USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Vol. I > Part 45
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The boundary question had been much discussed pre- vious to this order of council. The new charter of New England, by absorbing Plymouth, had bounded Rhode Island on the east as well as the north by Massachusetts. The old conflict for the eastern shore was therefore to be continued with a new and more formidable opponent. Almy wrote to the Duke of Leeds, President of the Privy Council, asking his special attention to the eastern bound- ary of the colony, and supplying the evidence to sustain the claim of Rhode Island. The Massachusetts agents petitioned the Board of Trade ? for a hearing upon this point before the question should be decided. The point was referred to the attorney general, whose action was hastened by a notice from the Board that they were wait- ing his report. While he was preparing it, the Earl of Arran presented the great claim of the Hamilton family to the attorney general, as including a part of Rhode Island, but it was for the present thrown out. The opinion re- cited in detail the charter bounds of Rhode Island, the Plymouth grant, and the decision of Sir Robert Carr, and suggested a reference to disinterested parties near the spot as the only mode of determining the dispute. Upon re- ceipt of this report, the agents were summoned to attend a meeting of the Board to consider this boundary question. Mr. Almy petitioned that no Connecticut man should be placed upon the commission, as the dispute with that col-
15.
June 18. 28.
July
11.
16.
i Br. S. P. O, New England, vol. xxxv., pp. 152, 165, 170. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 295-9.
2 The official title of this body was " the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of Trade and Plantations." A little later than this time they were known as the "Board of Trade," by which name we style them in the text, for brevity. All the colonial documents in the British archivos are marked B. T., as plantation affairs were their peculiar province.
VOL. I .- 34
530
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XII. 1694. Aug. 2.
ony in regard to the western line still existed. The at -. torney general prepared the draft of a commission to the arbitrators, which was approved by the Board, and the next day, when the order upon the militia was issued, as before stated, this draft was attached to it to be filled by the names of the New York council.
Sept. 6.
The acts of trade were so generally disregarded in the colonies as to form the subject of frequent remonstrance by the home government. Rhode Island came in for her share of rebuke, although at first she was more loyal upon this point than either New England or New York. In reply to a circular from the Board of Trade, issued a year before, Governor Easton wrote that the collector, Jahleel Brenton, would shortly be in England, and would represent the fact that for want of proper forts in the bay it was dif- ficult to enforce the navigation laws.
The friendly feeling between Rhode Island and Con- necticut at this time was satisfactory to both parties, and could not easily be disturbed, although occasions were not wanting to renew the strife. There was a border conflict June 21. between Westerly and Stonington. Some persons in the latter town attempted to assess a tax upon the former, which was resisted, and a complaint was made by the gov- ernor of Rhode Island to the authorities of Connecticut on Oct. 19. the subject, to which the latter replied, disowning the act of the intruders, and expressing a hope that no disturbance would be created by any act of Rhode Island west of the Pawcatuck river. So far as it went, this was a virtual concession of the points in dispute, in favor of Rhode Isl- 1695. and. But the Narraganset proprietors, as they still styled May. 22. themselves, were not satisfied with this tacit agreement which subjected them to Rhode Island, and petitioned to have the question settled. It was referred to the attorney general, with whom it rested for more than a year.
May ..
At the general election Caleb Carr was chosen gover- nor, and John Greene was re-elected deputy governor
531
MODE OF LAYING TAXES.
The great break in the records does not cease till the ad- CHIAP. journed session of the Assembly at Newport, when they
XII. again appear complete. The old tax of three hundred 1695. pounds was still uncollected. An additional rate of two July pence on the pound was laid, and a more exact mode of assessment than had heretofore been used was adopted, by 2. appointing three men in each town to examine the proper- ty of every citizen, and estimate his income. Formerly the rates were laid by guess work, both by the Assembly in apportioning a tax among the towns, and by the coun- cils in assessing the inhabitants.
Complaint having been made that the Colony House was used for other purposes than that for which it was built, it was ordered that it should be occupied only for legislative or military affairs, and for no religious objects whatever. Committees were appointed to run the eastern and northern lines of the colony.
Governor Fletcher had written to demand the quota of troops assigned to Rhode Island for the defence of New York, to which Governor Carr replied that either the forty- eight men required, or some commutation should be sent, according as Fletcher himself might elect.1
From the death of Sir William Phipps to the appoint- ment of the Earl of Bellemont several months elapsed, during which Lieut. Governor Stoughton was at the head of affairs in Massachusetts. A proposal was made by the Lords Justices to recall Fletcher, and to unite, under Belle- mont, the governments of New England and New York, as in the time of Andros, when all of the American colonies north of Pennsylvania were known by the name of New England. But more than three years elapsed before the plan was perfected by the arrival of Bellemont at New York ; meanwhile the two governments continued under their present rulers.
Stoughton refused to have the lines run between Mas-
1 N. Y. Col. Mss. xl. 30. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 303.
5.
16.
532
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XII. 1695. Sept. 4.
Oct. 30.
sachusetts and Rhode Island, without which the quota of troops for New York could not be drafted fairly. Fletcher refused commutation and demanded the men ; whereupon the Rhode Island council wrote to him, assigning reasons why they could not send the men. Some further corre- spondence ensued, when the subject dropped. The Assem- bly met at Warwick. The boundary between Kingston and Westerly was settled. A prison was ordered to be built at Providence. A tax of a penny on a pound was laid, to raise the sum of one hundred pounds for the agent in England. Salaries had occasionally been paid to the civil officers, but most of the time public service had been performed gratuitously. It was now enacted that the governor should have ten pounds a year, the deputy gover- nor six pounds, the assistants four pounds each, and the deputies three shillings a day while in session, or to pay a double forfeit when absent.
Nov. 2.
Dec. 17.
1695-6. Jan.
Governor Carr died in December, being the third gov- ernor of the colony who died while in office ; and Walter Clarke, who was governor when the charter was suspended, was again chosen to that office, probably at an extra ses- sion of the Assembly in January, of which no record re- mains. Nearly seven years had elapsed since the resump- tion of the charter ; the government had acquired the confidence of all classes, so that Clarke and Newberry, the assistant, who had refused office after the fall of Andros, now cheerfully accepted their former places.
Feb. 15.
March 10. 1696. April 20
The 'Popish plot to assassinate William III. having been revealed by some of the conspirators, stringent meas- ures were taken against the Roman Catholics. All ships bound to America were embargoed, and letters were sent to the colonies informing them of the circumstances. The activity of the French, in their operations against America, alarmed England, so that further orders were issued, and aid promised, to prepare for invasion. Associations were formed throughout England binding the subscribers to
533
ASSEMBLY DIVIDED INTO TWO BRANCHES.
support the King, and to revenge any violence offered to his person. Notice of this was also sent to the colonies, with a form " proper to be entered into " as a mark of loy- alty to his Majesty.1
Governor Fletcher wrote to Governor Clarke for the Rhode Island quota which had been refused by his prede- cessor. He rebuked the neglect of the colony, adding that her letters of excuse had been sent to England as wit- nesses against her. This letter was laid before the As- sembly, and a reply returned that the exposed condition of the colony, with forty miles of coast line, having three inlets from the sea, undefended by forts, required all its strength for self-protection ; that the letters of excuse referred to by Fletcher, had already been sent by Rhode Island to the home government ; and that she did not fear the result, as his Majesty would not require impossi- bilities. 2
A very important movement, proposed by the deputies from Warwick thirty years before,3 was now adopted. The house of deputies was constituted a distinct body, a lower house of assembly, with power to choose their own Speaker and Clerk. It thus became a coordinate branch of the legislature, with the assistants, each house having a veto upon the proceedings of the other ; and thus has it ever since remained. The first instance of the deputies resolv- ing themselves into a committee of the whole for the prep- aration of business occurred at this session. The practice was introduced three years later into the council board of Massachusetts by Lord Bellemont, and was of English origin, but has never been much used in this State.
Upon receipt of the royal orders relative to the Popish plot they were published in solemn manner, with great pa- rade and joy, throughout the colony. A letter of congrat-
CHAP. XII. 169 6. April
24.
May 6
June 8.
1 Smollet, B. i. chap. v. ยง 30. Antiq. of Conn., 233.
2 N. Y. Docs., iv. 155-6. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 315-16.
3 Ante, chap. ix. p. 327.
534
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XII. July.
ulation was prepared by the council, promising vigilance in securing the conspirators should they appear in Rhode 1696. Island.
There was always great difficulty in collecting taxes in the colony. The people were poor, and their situation the most exposed of any in New England, while the vexa- tious proceedings of their neighbors not only kept them at great expense, from the very beginning, to maintain agents in London, but also furnished a constant pretext for re- fusal to pay by those who denied their jurisdiction. Not unfrequently many years would elapse after a tax was voted before it could be collected, and in view of the per- plexities arising from these sources it is often a matter of surprise that a tax could be collected at all. Special ses- sions of assembly were repeatedly called on this account. One was now convened for this purpose ; and to increase the revenue, a duty was laid upon all foreign wines, liquors, and molasses imported into the colony. The latter article was to pay a half penny a gallon. Privateers fitted out from here had been engaged in illegal acts, to prevent which it was ordered that no new commission should be granted without a bond of one thousand pounds not to ex- ceed the powers therein conferred. Wolves continued to trouble the plantations to such an extent that a bounty of ten shillings was offered for each old one that should be killed.
1.
Sept. 2.
Oct. 28.
The governor and council of Connecticut entered into an association, in the form adopted in England, for the de- fence of the King against all conspirators, but we find no trace of any such act in this colony. The attorney gen- eral of England, after more than a year's delay, reported upon the Narraganset proprietors' petition, that the juris- diction belonged to Connecticut by reason of the priority of her charter. This was the first opinion adverse to the claims of Rhode Island, if we except the ex parte report of the Cranfield commission, and seems to have been hast-
535
.
ADMIRALTY COURTS IN THE COLONIES.
ily drawn. About the same time the proprietors, probably CHAP. XII.
ed to Massachusetts. To this Major General Winthrop sent a counter petition, in behalf of Connecticut, to "in- sist on and claim the government of the said country." 1 Meanwhile Almy returned home, and on the same day that the attorney general's opinion was rendered against the colony, in England, he received from the Assembly, sitting at Providence, something over a hundred and thirty- five pounds for his expenses as agent.
The unsettled state of the eastern shore produced sim- ilar annoyances with those that had occurred in Westerly. The Massachusetts officers, having distrained for taxes in Tiverton, were seized and placed under bonds at Newport. Complaints of these seizures were made to Stoughton from Bristol and Little Compton, and a vote was passed by the representatives for the lieutenant-governor to protect the officers from the violence of Rhode Island.
An important step was now prepared in England to restrain the irregularities existing in America, with respect to privateering and to the acts of Trade, by establishing courts of admiralty in all the colonies. The legality of the measure was submitted to the attorney general, who, on examining all the old charters and grants in America, gave as his opinion that they contained nothing which could restrain the King in his design.2
There were two parties in the colonies upon the ques- tion of uniting all the governments under a viceroy. Many in Massachusetts urged it in frequent letters to in- fluential persons in England. They complained of the small independencies, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and denounced the latter as a great resort for privateers, which its commodious bay facilitated. The New York in-
1 Originals of the three papers last referred to are in Br. S. P. O., New Eng., vol. viii., as are most of the foregoing authorities not cited in the notes.
2 Br. S. P. O. Proprieties, vol. i. p. 65.
Nov. 16. 23.
21.
Dec. 4.
1696-7. Jan. 2.
weary of the delay, sent another petition asking to be join- - 1696. Oct. 28.
536
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XII. r
1696-7. Feb. 9.
terest opposed the union, unless limited to strictly military purposes, on the grounds that the people were too dissim- ilar, and that the rivalry in trade between New York, the less, and Boston, the greater, would ruin the former. A circular was sent to all the colonies by the Board of Trade concerning their irregularities in not furnishing the re- quired quotas against the French, in harboring each other's fugitives, and especially in giving countenance to piracy, which had naturally grown out of the system of privateer- ing, so long maintained during the war with France.1 The independent positions of Connecticut and Rhode Isl- and made them a hindrance to the establishment of any general system of government in New England, or to the enforcement of acts intended to apply equally to all the colonies. Hence another attempt was to be made to re- strain them, and the attorney general was directed to ex- amine their charters with special reference to this design. The long-pending appointment of the Earl of Bellemont as governor of New York, Massachusetts, and New Hamp- shire, and as captain-general of the forces of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and the Jerseys, was at last announced. His coming was to open a new struggle in Rhode Island.
25.
At an adjourned session of the Assembly, held at Newport, Pawtuxet river was established as the southern limit of Providence. Deputy governor Greene and the Warwick deputies protested, but to no effect, against this act, which terminated a struggle that had lasted for half a century between Warwick and Pawtuxet, and had form- ed one of the great points of dispute in the Harris trials twenty years before.
1697.
The entire records for the following year are missing, but the British archives supply the more important events. Although the long war with France was drawing to a close, there was as yet no cessation of hostilities in Amer-
1 Br. S. P. O. Proprieties, vol. xxv. p. 42. Antiq. of Conn., 245. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 321.
March 16. 23.
537
THE HAMILTON CLAIM DECIDED.
ica. Massachusetts applied to Connecticut and Rhode CHAP Island for aid in men, money, and provisions, against the XII. common enemy, and appointed Capt. Byfield of Bristol to 1697. obtain the same.
Town records throw very little light upon the general history of the State after the government became settled under the second charter, but occasionally they afford cu- rious hints of the condition of society, or of matters affect- ing the prosperity of the people. An agricultural popu- lation will feel most sensibly those things that affect their stock or their crops ; hence the frequent notice of wolves and the lesser vermin, which became so troublesome as to require State legislation. A new torment was added to these, for we find that in Portsmouth, every householder was required to kill twelve blackbirds before the tenth of May ensuing, and to bring in their heads, or pay a fine of two shillings, and for all above twelve that were killed he should receive one shilling each.1
Again the Hamilton claim came up, on petition of the daughter of the late duke, to be confirmed in her right to Narraganset, and to receive quit-rent from the occupants. The case was fully stated, from the time of the original grant by James I., down through all its sub- sequent stages, to the report of Andros upon it. Jahlcel Brenton was asked by the Board of Trade, what argu- ments Rhode Island had to urge against its validity. The Board were resolved to have a careful examination of this matter, which should be final. Rhode Island did not sup- pose the claim would ever be revived, and hence had given Brenton no instructions upon it. He so stated in his memorial, and asked that a copy of the duchess' pc- tition might be sent to Rhode Island. The Connecticut agent, Winthrop, was equally unprepared upon this ques- tion, and made a similar request in behalf of the proprietors, of whom he was one. Somewhat later, Sir Henry Ash-
1 Portsmouth records, end of vol. i., April 16, 1697.
April 16.
23.
30.
July 24.
538
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
urst replied to the same effect, on the part of Massachu-
CHAP. XII. setts. But the Earl of Arran insisted on a report ; and 1697. although ex parte, as the opposing claimants could not be Aug. heard, it was so adverse to the petitioners as to be, in ef- 10 fect, final. This document was of formidable length, and chiefly historical. It recited a decision of the Lords and Justices upon a parallel case, that "the parties have recourse to the Courts upon the place," and recommended that the petition should not be granted, as it would es- tablish a precedent fraught with disturbance to every land title in America. The report was equivalent to a legal decision, so that Rhode Island was forever relieved from this source of vexation.1
April 22.
The acts of trade were not so easily disposed of. A royal letter called attention to their abuses in the several colonies, and threatened a withdrawal of charters if these were continued.2
24.
The alarm in which the colonists were kept by the sudden and frequent incursions of the Indians, can scarce- ly be imagined in our day. The councils of war, com- posed of the local magistrates, were as active at this time as they had ever been since the settlement of the State. An original warrant, of this date, with the council seals attached, is still extant, directed to twenty-one of the principal inhabitants of Providence, as commanders of scouting parties, composed of ten men each, who were to range the country in pursuit of " the cruel and barbarous Indians," beyond the limits of the plantations, for two days at a time ; and each leader, on his return, was to hand the commission to the one whose name was next in order upon it. This was continued long after the treaty of Ryswick had restored peace to Europe.
The hasty opinion of the attorney general in favor of
1 Br. S. P. O., New England, vol. xxxvi. p. 222. The other papers above referred to are in vol. viii.
2 Br. S. P. O., New England, vol. xxxvi. p. 159. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 226.
539
COURT OF ADMIRALTY RESISTED BY CLARKE.
the Connecticut claim to Narraganset, given in October, CHAP. did not escape the keen eye of Brenton, who presented a memorial to the Board of Trade, pointing out the errors therein, that they might be advised of the facts before acting upon it. Letters were sent to both colonies, ad- vising an adjustment by mutual agreement, or by refer- ence to Lord Bellemont, or otherwise to send agents to England early in the Spring.'
The treaty of Ryswick restored peace to all Europe. A printed proclamation was issued in England, and sent out to America, with orders to suspend all privateering against the French. It reached New England in Decem- ber, where it was published in due form. Mr. Brenton Dec. 24. 1697-8. Jan. 11. returned to Rhode Island, with all the letters and pa- pers from the British government, above referred to, and delivered them to the General Assembly, at a special ses- sion held in Newport. He was empowered to administer to the governor the oath required by the acts of trade, which Clarke, being a Quaker, steadily refused to take. The creation of a Court of Admiralty in Rhode Island, 17-21. was a further source of discontent to the governor. Brenton brought over a commission to Peleg Sandford, as Judge of Admiralty, and to Nathaniel Coddington, as Register, which Sandford presented to Gov. Clarke, who endeavored to persuade the Assembly to oppose it, but without success. He then kept the commission from Sandford, who complained to the Board of Trade of his conduct. A similar complaint was also addressed to the 31. King. Brenton forwarded these letters to the Board, and advised the impeachment of Clarke, as a warning to oth- March 8. ers. He also urged that the government of Rhode Isl- and should be required to print their laws, which as yet had never been done .? These perplexities, no doubt,
1 Br. S. P. O., New England, vol. xxv. p. 109. Antiq. of Conn., 259. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 328.
2 Br. S. P. O. Proprieties, vol ii. pp. 445-7-9. R. I. Col. Rec., iii. 329-31.
XII. 1697. May 15: Aug. 26
Sept. 20. Oct. 18.
540
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. XII. 1698. May
caused the resignation of Gov. Clarke, at this time, in favor of his nephew, Samuel Cranston, who, it appears, presided as governor at the spring term of the Court of Trials.
The administration of Gov. Cranston is remarkable for many reasons. He held his position probably longer than any other man who has ever been subjected to the test of an annual popular election. He was thirty times successively chosen governor, holding office till his death, in 1726. His great firmness in seasons of unexampled trial, that occurred in the early part of his public life, is, perhaps, the key to his wonderful popularity, of which we shall find some signal proofs later in his career. The choice of the Assembly was confirmed by the people at the election ; and he was also retained in his military office of major, for the islands. John Greene was re-elected deputy governor. A majority of the civil officers chosen at this time, held military commissions. The Quaker regime expired with Gov. Clarke. The government passed into the hands of men whose scruples would not imperil the existence of the State, at a time when firmness was as much required as caution, in resisting the aggressions attempted by the royal governors of Massachusetts.
4.
8
The subject of weights and measures, which twenty- four years previously had received the attention of the Assembly, was again discussed. Want of uniformity in these particulars, injured trade. To remedy this, a sealer for the colony was appointed, with orders to procure stand- ard weights and measures in Boston, whose duty it should be to seal, with an anchor, all such articles used in New- port ; and to furnish the other sealers, one of which was to be chosen in each town, with accurate models. Any town failing to appoint a sealer, was to be indicted at the Court of Trials.
Piracy now prevailed to an alarming extent. Priva- teers, clearing for Madagascar and the Red Sea on trading
541
STATUTE AGAINST PIRACY.
voyages, with roving commissions against the French, had become open pirates after the peace. All New England and New York, as well as the West India Islands, were deeply involved in these unlawful enterprises. The home government sent orders to repress them. The Rhode Isl- and Assembly accordingly passed a law, requiring their officers to seize any suspected person, who should bring foreign coin or merchandise into the colony, and that he should be held for trial, unless he could produce satisfac- tory evidence to the magistrates how he came by the treasure. A proclamation was also issued, in obedience to the royal order, and published by drum beat in every town, requiring the officers to arrest any suspected pirates, and warning the people not to harbor any such, or to receive their goods, on pain of punishment as abettors. An ad- dress to the King was prepared, in which the remissness of the colony in respect to the acts of trade, is confessed, and their statute on the subject of piracy is mentioned. Their assumption of admiralty jurisdiction during the late war, is also admitted, and defended on the ground of ex- pediency-there being a necessity for annoying French commerce, and no admiralty Court then established in the colony-and finally, a continuation of the royal favor, in the language of the charter, is earnestly sought. These papers were all enclosed in a letter from Gov. Cranston to the Board of Trade, apologizing for the irregularities of the colony in refusing the quota of troops for New York, and explaining the charges against it in regard to piracy. He also stated that two men suspected of piracy had just been examined, and would be brought to trial.' A bitter letter against the government of the colony was soon after written by that old enemy of New England, Randolph, the surveyor general of customs, who had just been to New York to welcome the arrival of Lord Bellemont.
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