplified. A preamble recites that " several acts and orders were made in the General As- sembly in April last, some whereof seeminge to the in- fringeinge of the libertyes of the people of this colony, and settinge up an arbitrary power, which is contrary to the laws of England, and the fundamentall laws of this colony from the very first settling thereof, others seeminge much to the prejudice of the collony, and impoverishinge the people thereof, to the great disturbance and distraction of the good and well minded people thereof, who have many of them been sufferers in a great measure already, and like more to undergoe, if not timely prevented."
This strikes first at the sedition act, and then at the tax law, including the purposes for which the rate was laid. Accordingly, the sedition act was first repealed, the appointment of Clarke as agent to England, and the taxes for that object, were cancelled, the schedule of salaries was then rescinded, leaving them as fixed by the old law, the commission upon waste lands in Narraganset was re- voked, as if it contemplated a forced sale by the owners to the colony, the confiscation of estates in Westerly was de- clared void, and finally, upon a complaint made by Arthur Fenner, a censure was passed upon the April Assembly, for having sanctioned the second election of deputies in Providence, after it was found that those first elected
359
WARWICK RESOLVES TO RESIST CONNECTICUT.
could not attend. The bitterness of party spirit could go CHAP. IX.
no farther, and the Assembly adjourned.
But the conduct of the Assembly was severely con- demned in some portions of the colony. The Assistants and deputies of Warwick dissented, in behalf of their town, from the action in reference to Connecticut. To them it appeared like a concession of rights that was not to be tolerated. The town sustained the views of its rep- resentatives, and at a full meeting, called for the purpose, agreed " to oppose to the uttermost the intrusions of Con- necticut," and engaged, at their own expense, with the aid of those freemen in the other towns, who might be willing to unite therein, to maintain the appeal to the King, and to send an agent to England for that purpose. This noble and spirited pledge, signed by all of the town council, and of the freemen present at the meeting, is still preserved in the records of that ancient town.
The declaration of war with Holland caused meetings of the council, at which measures were taken to proclaim it in all the towns, and afterward to place the colony in a posture of defence. Richard Smith was intrusted with these duties in Kings Province. Letters to the other New England colonies were also prepared, proposing a confer- ence on these matters, as suggested in the King's letter.
A new subject of agitation now arose. Rhode Island had long been taunted by her Puritan neighbors, as the refuge of every kind of religious or political vagary. In the fierce persecution to which the Quakers had been sub- jected, she offered a free asylum to the oppressed, and re- sisted alike the threats and the entreaties by which it was sought to force her from her fidelity to the cause of relig- ious freedom. The security which this firmness afforded to the preachers of the new sect, led Rhode Island to be- come a favorite resort of many of the followers of Fox, who came hither from England and Barbadoes, to disseminate their doctrines, as from a central point whence they might
1672. June.
3. 15
16. 25.
July.
360
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. easily make excursions in all directions through the Amer- IX. ican colonies. Their great leader himself spent two years 1 672. in America, and was at this time in Rhode Island, to- July. gether with Edmundson, Burnyeat, Stubbs, and Cart- wright, all active and eloquent missionaries of the new faith. Everywhere, except in Rhode Island, toleration of doctrine implied, in the main, concurrence of sentiment. Hence it was asserted that the public feeling of this colony was friendly to the theology of Fox, and the assertion car- ried greater weight because, at this time, some of the mag- istrates were of that sect. Roger Williams, as the peculiar champion of intellectual freedom, wished to give evidence at the same time, of the devotion of his colony to the cause of " soul liberty," and of their dissent from the teachings of George Fox. "I had in my eye the vindicating of this colony for receiving of such persons, whom others would not. We suffer for their sakes, and are accounted their abettors." How could he better effect this object than by showing that the new doctrine was not generally accepted in Rhode Island, although its followers were not only pro- tected here, but were admitted to the highest places of 15. government ? For this purpose, Williams drew up a pa- per containing fourteen propositions, denouncing in strong- est terms, the tenets of Quakerism, and challenged Fox and his adherents to a public discussion of seven of these points at Newport, and of the remainder at Providence. For this he has been charged with inconsistency, and ac- cused of persecuting the Quakers ! In our day there appears indeed to be more of zeal than of wisdom in the conduct of this controversy. Yet, although he stren- uously condemned the teachings of the Friends, and per- formed a marvellous feat of physical and mental labor to oppose them, he would have laid down his life sooner than have a hair of their heads injured on account of their doc- trinal views. The qualities that enabled him to accom- plish the one would have sustained him equally in the
361
WILLIAMS' DEBATE WITH THE QUAKERS.
other. It should be remembered also that these public disputes, upon points of dogmatic theology, were as com- mon in Europe and America, in those times, as political discussions are in our own day. In Germany especially, for more than a century, they had furnished the arena for those brilliant displays of intellectual gladiatorship which, in the progress of civilization, had succeeded the martial strifes of the feudal ages.
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