USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Vol. I > Part 44
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Two parties, royalist and republican, divided the col- ony. Prominent among the former was Francis Brinley, a distinguished merchant of Newport, whose letters dis- play the bitterness of faction in these troublous times. He denounced the action of the republicans in resuming the charter, and called for a settled government, to be estab- lished by the king, over all New England.1 The bold at- titude of the republican party secured the freedom of the colony. In May they had reinstated all the old officers, and re-established all the laws superseded in 1686. The charter had been produced in open Assembly, and then re- turned to the custody of Gov. Clarke. The records of the colony were not forthcoming at that time, the former re- corder being dead, and the present custodian having refus- ed to deliver them except upon distraint. This act of re- sumption was afterward sanctioned by the king, upon re- ceiving the written opinion of the law officers of the crown, that the charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut, never having been revoked, but only suspended, still remained in full force and effect.2 Had the royalists, who doubted
1 Abstracts of his private letters are in Br. S. P. O., New Eng., vol. v. p. 413. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 259.
2 The opinions of Ward, and of the then Attorney and Solicitor General, in the case of Connecticut, were rendered 2d August, 1690, and apply equally to R. I. Hutchinson, i. 406 note. The opinion of Attorney General Ward specially upon the R. I. charter, was given three years later, Dec. 7, 1693, con- firming the acts of the people under it on every point. It is in Br. S. P. O., New Eng., vol. vii. and R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 493.
ยท
518
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XII. 1689-90. Feb.
the legality of these acts, prevailed, and a renewal of the charter been applied for, it could not have been obtained with so liberal provisions as the old one, if at all ; and most probably Rhode Island would have met the fate of Plymouth, and been absorbed by Massachusetts under a general governor.
26.
27.
The defective government of the last ten months called for legislative action. The General Assembly was as yet unorganized, and the chief magistrate was doubtful of his powers, or shrank from the duties of his post. A meet- ing of the assembly had been called by Gov. Clarke, in October, the regular time appointed by charter; but a storm prevented the mainland towns from being repre- sented, and the governor himself had failed to attend. At length the Assembly convened for the first time for nearly four years. The deputy governor, six assistants, the new recorder, chosen by the freemen in May, the gen- eral sergeant, and seventeen deputies, were present. The Assembly proceeded to fill the vacancies in their number. Absentees were sent for. The governor obeyed the sum- mons, but declined to retain his office. Christopher Almy was elected in his place, but he also declined. It was then that "all eyes turned to one of the old Antinomian exiles, the more than octogenarian, Henry Bull; and the fearless Quaker, true to the light within, employed the last glimmerings of life to restore the democratic charter of Rhode Island." ' Benedict Arnold, son of the late governor, was elected an assistant ; and Almy, who de- clined to be governor, consented to fill another vacancy in that body. Gov. Clarke refused to deliver the charter, and other official papers, to a committee of the Assembly appointed to receive them. He gave them leave to take it, but refused himself to open the chest in which it was kept. It is said that his extreme caution was only over- come by an order for the sheriff to arrest and confine him
1 Bancroft, chap. 17, vol. 2, p. 350.
519
RESUMPTION OF THE CHARTER.
in prison, upon which the required documents were handed over, and placed in charge of Gov. Bull ; but it appears from the records that he retained the charter till the an- nual election-two months later, and then gave it up, on a second demand, to the assembly.' There was a policy in all this which was so apparent that Clarke never lost the confidence of the people. The funds of the colony were in the hands of Roger Holden, to be appropriated to building a colony house. He paid them over without demur. A new seal " being the anchor, with the motto, Hope," was procured by the Assembly, in place of the one broken by Andros. . The declaration of war between France and England was proclaimed. Col. Church was at this time fighting the French and Indians, at the east- ward; and very soon the war was to be brought nearer home by the presence of a French fleet on our coast. The towns were put in a state of defence, and the French refugees in Narraganset were required to present them- selves to John Greene, at Warwick, and take the oath of allegiance to the British crown, required by the king, in consideration of which they were to remain undisturbed, behaving peaceably.
At the next regular session of the Assembly, the day previous to the annual election, all the members were present. The charter was publicly read, as in former days, and the election proceeded with in usual form. De- clining years compelled Gov. Bull to refuse a re-election. The deputy governor was then chosen, but refused, per- haps from the same cause. John Easton was then elected governor, and Major John Greene, deputy governor. The list of assistants was completed to ten, and the other gen- eral officers, and two majors, were chosen as heretofore.
The first grand period of Rhode Island history, the formation period, was ended. The era of domestic strife and outward conflict for existence, of change and inter-
1 Foster papers, Bound vol. i. p. 337.
CHAP. XII. 1699-90. March
1.
3.
1690. May 6.
7.
520
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XII. 1690. May 7.
ruption, of doubt and gloom, anxiety and distress, had almost passed. The problem of self-government was solved, and a new era of independent action commenced, which was to continue unbroken for an entire century, un- til her separate sovereignty should be merged in the Amer- ican Union, by the adoption of the federal constitution ; and her royal charter, the noble work of her republican founders, was never again to be interrupted, not even by the storm of revolution, until the lapse of more than a century and a half had made its provisions obsolete.
The colony house, projected during the government of Andros, was now nearly completed, and received the name of the Town House. The governor, deputy governor, and assistants, on account of the expense attending their of- ficial duties, and their receiving no salary, were excused for the future from paying any colony tax. The war with the French and Indians raged all along the northern fron- tier. Leisler, governor of New York, demanded assist- ance from all the colonies. Rhode Island could not spare men, but voted a tax of three hundred pounds solely for this purpose. The effective force of New England at this time, as shown in a tabular statement of the enrolled mi- litia, furnished by Sir Edmund Andros to the royal coun- cil, was over thirteen thousand men. Of these, eight hundred were in Rhode Island, exclusive of the eastern shore, which was included in Plymouth.1 A fleet of seven sail of French privateers made a descent upon the coast,
13.
1 Rhode Island, &c.
Capt. Pelham, Newport, 1st Co. 104
Capt. Rogers, do 2d do
Capt. Arnold, Portsmouth, 105
Capt. Joseph Arnold, Jamestown, 34
328
These were under Major John Walley, with the County of Bristol troops, number- ing 780.
Br. S. P. O., New Eng., vol. v. p. 202.
Kings Province and Providence Plantations.
Major Richard Smith.
Major Gen. Winthrop, Providence, 175
Capt. Fones, Rochester, (Kingston,) 136
Capt. Gorton, Warwick, 60
Capt. Davoll, Feversham, (Westerly,) 56 Capt. Weaver, Deptford, (Greenwich) 37
464
It would seem by this that the Provi- denee troops were attached to a Connecti- cut division.
521
NAVAL VICTORY OVER THE FRENCH.
captured Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island, where they committed horrible excesses. Bonfires were lighted at Pawcatuck, and thence all along the shore, to arouse the country. A sloop with thirty-four men was at once sent out from Newport to reconnoitre. A portion of the enemy entered the harbor of Newport by night, to surprise the town ; but failing in this, they proceeded to attack New London, and were beaten off. Thence they landed at Fisher's Island, and burnt the only house upon it. There a small body of seventeen men, from Stoning- ton, surprised a party of them, and killed one Trimming, an English renegade, who had served as their decoy at the taking of Block Island. An expedition, consisting of two sloops with about ninety men, under command of Capt. Thomas Paine, was sent out from Newport to attack the enemy. Capt. John Godfrey was Paine's second. The next day they fell in with five French sail near Block Isl- and. Paine sent a few men on shore to prevent the enemy from landing, and ran his vessels into shallow water to avoid being surrounded. The French force numbered two hundred men, under one Pekar, a Frenchman who had sailed as a lieutenant with Capt. Paine, in privateering expeditions, some years before. At five o'clock in the af- ternoon the enemy came up with the intention of board- ing, but was repulsed. A bloody action ensued for two hours and a half, till night separated the combatants. Pekar withdrew with the loss of nearly one-half his men, in killed and wounded. Paine's loss was only one man killed, and six wounded. The next day the French put to sea. Paine gave chase, and compelled them to sink a prize, loaded with wines and brandy, which they had taken. The alarm caused by this bold assault, induced many persons to remove their property from Newport, to places of greater security. To Block Island this was but the commencement of a series of sufferings to which that ex- posed spot was subjected from foreign foes, as it had often
CHAP. XII. 1690. July 12.
14.
20 21.
22.
522
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XII. Aug. already been at the hands of the Indians. The dangers of the sea, and the sterner perils of war, united to pro- 1690. duce a race of men whose courage and hardihood cannot be surpassed. The brilliant exploit of Paine at once in- spired the people of this colony with a naval spirit. It was the first victory of Rhode Island on the open ocean, and the worthy harbinger of many daring deeds.1 Three subsequent attempts upon Block Island were made by the French, during this war, as related by Niles. The second was a night attack :2 the people were maltreated, and their cattle carried off, but no one was killed. The next time the privateers were captured by the Nonsuch man-of-war ; 3 and on the fourth, and last attack, the islanders themselves repulsed the marauders "in an open, pitched battle," after which they were no longer molested by the French.
9.
A great expedition consisting of thirty-two vessels and about two thousand men, under Sir William Phipps, sailed from Boston for the conquest of Canada, but were repulsed by Count Frontenac, before Quebec, and returned in dis- grace. To pay off the men, bills of credit were issued, the first paper money ever seen in New England, but unfor- tunately not the last. French privateers covered the seas, plundering the commerce of the colonists and harassing the seaboard. In consequence of these troubles, a special session of the Assembly was called, to meet at Portsmouth, to adopt stringent measures for raising the tax levied in the spring, and not yet collected. A tonnage duty of one shilling, or of one pound of powder, per ton, was laid upon all vessels of more than ten tons, belonging to other colo- nies, that should break bulk in the harbor of Newport ; the
Sept. 16.
1 Br. S. P. O., New England, vol. v. pp. 356, 365. Niles' Hist. of Fr. and Ind. Wars in 3 M. H. C., vi. 263-74, where many instances of the brutality of the French are given, to which Niles, a native of Block Island, was an eye- witness.
2 May 20, 1691.
$ In the summer of 1693.
523
SMALLPOX ON THE ISLAND.
receipts to be applied to maintaining a powder magazine for the use of the Island. The regular session was held at
CHAP. XII. Providence at the house of John Whipple. The smallpox 1690. had broken out with great violence upon the Island. The Oct. 29. recorder and his family were ill with it, so that the read- ing of the charter, an indispensable prerequisite to legisla- tion, was omitted, no attested copy of it being at hand, and an entry was made of the reason for the omission. The whole affairs of the colony were deranged by the prevailing sickness, and no business of general interest was transacted by the Assembly. So virulent was this formidable plague, for which no remedy or preventive was then known,1 that 1690-1. Jan. 8. a letter from Boston, written during this winter, says, " Rhode Island is almost destroyed by the smallpox." 2 Newport was abandoned by the legislature for nearly a year. The general election was held at Portsmouth, "it being removed from Newport by reason of the distemper." 1691 No changes were made in the principal officers, and no im- May 6. portant business was done. The French again attacked Block Island in the night, but seem to have left before any force could be sent against them.3 The adjourned 20. session was opened at Portsmouth, and removed next day June 23. to Newport, whence we infer that the pestilence, which had ravaged that town for about ten months, had abated. An address to their Majesties was adopted, but seems never to have reached its destination. The military sys- tem of the colony was revised, and the power placed in the hands of the two majors. The militia was divided into two regiments, one under each major, and courts mar-
1 The Christian world owes to the Turks one of the greatest discoveries in medical science. Inoculation was introduced into England by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, in 1721, who had learned it at Adrianople three years be- fore. Vaccination was discovered by Dr. Jenner in 1796, and made public in England in 1799, whence it was brought to the United States by Dr. Waterhouse, the following year.
" Mr. Lloyd's letter. Br. S. P. O., New England, vol. v. p. 362.
3 Prince's collection. Letters and Papers, p. 60, No. 3 in Mass, Hist. Soc.
524
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. tial were established, to consist of a majority of the com- XII. missioned officers of each regiment. An addition to the 1691. court-house at Newport, and also a turret, where the bell might be hung, were ordered.
June 27.
The records of the General Assembly from October 1690 to July 1695, except the fragment of a special ses- sion in August 1692, have disappeared from the files. A portion only has been found among the British archives, whither the whole were probably sent by Lord Bellemont. The history of the intervening period is derived chiefly from other records in the State Paper office at London, and from contemporaneous authorities at home.
Oct.
7.
Dec. 12.
1692.
Massachusetts and Plymouth were united under one charter, and the selection of their officers was left to their own agents, by whose recommendation Sir William Phipps, a native of Massachusetts, and then an Assistant of that colony, was named as governor. By his commission he was made commander-in-chief of all the land and naval forces of New England, each colony being separately named therein. This was an infringement upon the chartered rights of Connecticut and Rhode Island which at once oc- casioned trouble. Connecticut was placed in a still worse position, by a similar power over her militia being also conferred afterward upon Col. Fletcher, governor of New York. The charters of both these colonies were so differ- ent from any others, that constant blunders of this sort were made by the Home Government, and many of the complaints, particularly against the conduct of Rhode Isl- and, are attributable to this source. The firmness with which she clung to the Magna Charta of her freedom, through trials of every kind, is surprising ; and that she was legally as well as morally right in the ever varying positions that she was compelled to assume, as the attacks made upon her changed in their character and objects, is obvious from the almost uniform decisions in her favor, whenever she was called to plead in her own defence.
525
ATTEMPTS OF SIR WILLIAM PHIPPS.
Upon the arrival of Sir William Phipps at Boston, CHAP. the venerable Governor Bradstreet resigned his office. This was the era of witchcraft in Massachusetts, but as the infatuation never extended to the less gloomy people of Rhode Island, we do not propose to discuss it. The of- fence appears on the statute book, but no prosecutions were ever had under it. The people of this colony had suffered too much from the superstitions and the priest- craft of the Puritans, readily to adopt their delusions, and there was no State clergy to stimulate the whimsies of their parishioners. More important matters to them than the bedevilment of their neighbors engrossed their whole attention.
A revival of difficulties between Rhode Island and Con- necticut was threatened. The latter colony wrote to Gov. Easton that some persons at Pawcatuck had appealed to them for the protection of their laws, and suggested that, for peace' sake, Rhode Island would consent, under these circumstances, that the request of the petitioners should be granted, until further orders were received from England. It was an amicable letter, far different in tone from the correspondence in former years on the same subject. Gov. Easton replied in a similar spirit, but maintained the claim of Rhode Island to the bank of the river, and that a sub- mission to another government, by the people in question, could not convey the right of jurisdiction.
Meanwhile Governor Phipps wrote to Rhode Island re- quiring the militia of the colony to be placed under him, by the terms of his commission, and that an account of their numbers and condition should be sent to him. The deputy governor, Major Greene, and one assistant went to Boston upon this business, and also to secure the establish- ment of a post-office in the colony. They were detained five days before they could obtain a hearing, and then re- ceived no satisfactory reply ; nor was any letter sent by Phipps to Gov. Easton, as was promised, but soon after-
XII. 1692. May. 14.
20.
June 18.
2.
526
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
XII. CHAP. wards several commissions were sent to Major Sandford, to be distributed among the militia officers, displacing 1692. most of those already in commission. The Assembly was Aug. 2. convened, and ordered that the present officers should re- tain their posts, and hold their companies ready for defence. In the towns that had neglected to choose military officers at the spring election, the former officers were reappoint- ed. An address to their Majesties was adopted, stating the facts of the case, suggesting that the conduct of Phipps was stimulated by private interests-some of his counsellors, by whose acts the settlement of Narraganset was thereby impeded, being members of the Atherton company-and praying that the charter limits of the col- ony might be confirmed to them, in accordance with for- mer decisions. An attempt to run the lines of the colony was forbidden by Governor Phipps, whereupon the As- Nov. 22. sembly again met, and commissioned Christopher Almy to take another letter to their Majesties, enforcing the prayer of the address, with a plat of the colony, and the reasons for the petition.
Governor Phipps was equally foiled in his attempt upon the militia of Connecticut, and being a very passion- ate man he nearly involved himself in a quarrel with Col. Fletcher of New York, who also endeavored, by virtue of his commission, to control the troops of Connecticut ; but both were alike thwarted by the firmness of Gov. Treat. 1692 3. During the winter, Sir William, for the first time, came to Rhode Island, and read his commission to Gov. Easton in . the presence of witnesses. The governor replied, that when the Assembly met, if they had any thing farther to say, he would write. There was little satisfaction in this cavalier reception, which offset Phipps' treatment of Rhode Island, and still less in the ultimate result ; but with such as it was Sir William declared himself contented, and went home.
The war between England and France continued
527
POST ROUTES ESTABLISHED.
with great violence. Louis XIV. invaded England, in be- half of James the Pretender, and maintained a strong force in Canada, which threatened the conquest of British America. Orders were issued from Whitehall for all the colonies to send aid, in men or money, to the governor of New York, for the relief of Albany, then a frontier fort of the English.
The first postal arrangements in the United States 1693. were now adopted in the council of Massachusetts. The right to establish post routes in America had been granted for a term of twenty-one years, by royal patent, to Thomas Neale,1 who deputed Andrew Hamelton to carry out the design. By him the plan was presented to the govern- ment of Massachusetts to establish a weekly mail from Boston to Virginia. The rate of postage for all foreign letters was fixed at twopence a letter. Inland letters paid, from Boston to Rhode Island, sixpence for each sin- gle letter, and proportionately for a package, which could not count less than three letters, ninepence to Connecticut, a shilling to New York, fifteen pence to Pennsylvania, and two shillings to Maryland and Virginia, with one penny for delivery at the house after any letter had lain two June days in the post-office uncalled for. The act was passed 9. by the representatives, and concurred in by the council.
Almy, the Rhode Island agent, became impatient at the delays that detained him in London, and petitioned that the address which he had brought might be read by the royal council. This was done and the subject referred, as usual, to the Board of Trade, who in turn submitted the address to the attorney general for his opinion upon the validity of the charter, and the right to control the militia against the demand of Phipps, and to have their eastern boundary explained. The decision was rendered in favor of Rhode Island upon every point. "I see nothing in point of law but that their Majesties may gratify the pe-
1 Feb. 17, 1691-2.
CHAP. XII. 1692-3. March 3.
March 30.
Aug. 24.
Sept. 15.
528
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XII. 1693. Oct. 25.
titioners, and confirm their charter, and explain the east- ern boundaries as is desired," is the conclusion of this im- portant paper, which virtually crushed the hopes of the royalist faction in Rhode Island, and cooled the ardor of her ambitious neighbors. Meanwhile the General Assem- bly sent another address to their Majesties, assigning the exposed situation of the colony, as shown by the late at- tacks upon Block Island, as the reason for their not send- ing aid to Albany.1
1693-4. Jan. 2.
The Board of Trade submitted further questions to the attorney general upon the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the Jersey grants, how the strength of the whole might be united under one Commander-in-chief to operate against the French. His opinion sustained the position which he had before taken, that these colonies had the exclusive control over their militia in times of peace, but added, that in case of war, if necessary for the common defence, a chief commander might order out a re- quisite number of troops, with the aid and assistance of the governor, leaving enough at home to secure the safety of each colony. The Board of Trade having reported this opinion to the royal council, an order was issued fixing the quota of troops to be furnished by Rhode Island, for ser- vice under the governor of New York, at forty-eight men, and also referring the boundary dispute to the members of the council of New York. The Queen forthwith sent her commands to Gov. Phipps, limiting his control over the militia of Rhode Island, in accordance with the report, and requiring him to furnish three hundred and
Aug. 2.
21.
1 All the foregoing documents referred to are in Br. S. P. O., New England, vol. vii., and are mostly inserted in R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 288-295. The admi- rable mode in which these Records are compiled, by supplying deficiencies in the existing files, and inserting explanatory documents obtained from other sources, in order to present a documentary history of the State as complete as possible, places the Rhode Island Colonial Records before any other State col- lection we have seen, and reflects great credit upon the industry and ability of the Hon. John R. Bartlett, Secretary of State, by whom they were prepared.
1694. April 2. 21.
529
EASTERN BOUNDARY QUESTION.
fifty men from Massachusetts for the defence of Albany. CHAP. Similar orders were sent to Rhode Island and Connecti- XII. cut. The quota of the latter was fixed at one hundred 1694. and twenty men.1 . May
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