USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Vol. I > Part 40
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The autumn session was held at Warwick for the second time in twenty years. The question of the power of town councils to reject persons coming into any town was settled upon application of the deputies from Provi- dence. It was decided that any one might be rejected who should fail to give bonds satisfactory to a majority of the council ; and if any one, being warned by the council to leave the town, should fail to do so, a warrant for his removal might be issued to the constable, and in case of his return to the town he should be subject to fine or whip- ping.2
The first company of cavalry in the mainland towns was chartered at this session, to consist of thirty-six men besides officers, with the same privileges given to the in- fantry, and the like obligation to exercise six days in the year. It was composed of residents of Providence, War- wick, and adjacent places, upon whose petition it was or-
1 John Cole and Capt. John Foanes.
2 A curious paper is preserved among the Foster MSS., which shows the mode of applying for permission to reside in any town. "To ye Towne mett this : 15th of Decembr 1680. My request to ye towne is; that they woold grant the liberty to reside in ye Towne during the Townes Approbation, be- having myselfe as a civell man ought to doe, Desireing not to putt ye Towne to any charge by my resideing here ; and for what ye Towne shail see cause farther to enquire of me, I shall see I hope to give them a true and sober Answer thereunto. Yor friend and servant Tho. Waters."
28. Oct. 25.
469
HOG ISLAND DISPUTE.
ganized. Two majors were hereafter to be chosen annu- ally, one for the island and one for the mainland, at the spring election. A crew of privateers had recently been taken and brought into Newport as prisoners, whence they were sent to Virginia for trial. A portion of them having broken jail, laid a plot to assassinate Governor Sandford, which was disclosed by one of their number, who, in fear for his life, petitioned that he might not be sent away with the rest. The prayer was granted, and the informer sub- sequently released. Hog Island, which thirty years before had been a matter of dispute with Plymouth, was again claimed by that colony, which led to a correspondence be- tween it and Rhode Island, and to a very long letter from Governor Hinckley of Plymouth to the secretary of the royal council, claiming the island as within their limits. Richard Smith, the original purchaser, had recently peti- tioned the General Court of Plymouth to protect him from some Rhode Island intruders. This caused the appeal to the council, which was accompanied by a present of fifty guineas to the secretary for past services, and the promise of more in case the Hog Island claim should be allowed.1
CHAP. XI. 1682. Oct.
25.
Nov. 18.
A royal commission at length issued to Edward Cran- field, governor of New Hampshire, and eight others,2 or to any three of them, whereof Cranfield, or Randolph, the de- tested agent for the acts of trade in Massachusetts, should always be of the quorum, to examine and report upon the claims to the soil and jurisdiction of Kings Province. Two more odious names could not be found in New Eng- land than those of the two prominent members of this
1683. April 7.
1 Gov. Hinckley's MSS. in three folio vols., 1676-1699 in Mass. Hist. Soc., vol. i. No. 40.
2 Ed. Cranfield, Wm. Staughton, Joseph Dudley, Ed. Randolph, Samuel Shrimpton, John Fitz-Winthrop, Ed. Palmes, Nathaniel Salstonstall and John Pynchon, Jr., Esquires. Antiq. of Conn., p. 153. 1 M. H. C., v. 232. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 174. Printed copies of the commission date it April 17th, but the original report in Br. S. P. O., New England, vol. iii. p. 332, gives the date as on the margin.
470
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XI. May commission. Cranfield had succeeded Mason as governor of New Hampshire 1 with the single purpose of making 1683. money, and ruled that ill-fated province with an arbitrary power exerted solely for gain. He had but recently ar- rived in the country,2 and had commenced his despotic career with an act of tyranny that placed the province completely beneath his feet. Such was the character of the head of a commission that was now to decide upon questions vital to the interests of Rhode Island.8
2.
June 26.
At the general election, the same officers were again chosen, but Governor Sandford declining to serve, William Coddington, son of the late governor of that name, was chosen in his place, and besides the usual engagement " also took the oath for trade and navigation." The power of the Assembly to expel its members was rarely ex- ercised, but at the adjourned session, a deputy from War- wick, against whom complaints were brought and a divorce granted on petition of his wife at this session, was deemed unfit to hold his seat, and was therefore expelled.4 A movement was made for holding the October Courts an- nually at Providence and Warwick, which towns were re- quired to furnish a cage and stocks preparatory thereto.
A complication of affairs at home and abroad, distinct in their characters, yet all of importance to Rhode Island, ensued at this time. Privateers began to infest the seas, and often resorted to the American coast, where the lax- ity in regard to the acts of trade favored their unlawful operations. This, as we shall hereafter see, in a few years degenerated into actual piracy. The first appear- ance of these naval freebooters in this vicinity we have al-
1 9th May, 1682.
2 Oct. 4th, 1682.
New Hampshire was at this period a provincial government, differing from the others in New England, which were all charter governments. A graphic sketch of the tyranny of Cranfield's administration is found in Bel- knap's New Hampshire, chap. viii.
See Appendix B., ante chap. viii.
471
SECOND ROYAL COMMISSION.
ready noticed. The claim of the Hamilton family to the CHAP. XI. county of New Cambridge, which included all Kings Prov- - ince, was again revived. The Duke appointed Edward 1683. Randolph, one of the commissioners, as his attorney to July 30. prosecute the claim. The arrival of a privateer ship com- manded by Capt. Thomas Paine, of whom we shall have further occasion to speak, caused Thatcher, the deputy collector of Boston, to make a journey to Newport to seize Aug. 15. the vessel. Governor Coddington refused to lend his aid in taking the prize. The ship showed Jamaica papers 16. that satisfied the governor, but were pronounced a forgery by the officer, who a second time demanded assistance to 17. capture her, and was refused on the ground that her papers were regular, and that if the collector did not think so, the 18. law courts were open for him to try the question. Thatcher returned to Boston, and sent to Coddington a pass from 19. the governor of Jamaica to show that Paine's clearance was a forged document. The matter rested thus for awhile, but subsequently caused much trouble to Rhode Island.1
The second royal commission appointed to decide the Narraganset dispute, now met upon that business. The General Assembly convened at Warwick, and refused to publish the summons 2 issued by Cranfield, alleging as rea- sons for their conduct that the summons were not granted in his Majesty's name, that the commissioners had not shown to the government their authority to act, and that the King had not mentioned their appointment in any of his letters. The printed briefs that the commissioners required to be published were both dateless and placeless. Here were serious informalities, it is true, but it might have been more politic to have waived these and to have ac-
1 Thatcher's account of this affair is in Br. S. P. O., New England, iii. 301.
2 R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 139. Br. S. P. O., New England, vol. iii. p. 225, printed sheet.
20.
472
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XI. quiesced in the desires of the commissioners. The effect of the course adopted was to prejudice the parties who were to decide these vital questions, against the just claims of Rhode Island, while a more courteous treatment, such as had been shown to the previous commissioners, would have compromised no principle, and might have prevented any adverse bias in the court. A letter was ad- dressed to the commissioners, calling upon them to pro- duce their authority from the King before proceeding fur- ther. They were in session at the house of Richard Smith. The Assembly adjourned to meet the next day at the 22. house of Capt. John Foanes, also in Narraganset, where the messengers made return that, upon delivering the let- ter, Governor Cranfield denied any knowledge of a gover- nor in Kings Province. No answer was sent to the letter nor any commission shown. The Assembly unanimously ordered that the governor and council should issue a pro- hibition forbidding the commissioners from holding a court, and requiring them peaceably to depart. This was im- mediately done under the hands and seals of the governor and council. The prohibition recited the aforesaid reasons and order, and was posted by the general sergeant at 23. Smith's house. The next day the commissioners notified the Assembly of the object of their meeting, and that they had waited two days in vain for Rhode Island to comply with the King's commands, and should now adjourn to Boston. To this the Assembly replied, defending their 24. course, and stating that they had been four days in session expecting that the commissioners would show their com- mission. A great deal of testimony, some relevant, and more not so, was collected by the Court from the various claimants to the soil and jurisdiction of Narraganset, which was forwarded to England.1
1 Some of this is in the archives of Connecticut, and more in Br. S. P. O. New England, vol. iii. p. 330, among which is a curious old map of Rhode Island, sent over the next year, dated 4 July, 1684.
1683. Aug. 21.
473
COMPLAINTS AGAINST CRANFIELD.
The Assembly then elected and engaged conservators of the peace and other town officers for Kingstown, and adjourned for two weeks. Committees were then ap- pointed to draft letters to the royal council, and Arthur Fenner and Ex-Gov. Sandford where chosen by ballot as agents to proceed to England. A tax of four hundred pounds was voted for this purpose. The letter complain- ed of Cranfield and his colleagues for not showing their commissions, and explained the conduct of the Assembly consequent thereon, contrasting these with the acts of the former commissioners and the treatment they had re- ceived. It requested that notice should be given them in case any complaints were made by Cranfield on this sub- ject, that they might reply thereto. The town of War- wick also sent an address 1 to the King, written by Randal Holden and John Greene, rehearsing the foregoing facts and referring to the statements they had given when in London. This paper substantiated the positions taken in the Assembly's letter. Rhode Island had nothing to hope from the royal commissioners whose haughty bearing she had so indignantly resented. They were the avowed ene- mies of all the colonies, as their private letters and of- ficial papers equally prove. Cranfield's correspondence is full of the spite of personal enmity engendered by the treatment that his insolent and unprincipled con- duct caused him everywhere to receive. Connecticut ap- proached him with that cautious courtesy which his place, if not his character, demanded, and for which she received in return his approbation of her claims. His letter to the Board of Trade, accompanying the Report, abounds in abuse of Rhode Island, in which it is difficult to separate the misstatements of fact from the expressions of invective. And lest he might seem, in using language which had too often before been applied to Rhode Island by her sister
1 The originals of both these letters are in Br. S. P. O., New Eng., vol. iii. pp. 230, 234. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 135, 137.
CHAP. XI. 1683. Sept. 10.
15.
17.
Oct. 19.
474
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
1683. Oct. 19.
CHAP. XI. colonies, to be tacitly approving their course, he charged the same disloyalty upon them, and concludes by saying that "it never will be otherwise till their charters are broke, 1 and the college at Cambridge utterly extirpated, for from thence those half-witted Philosophers turn either Atheists or seditious Preachers." 2 On the same day Gov. Coddington, by order of the General Assembly, sent an address to the King to the same effect as the Septem- ber letter, relating to the conduct of Cranfield.3 The 20. Report of the royal commissioners was a lengthy document reciting the parties' claimants, the disrespectful treatment of the commissioners by Rhode Island, the points of dis- puted jurisdiction, hanging upon the interpretation of the words "Narraganset river" in the two charters, which was declared in favor of Connecticut, and then the claims to propriety of the soil, which was decided fully in favor of the Atherton company. The agent of the Duke of Hamilton arrived too late to present that claim in season. It was therefore referred to the King, and the adverse parties were notified thereof.4 Connecticut sent her an- swer to the claim, alleging seven valid reasons against it, to which the Duchess of Hamilton afterwards replied, re- butting the positions taken by Connecticut, but in vain, 5 and the Narraganset proprietors also petitioned that the decision of the commissioners in their behalf be con- firmed.6
Dec. 13.
Among the important events of this year there was one that had already occurred, more memorable than any
1 This was the first direct intimation of the calamity that was soon to come upon New England.
2 Br. S. P. O., vol. iii. p. 227. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 146.
3 Br. S. P. O., vol. iii. p. 232 of New Eng papers. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 147.
4 Br. S. P. O., New Eng., vol. iii., p. 332-7. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 140-5. R. I. H. C., iii. 229-38.
5 Both papers are in Br. S. P. O., New Eng., vol. viii., and the former is printed in Antiq. of Conn. p. 159.
6 Br. S. P. O., N. Eng., vol. iii. p. 319.
475
DEATH OF ROGER WILLIAMS.
we have recorded-the death of Roger Williams. More CHAP. than half a century had elapsed since this ardent friend XI. of freedom landed on the shores of Massachusetts, and 1683. forty-seven years had passed away since, twice exiled for opinion's sake, he erected in this wilderness the altar of free worship. He had seen the powerful tribes, that first welcomed their "white brother" to the hospitalities of the forest, melt away beneath the advance of a civiliza- tion which he had heralded ; and he had lived to see his little band of six associates grown into a prosperous colo- ny amid persecution, pestilence, and war. With devout thanksgiving he recognized the Supreme Power who had preserved his infant colony through so many dangers, to perpetuate and disseminate the eternal principles of civil and religious freedom which he had sought to establish. Of all the pioneers who settled the first four towns he was nearly the last survivor ; but two, Randal Holden and John Greene, outlived their leader. He died in his eighty-fourth year, but how or precisely when is not cer- tainly known, 1 and " was buried with all the solemnity the colony was able to show." 2
The remarkable traits of his character may be gather- ed from what has heretofore been recorded in these pages. His life has been written by able pens, and well repays perusal by those who would learn the trials and appre- ciate the triumphs of this Christian statesman.3 He suf- fered more than most men from the slanders of those who should have been his friends, as well as from the oppres- sion of his enemies. The bitterness of theological strife spared no weapons which envy or malice could supply. Coddington even accused him "as a hireling, who for the
1 He died between January 16th and May 10th, 1683. Knowles, 354.
2 Callender, R. I. H. C., iv. 147, note.
3 By Prof. J. D. Knowles, Boston, 1834, 12mo. pp. 437; by Prof. W. Gam- mell, in Sparke's Am. Biog. New Series, vol. iv. Boston, 1845; and by Dr. Romeo Elton, Providence, 1853. 16mo. pp. 173.
476
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XI. 1683.
sake of money went to England for the charter ! " Harris, in the long and angry controversy between them, left no means untried to undermine his influence with those for whom he had supplied a home when the gates of Massa- chusetts were closed against them. Scot earliest dis- played those feelings of envy which successful merit is certain to excite in jealous or feeble minds, when the whole population turned out to receive Mr. Williams upon his return from England with the first charter. "The man," he says, "being hemmed in, in the middle of the canoes, was so elevated and transported out of himself, that I was condemned in myself, that amongst the rest, I had been an instrument to set him up in his pride and folly." 1 But posterity has rendered justice to his memory, and the founder of Rhode Island, the great champion of in- tellectual liberty, has outlived the efforts of his detractors. The leading peculiarities of his mind may be briefly sketched. A firmness, amounting in some cases perhaps to obstinacy, enabled him to suffer hardships, rarely if ever surpassed by those of any exile for opinion's sake. His generosity amounted to prodigality ; for after having purchased of the Indians all the lands around his new plantations, with his own money, he divided them equally among those who followed him. His charity was an ac- tive principle, that led him to brave all peril to effect good to the natives, or to reconcile feuds among his fellow- citizens. Of his forgiving spirit his conduct toward the neighboring colonies furnishes ample evidence. He har- bored no feelings of revenge for injuries received, but pitied the weakness, or lamented the delusion whence they arose. His consistency and love of truth are alike apparent in his controversy with the Quakers at Newport, which has been so much misrepresented ; yet he would
1 The Quaker controversy of 1672 was the fruitful occasion of these mani- festations of malevolence, all of which, and many more, may be found in New England's Firebrand Quenched, a work before referred to.
477
PRIVATEERS. CLAIMS OF PLYMOUTH.
have laid down his life rather than have a hair of their heads injured on account of their doctrinal views. His in- dustry was unwearied ; he valued time and he well im- 1683.
CHAP. XI. - proved it. "One grain of its inestimable sand," said he, "is worth a golden mountain." His faults were those of an ardent mind, sometimes hasty, ever slow to yield ; but these were few beside his exalted virtues. He was a varied scholar, a profound philosopher, a practical Chris- tian, a true philanthropist-one whose deep knowledge of men, and whose acute perception of principles as displayed in the foundation of an American State, entitle him to the rank, which posterity has bestowed, among the most far-sighted statesmen of his age-one who, were it his only praise to have been the first of modern legislators to embody the principles of universal toleration in the con- stitution of a State, would, by this act alone, secure a niche in the temple of fame, and cause his name to be handed down through all future time as the great Apostle of Religious Freedom.
The appearance of privateers upon the high seas en- gaged the attention of the home government. Jamaica March was at first the head-quarters of these illegal proceedings, 8. and orders were sent to that island, and afterward to the New England colonies, to pass laws against privateering and piracy. The claims of Plymouth to the soil of Rhode Island were now extended to an absurd point, including the island of Aquedneck, as well as the long disputed islet at the mouth of Mt. Hope bay, known as Hog Island. A letter from Gov. Hinckley to Secretary Blathwayt sets 16. forth this new claim, resting it upon the western boundary of Plymouth patent, described as the middle of Narragan- set bay, the mouth of which is between Seaconnet and Point Judith, and the main channel westward of Aqued- neck, and hence including that island.1 These two sub-
1083-4.
1 Hinckley MSS. vol. i. No. 63. Mass. Hist. Soc.
478
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. jects presented the chief topics of legislation at the Gen- eral Assembly.
XI. 1684. May 7.
8.
10.
June 24.
The same executive officers were again chosen, and for the first time, two majors, John Coggeshall for the island and John Greene for the main, were also elected by the people. The governor being ill, the Assembly met at his house, where the oath according to the act of Trade and Navigation was administered with the regular en- gagement. A difference between the towns of Portsmouth and Newport, which had existed ever since their separa- tion, was now settled by the Assembly, the line between them was established, and the tenure of lands upon the island definitely fixed. The proclamation concerning privateers and pirates was received at an adjourned session, and published in Newport by beat of drum. The act re- quired thereby was at once passed, making it felony to serve under any foreign Prince against any power at peace with England, without special license, and making all persons liable as accessories who should give aid or coun- tenance in any way to those who might be adjudged as privateers or pirates. Time was allowed for those already employed under foreign flags to return and give security to the governor for their future behavior. The act was transmitted to England with letters from the colony. Similar acts were passed by the other colonies. The in- trusions of Plymouth, based upon her recent extravagant claims, were discussed, and a letter was sent to Gov. Hinck- ley, remonstrating in friendly terms against two acts of violence committed at Hog Island by N. Byfield of Bris- tol, and others, but making no allusion to any further claim of that colony.1
The Jews, who afterwards contributed so much to the commercial prosperity of Newport, appeared for the first time, by petition, at this Assembly, and received the as- surance that they might expect as good protection here
1 Hinckley MSS. vol. No. 64. Mass. Hist. Soc.
479
CHARLES II. AND JAMES II.
as any other resident foreigners, being obedient to the CHAP. laws.1 The autumn sessions of the Assembly were ap- 4 1684. Oct. 29.
XI. pointed to be held hereafter alternately at Warwick and Providence, and accordingly met this year at Warwick, and assessed a tax of one hundred and sixty pounds, no- tice of which had been given at the spring session.
The death of Charles II. and the proclamation of his brother James II., occurred soon after in England. What- ever may be said of the public and private character of the deceased monarch, Rhode Island is bound to speak well of his civil administration so far as it concerned her- self, for to him she owed the confirmation of her glorious privileges in the second charter, and was uniformly pro- tected by him against the assumptions of her arrogant neighbors. The broad principles of universal toleration, which a distracted nation hailed in the famous Declara- tion of Breda, and which Clarke incorporated in its very terms in his draft of the charter of Rhode Island, were secured to her, although they were denied to his other subjects. The new king was soon to inaugurate a new policy subversive of all liberty, and to prostrate New England beneath his feet by means of a royal governor.
While this storm was gathering, other claimants pre- sented themselves for the contested soil of Narraganset. One sixteenth of all the lands held by the Atherton com- pany had been bestowed upon Lord Culpeper, governor of Virginia, who now petitioned the crown, in behalf of his associates, to confirm their possession, offering to pay an annual quit-rent of two and sixpence for every hundred acres. The Earl of Arran, son of the Duke of Hamilton, again urged the old claim of his grandfather the Marquis. These petitions took the usual course of reference to the
" This is worthy of note as evidence that the famous phrases, "professing Christianity," &c., were not embodied in the law of 1663, as the enemies of Rhode Island have charged, but were interpolated at a later date, and, as would appear by this act, subsequent certainly to 1684.
1684-5. Feb. 6.
March 24.
1685.
April 3.
480
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XI. Board of Trade, where they slumbered for some years be- fore any Report was made upon them.1 The rival claims among the actual settlers in Narraganset was giving rise to disturbance, threatening serious results. To prevent this the governor and council of Rhode Island issued an order requiring that no man should molest any one in the quiet possession of his lands, until the King's pleasure could be known.
The first direct step was now taken in England by Edward Randolph against the liberty of the colonies. He complained to the Board of Trade of irregularities in Con- necticut and Rhode Island, and urged that writs of quo warranto should be granted against them, for the purpose of revoking their charters. An order was at once issued for him to prepare articles of misdemeanor against these colonies, that might serve as a basis for the writs .? That some intimation of impending peril had reached Rhode Island, we infer from the proceedings at the general elec- tion. Gov. Coddington was absent when the Assembly met. He was re-elected, and an earnest letter informing him of the fact, and requesting his presence, was carried to him by a committee of the members. He appeared, but declined to serve. Henry Bull, a man who afterwards proved himself to be as fearless as he was honest, was then chosen governor ; and the deputy governor, Walter Clarke, was re-elected. The attorney general and several of the Assembly also refused to take their engagements, and others were chosen in their places. An address, in the usual style, was prepared, congratulating King James upon his accession, and asking a continuance of the favors bestowed by his predecessor. The proprietors of Narra- ganset sent a similar address.3
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